Was really awesome! Something I will never forget.... Definitely left me wanting more!!!!!!!

though there weren’t any ENORMOUS highs in this show like the RnR -> Meatstick -> Boogie On from the previous night, the boys played more consistently well throughout, and there were a lot of fun teases, especially towards the end of the show, that raised the energy level. a lot of the jams and segues seemed so effortless, and the feeling that anything was possible was perhaps even stronger than night one. that this didn’t really translate into another 25 minute jam was not necessarily a bad thing. what we got instead was a solid first set, and an amazing second set that ended on a much better note than night one did.

overplay aside, possum was a great opener. it featured a particularly long intro section, which led to a great release when the song proper started. as usual, the gorge crowd was bouncing all over the place immediately. trey’s solo was totally within the box (no curveballs like at blossom ‘11), but really solid. in the few shows that i’ve been to, it seems to usually take the band a few songs to get going, so to see them firing on all cylinders out of the gate was heartening. moma was a great follow-up to possum, featuring some major funk in the intro jam and a surprisingly energetic solo section from trey. after two songs, i wondered if the band was going to go out into left field early like they had the night before with bathtub gin and roggae.

but then came sample. i love this song. i love it so much, in fact, that i cover it regularly when i play gigs. but it’s one of the few songs that have fallen completely flat for me in 3.0. this version was no different (ed: the essex junction version recently piqued my interest, i have to admit). limb by limb was next, another song i haven’t really been terribly impressed with in the 21st century. here it sounded like trey was trying to do something different, playing around with atonality and such, but it didn’t really work for me and i ended up feeling a bit like the first set might be a bit of a clunker after a great start. ocelet, though another solid version, didn’t do much to convince me that this was going to be anything other than a standard rock and roll set. poor heart was a nice surprise, and page’s playing made it a fun listen, but aside from the novelty of never having heard it live before, i was left hoping for something to break out of the box.

fortunately, on your way down did just that. not only was hearing the song at all a surprise, the entire band absolutely SLAYED the jam. it was a more-or-less standard blues affair, of course, but it was flawlessly played and even after a few listens is still one of my favorite parts of this show. the band seemed to build up so momentum during this song, because next up was a wolfman’s that was rockier than usual, and featured (i think) a heartbreaker tease as well as a great segue into maze. much like how the ‘09 gorge disease finally sold me on that song, this maze made me a believer. trey does a great job here skating around a peak for a few minutes, building tension, before really ripping into it. this three-song run is easily the highlight of the first set, and maybe the highlight of the whole show, though that’s not to say the second set was bad; this run of songs is just THAT GOOD.

the call for wilson next was a good one, but trey quickly botched the guitar part and the wind seemed to go out of the band’s sails quickly. my first live wilson, but nothing to write home about. as trey dove into fluffhead next, i remember being surprised at how fast a tempo he set. as a result, i expected a lot more flubbage than we got. the composed section of the song was well-played, and there were a few more rock-star fireworks from trey during the outro jam. much like the first night, this opening set had a lot of great moments, a lot more “solid” moments, and a few legit jamming moments that seemed to belong in a second set. the boys clearly wanted to let loose like they had the night before, and as we went into setbreak, i was wondering if things would gel better in the second set, making a space for IT to happen like it had the night before.

chalkdust is a song i’ve always wanted to hear jammed out into space. the version on the live in brooklyn bonus disc is one of my favorite pieces of phish music ever. this hope means that every time i heard the opening of chalkdust, i know i’m almost certain to get disappointed by a rocking, but not spacey chalkdust. such was the case here. the second set opened with a perfectly serviceable but uninteresting chalkdust. everybody was jumping, though, and it felt like we just needed the right excuse to rage. fortunately, chalkdust segued perfectly into tweezer. this was a goddamn ROCK tweezer, but trey varied the soloing up enough that it never gets boring, and it stirred the audience up into a froth, but then the band moved with a pretty spacey transition into prince caspian. you could probably argue that this was an energy-killer, but the transition actually seemed fitting to me and the prince caspian, if anything, seemed too short. right when things seemed to be getting interesting, we jumped into sand.

