After last's night show, I am a believer. I rank last night's show with the phinest of 97 and 98. Yes, it was THAT good!

Last night's first set was excellent. I had it pegged as a contender for best set of the run...until the second set came and kicked our asses!!!!!!!! It might not be the best set I've ever seen, but it's probably the hardest I've ever grooved in my life. They were on...pardon the pun here...FUEGO!!!!!

I was not a believer until last night. I was 100% convinced that 97-98 were their best years, and that was settled.

I'm not sure that I was wrong, but I have my doubts now.

I love the longer jams and they don't do that as often anymore, but EVERYTHING they played last night was as funky as could be- with a new little dance/trance element added to the longer jams.

I'll never see another 7-23-1997. They may never play another 2001 like 8-17-97 or 7-18-98 that goes on for 20+ blissful minutes.

But man oh man, they manage to pack so much more into a smaller time and space.

The boys are absolutely phucking back (if they ever left), and last's nights show was one of the best I've ever seen (there, I said it!).

It's good to be alive!
Viva Montaigne.

I spent the last three days chasing Monica. I thought she might be the S in Lushington. I thought Bowie would have segued nicely into it on Saturday. Maybe out of Slave for an amazing second set closer? I thought all hope was lost late Sunday until they started into Mike's. There's NO WAY they don't go Mike's>Monica>Weekapaug here, right? Although a girl was mentioned in the song inserted where Monica obviously belonged, it was no Monica...My last hope was an E: Monica>Tweezer Reprise. That's gotta be it. Nope. Alas, my search for Monica was fruitless. The glaringly obvious omission of Monica is one of the biggest disappointments in 3.0 and perhaps all of Phish history. Bands will form based on this tune, calling themselves "The Singing Monicas." Generations will be shaped and Monicas will be played to celebrate our fallen friends. For my friends who may be reading this, I hope that the music at my funeral reads as follows:

Sing Monica>Amazing Grace>Sing Monica

As for the actual show - Pretty much sick as hell! Wombat was a definite first set highlight along with the other Phish tunes they played, specifically the ones performed by Phish. The amount of arrows in the second set made me extremely happy.

Spectacular.

Everyone could feel the energy from "with" onwards. Trey took a huge step forward and ripped the first songs up while the band cohered beneath him. Like this bitch for example, holy damn trey annihilation. He summoned storms and facilitated lightning with that fuckin guitar. Have any worries that Trey has truly lost the force? He hasn't, it must just be a matter of inspiration. At this venue with this energy, he delivered on the scale of any 90's show.

And if that was anything to be noted, it and all that took place in the first set were just a warm up routine for the mammoth performance to come.

Chalkdust's jam began with a familiar shapeshifting-searching rhythm, a sign that they hadn't yet escaped the human confines musical creation. But then, it happened, and it was there to stay.

I wont break down this jam or each and every one for the rest of the set, but I will give you a general jist: using a groove as a vehicle, the band explored luscious landscapes of sonic trance, raucous funk, and countless other undefined heady reincarnations of rock music. At points there were even strong shades of dark, sick, fucking bad ass stash-esque jamming that had the band grimacing within neurotic bliss. All the while, they would dismantle those deep grooves in to often dissonant and vast beauty, only to rebuild such creations as if they were castles in the sand.

From what I remember from last night, there are two moments that I need to mention. Well shit, there are closer to five, ten.... just keep that in mind when I only bring up two.

While the band was destroying tweezer, things started to get HEADY. As in it seemed to me the hose had been brought out. It also seemed so to my tear ducts, who were erratically spewing liquid everywhere like a sprinkler system. But then, amidst a promising moment deep in jam territory, trey began playing Sand. Although this song is fucking awesome, and Dicks has a great history with it, this wasn't exactly the time to exit our growing beast Tweezer. But Jedi Trey's wisdom was beyond mine, because what ensued was one of the most awesome pieces of music i've heard phish play. It grew faster, and garnered a sound i can only associate with bouncing. The music was bouncing, really fast and within a rhythm. The whole band knew how sick this was... go look at a video of their expressions. And then, during this uptempo musical trampoline session, I had a vision. A vision they would go back in to tweezer at a certain moment and blow everyone away. And all the fucking sudden, they seamlessly GO BACK IN TO TWEEZER in a hyperspeed version. THEY SHRED. IT IS MIND BLOWING!!!!!!!!

