The cruelest of rains!! This show was red hot before the rain shut it down. I was up close, and water was flying of Fishman's cymbals as he hit them. It was wet up there too. Fairly brutal rain at times, and enough lightning to make you wonder if you should be as unprotected as we all were down there by the river.

The band was locked in. It was one of those night's where they had "it" and knew it. Wave of Hope was amazing. Funky Bitch had a dirty solo and Back on the Train grooved. Every song had the energy that was missing at times the night before.

Chalkdust->Oblivion was top tier. At least 30 minutes of bliss there. Must hear material.

This show was a 5.0 when the rain hit. One of my all time favorites for sure. I am sad it ended early but I definitely got my money's worth.

We escaped the dreadful night...

I'm shocked this show is scoring so low. It might not stand out besides the giant "Rained Out" asterisk, but the venue was cooking from Page's first notes on CTB. The venue was very intimate, maybe 7000 people, and the staff was super hospitable in my experience. Tons of vendors to buy food and drinks, and a flat GA lawn that ended with a slight hill in the back where we lounged and danced throughout the night.

Cars, Trucks, Buses into A Wave of Hope was 25 minutes of mostly instrumental fire to kick off the show. Funky Bitch, BoTT, and It's Ice delivered some Set 1 heat, while hey stranger, Lawn Boy, and Circus gave us the chance to soak in the NC sunset over the Cape Fear River. You might feel like me and think that the new tunes (Wave of Hope, Blaze On) can be pretty 'meh', but the band played the whole first set very cleanly and we got a huge opening jam with Wave of Hope, which is much more than can be said about the night before or even whole past tours!

Set 2 was about 45 minutes long, and delivered the whole way through. The band took the stage after an extended set break during which the crew covered their gear as it lightly rained. Chalk Dust > Oblivion was pure energy. The jam out of oblivion has some seriously murky waters before turning towards the light. The Wedge was played in the wrong key, which was immediately noticeable in a good way. Kind of like the 12/1/95 Weekapaug, it just felt a bit lifted. Anyway, the rain came down as they played and you could tell the storm was becoming too much as Trey was splashing around on stage.

The skies really opened during Scents and while the band clearly wanted to keep going, we saw lightning hit maybe a mile directly behind the venue as Trey announced that they had to stop. I've never been caught in a rainstorm like that, and outside of the general uneasiness brought on by thunder and lightning, it was sort of fun. The general vibe was that we all wanted each other to be safe, and we stampeded out of the venue towards any semblance of cover we could find. Definitely the most novel way to end a show.

Maybe this show doesn't hold up upon relistening for some people. I think Set 1 and the Wave of Hope should be considered in hindsight. The Phish from Vermont's first stop in Wilmington ended with a fairly typical first set with a gorgeous coastal backdrop, and 45 minutes of serious music before a calamitous, force majeure finale.

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SET 1: Cars Trucks Buses: Great opener, was happy to hear this!

A Wave of Hope: The jam starts off with Page and Trey playing off one another and then moves into a very funky section full of effects. Love the them that Trey latches onto starting around the 12 minute mark. This probably lasted for about a minute and then for the next 6 minute this lands into upbeat, major mode territory.

Funky Bitch: I thought they tore this up!

hey stranger: First time seeing this. Definitely steals key elements from Camel Walk. I like it. Easy to get down and groove to. Keep playing this.

Lawn Boy: Very nice, always down for this on a nice, summer evening.

Back on the Train: Cool! This first set really has a 90’s feel to it.

When the Circus Comes: Nice! Old school feel continues. Goosebumps.

It's Ice: Old school keeps going, loving this!

Blaze On: Well, couldn’t last forever I guess. Good enough version, pretty good way to close out a very fun first set.

SET 2: Chalk Dust Torture: Very long set break as it had started raining. Started watching the radar, and oh uh – looks like we could get very wet. Oh well, let’s go! Trey’s playing here has an edge to it and a sense of urgency as they go into the last set of lyrics, bodes well for what’s to come! As the jam starts, it is nice and mellow – sort of introspective. Mike, Trey, and Page all playing off each other wonderfully and Fish driving the bus forward. Awesome back and forth between Mike and Trey in the late 12’s. Trey peaks this bad boy very well in the late 16’s and into the 17’s with some big time trilling. Fantastic Chalk Dust – not an all timer but it is very, very good – total groove monster that we got down to in a big, big way. Lots of fun and now into… >

Oblivion: I liked what I had heard from Huntsville so was interested to see where they could take this new tune. Let’s go! In a couple of spots in the composed section there are small snippets that – to me – sound a lot like A Real Hero from Electric Youth & College. Cool opening to the jam, Page is very heavy on the synth. All of this was going very well with the rain and they way it reflected in the light show, super cool. Trey steps up and takes the lead in the late 10’s and now we are really moving. But, I will say – that jam from the 7’s almost to the 11’s was mesmerizing. Trey doesn’t stay in the lead long as there is a hand off to Page as he is once again leaning heavily on the synth (I think). Nice, clean Trey leads over the last few minutes of this one to round it out. Fantastic jam, I loved every minute of it. No idea how they could be playing their instruments through this rain – they have absolutely no cover up on that stage. Crazy, crazy – starting to get concerned about the weather at this point.

