Those guys, huh?

Angry Weather God stayed in the south so once the sun went down in the first set, we had the soundtrack to a perfect summer night. All the right calls, all the big energy the whole show.

Slinky Stash and perfectly placed, sparkling Scents Redux to end set one. There is absolutely no one who called a Sigma->Final Hurrah>On Pillow Jets in those slots, much less anyone who trust that 3.0-3.0-4.0 situation to be so…meaty. Like Oblivion from Wilmington, the OPJ (heh, that just looks *new*) was chewy and make a healthy claim for a rotation spot.

Bowie and Cities had some boogie, Fuego was a touch of a rip bird to my ears but still brought the house down and a punch-packing 15 minute Ruby was some thunder to end the set.

A soaring Zero and STTTL sent us off into the cool night, grateful for living life in the mid-sixties with our favorite band dishing the goods yet again.

SET 1:

Party Time: Well jammed, fun opener.

AC/DC Bag: Standard. >

46 Days: Very nice jam!

Birds of a Feather: Trey gets a bit sloppy here.

Bouncing Around the Room:

Stash: Really nice sustain from Trey around 9:15 while Page bangs away on the baby grand, nice moment! At 11:07 this one takes a hard left turn for major mode territory. Sweet peak at 12:20, and more at 13:02 and beyond. Trey crushes this.

Leaves: Trey is a little sloppy around the three minute mark. Page bails him out with some beautiful playing on the baby grand.

Maze: Solid tension built up before Trey’s solo. San-Ho-Zay tease at 5:45. Trey’s solo seemed shorter than normal. Pretty good peak.

Scents and Subtle Sounds: Figured this was coming at some point but thought it would be the opener after they had to pull the plug on it at the show before in Wilmington. Very good jam here! Played with a good amount of fire in the belly. Trey’s re-entry in the ending vocals was a little jarring.

SET 2:

Sigma Oasis: The initial jam is hard driving and rather intense. It shifts into major mode territory at 8:30. Nice, mellow sustain from Trey that starts at 11:58. Beautiful. Trey goes on to tear it up for about 30 seconds. Trey shifts his tone to something much murkier or dirtier and things get pretty funky from here. Aweseome segue into ->

The Final Hurrah: First the funk and then some nice, spacy ambient space. Very nice! Trey brings us out of that dreamlike space at 6:45 and takes the lead with nice, clean leads. Interestingly enough, he let’s this slide right back into that previous ambience around the 8 minute mark. >

On Pillow Jets: The actual song does nothing for me. But Trey is conjuring Hendrix at 4:22. Very dark and heavy jam up – just the way we like it – up until 6:20. From here, things remain in a darker place but Trey is now playing clean leads. But by 7:20 it’s right back down that dark hole again. Very cool. Re-entry into the ‘Conjurers of Thunder’ lyrics at the 10:00 minute mark. Nice wall of sound here, not for the faint of heart. >

David Bowie: Page seemed to be pushing Trey for major mode and he bites at 6:49. It turns back to a normal Bowie jam around 11:10 and then they rush through the ending. This tune needs to be shelved.

Cities: The funk was very deep in the mid 5’s – this was going along great! At 6:11, a full 42 seconds before the actual segue is when Trey starts working towards the Fuego transition. Would have preferred they explored that super funky Cities jam but this segue was awesome ->

Fuego: Standard. >

Ruby Waves: Standard.

ENCORE:

Character Zero: Strange version, Trey (for once) didn’t want to rip this? Interesting >

Slave to the Traffic Light: Run of the mill. They should consider shelving this too

Summary: Pretty solid show. First set was mostly old school much like the second night in Wilmington. Second set had three jams that I would go back to and recommend. The second half of the second set was disappointing. I would rate this show as a 3.7 out of 5.