which, ultimately, was fine. this was a great version of sand. one of the things that has made this song such a great jam this year is its move from a trey-rock vehicle to something more full-band-powered. after much of the show being trey-dominated, it was nice to see him step back a bit during sand and let the whole band construct something really interesting. the move back into tweezer at the end of sand, i think, broke everybody’s minds. i had thought this was just a tease, but then fishman shifted the beat and suddenly we were back in tweezer. it seemed like they couldn’t find anywhere to take the song after such a great transition, though, and just as quickly we were into birds of a feather. birds was a bit sloppy, but fast and so the sloppiness didn’t seem like a technical disappointment, but just the sound of a band who was playing with so much energy that they were briefly sacrificing precision.

i can always handle on waste per tour. this one’s a good listen. next was my first golden age, which was great because i’ve loved this cover ever since it was debuted. this version didn’t really go anywhere interesting, but just hearing the song itself was great enough. i was expecting the set to wrap up around this point, so i was pretty surprised to hear the opening notes of reba. the NYE ‘95 reba is another one of my favorite phish moments, and after a nearly-flawless composed section here, the beginning movements of the jam were really similar to that version. just getting hear the spacey notes of the reba jam float out over the expanse of the gorge was one of the highlights of my entire run. the show could have ended here and i’d have been happy, but there was a lot more to go.

there was, of course, the antelope, which in addition to just being a great set-closing jam, featured in introduction that teased almost every song from the second set. the transition from the sand tease into antelope proper was one of those moments that just required a jumping, screaming fist-pump of joy. much of the crowd seemed to agree.

once again, i expected the show to end with the suzy greenberg encore, and when i heard the opening notes of sanity, i couldn’t believe what i was hearing. it seemed a great cap to a night that had already had a lot of teases and all-around phish goofiness. i think there was a “WHAT?!” somewhere in there from fishman. things finally ended up with my second tweeprise at the gorge, putting the perfect exclamation point on the two night stand.

i remember thinking at the end of the show that i couldn’t really imagine what else the band could do over the tahoe run to equal or top these two shows. i was afraid i might be bored, or disappointed, and that it was a weird sort of luck to see what must have been two of the better phish shows of 3.0 at the best venue in america. sure, each show had a few low points, but looked at together, they cover just about every thing you could want from phish: bluegrass, trey’s rock-star guitar, long space jams, fun teases, goofiness, plinko-style jamming, unexpected segues, etc., etc. what could tahoe do to top this run? well, i would find out in a few days…

Man this was an insaine show, a definate wake up call. The boys have really brought their "A" game on this summer leg. I was astonished by the visuals and the quality of the music. I sat there inspired and awestruck by their musicianship, what an awesome place to catch your first Phish show, I mean come on the GORGE of all places. So beautiful and sereane cannot wait till next year and cannot wait to see them again!!!

This is a pretty average great show that I feel gets ignored because of the massive set that came the night before. Super solid first set with a great Possum (for 3.0), super funky Moma, and a nice rarity in the form of On Your Way down. Wolfman's>Maze>Wilson was definitely going places, though Trey's flubbed intro of Wilson derails it a little. Outstanding Fluffhead to close to the frame.

Set 2 started with a rippin' CDT>Tweezer that very much stays type I. The lack of exploration made it a bit disappointing when Caspian showed up so soon, but he didn't stay long, and the Sand that followed was brooding and grooving and segued magnificently back into Tweezer. The whole place was floored, I don't think anyone saw it coming. Unfortunately, it was short lived, and the jarring intro of BOAF stirred us from our bliss. I seriously wish they'd start playing Birds without the intro when they play it midset. There's no way to make that feel smooth. The Waste that followed was lovely, one of my favorite ballads, but threatened the flow of the show if we were subjected to another medley of ballads as on the previous night. Fortunately, Golden Age got us dancing again, even if this version stayed pretty standard, Next came the rare 2nd set Reba, and this version remains one of my favorites of 3.0. The composed section is relatively flawless, and the jam is one of those slow building spacey Reba jams that ends in pure bliss hose. I'd have been fine with the whistling ending to close the set, but the Antelope they played really tied the set together. Tease-fest throughout, and marvelously well done by Trey (and everyone)!

