First off, if you're legitimately angry about people wooing at a show when you're not even there, get over yourself. I agree that it was a little incongruous at times, but come on. Let the people who are actually at the show do what they want. The band feeds off of it and were totally encouraging it the entire show.

Now that that's out of the way, go and listen to this first set. Very well played. Vultures, HttM, Roggae and Sand all had nice pocket-groove jams with stellar dynamic variety. Meat was great to hear.

I thought the second set flowed extremely well. No insanely long jams, mild experimentation (q.v. Stealing Time), but overall a truly awesome set. Caspian and Farmhouse were both led into smoothly and Trey's solo on Farmhouse is without a doubt one of the most tasteful and soulful of the tour thus far. Coil was a bonus and WOTC rocked. Seven Below had some nice triplet-based themes and was by far my favorite jam of the show. I'll be relistening to this show in full fairly often.

For all those who were spoiled by the Tahoe Tweezer and can't get over the fact that that was such a great show, take a second and think about what happened when you were at the 1st Billy G show last night. Personally, having been there, I will say that last night was some Trey SHREDDING! he was on fire and TOTALLY feeling the crowd. Opening up with Free is always a good sign and Phish did not disappoint. The Meat, Vultures and PYITE were well played bustouts. The Sand, Reba, (yes) Caspian and even Farmhouse were amazing. Seven Below was absolutely spot on with evergy! They took that song for a nice ride before spoiling us with some Theme. Page's Squirming Coil outro was fantastic. The crowd was SOOOOO into it. And then a Walls of the Cave encore? What more can you want? Geez. I love Woo Tour!

this was a good show no doubt about it, but it is not worthy of shootin a load while writing about it whatsoever imo. Seven below was easily the gem of the night eventhough it was sloppy at the start. The improvisation during -7 was hands down best last night and that is what I live for. I'm not going to lie that may of been the best version of farmhouse I've heard. Overall the show was solid but not epic or anything like that. Seven below and dwd were highlights. But put a show like this against shows from last year and you will notice how last year's show would take it to school. I know this because I tried this experiment the other day. This is a real solid tour and I am enjoying it thoroughly but imo people are going way overboard on their assesments. I'm just being honest. that being said I can't wait for this evening.

This is definitely the best first set I've seen this tour. Really inspired song selection and the Sand (first set? Fuck yeah!), Roggae, Vultures, Reba, and Moon jams are all good. Nothing out of this world, but some good straightforward jams for the first set. Unlike @chief_d, I don't remember the beginning of the Vultures jam being bad. I guess I don't specially remember the beginning of that jam at all. What I do remember is the middle and end are better than normal for 3.0. I think the same goes for Roggae; there was some really nice stuff in there.

The second set was up and down. PYITE opener was very much so up. Diseas was predictable, but I wasn't disappointed by that choice. However, I'll say something a bit controversial: 3.0 disease jams rarely do "it" for me. They just seem, for the most part, to be very nondescript and (dare I say) directionless. Most of the time what comes after it is what determines whether or not I really like it. For Example: Gorge Disease -> Undermind is awesome. I still don't particularly care about the disease jam itself, but I very much so care about the segue, setlist flow, and Undermind jam. I really like that segment of 7/27/13. An opposite example: last night. I was raging the Disease jam like everyone else, but I was really just waiting for what was coming next! Unfortunately, it was Caspian. Do I like Caspian? No. Do I like Farmhouse? Yes. Do I like Farmhouse when it follows Caspian in the first half of the second set? No. So that little segment was the low point for me, but the rest of the second set was solid.

I do agree with @chief_d that Trey simply couldnt play Seven Below, which is unfortunate because he has that nice guitar melody. That critique not withstanding, the jam was fun and progressed like this: Type-I build, brief plinko jam that gets a little nasty/funky, reprise of the Tahoe Tweezer "woo" jam*. I think Mike has had enough of the "woos" though, seeing as he semi-forced the Seven Below groove back. Theme was fine, Hood was good (personally, I don't remember any major Trey mishaps in the Hood jam), STFTFP is the most extended version I can think of, and Coil was nice as usual (yeah Page!). WOTC encore was sweet!

