1) Sounds like a full-on 'Golden Age' jam in Gin, which Trey flubadiddled into a wonderful Manteca jam. Lots of good stuff coming out of 'screwups' the first two shows of this tour.

2) Jesus Christ, they haven't played with this consistent level of focused intensity and variety since, I dunno, 1999? 1998?

3) If you can go to a show this summer, go. Go. Go. Go. Run run run run run...

"You're in Mike's house mothafucka."

ok, so it was a fucking awesome, rocking show. the only tune off Joy they played was Number Line, and they absolutely crushed that jam. Suffice it to say, they seemed to have turned an aesthetic corner and are playing more balls-out, edgy rock with more risk-taking than the past couple years.

let me also say that on my drive down to my friend’s in Greenwich CT on Friday, i was blasting the 95 Blossom Mike’s and thinking to myself. instead of a funk-driven show or a show with more than one ballad and too much sentimental stuff, i would love a dark, psychedelic journey of a show. and that’s exACTly what i got.

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Theme – odd choice for an opener, played a bit slower than usual. was all fine and good but a bit reserved

NICU – it is what it is. after the first couple tunes i was thinking “they may not be really feeling it tonight…not quite locked in”.

Cities – really fun and a PERFECT example of how they’re feeling. instead of the overtly funky Cities, this one works up to a fiery rock and roll peak with Trey ripping it up. feeling much better about the vibe now.

Halley’s – fuck yes, FINALLY instead of going right into another tune they lay down a nasty, 5-6 minute type II excursion into foreboding territory, which segues beautifully into

Runaway Jim – one of the absolute highlights of the night came not in the main jam, but in the usually quiet breakdown part between the verses. They get into a full band, staccato interplay with Trey playing like a West African percussionist. This went on for a good two minutes at least. Brilliant.

Gumbo – standard but funky as all get out. Trey’s tone sounds damn good. less compressed and more gritty/bluesy than the last couple tours, but still with adequate liquid goo.

Quinn – a really fucking great cover and a perfect Woodstock nod to Dylan. Huge glowstick war.

Limb – a really cool version, way darker and menacing than usual. by this point i’m really fucking psyched about how dark and psychedelic the set is going.

Horn – my one pee of the night. hey, you've gotta pick your battles. back just in time for

Bathtub > Manteca > Bathub a.k.a. GINTECA!!! – holy smokes, what a way to close a set! the Bathtub jam had a driving, pulsating nastiness and Fishman just starts KILLING it, getting into a groove that most people think will lead them into Golden Age, but then it becomes Manteca in double time! Totally raging jam, fucking loved it. Had the crowd energy at 11 for set break.

setbreak – because i didn’t have to pee and wasn’t interested in beer, i just sat and soaked it all in. this venue is fucking awesome. we were 3/4′s the way up the lawn, pretty extreme Fish side, but the sound and view were still great. no big screens hanging down from the pav roof, but screens to both sides of the stage.

DWD – the rock and roll spectacle continues. thematically a fairly standard, percussive rock groove version not unlike many DWDs and R&R’, but tons of energy and TRey just raging it. then they simmer into a totally awe-inspiring ambient meltdown that had my jaw agape, just surveying the sonic carnage that has pummeled the crowd thus far. perfect segue into

Free – typical version as one would expect but the placement was totally perfect and it fit with the psych rock vibe like buttah.

# Line – it’s amazing how whenever this song starts and the actual verses are being sung, it’s a pretty cheesy and weak number (ha, pun). but it almost ALWAYS leads to an epic jam, and this was no exception. probably the best jamming of the night. pretty Dead-like actually…jazzy in terms of them finishing each other’s sentences and playing off each other. just such a fucking good jam. go spin it!

Maki – perfect comic relief, and the way Fishman takes them into Hood was perfect. As you can tell by now, the flow of this show was fucking great. No cheesy ballads or Sparkle to take the energy out mid-set.

Hood – yet ANOTHER really good, atypical jam. instead of the usual, linear crescendo, this one went sideways for a few minutes and got trippy before returning to safe ground.

