Overall night 3 at Sphere was a great show. I think without N1 and N2 fresh in our minds, N3 would be looked at fonder. Set 1 had some clunky setlist choices. Pillow Jets got the jam treatment, and the visuals of going through a forest of trees blasting off like fireworks was amazing. The Pollock Egyptian tomb used during Taste was incredible to witness.

Set 2 is where this show gets serious. Fuego was the jam of the night, and the visuals of the band’s silhouette on fire was awesome. Twist went hard for a 10 minute version, and Chalk Dust ripped. SANTOS also had a little extra mustard.

Musically this show was not my favorite of the 3 so far. However, the visuals continue to evolve. I am loving how the visuals change when the band starts to jam. Chalk Dust had the best use of that of the night.

Tweeprise tonight makes me think they’ve got something up their sleeve for the finale, see y’all there.

It was a good show but I don’t think they ever really lifted off. Fuego started a little clunky but was really phenomenal from about the mid point of the jam on. Pillow jets was great, the new album is gonna be the best in years. 2nd set was tight jamming. Average show overall and seemed like they were holding back waiting to explode on Sunday. After Fridays barn burner it was expected for them to take a small step back. My favorite visual was the Pollock art from LivePhish over the years- that was so special and bright back amazing memories

PHISH, SATURDAY 04/20/2024
SPHERE
Las Vegas, NV

SET 1:

Set Your Soul Free: Solid jamming to open this show. Doesn’t necessarily have that signature moment. Still, strong opening to the show sans the actual song which is dreck. Typically yields good jams though.

Tube: Fairly upbeat and mellow. Not really what I am looking for in my Tubes.

Stash: Like SYSF this has a solid jam. Just doesn’t have that one moment or series of that makes you stand up and take notice. Nice workmanlike version though.

Pillow Jets: This jam grabbed my attention. Engaging and interesting the whole way through. Page and Trey specifically play off one another so well. Can barely hear Mike and this is a such a shame. Same with the first two shows also. Don’t understand how that is possible. Have only listened to the shows on my LivePhish app.

Steam: Again, good jam but nothing to really grab onto. There was a brief spacy section that I wish they would have explored at length, but it was not to be.

Mountains in the Mist: Will take this whenever, wherever. Love it. Good placement too.

Taste: Standard.

46 Days: Standard.

SET 2:

Sigma Oasis: Standard. >

Fuego: There is a ten minute or so section that is super repetitive and just sort of lays there. Very meh. Things pick up drastically/finally around the 23-minute mark. Trey soloing with assertiveness. It goes on in this vein for a good 3 and half minutes at which point Trey guides them slowly but surely back to the original theme. >

Golden Age: Yuck. We needed much more than this tired cover song. The segue into Twist is fantastic though. ->

Twist: Standard.

I Am Hydrogen: Wow. I hadn’t looked at the setlist before playing this show so when the first few notes hit my ears, I uttered a loud Holy Toledo! Great job Phish, keeping us on our toes. This tune has been played 347 times. Only 21 times has something other than Mike’s been played before it – 19 times as twice it was a set opener at 4.6.85 and 12.1.87. Only 13 times ever has something other than Weekapaug been played after Hydrogen. So, a very momentous occasion and very cool. >

Chalk Dust Torture: I appreciate the approach on this one, super chill, ambient and spacy out of the gate almost. Eventually lends itself to a subdued Trey led jam. Would recommend. >

Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S. - Standard.

ENCORE:

A Life Beyond The Dream[1] Standard outside of Trey starting it up on acoustic.

Tweezer Reprise: Very mild and dare I say – weak. Can’t hear Mike at all. Just seems listless and like they were tired. Holding back for the final night?

Summary: Review is purely based on the music, not on the visuals. Although there is a ton of jamming in this show, essentially very little is substantive enough to hold my attention. Would rate this as a 3.5/5.

Replay Value: Chalk Dust Torture.

[1] Began with Trey on acoustic guitar.

