Several times during this show I straight up lost my shit..The first set is tight and psychedelic. The second set is looser and has some incredible segues. There's great jamming across the board!

Stash is well executed and has a nice bubbly jam, and this Wingsuit is absolutely glorious. Limb by Limb and Gumbo are two of my favorite 1.0 songs, and they are well executed. Steam is spooky and melts my face. The ever elusive David Bowie is back in Connecticut!

Chalk Dust Torture gets a great little jam on the 20th anniversary of the famed Camden Chalk Dust! We also get the return of one of my personal GOTF favorites, Ruby Waves, a heavyweight Seven Below, a Faulty Plan with so must extra mustard that you might need an extra pretzel, and a slick segue from Piper back in to Ruby Waves!

The encore speaks for itself. I find it fitting that I finish my last of the summer with Slave, which is one of my favorite songs in the Phish catalog. Quite the way to end Phish's first time playing Mohegan. It's been a blast.

I’m new and never left a review here. I’m a new phan and 7/9/2016 was my first show in Hartford. I digress. The show that I saw tonight is the reason why I go to Phish. The fact that the last two times I got to see my favorite band in my home state and they burn it down the way they do is absolutely amazing. The show tonight was jaw-dropping from the first set that really played like a second set to the whole entire show. Nonstop energy! old-school! That show for me will probably go down as one of my favorite shows I ever been to and I was on the floor N1 witch was a Powder keg As well. I love this band they continue to blow me away. I love this community. I feel extremely lucky to be able to see them still. THANK YOU PHiSH.

Context: Listened to N1 from my bed. My sister found an extra ticket so I left work early yesterday to meet my sister and dad at the show last night. Drove back at opening notes of Slave and was home by 2am. At work today with a full heart after last night. Phish continues to roll out a new product, and boy am I ok with it. This show flows extremely well. Set 2 felt like one long piece of music rather than ups and downs with “fan favorites” thrown in. The notes were pouring out of Trey tonight. He was sticking a ton to his natural tone (which sounds great this tour) which let to “twangy” guitar playing (in a good way) and no relying on effects to make it interesting (although they can be found in songs like Seven Below). No forced peaks and bright-light arena rock tonight. Instead if was exploratory jamming, buttery segues, and heartfelt, intentional playing and singing. The GotF material is (much to my surprise) the highlights of every night, and I don’t say that as a knock on the old material (stash was excellent tonight). Oh and that encore was a nice treat too. Had me STANDING UP and hollering from the hills.

“It’s love, it’s love, and it’s always love.”

Thank you, phish.

Mohegan Sun....WHAT A RUN! Night 2 did not disappoint. A very strong show from top to bottom. The whole band was tight including Trey on some particularly tricky guitar sections in Sugar Shack, Stash, Bowie, and Seven Below. The band did a nice job weaving in new material seamlessly in slots where even people who were unfamiliar appreciated the direction of the band was going. Ruby Waves was a nice highlight of the second set and brought a lot of nice energy when they made their way back into it after Piper. Both nights had incredibly strong encores. The Kung lyrics mixed into Saw It Again was one of the coolest moments I've seen in my now 40 shows. Good times in Connecticut!

My random stream of consciousness review during the show.

Set 1
Buried alive!!!!! Rocking.
Cavern. Hit all the lyrics!!!!
Dogs stole things. Yar. My first bros. Go Sox!!
Sugar shack. Funny little bouncing song.
Stash Jam is getting dark and scary. Tribal. Warriors on the hunt.
Wing suit. Floating. Dancing and smiles all around. Such an emotionally positive jam. Started off such a quiet little song.
Limb by limb. Fun little take off. Gooooo!!!!
Gumbo. Get that funky jam boys. Page solo!!!
Stray dog. It was a barn burner kids. Hide your kids and hide your wife. Phish trying to come up into your windows.
Steam. Yo kids. I just love the lyrics. This is trey telling you a fucking story. Listen up.
David Bowie. Fun trippy intro.