I wrote this review without a re-listen, so maybe take it with a grain of salt, but my initial impression is that I got a pretty good bang for my buck at this show. I'm excited for the next two nights!

*Also, you could see the "woos" in Reba coming from a mile away.

Can't understand all of you pissing on this Disease....maybe you're all just sick of it? I think a lot of you try hard to be objective but aren't because you are prejudiced towards or against certain songs. If I had a dime for every time someone loves/hates a set list because they loved/hated the songs selected I'd be a millionaire. This is jam music, it's all one long song anyway.

Back to the Disease....I fail to find it "short", "nondescript", or anything else dismissive. In fact, I thought it just may be the best Disease since last year. As a pure Disease jam, I was completely satisfied by it. As far as the segue in Caspian...if you've listened to this band for any length of time at all it should be clear that Caspian is a VERY good sign that Trey is feeling it.....no "Trey-nwreck" here folks. Just solid playing throughout.

This summer tour will go down as "How the West Was Won".

My 54th show since 1993 was the best *played* of my four-show Summer 13 run (Tahoe Tues/Weds and San Francisco Fri/Sat).

Free kicked off an absolutely rockin’, jam-filled first set, though the vocals didn’t gel until the flawless Meat. Mike owned that shit, with an energy and drive that would propel the show and lock the band into a unity that would prove to last the entire evening. They just made it look and feel so easy. So tight it was loose. Meat suggests it; Bag fulfills it. The following night (Sat) NEVER (ok maybe during RnR) achieved such seamless inevitable unity. On 8/2/13 in San Francisco Phish channeled nothing but.

Confession: Vultures is just about my favorite tune. One day I found and played every single version! ←dork So my humble opinion here is both more informed and less objective than most: though I’d like an even dirtier Vultures, tonight’s was cavernous and gorgeously dramatic, with recockulous spirals. Boy, man listen to those four guys each and all!!

My 2 on the woos: god 7/31 was a special night. In 20 years, there’s really been nothing quite like it. Where do you go from there? I’m asking *us*. I will say the woo worked for Vultures and during the first passage of Reba, but yeah, started to feel tired or forced at times. What I did like was how the band was experimenting with it by Saturday night: they were PLAYING US! Play the Woo wherever it fits, like Mike’s meatball or Fish’s Toms. It takes a while to master any new instrument. It was our collective idea, but I don’t mind letting the better musicians take a stab at leading how we use it.

How powerfully, how gently does Roggae roll. The ideas were continuous and nearly inseparable. And hey, remember they played a fist night, first set Sand at BGCA last year too, and it worked just as well here cuz da place was on FI RE! Asses were shakin as Trey kept it bad ass and bluesy until Page suggests some staccato, which Trey follows, and then Mike like dominoes and before you know it Page gets gravelly for a syncopated launch that CK seizes to bring the crowd deeply, deeply into the groove. There’s a moment where they start tumbling so fast they stumble, and when Phish is on—and this is the thing—they make every stumble into the first step of the next sweet move. That’s how I wanna be!

Circus—great tune but this placement didn’t allow for its passionate melancholy.

Oh was Reba beautiful!!! At 7:50, (about 1:30 into the jam portion) things got deliciously sensuous. You could see the feeling great in the eyes of seven thousand sexy bouncing smiles.

This was one of those shows that was both propulsive and daring, all the way through. Even Caspian was pretty amazing, thanks to Page leading the charge on some rare edge. That quality segued perfectly into a *lovely* farmhouse that Mike anchored and Page caressed through Fishman’s flourishes. I think Fish is either the leader or the secret sauce. So in quick summary … Punch set the tone. Then Disease started so boiling hot that they needed to turn stove down to medium around the 6:30 mark and another notch at 8:00. But oh those last couple of minutes of urgent quiet exchange! Funny how things smoke at low heat.

