SET 1:

Back on the Train: Fish seems to be about to go into Buried Alive and then Glide at the start of this one - those would’ve both been bonkers calls. Instead it’s the more conventional BOTT. Gets a good crowd response. Many would groan at this call today but this RAGES! A little longer than usual and totally ripped by Trey. Very good BOTT. >

Rift: perfect in this slot. Played well! Trey is full of confidence. >

Guelah Papyrus: nice!! LOVE this placement - shows confidence. Crowd is amped up. Lovely extended intro with Trey tomfoolery. The Asse Festival will be the test of how ‘on’ they are tonight. Good news: it’s largely played well except for parts of the very end. Solid.

Scent of a Mule: my song! Love this anytime, anywhere, at any venue. Duel starts with manic Page klezmer with occasions Mike bombs, then the standard Trey-Page roaring battle, then outro.

Jesus Just Left Chicago: in love with these placements so far. Basically an obligation to play this in Chicago, and it’s a great cooldown tune. Page sounds splendid throughout.

Wolfman’s Brother: standard sort of jam for a while until around 6:30, where on a dime it pushes away from a potential build to a peak and goes full swingin’ funk, Fish cowbell and everything. Listen to Mike in this jam! Immense! Little bit of quality whale call starting 8:15, and now we’re surging through a stormy sea. Once again have to shout out Mike because holy shit 9:10 and on! Then by 10:30 we’re raging it classic style, Trey fully taking the reins. Absolutely screaming at 11:00! Classic conclusion from there on out. Totally huge Wolfman’s, great statement from a song that almost always delivers in early 3.0! Another cooldown would be nice next.

Anything But Me: ah nice. Apparently someone has a sign for this at Tahoe, hence the bustout. Always a song I forget exists, but I enjoy the doo-wop ballad feel. Incidentally the last ever appearance of this song, which is a shame - I feel like it’d fit right in with a lot of the newer Trey material.

Babylon Baby: debut of a new Mike tune, never heard this one before. The groove is very fun here even if the chorus is a bit amateurish. Jam is decent and the song is fairly well performed.

Reba: lol, classic ‘thank you for giving a new tune a try, here’s your reward’ placement. Tiny bit shaky from Trey towards the end of the composed section but no biggie. Nice jam, very solid shredding at the peak - nothing I’d go out of my way to recommend but it’s exactly what you’d want. Whistling.

Alumni Blues -> Letter to Jimmy Page -> Alumni Blues: YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my god. Literally my favourite Phish song ever. I genuinely would be happy if they played this every other show. Blown away by this call, a massive shout out to whoever put the song title on a bouncy ball that kept bouncing on stage lmao. This needs to enter rotation as a set closer, because it works SO well here and the crowd is electrified. LTJP is a little butchered but the two parts of Alumni are ripped to shreds. Page out on the organ first, then Trey, then LTJP, then Trey decides that this is going to be the closer and puts together a bonkers solo in the second part, what a rock god. Absolutely heaving. So good. A++++.

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SET 2:

Sand: party is back on and the elements set has begun. Pretty intense jam with Trey and Page trading off licks, though nothing of particular note. Settles into a groovy Sand space for a minute towards the end, then fades out into big broad ambience with peals of squealing guitar, out of which comes… >

Light: eh, alright. Jam gets very interesting around 6:30 when it moves into a turbulent, dissonant space, with plenty of effects from all members. Pretty much totally freeform from 7:30 onwards once Trey and Mike start trading atonal riffs, though Fish just baaaaaarely keeps it together in the background. Loop central here. At 9:00 it’s looking to go full plinko funk? Very fun. Love Fish’s move to cowbell-led playing here. Looked like things were about to become super interesting, but Trey fades them into organ-led ambience, and it’s time for > Dirt. Definitely a step up in intrigue from the Sand jam, but set still hasn’t taken off quite yet. >

Dirt: beautiful song but not sure the set is ready for it just yet. More needed in this spot.

