Top to Bottom complete fire show. Strawberry letter 23 second time played, surprise repeat from Strawberry BD night opens the Hampton weekend. Crowd goes wild. Blaze On immediately sends the show into Type II territory and rewards with a serious outro jam taking it past the 13 min mark. Smoothly seg-ing into the third Mock Song ever played (with Mike ensuring he does not butcher the lyrics by having a girl hold up cue cards for him). Divided Sky little rough through composed section pre- “pause” , but Hampton fills with lighters and ecstatic screams during the pause, and the band rewards us with a very nice build and peak. Energy stays up for slowed down Roggae which delivers its own satisfying peak, we laugh and laugh and fall apart in a quick well-played Sparkle, and then Undermind delivers a funk injection which carries over to a very funky Meat complete with Mike / Trey close-up duel and what I’m assuming was the most intentionally arrhythmic drum solo of all time. Rift keeps the energy dialed up even if not perfectly played and then Walk Away *blows the doors off* as a head-banging set closer.

What a first set and what a fantastic start to the Hampton weekend.

Trey shreds the Carini chords to open second set, and it is a powerfully rocking Carini jam that emerges, albeit a relatively brief one, similar (actually v close timing?) to its outing at Camden N2. 2013 Hampton Carini is still champ, but in 2018 we go into a Sand dance party. Straight forward rocking Sand has Hampton moving. And then Golden Age takes the Mothership into space, and our trip is not short, 23 min jam / alien abduction containing dark symphonic beauty and we have our centerpiece jam of the evening and hopefully a sign of further deep jamming this run and this tour. Twist like Carini packs a very solid jam into a shorter package, dissolving into the relatively rare Mountains in the Mist, which is an extremely well deserved and very nice played breather. And then, after a short late-set funky dance party in Meatstick, everyone’s favorite song about *doin’ it*, Phish seals the deal with a Melt closer reaching mind melting dissonant heights before coming to a final triumphant peak and return.

Unreal 2nd set, and Hampton pops yet again as Trey strums the opening chords to your The Lizards encore. Trey’s solo was unusually delicate, quieting the crowd and having us savor the moment together, before building to its usual beautiful melodic peak.

I could not possibly be more excited for what is in store for the remainder of this weekend and the remainder of this Fall Tour.