Let me start with the the set list kind of says it all about this show. It was a special one indeed. I for one was tickled with Trey talking about their history at Alpine Valley being that my history with this band started there in 1998. Being that the show I saw in 98 was loaded with debuts and a special one 17 years ago, I was thrilled to hear Trey speak about their 17 shows over 19 years at this venue.

I'll rewind just a little before the how. I was in the yellow lot standing with my friend Willis (who saw his first show with me 15 years ago at Alpine 2000). A couple of golf carts rolled past us and only when a few people cheered and I looked up did I realize MIKE was driving right past us. He waved and the fans politely waved and cheers (none of them rushed toward the cart). Will and I kind of looked at each other and mutually agreed this was a great omen for today's show.

One more note before I get into the meat of my review. I haven't reviewed yesterday's show, but it was not outstanding by any means. It actually was probably one of my least favorite spanning 17 years. It was another reason I had some suspicion our boys from Vermont were up to something pretty special for their Sunday show.

The show opened in surprising fashion for me with "The Very Long Fuse," which I had never heard live before. It was evidently a song from the Halloween show in Vegas. They pulled this one off with a lot of personality and it seemed to hint that there was indeed a fuse being lit with that song to start the set.

Colonel Forbin's and Mockingbird - Who can complain ever about two Gamehendge songs that were executed well and with vigor! The crowd was certainly pumped to get this tour breakouts and their pleasure was certainly being heard!

I'm also a person who loves it when Trey does talk without shutting up, so again I was thrilled to hear his bird shit story and loved how he even tied the second shitter on the grassy knoll bit in (reference to JFK).

The band cooled the audience down a little with Brian and Robert and from what I've read that too was another tour debut! I for one really do like this song and it's lyrics in particular. I wouldn't say that they blew this rendition out of the water, but it is a rare song to catch and made me think about the very first time I heard this song played (Alpine 98) - they played it in the second set and it had stronger emotion to it largely because it was a little more heartfelt, the later in the second set placement of this song also prompted the lighters in the dark for it many years ago. I think the fact that Story of the Ghost just coming out probably made that performance of it a little more gripping 17 years ago. Nonetheless, the placement of this song right after Mockingbird worked well. Just not as powerful as the first time I heard this one. Again, not complaining, just noting the differences in the two times I heard this gem played (both at Alpine).

Now if all of that wasn't enough for phan... The next song... OH MAN!!! ESTHER. Now, the reason I talk a lot about my first time in 98 just correlates to Trey talking about Alpine over 19 years and this song just took me back to that time when I was a younger man myself first finding myself falling in love with this band.

They played this in 1998 too at Alpine and I want to say many years passed since they had played it there. I know it popped out some years later (maybe 2009?). I know it rarely played and had not been for several years after that 98 show. I know it popped up a few times more recently... Regardless, this song is also a rare rare rare gem to get.

Saw it Again was simply rocking with energy. I think this is where the band was saying, "In case you weren't sure if this set was special, this should pretty much let you know... IT'S SPECIAL. Loved the energy Trey and Mike showed here. Trey really started moving around the stage with that extra dialed in groove and body language. They even did some classic back to back hammering of their guitars like rock star music video style. You could just tell the band was dialed in with that special vibe tonight. That vibe where the spirit of what Phish is when it is at it's most inspired and best. This isn't just the clean technical playing of songs (they did that in night one of Alpine). This was that extra emotion and life and timing they have when they are dialed in. You really see that just pouring out of their instruments and in their body language. They connected with the audience and you just knew you had something amazing going on at that Midwest shed!

Esther just made the set of breakouts super special to me! Both times I heard this one again at Alpine. The first time I heard it they had a much more circus show intro with Page playing keys (even though he totally botched the intro back then)... I must say that I liked the over the top steam colliope / organ sound they opened with back then.

