this is a pretty solid show. i thought the acoustic set would go one of two ways. either it would be just typical slower phish songs or it would be amazing. i would say that it definitely leaned toward the standard issue slow songs, but I will say mcgrupp and the curtain with are very impressively done. the curtain with, in particular, is very cool. wilson also worked well.

the second set never really got there. I know it was the first electric set, but one would hope that it would have the second set feel. melt and jibboo both have some nice exploration. papyrus is a nice treat too. otherwise, this is somewhat of a missable set.

the tweezer>maze that starts the 3rd set is very nice. trey owns the tweezer and page nails the maze. there were a lot of hot mazes in '09, and this is one of them. i think i still like alpine's and shoreline's better, but this one is a doozy too. free keeps the momentum going. sugar shack and limb by limb don't really fit well here, in my opinion, but theme from the bottom starts to bring it back around. mike's song is nice and rocking before spacing out into 2001. this is a good strong version of this tune. light is an interesting little tune. i really don't like the song, but i love the jams they pull out of this one. I saw a great one in cincy, and the gorge from the summer was really nice. this one though, might be my favorite thus far. trey has some really nimble playing here as they slowly work their way into a very focused slave. if you like esther, you'll like this encore. personally, i think it is somewhat missable.

highlights

set 1:
the curtain with, wilson>mcgrupp

set 2:
jibboo, papyrus, reba, melt

set 3:
tweezer>maze, mike's>2001>light>slave