A tale of two sets.

The first set was what it was. Free is a great show starter, but Trey was vocally off. A up-pace Moma Dance followed in its usual early first set home and Trey gets some nice early funk going with the guitar but Fish and Trey were again vocally off. Halleys got them vocally on track and lead off a five-song run of dance music with some nice extra energy to 555 and Rift as the rain threatened but stayed away after leaving us with a brief, welcome cool-down drizzle. The set showcased three Fuego songs but none quite felt special, before a David Bowie/cavern combo took us home. Nice set, nothing to write home about, a little up and down.

But this is a second set to play and replay. The Down with Disease jam picked up where last night's Simple left off before jamming blissfully into the delightfully ominous bust out of What's the Use? The rare treat was perfectly placed, with a nicely demented Carini following - perhaps one of the best of this summer - into an uplifting Light - into a powerhouse Fuego,. it was about 55 minutes before the brand took anything even resembling a breather, which came in the form of a mid-set Slave, a perfect melodic story to compliment the non-stop party. It's weird to refer to a outstanding Slave as a breather, but in this set, it was.

Haters be darned, there are few songs that can re-invigorate an audience more than Meatstick, with this late set spot after a comparatively more majestic jam was another example of perfect placement - before giving way to a now-rarity Bold as Love, missed in its show/set closing feel good moment spot.

The encore will make Horse fans happy. And reunited after a long, crowd-pumped pause, with it's old friend Silent. Not just an unusual encore, but with more surprises coming - as we got much-beloved stage banter and the, at least momentary, revival of a true 20-year old youthful Phish gag with a line from In a Hole. With the crowd roaring, Trey began Fluffhead - thus concluding an amazing night.

Set Two might be the best set I've ever experienced. To me it was perfect. It's two days later and I still haven't come down from everything that got thrown down... It was pure, dance-tacular magic from beginning to end.

For me an awesome show usually contains 3, 4, maybe 5 big spine tingling highlights. The highlight of Saturday night was every instant of the second set... and of course the spectacular Fluffhead that ended the night and the 3 song (fun-filled) encore.

I cannot remember a set where I was so locked in and physically entranced by every note... I never paused for a single moment to think about what was happening or what would happen next... It was too good to think.

Almost 20 years since my first Phish show, this set had me just as awestruck and blown away as anything I've ever seen. I can't remember a time where one set made me this stoked for this long... I couldn't stop dancing all night and I still can't stop thinking about it!

The first set was by no means a monster, but it had some highlights. For me they were the Free (one of my favorite tunes), my first 555 dance party, and the beautiful Wingsuit. In the second set, every song from What's the Use? thru Fluffhead was perfect.

Thanks to everybody who took part in Dicks this weekend! That was the most fun I've had in a long time.

What can I say? I was expecting a kdf opener. I was wrong. I thought the fuego heavy first set would ruffle the feathers of the jaded vets. I was wrong. I thought a sub ten min jam couldn't be in the conversation for jam of the night. I was wrong. I thought the show was over after Silent. I was wrong. Kudos to my favorite band in the world still pulling off unpredictable moments with regularity thirty plus years in. The best days are behind them. Am I wrong about that too? I have no idea where this will land for the couch tourers or those that grab this down the line. But last night must have been an IT show for an awful lot of people. Never miss a Sunday. Lots of love from the field

King Disco

At around noon me and my buddies were having our first drinks of the day. Some guy comes up and asks if we wanted his mushrooms. Dude looked like he had just seen a ghost, a scary ghost, maybe a scary ghost wearing a tutu. Hard to describe but I am sure a lot of you are familiar with this look.

Anyways, we took him up on his offer. On my friends advice, I weighed out the mushrooms. It's always good to know what you're getting yourself into. It was a decent sized bag and weighed out to be about 7 grams. I thought it was maybe 4 so I was pretty relieved that I weighed them.

Fast forward, we got to the floor about an hour before the show was going to start. I decided to get busy with my preferred method of eating mushrooms straight. That method entails rolling them into balls about the size of sugar cube and throwing back like aspirin with beer chaser. Not a bad method. It typically has treated me well.

I'm on about my third cap when I rolled one a little too big. This massive cap got lodged in my throat and I ended up puking. This would be my first puke of the night. (An aside, amazingly, when I thew up the caps they had unrolled in my stomach and looked just like they did before I balled them up)

Once 555 started playing I decided to check the bag to see where I was at and was shocked to see that there was only scraps left at the bottom of the bag. I had ate 6.5 grams when my intention had been to eat about 3. I had to make a decision: force myself to throw them up or just let it rip. I decided to grip it and rip it.

