First set was so nice. Party Time opener was fire, could see they were jazzed to be playing and having fun. I was right up front could see Trey was especially animated through set one. It might be the best first set all tour. The Gin jam was super tight, always a treat to hear Strange Design, and when Trey's string broke during Cities it created a neat moment with the crowd that led into a really experimental and delightful Cities jam. Was cool and hilarious to see the acapella Space Oddity. For real, best first set all tour so far.

Set two was two separate parts. Before the sound went out and after. Before it went, Ghost had a tight, exciting, danceable jam, which IMO was killer. Then came Light which went type 2, was probably the jam of the night. It's almost 20 minutes long. It's great you should check it out. It was inspired and even got a little dark and murky, which to me are the hallmarks of a great Phish jammy.

When the sound went out during Wolfman's and the band gave up playing their muted instruments, they all left the stage for about five/ten minutes. Side note: the crowd really could have just been super quiet and listened to the unmic'd jam they were playing, but the Mansfield crowd seemed a little drunk for that level of attention, I digress about the crowd.

When they came back the speakers in the amphitheater were noticeably shot. Even from right in front of the stage Trey's guitar and all of the vocals were way off. The five minute Chalkdust seemed like they just stayed on course with what they had planned or whatever. No mention of the sound crapping the bed or antic to make it up to everyone. I've seen some funny Fishman moments at Great Woods so I thought they might have done something funny after that but they didn't and that's cool, I'm not mad or disappointed about it.

Probably the most jammy jams in one show all tour so far, def give that Gin, Cities, Ghost, and Light a try if you love jammy jams.

Gave this show 4/5 was a fun, unique evening full of energy and jammys.

Bathtub Gin!!!!!!! Holy crap, that ending!!! SPEEDING UP!!!! getting crazy!!!! I hope this jam was a personal breakthrough for them in really letting go and opening themselves up to the possibilities beyond maintaining the status quo of how you usually play a song.

Also, Ghost and Light are terrific. Fast Enough For You might be the best-played version of 3.0 as well. No sour notes at all from Trey whatsoever during the solo, which was totally surprising. I need a 2nd listen to confirm that, but my memory from the first listen was that it was perfect. So crazy.

Ahhh my keyboard quivers as I take my oh no that's my phone vibrating. New tinder match! The line is not such a bad after all. As I waited in the linee of ten cars god that sucked to park I knew weed be in for a real caramel! Everything was hengeing on one thing, weather Trey puts milk in his coffe or no. Every dedicated fan knows this decides but still was pretty sure hed go with black ie gamehendge . But the whole suspense of the matter was the live feed of Trey's morning coffe on the TMC app was interrupted by a CIA drone and so who knew??? What gnome of us could have seen coming, the ultimate toe keeper upper oner tourer... was the milk. And so, for the first time in like 5 years or some shit it was time... to play the famous muffliato!!!! What a treat! A muffliato show hasn't been played in for ever since 97 and this was the even more (never played since 88) rare donut muffliato in which the core muffliato jams off backwards down the number line and waiting all night you said I'm said I'm waiting all night you said I'm sorry are removed for later. And so exited to get to the lot. Every real fan knows that after a muffliato what is done is the fans go to their cars and play dizzy bat while very loudly from their cars playing Charles Dickens audiobooks and setting off small fireworks behind the batter as he tees up. This is why all muffliato shows end exitingly early, for that part. Wow. To have witnessed the muffliato. I'm going to need to stick my head in a lake.

This show was AWESOME. Phish was on fire the whole night. Forget about the PA cutting out and you got yourself a wonderful evening of Phish.

1st set - One of the best modern Phish sets I've seen. Amazing song selection, an early Gin jam, my favorite Phish ballads (FEFY and Strange Design), some excellent exploration in Fuego and Cities, and another a capella Space Oddity!

Cities was SO good. The funk hose was on full blast and the crowd was lovin' it.

2nd set - Holy crap. Ghost > Light > Wolfman's. Can't get much stronger than that. Not to mention Ghost and Light takes up the first half hour of the set. There are a LOT of great musical moments in both of these jams. Wolfman's was pretty tight, too. Once they solved the PA issue, CDT happened and turned out to be a nice quick little burner. I think most of us just wanted music to happen and didn't care much for what they chose to play.

