As I said about N1...Phish didn’t come to SPAC to “play”, they came to fuckin’ play.

FLUFFHEAD (RIP to Mike’s bass)...and then GUYUTE?!? HOLY FUCK. That’s it. That’s the whole review.

.....

Fine, I’ll do the rest of the show.

Martian Monster and Llama were shorter incarnations, or at least they felt like it, as my mind’s still on the two behemoths that they played before. Everything thru the whole show was real tight, and these two tunes were no exception. Food for thought, will we ever hear a slow Llama again?

Then we got Steam. Fuuuun-kyyyyyy. Head-banger of a jam too. Again, short but sweet. Or, I’m not sober and have no concept of time. One of the two is correct, and that’s up to you to decide.

The boys put us into a bit of a dream sequence with Horse > Silent & then Sleep (bustout!!), but you know what? I loved it. Great breather to recover from the insanity that was the start of the set, and they’re also great songs. Drift While You’re Sleeping was a solid set closer, and I gleefully went to take my setbreak leak with more than my usual fix of sap & sweetness.

Repeating last night’s approach to set 2, the boys started up with NMINML, an easy jammer to get the heads boppin’ & a song that can really go anywhere. Great exploration here that takes its time & had us all feeling pretty great throughout. Dirt was awesome to hear afterwards. One of my all-time favorite Phish melodies & I always liked the lyrics.

If I could sum up the following string of tunes into one word, it would be this one: seamless. Totally seamless. Plasma and We Are Come to Outlive Our Brains felt like the same damn song. Genius. And then Tweezer Reprise?? AGAIN?! WOW. What a way to cap off a great muti-song saga.

With hardly a moment to catch a breath, Trey dives head-first into The Wedge, and the band executed perfectly. Loved hearing SSTTA, and Antelope’s always a good tune, though, while I still enjoyed it because I phucking love this band, I didn’t think it was their best shot at it. Can’t all be perfect, I suppose.

Again consistent with last night’s formula for S2 success, More’s a great straight-up rocker with an easy sing-along chorus, so it makes sense to be the second-to-last pick. An on-point performance of Slave followed by a rippin’ Rock and Roll encore wrapped up a quality two-night run in beautiful Saratoga Springs.

Hard to say whether tonight was better than night 1. They were both worthy of 4 stars from myself. I’d like to think that each was special in their own little way, like kindergarteners. Just like Jenny, who, at five years old, was likely in kindergarten when her life was changed forever by rock and roll. Or maybe 1st grade. Lou never said her exact birthday.

If you’re moving on to the next shows at Fenway, do hold on to your hats. Happy 4th, everyone!

Can you think of a better one-two punch to open a show than Fluffhead and Guyute? Martian Monster, Llama, and Steam bring the heat, as can now be expected by these workhorses. Am I the only one who thought it was strange to end the set with Silent in the Morning, Sleep, and Drift While You're Sleeping? Sounds like a run of songs that an old person or an insomniac would listen to.

NMINML goes to weird and phishy places, but instead of taking it out for extended walk, Trey ripcords into Dirt. This Dirt's placement is a little questionable, but this is still a breathtaking version. Plasma hits, and this is where this set gets even weirder in all the best ways possible. This Plasma is more successful than the version from Canada, and launches the segue that makes the set. A quick WactooB energetically leads back to Plasma, and then back to Tweeprise! SPAC gets two Tweeprises, like back in 2010! This Wedge is full of energy, and any show with Sneakin' Sally is a winner in my eyes! Sally gets a jam, taboot. Another great Antelope, which has been getting a lot of attention lately. A zesty Slave ends the set, and from my Mixlr, it sounded like the crowd was loving it!

This is a nice show. Overall, I prefer Tuesday to tonight, but this show has a very strong fourth quarter. Listen to Plasma > Tweeprise > Wedge > Sally > Antelope. See you guys at Fenway!

We were talking about seeing a show full of classics including maybe a Fluffhead, so we immediately felt like we'd hit it. I wouldn't in a million years expect another heavily composed song to follow but when they began Guyute the place exploded. What an opening pairing! We knew we were in for a special night. Even with some of the new material this definitely felt like a throw back show - SITM, Llama, Poor Heart, Slave, Antelope, the Farmhouse ballads... as noted above everything was nice and tight, with perhaps a bit more piano in Wedge, or rather a bit less guitar. The Sally was perfect follow up to the preceding set of strung together tunes, which worked absolutely perfect. I thought the Plasma was tight, and could have gone in any number of directions. There was this little theme Trey and Mike hit on twice, sounded like they were going into something but it faded... when the reprise surfaced it didn't take long for the crowd to pick up - what a burst of energy!