In this 2015 Alpine version they backed off being as over the top with that circus intro and did a more tame version of it which Page did not botch this time! The band played this one very well! I was impressed with how well they played a shelved song with the complexity of Esther (both vocally and musically). It was very clean and very true to Junta in it's vibe.

Weigh had some particular zest and spring in it's step tonight too! I always like when Mike is in one of his more animated moods and the Cactus sure was tonight. Always appreciate the zany nature of this song and what he does for it.

Sloth and Sanity???!!!!????!!!! WHAT??? IS THIS SET REALLY HAPPENING? I didn't eat any acid, I'm not that high, I'm pretty sure I gave my chocolates to other people. What? I'm really hearing this??? I'm sure I'm not tripping too hard... Yeah... Yeah, wow... This is happening... Yeah, it's really happening... OH MAN THIS SET IS REALLY REAL!!! (sorry that was my brain talking during the set)

Seriously??? All of that to open a set? Sloth among several of the other rare songs (this tour and overall) was one I didn't think I was going to see any time soon and certainly not in a loaded set like this one. To put Sanity right behind it? Again, my appreciation for this band tonight was just coursing through my veins with the kind of magic I felt at my first show.

Split Open and Melt was just on point! I also want to say this was another tour debut or at least a song they haven't played much recently. While I've heard a few of these and while it isn't as rare as the rest of the set was... I love hearing it when they are on fire. As other people said, there wasn't as much sprawling jams through the set, but there was SOME. It was a tighter and more vertical speed style of playing, but intense, on point, and so energetic. It was like seeing a sports player in the zone. Just such an amazing set.

The band knew they were having a great night and the crowd was reacting in that way it does when they are especially delighted with what they are hearing. This was one set close where the band seemed as happy as the fans did. This is one of set breaks where Trey stopped to peer at the audience extra long. The only other time I saw him do this was at UIC 2011 (Aug 15th Monday show). It was almost as if he knew they just blew everyone away and wanted to stay there a little longer to hear the fans say so and they did. I mean this show and that 2011 show the cheering at the end of the set and that moment the band has when they know they nailed it was there. That too was a powerful exchange between the band and fans. I love it when they know they killed it and kind of stare you down to see your reaction to it. That's love!

SET TWO
Run Like and Antelope to open a set is always fun and get the crowd moving! I enjoyed how well played this version was. It really was sharp and they didn't jam it out for a long run, but it was enough to start moving the crowd and getting them ready for what was an intense second set.

Carini just has this dark metal tone to it. Tonight they just thrashed this version of it. I mean this was one of the more rocking versions of it vocally. There was just a thrust in the vocal delivery that made the song very energetic even through it's heavy / dark sound. This was my favorite version of Carini to date.

Waves - who can complain about that? Not me! I don't care how much people think Tweezer is overplayed. I loved this one. Why? Okay... Let me get into why...

The band smashed Carini, let you cool off with a great and short version of Waves and went into a place after that headed into Tweezer. I mean the band was on FIRE in set one, but when they are playing very well for a duration...

They have certain nights where they really get better and better as the show progresses. I mean to say they get more and more locked into each other and just play with a sound that makes your ears hit this frequency where the instruments blend perfectly.

ALSO - Let me take a minute to say CK5 - YOU NAILED THE WHOLE SECOND SET. This night, the band was locked in, but Kuroda was locked in with them. On Tweezer, the lights, the sound mixer, the band, the way it all played just was perfect. Everything was tuned perfectly to where your ears almost start to vibrate with appreciation for the audio ecstasy (the only way I can describe it) that blend creates when it's all working together. I can't stress how Kuroda was locked in too. I mean all the new quirks with his lights and the number of them were working in time exactly with the band. He was on fire in the second set. Doing all the new things (which seem more and more complicated these days) but doing them in a way where there was a lot of different effects and all of them from big to small were in lockstep with the band. Hats off to you CK5 because you slayed it with the band.