Cavern – it is what it is, crowd-pleasing funky rock and roll. they should have ended the set with this, because

Bowie – was more than solid but was one of the only jams of the night that wasn’t clearly better than it’s average version.

E: ADITL – they definitely played this crisper and sharper and more confidently than usual. a great show ender, although i wanted something more after it.

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While getting out of the venue was a bitch, the place has to be the nicest summer venue i’ve ever seen. they should seriously open EVERY summer with a multi-night run there. i went with my bud and his father in-law, who is from Chile, 67, and was at the original Woodstock. he was in 7th heaven, keep saying shit like “i didn’t think stuff like this existed any more, this is so elating and joyful for me”.

thank you Phish

Another show from Summer 2011 that's slid off of radar screens thanks to the last 3 titanic years, but certainly one worth a revisit. Set 1 has a great Cities > Halley's combo with fierce Trey soloing in the former and some fuzzy jamming that Fish hammers away through in the latter, a cool minimalist plinko-y jam in Jim, and a very nifty and super-charged Gin that Fish starts leading towards Golden Age, swerves drunkenly into Manteca, and then blasts back into a triumphant Golden Age/Bathtub Gin finale. Set 2 features a decent enough, hard-rocking DWD that Page and his clavinet help lead into a more relaxed zone before the jam puddles into dreamy ambiance, the last truly Type II #L with some glorious DEG-inspired intricate hose, the infamous "Mike's House" Makisupa, and a Hood that takes a few moves off the beaten path (maybe a Mango-esque tease in there?) before reaching Ye Olde Hood Climax. Summer 2011, as mentioned before, has receded into the background as 3.0 has kicked into a new gear, but this still remains one of the crown jewels from the year and is definitely worth your time.

Taking to Phish in the early 90's, it seemed as though some great freedom was going to emerge from it. There was something so deep that revealed itself while dancing the night away at a show.
After an identity was molded around the whole world of phish things eventually grew jaded. i walked away from it all struggling with a society that is still very much in the clutches of duality. Phish discussion usually merged into a conversation of this great Oneness that was experienced often at shows. A connection that came to Light...
After more than Ten years a rather ordinary life developed. Phish was in the attic collecting dust. Then they came to the little Auditorium where I work and live. The night was magical, mystical & an a mind blowing release...
Soon after, the most beautiful thing ever became clear. It was time for the One to see itself Here. What we really are is aware space. The ego, which most of us see as our true identity, is only a tool. Clinging to "tool" began subsiding, and the peace of the divine began to emerge.
Understanding the connection, I looked up my old tour buddy who I hadn't seen in years and we made plans to see Phish in Bethel. Going to this show was like being reborn as a phish fan. It felt like it did 20 years ago...
The lot at Bethel Woods (Home of the Original Woodstock!) was hopin'. There were a quite a few good rows of shakedown. There wasn't quite as many dreadlocks, VW buses & Tye Dies as the mid-late 90's. It was kind of reminescent of the early 90's; but on a much larger scale. People were great, alot of Joy and phun.
My ole' tour buddy led us on a adventure through the museum there at Bethel Woods. It started out with a display about space. Just couldn't find words there... The 60's were on display and soon we found ourselves on a replica of Kesey's Furthur Bus.
They were playin a video of the prankster's. Some dude lit up a joint in there, it was really somethin... When we came to the end of the display, this was written up on the wall:

"Well I came upon a child of God, he was walking along the road
And I asked him tell where are you going, this he told me:
(He) said, I'm going down to Yasgur's farm, going to join in a rock and roll band.
Got to get back to the land, and set my soul free.
We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden."

healing tears came to the light...

Phish deconstructed the face; Gone-Gone-Gone... They were playing old familiar songs; but there was more depth than before. Dancing was less spastic and more still...But intricate. Runaway Jim dipped down into the well and what followed was a transcended Phish. Bathtub...Bathtub was beyond words...

Numberline left me standing there mindless with the music, at the same time, penetrating and emerging from a point in the center of my chest. It felt like it was glowing; Like ET's in the epic 80's movie.