And the second thing. Much simpler. Listen to mikes intro to the 'paug groove. At the time I thought it was the best one to have graced my ears. I still feel confident of that notion. As I also feel confident that this is one of the electrifying performances of Phish's new era, one of those magical nights that makes this band what it is. You could listen to any of the band members alone on this night and be blown away. Together, they seem to go beyond a 4 man band and swell to mystical proportions. Never miss a Sunday show....

Solid 4 stars out of 5 from my vantage point center stage midfield. I'm not sure id go as far as the review above claiming it was on par with 97/98 (too much hyperbole for me), but there were several highlights throughout that I'll revisit on tape.

First set: Solid Curtain, funky Wombat (this one is a keeper) and an inconsistent Kill Devil Falls that ran hot and cold. It felt like Trey was on the path to a raging jam and took it down a notch toward noodle street several times throughout the night, and this was the first instance I can recall. Standard jaunts from Bouncin through Wolfman's, which was my highlight of the first set. Lots of funk, lots of fun! Quite a lull from Waiting and Winterqueen , though I do enjoy the latter more on tape than in person. Phish can play Funky Bitch at every show until they retire and it would never get old for me, excellent ending sequence from then through Possum!

Second Set: Very exploratory Chalk Dust, as has lately been the norm. I enjoyed it live, but will definitely need to revisit this one. Twist is another of my favorites that was played quite well last night, Fishman delivered some excellent groundwork for the jam in this one. The rest of the second set after a standard Wedge was excellent, Tweezer and Sand were both dance party favorites in my section, though there was still quite a bit of up and down tempo apparent by the crowd reaction. I will say the Mikes was brilliant all throughout, a fantastic Sally sandwich with vocal jam followed by a beautiful , flub free Weekapaug from my new vantage point Fishman side about 10 rows back. Ripping encore with an electric Tweeprise.

All in all, a great time had by all with some highlights in the latter half of the second set. Can't agree with the 97 hyperbole, but it's about as much fun as you can have at a concert these days, with a great crowd at Dicks all weekend to mingle with.

That Mike's was killer!!! I thought they were going to "Bring in the Dude" for a minute. The whole 2nd set was amazing. I was a little ehhhhhh when Trey went into Joy but that tune always gets me with the chorus at the end. 1st set was great as well. Lots of "W" tunes.

Hey Kids! I've been getting down with the boys since Nectars in '87 and saw no more Dead shows after Brent died in '89 cause I had a shiny new toy. I try as hard as I can to remain unjaded and uncritical, but lets be honest , not every show can be transcendent . I was having my episodic/periodic "Phish doubt", after Chicago, (note to Phish, please go elsewhere nearby next year like Alpine or Deer Creek, cause Chi town has not been kind to you the last two years) which had been lifted slightly by some fire in the southern leg. I was jonesin' hard for some serious Phish funk. Friday night at Dick's, Page came outta the gate playing faster and funkier than at any time this year and led to the best Simple of 3.0. The whole weekend was deeply fulfilling but the clincher was Sunday Night Second Set. I am currently, joyfully listening to it for the 15th time! Boys and Girls , I'm happy to report to you that my favorite band does not SUCK ! My batteries are fully charged! The smile plastered on my face from getting down so hard , so fully,for so long Sunday night will warm the hearts of all those I come into contact with for months to come. AND WE STILL HAVE VEGAS BABY!

After giving this show a few more listens, I figured it'd be time to drop a review.