Waves: always a solid call. Theme is starting to become apparent now, but set isn’t doing anything too crazy yet - maybe it’ll start erupting here? Pretty bonkers run from Trey starting 3:00, that’s some old school dexterity. This first solo gets LOUD, wow. Most rock’n’roll tune of the set so far. After the closing refrain Trey starts aggressively strumming and pushes the band into an outro jam - moody, stormy space for a little bit here that has some funk to it courtesy of Mike. Trey turns on the wah and begins to shred like Hendrix. Awesome. Deep and dark. Builds higher and higher from here with Mike laying down that aggressive funk the whole time and Page hammering away on the baby grand. Wow he’s really ripping here. Massive. At 11:00 there’s a pivot led by Page and Fish into choppy funk. Page really tearing it up on that organ, damn! Sick! Trey is messing with Undermind as early as 11:30, and then in a BUTTERY smooth segue - like, one of the best ever - the song proper begins. Very cool Waves, that’s how you do it. ->

Undermind: holy segue. The composed section takes on the tenor of the Waves jam, i.e. darker and more fluttery than usual, and the first set of solos continues that vibe big time with some intense rhythmic soundscapes from Page and Trey. Becomes more conventional for a little bit, then Trey brings back the harmonic weirdness around 4:10, then back into the refrain. Damn, this Undermind is evil. Love Fish’s soloing in his section. A second jam immediately starts up after this soloing, and things are once again dark, evil and funky. Very experimental here. Page with some foreboding organ, then wet, dark, choppy play at around 6:30 while Fish ramps the energy WAY up. Somewhat more jazzy next, Page fooling around with the Rhodes. Then holy shit, the bassline Mike drops at 8:20!!!! Wow!!!! Awesome!!!! Shame he doesn’t keep with it, that was a killer 40 seconds of music. The intensity finally lifts after that section and things get light and pretty. A fade out, then Trey starts gorgeously and delicately soloing over this outro ambience - wow. Amazing. Emotionally intense. Wowwww! Page’s theremin!!!! Love this so much, spine-tingling. Fish lightly re-enters but stays out of the way for the most part, good restraint (I think he hears beat 1 in a different spot to where I hear it though.) Page ditching the theremin in later 3.0 is a tragedy. Finally it comes to a proper close with waves of guitar ambience. Perfect > into Steam. I’ll say it: this is the best Undermind, and it’s not really close. Absolutely no going back to 8/31/12 after you hear this. This set is delivering the goods after an indifferent first half. >

Steam: by far the best crowd response this tune has ever received and will ever receive, lol. They’re going nuts for this one. Awesome placement. This rages REALLY hard, definitely the loudest Steam to date. It has a false peak and then Trey comes around again and runs it back. Arguably the best Steam ever though I’m not as knowledgeable as others are with this song. Certainly the best if you want high quality rock. >

Fire: love it. You can hear Trey call for this on the SBD with a few seconds left in Steam if you pay attention. This Fire is ripped to pieces as you’d expect. Elements set complete in style. What a thrill!

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ENCORE:

Camel Walk: Before starting this up Trey says they weren’t told that they needed to rush to meet curfew, essentially telling the crowd that they were in for something longer than usual. Awesome. Buckle in! Takes a while for them to decide on a song, then Trey overrules the other choices and picks Camel Walk!!!! YOOOOOO haha. INSANE encore pick - totally here for this.

Guyute: I’m melting down here haha. The crowd must be so ecstatic right now. Fast from the beginning, let’s see if they manage the tricky parts - not that I’d be bothered at all if they didn’t, given how insane this show is. Okay cool I’ve definitely heard better but I have DEFINITELY heard worse. It’s rock solid from the heavy section onwards.

The Horse: nice. >

Silent in the Morning: nice.

Harry Hood: perfection. Love it. Flubby composed section with Trey coming in too early with the ‘angry riff’ at one point and a very short intro. Delicate full band interplay to start the jam. Pleasant for sure. This one is very slow to build for a while, and it’s actually Mike who pushes a move towards the miracle riff around 8:30. A slow build up from there, with some busy old school tension-and-release playing from Trey as they climb up. Definitely very unlike 3.0 Trey to not go straight for the riff! IMO his playing here is a little over-ambitious and lacking in melody, but it sure does go REALLY high, and the ending is solid. Biiiiig dramatic whaley outro. Maybe not my favourite Hood ever, I think this one just barely falls short where Trey was going for a big exclamation point.

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OVERALL: wow! Fantastic show, I didn’t have super high expectations for the set 2 after the opening trio of songs but the next three are INSANE, with by far my favourite Undermind, a beautiful Waves, and a heaving Steam. That plus the long encore plus the brilliant set 1 setlist (love some of the rarities Trey pulled out!) plus the overall calibre of play has me thinking this show deserves close to all of its hype. Shame about that slightly awkward Hood.

Pretty much on the verge between 4.3 and 4.4. Can I say 4.35?