enjoyed this show a lot. for a while it was really excellent (IMO) but then took a strange dive during the 4th quarter.

first set was sneaky very nice, with great playing in blaze on and wolfmans. wish that sand had a little more meat on it but what can ya do. overall an effective first set

set two was sweet. tweezer went long which will always do it for me. this certainly wasn't the finest tweezer ive seen, but the first couple of sections especially were really sweet. i personally thought the gin ripped. some sweet hose during it. definitely wish they had gone deeper in that instead of pivoting to everything's right. this song has pretty much always jammed well... but not this night. here they quickly pivoted to a different key (E) and then trey pretty much instantly started up possum. now, as i've mentioned many times before on this site, i am an absolute possum stan so i was not upset when this was played. however i do think it was too bad as ER is usually a nice jam vehicle for them. three straight bigger jams in a row would've really put this one over the top, but alas.

anyways possum raged. (quick side note: possum being played very well this tour. the version at deer creek was fire.) 2001 another one that i would basically take every night. this is not a noteworthy version but it was fun as usual. rise/come together was also played.

now, the cardinal sin of the show: harry hood should have ended this set. there are no two ways about it. there is absolutely no reason to play more (pun intended) there, especially since they played rise/come together right before. again, i know theyr'e going to play More. i don't love the song but i am used to it. it's just that after hood, the set was over. i honestly would've just preferred if they had double encored with more > loving cup or something. i also just wish they would do a little bit more with hood. maybe it's just me but seems that they are not committing fully to that song this tour (from the two versions ive seen).

loving cup is always a great encore choice. trey ripped his solo. overall a fun night of phish. looking forward to saturday

View from the Couch

Funky Beach.

Phish stepped into the World’s Famous Playground for the first of three shows in Atlantic City. No stranger to a triumvirate of shows in AC, including Two Halloween runs and the Bader field shows, just like in those dim-lit Casino’s, it’s a crapshoot when it comes to what your gonna get. But one things a sure bet: Phish will bring the heat.

In somewhat Jersey standard fashion we are set ablaze with two nods to the Garden State. Cars Trucks Buses, a strong contender for best (Jersey) opener had its standard mid section gusto prior to shifting into A(tlantic) C(ity) DC Bag. This bag, too, like its predecessor getting the standard, if not slightly elevated, once around before elevating into Blaze On.

Blaze On stepped it’s toes briefly into type two territory, much like the audience stage right, before coming back to shore. Slight teases seemed to be woven into this number, possibly a Manteca nod, fittingly, as it references another aquatic theme.

Wolfman’s saw a brief dive into the abyss before resurfacing with Mike leading the underwater excursion while Trey floated toward the Plinko realm briefly before settling in to some echo effects. Page added some choral textures while Fishman kept the band mates on course. Numerous times, throughout the night, throughout this tour, I am struck by the sheets gargantuan size of the light rig. CK5 did not fail here and added to the overall enchantment undersea vibe cast across stage and audience.

At this point, Moses Dewitt graces is with a very brief vacuum solo as the band scooted through IDK. Funky Bitch, nay, Beach, probably alluded to the gray sand beaches of AC and the mystery of under the boardwalk. A standard romp through the Son Seals blues rocker brought us to the sets closing couplet.

Rift, which in my mind had purely oceanic themes, saw some of Trey’s most precise playing. Comment to my buddy via text, “Trey just nailed his sections of Rift. I mean nailed nailed!” Which elicited this reaction from my buddy, “Shocked.” Though a standard take on the classic, the precision with which it was played warrants recognition.

Sand closes the sit, fittingly, though visions of Camden’s Sand floated like Conch shells and Cowry shells in your humble narrator’s head. It was not to be. Passionate playing across the stage and Kuroda pulling out all the stops on the rig could not get this jam launched out much past the marina and we docked hastily ending the first set.

Two notes from this author. Maybe more, we’ll see where this goes. Trey was on point with his composed section in that first set. Trey also ended Sand and proceeded to run off stage like he was about to be struck by lightning. 64 minutes the shortest of all first frames left a little to be desired.

