Couch toured at home.

A triplet trill in Jim was like a fanfare, but it seemed like a carnival trick from Trey to generate cheers. Who knew?

The groove opened up like cracked ground in an earthquake just a little during Back On the Train. Then Tube effortlessly changed grooves, and became Psycho Killer, with Page just blasting away on the clavinet Tube-style through the tangent.

Fishman early first set was the perfect ice breaker, and Cracklin' Rosie brought me back to my first show in '93, except for the fact that tonight, the musicianship was polished and right. They couldn't even fake that!

The following songs were all well played, and the breakouts executed like the songs were never shelved. Then we got some Big Cypress reminders. Day one, song 2 and 4, in reverse order here. Hell, 9 songs from set 1 were played at Big Cypress. All but Sneakin' Salley from set 2. But that's not the main point. In my opinion, the music to come would eclipse much of the Big Cypress celebration. I was at BC, and I listened to this one at home. My har stood far taller this evening.

Corrina was a gift of beauty. Light Up or Leave Me Alone is one of the covers that Page really conveys heart and soul. He sings it like it was his own! And the jam... a total powerhouse, and the peak was moving towards the ingenious, with Trey playing aggressive lines while allowing the rhythm section to push the energy through. That's the sound of a great band! But these guys are moving above that standard now.

Setbreak arrived early, which means the time was really well spent and who knew how fast it flew by!

I didn't hear much of Chalkdust for whatever reason, but what I did hear sounded great! The refrain "Can I live while I'm young!" says to me: "As long as I am alive, I am young!" The final notes were hit with a greater unity than I've heard before, and rather than hearing the line, I felt the music like a staircase to the upper floor. And that's when the jams began.

Mind you, Carini has been a hell of a jam vehicle this year (or since late last year). It was our second college reference of the night. Father's Day at the beginning of tour. And now a party for the graduates. That's what this music seemed to be.

Carini to Antelope; one massive jam. I felt that Fishman occasionally showed a lack of confidence in his choices. Stopping on a dime where appropriate, and then hesitating when he knew it was right to come back in. But you can't fault the effort. Sand Roses Punch (which sounded like a quality of the jam, rather than just the song, even though it was performed to pefection) Sneaking... and when it got to a certain point, Trey stomped out the noise with Suzy. Sounded like he was attempting to bring us back to the grounded part of the show. Nonetheless, the spirit of Chalkdust won out, and they kept pushing. When Antelope began, it was clear that they were not including a ballad in the second set tonight!

Antelope... the intro was Mike lead, bass solos as strong as the lead guitar, yet holding this monster groove. The entry into the charge. They maintained the tradition of mellowing out (which seemed a fearful feat in itself on a night this grand), and then stepping up the velocity ever gradually. As they swirled lines around each other, tumbling, turning, careening, charging, I heard Fishman stop trying to faorce the beat, and instead he completely trusted the beat and started rolling flourishes around the fringes of the music while the other guys built momentum sans the essential drum parts. When we reached towards the peak, Trey went first, and then you could hear the drums, bass and keys creeping in, accelerating under the Jedi's trills to fuel the fire, and then they charged as a unit to the highest Antelope peak of the year by far.

If that wasn't complete enough, Tom Marshall and the Dude of Life came on to declare "Rye Rye Rocco!" The vocals were a little botched, but the spirit of the fight to make it the best it could be was definitely there.

I am not going to go into details about what I head in the jam. From Carini to Antelope. I will not attempt to describe it. All I can say is that it was the jam of 3.0 and probably outdid most of 2.0, maybe superior to much of to latter chapters of 1.0 or more. When the audience is getting charged up by the interlude between the verses of Sand, you know that the band is in a special place.

Another observation: whereas Jones Beach sounded like a different band in many ways, that is to say: PHish playing a show and doing their best.... tonight was more like a ritual of human potential. Tonight was bigger than Phish. It began as a show expressin the basics of the general sound this tour: a little slower, a bit tighter, more nuance and musicianship; more working together rather than showing off, and occasionally stumbling into brilliant jams.

Tonight, the egg hatched. The music born anew. The band back to being themselves. NO identity crisis in the music tonight!

For all those who have been waiting for Phish to return (although they have been on many stages these past few years): Wait no more!

