overall an excellent show. may i please take the time to voice my one small critique. i was fortunate enough to have been at hershey this year, which was ridiculous, and friday hartford, and couldn't have been any happier to have been part of the complete tweeprise tour 2010!! however, there were five songs completely overlapped from hershey, which seems a tad too much given the ridiculous volume of deliciousness sitting on the shelf dying to jump into the pool. am i really complaining about seeing fluff twice in six days---no. cdt, fluff, funky bitchy, runaway and free is a lot though. especially given that the 2010 versions are complete departures from 2009 or themselves, there is redundancy here. that said, it's been an amazing start to the tour, and i am highly excited about camden, and especially t-ride. i'm impressed with the high output of new material, particularly in light of the fact that 2009 was its own enormous treasure trove of new material. quick anecdote from spac. i was smack in the middle of the chaotic lawn, grooving next to a young phan. he mentioned this was his third or fourth show, and i asked him how old he was when i saw my first back in '91. he replied 'three', smiled a huge shit-eating grin and said, 'but look where i am now....' there's lots of great energy being provided by the next generation, and it's unfortunate that some of the old guard seem to feed on negativity, with harsh criticisms of the band and the newbs. remember everyone, we were all once newbs. see you out there!!!!

This was my first show. With my "Phish-iversary" having just passed, and a week before I go back to the same location for a 3 day run, I thought it'd be a nice time to revisit the one that started it all! When I first "got it" if you will. Of course this deflowering leaves me far too biased to point out any mechanical flaws. I've since forgotten the logistical nightmares that SPAC so openly provides. What I do remember is, Tweeprise opener, a Fluffhead in my first set, Open with a VU song in the second, it was all going so so well, but, during Caspian; when I had that feeling. . . you know the one. . .Remember your first one? I knew I had just moved home with thousands of roommates. Anyway, I'm just glad to be here and thanks for having me. See you in the lot.

benjedi420vt - Aside from my criticism of the sightlines, everything else I mentioned was easily fix-able. Put a ton of small beer vendors around the place like there are at Hartford. Put about 5x more porta-poties around the venue orrrr...... just sell fewer tickets! And, take one of the 500 people working security and put them at the will-call line. There were about 7 windows and 2 employees (and 5 supervisors behind them doing NOTHING). That scene seriously almost bordered on inhumane and i'm shocked people still flock there. Oh, well......maybe it's cause of Phish.

But, you're totally right. Next year (if they go back there...hear rumors they're switching to Bethel) I'm definitely buying Pavilion tickets.

1st Tweezer Reprise opener since 11/9/95 (482 shows)

1st set was an Arena Rock Assault that never let up...
Great flow the entire set.

2nd set was a Lava Lamp for your ears.
If I had to give the 2nd set a color... It would be purple for sure ?

Really enjoyed Coil & Zero as an encore...
A perfect end to a really solid show.

Tweezer Reprise ended the night, which makes it the 4th time it has been played over the last two shows.

Can you say: HOLYSHITYEATHATWASFUCKINAWESOME!!?

The first notes sent the crowd into a frenzy, and that mutual energy back and forth from the band to the audience sustained itself through a FIRST SET that was in my opinion, nothing short of spectacular. There were no "cookie cutter standard versions" of any song in this set. It felt like each song was pushed to the edge of it's musical framework, or beyond. Fluffhead was performed superbly, Bathtub Gin was extremely tight and jammy, and Suzy as a closer capped off an incredible set that left us all 5 pounds lighter and dying for water.

The second set couldn't help but be a bit of a let down, but the Rock-n-Roll jam and Free, along with an inspired Bowie were highlights for me.

Now lets consider this encore that started off innocently enough with a nice Squirming Coil. Where we were sitting in the pavilion, a lot of people left during Coil, leaving large empty spaces for the rest of us to dance. This space was very well used when the band launched into a blistering Character Zero that would have been a great enough ending on it's own, but the rip into Tweezer Reprise AGAIN completely blew everyone's mind! The energy level at that moment can only be measured by the soul. The crowd went absolutely apeshit insane, and the band reciprocated by hammering the music to the edge of the known universe.

This Band continues to get better and better. I can't wait to see what transpires tonight and beyond.

I wish they would stop playing such good shows here... I hate SPAC.. somewhat with a passion... if you get lawn tickets you are basically screwed... the sound sucks, it gets totally packed where you can hear some music and the beer tent is so friggen lame its not even worth it... I gave it a chance again for this show.. (which is an amazing show, i'll admit it, I loved hearing the show later! lol)... but spac sucks! ... but maybe I just need to get myself some pav tickets and sneak in some minis?

dreamtard - FYI to you...SPAC was built in 1966, probabaly one of the few remaining amphitheatres built from that time period that is still used. Yes, it sucks but don't blame the people that work there for bad engineering or design, it's nor their fault.

If you can get in the pavillion it's actually quite nice and sounds great...there are a couple of spots where you can jump in and I always spend the first few minutes there doing just that...they also have their own bathrooms and vendors so the lines aren't so bad. I won't watch a show there if in the lawn, agreed it is sucky!

This was a really fun show. Halfway to The Moon has potential to be a great jam vehicle.

June 19th, 2010 was the first of a pair of Phish concerts at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, also known as SPAC.

(By some sort of force of habit my finger typed an “e” at the end of that last little transmission and I must say it had never occurred to me until now that SPAC was the word “space” without an “e”. How is it that nobody has taken advantage of this yet? To my knowledge the town does not have a drinking establishment called the SPAC Bar, the area surrounding Saratoga Springs is somehow not known as “outer SPAC”, no business called no Storage SPAC…I think we can all be thankful that I missed my calling.)