The final run of tunes each could have stood as the closer.... by the time Slave hit all I could think of for the encore was YEM but with a bag of tricks this big it's always great to see the band wrap up a stand and not pull that out. The R&R book-ended the "New York" themed tunes and was a very strong closer, with the guys (and crowd) "all-right'ing" their asses off. Good stuff. We thoroughly enjoyed each night, but I would give night two just the slightest nod.

It's the first week of my last college semester at the University of Vermont, and it snowed 9 inches yesterday, so I don't really have much to do. I've thought about writing this review many times, and here we are. In 2019, luckily I got to see 5 shows with my dad, this being the unexpected first, and I could not have asked for a better summer vibe here. Keep in mind this is my 8th show, with my dad taking me to 4 when I was 10, and not actually getting IT until 12/29/18. I'm still a noob and had yet to hear many of these songs.

I was living in my junior year apartment at the time, just finished a part time shift, and my dad and I almost agreed at the exact same time to drive 2 hours and meet up at SPAC. A quick trip over to New York later, we meet up and head to the venue. Hot evening, but we were both excited, considering we had not seen each other in a month-ish.

"Fluffhead" and "Guyute" was a SICK back-to-back opening pair. Especially the drawn out Fluff intro. We were so amped up, just happy to be together on the Page side lawn. "Martian Monster" and "Llama" were also very nice to hear, short versions, "Llama" especially was a nice treat. I'm not the biggest fan of "Steam", however this jam was very nice and chill. "Poor Heart" and "Crazy Sometimes" were good. Being a noob, I LOVE "Silent", so I was pumped when this came on. A guy next to me was overjoyed during "Sleep" and hugged me and we danced together. When 'Drift While You're Sleeping" began, I was once again pumped as this was one of my favorite songs off GOTF. GREAT PEAK, bias but I think the peak makes it the best version played to date. Listen for Page's synth at 6:15, very, very nice. Setbreak and I'm so happy we decided to meet up here.

During setbreak, I started talking to one of the guys next to me. He was asking where I go to college and where I lived in Burlington. We found out that about 5 years before me, he lived in the SAME APARTMENT UNIT that I did. What a coincidence! I took a pic with him.

"NMINML" was nice, although by the end of 2019, it was the 5th time in 12 shows I had heard it, so I'm a little sick of it right now. In the moment though I would guess I was happy, and listening back to it, it's a really cool jam. "Dirt" was beautiful and then "Plasma" dropped. FIRE! Great jam and then the segue into "WACTOOB" was dope, especially as I'm a huge KV fan. Going back into "Tweeprise" for the second night?! Wow. I was overjoyed. I also love "The Wedge", this had a nice summer feel to it (as the rest of the show did), and then when "Sally" came around, I don't think I've ever seen my dad dance harder to a song. "Antelope" was alright, but it's still "Antelope". Not the best version, but it's still awesome to hear. I've always been a huge "Slave" fan, and this was a nice rendition. I mean, what else could you ask for for a show you weren't planning on attending two hours prior? Great summer vibes, great song selection, great jams and segues, and great people. "Rock and Roll" was again awesome, crowd loved the choice, and sent everyone home with a smile.

Spent one night in the hotel room before dad had to be home with the family for 4th of July and I had to be back at UVM to take a summer class exam, then go to the beach and see my friends. Show itself is a 4, but my experience was a 5.

On July 3rd, 2019 I woke up in Saratoga Springs much earlier than I wanted to and headed downstairs for the free hotel breakfast, which wasn’t too bad at all. It was much better than I was, that’s for sure, but that isn’t saying much. After taking a feeble stab at nourishing myself I went back upstairs where m’lady and I checked each other for bruises and memories, of which we had plenty and few, then I spent the next four hours sitting alone on the front deck writing a song called I Wish I Was a Cell Phone. Again, the song was better than I was.

Next up was an unhelpful dinner where I didn’t even finish my warm, thick, freshly cooked Saratoga potato chips – if you can believe that – and then it was off to night II of Phish at SPAC. We were lucky to hop into a friend’s Uber which saved us a fair walk and got us to the venue in time for a pleasant bout of relaxing on the lawn before the concert.