Five stars. The show was ingenious. The music was dangerous. The band maintained great communication and unity all night. This was like an enlightened Buddha Phish. Awake, Alive, and powerful! And the stream sounded so good, my expectations for the audience tapes are actually very very high. I love the official boards, but this night, I might settle for .... both.

I am so blown away by this tour that I literally don't know which show to comment on...or even what to say. I was at all of these, jones beach, worcester...SPAC was magical...crowd at jones beach an interesting mix of douchebags...worcester was an absolute shit show. I guess for future people reading this...you should definitely download and study almost every show of this tour. Absolutely masterful musicianship. I've noticed a lot of the other guys who know what they're talking about on this site have been pretty speechless too.

Now for my actual 'opinions:' Back in the old days before mp3s there used to be these things called cassette tapes that tapers used to make and then they would get circulated. If you didn't go to the show, and you didn't know a taper...and when I first started listening to Phish I was in high school...then you pretty much had no idea what you were missing excluding the gracious reviews on dotnet of course. So the many tapes I did have typically were from '93, '94', '95...and the easiest way to listen to Phish was to actually buy their studio recordings of course. I've owned at one point or another all of their albums. Rift twice, junta twice, lawn boy twice, picture twice...literally wore them out, and bought them again. So I think for the 'jaded vets' out there...it's a little different starting out at 1.0 ...than it is for someone who's first show was '09.

All that being said...I feel like I stepped into a time machine and Phish is crushing like it's '94. The intricacies of their playing are probably lost on the vast majority of the crowd. All these noobs are so 'let down', and the hipsters are 'so dissappointed' because they heard from people that the 'jamming is so weak and always aborted.' These sets are so 'meh'...and these versions are so 'standard.' I'm sorry but a flawless Foam with all of the added complexities is fucking awesome...and I think there is definitely a division between people who just don't get it (posers essentially, not necessarily their fault...they never had to work to be a phish fan...they didn't have to earn anything to pretend to understand Phish...they have everyshow at their fingertips...they never had to blast a shitty AUD on their tape player in their car while all of the passengers cringe at the awful hissing sound.)...division...yes...and the people whose eyes are filled with tears of joy that their favorite band of all time is not only still playing but absolutely destroying, and I can only speak for myself but I've devoted a substantial part of my entire life to this band, and I am sure their are others that can share that sentiment.

Dude...the days of four song sets are OVER. They are back to where they were at the pinnacle of their musicianship, before the thirty minute loops. They are too good to play a repetitive funk jam, everything they play leads into something else, and they don't stop. Musically...they are probably too embarrassed to pull that off anymore...I can't see Trey playing the same three notes for twenty minutes again...I can't see Page playing the same five chords for an hour over a loop...and so on. But if you listen very carefully...you will find the richest jams you've ever heard compositionally obscured (purposely arranged this way I imagine) in the middle of a 'meh standard version aborted jam vehicle.' This tour in my humble opinion is by far the best since 1.0...and they are playing with such a fiery passion, and joking around...quite frankly...I think that it is the best Phish ever. I will always be a harbinger of how awesome the various eras of 1.0 were (very distinct eras...(write that down poser))...but this is the tour I have been waiting for my entire life. I would advise trying to catch some shows, to say the least. The four greatest musicians on the planet, are also quite good at one other thing: fucking with you. The more of a 'jaded vet' you are, the more these pranksters are going to take you for a musical ride. (Insert opening riff to possum) I hope you aren't too 'let down,' and with any luck you might join me in saying Phish is Destroying yet again.

And for all the haters, I hope you had fun at camp bisco and don't forget to catch further while missing Phish at SPAC we look forward to your insightful comments.

Let me first say that there is a LOT to love about this show. The warm up section is mostly solid, with a good Jim and Ocelot, a so-so Heavy Things, and a decent BOTT and Bitch. Psycho Tube is great fun and such a smooth transition, and has some really nice Page. It was a treat, but Cracklin' Rosie was even more so, with Psycho Killer and tucking-infused HYHU segments taboot. As Fish said, "This is...well, this is a big hit." Hilarious, fun, fantastic. Things get a bit more standard from there, with a solid Stash, a Bouncin' (what can you say about Bouncin'?), Paul and Silas (yay for that!) and a mostly well-played Horn. Corrina is absolutely beautiful, and was a weclome treat. The first set wraps up, though, with an absolutely RIPPING Light Up, with devesating Page and Trey sections. Great way to wrap up set one of the first night.