Replay Value: Stash, Sigma Oasis, The Final Hurrah, On Pillow Jets

Brought my 4 year old and 7 year old with me from Detroit for this one. My 4 year kid’s first Phish show and he had an amazing time. We walked shake down where he would get free swag and then into the show. He and his brother danced and danced. Then I would have my moment with my 4 year old during Stash when we did the clap along and then danced to a really really strong version taboot. Then he would fall asleep in my arms during Leaves and then it was time for my 7 year old to get some dancing and dad time. Just an amazing time that my sons and I will never forget and memories we will cherish for a lifetime. Thank you Phish and Phish community for an amazing experience

I also had a weird moment during stash when the police were walking through the crowd and as I was handing the cop a glow stick trey was singing “police in the corner coming for you”. I didn’t realize the coincidence until my friend pointed it out a moment later but I always manifest weird coincidences when I’m at these shows for some unknown reasons and it makes me think that phish is god please contact me if you agree.

The first few songs in the first got everything going to a great start, you can tell the band was really locked in and inspired. Song selection was fantastic, the band tones, and their instruments have gotten so much better compared to last year. Alpine Valley was a good show for last year, but this blows that out of the water. It was great seeing Ruby Waves in person and getting jamed out, Maze, Bowie, S&SS, 46 days and ACDC Bag were huge highlights. Page’s keyboard tones were spot on, Mike’s bass (and his green outfit) ????????. I think this is some of their best playing in a long time, we all have our favorites of 4.0, but I truly feel it with this show and year

Excellent setlist, played very, very well.

Party Time, Bag, 46 Days, BOAF, Bouncing was a great way to get things going. By this point I can tell Trey and Page are communicating very well tonight. Stash was absolutely killed. Awesome jam and the band sounds locked in. Leaves was a perfect first set cooler after that Stash, and they pick right back up with a scorching Maze, then closing out with a great Scents nodding to the one they couldn’t finish in Wilmington.

Opening a second set with Sigma Oasis > Final Hurrah > Pillow Jets is most definitely a big, big risk by the band, and we all know how things go when things like this are not executed well.

Tonight was different in the best of ways.

Sigma, while without a huge peak, didn’t feel stale, every second had a sense of direction, ideas were flowing, the band sounds like they are playing with purpose. Likewise with Hurrah, a slightly extended affair. Well placed, well played. Follow up with a debut run of Pillow Jets? The band absolutely crushed it. They can play this one 10 times a year for all I care if they play it like this on a consistent basis. Wow. Out of the swamp comes a monster mid-second set Bowie. Goes to show how they can drop a Bowie literally anywhere in the show and it’ll work. Cities > Fuego was fun. The Mike solo in Cities was really cool, and Fuego was a great sing along, albeit a relatively standard affair. Ruby Waves to me was a puzzling choice, but any doubts I had were quickly dismissed. Trey sent this one into the stratosphere (see 12/30/22 I Always Wanted It This Way for another unexpected monster closer). Great great great stuff.

Zero and Slave encore speaks for itself.

Really fun show, with great jams, solid play and unique yet effective song selection. 4/5

My mom’s first phish show and when they opened with party time she knew what time it was! It was also my girlfriend’s first show and she called a maze and manifested a bouncing around the room. I also tasted the humidity during that final hurrah and then I recycled it for day 2! Also the Fuego was fucking awesome

God damn this show ripped. Excellent first set, loved where Subtle Sounds went. Nice an old school with Leaves added in which is musically beautiful.
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2nd set was really great, haven't been a fan of Final Hurrah, but this one felt dialed in like they all have agreed on what kind of song it is. BOWIE this segue into Bowie was flawless and the bands playings is top notch. The ending was great and Trey pullrd the ending lick incredibly well. Blows my mind that abyone would say this tune "needs to be shelved" like what? Also have seen that reviewer say things like "this song was nevermeant to be played this way" like they were the one that wrote the music. As ghandi once said:"I adore your Phish, but I despise their followers". (Sorry I love calling out anti-phans).

Pillow Jets is an odd song but the jam was deep and dark and psychedelic. Fuego is an odd placement but I'll take it. Followed by Ruby Waves was also not totally my thing, but alas the jam vehicle that it is is truly spectacular.

LOVED the atypical Character Zero, got real phishy funky there for a minute instead of the usual rock shred..... and then oh yes SLAVE. (Again imagine saying that this tune needs to be shelved, so silly). We called the Slave so we were very excited for it. Such a beautiful anthem for this beautiful band.

I will never take for greanted the absolute improvisational wizardry of this band, it's like playing the lottery except you almost always win. Can't wait for night 2.