During Tube, the dome seemed to fill with soap bubbles which reflected the venue and drifted in front of a nebula of changing colors. During Pillow Jets, the view became that of a grassy path through a grove of trees under a starlit sky. Travelling down the path as the jam progressed, the grass and trees became tinged with glowing, multi-colored light, which periodically intensified and erupted from the ground through the branches, creating a firework effect. Mike and Trey teased Manteca during Steam. During Mountains in the Mist, the dome made it appear as if the venue was nestled in an evergreen-covered mountain range, with mist shrouding the sky from view. During Taste, the entire dome appeared to become covered in turning rings of Jim Pollock illustrations from the covers of the Live Phish CD releases, rendered in gold and black. During Sigma Oasis, the dome became a cloudscape, with trees, birds and sea creatures made out of bubbling clouds. During Fuego, a spotlight was used to create a silhouette of the band, with the image then recreated across the dome with effects added to make the band appear as flaming shadow people. During Twist, the dome became filled with multicolored letters tumbling before a backdrop of pulsing red circles. I Am Hydrogen was performed in a show without Mike's Song and Weekapaug Groove for the first time since October 31, 1987 (2,024 shows). A Life Beyond The Dream featured Trey on acoustic guitar. During Tweezer Reprise, the dome again displayed images of cars, this time tumbling into the distance. This show was connected to the other three with each night's setlist tied into a state of matter. This performance's matter type was gas.
TEASES
Manteca tease in Steam

At this point it's pretty clear that Kuroda, CK5, is dictating the setlists. I can just see the original band meeting a few weeks ago.....So guys, I have some insane visual ideas, it's going to blow everyone away, especially if they're tripping, but they require time to fully develop and show properly. So I am going to need every song to be long and jammed out. Nothing less then 10 minutes! No Sparkle, no short country songs, no short slow songs Trey. AND I need setlists that don't change!!! You don't get to screw me like you did in the 90s and make up setlists, so I can base my lights on it...and then don't even follow them at all! This here run at the sphere requires themes and set ideas for the songs...and you can't change them!! But we like to ease into the 1st sets and play some warmup songs that don't go anywhere? To bad Trey, I am going to be the bad lieutenant here...not you! Every song jammed out! But I want to play Axilla! That's fine....just jam it out! 15 minutes will be good! What about lifeboy after a MIke's? Fine....Just.Jam.It.Out. Be creative! The fans love it when you jam out something different. Take Lifeboy for a ride! You can do it. The whole 1st set....everything jammed out! No excuses! But But but I need some slow songs....
OK!! I will give you one or two short songs each night. But I need to know what you want to do. OK you guys have some homework now. Come up with 4 nights of setlists...How you envision each night to go and I will review them with my lighting team. Setlists have to get approval from lighting before you can move forward.

Joking aside, it had to be like that to a degree. Just look at the 1st set....every single song was jammed out. It was a perfect psychedelic set except it was yesterday that was dripping! Anyway, the bubbles in Tube!! and Pillow jets!! The misty mountains also cool. Which song had those fireworks trees? that was amazing!! I thought the Golden Age Twist and Chalkdust jams were the best parts. Especially that 2nd Chalkdust jam! The visuals on the screen are so amazing! So trippy! I took psychedelics for Friday and it was endless brain orgasms. I could see that tonight also had elements of that and I was just straight! If you feel like your tripping just from the screens...imagine what it's like when you are tripping!! And I watched from home and still got it....just imagine being in the sphere and tripping!!! Killer job Phish team translating it to the webcast so well!! Make sure we can buy the videos so we can have acid parties at home with them!!! Mind was blown on Friday!! And how good the sound is with no amps on the stage!! wow just perfect sound!

Night 3 at the Sphere. Well, this one was kind of a 10-meter belly-flop, compared to what it could have been. I'm not going to go into the quality of each jam and song as other reviewers have done that already. I'll start by saying that if you take the venue and Vegas out of the equation, this was one of the more boring shows I've seen (barring 10/12/2010 in Broomfield). Let's break it down categorically:

Visual presentation: Amazing. I'd go see a band I didn't even like here. Phish's utilization of the Sphere's capabilities spanned from outright spectacular to sometimes feeling like Kuroda had a Windows '98 machine that got stuck in screensaver mode. Score: 4.8 stars.

Sound: Amazing. The FOH sound was mostly immaculate. Fish was a bit quiet at times but didn't detract from anything. The technical ability of the sound system was truly amazing from a clarity standpoint. It wasn't super loud but 100% immersive and just felt perfect to me. Score: 4.9 stars.

