This was certainly one of "those" shows. The day you catch lightning in a bottle.

Set one was very solid. Some nice unusually placed tunes (Sand), a nice surprise when 2001 closed out after Cavern which I was pretty certain was the Set 1 closer. All in all nothing mind blowing but very good. Nothing overly notable jam wise (Sand is the only one that even started to reach that point, all other jam vehicles were stopped in their tracks for segues into other tunes), but the band sounded good and it was a fun set.

Set two, which I'll venture to guess most reviews will focus on mostly. Julius was a pleasant surprise to see as an opener. I'm accustomed to seeing this one close things out vs open them up. Fuego was nice, and I was happy to see My Friend My Friend get some 2nd set love. I should note that before we get to the meat and potatoes of the 2nd set the Mike was on fire all night. I dunno if it was where I was sitting but his baselines were spot on and funkin things up a bit.

Then, as we all knew he would (being one of the worst kept secrets of the day), Bobby took the stage. I had noticed when he released his own tour schedule that this could have happened. But what were the odds, really? For every time "someone is in town" and never shows up, why would this be different? Luckily for us this time WAS different and here Mr. Bob Weir was in front of us. In true Phish fashion, while many were likely expecting Walkin Blues (which is what they'd soundchecked), the opening notes of Samson and Delilah hit and the crowd (myself included) went nuts. The tempo was must faster than recent Bobby / Dead & Co versions, which in my opinion is a good thing. As we approached the end of the song, I found myself wondering what else he'd stay out for (if anything), and as the opening notes of Twist found him standing front and center with the band, we knew we were getting at least two tunes out of his guest spot. The Twist itself is very good, Bobby and Trey feed off each other well. As Twist started to taper off, I figured this was it.

I'm so happy I was wrong. Not only did Bobby stay out for Miss You (a song I hadn't seen live yet), he sang it. His vocals were perfect for this tune, and it gave somewhat of a new definition to the song. Jerry was most definitely in the building. Every time a song ended, I found myself getting a bit sad that it was over because SURELY he wouldn't remain out, but every time he did. The opening notes of West LA Fadeaway gave way to the first true Dead cover of the night, a rarity especially for Phish who seems to avoid Dead tunes like the plague most of the time. By the time Playing in the Band hit I was so far above cloud 9, this night had exceeded all expectations even after knowing Bobby was going to show up. As perhaps a trade off for letting Bobby sing one of his tunes, Trey took the lead on one of Bobby's.

Quinn in the encore was like the 5th layer of icing on the cake. They could have come out and played a standard Character Zero or something without Bobby, but we were once again treated to his presence. They really seemed to all enjoy playing together. Six songs. Incredible. My words don't even come close to doing it justice.

Go listen.