Terrence McKenna mentions in his writing that anything over 5 grams of mushrooms is a “heroic trip.” By Yarmouth Road I felt anything but heroic. I was trapped in time and I just didn't know what to do. Yarmouth through David Bowie felt like a hundred years. I never thought I was going to get out of that maze.

Once Bowie started I immediately puked all over my friends foot. Right on top. He was wearing sandals but took it like a champ. “I thought you spilled your beer on me, man... until I smelled it.”

I went to the bathroom with him to clean his foot and we returned back to home base during Cavern. The set ended and I was convinced the show was over. I was wrong. Not even close.

Second set was a very different story. Was feeling AMAZING by DWD and What's the Use? Is one of my all time favorite pieces of Phish and the song I've always wanted to hear more than anything else.

You ever have that moment at a Phish show where you feel like “This is for me!” It's one of the greatest feelings I have ever had. I had that moment during that What's the Use?

The rest of the show was killer. The jamming was tight that whole set but I think my favorite moment (after the What's the Use?) was the Fluffhead encore. Yelling that “OH YEAH!!” after the night I had been through was a grand experience I will never forget.

I love this band.

In my opinion, and the ratings don't reflect this, this was the best show of the three nights. Completely hooked up with blistering energy from the first note. The level II jamming flowed freely, and it was one of those nights where it could not be contained. Only complaint was the Jam out of Carini being cut short in an attempt to segue into Light.

Read ProfJibboo's review. It's spot-on. I'm more critical of that first set, however, that's just my personal preference regarding song choices.

The second set can't be judged just by it's setlist. You have to listen to it. The energy and synergy were there big time.

This show just may contain my least favorite and favorite sets seen in person. Crazy, but true.

O, and if you need any further opinion swaying, Phish.com live phish is selling.. in a hole ...as a seperate song. So if they think It should count. Hopefully you will change your minds as well, Please add the song to your list!

.rest of this is original post..because evidently the above addition was to short to be a review.

.Not one for long reviews, GREAT SHOW!! As always .. Thank you!

That said ,my only disappointment was from phish.net...you can count jennifer dances this year where fish only sings the chorus .kind of...but.. in a hole ..is a foot note. Come on man! Already got the lushington bust out tease ...could you not give us credit for that song ..theres not much differance between the two(jennifer and n a hole).... if your gona count partial songs on some shows ..count them on all..just want it called fair from the stat gods. Please and thanks

Ah man, Dick's night 2!!
I was feeling a Free opener about 2 months ago..felt so good to get my wish. I feel it starts a set off really nice and has a good statement. Here we all are taking a giant vacation in Denver with great music, great people, great food trucks and great weather. We are all free.

Anyway, set 1 was fire! The opener and first couple of songs had some rain which created a really cool vibe.
I beleive we all thought Wingsuit would have made a worthy closer but we got The Bowie. Now this Bowie...
This Bowie had all the energy that we needed. This Bowie put me in a trance and haunted me out of it at the same time. I don't think I've heard the ending more solid before either. This version gripped me hard. I for sure thought this would close but then the Fish played his groove to Cavern and I couldn't stop smiling. Thank you Trey, thank you Phish.

Set 2 was just pure fun. I had a first timer friend who only really knew the song What's the Use and they fucking played it. I love phate. Anyway, every song they threw in Set 2 just matched the energy of the audience. Perfect calls, patient jams and everyone was on point.

Now the encore for me was something special. I was so happy to hear the return of The Horse. Silent is such a beautiful ballad and had everyone's breath taken away. Jokester Trey kept me alert while he told his story of In a Hole and i think he received great reactions. But after that... Fluffhead! Fluffhead?
What a fucking victory lap of a song to end the night. They nailed this song note for note with so much meaning behind every intricacy. YES!!

In a weekend LOADED with highlights, Saturday night stands out as my favorite night of the run.

The energy kicked off immediately with a little help from Mother Nature when the rain came just as they were hitting the first notes of Free. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) the rain let up after a few minutes and didn't return the rest of the night. A solid, funky Moma followed and then into Halley's Comet. This is a great song and I really wish they bring back the jam section. In recent years they seem to abruptly end it just as it's taking off. No worries though, as Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan followed and kept the crowd dancing. 555 (one of my three favorites from Fuego along with the title track and Winterqueen) followed and delivered in all its funkyness. It would be the first of four Fuego songs to be played this evening.

A high energy Rift followed and kept the momentum rolling into Sample. Devotion to a Dream was well played but the the next five songs closed a first set that was one for the ages. Yarmouth Road (love this song!)>Sparkle was upbeat dancing fun-ness that let to a well placed Wingsuit to give give us all a chance to catch our breath before diving into Bowie! Trey forgot the lyrics to Cavern which upset some fans but not me. I personally couldn't care less if they forget the words from time to time. It didn't slow things down and Trey was able to poke fun at himself by turning the mic around to let the crowd sing for him. We all need to be able to laugh at ourselves from every now and then.