Considering the flow was interrupted, I think the band handled things well. Slave felt really, really good and had a great peak. I stayed for most of the encore, but had already heard it at Wrigley so I wasn't super interested, haha.

All in all, a very solid show. First time at Great Woods = Great Success!

Best show of the tour thus far. Just past the half way point of the summer '16 tour and John, Ernest, Mike and Page have finally thrown down a classic replete with highlights to satisfy phans of all orientations.

Not only is this first set fun and well played, it also contains a fifteen minute jammed out Cities. Ya' know, the kind many of us are hoping for every time we here the familiar chord that starts this number.

This second set never lets up...well, except for the when the house sound goes out, but let us not dwell on that. The Ghost>Light>Wolfman's is all goodness. The tasty Ghost with the growly Trey tone quickly gives the impression that this set will not disappoint. The nearly twenty minute Light is a classic jam. It feels good to hear the Wolfman's in the second set.

Then, during the vocal jam, the sound goes out. It is nothing short of a complete train wreck smack dab in the middle of the most interesting set of tour. The funny thing is that, after ten minutes or so, the band was somehow able to reconstruct the train, put it back on the tracks and make us all forget that it ever happened. The rest of the show is fun and energetic including the annual weirdness that is Saw it Again. The Slave is lovely. The Walrus works perfectly in the encore slot.

This show has great flow and tight playing throughout. The odd setlist issues are nowhere to be found on this night. Once again phanaticism is vindicated.

While listening to the Wolfman's jam via the LivePhish app on the way home, previously inaudible in the venue due to the PA issues, the nonsequential timeline brought to mind...

Phish: Season 33, Episode 11 - "Great Woods"
Directed by Quentin Tarantino

And unsurprisingly, that episode was quite an entertaining work of art. Two thumbs up.

The only word to define this show is baffling. Not only did the venue explode, but the music was from another dimension... this was an incomplete show, and I'm still saying that. In my experience, when the PA system failed, everything we heard thereafter was normal Phish... normal sound quality. Cities, Ghost and Light were next-level; they embody everything I seek in live music. I was hearing sounds that I've never heard before. Page and Trey were straight up making love to each other during Light. This tour has given me a recurring feeling that I haven't seen the band in 20 years; 2016 is the most impressive Phish, collectively as a band, I've heard.

THERE THEY ARE!!

I was worried - especially after Portland, but alas.... it just took them a little longer than usual in the tour to get totally hooked up, in synch, and start goofing off and improvising. PHEW!

LOVED this show.

Cities shenanigans in the first set?! Yes, please. And I loved that Trey introduced his tech. That was very cool.

Second set Ghost & Light are perfect examples of what keeps me coming back to shows after all these years. Those jams where they just take you on a journey... to the point where you actually forget where you started. That ever happen to you? You know.... you're smiling, lost in a jam, hooked right up with them, and it literally takes you a little while to recall "...what song did this jam originate from? Oh yeah.... Light." I love it when that happens.

And I myself personally love the fun Trey is having with his Echoplex delay lately. When he fires it up and they all just fall in with it and jam on it.... tasty. (this Light and Mann 2015 Cities are noteworthy examples)

Then when the FOH (Front Of House - aka the "P. A." sound system) shit the bed, they even had fun with that and handled it with a smile.

And this was my first Walrus - and I loved it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this show. Can't wait to download it and enjoy it all over again.

Peace and gratitude,
~Nigel

The weather was cool and cloudy for an evening at Great Woods - ideal for being in the mix with 20K other warm bodies. The lot scene kept people outside seemingly until the first notes rang out, with the crowd pouring in during the opening pieces...

Speaking of which, Party Time was an apt way to kick off this show. It felt raucous and tight, with everybody glad to be where they were at that moment. A nice segue into 46 Days and things were looking good. No new exploration in Days, but solid and a good follow to the opener.

I was joined by my young son at the show, so we had to take a bathroom break during Poor Heart. It sounded good from outside and definitely kept the energy level high.

The Dogs maintained the vibe - the straightahead riff kept everyone moving and was a new tune for me. Gin was a surprise and a bit of a personal litmus test for me to see what the night might hold. I was excited to hear some exploratory Type II jamming in the second half of this song, especially midway through the first set. Good portents. Pulling the jam back into the closing theme of the song was a bit abrupt and could have been extended, but I will definitely give this another listen.

