another quality show. contained a lot of absolutely sick jamming. certainly not amongst the finest ever played at dicks, but that's a high mark to achieve.

first set kicks off with high-energy sequence of moma>final hurrah, gumbo, each containing some nice 'mustard' on their type-1 jams. access me was a fun choice, not played since alpine '12. funky bitch raged as it always does. next came the highlight of the set (and perhaps the show)--a monster type-2 ghost. pretty much immediately this jam went out there, moving between major and minor key sections. incredible, must-listen phish. tube provided another highlight, with a fantastic blissful section before the move to blues. mountains in the mist is a nice choice for a cool-down. drift while you're sleeping is not my favorite song, but ymmv. the end certainly is euphoric.

second frame was a flow-fest, with some great improv mixed in. a mike's groove to open with a hydrogen is always going to work for me, with a nice jam in mikes, a fairly accurate rendition of hydrogen and a sprawling weekapaug. 46 days raged as it often does, and SYSF had some great moments. a late-set DWD? i'll take that all day. this version was another one for the books, well worth multiple relistens. segue to NICU was quality as well. bug and the wedge are always great to hear, and a standard slave closed the set. haven't heard brian and robert in a while so was happy to get that, and then standard zero.

all in all a great saturday show, but still leaves sunday to really blow us away. so much left on the table for tomorrow--tweezer, YEM, reba, simple, fluff, 2001, the list goes on. cannot wait.

If you're a fan of funky, dance-your-ass-off Phish, this show was a real treat. They started off with the Moma funk and kept that juicy pedal to the metal all the way through a ridiculous type 2 Ghost and a majestic Tube that takes the 3.0 trophy from Chula Vista. 295 days since my last Access Me - instant smile on my face.

Second set flowed like milk and honey, with a couple of monster jams shot through with stellar segues. Paug and Disease were monstrous.

One of my favorite shows in awhile. Credit to an amazing funk pocket behind the soundboard getting absolutely DOWN with not a hint of chomping. See yall tonight for what is shaping up to be something special.

For the Trey deconstructionists out there, he had that psychotic zombie look that he occasionally gets as his Funky Bitch solo started. Straight neck pick-up, over-driven, tube screamer tone. Fantastic. All these years later, I find it so inspiring that he still connects with that kid who just wants to make a guitar scream.

A solid show from start to finish. It was a hot day and we arrived on the lot as soon as gates opened. Shakedown was on the sidewalks due to the Prairie Dog plague, but it worked out great. I managed to score the last “Plague side rage side” T shirt with an infected Prairie dog on the front which made my day.

After checking out Shakedown for a while, my crew and I visited the Dicks meat up We met the infamous Dale Cooer and some other .net legends. Everyone was super friendly, I definitely recommend this for all the fence-sitters who have contemplated attending in the past.

Now on to the show....I think N2 edges out N1 for the best show of the run. The band was locked in all night and for whatever reason, Trey’s vocals were better sounding tonight than N1.

Let’s talk about that 1st set Ghost. It was absolutely incredible...a must-hear version. Dark and evil while breathtakingly beautiful Reminds me of the Carini from the 2012 NYE run..... jam of the weekend imho.

Song selection throughout both sets was great and it shouldn’t be understated how locked in they were all night. Who doesn’t love a Mountains in the mist? This rendition was as beautiful and the Camden ‘99 version...they absolutely nailed it. Tube was stellar and the segue from the very good DWD into NICI was flawless. i am probably in the minority, but I really enjoyed and appreciated the Brian and Robert complete with the “you’d be lost on the Plague Ground” vocals.

Can’t wait to come back and do it again next year. ....what an incredible night!!!

Shadows!

All afternoon I was commenting to my wife about how amazing the shadows at Dicks are. I’ve got a shot from 2011 with this long thin extended shadow that actually dwarfs me aside from the it’s slim stature. Those same shadows were again in full effect with the sun setting over the Rocky Mountains.

Feeling the karmic spirit alive and well in the mile high city, I wondered how this shadow metaphor might play out during that evening’s show. It didn’t take long, and appeared midway through the first set when an absolutely solid bit of sonic revelry in Ghost had just touched down after an eerie cosmic exploration. The subsequent Tube was that tall looming shadow of Ghost. It was monstrous yet slim in comparison and though the length wasn’t something to write home about, what it lacked in track length it more than made up for in substance. Not your typical Tube!

Just wanted to give this Tube it’s due.

Definitely a stronger showing than night one. The Phish came out of the gates hot on this night. Moma Dance always sets a funky tone for the show, even if it's a pretty standard version. The band kind of ran with the funk and groove based theme for the rest of the night. I'm a fan of the KV songs, so I didn't mind seeing another one pop up in the first set. If you're looking for a groovy, funky set, you can't go wrong with Gumbo, Funky Bitch, Ghost, and Tube. Solid bustout in Access Me; helped push me over into the 300 unique song club, along with Mountains in the Mist and Drift While You're Sleeping. The highlight of the first set was the face-melting Ghost and Tube segment. Just some straight fire from Trey during Ghost. Haven't raged that hard in a while. Mountains in the Mist was a HUGE song for me; been chasing it for years and finally got it. I don't have DWYS, but I also don't love it as the set closer. A little too slow and long for me, and not enough energy to be the final song of a set. Oh well, the rest of set one was killer.

Set two: Who doesn't love a strong Mike's Groove, especially the classic version with Hydrogen in the middle. This Groove stayed pretty well within the normal confines, but was definitely rocking with some solid Trey leads. I really enjoyed how Weekapaug melted seamlessly (at least in person it felt that way) into 46 Days, which got freaky and weird for a few minutes. SYSF is definitely my favorite of the "soul songs," and this version delivered some goods. The highlights of this set are probably the Groove->46 Days and the DWD->NICU. I really enjoyed the weird soundscapes that came out of Disease and would highly recommend it. Definitely some weird deconstructed sounds and ambient, trippy stuff coming from the band during this second set. Not a huge fan of the NICU thru Wedge segment, although all of them were well-played, but maybe a little too chill for the end of the second set. Slave was beautifully played (When isn't it??) and I thought this version was slightly better than some I've seen in the past.

Brian and Robert is a lovely song, but kind of an odd choice for the encore. Zero is a standard encore, but I would have loved something a little more unique. Still a solid show!

Maybe the best Phish show I’ve attended thus far (I’ll let you guys check my stats and judge for yourselves). Ghost, Tube, 46 Days - all personal faves, all monster versions. My first Gumbo, Access Me (never thought I’d see the day), Mike’s, Hydrogen, and Weekapaug. Jupiter and Saturn visible all night in the southern sky. Just a perfect night.

...also, that Ghost was pretty good, eh?