Devastating show - arguably the year's best so far, certainly the 'jammiest' wall to wall show since the comeback. Maze, Wolfman's Brother, Ocelot, Reba, KDF - all superb versions. Tweezer > Caspian contained year's-best performances of both songs, and this year Tweezer has been no slouch! The Jibboo sandwich is better by far than the YEM > Wilson > YEM at Bonnaroo - a genuine segue into Wilson and a bold step back into the water from Trey. Jibboo > Heavy Things is messy but so exciting and carefree you won't care, and 2001 is its '09 vintage self. The band does more with six minutes of funk than they used to, heaven knows.

Mike Gordon again dropkicks the music into another dimension, and the rest of the band is there with him 100%. What a joy and a relief to be able to give a 2009 Phish show an unqualified front-to-back 'A' grade, damn!

This is one of those 'run, don't walk' things.

First set is nothing special, but the second set is my favorite of the run. After a standard "KDF", we get arguably the best "Tweezer" of the year (6/7 and 7/31 are also in the discussion). Mike leads the band into a SICK "Manteca"-like groove that they stick with for awhile. Eventually, the grooviliciousness gives way to some a jam that would feel right at home on the Siket Disc. A very nice "Caspian" is next (seriously, Trey kills it), and then they start up "Jibboo." "Jibboo" is a great version, the best since, dare I say it, Coventry? At one point, they simply take the jam to another level with Trey and Page playing really nicely off each other before pulling off a cool transition into "Wilson." "The trip to Prussia is short, but worthwhile, if only for the even slicker segue back into "Jibboo." Next is a really nice "Heavy Things" (seriously, just like the "Caspian," don't let let your preconceptions ruin it for you....it's more interesting than any version of, say, "Halley's Comet" they played in 2009). "2001" > "Slave" is by the book, but the "Slave" is nailed. Add it all up and you have an easy top 5 set of 2009.

Did anybody else notice in Tweezer (6 min mark) a type of 'Manteca'? If not Manteca, what was that sick jam in the Tweezer?
Trav

This show is a nice surprise to revisit given the relative retrospective disregard of 2009 among many Phishtorians. For one thing, the band's joy (pun intended) at being back together is very palpable, as it had been from the moment the music began again at Hampton on 3/6/09. It's a very well-balanced setlist, as well, though my peskily least-favorite yet often-played song Ocelot pops up to spend up 9:44 of playing time. The Golgi Apparatus opener is snappy and energetic, as it should be, and Driver, The Connection is poignant pairing that I don't think we've seen since. Wolfman's Brother qualifies as a noteworthy version, in my opinion, but even moreso does this show's Reba, which features some addictive, quasi-funky "grid-style" playing that reminds me of Trey's declaration around 1997 that they were going for a jamming style that sounded that way. (It's odd that this should appear 12 years later, and in Reba of all songs, when the truest commitment to that type of jamming could previously be heard most superlatively on 10/31/96 and the other shows with Karl Perazzo that Fall.)

Kill Devil Falls opens the second set with a rocking groove that finds its way > Tweezer > Prince Caspian, both of which are also noteworthy jams, IMO. I'm not a setlist buff to the extent that I can recall off the top of my head how often that song pairing has occurred, but we all know what happened with it at Magnaball! Gotta Jibboo > Wilson -> Gotta Jibboo is fun and makes sense given their similarities in key and tempo. Heavy Things gets a good recital > 2001 > Slave to the Traffic Light, which is a fine version before Sleeping Monkey > Tweezer Reprise slips us into the night. There are some moments in this show that fall short of the 4-out-of-5 stars I give overall but the highs keep it moving and the relative lowlights are sustained by the infectious energy of the first Holiday Run since the reunion. I'll definitely have to head back into 2009 more often to remind myself of those feelings of renewal.