Last night's show was a great Phish show, because these days pretty much all Phish shows reach a certain standard of greatness, which is really good for us. However, because they are playing so well, they often reach a higher high than the previously mentioned standard of greatness. That means that these days, Phish can play a great show (last night) and it can still feel like kind of a disappointment (also last night). Now, down to business:

First set was solid Phish. (I also almost wrote 'good,' 'decent,' 'fine,' 'standard' Phish). Some nice playing in Blaze On, and a sweet peak in Walls of a Cave (a song that I must admit is not usually my cup of tea, but by the end of this version I was loving it). Also, amazing call to play Destiny Unbound. That song should be played more. My buddy @jklinow) said during the show: "I don't understand why they don't play Destiny more. It's awesome, and the rarity factor isn't really part of why it's awesome. I'd be fine hearing them play it often." Me too. Frankly, though, song selection in this set was not my favorite, as I'm not a huge 555 fan, and I feel that they should've chosen either Ocelot or Heavy Things. We didn't need both.

Second set was quite good. Sand had some great type I interplay and was a nice way to get the set started. When Chalkdust started up, I (and presumably the rest of the crowd) was both very excited and on the edge of my seat. BD Chalkdust is, to me, one of the finest jams of 3.0. Indeed, many of the best jams of 3.0 have come out of Chalkdust. Would this version be another installment? I'll let you be the judge, as it's definitely worth a listen. This was certainly a fantastic jam. Upon arriving at the jam segment, Trey quickly moves the band into a major key, leading to some very pretty interplay. Trey was also showcasing his new octave-y effect (I believe it is some sort of MIDI thing). It can make the notes he plays sound as if only the highest and lowest frequencies are coming through - pretty cool. Anyway he does that in this jam. Around 14 mins, after a nice major section, the band moves back into a more bluesy feel, reminiscent of the composed Chalkdust jam. Trey takes the lead here, beginning to expertly weave melodies to build to a peak, as he is wont to do. Page is playing some simple but crucial backing chords. Fishman is laying into a polyrhythmic drum beat, which leads to his choice to later switch to a more standard beat an excellent release of tension. Mike has been standout this run, in my opinion, and he is again here. The jam moves into an INCREDIBLE peak, with Trey breaking out the whale-call. However, he doesn't use it in the horrible 2011 way, he uses it in the awesome 1999 way. In fact, the peak of this jam certainly calls to mind the excellent 7/10/99 version. The jam peters out into a funky breakdown, which then slides into the beginning of Ghost.

Now, before we talk about the rest of the set, a little more analysis of that jam. As I said, it was incredible, and being in that room when the peak was reached was, as it always is, a breathtaking moment. However, for me, upon re-listen it is somewhat one-dimensional, as once the switch to the major key is made early on, the rest of the jam stays within that general framework. This jam lacked a uniqueness factor that so many of Phish's upper-echelon jams have. For example, the BD Chalkdust has a stunning peak, but it also has two sections leading to that: one with major-key hose playing, and another with weird, amazing, plinko-ish sparse funk. This one was pretty much all build-up to one (admittedly very satisfying) peak. Again, it was great, as Phish always is, but not quite that next level we were all used to during the Dozen.

Okay, back to business. The rest of the second set was good. Ghost is an awesome song, obviously. Now, I'm usually one to fight people on the idea that length = good, because what's great about Phish these days is that they can often reach high highs without jamming for that long (see 12/28's Twist, before the ripcord). However, for this Ghost, I do wish they had stuck with it for a bit longer. We've seen that they're able to follow one big jam with another, and I would've loved to see that here, or at least just a little more funk. Number Line is next. Honestly, this is really a good song. Always comes when you wish there was more jamming, though. Even if you don't like it at the beginning, Trey will probably sway you by the end, as he did again here. Simple is a GREAT call. Huge energy boost, awesome lyrics to belt along with the band, and we get to sing about skyscrapers. Of course, Simple can often be a big jam vehicle, and it was decidedly not in this case. However, I don't think of this as wasting a song at all. During a four-night run, the band's not going to be able to use all their big jam vehicles, so I love to see them understand what role each song can play and use them in that way. Blaze On is perfect for creating a great dance-party energy - play it early first set. Simple is great for keeping the building rockin' - play it in the fourth quarter. (Also, small side-note, but while I love jammed-out Simples as much as the next guy, I also love a role-playing Simple more than most. See 10/31/94 and 6/17/94 [OJ show] for others - but also to appreciate them you must listen to the whole set.) Split Open and Melt as a set 2 closer? Thank youuu! I love this song, and have only seen them play it one other time I believe, so this was a huge treat. Very solid version; the jam was certainly very out-there, and for me one of the most important things about SOAM is whether or not they nail the ending, which they did here. Julius encore is a good one. I love to see ol' Leo take a solo, and Trey delivered here as well.

