This was a FANTASTIC run of three shows and one of the best weekends of my life! Such a good time, and now I want to go to MSG!

My Phish experience has leveled up lately upon meeting and coordinating with a wonderful crew from the Phish Discord (the "Phishcord") and it has made things so much more easy to go to shows and have an amazing time and amazing people. Once Fall Tour was announced, the destination for most of the folks was Hampton, and for me, this was going to accomplish a dream of mine, ever since I got into Phish for the first time over a decade ago. Hampton Coliseum has been this mythical place full of history and wonder. The Formerly the Warlocks shows. The Hampton Halleys. Hampton Comes Alive. The Return (2003). The Actual Return (2009). The incredible runs in 2013 & 2018, especially listening to the 2013 run many times when I had first become a Phan. So much amazing history in this place. I'm sure Harpua from a decade ago would have been proud of me going there, and I'm definitely proud of going there for this run. This was SPECIAL! Such a fun time!

I started off taking an overnight flight from Portland to Baltimore. I had never taken an overnight flight before, and so I tried to sleep. Maybe got a couple hours tops, lol. Woke up and we were landing in Baltimore and I met up with the first member of our crew, and we took the short hop into Norfolk. There, we met up with more folks, and the fun was on. We rented an Airbnb collectively on the far side of Hampton - Williamsburg. It was in this really cool resort and we had a full two-room, two story experience, where we set up and had a blast doing so. The music was top-tier, we ordered groceries and cooked up a storm, and folks were having such a good time. I was so excited for these shows - I had recently went to Dicks 2024, MSG 2024, and the first 5 of Spring Tour on the west coast, all complete fire. Phish is just playing so well right now - I couldn't miss Hampton - who knows when they would return (if they return?), so it had to happen. Worth every penny.

We shuttled into the show and the visual of Hampton Coliseum is AWESOME. That place is a post-modern masterpiece. So funny that it isn't really used that much because it's so out of the way and in a random location, but the architects for that KILLED.. they understood the assignment and made a distinct, memorable place. It felt like walking up to a church or cathedral. Took a ton of great photos and we enjoyed the lot.

Upon entry our crew went to the floor. It was so much fun to take in the arena - it's got a bit of magic to it. We ended up about 10-15 rows back on Mike Side. Fantastic visuals. Folks knew we were in for the takeoff in the mothership when... Booooom! Fluffhead! Everyone knew exactly what it was referencing. Me, the crew, and the crowd went ballistic. Such a classy touch, just so exclamatory and positive and it was the first of many "next-level" moments in the run. They nailed the Fluff and it was a great peak in that. On to 46 Days which rocked hard, and then they kept the juice going with My Friend, My Friend - one of the best breakouts in the last year. This was no exception - immediately a really great jam and things have just begun. Must hear for sure. Rift next was a fantastic choice to keep the energy going, thought that was a great setlist decision from Trey (an old school "slowdown" that wasn't much of a slowdown) - it was played well and set the tone for Gumbo, which was AWESOME! I had gotten an incredible Gumbo jam in San Francisco in April and this kept that going - another banger Gumbo. This song is possibly on the rise as a vehicle yet again. Pebbles is always welcome, love when this song gets played. Army of One was a true slowdown spot (and an earned one), this was my first live version of it. Cool stuff. I will always take a Ya Mar - one of my longtime favorites. Enjoyed the Wedge and Walls to close Set 1. Barn-burner for sure, and a really strong start to the run, especially Fluff through Gumbo.

Energy! What a choice to start Set 2 - hadn't been played since Summer 2023. I caught one in Eugene 2021. A neat song, always love when they play covers, and this one has a nice jam. In my mind it was a nod to the Hampton crowd, perhaps? Solid tune and version. Of course, with it not being played the first 5 shows of the mini-Fall Tour, you had to expect it: Tweezer! God damn this was so good and so fun. They are just so good right now. A 28-minute Tweezer with so many different themes and all of them thrilling and engaging. Straight cash, homie. Ruby Waves and No Men keep the jamming going, and there was just such a classy and well-done segue back into Tweezer to cap of 71+ minutes of exploration to start Set 2. I mean, that was worth the price of admission right there. Waste, a perfect slowdown - this was also paired with a tasty Ruby 12/29/2024 and 4/22/2025.. it all just works and flows so wonderfully. A nice rager Rock and Roll to close, I hadn't seen that song live since 2015.

Cute little encore to close and the Reprise hit well - I recall just being so sad the show was ending because I was having such a good time. Lmao. We made it outside and heard the news from the lot outside - there were so many cops around and it felt like we needed to get out of there. Thankfully we did. I didn't let that stuff affect me and was just having a great time overall, so things just kept rolling. Unbelievable that there were still two more nights of the band performing at this high of a level and at this cool of a venue! It's also really cool that they've been at such a high for so long that the Debbie Downers in the community have largely been stifled and it's way for the better. I love this band more than basically anything else in my life. Personally, this is what I dreamed of as a kid - seeing such amazing Phish shows in these cool historical venues. What more is life about?