Show 3 of the final run. The penultimate Phish show of 1.0. Clearly an epic event of mythic proportions right?
Carini starts us off right. Nothing too special but it’s a good energetic opener. Stash up next and while it stays in the box, it is well played with some great moments from Mike. Boogie On continues the spirited playing but not much exploration. Mellow Mood cools us down with a damn near perfect placement halfway through the set. Maze is another good version with good playing from all members. Moma doesn’t reach the heights it had earlier in the year but it is solid. Antelope closes the set with its standard ferocity.
Nothing special but a solid set nonetheless.
A brisk Heavy Things opens the 2nd set in typical “calm before the storm” fashion. Down with Disease bursts out of the gates with a rocking jam that then quickly recedes into contemplative playing. As quickly as the quiet section arrives, Trey ratchets the jam back up to speed presumably to bring back the Disease refrain. But they take an unexpected left turn into to rhythmic territory which slowly morphs into… Spock’s Brain! Super cool segue. TIJW is a fine cool down song but I don’t like the placement here. An uncommon 2nd set Rift gets the momentum back up and sets the stage for another big jam. Cities immediately feels like it’s going big with quick textural work from Trey… but instead it fizzles out. Sand once again is the choice for the big jam of the show. At this point in the tour, I’m sick of Sand. Trey goes over to his keyboard and makes soundscapey noises per usual but instead of building for 10 minutes he instead switches back to his guitar and leads into a rocking jam. It’s surprising to hear Sand played this way after so many versions of the same thing. Golgi is played great for its final 1.0 performance. Brian and Robert is a bad call here right before the end of the set. Very awkward placement despite how much I like this song. Bold as Love closes an alright set.
Disease -> Spock’s Brain and Sand are the highlights of this 3rd-to-last set of Phish.
Encores generally aren’t much to talk about but if Bob Weir joins you it’s definitely worth noting. I’m not into the Dead much but from what I can tell these are well played versions and Bob mixes well with the band although he’s a bit too low in the mix.
Well, all in all this one isn’t the epic 2nd-to-last Phish show it might’ve deserved to be, but there are some highlights in the Stash, Disease -> Spock’s and the Sand and of course the encore. It’s nice to see Bob play with Phish, especially this close to the end.