Another note is the sound mixing was just better tonight. I'm not sure how other people felt about night one, but something just didn't sound right with the levels and mixing in the sound. Tonight it was perfect.

They blew the lid of this Tweezer. I mean every part of it was just working, blended, flowing, and a visual spectacle with powerful sound and light.

Dirt - Again used to cool down the audience. Dirt really relies on Trey's vocals and he nailed this one tonight. Sometimes Dirt isn't sung with the heartfelt tone it has in the studio release for instance. Tonight Trey did sing this from the heart and it translated well. Plus, the whistling was spot on. Sometimes this song has such sharp and almost hauntingly pretty whistling and when the band nails that part it is a special song to behold. They totally got that too.

Mike's Song - They just absolutely stayed in that blended zone through this and I also want to say Mike was just killing his bass especially in the second set.

Blaze On - I love a Trey / Marshall song. The lyrics when it's Trey / Tom Marshall always are easy to pick out and this new song is no exception. I think that they have had a few times to play this newer song and they really may have given their best version of it to date at this show. I've heard it through the tour shows I listened to this summer and it sounded like a wonderful song with a lot of potential to really pop and I think they got all of it working tonight. They seemed to have really rounded the corners on this tune out well. I love the lyrics to it. In particular that they bring up Chemtrails. Excited to hear what the future versions of this tune will be like. I loved where they went with today's.

Weekapaug Grove again was a song I was treated to in 1998. I used to say that Weekapaug Groove after that version seemed a little slower in pace and just lacking that explosiveness I heard in 1998. I never liked any version more than that first one I heard and if you go back and listen you'll know what I mean. There was a different pace and energy to that song back then. Compare tonight's with 98 and then compare any other Weekapaugs after 98 and you'll hear what I mean. This was a killer, high energy, and just amazing rendition that rivals the best versions of this song even from 1.0. Seriously, get this version, get their 98 Alpine version, get a couple more from before 98. Play those against anything you heard in 2.0 or later and you'll see what I mean. This was a return to the groove for sure.

Tweeprise - Again, the band just created that perfect give and go with this song and Kuroda was fire all through set two. Likewise, was fond of Tweezer Tweprise tonight because it was really making me think back to my first time here in 98 as this too was played in that show.

Contact!!!!! My first one ever and in an encore! Again, another pretty rare one. DOUBLE ENCORE with Frankenstein! Again, to bring up that 98 show they played Frankenstein late in the second set and here they were encoring with it in a double encore (they double encored in 98 too).

This version of Frankenstein shredded!!! I've seen them encore with monster sized instruments all around at Alpine in previous years (2.0). This time Page came out with a giant Keytar!

Page tore this encore up with Trey and they were really hamming it up to close the show. I love Frankenstein to close a show. This one was pretty classic in how Page, Trey, and Mike stood together at an angle playing this last song out.

The band took a well deserved ovation from the audience and I've only heard this kind crazy appreciation in their UIC show run in 2011.

This Alpine show, their history there, what Trey had to say about it, it being my first place where I saw a pretty epic show to start my journey with this band made everything about tonight extra special for me.

Sometimes I wondered if I'd ever have that special feeling of seeing my first show at Alpine again. Wondered if they'd ever play like I had seen them play in 98 - 99... In 09 I started to think they were making a comeback to that place. You could see it coming together in 2013 and 2014... Though tonight left me feeling like this band is every bit as special as it was 17 years ago to the month for me.

They evolved in healthy ways. I guess I've had my ups and downs in life too. They always reminded me you really can start over and you really can put it back together. That inspired me in my darker years... Watching them climb out of a tough spot and put it all back together. In some ways I kind of did the same with my life.

I guess that's why I get chocked up when I hear Trey sing

"and then one day you find to your intense delight
that three wrong turns can really make a right
so why not be like me? be proud of all your crimes
‘cause when I screw up once, I do it two more times"

Yeah... He gets it doesn't he?