The first set is good! 'Mike's Song' surprises with a relative-major move into an echt plaguephish jam, all good vibes and easy drift; the rest of the Groove-sandwich is standard high-energy Set I stuff. (Hey remember when everyone hated 'My Soul'?) 'Mercury' doesn't go far, but the segue into '46 Days' is really sweet. And while 'Taste' is long past its prime (one of the clearest 'much better in "1.0"' tunes), Page takes a slow-build solo that goes on two choruses longer than Trey expects -- always nice to hear Page get wrapped up in it. I like the mellow 'Casual Enlightenment' jam even if the song doesn’t feel like it's quite there yet. 'Bowie' continues the 'unexpectedly light' theme in moments -- again, not a deep jam, but I'm so happy to hear the band ducking and weaving throughout the first set.

The second set is an instant classic and I'm shocked by the mixed reaction it's apparently receiving. This isn't a 'had to be there set' -- the good stuff is right there on the tapes.

'Gin' combines the weekend's spacey sounds of the tour with a relentless forward movement, and opens up beautifully for what I assume the crowd thought would be a huge marquee 'Waves'...but while the first 'Waves' jam doesn't get wild, the band carries huge momentum into the now-standard coda -- was there some embarrassment about the botched reentry to the final vocals? Regardless, Trey gets into some noise, his brothers back him up, and they end up in the 'Ghost' key for a unique version of that skeletal (wraithlike?) song.

Fishman has been a force throughout this tour, and he was clearly loving the novel 'Ghost' groove -- to the point where he clearly didn't want to bail and was wrongfooted by the full-on segue arrow into 'Sneaking Sally.' Yeah, I was bummed by Trey's hard turn out of 'Ghost'...but he immediately signaled a return to the previous tune in lieu of the 'Sally' vocal jam, and if the others weren't quite sure what to expect, they weren't playing in a holding pattern, they were goddamn going for it. The post-'Sally' jam feels to me like the old old stuff: energy building, elements of the previous couple of songs percolating up through the mix, Trey and Fish grooving along, Page keeping options open with varying colours, Mike deliberately tossing in odd ingredients...

Were you disappointed when 'Twenty Years Later' (and then 'Waste,' of all things!) snuck into the ongoing party jam? I can understand that, sure. But please consider that the previous 30 minutes of music had been pretty welcoming groove-stuff -- then notice how the '20YL' jam works a deliberately weird variation on Phish's current pickmeup mode, and that after an absolutely perfect one-time-only segue into 'Waste' we get Page's simply gorgeous synth backgrounds to Trey's outro guitar solo, like something out of a sad part of Stranger Things. And instead of closing out the 'really trying' part of the set as they might all-too-recently have done, Trey goes for a puckish-then-unhinged 15-minute 'Twist > Makisupa > hybrid jam > Martian Monster (sort of, thanks Page) > Twist' medley that would be a memorable highlight of literally any Phish show ever.

This is such an absorbing, joyful hour of music! And we still get two songs -- the problem is, one of them is Page's lyrically meaningful answer to 'Last Tube,' 'Most Events Aren't Planned'...and the other is the impressively tiresome 'More,' with a perfectly charming 'Gin' tag ('The story of...Sallyyyy!') to close. If you can deal with five minutes of syrup, that's a jam-filled first set followed by an entire CD-R's worth of old-fashioned medleytown Phish, with rich jamming in 'Gin' and 'Mike's' and 'Waves' and 'Sally' and '20YL' AND an improbable, frankly daft 'Twist++' excursion to boot. Weird regional variants and private jokes and great waves of joyful noise -- what a set, what a show.

Plus then 'Contact,' and a ragged valedictory 'Slave' to close out the weekend. (Sorry for pissing on 'More' before, but it can't be avoided: 'Slave' is the cathartic organic Rock Majesty that 'More' seems purpose-built to provide, yet (for me) just...doesn't.)

...

