SET 1:

Farmhouse: LOL, what an opener for the big SPAC run. I like the song and actually prefer it as an opener to 555 which opened the following night. Obviously everyone would agree this is far from ideal though – can’t imagine how much kvetching there was over this one in the crowd. Gets a nice little rock’n’roll solo from Trey for its short (very short – this is the shortest version of 3.0 up to this point and possibly earlier) length.

Wolfman’s Brother: still kind of a milquetoast start to the show even with this in the two. Jam gets funky immediately as is typical with Wolfman’s. The clav-heavy sound of Summer ’14 is apparent right off the bat, this exact jam style would pretty much define the tour. Good jam all round! It was clear from the Farmhouse that Trey wanted to play rock god tonight and that is proven in this Wolfman’s. Very solid raging solo with Mike slapping along and everything. Recommended.

Maze: call Farmhouse a small lapse of judgement because we’re back in business now. Bass sounds nice and full from the start and in general this show is very well-mixed like the rest of the SPAC shows. Page rips on the organ to start and Trey is right there with him the whole time. The handover to Trey is smooth. Veeeery brief Munsters theme tease early on in his solo (later to be quoted in full in the (phenomenal) 8/1 Antelope). Trey’s solo is succinct and does everything it needs to. Only real flub is Trey playing the end tag in the wrong key, and you can hear him quietly replaying it after the song is done, LOL. Good Maze for sure.

Yarmouth Road: honestly the most notable aspect of this playthrough is Fish doing a partial stick-count(!) to get this one going, how many instances of that are there???? Otherwise this is as standard as it gets for a Phish Yarmouth Road, including Trey forgetting parts and the whole song kind of just being all-round terrible. Sucks as much as you’d expect.

Strange Design: would’ve worked awesome as a cooldown song out of Maze, why would you not just skip over Yarmouth? Doesn’t feel needed in this spot as it stands. Well-played and pretty though.

Devotion to a Dream: much better. Haters BTFO.

Ocelot: meh. Indifferent to this in this slot pretty much. This is an above average version though, I really enjoy Trey’s playing at 7 minutes in and onwards. In general there’s a rootsy crunchiness to his approach here that sounds very good. I’d give this a relisten when I’m in an Ocelot mood.

Chalk Dust Torture: ooo nice! Good placement that compliments that Ocelot real well. Good tempo for the era. Average succinct jam.

Mound: ooo interesting late set 1 spot for this. Little unconfident from Trey early on but corrected pretty quickly and then smooth sailing from that point onwards. Still not a favourite song of mine by any means but a good bone to throw the fans nonetheless.

Roggae: works great out of Mound. Standard.

Possum: standard.

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SET 2:

Bathtub Gin: cool second set opener! Builds anticipation for sure. Swims along in standard Gin space for a while (check out the cool little Trey riffs starting around 8:20) and reaches a decent peak before Trey starts slamming on the wah pedal at 11:00 and signals for a funky change. The funk doesn’t stick for long at all though, Trey and Page don’t latch onto anything in particular and the jam enters a wandering space with Trey chordal-riffing around in search of some inspiration. Eventually Fish cuts out and the other three play off each other for a while (not particularly coherently I might add.) Interestingly Trey offers up a darker rock direction at 14:00 with some very rhythmic playing but none of the others bite, wonder why Fish didn’t jump on that feel. I respect the intent to do something here but it’s a bit of a mediocre attempt to jam this one I’d say, below-average version. >

Limb by Limb: hmmm, strange call I’d say – you’d think they’d reach for another jam vehicle after Gin fizzled. Composed section is strong and then you can hear Trey looking to push this one long as soon as 5:00. A touch of a calypso feel in the early going here that just gets stronger and more percussive by 7:00. Wow @ Fish’s on-the-fly new rhythm at 7:50, that’s my drummer right there! Really appreciating how slowly and subtly this jam is souring. Then Trey makes a real bold call and pushes this FULLY type II by playing a new riff at a different tempo, which Fish catches onto, and before you know it they’re in a super janky and cool jam that sounds like one of the funkier jams from ’94-’95 – the basic rhythms of funk music being thrown into a washing machine and spat out. For SURE check out the passage from 9-12 mins, or just listen to the full thing – it’s worth it for sure. Maybe the coolest 3.0 Limb there is. Fish offers up the LxL rhythm again at the end, but Trey doesn’t bite and instead goes >

Winterqueen: let the melts begin. I like this placement! Carries the same sort of energy as Limb to me, works decent in this spot and they play this with enthusiasm (occasionally too much – Trey makes a couple little flubs.) An uncommon level of swing here to my ears for the song. Good, punchy Winterqueen.

The Line: omg no absolutely not what the moment was asking for lol. Times like this I’m almost glad they have songs like No Man’s and Blaze On these days so they have an easy energetic jammer to reach for after cooldown tracks. This is not it in this spot.

Tweezer: yeah Trey realised the set was on life support after The Line so had to reach for something of Tweezer proportions lol. Hopefully this’ll put things back on track, though similar to Yarmouth in set 1, why would you not just play this after Winterqueen???? A little faster than usual to my ears. Super assertive Mike at the start of the jam, with Trey providing some deep dark effects, that opens up into more standard Tweezer soloing soon after. Winds down into prettier piano-led jamming next (I quite enjoy Page’s work from the 9 minute mark on.) What’s Trey teasing at 10:30? I swear it’s from something I’ve heard. Love Mike at 11:45. Really this is quite a nice jam, nothing to write home about but definitely a bit underrated. It’s nice. >

Prince Caspian: a logical enough choice out of that Tweezer jam I figure. Short, decently pretty jam. >

Sparkle: maybe I’m just dumb but I’m enjoying these last couple choices. Coherent vibe and feels early 90s in its succinctness. Standard of course. >

Run Like an Antelope: ha they’ve managed to make something out of this set at least, even if that something isn’t what we expected. This one takes a pretty tense and evil path at points en route to the peak. Decent Antelope, effective set closer.

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ENCORE:

Sing Monica: Page introduces this one with a nice little preamble. Pretty good soloing actually, don’t know if you’d need another version of this song really.

Tweezer Reprise: standard. Charming.

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Overall: arghhhh I don’t know I think I might actually be HIGHER on this show than the .net average, even if only very slightly. This show is weighed down by two particularly terrible song choices (Yarmouth after Maze and The Line after Winterqueen) and if they were omitted I’d be rating this even higher. The thing is I respect shows that take an ambitious swing with the setlist even if it’s a swing and a miss. The worst thing a Phish show can be is predictable BOTT > Moma > Stash > Wolfman’s type stuff and this one most certainly isn’t that. No real crazy bustouts but it’s ambitious with how it places the standards, which is something I appreciate. There are also some genuinely good versions of songs here. Check out Wolfman’s, Maze, Ocelot, Winterqueen and especially Limb, one of the more unique versions out there.

3.6 stars, about on par with the next night. Can’t place it higher with those few horrid placements in here.