As far as your standard two set encore, no guest, no holiday Phish show, for a fan who's been seeing Phish for five years, this has to be my favorite show. From Sample to Zero, the band does not miss for three hours. For this weekend being my first at Alpine Valley, it completely sold me on the venue. Is it in the middle of nowhere? Yes. Is the police presence awful? ALSO YES. Do these factors make Phish want to play their best shows? Without a doubt YES. Find a campsite, take the offered transportation, buy the ticket and take the ride, it is always worth it.

Now, let's get this show on the road. Set 1 kicks off with full on classic Phish goodness! I invite you to find a flaw in this. Sample takes a little time to warm up and so does Halley's, but they remain great versions. BoaF really gets the crowd bumping and shoutout all my Eagles, Ravens, Cardinals, Blue Jays fans! GO BIRDS! Mountains of the Mist cools things down and it's one of those ballads which simply gets better with time. Till I'm released, awakened beast, I'm on the road again! For 2024, Foam gets the job done with your funny lyrics and nutty composed sections, but the best of the set is this Moonage Daydream, My Soul, Lizards, David Bowie.

Why do I sit and cry without a reason I don't know why? It's because Trey's about to steal your face, there's your answer. Love me some David Bowie and it doesn't end there. Was this cover introduced relatively recently? Yes, but listen to this version and it feels like the flaming classic rock staple it is. Feeding the flame we get a straightforward My Soul. Give me the blues and play it Leo! This cover gets played enough to where you don't get it too much or too little these days. Finally, let's get to this smoking 1-2 punch Lizards and David Bowie. This was the only Lizards of the year and everything about this was perfect. The trick was to surrender to the flow. You know the drill. Read the book and stay for the crisp piano solo we get from Page. If you thought the set was over, you'll be pleasantly surprised by Fishman's cue into David Bowie. Moonage Daydream and David Bowie in a SINGLE SET. Sure this isn't the 1993 Bowie that takes the cake, but we get some brief Type 2 playing, a BoaF tease, and the flaming crescendo to conclude the set. If you think the song's past its prime you're wrong. Now we're at set break, and the set is so good I'm nauseous, leave the pit, and get comfy on the lawn.

Now the sun has set, we're front and center on the lawn and I realize this has to be the biggest shed I've seen a Phish show at. Every type of fan, their grandma, and their child was watching the show up there. So we get a Sigma Oasis. So what? Who cares? You won't get a refund if you over pray so get over it. Little did critics know Trey's ready to rip THE LONGEST SIMPLE EVER. Sometimes when quantity trumps quality in a longer jam, it doesn't hold up. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. I won't try putting this Simple into words outside saying it has everything a fan wants in a jam. In my Mount Rushmore of shows, this show sits up there because of this Simple and even without it, this show delivers in the best way. Anyways, 40 minutes later Trey reminds us it's still Simple, everyone goes bananas, and somehow there's still a quarter show left. Next up, we get some new tunes, The Howling and AWOH. The Howling was short and sweet, but AHOH very much feels like a continuation of the dripping space funk we hear in Simple. Thankfully, Trey brings us back to Earth with Lifeboy because I STG I saw myself die and get resurrected during Simple. This tasteful ballad brings humanity back to a set from another dimension. Then BANG! Another 1-2 punch, Sand > Golgi to cap off the set. I'm lost, you're lost, and if you're still reading you can probably make some accurate assumptions on how the night went personally. Sand is basically Simple Pt 3 and Golgi is the best Phish sing along and reminded me I am in fact still alive and well.

Anyways, by the encore I'm literally lost in the enormous field that is the Alpine Valley lawn. Wandering around with glow sticks poking out of every crevice, Esther comes out to play which is always a pleasant surprise. Kind of always imagined Esther to be a grandma thanks to the outdated name, but this one certainly hit the spot and continued the classic Phish theme of the night. Last but not least we get Zero, I sing my heart out and get found by my trusty sidekick and head back to the campsite. 10/10 Phish.