The Replay effect: when the band repeats songs over the course of a show it stands to reason that those repeat songs will become the most tightly played. Bust outs are fun and asterisks and padding for your .net stats. But bust outs are many times poorly played and only stand up based on their LTP metrics. This tour has seen it’s fair share of repeats and while we pride this band for Bakers Dozen type runs or challenges to play only originals and not repeat songs, it stands to reason that repetition in and of itself is beneficial to this band. Also, it is the opportunity to build upon some themes that might have only been partially brought to fruition in previous versions. I’ll let y’all ruminate that…LOL

Tweezer, the freezer, rather the hot sandbox, exploded into the South Jersey air. The Atlantic ocean’s salty spray most likely heightening the senses of all in attendance. Midnight Rider teases washed ashore during this jam which went long and though there were some passages that seemed to meander the overall sonic ideations where made whole. Certain sections even seemed to allude to the forthcoming songs. Never settling into deep sea or bliss, the band still seemed to coax just a bit more out of this one before dropping anchor and taking their fourth dip in the Bathtub

Though having made four previous appearances (more with teases and segues back) Bathtub in the set two song two slot felt like a good move. This Bathtub took sail early and played Jib the Tweezers top sail. That being said, it did the work and didn’t disappoint.

Though Gin, pushed the ship forward, and the launch of Everything’s Right should have meant an America’s Cup first place finish, this version didn’t get the places the previous had and would have been best left unfurled leaving the wind to be captured by Tweezer and Gin.

Possums Energy was in stark contrast to the wind it technically removed from the sails of the set. It brought some heat but not the jam. 2001 ushered in another opportunity to overtake and hinted to the jamtronica version of the Met. (Let me note that these critiques are simply observations as this was a top notch show up to this point).

Come Together, Hood, More closed the set and I’ll second the other review posted here, Hood can do Much More and would have been the optimal closer, even subtracting More altogether and allowing for Hood to stretch its sea legs.

Loving Cup closes out this romp of a show highlighted by tight playing from all members individually and continued cohesive interplay through and through. mighty Poseidon holding a front row seat to the three night run in AC has blessed this weekend and looks forward to more Phish.

Mahalo Nui,
Matthew

This was a fun show. Blaze On and Wolfman's were both jammed out nicely, and they nailed Rift. Sand (and AC/DC) was a sort of obvious song choice - it felt like it might go somewhere, but never quite lifted off.
I don't think many people were looking for Tweezer on night 1, and you could feel a wave of elation on the beach when it started. From the first set, I felt like Trey was intent on jamming out each song, and in the Tweezer there were places where you could feel that he was trying to extend the song. To some people that might come across as a bit strained, but I thought it showed the band coming together, and that payed off in the Bathtub Gin, which which really took off in the second half. The Possum had good energy, and 2001 is always fun. I agree that the second set would have been better ending on Harry Hood, but altogether a good second set. I don't know why it is getting such a low rating on the board (3.697 as of this writing), it might not be an all-time great, but definitely in the 4 to 4.5 star range.
One thing that was slightly disappointing in watching in person is that they have big floodlights on half the beach - its probably for security reasons, but it makes it hard to enjoy the lights. But other than that, it was really fun - looking forward to nights 2 and 3!

I'm strictly couch touring, so I don't think I'm caught up in some of the emotion you get from a live setting, but I'm seriously perplexed by this show...

On the one hand, it has a seriously great song selection... except maybe the ER-RCT-More triad (come on Trey, how about just one per performance?) But otherwise, both sets pretty much read like a dream selection for each set, and Cup to encore is always nice.

On top of that, the performance of pretty much everything is spot on. It's a big Tweezer with a sweet into Gin. Possum rages. 2001 gets the place all funked up. It's just a really, really sweet show!

But... there's not a single "best performance" of the tour to be found here. I mean nothing.

