And so has come (finally) the triumphant return of the Phish to the one and only Blossom Music Center. After a fun little 3 peat of consecutive summer tours from 2010-12 (2011 in particular deserves all the praise it continues to get), the boys have not lit up Blossom as often as I would like (3 years later in 2015 and now 4 years later this year). Don’t get me wrong, I’ve traveled outside of Ohio to get my Phishfix.. but I always call Phïsh at Blossom home.

The boys came home tonight in exemplary fashion on this unassuming Wednesday night.

Soul Planet gives us liftoff to start. Tour debut and this was a great choice to get the crowd going and appreciating new mainstage material.

Moma crushes out of the 2 hole. Big crowd for a Wednesday and everybody was glad to be enthralled with an early funk boogie, ho ho!

KDF tour debut next. I think people used to complain this song got played too much. Now, it doesn’t get played enough. Great homage to the 2011 Blossom S1 opener. I was changing the words at the end to “Please Come Back to Cuyahoga Falls!” ... Indeed.

YPC, fun and playful (like a ball of yarn!).. another Haunted House song I can cross off the list.

BOTT, priceless. Get Back on That Blossom Train and never get off! Another first of mine for this song also came at the 2011 show (> Guelah Papyrus... bedlam kinda groovy).

Here they could’ve kept going w the feel good songs, but instead Phïsh felt compelled to educate us with some new tunes. Everything is Hollow was the last Kasvat song from Halloween that had yet to be repeated. Strong version even if other tunes from that set will ultimately warrant more airplay.

About To Run impressed me. It’s strong and composed while determined enough to bring a great full rock vibe.

Divided Sky highlights S1 showing the cohesiveness of the team. Even a slight flub from Trey on the high note is not cause for downvoting this show. This song was so well placed as the sun begins to fade.

First I Didn’t Know for me. Great vacuum solo from John Sullen Melancholy.. I wonder if Jack and Diane Melancholy were able to enjoy this little dirty in the heartland.

WOTC is always a quintessential S1 closer and rocks. It also opens the door for heavy deep S2 playing.

STFTFP leads off S2 surprisingly. Nice quick rendition to wake us up again and get our butts back to their seat/patch of lawn. As I was walking in the pavilion after a long concession wait.. I sang “Got a blank seat where my feet should be”.

This BOAF is utterly timeless. Hands down the best ever BOAF. Also the best jam of this young tour. I want to see it on the jam chart soon since there were at least 5-6 different parts of this structural masterpiece. It’s the best song of this show that will be lauded as such for many years to come. I’m not afraid to throw it up for JOTY consideration already since there will always be MSG, DICKS and (hopefully) west coast faithful patronage that will lose sight of this BOAF. Blossom fans unite! Let’s ruffle some feathers!!!!... Indeed

Crazy Sometimes, perfect landing and keeping awesome intensity going. Man do I love Paige on that Hohmer Clavinet in anything! Miss You gives the breather we needed (yes, mid week shows deserve breathers.. still work do to on Thursday/Friday for some). ER>CDT>Slave put this great set to bed in fine fashion. Bravo boys!

So they play SOAMelt (my favorite Phish song at my favorite Phïsh venue) in the ENCORE??? And for the first time since like 91??? AND, jam the heck out of it for 15 minutes???? CRAZINESS!!!!! I was grinning like a jackolantern. ALBTD was the perfect ending to this thoughtful show even if some would have preferred Melt take us home.

Final thought... Phïsh was not one bit predictable tonight and educated all of us the entire evening on what matters in our lives (esp set 2)... that being:

Dance, dance, dance
Being catty creates a lot of noise
The Blossom train is strong even if it took too long to get back on it.
New tunes deserve our attention.
Old school structural masterpieces never fade.
Vacuum solos kick ass and don’t be afraid of caves.
Even if our brains go blank by end of setbreak, Phïsh fans flock together for a long time and get damn crazy doing it.
Phish missed Blossom and will be back sooner than later.
All is right in the world when we live while we’re young and manage the insane traffic leaving the venue.
Oh, and don’t give up hope after your face melts!!!

Sorry for the length! I had a lot to say since I loved this show so darn much.. and I love you all for taking the time to read!!!