Phish used to be an explicitly comic band, back in the day -- why else pair 'Scarlet Begonias' with Hendrix's 'Fire,' if not for a specific kind of intellectual-prankster thrill, an extremely inside joke? -- and as they've moved toward 'dad rock,' their foregrounded antic surrealism has given way to a more diffuse 'dad joke' vibe too. (Remember the golf gag at MSG!) This set has that quality: it's not the hopped-up madness of the Roxy, the Bomb Factory, Big Birch, even the Worcester 'Wipeout' set, but something a little more deliberate, like an ex-ballplayer busting a move on the kids at the local ballcourt, his ankles not the sure thing they once were but his touch still deft. This is a purely pleasurable set ('You've got to please yourself'), but those pleasures are neither deep-dive psychedelia nor summer haze nor brainy antagonism nor cock-rock majesty. It's neither dad rock nor Gifted Child showcase.

Rather, I'd say it's a mix of the old form and approach with new sounds, at a more settled tempo (not just rhythmic but inner: its emotional tempo). That thing they used to do that literally no other band in America could do -- those improvised medleys thick with internal rhymes, allusions for the diehards, frequent but gentle Fuck You's to the normies -- they can still do it, but the old reasons have fallen away. This is how that band grows into themselves, with nothing whatsoever to prove. To me the tell, and maybe the high point, is 'Twenty Years Later > Waste': the least exciting part of the set but also the part where these guys old enough to be grandfathers manage BOTH a couple of perfect improvised segues and to make light from two (distant, different) sweet songs, full of real honest weight and longing.

Friday's 'Blaze On' is colossal and 'Simple' is a Phish-psych all-timer, but this show makes me feel perfectly happy, and I bet it felt amaaaaaazing to play.

Maybe this isn't the Ideal Introduction to Phish. But if not, then what is? Seems to me this is who they've (we've) been all along.

Observed this one from the pit. This show is off-the-chart, crazy phish silliness.

Set one is solid with great highlights throughout (46 days, Mercury, taste).

Set two was a nonstop dance party, with lots of cheesin’ from the band.

My strong advice: download and listen to this show. BUT do not listen to the second set unless you intend to listen to the *entire* second set. Many fans seek the one jam that goes deep. At a show like this, the entire second set is that jam.

This was a fun one.

For a while in the second set, I wasn’t quite sure where they were going. Then Bathtub Gin happened. Then Ghost happened. Then Sneakin Sally. Then twist. Then Makisupa. Then Twist. If I were to categorize this one, I’d file it under the Sunday Funday party show. I was feeling it here. And yes, I actually wished for a Waste (sorry) because it’s my s/o’s favorite slow song. And I was hoping for a Slave this weekend because it’s my favorite song. This was a special night for me personally. This weekend, we got 3 different flavors of Phish: psychedelic and weird on the first night, crisp and tight summertime fun on the second, and the party show tonight. Thank you Phish! Thank you Indiana! Thank you Perkins staff who gave me 1/2 off because I was wearing my Phish shirt! Thank you all for a wonderful weekend. Off to Hershey : )

Present for all 3 shows. As I write this, the show is criminally underrated in my opinion. Absolutely perfectly played first set. The second had my crew and me grinning ear to ear the whole time. True phish soup the whole set. The ghost was played in the most bizarre and incredible way, the Martian monster (yes, they in fact did play Martian monster) - twist - makisupa - sally - ghost etc etc mashup was just amazing. Thank you phish. Each night at the creek was completely different. The entire array of phish shows. Listen to this show!!!!

I love big jams as much as the next wook, but thankfully this band is versatile enough to lay it down more ways than one. Otherwise we might as well be Umphrey’s fans. I KID — I would never do such a thing. Anyway, I had a blast on the lawn watching this show including the completely unexpected and wildly fun second set. First frame was full of great song choices played very well, can’t argue with a hot Gin 2nd set opener, and I always feel very lucky to be in the crowd when Phish is having as good a time as they clearly had with this one. I’ll catch up with my next massive Tweezer down the road and remain grateful I got to catch this unique and memorable show.