Chalkdust provides a decent warm up for set two, but the crazy loop effects at the end lead us into the first powerful jam segment of the show. Carini starts out in menacing fashion, then almost develops a blues-beat about two or three times before settling into some beautiful, melodious, almost Slave-like jamming, which eventually disolves into sustain from Trey and gentle chording from Page before Sand slides sexily into the theater. This is a sweet transition, and Sand comes complete with roars for glowstick eruptions, and, of course, the deep, nasty funk with Mike and Page gettin' dirty. Trey hooks up tight with Gordo, and this Sand does nicely for itself, then gets broken down, then comes back again in wonderful fashion before slowing down and ending studio-style.

Roses is a nice choice coming out of that hot jam, but as the final chords build and Trey teases us with a lick that seems sure to set off another jam, the rug gets pulled right out for PYITE. I love Punch, but I don't think it works nearly as well when it's not opening a set, and I don't think it worked well here. Plus, it's kinda sloppy. Once again, the end of Punch breaks down into loops and effects and spookiness before - BAM! Sally!

Sally > Ghost is the second great jam segment of the night. Trey starts off by noodling a bit, then tries a couple of times to inject some straight rock into the jam. Then, as things are starting to die, suddenly we get a *reverse* rip cord, Trey relaunches the jam, and suddenly they're rockin' like the Who! The funk then seeps back in, and the Talking Heads seem to make another appearance before the jam once again begins to settle back into loops and ominous sounds...and then a Ghost appears. The Ghost jam takes its time, floating around in standard fashion for a while, before it gets pushed into a slightly syncopated, swelling jam which is by turns dark and majestic and weird. It's that classic, odd, Phishy kind of jam that both pleases and challenges. The jam grows sparse, and then the second WHAM transition takes place, this time into Suzy.

One criticism I will make is the placement/inclusion of Suzy here. First of all, the transition is abrupt and jarring, to my ears. Secondly, if you're gonna close with Antelope, why do you need the Suzy? I guess I was just enjoing the Ghost too much, plus I've never been a big Suzy fan.

Anyway, Antelope to close, and it's a typically fun Antelope, with the added treat of seeing both Tom and the Dude on stage together, although I'm sure it was much more of a treat live than it is on tape. The Loving Cup encore is somewhat predictable, albeit with one last chuckle provided by Page ("Who the hell was that, anyway?")

In the end, I keep going back and forth on this show. It's a great show, no doubt, and makes 4 stars without breaking a sweat. There are two sweet jam segments between Carini > Sand and Sally > Ghost, plus you have the first set Psycho Tube, Cracklin' Rosie, Corrina, Light Up, and tucking taboot. I think that's a lot of meat, and despite the frustration I feel about the placement of Punch and Suzy, I'm going to stick with five stars for this show. Lots of fun, lots of great jamming (especially Carini > Sand and Light Up).

I review for Phish.net. But I can only tuck for you.

Great show!
What stuck out to me, was the opening sequence...here's my interpretation.

It was an ode to Trey's general life story:
Runaway Jim- Trey was a runaway. Experimenting with music and all sorts of other fun.
Ocelot- he got lost in the scene, perhaps in his music as well. The ongoing creativity must be difficult. He may have felt like he was 'hiding in the herd' so he relied on the creative edge presented by the chemical "fun" as mentioned before, to stick out. It worked for a while until...
Heavy things- he was arrested in the Albany area, his troubles had got the best of him. Heavy things came down on him, that he could not see happening.
Then, back on the train- here we are spac, hope you're ready to rock. Took Trey a while to hop back on the train, but now we are witnessing the wonderful 3.0 era.

Idk, just an observation I made while smiling on the lawn at spac. Agree or disagree, I had a wonderful time and can't wait to see the boys rockin again!

Sneakin' Sally Through the 13 minutes of sickness. Thank you, PHISH. WOW! Five-star stuff right there!!

Its funny how everyone has their own impressions of a show. I'll be short and sweet but to me clearly the Sally>Ghost was one of the jams of the summer.
2nd set in general was pure smoke.
1st set was also really good. 2012 hasn't been known for its 5 song first sets if you know what I mean but overall I thought this one might have been the best of leg 1. At least in the conversation.