Seven Below. Again what’s interesting—and just as important to me as Phish’s caring, daring, and effort—is not that Trey threw the whole band into the headlights by failing to find the intro melody, but that they recovered so beautifully. It’s how Trey, LET his team catch his fall and then seized the confidence of his own truth (I heard insistence and joy tempered with humility and a nice dose of cranky!) to move the conversation forward and actually lift those who had lifted him. Mike grabs the hint and won’t let go, inspiring Fishman to hop right on top of the stack. Dwelling on a screwup is myopic if you're a badass.

Theme was nothing short of glorious and Hood was the prettiest version I’ve heard. And possibly the prettiest jumping, popping, angry uplifting jazz-rocker ever in the history of planet earth. Stealing time is revelatory. A mind blowing edition with sly funk and other stylistic surprises that give it a new-found forcefulness.

The segues weren’t as mind-blowing but they worked, lasted the full set (to Coil), and were unobtrusive. And finally it was a treat to enjoy the well-executed Coil and the soft and open Cave, though Cave did suffer from flawed vocal harmonies (is Page the one having trouble finding notes?).

The band’s communication with one another and with the audience has never been so clear and direct. From set list construction to musical interplay, I have this sense of really hearing them right now, and without any loss of the magic because of it.

First set was pretty great, I enjoyed hearing all the songs. I thought it had an awesome balance between the straightforward jams and not jamming at all. For a first set, I really liked it.

The second set started out nice, punch was fun, and the beginning of the disease jam I loved. Then Caspian was alright, but farmhouse would've been better if it hadn't been paired with Caspian. STFTFP was an unexpected blast, one of the best parts of set 2. Squirming coil and walls of the cave were both enjoyable.

Overall, good show, but the first set had me really excited for the second set which didn't deliver as strongly as I think most were hoping for.
Regardless, it was fun and enjoyable, I just don't think ill relisten to it a bunch.

My ears and brain and every stimulating nerve of cerebral cortex just finished digesting this FIRST set on webcast replay and I'm only writing about the first set hear hear hear... PHISH playing with exhilarating colossal tight creative wooooo inspired energy "seen the light" heard the architect's prayer that anything is possible, even at this age. I can't say enough about this first set - absolutely stunning Phish. The segue by PAGE from ACDC into Vultures was magical. The jam out of Roggae had me drooling ale. The audience interaction during SAND and REBA will not be forgotten. The circus arrives in California where it all began! Thank you, PHISH. See you at Dicks! How do you do this?

For all those who were spoiled by the Tahoe Tweezer and can't get over the fact that that was such a great show, take a second and think about what happened when you were at the 1st Billy G show last night. Personally, having been there, I will say that last night was some Trey SHREDDING! he was on fire and TOTALLY feeling the crowd. Opening up with Free is always a good sign and Phish did not disappoint. The Meat, Vultures and PYITE were well played bustouts. The Sand, Reba, (yes) Caspian and even Farmhouse were amazing. Seven Below was absolutely spot on with evergy! They took that song for a nice ride before spoiling us with some Theme. Page's Squirming Coil outro was fantastic. The crowd was SOOOOO into it. And then a Walls of the Cave encore? What more can you want? Geez. I love Woo Tour!

Strange night in San Francisco. Meat in the 2 slot certainly sets the precedent for a cold, laid back Gordon 1st set. With 6 songs that haven't been played yet this tour, it certainly seemed encouraging. Set 2 was a different story. Wooooooo! Punch instead of our customary Disease S2 opener? Caspian>Farmhouse 3 & 4 holes? Seven Below had probably the best and worst moments of the night all in 13 minutes. Trey fell ALL over the intro. I don't like to criticize the master, I actually felt bad for him. To his credit though he pushed through for some interesting Type I and start-stop jamming to close it out (including more call-response Woooooooo! from the crowd). The 4th quarter was also curious with Hood containing a Dixie tease that will tickle your ear and Trey belting a bizarre "Heyyyyyyyyy" at the peak. A psychedelic Stealing Time outro and an always beautiful Coil to close it out. Peculiar? Yes. Standard? No. A minor bump in the road to what should be an incredible finish over the next 3 days. It starts tonight. Stillllllllll waiting . . . . . .

