We can feel very good about being in this hood. Long time reader of reviews on here. Long time receiver of the email requesting to review a show. Finally coming around to giving it a try. Attending 7 shows in 9 days, I'd say is the perfect amount and frequency. I am tired, but not exhausted. My throat is sore, but seemingly not from wook flu. I get into my seat mere minutes before the show starts after what seems like the most challenging night getting into the venue and the lights go out to begin everyone's most common seen encore song—and a phenomenal one at that, especially in the opener slot of this encore night of the run. Loving Cup is always a pleaser, though I must say the only beautiful buzz I'm feeling at this stage of the evening is of my belly relieved at the bathroom break I had to take during the song. Which is a shame because the Maze Page solo is one of my favorites, but alas I'm back in my seat by the start of Trey's solo and as standard and well played as it is, the peak is always a nice Phish moment.

I'll take a brief pause here and remark about a great thing regarding seeing this band—the songs are the same, the structure is the same, but the placement, execution, timing, set, setting, life circumstance, what you ate that day, what your friends told you before the show, it always makes individual moments that much more special. Before parting ways with my friend outside the venue to go into our separate entrances, I'd told him "because of the incredible speed that you are walking your trip is short" only to be rewarded with Martian Monster in a personally-coveted third song slot. Nicely played and nicely placed in the grand scheme of things.This friend, by the way, blew my crew's mind at the conclusion of A Life Beyond The Dream on N6 and announced that his wife was pregnant, and immediately following that, Trey began the notes to The Lizards. Again, Phish moments and the context surrounding them... Magical memories. On the morning of N6, my wife and I closed on a house in the NYC suburbs where we hope to spend the next several decades raising a family. I'm as excited as I can possible be to say bye bye to 20 minute subway rides to the Garden.

Another privilege of seeing the band over a 7 night run, is that predictions going into N7 were going to be fairly accurate. I assured my friend's wife that we'd get Divided Sky, and we did, and all were happy. The lights were so damn bright, the song was so damn special as always, and we were still in the first quarter. After the catharsis of this anthem, Prince Caspian was either going to find us a place to land, or to blast off. Epic jam reminiscent of the Magnaball Caspian, though obviously with different motifs this time around, 8 years later. Crazy to think it's been that long. I'm a sucker for smooth transitions and the move into NICU was noteworthy for me. The song was bouncy and it occurred to me after seeing it dozens of times over the decades, the lyrics are far more cerebral and deep than the light and peppy feel of the tune. I seldom listen to lyrics when the cacophony offers my soul more depth than mere words. But this time the words struck a chord. Steam came next and with it we were treated to a haunting new "ooo ooo ooo" melody during the usual steam firing part of the song. I liked it. The jam was meaty too. DWYS, like other newer songs with heady lovey dovey lyrics, initially receives a lukewarm reception from the folks in my area, but I know after ~165 shows with this band that you simply must take what you get and all will be well. Love carried us all through a wonderful rendition of the song, and and important one to send us into the final setbreak with an important message in this day and age.

SYSF evokes memories of pirate ships and dad rock. Nothing wrong with either of those, especially since the band seems to like this song and once again they seem intent on filling our soul tanks with inspiring messages before kicking off the 3rd quarter in earnest. We finally get the Tweezer everyone's been waiting for during this run, and between the quality of the jamming and the reception from the crowd, it's safe to say everyone's quite satisfied with this rendition. I've been seeing this band since Hampton '09 (yep, 3/6 was my first show) and I can safely say last night's second set contained more mid to late 90s-sounding cow funk than I've ever encountered at a Phish show. Spacey dancey stuff. The Live Phish app claims the following Guy Forget was a 17 minute version, and that's not necessarily wrong, but I would call it more of a Tweezer jam with some loose mentions of Guy Forget in the middle. Nice to get that for the first time since streaming the first Dick's run all those years ago. Was that the first stream? I don't remember. My wife also asked for an explanation about what was happening, and I explained that we're commemorating a French tennis player. Nothing is out of left field with Phish. Perfect landing into What's The Use and a nice cool down. Scents was straightforward for me, and well-placed. They had to go back into Tweezer as no one seems to get enough of that jam. The entrance into Everything's Right is energetic, the message is once again resonant, and the crab in our shoemouths makes its first appearance for me since my first new year's show, on the fateful year of the meatstick, 12/31/10. Dizzy Gillespie would be proud to hear this. Speaking of transitions, my seat neighbor pal from N4 remarked that Tweezer into Number Line is a transition they'd like to not hear, and while technically the setlist indicates it went from Everything's Right, the entire set felt to me like a giant yet, is subtle the right word? Tweezer with some songs in between. Alas, BDTNL was deputed as the second set opener at my first show, and always accompanies nice hugs and kisses with the crew and wife respectively, along with a scorching solo from Trey and yet more resonant messages for the audience to revel in. In this moment, they can go into Harry Hood and save the Reprise for the encore, but they do the exact opposite, just to give us the variety we expect when we attend so many of these shows. Reprise always hits the spot.

I feel very good about Hood. At any point at any show. But to close us out after 7 nights, after the connections with the band and friends, was nice. The jam was superb, again with spacey funky stuff happening and yet more experimental soundscapes coming out of the band's updated rig. We go into the night getting a good rest and ready to take on the real world after the voyage that we have just blasted off on.

My wife wakes me up this morning with a positive pregnancy test. Context is everything with this band, and I'm hoping all works out well to give my N6 buddy's upcoming kid a friend. Let's do this!!!