Set 2
Party time!!!!
Chaulkdust. It’s a country rocker boys and girls. Hold tight!!!!!! Hold on. Strange jump back into the jam!! Perfect show until this little flub. It’s ok phish. You still rock
Ruby waves. I called it. Medal for me boys and girls. Lifting off.
7 below. Slid right into that. Country blitz. Sm
ooth blues sound.
Stealing time from the faulty plan. Came to play. Rocking right out the gate.
Piper. It’s already half over. Ruby waves tease!! Fuck ya. Go Sox!!!!
I always wanted it this way.
Drift while your dreaming. (Gotf). That jam. I prefer this cheesy trey lyrics. Go boy. Goosebumps son!!

Encore.
Bouncing!!! Bounce kids.
I saw it again!!! Get that guitar god. Don’t sit down during set break. Stand up. Stand the fuck up. Kong tease
Slave. Nice way to go home.

Context: Listened to N1 from my bed. My sister found an extra ticket so I left work early yesterday to meet my sister and dad at the show last night. Drove back at opening notes of Slave and was home by 2am. At work today with a full heart after last night. Phish continues to roll out a new product, and boy am I ok with it. This show flows extremely well. Set 2 felt like one long piece of music rather than ups and downs with “fan favorites” thrown in. The notes were pouring out of Trey tonight. He was sticking a ton to his natural tone (which sounds great this tour) which let to “twangy” guitar playing (in a good way) and no relying on effects to make it interesting (although they can be found in songs like Seven Below). No forced peaks and bright-light arena rock tonight. Instead if was exploratory jamming, buttery segues, and heartfelt, intentional playing and singing. The GotF material is (much to my surprise) the highlights of every night, and I don’t say that as a knock on the old material (stash was excellent tonight). Oh and that encore was a nice treat too. Had me STANDING UP and hollering from the hills.

“It’s love, it’s love, and it’s always love.”

Thank you, phish.

When Phish announced that they would be playing a couple of back-to-back dates at Mohegan Sun on their 2019 summer tour I’ll admit I had to sit down for a little info session with Mister Google. Turned out that Mohegan Sun was the name of a casino somewhere called Uncasville, Connecticut (a town name which required more chatting with Mr. G.) and these would mark Phish’s first (and second) show(s) there.

Of course by the time I finished my research the price of the rooms at the actual casino on the dates in question had shot up a million per cent to the point of unaffordability, which was disappointing as there were no other hotels anywhere even close to Mohegan Sun. In the end m’lady and I shared a room at a Holiday Inn-ish sort of place about twenty miles away with our bestest Boston buddies Joe and Dee, which turned out being just fine. We saved even more money by shunning taxis and/or ubers; if I’m not mistaken I drove on night one and Dee drove on night two. You’d think such a division would make it easy for me to distinguish the memories of one night from the other but nope…both nights are a swath of memories that blur into one another like cream and sugar in black coffee.

I must say they did a pretty darn good job with the casino. It was clean and classy but shunned glitz and glimmer in favour of emblems of the native land that sat beneath the spiralling carpets and tiled swimming pools. There were feathers and dreamcatchers and stuffed wolves and bisons and teepees and rock formations all over the place. And of course gambling tables and slot machines and esoteric restaurants and upscale bars and shopping concourses. Curiously, I noticed lots and lots of children, many of them proudly strutting through the casino hallways carrying trophies. I discovered later that in addition to hosting Phish and their following the Mohegan Sun was simultaneously hosting a youth gymnastics competition and man, did the parents have at the Phish fans online, chastising them (us) for engaging in every manner of party-like transgressions in front of their innocent children, to which I replied (in my head): it’s a casino! Why would anyone hold a children’s event at a casino? Casinos are by definition dens of sin and excess so don’t bring your six year-old to one.

Anyway.

July 10th, 2019 was the final of the two nights and the show was super-great. The band was clearly having a great time and playing well, they played a bunch of my favourites and the second set ended with what m’lady and I had jokingly (but seriously) decided was now “our” song, a new one called Drift While You’re Sleeping, the lyrics of which would kick off our wedding ceremony three months down the road. And just to prove that everyone was having a swell time the encore stretched into a long continuous musical stream that proceeded thusly: Bouncing>Saw It Again>Kung>Saw It Again>Slave to the Traffic Light.