Sunday night at Dick's was without argument one of the best front to back shows of the summer.

Set I: Let the games begin

An atypical Curtain With got the evening going and set the tone for what would be a serious affair. Followed was an extended, funked out Wombat that got the crowd shaking and dancing. Great set flow through ASIHTOS, which featured some nice jamming. Then came Wolfman's. While type I, Phish brought the F-U-N-K in this version: a fantastic first set highlight. From there the set closed out with a couple of well played Fuego tracks, a rare (as of this summer) Funky Bitch, a short but sweet late set Tube, and a raging Possum. All around this was a very well played first set, riddled with highlights and very smooth flow.

Set II: Business Time

As the final set of Dick's was ready to commence, the opening riff of chalkdust penetrated the cool Colorado air. This Chalkdust did not disappoint as being yet another improvisational launchpad. While the band never latched onto any particular theme, they quickly moved from idea to idea exploring many different textures in the process. A standard Twist and obligtory Wedge (Great Divide... duh) came after CDT, follwed then by a largely expected Tweezer. This Tweezer was not anything crazy but it definitely got the crowd dancing with some great funky rhythmic playing. A great segue into a perfectly placed Sand followed. Much like the first set Wolfman's, Sand brought the dance party funk to Commerce City. From the funk the melodic band members moved to some storage style jamming all while Fishman keeps the pushing the Sand beat forward to ultimately melt the song into a very well received Piper. While short, Piper featured some cool ambient jamming towards the end featuring a cool "What's the Use?" tease from Trey. This ultimately fizzled out into a standard, awkward but pleasant version of Joy.

Most though now that we were riding out the set to the close of a steller weekend. Very few were prepared for what was to come. Enter Mike's Song, a track that has been largely played the same way for the entirety of 3.0. As soon as the jam segment dropped, Fishman began beating on the cowbell. And from there the band used this as the signal to, once again, bring out the funk. The crowd energy was off the charts as everyone was estatic to hear a funked out Mike's. Sneaking Sally kept the energy going through Sally, and ended the set on a high note with a raging Weekapaug. Standard, expected encore followed suit, but it did not matter. Phish had successfully F***ed everyone's faces with the Set.

Now onto fall 14...

One of the most mind blowing and beautiful experiences of my life! Thank the phish from vt and everyone who participated in this incredible moment of creation. We love you! Do yourself a favor and give it a listen. The sand has to be one of the best of the 3.0 era. Mike-sally-groove was pure bliss.

One of the most mind blowing and beautiful experiences of my life! Thank the phish from vt and everyone who participated in this incredible moment of creation. We love you! Do yourself a favor and give it a listen. The sand has to be one of the best of the 3.0 era. Mike-sally-groove was pure bliss.

Great setlist all around, if perhaps a little songworthy. We get big jams in The Curtain With, Wolfman's, Chalkdust, and Tweezer -> Sand > Piper (the Sandpiper, if you will, for all you ornithologists out there, or just phans of the band Finch led by lead singer Troy Anastasio), though. The Chalkdust is my favorite jam of the night. It has a distinctive 3.0 flavor, if I do say so myself, in that it's more textural than it is "shreddy," and that's great! We still get to hear "shredding" from time to time. I like noticing that Joy was properly segued into; it makes me wonder if that has happened before, or since. Mike's Groove to close the second set is a great song(s) choice, IMO, and one that I would like to see more often, since Phish doesn't seem to want to put Mike's Groove in the second-set opening slot recently. I rated this show a 3/5, which just means "average-great," but if I had to rank Dick's 2014, I'd go 8/29 > 8/31 > 8/30... in other words, this is my second-favorite show of the run, and one of my favorite shows of the year. It was a very good year.

