I don't know what show you guys were watching... but I had a fucking blast.

Yes, the Chalkdust > Scents could have been jammed out more...
Yes the Fuego was rough near the beginning...

But seriously?
"The Wedge was a mistake?".
"The crowd was visibly deflated"
Bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit.

Was it the best show Phish has ever played? No.
But I'll tell you what it did have... fucking attitude. I get that this is not the big ticket item that thirty minute jams are, or that a segue-fest can be.... but sometimes it's nice to hear our favorite band play with so much joy and emotion. If that really doesn't work for you as a Phish show... well I feel bad for you.

About three minutes (or whatever we want to call that number) into CDT, Trey got in synch with the rest of the band... and then he was dialed in for the rest of the night (with the exception of Fuego). From there on out, the band seemed to be right on top of everything, with each musical phrase leading inextricably to a response. It was a bit like being in the world's largest ping pong hall, with music bouncing and refracting off the walls being slapped and redirected in so many interesting ways.

Instead of focusing on any of the negatives, I'm going to talk about what I enjoyed.

Chalk Dust. Excellent jam. Let's leave it at that.

Scents. Anytime you get one it's a thing to behold. Type I all the way, but heart achingly beautiful at that.

Twist. Other reviewers may label this as "passe"... to which I say, were you watching that fucking crowd on the "Woo!"? IMO it was right about here that Trey and the rest of the band really started feeling the energy

Fuego. Did anyone else see Page's face light up when he heard the crowd repeating "Vlad the Impaler"? Exactly what I love about this band. They're in it as much as we are.

The Wedge. Beautiful version. Face it, not version of this is suddenly and magically going to be the Chicago version. But are we really claiming that we don't like very well played versions of great compositions now? They should'a played a Wading just to spite you fuckers

Light. Picked up the jam beautifully. Any doubts we had about the rest of the set were pretty much thrown by the wayside at this point.

Harry Hood. Oh what a Hood. Seeing Mike and Trey play that lovely duet was simply magic. You could tell that crowd was loving it as well. Marvelous stuff.

First Tube. Is there a better choice for a show closer. Probably... but this is perfect in my book.

Fluffhead. Really, as an encore? I think I loved it almost as much as the legion of fans in the pit who were jumping up and down the entire time. No 3.0 Fluffhead is without flaws (face it, it's a really difficult song to nail), but this one was as good as any, and better than most.

Finally I'm going to give a shout-out to the MVPs of the night.

1. Jon Fishman. I don't know whether it was because I could actually see everything Fish was doing on the webcast, or whether he's simply always that amazing... but holy shit. I was blown away.

2. Trey's Energy. Any time big red starts dancing around the stage like it's his birthday, I'm having a good time... and you should be too.

3. The Crowd. You guys loved it. You guys made it the show that it was. Thank you.