Well the drive from Camden was pure hell. It rained steadily pretty much the whole time until we got about an hour from Limestone. Sucked. Thank god we had Adderall at the ready otherwise I would have been in trouble. 13 hours after leaving NJ we hit the line to get onto the festival grounds in Caribou; 8 miles from the gates. At this point we knew we were screwed. At least we got to hear the soundcheck on the way in. 18 hours later and still no sleep, we made it onto the festival grounds. I promptly set up camp and set out to check out the concert area. It was great to meet antelope5/Jill and Greg from livephish. After trying to sell cigarettes and stickers for 20 minutes, I was accosted by a cop on a horse. He said if he saw me trying to sell smokes on the tarmac again, he would personally see me thrown out. Nice. After that I went back to our site and set up on the edge of the tarmac with my radio, chair and multiple ice cold beers. The stickers and smokes went like wildfire until it was time to go in. Did I mention I was on 35 hours of NO SLEEP at this point? Yeah great.

SET 1: AC/DC Bag: Great all around rocking Bag. No funk, no loops just straight up old school smoking Bag! Great way to open up the festival! ?Let’s get this show on the road had 70,000 people screaming their collective heads off!

Ya Mar: Sweet! These two tunes to open IT had me thinking back to my first Phish festival, Clifford Ball. However, this Yamar would smoke the Ball version! I was really happy they played this again after that subpar version from Raleigh where Mike was so out of it. True to form he did his scatting of the lyrics that I so missed in NC. At 6:30 the jam begins to take off and you just know that this isn’t going to be your average Ya Mar. AT 8:45 this one is delving into the nether regions of a relatively dark jam. It continues on the same path thru 15 minutes before Trey starts to stoke the fires a bit. At 17 the boys bring it back down a bit w/ Page playing some gorgeous keys! The segue led by Trey into ->

Runaway Jim: This is knee buckling segue. So very good. The happy summer time type tunes continue with an excellent Jim. Even though this is a standard Jim, through the first three songs it is very apparent that Page is en fuego!

Reba: I don’t think I could have been any happier than I was at the first few chords to Reba! People that have not been to a Phish festival but Phish shows just do not understand the magnitude of these behemoth shows. They are totally overwhelming. The music cannot be beat! End of the tour, in the middle of nowhere with 70,000 people ? NOTHING BEATS THIS! A small flub at 2:40, no biggie. This version is sublime. Bit of a Slave tease at 12:27 by Trey. The jam begins to pick up at 13 minutes and heads for the finish line. Just when you think this is going to peak around 15, Trey keeps smoking it! You can tell the whole band is feeling it big time give and take energy wise from the crowd and the band. This one even had whistling, very nice!

Birds of a Feather: No letdown here people! This one gets especially dissonant at 5:40 with Trey letting out some distorted wails on his doc. Some really cool, dark effects by Trey at 9:17 backed by Page funking out hard on keys. At 11:10 or so the band wanders back into more familiar Birds territory, i.e. fast paced rock. Sneaky and quiet return to the chorus at 13:20, on the audience source I am listening to you can barely hear it.

Meatstick: Big chant for this leads to Trey, “We would like to honor your request! We are just taking our time up here because we have nowhere to go for two days.” First since 10/7/00. Big cheers for that, comical Phish. I don’t care how much haters rip this song. I love it in small doses! Fun lyrics, Mike dropping serious bombs on your ass comical Phish is what this is. They have a couple of lyric issues they fumble through but again, it hasn’t been played since Shoreline 2000. Complete with Japanese lyrics this is a rollicking good time. Nice, unique solo by Trey followed by more bunker busting Cactus bombs. Cool Meatstick. Like I said, very fun in small doses.

Two Versions of Me: Nice placement for this new ballad.

Vultures: Excellent! You have got to love this song. The degree of difficulty is quite high I would think with this song. They pretty much nail it notwithstanding a little flub around 5:40. It’s good to see this song get a little love on this tour. I personally would like to see it like once every 20 shows or so. But that’s me.

Limb By Limb: Very solid Trey/Page led jamming. I love hearing Page tickle the ivories on this song. This departs from what you may consider typical LxL jamming in the mid 8 minute mark range. This is a brief departure, not more than one minute I would say. Solid version but not one that I would actively seek out to listen to again.

Cavern: Thank God Bonner Springs is a distant memory at this point! Standard and well played Cavern to end a very strong first set.

