TREY, MIKE, PAGE AND FISHMAN IN PHISH REDEEMS THEMSELVES

SET I:
Wilson kicked things off, followed by DWD, whose composed section was flubbed pretty bad, from Mike's pedals seemingly not working to some of their vocals cues being off during the pauses between the chorus and verses, though Fish was tight and it had a nice if short and unfulfilling jam that didn't really meet it's potential, before going back into the ending of DWD > Free and Wolfman's Brother. In the latter's composed section, my stream had more stuttering than the King's Speech, but it gradually got better in time for the excellent funk rock jam awaiting me, with Fish rocking the ride bell and Trey manning the tension, it made for an excellent and patient jam that peaked nicely. It wasn't a masterpiece of a jam or anything, but it was a great and energetic one. They further brought the funk with Tube followed by 555, It's Ice, Wingsuit, Simple all of which were fairly tight versions, with the awesome acapella Space Oddity to cap off the set.

SET II:

PYITE kicked things off, followed by Blaze On, which had a light jam with Mike dropping many a bomb before Page and his CS-80 brought us into space and then with twinkling glissandos, went into Fuego, which had a nice compact and peaky jam. Ghost then started up, the first since the awesome BGCA version, and this version does not disappoint, and dare I say it, is even better. Starting the jam off with some great Trey/Page interplay, Fish starts to speed shit up, albeit a lot more gradually than BGCA. Trey and Page move up the register and the tension heightens, Trey gets a quote going with Page providing rhythmic background and Mike holding down the mids beautifully.

Trey remains in tension land, Fish's playing gets heavier, Page keeps the tension up and then Trey sets himself up for a solo, which he gets to. Just before he begins, Page moves to the organ, giving everything a beautiful lift and then Trey just fuckin' wails, Mike drops bombs and then Trey shreds on tIS beautiful canvas the others have prepared with him. Trey cools down, the jam gets quietly rhythmic, and then the start/stop Woo! action begins before Gin starts up.

Gin quickly turns evil and dark, but Fishman keeps the tempo exciting and engaging, and not long into the tension, Trey seemingly goes for a solo, then brings then tension back to almost uncomfortable levels. Then he starts the build up again, eventually aided by Page underscoring him on piano and then the organ, and then Trey makes it all soar with a solo. After that magnificence, Trey heads into rockish territory to segue into Number Line. Some called this a ripcord, which is horse shit if you ask me. The Gin ran it's course and Number Line was a suitable breather if you ask me.

YEM finished the set and had a funky jam with a rhythm not too unlike 12/31/95. It even has a funky bass synth solo, not too unlike Page's work in the aforementioned jam. Trey also danced his ass off for a bit which is always funny as hell to see.

Zero was the encore for the nine hundredth time.

OVERALL: I've shit on many a show this summer and expected to do that here. But what I got was the show of the year (even if you include 1/1 and 1/2). The whole show is consistently great, always engaging and a hell of a lot of fun. I can't wait to see what the rest of this summer has to offer. Just an awesome show.

RATING: 4.5-5/5

HIGHLIGHTS: Wolfman's Brother, Ghost, Bathtub Gin (all are fantastic)