We escaped the dreadful night...

I'm shocked this show is scoring so low. It might not stand out besides the giant "Rained Out" asterisk, but the venue was cooking from Page's first notes on CTB. The venue was very intimate, maybe 7000 people, and the staff was super hospitable in my experience. Tons of vendors to buy food and drinks, and a flat GA lawn that ended with a slight hill in the back where we lounged and danced throughout the night.

Cars, Trucks, Buses into A Wave of Hope was 25 minutes of mostly instrumental fire to kick off the show. Funky Bitch, BoTT, and It's Ice delivered some Set 1 heat, while hey stranger, Lawn Boy, and Circus gave us the chance to soak in the NC sunset over the Cape Fear River. You might feel like me and think that the new tunes (Wave of Hope, Blaze On) can be pretty 'meh', but the band played the whole first set very cleanly and we got a huge opening jam with Wave of Hope, which is much more than can be said about the night before or even whole past tours!

Set 2 was about 45 minutes long, and delivered the whole way through. The band took the stage after an extended set break during which the crew covered their gear as it lightly rained. Chalk Dust > Oblivion was pure energy. The jam out of oblivion has some seriously murky waters before turning towards the light. The Wedge was played in the wrong key, which was immediately noticeable in a good way. Kind of like the 12/1/95 Weekapaug, it just felt a bit lifted. Anyway, the rain came down as they played and you could tell the storm was becoming too much as Trey was splashing around on stage.

The skies really opened during Scents and while the band clearly wanted to keep going, we saw lightning hit maybe a mile directly behind the venue as Trey announced that they had to stop. I've never been caught in a rainstorm like that, and outside of the general uneasiness brought on by thunder and lightning, it was sort of fun. The general vibe was that we all wanted each other to be safe, and we stampeded out of the venue towards any semblance of cover we could find. Definitely the most novel way to end a show.

Maybe this show doesn't hold up upon relistening for some people. I think Set 1 and the Wave of Hope should be considered in hindsight. The Phish from Vermont's first stop in Wilmington ended with a fairly typical first set with a gorgeous coastal backdrop, and 45 minutes of serious music before a calamitous, force majeure finale.