Wonder what the boys have in store for tonight after last nights throw down.

XM Radio here we come ... plus 6 pm et... we have an hour of archive fun with Kevin Shapiro.

A year later this show holds up - both on the iPod and in memory. SPAC is a challenging arena to drive to and park at (I was a mile from the stage, at least) but the energy in the "building" was outstanding, even if it was a solid 85-degrees and humid as the boys tore into Runaway Jim. I'm not a fan of Fishman's antics (plus he sings off-key) but the Tube > Psycho Killer > Tube transition was seamless and wholly entertaining in a Set 1 that featured a solid BOTT and an up-to-snuff Funky Bitch.

Reviewers on this site and Mr. Miner have (rightfully) heaped more praise on the SF and Dick's shows but IMO the jamming in this Set 2 is just a hair below those stratospheric efforts. It's one thing to playback MP3s on the ride to work the following week and say "Wow, amazing jam" but quite another to experience a live jam and recognize it's excellence in real-time. For me, Sally > Ghost was one of those moments. Trey pivots as the Sally jam is winding down and literally writes a new tune before dissolving into Ghost. Worth a re-listen if you haven't in a year.

Did I mention it was hot though? I was totally drenched as I happily trudged back a mile (at least, I think) to my trusty Subaru.

Just one quick thought. I LOVED THIS SHOW. And at the end it made me realize something. Loving Cup is awesome! The best analogy I can think of for it is the cigarette after some hot sex with the girl down the street. Just the icing on the cake ya know? Everything about this show seemed right to me. I left in awe. My friends were worried cuz I couldn't talk for about an hour after the show cuz I didn't know where to start.

I wrote the review above, and I have an addendum to add: this show sounds amazing on tape! Yeah, it might not have the craziest jamming, but they band is playing so great and clearly having fun. I actually think the first set is one of the best of the tour (The Henrietta segment is particularly inspired) and the second set never let up. Don't let my slightly tepid review above fool you. Listen to this!

I just purchased the flacs. Here's the thing. I'm very excited to hear this one. Nothing more common than an exciting event seeming so great, and then when you revisit it, it's a tad above average. SO I'm gonna put it to the test and see if it holds up. It's funny that the jams were not so above average in length; the fact that the entire set pretty well flowed like one huge jam; that's what is great. The quality of musicianship; the quality of intent --not everything attempted worked, but they sure meant to hit it if at all possible, and they were damn close-- was there.

Can't wait to play it again.

July 6th, 2012 was day one of a three-night Phish run at one of my favourite venues, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). This was the weekend that m’lady and I stayed at the nondescript and relatively unfun Holiday Inn, which was just close enough to the concert shed to make you think you should walk and just a little too far to be comfortably walked.

We walked.

The show was super. We were inside the pavilion (ie not on the lawn, thank ye gawds) pretty much dead centre. The band kicked things off with a blood-pumping Runaway Jim and 20,000 of us jumped to our feet together and stayed there for three straight nights, shaking our bones to seventy-nine of our favourite songs over a half-dozen sets.

The first two nights were absolutely riddled with cover songs; we’re talking twenty covers out of fifty-two songs. Nutty. First came Funky Bitch which is so standard you could be excused for thinking it was actually a Phish tune (it’s by Son Seals) but then a couple of songs later they played the Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer for just the fourth (and to date, final) time (I’ve seen the last two). They invariably play Hold Your Head Up as an introduction to some cheesy-ish cover and in this case it bled into Neil Diamond’s Cracklin’ Rosie, which was followed by a killer Stash, which is one of my favourite Phish songs.

The rest of the set was back-and-forth between covers and originals, the second set kept it up with the barrage of cover songs (including an especially great Roses Are Free) and they encored with, you guessed it, another cover.

But can you actually guess it?* M’lady did.

But all that aside, in my brain this show is famous for a rather jarring late-night snafu. M’lady and I were sharing a double room with a friend of hers and his girlfriend. Sometime in the wee hours I was sawing logs in one of the double beds when I found myself being scuttled over to make room. Shaken into semi-consciousness it quickly occurred to me that the bed already had two people in it. I popped open one bleary eye and was surprised to see Bernie squeezing in for a snuggle. “Um, dude…”

“Huh, wha?” he muttered, suddenly awake and sitting bolt upright. “Oh, sorry man,” Bernie said, getting up and retreating to the other bed. “I crawled into the wrong bed.” You can say that again.