Setlist: This is where things start to become puzzling. SYSF and a pretty lame Tube to start things off felt like a wet fart in an elevator. This night was set up to be a ripper and 75% of the tunes were uninspired and flat. It made me miss the days when Trey wore the same stretched-out black Mickey Mouse shirt to multiple shows in a row and probably ate White Castle on the way to the gig. Mickey Mouse Trey would not have let Designer Trey do this to a Saturday night setlist in Vegas. Score: 2.7 stars.

Jamming: The clarity of sound allowed us to hear the band play off each other in a way I haven't heard in a long time. There were a lot of intricate details and licks that would have been buried in the mix at a louder, more aggressive show. That said, something big was lacking in the energy and jamming category - let's just get this out there. Almost an intentional "let's save some energy for Sunday" type of thing. Whenever Mike's pants are tighter than the jams, we're heading into problem territory. Lots of cool trey licks, and interplay that could have developed into great jams but ended up cumulating into mediocre noodling for a few minutes and fading away. Things would get going on a song or a jam and then the wet blanket would come out to make sure nobody was getting too crazy. Score: 3.1

Food/bev Didn't try them but the nachos looked pretty good and had a very nice presentation of Fresno chiles and other little toppings. Had a solid lobby cocktail. Score: 4.7

Closer/Encore: This thing could have turned around with some late 2nd set heat or a good encore. The venue felt oddly low energy as the band left the stage after 2nd set but I guess that's to be expected when there's a SANTOS closer on a Saturday night in Vegas. On to a turdy Life Beyond and a predictably short Tweezer Reprise that felt like it said that they could rock if they felt like it, but let's save that for another time. "Don't give up hope" was the right Chorus to end on, that's for sure. Score: 1.1

Overall Rating of the night (including Vegas/Sphere vibe and dropping into the casino party post-show) 4.9. Would go again.

FIRE in the mountains? Or mountain air as the theme would also make sense. I called Hydrogen on the webcast SYSF webcast. I am shocked I got that correct after already playing Lifeboy yesterday in its Mikes Groove sandwich spot. How I called that is beyond me except that air is made of mostly Nitrogen and then Hydrogen and I was guessing the theme is AIR atmosphere mountains fire or some combo of the 4. N2 water but what was N1? Land? Water then Fire Gas or Air but then why mountains they are Land so then I though maybe Flat land vs mountains and valleys or liquid solid and now gas as the theme being most likely. Is this night Trey making us think it is specifically Fire but really the theme is GAS or elements oxygen n2 not actually water and Carbon is actually N1 and then what is outer space made out of mostly? Nitrogen is the majority of our atmosphere but Hydrogen the outer space so that doesn’t fit w tonight at all so it can’t be elements It must be the simple Earth Water Fire then night 4 logically must be ICE so tomorrow we will get Frost Winter Queen Seven Below It’s Ice and other songs cold but Tweezer was already played on earth or flat land day so I am so clueless NO one theme of 4 makes perfect sense but then again Trey said it is not literal at all so maybe all the themes MELT into each other and overlap but N2 was clearly water if it was ambiguous like N1 and 3 I’d be more likely to say Trey is just pretending on one theme per night but water was obvious. Earth water fire then wind or ice. I’m calling ice or wind or both for the final night A play on the band named earth wind fire or the elements but not elemental table that can’t be it It is sure fun to guess at this visual insanity I far prefer phish’s take on the sphere over U2 using chaotic overload which fits the message of auchtung baby…I love each band making this venue their own creative vibe so far. Both bands did amazing using graphic design