Was in the pit, and enjoyed this more than any show of the run so far. Unbelievable creativity and pure badass fun the whole second set—had a smile from ear to ear throughout. Show defies categorization and had bit of everything at the highest level. If you like your phish phishy, unpredictable, groovy, heady AND deeply emotional, this was your show. Fwiw, never seen Trey smile so much in my life, and that includes FTW and bakers dozen (also in pit for most of those shows). And that contact>Slave!! Criminally underrated based on phishnet ‘formula.’ Folks gotta get in there!

The Ghost/Sally mash-up is brilliant, weaving in and out of the two songs. Then we get another one with Twist/Makisupa (Twist>Makisupa>Twist>Makisupa>Martian Monster>Twist) that is even more fun. Reminiscent of the 93 tease fests like Mike's Madness from The Roxy, Murat Gin, or the next night's Antelope at Tinley Park, Phish takes these chances to have fun and break down songs to see what else is hidden under the surface. No huge jams, but another kind of brilliance if on display.

Was in the pit, and enjoyed this more than any show of the run so far. Unbelievable creativity and pure badass fun the whole second set—had a smile from ear to ear throughout. Show defies categorization and had bit of everything at the highest level. If you like your phish phishy, unpredictable, groovy, heady AND deeply emotional, this was your show. And that contact>Slave!! Criminally underrated based on phishnet ‘formula.’ Folks gotta get in there!

im going to including the same disclaimer as last night: this review is ~objective~ (according to my objectivity) based on phish's "modern era" (09 return on). as these are my first 3 shows back, it was a pleasure to hear a mike's groove, gin, ghost, sally, all the classics etc live for the first time in a while. that being said, out of that context, this was not my favorite phish show.

set one was quite nice. a first set mikes is always a good thing, and mikes had a little extra type 2 sauce on it. the new mike song casual enlightenment is nice, and while the bowie had flubs, the jam section was very good.

set 2 was, for me personally, a tough one to swallow. to my ears, the band never found their footing (especially trey it seemed) and never really dug into any jamming, aside from a bit of gin and some random moments along the way. many fans may have enjoyed the setlist antics, and i did too. that being said, personally what i look for in a phish show is spectacular jamming, which they have been delivering in droves. it was a shame that they didn't go for a big one on this night.

that being said, it was cool to see the band roll with the semi-weird and very cool ghost groove for a bit, and after the abrupt move into sally, they obviously leaned into the "mashup set" situation. as i saw someone write elsewhere, it was a fitting choice to play most events aren't planned given the spontaneous transitions.

in closing:
this show is not really my thing, but it was still enjoyable (to say the least). the band is playing so well this tour--this was another great run of shows. can't wait for hershey!

When you sneak Sally’s ghost down the policeman’s alley don’t get twisted over more waves of bathtub gin while running from Martian monsters.

I think that sums up set II.

Set one was beautiful, a poignant Sigma Oasis to kick off the night was well received by the crowd of 25k who had largely already taken off their masks… figuratively and literally.
The first few notes of Curtain floated down from the heavens raining beautifully from Trey’s polished Languedoc and everyone who knows anything had huge grins on their faces as they knew we were in for a treat, whatever it may be.
We followed the lines south to the Creek on Sunday and our trek was rewarded with an absolutely OUTSTANDING Mike’s Song - this one (whole show but in particular this Mike’s) is a must listen. After wrapping up a 12 minute inspired monster with type 2 jamming to rank with the best of them I eagerly awaited to hear what would come next…
My Soul was filled as were many others in the crowd that night - the shredding rifts and Leo’s magic keys kept everyone dancing the whole time. Sure the transition in to Weekapaugh was a little sloppy but this is the band we love and this is exactly why we love them! No woman matched my move.
Mercury is a great toon with a great message and since I was no longer worrying about falling, the 46 days, which is a good tune is just not on my want to see again list. I was not worried about how long this 46 days would be (the 46 minute one at IT probably influences me still) and it was not long and was very groovy. A flawless Taste followed and always delights as we peer through the fog that surrounds.
While I didn’t really enjoy the new song from Mike at first I gave it a second and then third listen and it is growing on me, looking forward to seeing where it can go.
Fishman’s high hat signaled the closer for the early Sunday set and told everyone in the crowd to buckle up and to lock their tray tables in to their upright positions as the Creek was about to off!!! Do yourself a favor and crank this one up, absolute fire.