It's not the best Tweezer (Alpharetta 2), or Gin (Nashville 2), or Blaze On (Noblesville 1). It's not even the best Wolfman's (also Noblesville 1), or Possum (Noblesville 2). Arguably it's the best Hood, but that's because they haven't dropped a supersized Hood yet.

I do this thing every tour where I put together a playlist of "bests" from every tour. Only two rules... 1) every show gets represented, and 2) no dupes. I had a very difficult time selecting anything from this show. I ended up picking CTB, HH (expecting to drop this once they go west), and LC.

Pretty weak selections for "bests", especially from a show this good! (It's a really good show)

This show is underrated, as 3/4 of this show was great.

The first set was very well played from start to finish and the equal of any 1st set this tour. CTB the best rendition I can recall, with Page providing more sonic range and color. Blaze On had a nice middleweight jam, and Wolfman's went pretty far out there while remaining in that first set type 1+ jamming syle, as did Sand. Funky Bitch raged and Rift was fast and clean. With a vacuum solo and only one song not from 1.0, this set has a classic feel. Blink and its 95, or 2000.

Tweezer and Bathtub contained multiple passages of hoseworthy improvisation, with Tweezer including the classic the slow-down ending. The Tweezer is a top 5 jam of the tour in my book

After the Bathtub, the show was merely standard fun phish, nothing sloppy but nothing epic in the run of high energy tunes after Bathtub, and I agree that More was poorly placed after a Hood that didn't leave much of an impression.

I have it ranked about 6th for this tour so far. I consider the first set to be almost half the show (because it is!) and I put this Tweezer in the top 5-6 big jams of the tour. Nash2, DC1, Hershey2, and the GA shows don't have that 4th quarter drop-off and deserve their reputations, but Atlantic City 1 has a lot of high quality improvisation lurking just underneath its typical/average looking setlist.

I haven’t seen anyone mention this, but there was a huge problem with the sound in all of the rear speakers. Only about half of the channels were being sent through to them, and as a result, only part of the band could be heard. In particular, only some of Page’s keyboards could be heard, except as a faint echo. The Wolfman’s Brother jam just sounded like a 10 minute rhythm guitar and bass click track. It was incredibly disappointing, and I am sure it was noticed, but it never got resolved. I am really baffled that no one has mentioned it anywhere. After a 7 hour drive, it was just crushing. I hope it gets fixed tonight, I feel like I didn’t even see the show.

This show was really good. The midnight rider jam in Tweezer, the Manteca teasing throughout the show, the smooth segues, the song selection, the energy, and the jamming overall. Others will levy their criticism and praise, but I and most people I talked to at the show really loved it and are looking forwards to N2 and 3. So glad I'm able to see this band again, and it seems like they're glad to be playing too!

I'm strictly couch touring, so I don't think I'm caught up in some of the emotion you get from a live setting, but I'm seriously perplexed by this show...

On the one hand, it has a seriously great song selection... except maybe the ER-RCT-More triad (come on Trey, how about just one per performance?) But otherwise, both sets pretty much read like a dream selection for each set, and Cup to encore is always nice.

On top of that, the performance of pretty much everything is spot on. It's a big Tweezer with a sweet into Gin. Possum rages. 2001 gets the place all funked up. It's just a really, really sweet show!

But... there's not a single "best performance" of the tour to be found here. I mean nothing.

It's not the best Tweezer (Alpharetta 2), or Gin (Nashville 2), or Blaze On (Noblesville 1). It's not even the best Wolfman's (also Noblesville 1), or Possum (Noblesville 2). Arguably it's the best Hood, but that's because they haven't dropped a supersized Hood yet.

I do this thing every tour where I put together a playlist of "bests" from every tour. Only two rules... 1) every show gets represented, and 2) no dupes. I had a very difficult time selecting anything from this show. I ended up picking CTB, HH (expecting to drop this once they go west), and LC.

Pretty weak selections for "bests", especially from a show this good! (It's a really good show)