FEFY was the first of two ballads in the first set, both of which felt right. Whereas slowing things down in some previous shows this summer seemed to drain the energy from the crowd, both of these seemed to provide a breather without losing anyone's attention. I can't help but wonder if the FEFY was a poke at those that have been questioning the pace of tunes this summer. Maybe so, likely not.

Sandwiched in between the ballads was an 8-minute HMPAY? took the simple rock progression to places that were new to me with this tune, though I'm not sure if another version has been extended like this. This led into Strange Design, which got everyone singing and hugging their neighbor.

Fuego felt about right in the next slot - though whether it was early trouble Trey's string, or other technical difficulties, the solo section was cut short with a look back to Fishman. The jam made up for the brevity of the solo section and seemed to stick to familiar territory.

The opening chords to Cities rang out and my wish for a flourishing end to this excellent first set was granted. I certainly didn't expect how the flourish might come about - Trey's broken string leading to an extended Marimba jam, an introduction of his tech and Mike on guitar.

Someone closer to the action can correct this - but it seemed that the band then took their bows and were heading off stage when Trey picked up a balloon that wandered up on stage. Whether or not said balloon included a request or any writing at all, I don't l know. But the boys quickly convened for a rendition of Space Oddity - which was well executed, fun and a real treat.

Set II

Ghost was the right opener and went dark right away, staying there mostly through its 12 minutes until seguing into the Light, which was definitely the jam of the night and moved through several themes before shifting into Wolfman's - which after 30 minutes of exploration felt like a solid place to come home to.

Midway through WB, the PA went out during the vocal jam. The boys tried to keep the flow going with Trey joining on the drums and Mike heading to the keys, but the crowd never got quiet enough for those beyond the front rows to pick up on what was going on onstage. I hope the recording picks up some of this.

After the brief break, CDT, BOTT and Slave did their level best to get back into the flow - though with the audio challenges noted, it never quite got back there. All solid versions, would have been great to see what would have happened without the PA issues.

Walrus capped an excellent night, with Trey seeming unwilling to stop building tension with the swirling octaves in the outro. All in all an excellent show - even with technical difficulties.

Set 1 is definitely worth a listen, and Ghost > Light as well. Looking forward to Hartford!

Things got off to a fun start but earlier than expected. We came in during the middle/end of Party time. Followed by a rockin, short version of 46 Days. All good by me! Another short tune, Poor Heart so obviously the anticipation was mounting. With the cue of the "woman" track, I immediately thought it was Martian Monster but delighted that The Dogs were out tonight. My buddy Ethan hadn't heard the song at all so we were both siked to get some fresh tunes. Then Bathtub, always a favorite of mine. I must have said this a hundred times but during the jam, Fishman was pushing the tempo to try to bring some life into the set. Pushing the pulse helped to get the crowd going for sure. FEFY started and we weren't sure if this was actually happening. A pretty rare tune now, right? Love the lyrics, great feel, although they didn't bring the studio style energy that is my point of reference FEFY. Still good to hear them digging deeper. How Many People brought the intensity up a notch with a droney, ripping jam section and vocal teases by Mike (somebody said Beatles maybe?). Going to listen now.....Strange Design...just hit me in the heart and reminded me that I should relax amidst a busy time. Not a perfect version by any stretch but doesn't need to be. Then...rollin' in the Fuego!! Rockin and as you guys know, the crowd goes nuts for the "OOOH" part.

So Cities is where things started to getting strange. Trey broke a string right after they started I think. Guitar goes way out of tune, he calls for the tech to come out. Brian hands him the other guitar while he's still singing the song. The broken string got caught on Trey's shirt and he tries to rip it off which lead a to clumsy transaction. The crowd freaks out and he take the opportunity to introduce Brian and make it fun. Then Cities gets downright funky into a synthy space jam where Trey ran to the Marimba. Swells everywhere as Mike goes to the guitar but he can't figure out how to turn it on. Haha!! Brian comes back out and gives Mike a somewhat lengthy tutorial. Then more space funk to the max! As the tune comes to an end, the crowd is going bonkers at this point. Then Space Oddity to end. Freakin' sweet. I'm honored to have seen that song live.