A 16 minute DWD open dead set two and they were off to the races again. Disease was solid with some stand out playing by Mike. The first What's the Use? in two years followed and was a pleasant surprise. I always love it when something from the Siket Disc finds its way into the rotation. This is an underrated album. I would love to hear My Left Toe.

What can be said about Carini that hasn't already been said? I've only managed to catch a couple in my relatively few 23 shows to date and it always delivers with high energy and this one was no exception. From this point on, there was no stopping them. (Trey was in full bouncing mode. You gotta love it when the band is full of energy and having fun. They feed off the crowd energy and vice-versa.) Carini jammed for nearly twelve minutes before segueing into Light. Light dipped into experimental territory around the four minute mark and carried on for several more minutes before another segue into... (every venue gets one)... FUEGO!!! If there was anyone in the crowd that was asleep at this point, they were quickly awakened by the opening few notes by Page. This song is nothing but pure energy! A slight nod needs to go to Fish as this is some of his finest playing. The drums carry this song and the second section in particular is all about Fish. I swear I had an out of body experience during this tune. (Just to clarify for the record, I was on nothing more than some of Colorado's finest legal medicine.) Much like Guyute, I see this song staying pretty close to the studio version but staying in regular rotation for the foreseeable future.

Slave followed and was well played with an amazingly beautiful build towards the climax. Meatstick is always a fun song but I'm going to skip over it to get to my favorite cover of the weekend, Bold as Love! I absolutely LOVE this song and had yet to hear them perform it live until tonight! Outstanding performance and a great way to close the second set. I'm a huge Page fan and he came through for me once again on this song. (I was 6 rows deep, Page side for this show). The backlight changed to green when he says "her fiery green gown", blue when he says "blue are the life giving waters", orange when he says "orange is young, full of daring", etc. which I thought was a nice touch.

There's nothing I can say about the encore that hasn't already been said. Phish have been playing jokes and pranks on their audience for over 30 years and tonight was no exception. After an entire tour of Horse-less Silent's, tonight they "teased" a Silent-less Horse. I, for one thought this was hysterical. I like their goofy sense of humor and also enjoyed the stage banter that followed. The Fluffhead that followed was the perfect way to end a perfect evening. How on earth would they be able to top this on Sunday night? Never miss a Sunday show...

The first set of this show is not the most exciting Phish out there. It has decent energy and was by no means bad, however compared to the other nights first sets, it's pretty weak.

Free was a solid opener and the Halley's has a nice jam on the end, but the rest of the set is pretty average. I like the Bowie>Cavern one-two punch to close the first set and the botched lyrics in Cavern don't really bother me..I find it funny that Trey often struggles with the lyrics to this tune.

The second set is what makes this show great. A weird, psychedelic DWD melts into one of my favorite Phish instrumentals, What's the Use? I first saw it live at SuperBall and have been in love with it ever since. Carini kept up the dark, psychedelic theme and eventually morphed into a happier sounding jam. Light features some funky grooves and stop-start jamming and even a "woo" or two. Fuego>Slave, Meatstick>Bold As Love...what a great string of songs to close out a rocking Saturday night.

The encore pushes this song up to 4 stars for me. The re-appearance of The Horse sans Trey on the guitar, another prank by the band and a great story by Trey...plus Fluffhead! When they left the stage around 11:20 after the second set I knew we would be treated to a special encore, and what a treat it was!

What a second set! Disease, although a warm up for things to come, showed that this Saturday Dick's was all about type II jamming. Familiar territory eventually led us to blissville and smiles were seen all around. Trey hit the What's the Use line several times before descending into the abyss, reminiscent of Alpine 2010. The transition was more or less following the set list, but I prefer the 2014 combo overall. The Carini that followed got right to the point and built to a HUGE peak. Trey tried to smoothly transition into Light, but eventually put on the breaks to keep things moving. The -> into Light isn't easy, and we will hear many more attempts in the future. Just like Carini, the Light was focused from the start. A typical calypso jam got very interesting, reluctant woos from the crowd and a huge funky jam straight from Page's House made this the jam of the night. Throw this Light up to the rafters and now we have three big jams already in the second set. Shortest Fuego ever led to a divine Slave. The band has played this song often this year, and passionate playing from Trey elevated this version immensely. Building on Friday's show, Saturday Dick's rises near upper crust of 2014. Looking forward to tonight!!!

Not one for long reviews, GREAT SHOW!! As always .. Thank you!