“My bad.” You can say that again too.

It made for a continental breakfast jam-packed with jokes and teasing at Bernie’s expense, which was pretty fun. But the final joke is on me (isn’t it always?) because I can never ever remember who it was that crawled into bed with me that night. I only know that it was one of the many, many guys I’ve met along the way that I haven’t hung out with enough for my brain to put into a solid memory-box. As I was writing this m’lady reminded me that it was Bernie – as she always has to – but that info will surely slide away again by this afternoon.

As a result, whenever I run into any of the aforementioned guys on tour I always think it was them that had tried to share my bed, and when I lean in with a funny comment making reference to it – as I usually do – I get a blank stare (at best) and have some explaining to do.

Which is probably one of the reasons why I spend a lot of time on tour by myself.

*e: Loving Cup by The Rolling Stones.

https://www.toddmanout.com

I had a lot of fun at my first show at SPAC in 2012. For whoever may see it, I'm writing this as a recollection of discovering the magic and was able to understand why people become obsessed with this band.

The things that struck me the most about the experience were: firstly the wave of energy that everyone was wallowing in and hopping around about as soon as the Runaway Jim opener kicked off. I truly had no idea what I was in for. Secondly, I marveled at the accuracy with which people I talked to recalled how many shows they'd been to. An exchange with a guy next to me went something like "this is my 42nd one. First time for you? Haha awesome man. Have fun!".

Listening back to this night never fails to bring happiness to me. Although at the time I was almost completely unfamiliar with Phish's catalog, I know now that I was lucky and got a fantastic introduction. I recognized Tube from a show a friend had once given to me on CD (it was 12/29/97 and he is a good friend for using that show to try and lure me into the Phish universe), but that may have been it. HYHU and Cracklin Rosie were unforgettable. Trey's sentiment, something or other about "if there are any children in the audience trying to decide on a career choice, I recommend this" was fun.

I can't go into much detail on how I felt about the versions of so many favorites that were played this night. All I could tell was that I made a good decision to be here and that from here on, instead of "yeah they're pretty cool I guess" it would be "oh man, they're incredible". We were camped at Lee's which made the SPAC trip... wholesome.

I know I came to the party late, but I couldn't be happier to be here.

Kickin' it down in Fraggle Rock for the Psycho Killer!

Kickin' it down in Fraggle Rock for the Psycho Killer!

the soundcheck from this show ended with driver and dog faced boy (x2). it was audible from outside the gates

Finally played Killer again. 5 stars.

Phish does their Friday night party set and it mostly comes off without a hitch. Probably more fun to be at this one than listen back (which I haven't yet...so who knows?). It was a non stop dance party in the moment and relatively well balanced in my opinion. In my opinion, mid-first set is the PERFECT place for Fishman antics. Tube > Psycho Killer > Tube, HYHU > Cracklin' Rosie >HYHU was fun live but honestly nothing out of the ordinary. Again, the vibe was really great in the venue and we all had a blast! Not the most adventurous show of this tour by any means.

First show since dcu, i thought the playing was pretty above average.
I loved the tube>psyco>tube. Corinna,and the page driven luolma. For the seccond set sand, roses, and ghost stood out from a very standout show.

So I'm at this show right? In the first set I'm panicking. Why is this so standard? (Granted, Phish's "standard" is anyone else's "great") Where is the excitement? Then Tube came.

Christ. The last Tube I've seen was in the one back in AC in June. I think it's safe to say I'm on a pretty good roll with Tubes. This was phenomenal.

More shenanigans follow, and if you don't find yourself smiling at Fishman's antics, or singing along to Cracklin', you might need to loosen up. This one two punch of special made me more than happy to be there. A complete 180.

Paul/Silas, Corinna and Light Up were all songs I'm (And I imagine many others) are constantly chasing, so seeing them was definitely a plus.

Second set was acceptable. Sand and Sneakin -> Ghost are the clear highlights, especially the latter there. Man that jam was liquid excitement.

Two notes into Loving Cup and I'm already on the way to my car.

Show was pretty good! It had ups, it definitely had downs, but it definitely upheld the reputation summer of 2012 is setting for itself. It's a great time to be a phan!

P.S. Getting pulled over and given a ticket while *in the venue* is not fun.