I guessed Mountain Air and Got a -4 NICE inclusive community of fans we are....what about my comment deserved that? I was just guessing like all of us and even though it is now obvious it is the 4 SPHERES of existence w a little help from google this "These four subsystems are called "spheres." Specifically, they are the "lithosphere" (land), "hydrosphere" (water), "biosphere" (living things), and "atmosphere" (air). Each of these four spheres can be further divided into sub-spheres." I said it is either Fire on the mountain as a nod to the Grateful Dead or it is atmospheric mountain air which turned out to be correct and I get boo'd for that? WTF....I get why Trey plays WTU all the time....he is tired of pretentious tool fans (not the actual band Tool because they are great) I was just doing a stream of conscience before the show was over and I guessed 3 things 1 being fire the last being mountains and valleys vs N1 flat earth and my 2nd guess which was correct and I get a -4 Now I will get -400 because phish fans are not the nice hippies everyone thinks they are MOST are but some are just wook chomper trolls This show was by far the worst show of the 4 thus far and I assume after LIVING CREATURES tomorrow ...that it being a Sunday show and w THAT theme ..it cannot possibly be worse than this anxious mess
These shows prove to me that Phish is about the MUSIC and the LIGHTING ONLY CK5 ENHANCES the band This screen DETRACTED from the band in most cases If the band would have went totally literal or LANDSCAPE REALISM ONLY this could have worked like in BOTT and in Prince Caspian and a few others but the moral of the story is do not do graphic design like that terrible Bathtub Gin which looked childish immature and neon pastel AWFUL They turned 1 of my favorite Jam vehicles into a train wreck w that background And the bottom line is ....listen to a show w not being able to know what Page and his new shirt look like ...no CK5 amazing accompaniment lighting and if it is still a 4.5 show ...ok....THEN and only then show me the VISUALS but the music comes first The Visuals almost always take a backseat except in the Whale and Dolphins on Earth Day and the NYE Gag songs because they were NOT screens they were REAL LIFE enhancement like Midgets in Golf Carts to Tweezer Reprise THAT was hilarious and made the song ever better Soul Planet a good song not great everyone hates on it like they will hate on this review but I am right and you fools are wrong .....for the most part (those 4 dudes anyways that gave me a negative point for just being honest real and curious-makes me want to in my immaturity do what Jay and Silent Bob did at the end of Strike Back...and look past your VPN and figure out your punk ass 4 addresses and strike back and kick your phony asses) But I regress and breathe deep and say I for one am glad I did not go to Vegas Yes it was miles better than 2004 the worst 3 Phish shows but to compare that is NOT SAYING MUCH Trey is sober so it better be better than that Jay-Z Girlsx3 idiocy w the flu and a hangover

Trey says he wants to come back definitively and that is cool and all but only if he starts to take things a bit more seriously and more literal These shows just the tapers are terrible and that speaks volumes to me....The Tweezer sounded good and that was about it the last 3 nights to me

Community SHMOONITY Phish fans would turn on you in a second come the apocalypse and end of the world Hippies pretend to be nice until they need water and protein and become the ravenous secret wolves underneath the sheep kind sexual freedom exterior ...when the wooks and Howling wolves reveal themselves as the clowns Guyute pigs and Slaves to sin they really are (watch Zombieland 2 that is real Hippy living in OBLIVION AWAITS) When they NEED to eat humans to survive and not just WANT and desire NO2 shrooms acid and weed to survive in their entitled universe lets see who puts the 666 on their forehead or right arm because it will not be me but it will be those fools giving me a -4 rating We can love Phish and hate the community of lazy people (btw Big Lebowski is one of my favorite films before you put me in another category box) I am also a Republican who hates and will not be voting for Trump or Biden

Trey had my hopes up in the CBS interview saying this would be epic but also said Mondegreen festival will....I believed him until I witnessed the Torn and Frayed (bag of nerves on first and second and third nights but especially third) I still want to believe the band is just at the cusp of greater music because 2023 especially the Alpharetta and MSG shows both in the summer and NYE were AMAZING except for the usually great 12-30 which was strangely terrible and made no sense 12-28 actually got the ju ju juice this past year and of course 12-31 w the Gamehendge surprise because usually the NYE show ITSELF sucks compared to 12-29 and 30 but they flipped the book to the book ends and not the MEAT of the book this last year And then Mexico on that I agree TOTALLY w Trey in the CBS interview where he said Mexico was their best run ever and I would not go that far but it was the best Mexico run ever 2017-2023 so 6 i think w Covid so not 7 if memory serves and the first show warmup was even pretty good for just one set That Alaska was BLUES royalty and then it just went into the unexpected stratosphere unlike these 4 shows I sure hope tomorrow is good because these 4 were underwhelming and the visuals looked really cheesy childish immature and silly in most songs w a few exceptions You know im right Look at Bathtub Gin and tell me that sounded good let alone the shitty visuals? This may have been Fire is in the AIR night but this show was anything but FIRE or Energetic AIR