The aforementioned set II was insanity and everything that I love about our band all rolled in to one.

We are blessed or lucky or whatever you want to call it to be able to go see them again, not everyone that has shared the love still can.

Keep on rocking boys, we all love who you all are.

Wholesome, soup and driving were three things that came to mind upon seeing last night's show. Feel good tunes like The Curtain, My Soul, Taste, Waste, More and Slave were the wholesome. The 2nd set mashup sequence was essentially "Phish soup". The band threw a bunch of Phish classics into a big pot and stirred em up/"Twisted em around". I loved seeing MEAP finally and I liked how a previous review highlighted the titles connection to the mashup/soup section of the show (random, unplanned soup). Even the minimal jamming in the 2nd set sounded soupy to me at times. Contact and Slave created a "driving" themed encore which was special to me as this was the first show of the weekend i drove to. My friends and I have an inside joke about DRIVING after shows so this was hilarious to us. Definitely not a rager like Friday but I had a great time and it capped off the weekend nicely.

A few more things before I go...

Seeing a "with-less" Curtain for the first time was special. Not sure when the last one was but this is such a strange bust out technicality, I had to explain it to some of my friends. It was in the two hole as well (instead of the opener) which also caught me by surprise but they made up for it with a much more expected Bowie S1 closer.

Bathtub Gin opened the first set here on 8/10/97 which was my 2nd show ever so seeing it open the 2nd set 24 years later was cool and of course they played Twenty Years Later too.

Have a fun rest of tour everyone!

Phish can’t be everything for everyone every night. That being said, if last night’s Phishiness is what you seek, your were rewarded many times over. It’s hard to review the music as it turns on a dime and switches up before a true musical statement, or even thought, can be established.

But what might have been a foregone conclusion for the rest of tour in years past, that you wouldn’t be seeing Sally, or Mercury, or Makisupa, or Ghost again, has been forcefully thrust out the window. Little musical nods like the Gin (waves) into Ghost highlight the intention the band makes whenever they play, are that inside joke they share with all who em one their sonic brilliance.

So, while there was not a massive Jam, there were a few notable segments, especially that Mike’s which stepped outside the box for a jaunt in Type 2 territory, before bursting into My Soul. Another awkward transition into Weekapaug reminds us that the band is human. Mercury really started to deliver a soupy texture before 46 Days consumed it. The areas between the mash up never had time to congeal but felt each as if they could have gone interstellar.

The fact is, this band that is so many things for so many people can’t always be all those things on a singular night (and I stress always, because on more occasion last than not, they can be.) Heavy layers of humor and playful attention to the nuances of their illustrious cannon of music shown through last night. Hopefully the segues they teased and played with will grow with them the rest of this tour. If one thing is clear, this band is…(insert your musings here)!

Mahalo Nui,
Matthew

This is one of those shows that leaves you smiling for days after! I was on the lawn with a group of my old hometown buddies and first set had some noticeable wind issues with sound from our spot near the top. What really impresses me from that set upon re-listening that I didn't catch live is the set is split in two distinct movements. "Sigma Oasis" brings out a laid back groovy version of their newest single (if that's what it must be called) and pairs it with a rare take on their oldest song to our delight. Having seen a couple amazing "With" parts at other shows, I thought this was a great call for early set 1. The "Mikes" IS the jam of the set and a firey "My Soul" spills out of the funky space. Mike brings the first movement to a close with his own special Groove and the band pauses for "Mercury," which starts the second movement of the set. This is a nice jam they start and easily fall into a dark and sweet 7.5 min 46 Days, which having seen that tune many times IS the perfect length these days. "Taste" takes it's first debut on the tour with Trey loving his tone, and then we get the only real fumble in the set with a Phish debut. Ok, go get it, boys. This is your stage at this point in the weekend 100%. To make memories with your friends at 33 who are still there with you, the boys pull the perfect card in the stack and shake the house with a lovely "Bowie." This jam is a perfect display of the current band on tour, with an even build and roaringly clear yet emotionally driven tones from Trey.