love diCK5” CO-flag motif painting to Chris Kuroda. We caught his attention after set break started and when he realized what IT said his eyes lit up with Joy!
Walking back towards the front I felt high on life.
Before I knew IT the boys were on stage again and belting out Chalk Dust Torture. This version wasn't quite the dust-storm we saw @ DICK'S exactly two years earlier, but like K.D.F., C.D.T. Has made an appearance all 4 years. C.D.T. segued into Twist and moving all around Twist's end result was The Wedge. I was lucky enough to witness this summer's Northerly-Wedge and while this one didn't rival Chicago's wedgendary status IT was placed perfectly before the 4th annual appearances of Tweezer and Sand. Tweezer is a temptation Trey finds hard to resist and this is became evident as the jam seized the day and stepped back into Sand. Sand drifted into a spacey Piper who made her 4th consecutive Sunday appearance at DICK'S. Piper came and went as fast a microburst, but before the sound of the storm was over we had new words to sail upon. Joy rose up and would be gone before too long; however, Steve Allen made the bold call of a “raging 2nd set Joy” and rewarded with a ground-scored Troy Pistachio coozie.
A momentary pause in this otherwise continuous jamming set was the spilt-second break needed for what many fans are calling the best Mike's Song of the 3.0 era. Being that we were already treated to one of the best appearances of Simple on Friday, Sneaking Sally Through The Alley served as a great choice to sneak between Mike's and Weekapaug Groove. Sally included her usual vocal jam reminiscent of Aerosmith's Rag Doll. As the groove continued I couldn't help but feel that we were all sharing in the culmination of 4 years of magic.
IT was obvious the boys were feeling the magic too as they took the stage for the last time and the beautiful buzz lasted a few more minutes with Loving Cup. Loving Cup was certainly not fumbled as the boys stumbled back into the freezer one more time to close out the weekend with Tweezer Reprise. I got my “S” show in '11 and although they didn't play a Friday “W” show like I predicted the Sunday night spectacular was really what I was waiting for...
The FYF show is probably my favorite show I've attended, but 8/31/14 has now become my most sentimental show. Maybe I imagined IT, but the lights never looked better than they did that 2nd set. Phish's decision to return to DICK'S every Labor Day weekend hows how important this run has become to their career and ranks up there w/ New Year's Eve and Halloween as the most sacred days on the calendar. The only thing left to say is FOUR MORE YEARS...at the very least!

This was the show that pushed me over the edge to see phish as much as I financially could as I was previously spending most of my show money on Dead related projects. Curtain with opener was bliss being huge Colorado 88 fan. The second set really sent me flying, especially with the sand>piper. I was also super impressed with Mike’s bass slap in weekapaug. Decided I would have to do every dicks three night run and travel states to get my fix from there on out.

What an amazing night. I got to take my little brother to this show, who hadn't seen Phish since Fall 98. About three years ago I made him a CD of Phish covers, and he instantly fell in love with their rendition of Bold as love from 92 St. Michaels. That night we joked about how awesome it would be if they played it, but we chuckled and said it would never happen.

When the opening notes were played, my brother and I shared a moment that neither of us will ever forget. I have been seeing the band since 95 and least a couple times a year, and I put this moment near the top of my Phish experiences. Musically, set 2 was a non-stop musical journey of epic proportions. That night, I couldn't believe I was witnessing some of the greatest music I had seen Phish play 30 years later.

