Phish opened the 2nd show at Seattle’s Key Arena with some ambient space prior to Maze’s intro. This Maze is on point and spirited! Next we get a trio of “first time this tour” songs that represent the essence of Phish..There’s some Trey-Page interplay in Guelah Papyrus, followed by some beautiful solos in Foam, and finally a rock ballad in Fast Enough For You.

“This is a little song that we’re gonna do for you about how you people are going to feel after we demolish you in chess. It’s called Blue and Lonesome.” Too funny! The band finds their groove in Free but it doesn’t go beyond the norm.

My 4th The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday caught me by surprise, but made sense once I realized today was the eve of Yom Kippur. Of course they had to play it so they could drop into Avenu Malkenu, “Our Father, Our King”. Gordo rightfully gets down on the bass before ending the song and finishing with TMWSIY.

Sample In A Jar might be Trey’s favorite song if he had to choose; crowd pleasing version as usual. The ending of Sample drops right into You Enjoy Myself, which was so smooth initially that it stumbles a little, but recovers nicely of course. Post tramps Trey jumps on the drum kit and Page steps up to lead the jam in fine fashion. Trey returns to guitar to finish the song properly. Gordo lays down an impressive bass solo before the vocal jam to end the set.

Timber (Jerry) opens the 2nd set. It was the first time played since it’s triumphant return at Sugarbush the past summer after a 258 show gap. This gap was only 6 shows and it still felt like a bustout, we were excited to get this only 6 shows into the 54 show Fall Tour. Of course, the band tore this song up.

The 2nd It’s Ice of Fall Tour comes out of the ending of Timber Ho. The usual Page breakdown occurs and doesn’t get too crazy. This song typically isn’t played in the second set. Sparkle is Sparkle and gets the crowd riled up. Harry Hood immediately drops next and the intro section is quite unique. The Hood jam sounds great and builds to a terrific climax.

The 4th Billy Breathes in six shows is well placed. Faht was really, really unexpected and happens to be the second to last one played to the date. Wouldn’t it be fun if Fishman busted this one out again. Sweet Adeline was also well placed. Phish was really being Phish!!

Oh shit! Split Open and Melt just started!! Enjoying the rare second set placement again. Things get dark real quick to my enjoyment. This Melt bangs around a bit and pushes the envelope. Squirming Coil closes the second set unlike the last time played when it closed the first set. The full band interacts well before leaving the stage to Page to wind things down. Which he does in fine fashion of course.

As a solo encore, Rocky Top seems the most unfair. I even feel that way about Fire sometimes since it is less than 5 mins typically. But Rocky Top is less than 3 minutes. Whatever, we have a day off before the next show in Portland, OR and the start of a 4 day run that will take us to Canada and finish in Montana. But I had a fabulous time in Seattle at the first two indoor shows of Fall Tour!!!

Worthy of a listen: Maze, Foam, Timber (Jerry), Harry Hood, Faht

#20yearslater