It's nearly unbelievable that this show is currently rated under 4 stars. This is fire from top to bottom. "Warm-up" my ass.

Time to go back in time about 4 months to my first long-distance trip to see Phish. After striking out in the Sphere lottery, and not being willing to pay $4,000 for a 4 night run, as a West Coast Head wanting to see Phish continue one of their banner years in a late-career renaissance - I had to go to Dicks. Things were made easier by the concept that this would be about 1/4th of the price of the Sphere weekend. Thus, it was set in stone. Dicks 2024 it was.

I had been to Dicks once before - as a freshman at nearby Colorado State University I went to the 2015 run with the T-H-A-N-K-Y-O-U encore... 35 of the greatest minutes of my life. Back when you could camp. So this was going to be a new experience, and the first time I'd ever *flown* to go see Phish. I saved money this time around by sleeping in a rent-a-car and simply saving money on lodging that way.

However, while the flight from PDX to DEN went well, I ended up in full panic mode simply after landing after discovering that I left my entire medication at home. Not recreational stuff (which easily made it, of course) but my prescriptions and stuff. That was a cause for concern. This made me super lethargic and I questioned whether or not I'd even be able to complete the objective of the trip, but I decided to soldier on.

While grabbing a ton of cold brew coffees and energy bars from a South Denver Walmart I heard Evolve coming over the PA outside. My favorite post-pandemic Trey and Phish song, so it had to be a sign it was coming this weekend. Stocked up on booze from the liquor store and the lady working the counter said that she always loved that Phish was in town because it meant good business and friendly people. After visiting Red Rocks in the hot sun during midday, I met up with by buddy in the late afternoon and we drove over to Dicks by 5pm. I was still feeling the effects of the no medication but luckily his dog was prescribed one of the same medications that I forgot, and so I was able to get half of what I needed for the weekend - what were the odds?

The lot was way better than I remembered. In 2015 I just remember going too hard and sleeping way more of the time than I should have. This was way better as it's basically as close to lawless as you can get and the prime Phish lot experience IMO. So glad to have been when we did. Perfect weather the entire weekend too - not too hot, not too cold.

Now, finally to the show. I was beyond excited - Phish had been playing so well lately, but Mondegreen, while I'm sure was an absolutely incredible experience for everyone there, and while I thought were strong shows, seemed to garner a bit of a negative experience from fans for not having any mammoth exploration like in previous stretches of 2024, or have any massive bustouts or rarities that people were clamoring for. A popular meme making the rounds said that anyone not going to Mondegreen was "marked safe from any 30 minute jams". This selfishly fared well for us for Dicks.

The opening notes of Cities to start the show was an orgasmic experience. One of my favorite groups outside of Phish has always been Talking Heads - the Once in a Lifetime encore was in this very venue 9 years prior - and this is one of my favorite Phish covers. What a song to start, it jams hard and gets to a good place. DWD comes next, which definitely was a surprise - was expecting that later in the run in a second set slot. It's another solid jam, and then Ether Edge continued the early onslaught - my first version. Loved it on the album, and it gets the extra treatment. Perhaps the best version of it so far - certainly up there as of early 2025. The Cities > DWD > Ether Edge set the tone for the weekend, and in a good way. A solid wind-down into Llama followed and was more than welcome. Felt the first set construction was really good this show. Theme had been played a lot this summer and was definitely expecting it this run. Was not expecting a Sugar Shack - that was cool! Ocelot was a fantastic loping jam and it goes longer than usual, definitely an above-average Ocelot. Golgi super fun as always and I thought the set was over but it turned out Blaze On, one of my 3.0 faves, was there to shred and end the set. Overall - a very solid set, especially the opening trilogy.

Set 2 brought the juice - and this is where I differ with other reviewers calling it standard or pedestrian or a warm-up - this is clearly the result of the standard that 2024 Phish has brought us - and after NYE 2024, I'm ready to call it one of the best years ever. This is straight fire from start to finish. Ghost has a great jam. The traction isn't found in Wave of Hope so they move to Sigma and that one delivers, almost 20 minutes, and then Pillow Jets was next. This is the centerpiece of the whole show. I just recall this beautiful, slower, minimalist jam that permeated the back half. A 22+ minute Pillow Jets right in the middle of the set - that's the Good Stuff. Another one of my favorites from Evolve and it was done so well. This song has a great concept and a great idea, I would bet by this time that it was chosen as the NYE gag and they wanted to give it some good versions.

2001 keeps things nice and flowing - I'd take one of these at every show until the end of time. And the Hood to close was surprisingly very strong - they have been NAILING Hoods lately - take a look at 10/26/2024, 12/30/2024, and the recent one in Mexico. All solid AF. Encore was fairly pedestrian but it was very fun at the show.

Must hears:

Set 1: Cities > DWD > Ether Edge, Ocelot

Set 2: Ghost, Sigma, Pillow Jets

All in all - a fantastic opening to the run - this show started off hot from both sets and has gems in both. Hardly a warm-up by any means! I was hyped beyond compare after this - what would be in store for us the next three nights? I was pumped being in Colorado too - lots of exploration remained for both me and the band!