When I woke up on August 2nd, 2013 I wiped the magical pixie dust of live musical bliss from my eyes and found myself in a dingy motel room on the outskirts of the outskirts of San Francisco. M’lady and I had joined a pile of friends for a Phil Lesh concert at Phil’s very own clubhouse/venue Terrapin Crossroads the night before, a lifetime highlight kind of show that came with a buffet dinner, a lengthy sit-in by Phish bassist Mike Gordon, and a dreamy campfire singalong that brought tears to the eyes of many. It had been so amazing that we couldn’t stop ourselves from driving straight back to Terrapin Crossroads the moment we checked out of that dingy motel. We were hoping they might be open for brunch where we could linger and reminisce about the previous evening but alas, they only opened for brunch on the weekends, which this wasn’t.

So we drove into San Fran brunchless. It was my first time visiting the city and I found the steep winding streets quite unnerving. It’s odd to be surprised when confronted with a well-known cliché, but I always am. I was shocked to discover that there were really canals throughout Venice, astounded at the proliferation of slot machines the first time I visited Vegas, and amazed that the impossibly steep streets that Steve McQueen raced through in Bullitt were actually impossibly steep.

But they were. M’lady was shocked too, but for a different reason. “What is wrong with you?” she asked with a smidgen of actual concern. “I’ve never seen you drive so slow.” I suspect this was the only time she ever saw me white-knuckle driving.

We had arranged an unbelievable deal at the very fancy-shmancy Fisherman’s Wharf Hyatt, one that included full breakfast every day and very expensive valet parking. We checked into our luxe accoms and had a drink or two to celebrate before setting out to explore the wharf. When we did we found an olde-schoole penny arcade museum filled with an astonishing array of coin-operated delights, all in working order. There were fortune telling machines and juke boxes, pinball machines and video games, horse racing machines and strongman challenges, but most fascinating were the coin-op marionette scenarios. We dropped a coin into one and the curtains opened to reveal a mob cheering on a hangman. The trapdoor dropped, a little puppet dangled from its little puppet neck, and the curtains closed.

Amazing what people did with their spare time before the internet.

After an early dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant (I had the burger) we hopped the bus to Bill Graham Civic Center for the first of a three-night stand of – you guessed it – Phish, Phish, and Phish.

We met a stranger in a park for a pre-arranged ticket trade and hung out with all the loco locals in a tiny Shakedown Street that had sprung up across the street. Inside the venue we found some friends we had met at the Tahoe shows. They had some extra seats saved so we joined them just as the lights were set to dim.

Of course this was my first time inside the Bill Graham Civic Center and I thought it was a heck of a venue. Smallish, it holds maybe 8,000 fans, about half of which crowded onto the expansive square floor while the rest (like us) sat in balcony bleachers that surrounded three sides of the boxy room. I loved it up there; we were treated to a great view of a great show for the whole night.

Drink trips were frequent and simple, as were the corresponding bathroom jaunts. But most importantly, the concert was awesome. The Tahoe show from two nights earlier had quickly become legend, mostly due to a 30+ minute jam (Tahoe Tweezer) that birthed an audience/band/back-and-forth/participation “Woo!” that was the talk of the tour. At this show both the band and the crowd picked up where they had left off and got their woo’s in wherever and whenever they could. Anytime the band even hinted at a millisecond stop in a jam the crowd would woo it up, which encouraged the band to put the little breaks wherever they could which in turn made the crowd woo more which inspired the band to…

Being so early in the history of woo we were still having a good time with it but let’s just say the woo thing got pretty old pretty fast. “Woo” is almost considered a dirty word on tour nowadays.

After the show we missed the bus by mere seconds and waited a half-hour for the next one to take us back to the hotel where we nightcapped in king-size luxury. Funny to think back to the days when I would sleep in my car on some dark hidden road after a concert. Crazy.

http://www.toddmanout.com

My first trip to BGCA (I now live in SF and have been fortunate to go back).

Free opened up set I. I like it as an opener. Good playing.

Meat was on deck and that was a real treat. They kicked in a cool out of the ordinary breakdown and Trey treated us to some killer notes. Great version.

