This is a really weird show, especially for a festival that isn't put on by Phish. There are quite a few flubs, but the playing is very inspired and experimental. Ghost is strange and beautiful, as is Bathtub Gin.

Trey is really combing the depths of the sonic ocean with his pedals right now, and I love it. Sometimes the tension and discordance become a lot to take, but he knows exactly what he's doing and leads the listener to safety. It's a new style of musical leadership for him. Rather than shredding and wailing, of which he's admittedly a master, he's creating new textures and landscapes and inviting his bandmates and the listener to follow. Sometimes it works, sometimes not as much, but it's intriguing to hear him putting things in test tubes and hearing what happens.

Even Number Line and Character Zero have weird, effects-laden jams that stand out from the typical renditions. Don't overlook this show because it's a festival. They typically play crowd-pleasers at these affairs, and understandably so. There might be new listeners in the audience and they want people to have a good time. This was a little different and well worth hearing for those of us who crave strange and beautiful Phish music. Trey was really jazzed about the show when they took a bow. I can't wait to hear what they cook up on Sunday.

TREY, MIKE, PAGE AND FISHMAN IN PHISH REDEEMS THEMSELVES

SET I:
Wilson kicked things off, followed by DWD, whose composed section was flubbed pretty bad, from Mike's pedals seemingly not working to some of their vocals cues being off during the pauses between the chorus and verses, though Fish was tight and it had a nice if short and unfulfilling jam that didn't really meet it's potential, before going back into the ending of DWD > Free and Wolfman's Brother. In the latter's composed section, my stream had more stuttering than the King's Speech, but it gradually got better in time for the excellent funk rock jam awaiting me, with Fish rocking the ride bell and Trey manning the tension, it made for an excellent and patient jam that peaked nicely. It wasn't a masterpiece of a jam or anything, but it was a great and energetic one. They further brought the funk with Tube followed by 555, It's Ice, Wingsuit, Simple all of which were fairly tight versions, with the awesome acapella Space Oddity to cap off the set.

SET II:

PYITE kicked things off, followed by Blaze On, which had a light jam with Mike dropping many a bomb before Page and his CS-80 brought us into space and then with twinkling glissandos, went into Fuego, which had a nice compact and peaky jam. Ghost then started up, the first since the awesome BGCA version, and this version does not disappoint, and dare I say it, is even better. Starting the jam off with some great Trey/Page interplay, Fish starts to speed shit up, albeit a lot more gradually than BGCA. Trey and Page move up the register and the tension heightens, Trey gets a quote going with Page providing rhythmic background and Mike holding down the mids beautifully.

Trey remains in tension land, Fish's playing gets heavier, Page keeps the tension up and then Trey sets himself up for a solo, which he gets to. Just before he begins, Page moves to the organ, giving everything a beautiful lift and then Trey just fuckin' wails, Mike drops bombs and then Trey shreds on tIS beautiful canvas the others have prepared with him. Trey cools down, the jam gets quietly rhythmic, and then the start/stop Woo! action begins before Gin starts up.

Gin quickly turns evil and dark, but Fishman keeps the tempo exciting and engaging, and not long into the tension, Trey seemingly goes for a solo, then brings then tension back to almost uncomfortable levels. Then he starts the build up again, eventually aided by Page underscoring him on piano and then the organ, and then Trey makes it all soar with a solo. After that magnificence, Trey heads into rockish territory to segue into Number Line. Some called this a ripcord, which is horse shit if you ask me. The Gin ran it's course and Number Line was a suitable breather if you ask me.

YEM finished the set and had a funky jam with a rhythm not too unlike 12/31/95. It even has a funky bass synth solo, not too unlike Page's work in the aforementioned jam. Trey also danced his ass off for a bit which is always funny as hell to see.

Zero was the encore for the nine hundredth time.

OVERALL: I've shit on many a show this summer and expected to do that here. But what I got was the show of the year (even if you include 1/1 and 1/2). The whole show is consistently great, always engaging and a hell of a lot of fun. I can't wait to see what the rest of this summer has to offer. Just an awesome show.

RATING: 4.5-5/5

HIGHLIGHTS: Wolfman's Brother, Ghost, Bathtub Gin (all are fantastic)

I'm gonna be brief because I'm at my campsite right now dripping in sweat, but I need to mention Ghost from last night. It was patient, provoking, experimental, funky, dark, light, and downright funky. The jam had all four members working in unison rather than taking turns showboating, and it's magic.

Happy LOCKN everyone.

TL;DR: Blaze On > Fuego -> Ghost > Bathtub Gin

^ That sequence right there is worth checking out.

Obviously, being there makes everything better. If you've come here looking for a reflection on the good time you had at Lockn', another review might be best for you. I'm more interested in identifying oustanding or unique performances that make it worth your while to get a copy of the show to listen to at a later date.

Overall, this show was very "loose," as they say. The band sounded exactly like a band who hasn't practiced their material in a month. So most of the first set felt like a warm-up or practice session to my ears. For the discerning listener, there isn't much out of the ordinary besides the Space Oddity.

Set 2 saw them trying much harder to get something interesting going. As I said at the top, the Blaze On > Fuego -> Ghost > Bathtub Gin is what you will want to check out. In particular, both the Ghost and the Bathtub Gin jams were unique and interesting. Ghost ended up going into some new and unusual places. And the Gin went to some very tasty minor-key darkness before returning to a happy ending. Then it actually segued very nicely into #Line. Much-maligned for rip-cording, the placement here was fine. YEM was a welcome treat, but didn't stray far.

I'm going to this as concise as possible.

