SET 1: Axilla: Great opener, very energetic. >
Punch You in the Eye: Can’t be beat in the two hole, keeps that momentum going strong. >
Roggae: Will this be a breather or will they smoke it? Turns out this one was meant to be a breather.
Birds of a Feather: Short but ripped front to back.
Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley: Page is super funky in his solo, down, and dirty. Good to see the intent is to jam this one! This one is nice, slow, and funky. Big, ‘ol loops at 8:16 (man, I MISS these). Pretty mellow jam definitely adopts that signature 1998 ambient style. At 10:19 you can hear Trey begin angling for CDT. At 10:41 Page sounds just like JoJo from Panic. Killer segue… ->
Chalk Dust Torture: Fairly mellow jam but at 6:33 Trey hits that reverse delay and that lasts through about 7:15. Solid version, it really does not opt for that big rock peak. Instead, it suddenly… >
Lawn Boy: Ahhh, nice. Let’s get that Vegas lounge style act front and center here. I like it! Crowd goes absolutely nuts for this and even more so upon the opening notes of…
Mike's Song: Wow! Playing three sets and we get a Mike’s at the end of the first set? Band means business, clear intent is indicated that they mean to destroy Las Vegas on Halloween! Big, ol loops to kick the jam at 2:48! I love the effect they grab on to at 3:20 and repeat about 12 times. This one rages through the end of the first jam. There is a second jam, and it is very ambient. Very. You can hear Trey hit the opening chords of Frankie at 8:31 (LP version) which must have been a bit premature because they briefly go on to take it down an ambient path. Then again at 8:55 from Trey and this is when he clearly starts angling for the segue – a full 27 seconds before the actually… ->
Frankie Says: Pretty stock and standard version here. Love this tune. Interesting to put it in a Mike’s Groove. The only other time this was happened was at a show I attended – 7.14.00 Polaris – and Weekapaug did not bookend it like it did here at the Vegas show. >
Weekapaug Groove: Awesome trilling from Trey at 3:10. Things start to settle from the typical raging ‘Paug jam. At 6:39 Trey starts toying with the original theme. Again at 6:53 Page takes on that distinct JoJo sound. Trey is really egging on his mates at 7:35 for more with short bursts. From here things are getting back into that breakneck pace. 8:24 Trey sets a blistering pace with more trilling. Things suddenly seem to hit an awkward point at 9:16 but it’s just Trey taking a moment to hit that reverse delay and turn this jam into a Hendrix style smoke show. That is over at 10:33 and they are now heading for the ending. Smoking ‘Paug! Awesome set! I bet there was significant white knuckling going on during this set break in anticipation of what the album would be in set II!!!
SET 2: Who Loves the Sun? – Seems there is very little crowd reaction, most seem caught flat footed and don’t know what this is. I don’t know these songs from the VU as they were originally performed so I can’t really comment on much here.
Sweet Jane: Only familiar with the Cowboy Junkies cover that came out in 1988 and in Natural Born Killers. Love this tune. I remember getting the tapes for this show and just loving that Phish covered this. This particular version I think is absolutely fantastic. Go Page - great job man! Outstanding jam that comes out of this one, high energy for sure – all members on fire!!! They crush this.
Rock and Roll: Some major straight ahead raging in this one. Hair raising. Unabashed arena rock. Trey takes the opportunity to take advantage of that reverse delay around 10:05. Smoking!
Cool It Down: Nice! Another jammed tune!! They stay true to the original backbone of this one and keep it in a bluesy type of jam. Very fun, imagine it was amazing in the moment.
New Age: Whether you were familiar with this tune or not before they played it here: this would have been – um – interesting – on a head full in this setting. LOL. Great jam! The jam – just a little bit – reminds me of Bug.
Head Held High: Not much of an opinion here. It’s ok, I guess.
Lonesome Cowboy Bill: Way to go Fishman! Great job here. Fun! Another great jam here! Trey at 5:47, so sick. Very spacy effects at 7:36, love this. Trey crushes on the reverse delay and Page responds in kind with some mind-expanding stuff on the keys. This is FANTASTIC. Mike throws down some great lines too. >
I Found a Reason: Not a fan of this one.
Train Round the Bend: Catchy tune. Mike does a great job on the vocals.
Oh! Sweet Nuthin' – Such a poignant tune. Page is great on vocals!

SET 3: Wolfman's Brother: Pieces of the intro are slightly tentative and sloppy at times. Things are very slow and funky in the early going. Mellow. Trey mostly drops all the way out of the mix save for a sparse effect or two for about a minute and a half but returns to the fray at 9:20. Around the ten-minute mark, things start taking a dark and intense turn. Trey cues up a huge loop at 11:33 and this is turning into a white-knuckle ride. In the late 16’s, Trey starts chording and Page gets on the baby grand and it seems like they might be angling to go into something else. Nope. A minute later Fish is on the vacuum and this is turning into a hellscape. Tough to handle on a head full I bet. Late in the 23’s this sounds like they are going for NO2. Trey really hasn’t played his guitar for many minutes on end at this point. A bluesy jam makes it’s way out of the ether in the early 26’s. This eventually gains steam and really sounds terrific while keeping that loose, soundcheck type vibe. Killer! At 30:20 you can hear Mike and Trey start a brief idea about Piper and then about twenty seconds later they go for it… ->
Piper: There is almost three minutes of chill, patient building in this intro. Attention modern day Phish, this is how the song is supposed to be played! Take your time – smell the roses – the slow, patient build is a critical component to this tune! This is a solid version of Piper that basically winds down to almost silence before… >
Ghost: Big, ol’ loops to get this one started, the way it should be!! This composed section is a little faster than you would have thought it would be based on how the set had been going to this point. In what you would have thought would be the early part of the jam, they take it way down low and Trey and Page have a little bit of a duet. But, right after that this gets super low, fizzles out completely and they are done. LOL!!! What happened. Too much too fast. Vegas’d.
ENCORE: Sleeping Monkey: Solid. >
Tweezer Reprise: Nice cap from the night before.
Summary: Pretty interesting show. Thought the first set was a hoot! Really good. The cover set was excellent with plenty of jamming. Dig it. Wolfman’s was very cool; they took major risks in pulling that off but it works and is an all timer as far as I am concerned. But from there – I guess Vegas just got the best of them. Oh well. 4.5 seems to high considering the meltdown in the third set. I would think a 4.3 seems to fit this one well.
Replay Value: Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley, Weekapaug Groove, Sweet Jane, Rock and Roll, Lonesome Cowboy Bill, Wolfman’s Brother.