OKP>Bag was a nice old-school pairing. So far the energy level was high.

Vultures was a treat. Ok it wasn't the finest version you've ever heard, but I love this one.

Roggae continued its upward trajectory as this version soared to a great climax. Fantastic version for sure.

Sand didn't give us a chance to slow down and picked up steam before reaching a fiery climax. Killer.

When the Circus Comes to Town was a perfect breather here. Well played.

Babylon Baby was pretty cool. I enjoyed it.

Reba kicked in and carried a good jam. This version was solid, the jam wasn't super stretched out, but it was good (not Great).

Halfway to the Moon was a bit odd in this spot, but pretty solid and Golgi rounded out a really fun set.

Overall set I: Great song selection. Tons of surprises. Some really good jamming in Roggae, Sand, Reba.
Highlights: Meat, Roggae

Set II jumped off with PYITE. I love this one in the set II opener slot. They didn't nail it completely, but tons of fun.

DWD was up next. I was ambivalent about this version at the time. It's not my favorite, but it wasn't bad per se. It covered a fair amount of ground too, just not overly magical.

Caspian>Farmhouse gets annotated in the setlist as noteworthy, which I think is more a function of the weakness of those tunes than any truly mind-blowing playing you think you might find here. That said, if you do like these tunes, the versions in this show are worth a listen.

Seven Below was awesome. OK the intro was not, it was an unmitigated botch fest. The jam was awesome though. Some wooing (like in Vultures in set I D'OH!) was present during the stop start. This also carried a good conclusion. Show highlight.

Theme was solid, and I thought interesting.

Harry Hood was a nice call in this slot and provided the appropriate smile factor.

STFTFP was very interesting. I think this is the best version they've ever played. Worth a listen.

Coil is a great way to end a set. This one was nice. Always beautiful.

Encore: WOTC was great. I like that this song is pretty much common nowadays. Always rocking!

Overall Set II: This was a good set with some nice jamming in Seven Below and interesting takes on DWD, Theme, STFTFP and even Caspian/Farmhouse (in the 3 & 4 hole though....).

Overall a good show, I think appropriately rated. First set was a blast and second set had its moments. Grab this Seven Below for some woo period heroics.
3.75/5 Above Average for sure!

This review was originally published in STTF #38 Dick's 2013 Edition.

Arriving in S.F. for the 1st time was amazing. The air was chilly &
Shakedown was disappointing, but as we entered the BGCA I knew we were in for a treat. The building was beautiful & had an old school feel.
The sold out show swelled for an hour with a frenzy of phans. The boys
took the stage & rocked the house with a thunderous Free. The stage was set for a great night! The treats continued to roll out as Mike
unleashed his Meat on us. A rarity that has only been played once a
year in the 3.0 era.
Next came The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony which segued into a short AC/DC Bag giving way to a long overdue Vultures jam signifying the
boys were ready to throw down. Another treat came as the boys
lightened the mood w/ a soothing 1st tour appearance of Roggae. IT
wasn't long before they switched the tempo & snuck in a sweet Sand
through the alley of Roggae & When the Circus Comes. A fun loving
circus theme filled the air mid-1st set. Mike took control again with
a boppin' Babylon Baby. This marked the 3rd & tightest performance
since debuting in '11 & is a song that can stand to be added to the
rotation!
Being the phinest in the nation isn't easy, but the boys made IT look that way as they rolled out a raging Reba w/ whistles & all. Calming things down a bit we were treated to the 7th Halfway to the Moon. A new crowd favorite which would have been better suited for the bright orange half-moon @ the Saturday Gorge show. HttM segued into a set closing Golgi Apparatus...IT doesn't get more old-school than Golgi!
Set break was foggy & IT really reminded me of the mid-sized
hockey rinks Phish destroyed in the mid-90's! The boys reemerged &
hit us w/ a 1-2 Punch>Disease combo solidifying another great set. DWD broke way for a beautiful Prince Caspian. My boy Mark's service dog named Prince Caspian made IT to his 1st shows the previous four concerts. Caspian missed S.F., but there's always Dick's! The phun continued to flow w/ the 1st Farmhouse since the FYF show. Farmhouse was not a song I loved from the get go, but IT has grown on me over the years as I've grown up. Following was the highlight of the 2nd set. Seven Below began somewhat shaky & could have sank, but the jam rose above the rest of what was a nonstop nine song serenade. 7Below bursted into Theme From the Bottom & the theme of the night was "WOOOO!". As the phans chanted "WOOOO!" the boys wooed us happily w/ Harry Hood & we all felt good about a stellar Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan. The continuous jam ended, but not before closing out the set with the song that hooked me. The Squirming Coil is one of the 1st Phish songs I ever heard & when the boys leave that stage to Page we are all truly being treated to the Chairman's fanciest finger work. Walls of the Cave was the encore & couldn't have come @ a better time. The boys were sending us a message...stay old-school yet embrace the phuture!