Indeed we had Phoned home... Thank You

Don't you just love it when the one show you go to from a whole tour is getting votes as one of the top 3 from the tour? This show was filled with good grooves and happy smiling faces throughout. No one cared that it was taking hours to get away from the venue each night.

Having taken my fiance to two other shows in the past, both in Wantagh, and her being a 80's new wave goth freak of a girl, she finally "Got IT" this time around. I wanted to thank the Phans especially for her good time, because she is a people watcher. But enough about that Biotch. On with the show!

Highlights are including but not limited to:
HELLO! Theme opener? The first 2 minutes was the only sloppy playing all night. I could tell from the bathroom though this show was going to be great.
Cities set the tone that this show IS going to be great.
And Hence the Halley's which is the finest of 3.0
Limb is not played enough and this one was tight and heady at the same time.
Gin>Manteca>Gin > fantastic good stuff there.
DWD>Free I totally called Free a good two minutes before. This DWD had something for everyone to love.
BDTNL also gets my vote for best performed version of the 3.0 phase.
Makisupa is one of the longest and most chatty I ever heard. I am a fan of the ambient jams that have happened in the past. So in comparison this was just a silly detour.
Really great Hood and atypically tight Bowie.
ADITL I really appreciated the amount of effort the band put into nailing this one. I was impressed.

I have listened to almost every show of the tour. I would say the top three performance-wise are:
1. 07/03/11
2. 06/03/11
3. 05/28/11

With 06/19/11 very close behind.
I am now convinced that second show of tour is always one of the best.

This show definitely holds up so phar as the best show of the summer tour. Bethel should be released on DVD!!!

After the tour opening barn-burner, I had high hopes for this one. I mentioned the absolutely perfect camping at the equifunk campground - so let's just say, it was awesome to get an afternoon set from the heavy pets pre-show.

On to show time:

Theme opened the show in similarly surprising fashion to the Tweezer of the night before. Worked well for me here, no complaints.

NICU brought the dancing fun and was perfect in the two spot.

Cities...yes! I was hoping for a Berkley 2010 chilled out funk jam, what we got was an equally satisfying scorcher of a jam. Trey absolutely slaughtered this one. Remains a great version that I revisit 5 years later.

Halley's Comet, hasn't blasted off often in 3.0 so this one was a real treat. They played the song well and quickly moved into a nice jam space. Type II early in set I. This is certainly noteworthy at over 12 minutes, particularly in the modern era. It won't stand up with the all time best versions, but it's still awesome.

>Runaway Jim - really nice transition into a really awesome version. They hit a plinko style jam in the breakdown that was absolutely unreal. This deserves to be a notable version for me - despite not being annotated in the setlist. This was already a special set 1.

Gumbo was more than welcome and was a good version without being exploratory. Great song.

Quinn the Eskimo didn't quite hit the heights of the SuperBall version (which is the best version they have ever played for my money), but it still rocked.

Limb by Limb was nice and continued a set full of quality jamming.

Horn was a nice breather and I love that pretty melody.

Bathtub Gin->Manteca>Gin / GoldenGinTeca, whatever you want to call it - was absolutely bonkers. They absolutely crushed the classic Gin jam, with Trey hitting some really nice runs and the rest of the band propelling everything forward. The momentum was unstoppable and the Golden Age Jam was awesome with Mike and Phish driving this one and Trey eventually getting the lightbulb moment to play Manteca at a rather high speed clip. Return to the Gin theme capped off a truly glorious jam after a near perfect set.

Overall Set I: Woah, just two shows into tour and you'd be hard pressed to find a better set I in the entire 3.0 era.
Highlights: Cities Halley's>Jim Gin->Manteca>Gin (but really you can't go wrong throwing this one on top to bottom)

After that set, I was hoping for some more jams in set II.
They kicked off with DWD, which fulfilled it's end of the bargain quite well. This wasn't the longest version, but hit some awesome spaces. Standard Great type I rock out and a pretty cool effects, spacey type II section. It felt pretty ambient, which was really awesome.

Nice drop into Free, segue was butter out of the soundscape. Free was its typical punchy self. Good times had by all.