That said ,my only disappointment was from phish.net...you can count jennifer dances this year where fish only sings the chorus .kind of...but.. in a hole ..is a foot note. Come on man! Already got the lushington bust out tease ...could you not give us credit for that song ..theres not much differance between the two(jennifer and n a hole).... if your gona count partial songs on some shows ..count them on all..just want it called fair from the stat gods. Please and thanks

First Set:

Free is always an amazing opener. The song starts slow and builds up the crescendo cry of the crowd that we are “FREEEEEE” and ready to get this party started. Funk continues with a fairly straight forward Moma Dance and Hailey’s Comet. The next segment of the show from Stealing Time through Sparkle is more song-oriented. Everything is well played but nothing strays too far from the script. From there the band looked to stretch things out a bit. Wingsuit starts off very pleasantly and builds up to a soaring peak. Bowie really gets cooking in the back half of the jam. Cavern takes us to setbreak in its typical raging fashion.

Second Set:

And here is where we really get into it. Disease comes out with a bang. Initially its a super high energy jam but around the 10-minute mark mellows out into a groovy sunny day walk in the park. It’s such a sublime jam. Gradually our main character wanders off into a far off section of the park. The scene grows darker and the trees around us seem to be reaching their branches around us and we gradually dissolve into What’s the Use? Carini comes roaring up from the darkness and drags us to his secret place where the initial jam gets dissonant. But then we begin climbing and erupt out of the darkness into an uplifting major key segment. We have made it through the scary times, let us rejoice! The final couple minutes of Carini brings us back to the sunny park but now we have an extra skip in our step. The transition to Light is a little abrupt but the song selection feels emotionally fitting. Light goes to some fun places — gets real funky, then plinkoy, a brief woo jam, and finally a dissonant transition into Fuego. The Fuego is pretty typical but the band does play around with it a bit at the end. A strong rendition of Slave comes next with a slow and steady build to the final jam. Our hero has emerged from the darkness, basked in the light, struggled against the traffic light (presumably in their stolen Fuego) and now its time for the Meatstick. The set ends with a cover of Hendrix’s Bold as Love that serves as the cherry on this psychedelic Sundae.

Encore:

The encore included the triumphant return of the pairing of The Horse and Silent in the Morning (along with some on-stage shenanigans). And at the very end a lovely Fluffhead.

My experience:

My very first show! I had just moved to Denver and this was my first real social outing since getting settled. I went with a friend from work’s crew and had a really amazing time despite not knowing any of the songs. It took awhile for the Phish bug to fully inoculate but this revisiting this show always gives me a warm cozy feeling.

This show--arguably--doesn't have the cachet of the previous night, with its balls-to-the-wall Simple, but the DWD puts me in a mind of, like, a 2.0 jam with the edges smoothed. Carini also achieves an addictive groove at the end. Great setlist construction in the second set, especially. The .Netlist doesn't list "In a Hole," which I guess is correct, since only one chorus of it is played, but it's still a notable facet of this show. It seems like the band is having a lot of fun here, which is always the most important thing (unless they play "Wait!") Jon, Ernest, Mike, and Page Awesome Show: Great Job!

You added as handed too you one phrase and a quick drum beat but refuse to add in a hole.... This plus Jennifer dances in 14 should either make you add in a hole or not count Jennifer or ass handed too you .... Seriously keep not consistent ... Was one of you guys not there so you don't want to count it? Just seems like you pic and choose which 50 sec snips are songs and which aren't

agreed this second, if not must-hear, then i don't know what you're listening to phish for. lots of experiments, and a really crazy emotional arc that has gotten me a fews on relistens, when i was a bit moody myself. this is not your red-fiery rock-out disease, this is more a string of experiements that fits the song's lyrics. there's a lot of disappointment, anger, and processing in here.. sooo good. the kind of set that reminds me why music is so important to me. don't want to overhype it.. but if you catch this in the right mood..

also i wanted to note.. the first set isn't must-hear by any stretch, but has interesting stuff. first off.. sample, sparkle, and rift all in the same set means plenty of blue/red era throwback, mixed in w/newer guys.

finally.. i'm a big wingsuit fan.. this version is fine, but the cool part is MOST of the bowie jam is pretty much trey and page playing around with musical ideas from wingsuit. like they wanted to try out wingsuit-jam ideas within the comfy familiar confines of a bowie jam. such fun.

thanks, guys.

I was not a big fan of the first set, but as with the previous night, the band saved the big jams for later in the evening. Damn, I just got so spoiled back in the late 90's...didn't we all?

Enough about that. I know how much some of the youngn's hate hearing about what they missed and I don't blame 'em.

The second set was just fun. My first versions of light and fuego were easily my highlights- light being my favorite new song of theirs, and fuego, which I had not even heard the studio version of, was a pleasant surprise.

Tonight is going to be amazing!
I will enjoy myself (encore???)