Q: If Phish play Divided Sky at the time of the sunset, but the sky is overcast, is it still a Divided Sky at sunset?

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I cruised down US-71 and rolled into the lot at 5:15, and promptly realized I didn't have a way to track down anybody at the .net meetup. I headed to the bandshell/pavillion, where a band called Brother Bagman was playing as part of a preshow hosted by the Central Plains Jamband Society. Cool time, cool folks, but I felt like I needed a nametag. And I only had a couple of phone numbers, and my phone isn't a smartphone so I couldn't check the meetup thread. Phish last played Starlight Theater in 2012, which was probably the last time it was ok to have a slider phone. I thought I saw Doc Brown yelling at me from a passing DeLorean DMC-12...

And yet, everyone I met throughout the evening was cool. Pleasant, happy, loose (to varying degrees), and enjoying the day and the scene. Inside the venue, I sat behind a tour guy who told me he was selling Monica Lewinsky shirts with the legend "Sing Monica". I laughed, and asked to buy one of these not-hot-sellers-on-lot shirts. Alas, he never made it back to his seat after setbreak. And so I danced to the utterly-dancable Gotta Jibboo in the midst of four different Funky B's, all with different repertoires of great moves. The one in my row on my right was raging like a bespectacled Yarmouth Meg...

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I never felt setlist jealousy - jealousy toward a setlist for a show you missed out on - until about 12:00 AM Wednesday morning, when I returned home from work to find that, at the show in Nashville, Phish had played the first Mike's Song 2nd jam since Summer 2000. Up until that point, I had been Kelly Frears and the Mike's Song 2nd jam was Chuck Noland, and I was resigned to never again hearing that drop into the jam, and feeling that thrill of listening to Phish spin the wheel into uncharted musical waters. And then they do just that, at the show *before* the first Phish show I was going to see in nearly 15 years. Jeez, the nerve of those guys.

So I resigned myself to a mediocre setlist for KC. After all, it's been a sizzling tour so far, so I was sure Starlight would still be a fun show with moments of brilliance, or at least not a stinker like Rochester '13. They had played Starlight before, so they must have had some degree of affinity for the venue. And besides, what could I have asked from Phish to possibly top the previous night? Gamehenge with the Twyla Tharp Dance Company?

Thankfully, the not-quite-sellout crowd at Starlight provide some energy that boosted the sound from the stage. We cheered and hollered and clapped our hands and jumped up and down and shouted "woo" during Twist and roared at the silent stage during the pause in Divided Sky, all because we wanted the band to know that we were downright tickled that they would make the trip back to play again at this venue. The Bouncin' that came in the first set was clearly an audible by Trey, likely inspired by the many balloons being batted around in the crowd.

If I had made a setlist of songs I wouldn't have wanted to hear at my "comeback show", it might look a bit like this one. The setlist snob in me was rankled by KDF followed by BOTT, an utterly obvious 46 Days first set closer, and a mild Twist followed by a Wedge that may never again hold up a 2nd set like it did at MPP last year. But I politely asked my inner setlist snob to return to the lot to listen to some Spring '93 show, and determined that while I was at this show, I would savor every note, every sight and sound and drip of mist on the back of my neck, that I had been missing for so long.

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Musically, Phish didn't "swing" very much tonight. They weren't really "goofy" like they sometimes are on stage. The DWD jam was the only part I considered "psychedlic". Surprisingly, they didn't even play any bluegrass tunes for this midwestern, grain-fed audience. At the Starlight Theatre, Phish was a Rock Band putting on a Rock Show like no one else can, with a dash or two of prog-rock influence, and a healthy selection of mature, emotional ballads.

Phish was also a Dance Band, playing some of the most danceble beats this white boy would ever care to enjoy himself with. And they were happy, upbeat grooves - with the notable exception of Sand. I was glad to hear Fishman and Gordo kick off this tune a la the original arrangement, as opposed to Trey just strumming the chords out of nowhere, and waiting for the rest of the band to catch up. This to me was the mark of a band that has been woodshedding in the band rehearsal space; and as Pee Wee, Fred, and Maceo will tell you, this is a modus operandi that cannot fail to pay off onstage.

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Some Phish shows feature each band member, and other Phish shows feature one member of the band stepping up and carrying a greater load than they usually do. 8/5/15 felt to me like a "Trey" show, with him responding to the crowd's energy with a generous watering from the Hose, all the way through the encore. Ocelots usually reach adulthood at 3 years, and the 5-year-old Ocedoc' was a roaring, howling creature of the wild for this show - certainly no purring kitten.

Which is not to say that this was nothing more than a TAB show. Page led the show off with his beautifully nasty clavinet, and got the nod to take the first solo during The Wedge; Mike got to debut a song of his that I certainly never saw coming; Fishman was alternately John Bonham, Clyde Stubblefield, Billy Cobham, and Bill Bruford. And Trey is only able to sustain those notes at the peak of Divided Sky because of the lift the other three provide for him.