Numberline was up next and once they cleared the lyrics this jam just took off. This song almost always has a nice jam, but this version was different. I felt like this was straight out of the Grateful Dead playbook, with really nice interplay between all members without sort of filling up too much space. It shifted noticeably a couple of times between light and dark too, without really abandoning the structure. This one was just totally unique for me and Trey sank his teeth into the ending as well. Really Really great.

Makisupa Policeman was a hoot with Trey taking us on a tour of each band member's house. Mike's house brought us a great bass solo, but Page's house was pure unadulterated sex. Probably my favorite minute or two of the show was Page's house - just an unreal feeling inside the venue - people were getting down! Fish's house took us into comedy territory before kicking into ...

Hood! Nice mid/late set placement. This was before the great Hood renaissance of 3.0, but this version definitely stepped diagonally for a bit away from the sort of classic build. Another real highlight jam of the show. Interesting/unique version that is for sure worth a spin.

Cavern rocked as usual, and was perfect here. Great vibes continue. Celebration.

David Bowie! Great call to close down the set. This one fit the typical 3.0 style and was adequately amazing. I did think Trey ripped into the ending in better fashion than many previous version. Overall a perfect ending if not overwhelmingly unique (like the rest of the set that preceded it).

Overall Set II: Wow, great set top to bottom. I guess you could gripe that they played a standard Free? That would make you a pretty darn persnickety fan though.
Highlights: DWD, #Line, Makisupa, Hood (but really, like set I the whole thing delivers a great experience).

Encore: ADITL was a good call - a really awesome one to hear (and my first).

Overall show: Wow, this was by far the best top to bottom show I had seen. So many highlights, great song selection, and jamming throughout starting with song number 3 in set I!! This one holds up as one of my favorite shows. What makes it really great is that you can literally just pop on the first track and let it run, no lulls, no downers, no bad playing. I guess the only potential pitfall is no true signature jam in set II, and the makisupa doesn't translate to tape? I'm stretching.

4.25/5 Comfortably upper tier 3.0 - one of the shows of the tour.

I might be crazy, but there sounds like some serious "Last Tube" teasing from Trey in Halley's...he keeps going back to that lyrical theme (from LT) throughout the jam. I listened to this version soon after the show and wasn't all that impressed...but tonight...hoo boy. It's a treat.

Kenny Powers was right, the little jam in the 'quiet part' of Jim is fantastic. Good stuff there boys.

The jams in this show were out of hand. Funky to dark to groovy to shredding to peaking...... amazing. Probably one of the most unpredictable shows I have ever been to. Seriously..... check this one out. There are some real special moments in both sets. YouTube the Makisupa..... so much fun when they do what they did in that tune. The transition into Hood is one of the coolest things I have ever seen them do....... so smooth. Top notch show.

The best makisupa I've heard.

Hands down! Hands up! This WAS the best show I attended this year! Maybe it was the lemon-chello combined with the Brazilian friends I consumed, but something about that night was downright explosive! 1st and only Phish show in 15 years in which I actually ripped my shirt off...thank you Bathtub "Golden Age" Manteca Gin mashup...you saved my life that night! My apologies to anyone I may have accidentally or intentionally flailed into that night..that moment...that whaaaaaat? Was that really a concert or did I imagine it? Set break was a blur...I do remember the guy guarding the trees so people didn't pee on them! When we came back to that most Cunt>Ages Disease I almost lost it again...now with no shirt to tear off I just wanted my body to freeze against that guard rail separating us lawn boys from you pavilion girls! jk After they sailed us backwards we went forward into a new era of Phish...this is what is known as the "Housed-effect!" And man did we ever get Housed that night...I know its not the first time they've taken it to someone's house, but this Makisupa brought me right back to the Dr. House version from the SPAC 6/20/10 then launched me into the phuture! Mofos and all!!! Phish threw down probably the greatest version of MP that I've ever heard....The fun, craziness and free form it took brought us all to another HOUSE that night...then when it was once again time for Fish to tell us what it sounds like in his HOUSE he did the ultimate, but NOT untimely dropping of the HOOD!!! They could have played Possum on repeat for the rest of the night and it still would have been the best show of the first leg...that's just how good it was and is and if you don't believe me launch your ass back in time, throw it on, throw off your shirt and get down to that HOUSE!!!

