A smoking first set with some fun rarities in Destiny Unbound and Tela. Wolfmans Brother got very slow and chunky, before reaching back to an amazing peak.
Second set Golden Age jam was very cool, if cut a bit short. Carini into Piper was a masterful segue, and that Piper jam!! Jon Fishman was destroying that Piper jam, and the others were following along very nicely. A fun but short tweezer, and a YEM to top it off made set 2 a great piece of show.
The encore was expectedly fun and rocking and sent us all off into the night feeling very lucky.

This was a successful show by the band, if not by the audience which seemed lackluster a lot of the time. Especially compared to the forum the night before. The Destiny, Timber, Tela segment was a real treat, even if somewhat lost on the crowd. Wingsuit was a very strong closer and I am an official convert after being lukewarm for the last year. Wolfman's won the length contest, but broke no new ground. Halley's remains at the top of my shitlist, and this version did itself no favors.

Other than Jibboo and Carini, which didn't end up going anywhere (not every attempt is going to bear fruit), the rest of the selections mostly fulfilled their potential. Piper was ostensibly the highlight, but I thought the Golden Age and Tweezer jams were quite good. While this show lacked the "it" factor and band-audience energy and buzz, it had plenty of deft execution and is solid upon a re-listen. Trey is still struggling with his chops at times, but he seems suitably engaged and inspired at times. Remember, he is more reliant on external factors than the rest of the band. He is trying to blaze some new ground and style, but he needs our help too. I thought this was the weakest of the California shows so far. I am in the minority that thought SB1 was much better show than it is given credit for. But that is a testament to the strength of the tour so far. Which is also stronger than it is given credit for. You must remember. Where we stood after Glens Falls last fall was not terribly different than where we stand now. A mixed bag, but mostly strong. It was the 2nd half of that tour that gave it it's cachet, and we still have 6 shows to match it. On to SF.

This show was very different from the night before (Inglewood). Where as that was a show with Trey in control and in the forefront as a guitar god, this show was based on more toned down even playing between the guys. Also anyone notice that they played no covers in Inglewood and several at this show?

The setlist was somewhat reminiscent of Hollywood Bowl '13. Even a lot of the same songs, besides Destiny Unbound the first set was pretty generic in IMO. Second set had several possible launch pads (Free, Jiboo, Carini) none of which went far out there. But I feel like once piper hit things started to got different. Piper was strong and had a nice cohesive jam to it. Prince Caspian started things slow, but by the end the crowd was fully invested in it.

But when Trey's Tweezer riff hit everyone around me went crazy. Safe to say not one single person saw it coming. Although not a long monster Tweezer this was a standout in how cohesive it was I mean really solid 97' style cohesiveness. Rock and Roll kept us dancing and then BAM!

I told people for days they would YEM at Chula. Everyone thought BGCA would get it again. But I have to say I lost hope towards the end of the set. There is something about the beginning of YEM that totally throws you off into sheer surprise. Not much else to say besides it was solid, Trey got down dancing for a few minutes, and the vocal jam was fantastic one of the better 3.0 vocal jams IMO.

Standard cheering dance your ass off Suzy encore into a brain exploding Tweeprise.

Overall decent show. Wasn't the highlight of the tour but it was not at all disappointing.

Well let's start off by saying that everyone is subject to their own thoughts and opinions surrounding shows. One mans favorite show is the others least favorite. I personally loved SB1 while it seems like a lot thought it was sloppy and uninspired. This is my opinion of the show, take it or leave it. I've personally loved this tour so far: there have been many many highlights and great sets. I'm doing the whole tour, so this review is from the.perspective of someone at the show, not streaming.

Set one starts off with a new song, which I enjoy but not in the opening slot. ACDC bag is a crowd pleaser but I've been waiting for that song to get the ol' jam treatment, and having heard so many of these before it wasn't anything that amped me up after DTAD. My Sweet One is always fun, a nice medium-rare song. The next stretch of music from Moma > Funky Bitch is your standard first set songs. They were well-executed and I love the funk in Moma, and WB had a cool little stretch there too...but I'm still really neutral about all of those back to back. I've been to a lot of shows since the return, and it seems like I've gotten that combo way too many times. It's not that I don't appreciate the songs, I do, it's more that Halleys, MD, and WB have a lot of potential that hasn't been seen in a while. The set closers in Tela, Destiny Unbound, and Timber are always great. I love to hear some songs thrown in there that haven't been played in a while.