Sometime late in the second set I finally remembered to take off my glasses, an optical trick I had stumbled upon a year or two previously but one that had not ingrained itself enough to yet become habit. The globular fuzziness produced by my significant visual impairment does amazing things to Chris Kuroda’s already exceptional light show and I was giddy to experience his astounding visuals through my own unique filters. Gosh, I’m so glad I haven’t had corrective surgery.

Much like the extended encore our aftershow experience stretched on into a stream of events that saw us visit several burgeoning hotel rooms, a handful of pools, and at least one highly unattractive dance bar until the evening finally ended with my first-ever visit to a Krispy Kreme outlet (one of four locations of the iconic shop in the one, single casino), a culinary experience that was not nearly as satisfying as I expected it to be.

Even at 5am.

http://www.toddmanout.com

Two dudes walked out during "Dogs " and miracled me in after buying fake tix .
They were on fire. I was on the floor. The PageFish grandiose-rock train sounded celestial and heavy and tight. ...Then the 1st set ends we hear over the loud speaker we are not allowed to sit in or phriggin seats during the set break ! Llol ..I just listened to 10/31/90. A classic example of the band's awarenes of context, the current situation. ("Wait"!!! ..they took a jokes far the crowd stared cursing at the like a c all and response , gospel song.
The second set was so much h music I forgot about that weirdness of the Venue...then they come out and do like 20 min 3 song encode where Trey mentions that announcement during the apt son g for the commentary, "Kung"! " Stand Up!!!"
They played nonstop the 2nd set. Then played for sure past what the venue wanted , to do some slow simple, songs with inside jokes. Super Rockstar ish.
Another classic
Trey

Man, that first set is SOLID. I was working, but I cranked up the LivePhish recording and simply lapsed into the "zone." At the same time, I was able to bob up at moments (Mmm, Stash, ::radar opens:: Many other songs, too; I mean . . . ). Overall, what I notice is (I dare say) "swagger." This is solid, swinging music, feet firmly planted on the gravity beat. Even Party Time is hammeringly tight with a side of bouncy fun.

If one is apt to quibble over a stumbled note or finger change, I say, "Boo!" The amount of nights I had epic fails as a fan demonstrate that I would never have that much composure on a Dionysian stage. Not only that, but the switch from old to new is definitely palpable well past 50. Let me tell ya, I used to pride myself on pulling out names for faces, in person or conjuring from afar, with seamless ease context to context, no matter the, ah, melt. Now? Um, let's say I have to "change gears" once in while: downshift climbing after a long flat to forget. Transitions aren't what they used to be.

The second set spaces that Phish can open and conjure exemplify their ability to transcend limitations and squeeze beauty from a steel and concrete arena. For that matter, Ruby Waves clocks in well under 8 minutes but dissolves into a searching jam reinforcing my belief that new material often inspires inspired playing. The Seven Below that follows rings in a fully modern Phish. (Chalk Dust and Piper being the only 1.0 not including encore.) I dig that.

I'll say the obvious: Fans who are not fans of this show are not fans of the GOTF and other new songs. That's all. Phish's playing is ON POINT. Page has a lot of the funk wobbling, and Mike sounds good in this mix. Fishman was better than ever in 3.0, and Trey is downright laser-eyed at moments; don't let the foot pedal trickery fool you. I mean, Chalkdust hits a fork in the road and never looks back. I could see how headbangers wouldn't like it. If you're a space cadet, though, this is worth the wile.

Saturday at Alpine let’s get a third set. Everyone chant ‘10 More Songs!’ after set 2 closer. Don’t be cowards. Apparently this post needs to be long enough to be a review. YEM hasn’t been played at Alpine for over 3000 days and the last was unfinished with no vocal jam. Alpine Light will burn hot. Let’s see if this is long enough to be considered a review...