SET 2: Down with Disease: Time to let it all hang out ! A very rocking Disease finds itself backing into quieter jam at 11:40. Mike sounds great throughout this section. Before long this becomes a cup of noodle soup. Around 15:15 I really thought they might take it into Manteca, but it was not to be (how cool would that have been though?!). At 16 minutes you’ll find some heavily distorted effects by Trey which goes on for quite a while. Honestly, with my sleep situation this was not doing me one bit of good. Way to trancey/ambient. But, listening back now in a comfortable chair and with plenty of sleep – lol – this jam sounds great. Mike sounds great backing up Trey’s very gritty stuff. Very muddy and repetitive in the 17 minute range, very 2.0 if you will. Sorta segue into >

NICU: Cool, this woke me back up in a hurry. I had fun dancing a little jig to this number, fun NICU as they all are. At 2:40 Trey flubs and actually chuckles a bit into the mic, funny stuff. Play it again Leo!? Ha ha! 4:43 ?Play it Cactus?, Mike proceeds to lay it down with his cooky new bass tone, nice. Fishman steals the limelight away from Mike (who didn’t want any part of this segue at first ->

Brother: Rough segue. Seriously, Mike wanted to keep rocking out and Fishman kicked the drumbeat and pretty much had to wrench the rest of the band along with him. I surely cannot complain about seeing this breakout tune twice in four shows. I probably won’t see it again in another 25 shows so I will take it when I can. Good brother, but not as good as Burgettstown. Still fun as hell though.

Lawn Boy: Tell ‘em Leo! You have to love the spotlight on Page, I just wish it were there more often. Nice breather and typically good solo by Mike.

Discern: Blarg. Way too much ambience and distortion in the middle. Again, not contributing to my alertness factor But, like DWD – listening back after 20 years – this does have a certain charm to it and defines that 2.0 sound!

Waves -> Jam: After the final vocal section, this one immediately retreats to very deep space. Way, way out there. In my current state at the time, I needed more. I was so tired. Given the right headspace I can see how this would be completely mind expanding. They truly take all the time in the world to let this breathe and explore that deep space. Given the surroundings, in the middle of nowhere at their own festival and no time constraints – why not try something like this? This was essentially a sneak peek into what was going to go down at the Tower Jam. >

David Bowie: This is a really nice Bowie that they stay patient with in the early stages and keep it dark and sinister. Refreshing bit of jamming here after what came before it. Very clean peak. Good Bowie.

SET 3: Rock and Roll: Woo hoo! I was so pumped to hear this! Let it rip Page! This R&R is unrelenting ? nothing ambient or spacy about this one at all. Just tight overall band jamming on this version. The funk shows up around 15 minutes and they ride this theme into ->

Seven Below: Really good jam although at the time I was disenchanted having just seeing it played in Camden and 7 times this summer, so I was growing tired of it. But relistening to it now, it is fantastic. In the early going it is light and breezy with Mike and Trey playing off one another exceptionally well. In the latter stages it takes on a darker shall we say brooding sort of element. In the 10 and a half minute range Trey grabs onto a theme that is sludgy and edgy, very 2.0 and Fishman is hammering his cymbals. Pronounced On Your Way Down tease starting at 11:35. Thought for sure they were going to go into it which would have been super strange seeing as how they had played it on 7.30 and it was a major bust out. Awesome segue into->

Scents and Subtle Sounds: Bit of a lyrical flub at 4:22. Shortly after the composed section is over and the jam begins, there is pronounced Seven Below tease. After that is over, they just take this sucker to maximum overdrive. Fast and furious for sure, awesome! Things calm down and then Trey starts messing around a little with Crosseyed and Painless around the 12:20 mark. Very cool introspective jam ensues from there, Page providing some wonderful color and then seamlessly into ->

Seven Below: **I am not hearing at all when it officially went back into Seven Below, but this is the way Phish.net has this setlist has this listed but LivePhish does not. They just have Scents going into Spread it ‘Round – which is correct ->

Spread It 'Round: This thing just goes nuts and then to very, very deep space. Would have been mind blowing given the proper circumstances. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to appreciate at the time but certainly do now and would recommend this crazy jam. Pretty cool little segue into >

Bug: Interesting choice. Trey does his rock star thing.

ENCORE: Dog Log: Interesting speech from Trey talking about how they made a conscious effort to not think about what they were going to play until they actually started playing it. Hmmmmm. This was my first Dog Log in 81 shows and the only time they have ever placed it in the encore slot! Pretty cool! >

The Mango Song: Only two other times has this been played in the encore slot. Sweet! Great, great Mango!

SET 4: Tower Jam: Madness!

Replay Value: Ya Mar, Reba, Birds of a Feather, Meatstick, Down with Disease, Waves Jam, Rock and Roll, Seven Below, Scents and Subtle Sounds, Spread it ‘Round

Summary: I did not make the Tower jam. I went back to our campsite and after 43 hours with no sleep, I crawled into my tent and passed the fuck out. I could not truly appreciate this show in the moment. I was too tired. But I surely can appreciate it’s greatness after many listens over the years including just now (5.4.23). Phish took huge risks with the songs they played and frankly, ticked off a lot of people in the moment. Oh well! Looking back, this is an incredible show.