Most of the time I'm "Mr. Grateful that they are still together, healthy, and playing" love and light and can't we all get along - even though my favorite Phish is dark - doomy - grimy - meatball bass - bring the mother ship down to kill and destroy kinda guy. (like 9/5/2021 Dick's Simple>Catapult > Meatstick). BUT... I couldn't help hoping more than a few times that they would get it together and find their way with a lot more cohesion last night.

The cons:
I know it's a tour opener but this really felt like a final rehearsal before they start firing on all cylinders. Aimless and disjointed jam development, rusty solos, rough improv concepts, and sub par setlist. Clunky. Felt like they really struggled to hear each other. Visible tech issues and noticeable frustration - Page especially. Although I will say that they are such professionals that 90% of the crowd didn't catch it. This one was rough, folks. Lastly, count me as one of those people that really doesn't understand why Trey feels the need to go back and finish every song. They springboard to such amazing places musically and structurally, altering tempos and rhythms that are miles away from where they started with the original song structure, so when Trey feels the need to go back to that and bookend it or tag the original song at the end the transition feels awkward and disjointed. Besides that it cuts off the possibility of an incredible segue/ in-to (and who doesn't love that?) AND it feels like it dampens or limits Trey's potential to explore and grow the jam because he's thinking about how to bring it back instead of where else can this go? It takes away from the flow and takes the crowd away from feeling IT.

Thumbs down honorable mention - LOVE CPA but the venue ran out of floor wristbands for 15 minutes with a long line at a standstill while the band took the stage and started playing. Like the person behind me wisely pointed out, who runs out of wristbands?

The Pros:
I love the risks the band was willing to take on N1. Nuggets of potential were definitely there. Gets me excited for the next two nights. The venue and staff were top notch. Security could not give a flying fug that everyone was partying hard and they were really friendly / non invasive. Did not witness a single person get hassled anywhere in or out of the venue. And the campus right outside the venue is so fam. I'm happy that the band looked happy and excited to be there.

I danced my ass off and had a blast on the floor. This crusty vet is definitely feeling that Possum encore in my legs today as much as I'm feeling big things for the 26 year return to Portland. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.