Having moved to CO the week of the “S” show has proven to me countless times that IT was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Phish's decision to return to Commerce City annually has proven to be one of the best career moves they have ever made. Sunday night at DICK'S started off going south, but in our community this means something else. From the opening licks of The Curtain With the boys were sending a message; in a sense regretting nothing and rewarding us with this treasure. After 13 minutes of pure bliss the boys left behind The Curtain With a broken leg, and bringing it forward Wombat emerged as the song we had to have. Listen for Fish's vocals as they are hilariously high-pitched. For calling Wombat I was rewarded with a ground-scored Abe Vigoda mask.
With the blessed return of the boy's in '09 who knew 3 days would turn into 5 years? Phish is arguably at the top of their game and next came a staple of the 3.0 era. Kill Devil Falls rarely deviates from standard form as this proved to be the case with the next two songs as well. We went from bouncing off the walls to Bouncing Around The Room and Poor Heart. Both classics fit beautifully in this set before breaking way to the rising tide of A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing. This venture into the sea proved to be powerful & punctual, but rather unambitious clocking in at 2 seconds quicker than her maiden voyage on Undermind.
Having safely reached landfall, Leo and Cactus serenaded us sweetly with Lawn Boy. Being in a soccer stadium and standing on a floor rather than grass feels strange. Having said that we could still smell the moist green organic as IT became time for another visit from The Wolfman's Brother. The smooth atonal sounds came down on us and absolutely crushed IT! This ship had not come aground as we sailed into the song I was waiting all weekend to hear. The ethereal Waiting All Night has drawn mixed reviews; however, I hope this song sails on the rotation.
Following in this trend of “W” songs The Winterqueen filled the space and resounded around the stadium with her song. This song is about wishing you were someone, something or somewhere else rather than accepting the beauty that lies within. When a new song enters the mix sometimes we dismiss IT and long for the classics and the comforts. Well, The Winterqueen's reign is far from over and following her came a visit from her older sister. Funky Bitch delivered as always as the boys sandwiched in a rippin' Tube between her and a set closing Possum. Phish must have known that my buddy T.J. Missed Friday night's first set and saved him an awesome Possum.
Knowing this would be the set-closer Amy and I made our way back to the sound/lighting board and to deliver a glow-in-the-dark “we all

Having moved to CO the week of the “S” show has proven to me countless times that IT was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Phish's decision to return to Commerce City annually has proven to be one of the best career moves they have ever made. Sunday night at DICK'S started off going south, but in our community this means something else. From the opening licks of The Curtain With the boys were sending a message; in a sense regretting nothing and rewarding us with this treasure. After 13 minutes of pure bliss the boys left behind The Curtain With a broken leg, and bringing it forward Wombat emerged as the song we had to have. Listen for Fish's vocals as they are hilariously high-pitched. For calling Wombat I was rewarded with a ground-scored Abe Vigoda mask.
With the blessed return of the boy's in '09 who knew 3 days would turn into 5 years? Phish is arguably at the top of their game and next came a staple of the 3.0 era. Kill Devil Falls rarely deviates from standard form as this proved to be the case with the next two songs as well. We went from bouncing off the walls to Bouncing Around The Room and Poor Heart. Both classics fit beautifully in this set before breaking way to the rising tide of A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing. This venture into the sea proved to be powerful & punctual, but rather unambitious clocking in at 2 seconds quicker than her maiden voyage on Undermind.
Having safely reached landfall, Leo and Cactus serenaded us sweetly with Lawn Boy. Being in a soccer stadium and standing on a floor rather than grass feels strange. Having said that we could still smell the moist green organic as IT became time for another visit from The Wolfman's Brother. The smooth atonal sounds came down on us and absolutely crushed IT! This ship had not come aground as we sailed into the song I was waiting all weekend to hear. The ethereal Waiting All Night has drawn mixed reviews; however, I hope this song sails on the rotation.
Following in this trend of “W” songs The Winterqueen filled the space and resounded around the stadium with her song. This song is about wishing you were someone, something or somewhere else rather than accepting the beauty that lies within. When a new song enters the mix sometimes we dismiss IT and long for the classics and the comforts. Well, The Winterqueen's reign is far from over and following her came a visit from her older sister. Funky Bitch delivered as always as the boys sandwiched in a rippin' Tube between her and a set closing Possum. Phish must have known that my buddy T.J. Missed Friday night's first set and saved him an awesome Possum.
Knowing this would be the set-closer Amy and I made our way back to the sound/lighting board and to deliver a glow-in-the-dark “we all