Decided to review this show just based on mental recollection from being there almost 7 years later. I will relisten to this show at some point but for now, this is all memory and taking a look at the setlist for the first time in years.

Just a preface, this night was one of the best nights of my life. It still is one of the best nights of my life. I *really* got the experience I was looking for at a Phish show.

Anyways, we were all pretty tired and worn out but we were excited for Sunday. Never miss a Sunday show, as they say. And it delivered. My buddy and I snuck our way down to the pit again for the second straight night, and this time I didn't even have to bribe the usher to do it, I just pretended like I had a wristband. Classic moves. They opened with Punch You In The Eye... or so I thought. I didn't learn until after the show that it was just The Landlady.. I literally did not remember the difference or even comprehend that it was anything different than a standard Punch, only learning later that they just didn't do the lyric part. I loved it anyways, great opener, got everyone dancing.

Free was the second song of the show at my very first show, so I was remembering that when it was going. Always loved that one, and then Moma into Seven Below, what a great start to the show. Of course, a Prince Caspian > BDTNL > The Line next isn't anyone's top choice, but I thought it was fine. Better get it now than in the middle of set 2. I don't mind any song live and I don't remember them at all, honestly funny looking back that they put those next to each other, I had completely memory-holed them. I loved Scent of a Mule, glad I caught it since it's becoming a rarity as of late. I don't remember Saw It Again or Halfway to the Moon, but I definitely enjoyed the Frankenstein closer. They rocked out on that one and I enjoyed the Keytar. I also enjoyed the acapella tune, even though it was hard to hear. Was happy to get one, haven't gotten one since!

Set 2 has the jam of the run, and it's the DWD. I recall distinctly looking for "hose" all throughout the run and at my previous shows, and this is the first time I got it. Definitely remember staring at the lights just transfixed as they catapulted us into blissy areas. Definitely one of my highlights of the entire experience! Carini next was an absolute welcome, I remember everyone going nuts at the guitar riff to begin it. I mainly recall having a little higher hopes for the rest of the set, but nothing really takes off or stands out, including the Tweezer, which I was very excited to hear but then it ended fairly quickly. I do remember the Slave encore and that was very good.

So we went 6 sets and 2 encores without a setlist gag, and at this point I thought it was shelved. Unfortunately, there isn't going to be something like a Fuck Your Face or Lushington. When they dropped into Tweezer Reprise, I had a couple feelings. First was are they really just gonna end it like that? They always do another song and then into > Tweeprize. Is that really it?

Kind of disappointing TBH - but then the place just was stunned into massive jubilation when they dropped the OOM-PAH-PAH for HARPUA!! I think at this point I was just running around hugging everyone LOL. The guy behind me was yelling that it was his 105th show and his first Harpua (congrats to him!) meanwhile it was my 6th and I got one. I honestly never expected this to happen, I was stunned, could not believe that it was happening, never in a million years that I was getting a HARPUA at one of my first couple of shows! I also love Bulldogs so this was an extra treat. I think this account is named after this song too. I thought "finally, we're getting something special at this run", it had kind of been middling so far musically, despite the fantastic time I was having, and at the minimum I could take home that I got to see the fabled Harpua.

I was transfixed seeing the narration and I've definitely watched it back a few times to relive those magical moments. This was uncharted ground for sure (Harpua, in an encore? Anything could happen!) and they dropped into After Midnight, which was a surprise, and a really upbeat, rhythmic tune. I remember thinking they were doing it at a really fast tempo. After Trey did his speech about only writing down the setlist once, I was clued into the spelling gag, and so from Your Pet Cat on I was mentally thinking which songs could come next.

An underrated aspect here is how funny Trey was on this, he definitely rehearsed it for sure along with the band and this was a planned gag that may have been in the books for a while. He was cracking us up with the story about the oxygen tank and the gummies and the weed vapes, definitely an ode to Colorado's weed and all of that. Trey did a good impression of someone on the Oxygen tank. I was super hyped for N02, that was a rarity that I did not see coming and it was a pretty good version with Mike on drill. Keyboard Army functioned as the slowdown of the encore and then they did Your Pet Cat, another tune I liked. Great tie-in to Harpua and a slick way to talk about the cat dying.

Now after this was one of the pivotal moments of the show, of my life, and of Phish lore. So Trey wraps up YPC and then he starts to talk about Jimmy, and how he began to wax philosophically. I had been wondering what the O song would be, I think I was thinking it could be Ocelot or something like that. I think I mentioned to a buddy of mine that it could be Once In A Lifetime, "but I doubt it". Lol. So Trey keeps talking about Jimmy, and how he began to wonder aloud, what's going on.. how did I get here??? All of a sudden my entire life hung in the balance and I was absolutely screaming my lungs out from 20 rows back on Mike's side "PLAY IT, PLAY IT, PLAY IT!!!!" At this time I'd like to note that I absolutely love the Talking Heads and that they were one of my favorite non-Phish bands, so getting this was like a cosmic sign. It felt like that moment where they were "waxing philosophically" seemed to last forever, hanging in the balance... and the crowd began to catch on as to what was happening as Trey kept saying.. How did I get here.. and then the opening chords to it clanged down and I just about went ballistic, as did the rest of the crowd. I couldn't sit still and was on cloud 9.. Definitely one of the best moments of my life. It wasn't the most well played but that didn't matter... United We Stand was a nice little upbeat love and light tune to end it... I don't think I slept much that night, that was simply incredible.

Thus ended my first magical Phish camping weekend. We piled in the car the next morning and headed home for classes to begin the next Tuesday.. Great stuff. Will never forget that night for sure as long as I live.

As a more contemporary review, 7 years later as we lead up to Dick's weekend 2022, that encore basically single-handedly saved the weekend both for me and in the eyes of a lot of fans, it's a song stretch - "the THANK YOU encore" - that everyone knows about as soon as you mention it, it's one of the best Harpua interplays really since Vegas 1996. They really made it work musically. Add in the DWD from Set 2 and you've got a hell of a show. I will point out that for many years after 2015, at least up until about 2020 or 2021, this show was languishing below 4 stars on Phish.net. Despite the THANK YOU encore, it was seen as just the final piece to a Dick's run that was heavy on songs and light on jams. However, its reputation has clearly increased over time, and as I write this in August 2022, it's getting a fat 4.56/5 and is one of the higher shows of the year (#9) in a year with quite a few top-tier shows. So it's gotten better among fans since the initial reaction. The DWD was also a stunner. I will agree that this run as a whole left something to be desired, at least musically, in terms of exploration. There weren't any really super notable jams of the 3 days except for the DWD, but I didn't need them. I already had a great time and would have regardless of what they played. Statwise, there were some incredible bustouts this show (Landlady, last played 1994), Keyboard Army (1995), Once in a Lifetime (1996) and clearly they were all just having a great time.

I also don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this is one of the best Phish encores of all time. 8 songs, spelling a phrase, that included Tweezer Reprise, Harpua, N02, and Once in a Lifetime, plus a bustout from 1995 and then a cover debut. It's up there with Vegas '96 (and even edges out total time played by over a minute on that one) and while UIC 2011's encore after the element set was a minute longer in playtime (37>36), that just didn't have the incredible drama and song choice that this one does.. Almost assuredly one of the top 2 longest encores in Phish history in terms of minutes played, so I don't think this one will be forgotten anytime soon.

If I could give this show 10 stars out of 5, I would, because it was as good of an experience that I could have asked for.. really just incredible finale to a great weekend that helped solidify Phish as my favorite band of all time. Letting the days go by....