The Wedge: The rain really starts picking up now, this is not good. I really do like The Wedge. But, for me; I just don’t get the mid second set placement and it seems like it has been placed here a lot over the years which is odd to me. How are they actually even still playing at this point. In retrospect, I wish I would have sought some kind of cover at this point, but hindsight is what it is.

Scents and Subtle Sounds: This is where things were getting really scary. Lightning all over. Trey’s speech was funny stuff. Fish pushing back hardcore with the Taylor Swift didn’t stop stuff. Wonder how that was all received back stage. Fishman, well I guess the gear has to get covered up, I forgot about that. LOL. And he appropriately hits the bah dum ching. And that was that. Things were super intense and scary at this point. I figured the bottleneck getting out of the venue would be even worse than Tuesday night. So, I hopped the ‘fence’ at the back of hill, trucked it down the back of the embankment managing not to wipe out, and proceeded to get out of there seeking shelter in a parking garage.

Summary: Really enjoyed that first set as A Wave of Hope was an anchor and the rest that surrounded it was a lot of fun. Two big jams to kick off the second set had me thinking this was going to be a monster set and encore. But it wasn’t meant to be. Still, that is 45 minutes of playing and the experience of it all is one I will never forget. Absolutely bonkers kind of night. I know Phish.net doesn’t allow ratings on incomplete shows such as this but I would rate this show as a 3.9 out of 5 – that feels about right to me. I got to hang with some Phookers and some PT’ers and you made my experience fantastic! The city of Wilmington is great, and I just had a ton of fun. Until next time!

Replay Value: A Wave of Hope, Chalk Dust Torture, Oblivion

Fun show, right up until the rain came down and washed it all away... or something something if the thunder don't get you then the lightning will.

This was my first multiday run since Curveball ... I'm sorry, I did not know I was cursed. "Haha, self-own. nice!"
First set was nice, not super blazingly hot weather or even that cloudy. Instrumental openers are nice, Wave of Hope was cool, Back on the Train is one of those songs where it's like "wait, it is good to be back on the train... like, the 'train' is 'going to phish shows' and i'm at a phish show. what narrative resonance"

Started drizzling during the setbreak, they covered up the drums and probably the other things [couldn't say more because my glasses were getting wet and blurry by this point], and there was some ominous lightning in the distance. but, long set breaks are a tradition in the community, it's no big deal. Rain stops after about fifteen minutes, an extra fifteen minutes of getting everything right, and we're back on track. CDT is fire, but the rain is back on course. the dissolve into Oblivion feels kinda directionless, but this is the first time I heard the song so maybe it was actually just designed that way. the jam is groovy. the storm is here. it is raining hard, when Kuroda flashes the crowd with the lights you can see how heavy it is hitting them all. During Wedge it kinda slows for a minute, but then picks up entirely and it is a thunderstorm. Out of key Trey, jokingly lets us know... Apparently people were coming on stage by then to tell them to stop, idk. I'm drenched by this point, trying to jump out all of the energy that I had saved for the second half of the second set, and just enjoying this moment. Gotta love that Scents starts with the full open, like... they clearly knew at this point that it's not getting to go full.
"and if you do it right my friend, the moment never ends...
Everything you Love, Everything you Love..."

When Trey said they had to stop, the lightning and thunder almost synced up, to wit, we were in the center of that storm near a bunch of metal equipment, in the open, with less than an hour before curfew. Bummed it had to go out that way, cause Fish knows that Taylor Swift would have kept playing and they would have let her. "I bet Trey told him to stop because of the Illuminati, dude."

That Scents is unfinished. "Four song second set*, nailed it"
CDT> Oblivion is gonna be a crunch fest on relisten! Hearing what exactly Trey was saying at the end will be funny, because on the lawn it was almost incoherent under the rainfall and thunder and people rushing for cover.

4/Unfinished as a grade.

These two shows were an embarrassment to spend my hard earned money on. Trey should be embarrassed for continuing to play after lightning struck right by the venue. There was no evacuation plan in place and there wasn't in and announcement to evacuate until people were frenzied. I saw disabled people struggling to leave and being pushed around by drunk assholes. Phish in the venue should be ashamed for allowing paying fans to be put in danger like that.