phish was coming off a very hot show, but as always at deer creek, we were looking for them to top the previous night. i don't know if they topped it, but they came down close.... i'll let others debate their favorite of this run...

punch: nice hot version. they dug deep in the intro before making it into the "song".

beauty of my dreams: ahhhh.... i love this song. good snappy version. got the slightly buzzed crowd jumping.

gumbo: here we go! this was a dark, nasty, funky gumbo. it might be my favorite ever. it is at least my favorite version since tinley park 97. fishman held down a nice funky beat while trey, page, and mike just laid down this nasty funky jam. lucky for us, we would get to revisit this realm in sneaking sally the next night.

the divided sky: after a 20+ minute gumbo, i was expecting the boys to chill on this one, but they kept the ball rolling. trey really soared on the post silence portion of this sky. there are a goof or two along the way on this one.

boogie on: quick and to the point, but this kept the momentum of a nice no nonsense first going.

carrini: talk about momentum...this got the creek rocking. they started to stretch this one out a bit before quickly turning a corner into the seldom played...

magilla: talk about an odd pairing! this magilla really caught the crowd off guard. page was killing this one, and trey quipped afterward that they should play this one again. good 'ol deer creek.... you can expect just about anything here.

possum: they closed this set with a barn burner possum. trey lights up the night on this one. he was hitting those hot, bluesy, licks that he finds in possum so often. very good, completel band effort here.

set 2:

soa melt: this one had been shelved for a while, and some rust was evident. once they "breathed deep in the steam dream," they absolutely took off. this jam was spectacular, the best of the 3 night run and maybe the best of the year. after really rocking and rolling the melt theme, they find themselves in this far out spacey/bluesy jam. for a minute i thought they would go into jesus left chicago, but after a little more exploration they moved into...

free: this fit like a glove. this free had more of a funky mid section than some of its hard rocking brethren. gordon was hot on this one. good free, following a sick melt.

friday: hmmm... gotta cool down some time.

the lizards: nice little treat here. nothing out of this world. good solid lizards.

walls of the cave: i wasn't a big fan of this song, and this version didn't do too much to change my mind. the deer creek 2004 version with the dwd ending nudged me a little in its favor. trey and page were sharp on this take though.

enc:

bouncing around the room: nothing to see here

frankenstein: nice change of tempo after bouncing. they ended a great show in style.

overall:

this was a good solid show, with some thick jams in some slightly unexpected places. I did feel that the 2nd set petered out quite a bit torward the end, but who can complain about anything after that mind blowing melt.

1st set:
gumbo, carrini>magilla>possum

2nd set:
soa melt>free