I just asked m’lady where we had stayed for this run and she wasn’t sure either. Funny, this was coming off of a pair of shows in Hartford that we both remember quite well so you’d think our memories would come a little easier but alas, I guess I’ve been to SPAC too many times to keep it all straight. A guy could have worse problems.

We stayed at one of two places for certain, either the cheap little strip motel just steps outside of Saratoga State Park (which holds the venue) and right next to a delicious barbecue joint or in the…one of those generic but nice places halfway between the town and the park…maybe the Hilton Garden Inn? Anyway, the sketchy cheap motel is generally my favourite place to stay in town (the house/hotel with the big social front porch runs a close second), so for the sake of pleasant nostalgia let’s say we stayed at the cheap strip motel this time.

Let’s even go further and say that this was the time that I’d brought along my mandolin and I spent most of my spare time sitting in a half-round plastic chair in front of my room strumming and making friends with all the other people who spent most of their spare time sitting in half-round plastic chairs in front of their rooms, which was basically everyone. And all the while the aroma of delicious barbecue wafted through the air. I tell you, it was just this side of heaven.

But let’s get to the show, shall we? It was definitely one for the ages.

Get this: the band opened(!) the first set with Tweezer Reprise, completing a mini-gag that had begun at the previous show, which they had ended by playing Reprise twice in-a-row. They’d played it twice to make up for not playing it at the concert the night before that (when they play Tweezer in a show – as they did then – they pretty much always play Tweezer Reprise later in the same show, naturally). It had been an inside joke in Hartford and it was an even bigger inside joke here at SPAC but with Phish the whole crowd is generally on the inside. It was genuinely pretty funny – I was laughing out loud – not to mention a downright raging way to open a show.

And a raging show it remained, picking up from Reprise with the ever-rockin’ Chalkdust Torture. There was also a Suzy Greenberg in there somewhere, and a Sample, a Bowie, and a Fluffhead too. When the second song of the encore came I was pretty sure that Character Zero was going to be the final air-guitaring of the night but no, Trey had one more rock and roll chuckle waiting.

Tweezer Reprise closer. Hilarious, and truly awesome; I’m talking 20,000 people screaming and jumping up and down with both fists in the air. I wonder if Trey thought up such a funny little joke right on the spot?

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a “SPAC…the final frontier” t-shirt to design.

http://www.toddmanout.com

I’ve listen to every version of show of life and this is by far the best version I was even at the Merryweather show seven days later 627 and it doesn’t even come close to this version I don’t know why but for some reason they hit every no just write not only tray with the guitar solo aspect but Mike listen to Mike on this it’s just it’s just a gray gray version great lyrics I love this song I wish more versions could be hard-core like this they really cared tonight for some reason they really were in the show they treated it like Shakespeare they treated it like it was high quality Drama like it was a tragedy or a comedy

This was my very first Phish show, and I've seen them 13 times since (and just mailordered for 2 upcoming NYE shows). My best friend is a huge Phan, and he had been trying to convince me to go for quite a while before I finally agreed to the four hour drive to SPAC. Let's just say that I wasn't disappointed. I listen to this show, and 6/20/10, in my car almost daily. I am so lucky that this was my first because it was a tight show with excellent song choices at one of the best venues I have ever been to for ANY band. I went back to SPAC again this summer and it was equally awesome.

6/19/10 - the day that changed my life forever. This show was f'in excellent.

This is a memorable show for me because I had so much fun the entire way through. It surprises me the lack of love for a show of this caliber. Yes, we have that fluff in the middle of the second set but give me a god damn break! The rock and roll to open the second set may be one of the most electric I’ve heard!! Maybe I just love this show so much because I saw the first “Halfway to the moon” and just now listens to them play it live in Mexico…and it’s evolved! Great show great Bowie too. Happy to be there with a wonderful person

The energy in this show was unparalleled. Trey had the biggest grin on his face during the opening Tweeprize and well into the first set, and, likewise, so did I. The boys were having an absolute blast, and it was infectious. It felt like they were celebrating the opportunity of playing at SPAC, one of their favorite venues to tear up!

This show may not have been the tightest musically, but I was in a pure state of bliss the entire time and that was a direct result of how much fun the band was having.

The highlight of the show was probably the encore. When we all thought the show was over, the boys busted into a really dope Character zero, leaving me fully satisfied yet at the same time very hungry for another night of SPAC magic!

awesome show!

Just a great great show. I think the boys are just looking really poised and comfortable this summer, and they're just having a blast. SO MUCH REPRISE I LOVE IT! The First set just ruled. Axilla > Fluffhead and closing with a Suzy.... DO IT!

Also gotta give them a hand on "Joy". This song normally made me cringe when listening to the album, but I think they really did a good job of working with it, jamming it out to a fairly awesome apex, and I'll happily give it another shot. Textbook example of how live Phish re-contextualizes album Phish.

Important point of contention having nothing to do with the brilliant Phish show: SPAC is easily the worst venue I've ever been to. Sightlines are terrible, and the lawn is a complete unorganized clusterf*ck. (Anyone else see that dude hanging from the pavilion ramp!?!) The beer situation was an immediate non-starter. Am I really going to spend 40 minutes of the show I just paid for waiting for a beer? Bathroom situation was deplorable. Overall the show was just ridiculously over-sold and the concessions/bathrooms were miserably laid out. Didn't help that the Will-Call line was slower than the entrance line (i'm partially to blame for Will Call in general...but, jesus). Solid F for everyone who works at and is responsible for organizing shows at SPAC. Seriously, you guys suck at Venue and need to visit any other venue in America to realize that. Positive note: the landscape is gorgerous!