Onto Set 2....except this is a Set 1 only review! Because they don't get discussed enough and this was a brilliant and brainy one from my favorite musical nerd quartet around. I say that with all the love (*and light - pulsating) there is. Seriously, though, go listen to Set 2. It's 1 jam. Most events AREN'T planned. Thank you, Phish.

Night three fell upon us pretty quickly at Deer Creek. What a fun run! Both prior nights had the venue feeling good and there has yet to be a shortage of experimental, funky jamming.

Anyways, my buddy and I got to the venue a little later than the nights prior-- we'd felt that we'd done an adequate job at navigating and exploring on Shakedown within the past two nights. We settled down at the back of the Pavilion on Page side about fifteen minutes prior to the billed start time to continue our drinking and conversing. It didn't initially seem quite as packed as N2, but, hey, it is a Sunday show.

The boys came on stage with a nice, standard Sigma opener. I'm not a huge fan of the tune but it evidently gets them warmed up for a continued and deep night of jamming, plus it's pretty evident that they have a bunch of fun when playing it. They took the energy from that and played a nice version of The Curtain before transitioning to an awesome Mike's (it felt like Trey held that note for three whole minutes!)-- Fishman did an incredibly job maintaining the pace and continuing to elementally challenge Trey to find his groove which created a super uptempo and fun jamming section. I thought My Soul was an interesting interlude within the Mike's Groove-- they were absolutely making a statement about dictating the pace and feel of the show, though (maybe some second set foreshadowing)? Page was, as always, beautifully on from the start of this one until the end, and he took over the bulk of the jamming segment prior to Trey ripcording a few peaks before a similarly-styled Weekapaug. Weekapaug is one of my favorite Phish segments-- it rarely goes Type II but the band displays how much they can do with a structured melodic portion and riffing off of that, this version being no exception. They finish the first vocal portion of Mercury at about six minutes before enacting a dreamy and soft jam led by Trey's 4.0 Guitar's capability-- a beautiful juxtaposition to the bass bombs from the song's beginning. 46 Days and Taste served as the set's pacemovers and it was cool to see a debut with Casual Enlightenment. Bowie was, aside from the Mike's Groove, the highlight of my set-- the band feels confident and on the same page whenever they play this song and the structured jam portions were as clean as ever. Overall, definitely a first set worth listening to with some notable highlights.

Set Two is really the set that people will talk about from this show, though-- not the jamfest that Night One had to offer per se, but the story was chronologically structured. They came out with a monstrous Gin that starts its jam segment at around 3 minutes before departing from Type I at around 8 minutes (side note: I've really loved Page's use of the synth this whole tour, I think it enhances the band's prog sound a lot). This opened the door for a nice, paced out Waves that transitioned into a more alternative Ghost-- this initial 'Ghost' portion lacked a substantive jam section, but, after being succeeded by Sneakin' Sally, the Story of Sally was truly underway with the Ghost tease beginning about 3:45 in-- the complementing jam section was almost a fusion between a Sally and a Ghost jam and it was really, really cool to see them push their musical limits in a creative manner. I'm not usually a big fan of Twenty Years Later and was a little surprised by the set placement, but it definitely continued the feel of the set and gave Mike a chance to lay some bass bombs. Waste was another interesting follow-up, but this tour they've really let loose after the vocal portion. Twist is REALLY where the mashup goes into another world-- there aren't quite discernable ends to the Twist/Makisupa/Martian Monster and the inclusion of lyrics and riffs from each song within the set prior was unlike any Phish experience I'd ever had. MEAP and More move away from this direction and really let Trey let it loose for a much higher tempo closing to the set before wrapping it up with a small Gin reprise to bring the story in full circle.

Contact is a favorite of mine and it was a perfect way to wrap up an awesome weekend at Deer Creek. Slave really capitalized on the whole tone of the second set as well. Deer Creek will be a must hit moving forward-- first time at the venue, but definitely not the last!