When showtime loomed m’lady and I left our friends and found our adjoining seats in a thankfully rather sedate section of the balcony, where we sat in sleepy anticipation waiting for the concert to begin.

In no time the lights faded and the four lads ambled onstage and started the show, or at least they tried to. As Trey played the opening chords to Fluffhead the crowd latched on and screamed their anticipation. Fishman started rattling on his ride cymbals and Page plunked down a few notes while Mike…well, Mike was having problems with his bass. As the other three guys shrugged and vamped, Mike’s tech poked and prodded and eventually went backstage to retrieve a replacement bass (aka: a “rebassment”). Mike put it on and immediately the strap gave away, almost causing him to drop his spare bass. Egad…this wasn’t boding well.

All the while the other three musicians continued to tickle out the opening to Fluffhead with a half an eye on their troubled bandmate, who still couldn’t seem to find any sound. After another twenty seconds or so the tech re-emerged holding bass number one, stepping towards Mike’s riser with a strident, confident gait that told the crowd, “Don’t worry friends, I got this,” and he was right – he had fixed the bass.

And then, after the other Phishies had already been flapping in and around that Fluffhead intro Mike came in with his first note of the evening and clearly the show had finally begun, proving something I’ve always known: a song doesn’t actually start until the bass comes in (with apologies to The Doors and The White Stripes).

Following on the back of Mike’s instrumental troubles, the sound of the first few songs was really muddy and Trey’s vocals were very, very low in the mix. I had frankly never, ever heard anything other than the tiniest little sound quirk at a Phish concert, but here the sound was, well, bad. Roadies were seen running about, Mike kept signalling to the stage mix guy for more monitors, and Trey even had a midsong huddle with one of the techs.

Meanwhile the band had upped the ante with a second-song Guyute followed by one of the Thrilling Chilling tracks, Martian Monster. Next up was Llama and then Steam and Poor Heart and, well, it’s quite startling how much clarity I have when recalling this concert, especially when compared to the previous one the night before*.

Thank goodness for two-night runs, but c’mon now.

Anyway, it was another great show (my 113th, I believe) and afterwards we re-found our preshow friends and half-walked half-Ubered our way back to the Inn, where we found a little jam on the porch but overall kept the night under control.

The next day we had the pleasure of enjoying the day off in Saratoga Springs, one that saw us cycle through the vast and beautiful state park, sample from a couple of the smelly carbonated healing spring water spouts that are the town’s namesake, visit a huge old cemetery (where we happened upon a couple of curious deer) and the old racetrack (Saratoga Springs boasts the oldest horse racing in America, doncha know), coast past a mile of big old beautiful houses, and have a dinner that couldn’t be beat before laying on the grass in Congress Park and staring up at the darkened sky watching a very loud and frantic 4th of July fireworks display alongside thousands and thousands of other people, all of us ooh-ing and aah-ing to (almost) beat the band.

Having a non-concert day in Saratoga Sprigs was something I’ve long wanted to do and man, it did not disappoint. Now I’m hooked on the idea of coming back for the horse races.

*Or is it?

http://www.toddmanout.com

Fluffhead: always a great opener. This version has an unusual intro jam and the composed sections are played well with only a couple little mishaps here and there. Trey’s solo at the end is great and a little longer than most

Guyute: another long composed song to follow Fluff. The funky part is botched by Trey and Fish but other than that a standard performance

Martian Monster: fun little tune to continue the set

Llama: fast version. Standard

Steam: nice type 1 jam with a heady peak

Poor Heart: 55 show gap. Standard as always but a good treat

Crazy Sometimes: Mike gets another one. Love this song. Standard version

The Horse: Page piano lead instead of Trey guitar

Silent In The Morning: standard

Sleep: 289 show bustout, standard rendition

Drift While You’re Sleeping: Perfect song to follow the previous one and a great set closer

No Men In No Man’s Land: this second set starts with the first type 2 performance of the show. The jam starts with a chill spacey groove with some good Mike action along the way. Trey then turns on the staccato effect and plays around with it for a short time but this would soon give way to a bliss buildup that lasts about two minutes, but dies down with Trey using the watery effect and they dive into a deep mellow space, using various effects with Fish keeping a rhythm in the background. This progresses into a more upbeat jam that quickly gives way to

Dirt: standard

Plasma: starts with the return of the staccato effect from Trey, as they immediately launch into exploratory type 2 territory. Another soft mellow jam emerges which soon segues into