All told, this was a very good Phish concert. Some great jamming (Chalkdust), some awesome wild-card song choices (Destiny), and some smart setlist crafting (Simple). However, for me at least, it didn't quite reach the highs that I know Phish is capable of reaching these days. A very good show, but not a great one. But, as always, this is just my $0.02, and YMMV. Thanks for reading!

Pretty surprised people weren't as excited about this show as I was. Personally thought it blew night 1 out of the water. Good first set, but not too sure how you can look or listen to second set and be anything but excited. Of course it wasn't perfect, but all in all, great set, especially if your comparing to night 1. Overall pretty explorative jamming in second set, with some interesting tone and pedal choice by Trey kicked off in Sand. Chalkdust jam was great classic 3.0 jam, but perhaps the Baker's Dozen 07/28/17 Chalkdust Jam raised the expectations very high for some people. Great encore too, I thoroughly enjoyed Trey's soloing on Julius

I'm surprised this show doesn't have a 4 rating honestly. The "I Always Wanted It This Way" jam and the "WOTC" jam are excellent first set. And the second set Sand>CDT>Ghost are stellar. It's hard for us not to compare to BD, but truly, take this show out of the epic 2017 list of shows and it's a gem.

Good Show not a great one.
Especially coming off Thursday night's show, in which all pistons were firing.
The sand>chalkdust> ghost was nice but i thought the SOAM was a little overdone - haven't heard a good one in a long time.
Cavern, Walls and Julius were nice highlights.
I'm liking "I always Wanted it this way". I hope it begins to hit the rotation as much as Simple.

My first show, didn't really know what I was getting myself into quite yet, had been a deadhead but never checked out much Phish but decided a show would be the best way to do it. I knew maybe 3 or 4 songs, but was floored pretty much the whole night in awe of the music. I remember people being surprised at a Cavern opener. When I told a group of people it was my first Phish show, they treated me well and made sure I got very high. After that, the music just took off. I felt like the 2nd set was greatest hits or something because of how much the crowd rocked. Now looking back at it after listening to Phish alot more these past few years, I realize how truly blessed I was with a first show - the chalkdust is insanely good upon relisten, better than what I remembered. A great experience and first show, setlist is still maybe the best ive caught.

This night starts off quite a bit more focused than the previous one. Cavern is rare to open a show, and it almost seems like Phish is going for a reiteration of the legendary 4/5/98 Cavern (but not really?) Blaze On and I Always Wanted It This Way are the other highlights I find in the first set. Sand is a nice Set-II opener, but it's not until Chalk Dust Torture that things really get chugging. The jams in this set take a turn towards developing the 2017-standard-issue "Bliss Jam," which Ghost particularly develops into something interesting (only to be curtailed for an early > Backwards Down the Number Line.) I personally love the placement of Split Open and Melt, here. Finally, Julius has some "extra mustard" to complete the show with a rocker of an encore. I think this is more of a 3.5 stars than a 4, but lacking that option, I give it a 4 in the sincere and justified hopes that Phish will deliver an all-timer of a show over the next two nights. I kind of hope that the band either consummates the potential of the aforementioned bliss jam or works it out of their system. The dynamics are getting a bit predictable.

Last night was a very good average Phish show. Average for Phish, but still better than 99% of what else is out there!

When the band was on the music was thick and viscous and sometimes quite dark and spacey. The Blaze On solo and jam were stellar. Trey was in a very nice place and I was right there with him at that moment. My first Destiny had a very sold jam and Heavy Things really surprised. Page’s organ solo was absolutely perfect to my ears.

The second set Sand opened continued the deep dark ton of some of the first set’s songs. It was fine, but the Chalkdust that followed was superb. It went to a handful of very distinct realms. After the intense space jam Trey picked up a jam that sounded like a soaring Rambling Man by the Allman Brothers jam. Really great. Rest of the set solid enough and was nice to hear SOAM again.