It's been a joy reading new waxbanks takes I must say, and he makes so many crucial points regarding this show; I would echo almost all of them. My only bones of contention would be 1) MEAP rules and 2) 20YL>Waste was the actual highlight of the show from where I was dancing on the lawn, although admittedly you did probably have to be there for this to make sense.

I guess I'm getting older along with the band. I don't think I'd ever laughed so much at a Phish show before this night and THAT'S saying something. But as high as emotions were, just being there, after nearly two years of missing this, and two nights of practicing being part of a huge crowd again, I had lost my capacity for scoffing. Even the sappiest moments were gut punches, in a good way. And I continue to relisten to this one *almost* as much as Friday.

First Show - writing this review a week after the show.

What can I say? Bought the tickets 3 days before the show. Took my wife to the show. Innocent woman from Central America. She didn't even know what band we were gonna see.

We get to our seats and she was in utter shock and horror at what was going on. I knew there'd be a very loose atmosphere there but even I was surprised at how literally EVERYONE around us was toke'in. Entire first set I could tell she was like "what on earth is this" as people danced like crazy about us and offered us multiple hits. I'm way past my days of doing that.

Intermission comes and I ask her, "Well, do you want to stay?" By that point she had settled down a bit and said "yes, you really wanted to come here so let's stay."

Bathtub Gin might've been the perfect song to open the second set. That got my wife dancing ever so slightly. As we drifted from Ghost to Sally to Twenty Years she started getting into it. Waste > Twist > Makisupa > Twist > Makisupa etc all the way back to Bathtub Gin both her and I really started to loosen up. As she enjoyed the show, I was able to really get into it.

"Want to hang around for encore," she asks. I'm like "yeah" you never know. Contact was seemingly a perfectly nice closer to the show - and then it hit...the ONE song I wanted to hear live, Slave, starts up. And while the band struggled with it a bit at first the back half of that song was so fire it just blew our minds.

All in all a fantastic show. Even better. In the week since we've gone....wife comes home at night from work...and then I start hearing tunes as she goes about her nightly routine. "What are you listening to?" I ask....she's listening to each first song set openers for Hersey PA and Atlantic City. "Oh look, I love this song," she says to me. "We should go back." A Phanatic is born. And for THAT, this will be the greatest show ever!

Set 1: Really interesting Mike's Song. Page steps up to great effect in the latter third of the song while Trey holds back. The way they transition from the dark feel of Mike's, to the more major scale sound of the jam, then back into the darkness of Mike's is really good. My Soul and Weekapaug, by contrast, were unremarkable. Casual Enlightenment is boring. Not much more to be said. The beginning of David Bowie is tough to hear. Even by 3.0 standards Trey is really sloppy. The rest of this version is unredeeming. Overall a substandard first set with Mike's Song being the only high point.

Set 2/e: This is the first set of the tour I got excited about after seeing the setlist. That said, I'm judging by what I hear and not what's written on the setlist. Bathtub Gin was nothing special. Things don't get interesting until Ghost, which is good though brief. Jarring transition to Sneaking Sally. Unfortunately Sneaking Sally doesn't really amount to much, and Twenty Years Later feels like it kills any momentum they may have had. Waste feels like filler. The whole Twist/Makisupa sequence is fun, with some good musical moments as well. But then we get thrown into the paint by numbers dad rock of Most Events Aren't Planned and More. This set is a great example of the schizophrenia of 3.0 Phish. As a whole this set isn't all that great. There weren't quite enough great moments to make up for all the meh moments. The Twist/Makisupa sequence was definitely the best part. Nice old school encore with Contact (always fun to hear) and Slave. Pretty standard versions though.

Altogether I'd say this is an average show at best. It had some definite high points (Mike's Song and the Twist/Makisupa sequence) but the majority of the show is meh at best (poor song selection and I badly botched Bowie being definite low points). On balance it adds up to a so-so show overall.

Salley, the policeman and the Martian monster are throwing a party, but they'll need to sneak Sally thru the alley to get her to the spot. Then they'll Maka some soupa, some bathtub gin, twist 1 up and read some ghost stories! You don't wanna miss this! The next time there's a party this punky might be 20 years later, who knows? Most events aren't planned!