A show like that demands a solid encore, and that's exactly what they delivered with Suzy>my first Sanity!>Tweeprise

Overall it's a stellar show from a time when the band was really starting to find themselves again. 3.5/5

I attended these shows and remembered thinking they were AMAZING. Then I listened to them a year or so later and remembered thinking "it must have been the drugs." Having give each show a recent listen, I decided the previous me is an idiot. There are parts in each of these shows that absolutely rage.
The first night's Rock 'n Roll->Meatstick->Boogie on is essential Phish listening. Add one of the baddest bands in the world to a premier concert venue in the middle of nowhere and this is what you get. The bottom of the world dropped out. LISTEN. NOW.
The entire second set of the second night is one of the most well constructed sets of music in their career, and I'm not saying that because I have a serious Tweezer problem (although I do). Trey really digs in and raises some raucous ruckus during several peaks during Sand. This is the perfect placement for Birds. Really emotional peak during Waste that comes as close to rivaling the 12/11/97 version as I've ever heard. Cap it all off with an Antelope that teased most of the songs that preceded it...listening to it again, it still feels like too much to ask for.
If you're on the fence about going through the hassle of going to the Gorge, do yourself a favor and listen to these shows. They are very compelling evidence.

Antelope is batshit crazy. There's certainly a gratuitous amount of ballads in the 2nd set, and some incongruous placements, but overall the show stands up to the previous night for the most part. The encore is the highlight here, undoubtedly.

Arguably as good as the previous night, for some reason this show doesn't seem to get as much attention as the 8/5 show. Perhaps it was the monster RnR in the second set that featured Page on Theremin, or the dance party that was Boogie On>Meatstick, but whatever it is this show seems to be a sleeper. It was definitely a rager, and I would argue that the second set CDT>BOAF is spot on. Actually, looking up at that second set I can't help but say this set ROCKS from start to finish. The Tweezer sandwich was HOT HOT HOT and the Antelope littered with teases was amazing.

The first set is also pretty stellar. I absolutely love the On Your Way Down cover, and the Heartbreaker teases in Wolfman's are sick. I actually feel like I hear Heartbreaker teases all the time now (especially in the Sally from 8/19.) Maze>Wilson>Fluffhead to close the first set? Now that is awesome! What more can I say? I met 3 Phish virgins in the lot and accompanied them to both nights and basically showed them how to get down at a Phish show. Could not have asked for a more positive experience from my first shows at The Gorge. It absolutely rocked my face off, and I cannot wait to go back!

Highlights for me were Wolfmans, Maze, Antelope, and Sanity. Great way to end the weekend. Lots of memories

this was the best 2 set show i saw all summer. i didnt realize i was on my way down until wolfmans maze wilson fluff. the teases, the tweezer caspian sand tweeze birds is insane. amazing reba with to make up for superballs sloppy whistle section and a raging antelope i didnt even see coming but fit so well to my mood. then the triple encore and sanity made me realize the stars really did suck tonight because i was dancing my ass off for 3 hours and didnt give two shits about them.

well played phish. though i didnt attend or hear uic yet i think everyone should get this show.

2nd. set. rage.

Decent show, not as good as Friday but almost!
It was being professionally filmed, anyone know why or who by?

I listened to the entire show over the stream and it was sick!!! So many highlights. One of the best Antelopes I have ever heard and I've been seeing them since 93'. I would recommend this show in a big way.

according to my buddy who listened to the stream last night, this Lope is freakin' crazy!! can't wait to give this a listen.

Wow, looks like an amazing show according to the Setlist.