The big highlight for me was Mike’s bass playing. He sounded fantastic all night and he really seemed to steer a lot of jams. When Trey and others were out of ideas he would start one. He created numerous new melodies on the spot. I can’t recall hearing him lead the band so much in one night before. Cheers to you, Mike!!!

Can’t wait to see what’s in store for tonight!

After having my mind blown and booty shaken at Jazz Fest '14, I finally got my first "real" show. Great versions of 555, Walls, Sand, and the two Big Boat tunes. IAWITW in particular is becoming a psychedelic CK5 showcase, a la 2001. Split Open and Melt, after a bit of a misstep entering the jam, slowly morphed into something truly different – like it or not, type 2 SOAMs are reportedly rare these days, so count this camper happy. See you all on NYE!

Finally, I must give a big shout-out to Zach and Kelley, the couple next to me wearing Sloth jammies, and Natalie The Birthday Girl. Thanks for making this n00b feel at home and showing us what the Community is all about!

Tight, solid, overall incredible show. This show has it all. Surprisng jams in songs that don’t usually jam. Fierce renditions of Phish classics (Sand, CDT, Ghost, Simple, and Split Open and Melt). Countless joyous peaks and countless mysterious (and funky!) valleys of musical exploration. I saw 9 of the Baker’s Dozen live and I say 12/29/17 ranks up with some of the best ones.

Set 1:
The song selection for first set is straight forward, besides Destiny Unbound. Coming in hot with Cavern and a strong Blaze On set a high energy tone for the show...the type of energy that can make any song they play seem great. I Always Wanted It This Way and Walls of the Cave are probably the biggest stand outs in this set. What makes this set more interesting than other similar first sets is the refreshing new sounds from Treys rig. (that statement can be applied to the entire weekend obviously) and the wonderful light work from CK5. The set was by no means special and the song selection may seem mediocre to many but the energy was high, Trey's new rig kept it spicey, and overall felt like a cohesive and fun set.

Set 2:
The song selection for set 2 was great. Unfortunately, the ripchord out of Ghost into Backwards Down the Numberline proved to be too painful to many. Backtracking, Sand was short and fun and Trey's new tone fit the song very well. Chalkdust is the main dish for this show and proved to be an excellent version, followed by a very interesting and fun version of Ghost that was cut into BDTNL. The Ghost seemed to have more juice in the tank but BDTNL always recieves an intial sigh then people realize Trey usually rips it. Simple kept the high energy going but remained a short and sweet version, which is fine because they suprisingly went into Split Open and Melt as the set closer. SOaM was a great version but nothing to crazy. High energy Julius to close the show.

Overall, the entire show was high energy with great song choices and some fun jams. Set 2 had the hiccup of BDTNL coming out of Ghost but i mean if thats the worst moment people can talk about then it seems like a great show to me.

This show was fun. Not as good as night 1 of the run, IMO, but always fun. I’d call it a below average Phish show, but that’s just me. I thought the first set had some great stand out moments: Blaze On, IAWITW, Destiny Unbound (despite some major flubbing) and the end of Walls Of the Cave.

Second set had lots of potential, but really fell flat for me. It seemed like Trey got thrown off cause he couldn’t nail the end of chalk dust and then retreated to slow build, long sustain peaks and very little creative soloing throughout the rest of the night. CDT meandered and hit a peak, but that jam pales in comparison of some of the great type 2 Chalkdusts of 3.0. Ghost went to some interesting places in the jam, but the whole set felt like they weren’t hooked in, trey especially. Mike and Page were really driving the jams and Fish kept it all together, but trey was just off. He came back a bit during Number Line and stuck the landing on Julius, but I left the show thinking “this was fun because phish is always fun, but it could have been so much better than that.”

So this was the only show of the run that I attended. Safe to say that it was definitely the dud of the 4 shows. While this was not a bad Phish show it definitely was not up to par with most of the ones from 2017. IMO 2017 was one of the best years for this band and it was extremely competitive for the what the top show of the year was going to be. Unfortunately I would rank this down in the bottom 3.

After attending MSG for the 7th time I was let down once again. Now I have sat down in the 100s a few times and have had a freakin blast. But now after experiencing how bad the sound/view is from the top of the 200's and anything past row 2 in the 400s I can't say as if I'll go back if I can't sit down in the bowl or the floor. The sky bridge sounds like I'm listening to the music through a muffle and with the extremely loud crowd the past couple of years it makes it hard to be able to hear anything up there.