There are so many variables that make a good show. I flew in from Miami the day of this first show at BGCA. I was a little tired since I had worked 7p-7a the night before and jumped on a plane after my shift was over.
I wanted to get a good east coast/west coast mix in summer 2013.
I think I picked the right shows.
This is still my favorite first set of the entire year.
It has everything I could've hoped for. The laid back west coast vibe, GA floor and a show with a unique, well played set.
My head was in the right place (which is the most important thing to get the most out of the experience) this night. The band was frosty and Mike had one of his nights.
I hope you love it as much as I do.

I think the recap was spot on and written very well, thanks @jwelsh8. The energy during the first set was palpable and the band acknowledged our enthusiasm with some excellent playing. Free was great and the jam section generated a foreboding sense of what was to come. This Grind was "jammed out" with great feel and funk, Ok Kee was standard, AC/DC displayed some great 3.0 style type 1, Vultures was fun, Roggae (in place of Ocelot perhaps) and Sand were excellent versions. Circus and Babylon were standard. Reba was well played and the jam was very satisfying, though I have to say that I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but I think this is the last and only time Reba needs any "wooing". Halfway was excellent, do yourself a favor and check it out. Golgi was a perfect ending to a unique, fun, articulate set of Phish.

Set II was a roller-coaster of miscalculation, redemption and payoff. PYITE was well played, DWD was short and sweet but ultimately will be forgotten. Caspian and Farmhouse are two song I enjoy but feel were misplaced. One could almost feel the energy leaving the auditorium and that's not to say these were particularly poorly played, just the wrong placement in the set. Seven Below seemed to be an affirmation of the "lul" in the set and presented us with the most exploration of the night. Though the composed sections are rough, the improvisation is great. Theme and Hood were standard. I know it sounds unbelievable but check out Stealing Time, my favorite version personally and maybe the best jam of the night. Full of intensity (without being tense) and inspiration. Coil was great, sans the clapping and finally Walls was a great high energy closer.

Not the greatest Phish show I've attended but a solid effort with a lot to go home happy about. Definitely worth a listen and possibly a download as well. Thanks to all the SF Phans for the great times and hospitality! See you at Dick's!!

Watched most of the webcast ... I think this show must be garnering high ratings due to the song selection (especially in the first set ... it was quite unpredictable and there were some lengthy pauses between some songs while they chatted about what to play next). There were some brilliant moments (Reba, Seven Below) and a remarkable peak in the Sand jam.

The bottom line, though, is that this show was mostly a Trey-nwreck. He was making "unforced errors" all night ... vocals sounded awful, he had some obvious equipment issues (tone in PYITE? Was it just the mix on the stream or did he really sound that bad?), and he appeared to be either fatigued or ... ? I mean he had trouble holding a single note at times. He *really* stumbled bad in the Vultures jam, the beginning of Seven Below, Harry Hood ... what was going on? To their credit, the rest of the band sounded damn good and did a great job holding it down beneath a struggling Trey. I'm pretty sure I saw Page and Mike chuckling at times at how "loose" he was ... Enjoyed the show as I always do, but man this one was streaky ...

Bounce-back on Saturday? Maybe they should just play Tweezer again, that seemed to work

.:chief_d:.