It has been exactly one year since the infamous 7/27/2014 MPP2 show and I have listened to this show no less than fifty times, so I wanted to take a few minutes to provide my own review of the show. I do not necessarily have anything additional to offer as far as critique of the music that has not already been said; rather my review is more of a personal account.

My first Phish show was Atlanta 1998 and at the time I was not really into Phish, but went on the road with three of my friends for the experience before I left for the military. The show was pretty good and totally different than any other show I had been to. I remember calling Cracklin’ Rosie off the first few notes and walked away with Prince Caspian being one of my favorite songs from the show.

From there I didn’t go to another Phish show until the two 2013 MPP shows, followed by 2014 MPP shows and the Birmingham show sitting with the same friends from the 1998 show. To prep for my return to Phish, in 2013 I had started making my way through each and every Phish show available via the fromtheaquarium YouTube channel, although I knew I would not be up to date on the current stuff.

Fast forwarding to 7/27, I remember thinking to myself that the energy was much different than the night before, but really had no idea what that meant. Starting off with the flubbed Fee followed by Curtain really set things off on the right course and I was happy to just have those two songs regardless of whatever came afterwards. 46 Days through Bouncing were pretty straight forward, although I really enjoyed Sand and liked the way things were flowing. I didn’t recognize Saw It Again, but really enjoyed it and when it > into Fuego, I wasn’t all that thrilled since ‘everyone got a Fuego’. Closing out with YEM in the first set was huge and made me wonder what the second set was going to offer.

Starting the second set with another giant, Wilson, was big since it carried the momentum from the first set into the second. Followed by Tweezer…I was sure it would be a good set, until Tweezer was cut short and -> BOTT, which I do really like, but not if it means Tweezer is minimized! From there, we all know what happened next, but being there on that segue roller coaster for the next 17 songs was sensory overload. As someone previously noted, the Tweezer > Waiting transition was perfection and gave everyone a breather before taking off again hitting a string of fan favorites, to include a very well done Catapult, a strong Slave (I always want Slave to go on for hours), funky DwD, extended NICU with what sounded like hints of HYHU. Fishman adding his personal flare to the not-so-fan favorite Jennifer Dances was perfect and the synchronized Been Around was just a picture-perfect end to the set.

The encore of Boogie was great since it was the first of the tour, although I wish they would have done something like a Frankenstein since that’s what that second set was in my opinion. Tweprise was such an amazing end as the entire place raged, folks popped confetti, and the boys knew they just killed it. Walking out, it was hard to remember what had happened in the first set and it honestly felt like I had just been to two different shows, knowing I/we had just witnessed something extremely special. It was an amazing experience and one I continue to relive via the audio and video of the show. Here’s to MPP 2015!