I fucking loved this show. They set the tone early with Wilson and Trey just seemed pumped. An early DWD kept the pace quick and Free got dark funky. Wolfmans is just superb and still the energy rises. I thought then that the first set energy peaked with a Tube that was just infectious. It burrowed in and then burst forth with a punch. Then I thought they took a breather with the 555>It's ice>Wingsuit stretch (even though they were all executed well and Its ice was a highlight of the three. Wingsuit also got dark quick and I loved it). Then simple came in to life the energy back up before a beautiful Space Oddity that had the crowd in near silent awe.

Then the second set begins with another tone-setting duo. Then Fuego got deep and lead into a Ghost that was the spooky and beautiful jam the Lock'n crowd was looking for. It was a real treat. Then Gin continued the goodies and who can ever complaint about a Ghost + Gin morsel. Number line was an interesting choice following all the cohesive and nebulous shit they did up to that point, but ended up being a nice build into YEM which made me think they were feeling great about what they just did but excited for Sunday. Character Zero was an exclamation point that left me saying, "What a SHOW!"

Throughout the night there were several times I thought, "Damn...this is NICE!" or "Where was this all year?"

Easily my favorite show of 2016.

Well worth a listen.

I highly recommend the ghost to make the jamming chart. I don't second guess you guys a lot, but what a gorgeous jam. Please gather the committee and give that a second and third listen. I am highly confident you will agree.

Beyond that, really enjoyed tonight's second set as a whole. PYITE was a bit rough, but after that, definitely a contender for set of the summer. Surprised it came at lockn, but I can see the band not wanting to be shown up by others. Again, give that ghost another listen and throw that bad boy on the jamming chart. Thanks for reading!!

One of the best selection of songs I've seen in a 3.0 setlist.

While this show wont have a lot of replay value, it was a blast to watch as this show was a high energy run through of some of Phish's best songs (DWD, Wolfmans, Simple, Ghost, Gin, YEM).

Can't wait to see what they do on Sunday!

I am not a big review writer but I must say that after many Grateful Dead shows and 22 Phish shows now(since 96) & 8 this year alone. Lockn was my first music festival ever and without a doubt I will be back. The music was top notch all around from the get go Wulfpeck was very entertaining to the last Phish note. I have learned 1 thing going to concerts for over 30+ years that it is what it is and you expect that the performers are professionals and they will always have the best intentions of giving their fans the best they can. Sometimes they have really bad or really face melting nights....much like humans do. Phish brings its every night if you dont get it ..thats on you. A++++++Lockn Forest camping ROCKS

As far as Summer '16 goes, when comparing it to the other shows that I have either seen or listened to, both these Lockn' shows were the best.

Set 1:
The first two chords of "Wilson" sparked incredible excitement in me as we all screamed his name in vain at the top of our lungs. This moment was a treat and made me feel that we were in for a hell of a night, while also probably dropping the jaws of all the heads that were unfamiliar with Phish. More excitement came as "Wilson" segued into Mike's first few notes of DWD. However, it seemed that this excitement got to Trey because he jumped the gun and started singing the first verse early. Realizing his mistake he shook it off, allowed the band to arrive at the part he thought they were at, and then continued the song. This moment made me nervous as to what the night will be like, but the nerves quickly morphed into bliss. After a feel-good "Free", the funk fest began with an absolutely flaming "Wolfman's Brother" which contained an outstanding peak led by Trey's crazy sustain. After that an awesome jammed out "Tube" that kind of reminds me of the one from SPAC '16. The rest of the set is mostly straight, funky, tight and a lot of fun.

Set 2:
Once Trey started strumming those beginning dead notes I immediately exploded into a jumping lunatic, because "Punch You in the Eye" is easily a favorite of mine. The finale of the song ended as the beginning riff of "Blaze on" started. This has an absolute killer jam. Very spacey and pretty melodies on Trey's part, but Fishman kept the groove going so everybody was still dancing. It's a great version that stands out from others. Then, we get a pretty standard "Fuego" that is full of energy as always. But, what happened next is THE real deal. "Fuego" went into possibly the best "Ghost" that 3.0 has ever seen. For reference, it is comparable to the ones from Dick's 2014 and Magnaball. Please, if somebody actually reads this, direct me to a 3.0 "Ghost" that may be better. Tangent aside, it was a spectacular version with some great Trey solos, that transitioned into a rare second set "Gin". This "Gin" as always, was a highlight. Despite the fact that pretty much every "Gin" is amazing, this one was unique because of Trey's use of effects that created a crazy, but beautiful landscape. Also, opposed to making the jam more guitar solo based, Trey played around with lower, effect-blanketed notes as the rest of the boys played. Mike eventually starts this haunting grove that signals everybody to start building tension. After awhile, Page pushed for some release, sneaking in some Major chords. Trey started playing some held out, high bending notes and ascending melodies until it peaked into a nice I-bVII-IV type chord progression. After this release it quickly drops down and segues into "BDTNL", letting us all know the night is almost over. Normally, I do not love this song, but this seemed like the placement was perfect and for whatever reason, Summer 16' is allowing this song to provide some magnificent jams compared to the past. After that, an amazing funky YEM with a cool not so standardly played "Character Zero" encore.

Overall, this was a fantastic show. It was possibly the best of the tour so far. Very worth the listen, especially the Wolfman's, Tube, and the Blaze On>Fuego>Ghost>Bathtub Gin

I highly recommend the ghost to make the jamming chart. I don't second guess you guys a lot, but what a gorgeous jam. Please gather the committee and give that a second and third listen. I am highly confident you will agree.

Beyond that, really enjoyed tonight's second set as a whole. PYITE was a bit rough, but after that, definitely a contender for set of the summer. Surprised it came at lockn, but I can see the band not wanting to be shown up by others. Again, give that ghost another listen and throw that bad boy on the jamming chart. Thanks for reading!!