this show, in my opinion, is the best show of the summer, possibly of the year. i feel phish was still shaking off some rust on their june east coast run. they started to pick up some steam during the burgettstown-deer creek-alpine valley run, but i still don't think they were going as far out or hitting some of the peaks they found on the redrocks/gorge run. the east coast run that came after was good, but i felt it benefitted from oddball/rare song selection more than tight, explorative jamming. anyway, back to this gem...

after blowing up down with disease for the first time since their return at shoreline, they opened with it the very next show. this is a much more standard version, think early '94 version. ocelot works well after disease, and pebbles and marbles is a nice early treat. one of the few songs from that batch that i really get into. possum gasses the crowd up before taking a breather in sleep. destiny unbound rips. trey is particularly hot in the funky middle section. i like this one more than the fenway version. stash is nice and explorative. page and trey both have some hot licks. then comes what is possibly the jam of the summer. this sneaking sally is huge, and it should be considered one of the best. out of the "song", they hit a funky vocal jam, similar to vegas 04, but this isnt one of those shitty vegas shows. fishman and trey lead them back around into a very slick and funky sneaking sally jam. they move in and out of the the theme, but the funk exploration is constant. this jam works really well into cavern to close the set.

they kept the funk flowing to start the second set with a red hot moma dance. this is a rare 2nd set version. while i don't like the song light, damn, i love those light jams. the whole band is in sync on this one before it gives way to a very nimble taste. this is one of those tastes that makes it easy for me to justify as a damn good second set tune. page and trey work off each other very well. the sharp play continues in this very-well done fluff head. joy mellows everyone out before the best bathtub gin of the year. this was also the only 2nd set performance of bathtub in '09. this one does not take the normal '09 bathtub path. this one has a really nice funk/rock vibe that stretches for nearly 20minutes. after this one starts to peter out, fishman takes us into a beautiful set closing harry hood. they always seem to nail this one at the gorge, and this one was no different. slave was a nice pleasant surpise of an encore. not the best of the year, there are a shit ton to choose from, but this one is very good. page in particular sparkles here.

overall, this is a must hear show. you may not agree that this show is the best of the summer, but if you don't like this show, you are not a phish fan!

highlights:

set 1:
pebbles and marbles, destiny unbound, sneaking>cavern

set 2:

light>taste, bathtub gin>harry hood