A very unusual show, to be sure. The first set was fantastic. A classic strong first set. Blaze On is obvious the highlight, but don't sleep on Ghost or Tube. Turtle In the Clouds won't come through on the recording, but trust me: it was as a blast, too. Loved that Alumni opener as well.

Unfortunately, the second set doesn't live up to the promise of the first. It starts wonderfully with a monster Everything's Right featuring 20+ minutes of a patient, loop-driven jam. This is probably the high water mark of the run so far and demands another listen. Fuego seemed to have all the momentum in the world going for it, but the jam was sadly truncated by Trey in favor of...

(Wait for it...)

Farmhouse. Bummer.

Unfortunately, this set never really recovered. The rest of the set — nearly without exception — consisted of complicated, fully composed prog rock. The segue between Mercury and Seven Below stumbled a little, but was pretty slick overall. Drift While You're Sleeping got a nice little rise out of the crowd and YEM was, per usual, a lot of fun, but the bulk of the set was cerebral and, frankly, a little tedious. Not much room to dance or have fun. I didn't hate it, but it certainly didn't have the carefree dance-party feel of last night's second frame.

All told, this was not a bad show. It's worth a listen and I'm certainly looking forward to re-listening to several key jams. Unfortunately, I don't see myself sitting down and listening to the second set from front to back any time soon. Its technicality is relentless. It's best digested in small portions.

Stellar group improv throughout but a weird show for me. First set kind of felt like a festival set, very loose playing with a wide selection of tunes from all eras. Second set seemed like the whole band was under water or something. Treading. Surviving.

Felt like all four members were digging deep and searching into new spaces/sounds with their new gear, and sometimes those spaces infected everything to follow, and not always so smoothly.

I think that over time, the jams in this show will be considered some seriously new sonic ground for the band we all love, but man was it weird to be there.

First set last night was as good a set as they've played all tour. Excellent jams in Blaze ON, Ghost, Undermind, and Tube. Even Bowie got a little sprightly, after suffering from years of just not cutting it.
Everything's Right was the jam of the night, and worth your (Re)listen. Farmhouse was very poorly placed and not sure the set ever recovered, as manifest by a very awkward (although not as nearly awkward as a ripcord, mind you) transition from Mercury into Seven Below.
Bold As Love deserves to have a Farmhouse tease in there, and it borders on a reprise.
One wonders why the first sets seem to be shining so brightly compared to the second recently. Perhaps it's because they don't feel the pressure to throw a 20+ minute jam into the second frame every night to wow the clock counters, and feel free to just let the song end itself if it needs to. That's conjecture. There were about five or six jams that bear listening to, most in the first.

High energy first set, fun songs, some deceivingly short but deep jams I'm blaze on, ghost and tube. Loved seeing Cool it down, ans undermind features our favorite furry, 8 armed, vacuum salesman SHREDDING the drums. To echo sentiments here already it felt like a second set. The David Bowie extended very creepy intro was very old school, don't get that too too often.

Second set starts out so good. ER is the highlight of the weekend so far, jam goes so many places. The rest of the set was struggle bus on the compositions, felt like they could not keep it together. Improv wise it was very vibey, I admittedly sat for a bunch of it and relaxed which is the exactly energy I needed last night. -7 was a highlight for me, and it was close to breaking through. YEM to close was what we needed, let's be honest haha the vocal jam was surprisingly groovy and strong, one of the best in a while. CK5 shines during the vocal groove.

Different set, but plenty of highlights.

This is a very strong first set. Ghost and Tube are particularly noteworthy versions. In both cases Trey really wants to play the Allmans-esque descending pattern that has appeared in so many jams since at least the Summer 2017 Nutter Center DWD. However, and to Trey's credit, he resists the temptation and the jams find other ways to conclude. Good stuff.

As for the second set, ER is exceptional and probably one of the best ever performances to date. Fuego is also above average, but after beginning to dissolve into a delicate ambient jam, here comes Farmhouse. Some folks are probably cringing at the very thought. While this is not the version that will change that opinion, it's also not bad at all. There's even what sounds like a nice No Woman No Cry tease in the brief jam.

One final thought: Drift is kind of a bummer coming after Mercury and 7 Below. The energy of the set begins to drag noticeably during and at points in the YEM after. Trey is still really excited about the GOTF material, and that's great, but maybe a different song would have been a better choice... About to Run? Ruby Waves?

First set is stellar. Top to bottom. Spin it.

…

Personally, I think the second set is beautiful. The Farmhouse is absolutely gorgeous. The Everything’s Right is a tour highlight.

I don’t think the set was derailed- I think it was emotive and lovely.

Looking at these reviews it seems like a lot of Phish fans like saying, “Surrender to the flow” but have a hard time actually Surrendering to the flow.

Was the show a heavy hitting 5 star rocker or mind fuck? Absolutely not.

Is their beautiful space and reflective qualities to bask in? Absolutely

The first set was awesome! Every song landed in fine form. The second set was well-played but not my favorite song choices and very low energy after the opener (which was fire). Definitely not conducive to a rocking Saturday night. Lots of us were seated pretty much the whole time from Farmhouse to YEM. CK5 was the best member tonight!

Dick’s first sets this year are feeling more like a second sets. There is a freedom that they are feeling that they don’t have to hold the type two for set two. That being said they aren’t packing monster jams like sets two’s tend to hold but the freedom to explore into type two is welcoming. That Tube was immediate hose and was begging for set two power hitter slot status. One can dream.

Second set was a sleepy set from the couch. I dozed in and out a few times and had to determine my footing as I was judged awake by the music as to where we were at. Funny, not sure if it was just me but the .net set list didn’t immediately update the show and so found myself lost occasionally. Maybe the band was channeling that and intuitively conjured Drift…LOL. Like I have that much universal control(ler) in my hands.

For the webcast I absolutely loved the interlude with Trey’s rig. It is so complex and I loved watching him geek out on that type of stuff. I’m no musician but I was into it.

Mahalo Nui,
Matthew

We love Dick's! The first set had tremendous energy, including an excellent Blaze On and a casual, mid-first set Ghost followed by a very welcome Ya Mar. The buzz as they teased us at the beginning of Bowie was palpable, and everyone seemed pretty happy at setbreak. Set 2 continued where the guys left off, with a tight Everything's Right that was fun for every single one of its 25 minutes. Fuego followed (with what seemed at the time like an epic glo stick war) and was going well, but was cut short so Trey could play the slowest, saddest Farmhouse of all time. Mercury was fine (anything would have been after that Farmhouse) but they tripped into Seven Below and kept us confused with Drift. Finally, to close the set we were rewarded with a 20-minute YEM that had all the same energy as S1 and the first two songs of S2. There was also a top-tier glo stick war during YEM that was truly a sight to behold. Bold As Love was a good closer to a good, not great, show. I try not to be too harsh of a critic and I am appreciative for any opportunity to see Phish play. This show had 5-star potential before Trey derailed basically half of the second set.