Last night marked Phish’s tenth performance – eighth if you’re only counting headlining gigs – at the PNC Garden Bank State Arts Center. If there’s been an ongoing trend to the preshow atmosphere on the current tour thus far, it could be the blazingly hot, 1999 Summer Tour-esque weather. So being mindful of that theme, please try to keep what’s important (water), and know who’s your friend (hydration).

Alas, sometimes an excess of water is the problem, as we saw Tuesday night with Phish’s return to Canada being postponed due to the after-effects of flooding. Whether an intentional nod to a previous Phish show that rain threatened to undermine or just a fortunate coincidence, “Llama” took the leadoff spot. Because the song has been relegated to a once-or-twice-a-year rarity in the 3.0 era, it’s easy to forget what an effective show opener it is.

Three Hoist tracks followed: “Wolfman’s Brother,” “Sample In A Jar,” and “Julius.” Although nothing in particular stood out about the trio’s bookends, it’s a challenge not to enjoy competently-played versions. While in past eras each represented titans of the jam vehicle industry, the variance in performance of “Halley’s Comet” and “Bathtub Gin” in recent memory has barely registered. The latter found Trey and his pitch-shifter leading a brief, yet energetic jam, complete with two vampy rock-n-roll endings.

“Lawn Boy” and “Ya Mar” continued the old-school setlist choices, preceding “Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan,” only one of two songs played last night that had not debuted in either the ‘80s or ‘90s. For all of the recent chatter about a new studio album on the horizon, it’s difficult to imagine its imminent release with such a dearth of new material over the last two years. “Theme From The Bottom” and “Suzy Greenberg” ultimately brought us to intermission. All in all, the set was representative of the preceding first sets of the tour – highly enjoyable, but ultimately forgettable.

On the other hand, the second set “Crosseyed And Painless” should not be soon forgotten. After the initial up-tempo part of the jam section, the playing grew sparser around the nine-minute mark (all timings here on out reference the Live Phish track). By ten minutes in, Trey and Page traded melodic phrases while Mike meatballed away. Patience is this jam’s strongest point, as the feeling of barely-contained, building energy permeated this next section. Still letting the jam grow organically, Trey’s playing gave off a “Gimme Some Lovin’” feel to it (11:41-12:01). Fishman ups the ante at 12:49 with a subtle change in rhythm that Trey soon picks up on. With Page hammering away on piano, Mike drops his full arsenal at 13:25. Ol’ GSAC is about to blow its top, but the virtues of patience win out yet again – at this point, the band is content to explore horizontally if not vertically. Around the fifteen-minute mark, once again a Fishman change in rhythm is quickly replied to by Trey, with riffing reminiscent of the 12/31/10 “(Holy) Ghost.” Within a minute, the pace again slowed to a simmer before sublimely finding its way to “Harry Hood.”

Throughout the beginning section of “Hood,” successfully attempting to imbue a sense of cohesion to the set, Trey played back a looping set of trills from the “Crosseyed” jam’s coda. This commendable “Hood” was succeeded by “Axilla,” ending with that same Trey loop that played over the transition to “Sand,” which contained perhaps the most controversial moment of the show. Akin to some songs played in the first set, the groove-driven “Sand” was typically, incredibly enjoyable, but did not feature much in terms of deep musical exploration. Perhaps sensing a dead-end and plotting an escape plan towards a more viable path, with the other band members still locked in said groove, Trey somewhat awkwardly jumped into the “Light.” It’s a bit jarring for sure, but this was not the abrupt ending of a can’t-miss jam, as “Sand” had already begun its wind-down.

At under twelve minutes, this compact “Light” featured all substance and no filler. Trey eventually abandoned his go-to pitch shifter for a ride on the wah, resulting in a collaborative section which, as a complement to its excellence, featured no one in particular in a lead role. The last minute featured the show’s fourth quarter theme, as Trey teased “Maria” from “West Side Story” (see the brilliant 12/31/95 “Weekapaug” and 8/11/98 “Jim” for previous “Maria” teasing).

Four frequently-employed set closers rounded out the set: “Good Times Bad Times,” “Slave To The Traffic Light,” “Rocky Top,” and “Cavern,” which ranged from notably above-average (“Good Times”) to slightly-unappealing (while pretty enough for its bulk, the slipshod ending to “Slave” was hard to ignore). More “Maria” teasing ensued in “Cavern” and the “Possum” encore.

Despite the unfortunate postponement of the Toronto show, momentum looks to be on Phish’s side five shows into the current tour. With their ability to connect in the way they did during “Crosseyed” and SPAC’s “Carini” this early on, the excitement for what’s to come in the following weeks is palpable.

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