Besides his usual brilliance with the lights, Chris Kuroda provided a couple of great effects during that amazing jam out of Down With Disease. Right after Mike stepped on his Taurus pedals to make that bass-bomb sound, CK5 showed an image on the backdrop that might have been bubbles, but I thought it might have been an explosion pattern from a mortar shell. Right after that, he shined the bubble look on the band, along with some blue lights shining vertically overhead, creating the illusion that we were watching the band play underwater, turning Starlight Theater into a giant aquarium castle.

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I was a little surprised to hear Joy as the mid-second-set breather again, although I suppose it was due to be played again this tour. But it was a pleasant surprise; the tune has grown on me, and anyone who struggles with emotional issues can take inspiration from the lyric and the message of the chorus.

In my time as a musician, I have had the opportunity to participate in a couple of (protestant) church worship bands, leading church services in "contemporary praise music". And while there are aspects of that experience that I have reservations about, I have observed that, when performed well and with fortunate timing, a piece of music can definitely have a spiritual impact on an audience. Which is to say that, as I stood and swayed and sang along to "we want you to be happy", and was swept up and carried by the band's performance, I felt like I was back in church, in the best possible sense. I think that, without knowing it, Phish wrote and perfomed a hymn.

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Finally, as Trey led the band into the Wedge, the clouds began to part, and I could look up and see real starlight at Starlight.

well, good shakedown for a one-off in the Midwest. If you can grab the philly w the cheese wiz at blossom or alpine, I highly recommend it. Security non-existant in the lot...thus the balloons were ubiquitous, if that's your bag.
To the show...if you've been paying attention to tour, you pretty much know the score by now; the band is playing great...trey is playing at his highest level since the comeback. His 'jerry' stint was a success and has influenced his chops. Every show this tour has gotten one or two complete 'Jerry fan downs'. Starlight was no exception.
Okay, since we know the score, it's only a question of what they play and how deep they end up going. This show had all of the elements of the best shows of the 32 (10/31/14 being tops) I've hit; that said, the totality just isn't there for this one. It wasn't bad at all. It was great...just saying it probably isnt in beSt of tour conversation. It wasn't bc of poor playing or a poor scene. Everything was aligned and the band played a great show, front to back. since most of the show is type I, idk that a recap of each song is necessary...so I'll give some cliff notes
Gumbo was a nice opener; divided sky continues to impress as it did in Dallas. Searing stuff by trey. Really nice to hear that song played in such a strong, dynamic fashion; it really hasn't been in recent years.
I was calling a Bowie to end the set; unfortunately that didn't materialize. 46 days is always fun, but a strong Bowie or soam would have been my preference. Oh well.
2nd set was a big party; the band came on for the first much later than recent shows. As a result the second set started way later than previous shows w the result that the crowd was pretty juiced. All songs played were played well. This set (and show) were really about the disease. In person in the moment it went really deep, w trey eventually latching on to a huge, multi-tiered peak that really got after it. Phenomenal full band interplay w trey just hosing us off. Without re listening, it's the kinda jam that would raise the rating on .net by itself if not for the absence of a webcast. Seek it out. It's great. Better in the moment than the other big jams thus far this tour (which I didn't hear live...full disclosure).
Yem had some trey/mike 2015 summer bromance, but it's largely what yem has been for a bit now: yem sans huge trey shred and with trey dancing. I know which I prefer.
Bug is bug, but w some big trey fan action.
There is truly nothing lacking right now, people. We could all nitpick, and I hope we continue to; I enjoy that vibrancy. But this band is SO good right now...so good that I'm *almost* disappointed to be missing alpine in favor of a friends wedding in cancun. I can't wait for dick's. Be there to people; you owe it to yourself.

Very strong first and fourth quarters, with something to please pretty much any style of fan.

Although this first set can't stand toe-to-toe with the absurdly good stuff the band has been doing with this tour's opening frames, the opening trio of Gumbo>KDF>BOTT is excellent. Gumbo, in particular, is a tune that seems to perfectly fit their style right now. Same goes for Waiting All Night, which once again is phenomenally well played.

Q4 is really where the money is, though. Disease is the jam of the night, and although I think their other primary jam vehicles have outpaced DWD, they nonetheless Bring It once again here. Sand begins with excellent, minimalist funk that has Trey playing around with echoes and effects, before resuming the standard Sand build-up. Joy is as strong as ever here (is it just me or are they just killing the softer ballads this tour?!) and YEM closes things out as only YEM can.

This show is sure to get lower-tier status considering how strong Summer 2015 is, but don't skip it. When the band is at this level of peak playing, the only response it so gobble up as much of it as we possibly can.

I was at the show and have listened to it in full twice since. This was a standard great Phish show that suffered from poor song selection and setlist flow. The songs chosen didn't really go anywhere worth revisiting save for DWD and perhaps YEM.

I still had a blast and would not have wanted to be anywhere else.

Did not attend - downloader only... But just wanted to add in to the lukewarm reviews that the 2nd Set Jiboo>Twist>Wedge>DWD>Sand segment of this show is probably my most often listened to segments of 2015 Phish... and I think of myself as a pretty discerning listener. Its just pure pleasure and super solid Phish. A super enjoyable Jibboo, Trey's wailing whammy bar work in Twist, some tasty soloing in Wedge, and a Sand that's brief but absolutely on FIRE. Have listened to this little run of tunes many many times now and it just keeps delivering...