Second set starts off with Free. First free second set opener since 98, and a song that has a ton of funk and jam potential, and being in the 2.1 spot I figured it might, but this is as standard as it can get for Free. I'm a fan of GA and there was a flicker of funk, ambience and staccato, but it was more truncated than usual. Still cool and worth a listen. Jibboo is next, and a fun one taboot. So I maintain that carini is the one song that has consistently been played at a higher level now than ever before. 2012-13 carinis are my favorite of all time. This carini starts of rockin but the jam never really comes around. Has some cool playing by the band and a very silky transition into Piper. Piper was the main event, and the jam was sweet. They didn't take long to get into spacey type 2 territory, and they stayed there for some time with some smooth interplay between all 4 members. Caspian is caspian. tweezer...STOP THE WOOING. Rock n Roll was standard. YEM was nice and the vocal jam was SWEET!!! Really cool. Suzy>reprise needs to be earned, so to speak, for me to rock it. It felt more like forced energy.

All in all it was my least favorite show that I've seen in 2014. Not a BAD show, but to me it seemed like they couldn't link up for jams. And I hate wooing. See you in SF!

I had a fantastic time at this show. The Set List at a glance is incredible, and naturally half my energy dancing comes from just loving the song, so I was ecstatic for each song pick. Upon second listen it's clear that the overall audience and band energy was lower than previous nights on the tour and the guys weren't as tight but, dang still burned.

I highly recommend this listen. There is a calm space and flow over it.

I listened along last night, texted my buddy about halfway through the first set "these guys are smoking right now..." A thoroughly entertaining first set, with great energy in the Moma/Halley's/Bitch run. Wolfman's started out really funky and then ground down before coming back for a big finish. It was nice to hear Timber stretched out for a little while. Trey sounded really on point during Tela. I admittedly groaned when they went into wingsuit, but it ended on a really high note. This set stands in stark contrast to first set first night of SB, when it sounded like absolutely no one gave a shit about being there.

High hopes for second set were initially met and then dashed. Jams out of Golden Age, Jiboo, and Carini were well played. Excellent transition into Piper. Jam out of this was the highlight of the night, with some excellent twists and changes in theme. Prince Caspian...I really used to like this song. They used to let it out and soar with some really emotional and triumphant peaks. This was not that Caspian. Trey seemed like he had no idea or interest in making a melody here. I don't know how to say this positively. He just fell apart. I love Suzy as an encore, especially paired with Tweeprise. Page really got on top of the former to somewhat redeem the fourth quarter.

In the 2013 and 2014 iteration of Phish, I think we can all agree there have been some moments of really incredible group improvisation built on patience and trust that the jam will come, and when the muse isn't there, they can string together well played songs. There have also been some pretty nasty ripcords mixed in. This show has a bit of all those elements. Type 1 all the way, with a really fun and well played first set. That and the Piper are where the money is on this show.

Based on what one sees on the ticket broker sites, there are going to be extras hanging from the trees in SF. They're going to punish YOU personally for not being there.

This was my first show, so it's hard to compare it to others in a "I was there" setting but I just wanted to note that from where I was in the nosebleeds the audience definitely seemed involved in the show.

Looking down on the sea of people moving to the music, I felt that I was part of something bigger than me and it will be a great memory for me.

The music itself was amazing, even if on play back the flubs become a bit more noticeable.

As I left the show, I was talking with someone I had just met and talking about how they played The Moma Dance, Wolfman's Brother, Carini, Prince Caspian, Tweezer, and You Enjoy Myself (and even the bonus of Rock and Roll!) and it felt like a special set list.

I feel like this is an underrated show of the Fall 2014 tour, maybe because it wasn't in a famous venue. Maybe not the top show, but certainly no slouch!

Damn. This is a classic sleeper show. Plus we have the first YOUR PET CAT jam/teases during the 5:00 - 6:00 (a harsh one at 5:55) minute mark, a mere few nights before that halloween show that YOU missed.

What else to say to make the review long enough...

Destiny, Timber, Tela run.

Look at the second set for more clues.

Cheers.

ps: ya trip is sho