Cavern was an unusual start to the show. It kind of threw most people off and definitely wasnt what I was wishing for. But none the less a standard cavern and got the crowd going if you're into it. Blaze on was good as usual. It's starting to become a great addition to any show no matter where it's placed in the set. I can never complain about 555, one of my favorite mike songs. I always wanted it this way was the highlight of the first set for me. Some cool effects from page and Trey throughout the whole song. Martian Monster seemed to have some juice on it compared to most versions from this year. Heavy things was it's usual self. Destiny Unbound was cool, it's one of those songs that I can enjoy everytime I hear it. Ocelot wasn't anything special for me. Walls of the Cave was ripping like it always does. Overall the first set was full of chomper hits and wasn't exactly what I wanted but the band was much tighter than Night 1.

Set 2 starts off with a short sand. Not a bad one for only being 10 minutes. Chalkdust was awesome. With about 5 minutes left in the song they go into a 7/10/99 type jam with it. The crowd was going nuts and defininetly the highlight of the night and in the top 3 jams of the run. This version Beats the one from the Bakers Dozen. It may not be a top contender for jam of the year but has lots of replay value for sure. Ghost got weird and super experimental. Trey seemed to become a little more comfortable with his new rig during the second set and it definitely paid off. Then we get a backwards down the number line, a steady bathroom break song for me. After Simple dropped I was thinking, "alright here we go" because simple has a been a staple jam vehicle this year. Ultimately it was super short and was quite the let down. SOAM seemed to be rushed in my opinion. It was a extremely psychodelic jam but the band seemed to have trouble piecing it together at times.

The second I heard the Julius encore I was out of the door.

The show was definitely a good one just a weak one of the year of 2017. I will most likely be returning back to the chalkdust in the future.

these shows to me are like 12-2-12-4-2009. They are not quite MSG new years 97 or 2010 11 12 and 13 worthy they are just ok. They are not bad though either like The vegas run 2004 where Trey might as well have had a flu or smoked crack backstage prior. . .and shows like 8-9-2004 which were just terrible and so not Hampton worthy.
These are just sub par and it seems to happen after really really stellar events. . for example the shows in Mexico after the Dicks shows or the Dicks show after the great summer tour 2006 which was so not up to the rest of the summer par. This is right after 12 much better Donut shows which will stand out for all time as amazing shows. These are like the 12-2 show in MSG. Yes they had a night Zappa Peaches and a few other standouts but the night was just ok then and these have no Noteworthy Jams and that for me personally is what i am ALL ABOUT. The prince caspian 20 min version at Peterson Center i keep listening to and not just cause i was at the show. . it is so pretty to listen to . . .this show has nothing like that

Unique set openers otherwise boring shows . . fit in with a dull summer show from Texas but not MSG worthy. Sand is sorta a standard 2nd set opener but not like DWD is and Cavern is a bustout for an opener. . I like that but that is the only note worthy element of this show and that is kinda sad. Give me more DONUT like shows. An all animal setlist or a setlist of all the title tracks to all their albums show. . .

Set 1
Party Time
TMWSIY >Alvenu >TMWSIY
Round Room
Billy Breathes
Friends
Rift
Lawn Boy
The Horse>Silent in the Morning
Cavern (A Picture of Nectar) - close enough to self entitled

Feugo
Ghost
Undermind
Joy
The ENTIRE album Junta cause it doesn't have a title track as the surprise ending to set 2 like the dark side of the moon Pink Floyd

Encore: Farmhouse

these shows to me are like 12-2-12-4-2009. They are not quite MSG new years 97 or 2010 11 12 and 13 worthy they are just ok. They are not bad though either like The vegas run 2004 where Trey might as well have had a flu or smoked crack backstage prior. . .and shows like 8-9-2004 which were just terrible and so not Hampton worthy.
These are just sub par and it seems to happen after really really stellar events. . for example the shows in Mexico after the Dicks shows or the Dicks show after the great summer tour 2006 which was so not up to the rest of the summer par. This is right after 12 much better Donut shows which will stand out for all time as amazing shows. These are like the 12-2 show in MSG. Yes they had a night Zappa Peaches and a few other standouts but the night was just ok then and these have no Noteworthy Jams and that for me personally is what i am ALL ABOUT. The prince caspian 20 min version at Peterson Center i keep listening to and not just cause i was at the show. . it is so pretty to listen to . . .this show has nothing like that