AND - they soundchecked Steam before the show! I walked back behind the museum and there were people sitting at tables, and you could hear the sound check really well. i was thinking "what is this swanky-ass tune???" i got a couple minutes of crappy audio via my phone's camcorder...

then last night they bust into Steam and i realize it was the song i heard a week prior at Bethel! sick!

Bethel nite 2 was as good as one could hope solid. playing,segues,improv.
Theme (opener), Halleys,Runaway Jim was very strong and the Bathtub with "Manteca"to close the set..

Disease was good,even the Number Line was had a tight little jam..Makisupa-> Hood.I had me feeling good..Bowie was above average..A Day in a Life,had to have a nice tune after that 2nd set
Good time good times!

The setlist says there was a Dave's Energy Guide tease in backwards, but I think there was a huge tease in Runaway Jim. Am I just crazy?

the ending of that Gin jam sounds like it was done to the drumbeat to Golden Age.

I love the second set but I keep coming back to set I. The GinTeca is outstanding...but I think this shows real treasure with less acclaim is the Cities, Halley's>Runaway Jim stretch. Plinko Funk precedes the usual "J" spot in Runaway Jim, just before thehard progression shoots the crowd out of the Phish T-shirt cannon to the upperdeck.

WOW. killer time.. the theme intro was subtle but was sick and really set the mood... NICU PAGE STRAIGHT CHOP SUEY!!! Cities early in the show was greeat and just kept the good energy flowing. Got to say something about runaway jim the whole band came together on that one. ALSOOO THAT BATHTUB GIN>MANTECA!! HIGHLIGHT OF 1st SET!! SECOND set....DUDE!!! like DUDDEE!!! are you for ceral? that shit was soooo much fun... DD> FREE ...somebody else on here said the same thing my friends were saying when backwards starts i felt the energy drop but by the end tthta shit rocked!! RESPECT IT!...Makisupa was the HIGHLIGHT OF THE SECOND SET... MIKES HOUSE BIATCH!!! HAHA .... HOOOD WAS sickk Cavern kept the energy going and BOWIE BLEW ME AWAY AS USUAL...love that song. BEATLES ON THE WAY OUT??? cant beat that.... LOVE tO ALL AND WHAT A GREAT WEEEKEND!!!

The second night of the tour-opening stand at Bethel was the best night of the run by far. It was everything great about 3.0 all in one show.

The first set started with what I thought was a Chalkdust tease- Go on the SBD, you'll hear it. But Page started the Piano opening to Theme, and by then everyone knew something was going to go down in Bethel, and It sure did. NICU was a nice upbeat crowd starter after the somewhat downbeat Theme. Cities was awesome, the band was pheeling it tonight. Next came one of the highlights of the night- Halley's. This was by far the best Halley's of 3.0, as some have already said. It went right into a nice 8 minute Jim. Now came the weakest part of the night, and it was still alright- Gumbo>Quinn>LxL. None of these tunes do much for me. Horn was just, Horn. Then came an amazing set closer. Gin>Manteca>Gin. If Bethel had a roof, this would have blown it off. Just listen to it, now. Probably the best Gin of 3.0.

The second set was nonstop, every song went into the next song. Disease was around maybe 14 minutes or so, a nice set opening version. It went into Free, a favorite of mine that they didn't quite nail. That went into Number Line, one of my favorite Joy songs. That was 13 minutes and it was great. That went into a Makisupa that contained almost narration, you have to hear it. Then came a beautiful Hood. (Aren't they all?) Cavern comes next, a great phishy rock song. To close the set, David Bowie stepped into Bethel and Raged hard. The encore was Day In The Life, one of my least favorite covers they do. It's not meant for anything but Beatles studio, IMO. But it was still enjoyable.

BUY THIS NOW. YOU WON'T REGRET IT!

Highlights-

Set 1- Halley's, Gin>Manteca>Gin

Set 2- DWD, Number Line, Makisupa, Hood, Bowie

-Tanner