We Are Come To Outlive Our Brains: right as the singing ends, Trey turns on an effect and within seconds finds a segue right back to

Plasma: the exploration continues but Trey quickly finds a way into

Tweezer Reprise: short sandwiched version

The Wedge: standard

Sneakin Sally Through The Alley: this song never misses in the second set. This short but enjoyable type 2 jam contains a funky Mike heavy groove, and they stick with this theme for a few minutes then Trey finds

Run Like An Antelope: the jam starts off quieter and more experimental than usual but stays type 1 and builds to the usual peak. Great performance

More: standard. Wish they waited for it to be the actual closer, it should always be there

Slave To The Traffic Light: standard closing version. Beautiful as always

Rock And Roll: as much as I wish they still took this song out on type 2 journeys, I prefer the encore spot to none at all. This is a rager and is a great ending to a very fun show

Nothing too exciting but as I said, a very fun show. The jamming here is more about segues than length which in this case, is just as good. First set contains some deep cuts, a big bustout, and interesting song choice, so both sets have something unique to offer. This is a 6.5/10 show for me

The reason possum and Campbell Walker such good songs is because deep down tree knows that his best material could’ve come from a guy who said fuck this band I’m going to heaven and unfortunately will never know what that guy could’ve created because you ditched him because just like God had to ditch the Jews and say OK salvation is available to everybody now the Gentiles you guys I got a let you all and now I just can’t let just the Hebrews inI came to my own and my own rejected me John Fishman and Michael Gordon they rejected me so I went to the Gentiles train astasia and Paige McConnell and oh fuck they rejected me too

It’s so obvious when you’re on the other side of it when you listen to phish completely fucked up on weed or fucked up on LSD or just alcohol maybe just drunk as a skunk weed maybe just sober but completely addicted to self and now that I go and see them sober I see that there is something more to life than this there’s more to life than 1 band there’s more to life than any band because no human can save us From our final enemy death-only Jesus can save us from cobain heroin addicted at death or Michael Jackson addicted to wtf knows what propophol even is but It’s supposed to only be used to put people under in like a fucking coma plus Xanax plus addicted to 10-year-old boys asses which is rape which is lost which is the pride of life which goes back to why Boyd Tinsley is out of Dave Matthews band and why Cosby my idol growing up is really just a fucking loser so yes there is more to life than this but it’s about other people it’s about helping peopleHelp that homeless junkie help your neighbors that you hate then you will see were real love is it’s about loving other people and the only way we are able to love God says to death is to die for your friend it is the best form of love that’s what Jesus did for us so if you’re willing to die for your best friend are you willing to die for your wife are you willing to die for that smelly Wookiee Phan beside you in are you willing to die for perfect strangers that are assholes that are enemies are you willing to die for your enemy if you are then you’ll realize that there is more to life than this and then you don’t care if the show’s good or not because you realize that Trey is just grasping at straws’s he’s just trying to find answers that can only be found and not the helping friendly book of Half lies on tour like we wanna Quit because we heard this lady say this amazing quote that I stop singing because I played the best thing I was ever going to play and so then it’s time to stop LIAR that’s not a book the book is the Bible they’re talking about the Bible even I realize it And I only have a degree not from Goddard college but I do have a four year college degree so fuck you but I don’t have alumni blues because I don’t give a shit about my time in college get to Jewish members we know what we’re talking about here we’re talking about the Bible when you say there’s got to be more life than this I want to be an official and just hold up a Bible Right in the middle of More doesn’t matter what version it doesn’t matter what translation who gives a fuck it could be any translation it could be the worst one It could even be the Message which is watered down bullshit but of course it doesn’t have to be king James my favorite cat I named him after the king James Bible it doesn’t even have to be the new American standard which I think is the best or the ESV but you can hold up proudly and I will at the next show I attend And actually request for more out there is more to life than this This band blogging the Internet it’s all just bullshit and you can stop singing that stupid song it is just read your fucking Bible the book that a kill list is always talking about icculus read the fucking book the book is talking about is the Bible that trey refused to read He thinks he’s talking about his legacy we don’t care about a legacy we don’t care the grateful dead Jerry Garcia will be forgotten even the Beatles will be forgotten the only thing you will be remembered cording to scripture is scripture itself the only thing that will last in this world Burns is the 66 books of truth. Two members in the band are Jewish God loves Jews more than any other race wake up people I want to hear fish in heaven the only way to do that is to get these fuckers saved