Second set, as they started Ghost I was returning from a beer run/pee break. Listened from the concessions as they do the classic awkward Ghost break haha. Will they ever get that right? Doesn't matter though. The jam was awesome and segued into Light well. the Light jam had some really high points and almost a Foam-esque beat to it. I thought for sure Mike would start slapping the Foam line to start the song. Also, a "Tahoe Tweezer" cheer section happened which I didn't pick up on right away since I've only heard that version once or twice. Anyhow, top notch and was the most solid jamming of the show I think.

As Wolfman's started people were loving it!! when they get to the funk section, I'm not sure exactly when but out goes the PA. Of course, I picked up on it quickly and alerted my friends to make sure I wasn't crazy. I could hear Fishman pretty well with Trey playing along side him because we were in the pavillion but not much else. Apparently the Lawn sound never returned for the rest of the show. Mike was playing keys with Page too but it was barely audible. When you listen to the recording, it's a very sick keys/drum jam and they are really connecting. You can't tell that the sound cut out. I saw Trey talk to someone in the front row briefly and their instruments weren't coming out of the PA so they quietly left, with all of us puzzled. Was it a "Ghost" in the machine?

They come back out with Chalkdust but kept it brief while the sound engineers are troubleshooting. The sound never came back to the original settings because they probably lost a few Line Array speakers. From what I remember, I think Mikes' bass was way quieter and surprisingly more focused than the sub-by bass woof in the pavilion. Vocals also seemed down in the mix or something. Then a quick Saw it Again and Back on the Train too. Fun but lacked the same energy due to the sound issues. As they started Slave, I was pumped!! Love that song and a great way to wrap up the set.

Encored with I Am the Walrus. Not rock solid however I love the lyrics and enjoy that one. At the end, everyone expected a big encore because of the weird sound issues plaguing the night. A bow from the band, house lights come on, and cue house music. Goodnight folks!

This was one of the best Phish shows I have been to. It was my wife's first show and she is hooked! A lot of great jams in the first set. Some that stick out are "Bathtub Gin", "Fuego" and "Cities". Everything was going great in the second set until Phish got too funky and broke Mansfield. Nonetheless, the boys bounced back and finished strong.

Worst venue I have ever been to. I follow phish around the country and I was beyond dissatisfied with Xfinity in Mansfield. The staff was rude and we sat in the parking lot for THREE HOURS after the show. I drove 4 hours to reach the venue, the show was short because of the ridiculous curfew, then I sat in the parking lot for 3 hours before I drove 4 hours home. I will never visit Xfinity again.

The actual show was amazing as always.

This was a very strong show in my opinion. First set had some great energy between Gin and Cities. I'm always up for 46 Days and was happy to hear my first FEFY and Strange Design.

Second set started great, but that PA meltdown and subpar sound when they came back on stage really dampened the second half of the second set. From what I could hear on the lawn, the CDT, BOTT and Slave sounded like good versions, so I look forward to hearing when the CD's arrive. Regardless of how the plans "should be", it's not our fault (i.e. the audience) the PA went to sh-t, so it's difficult to get 19,000+ people to be quiet. I really like the Walrus encore.

I must say I hoped for a bit more rock/energy after the PA problems. Kind of hoped they would kill it to end, and definitely thought we'd have a second song encore as a small "thanks for understanding about the sound problems."

I was mildly surprised there was no nod to the 22nd anniversary of the Gamehendge experience from 1994 at Great Woods (including the Stash that made its way to A Live One). Seemed like something the band might acknowledge musically.

A solid 4/5 from me. I look forward to the next show. Cheers!

For me, way out on the lawn, "Wolfman's" essentially ended on a 'Shirley Temple. ' And that felt special enough. I wasn't even upset when CDT was at like 30% volume when they came back on.

I wished the people near me "Better Luck Next Time" and went and raged lot till I came down off my doses.

Listening to it tonight again, I kinda wished I crashed the pit for that Walrus encore. But oh welsies. The Ghost->Light is some of the best Type II up to this point of Summer 16. And my theory on "Light" was that the intensity of its jam came from Page battling Trey for control of the jam after deciding he'd lead the whole tune from keys after Trey flubed lyrics early. That's how it unfolds for me anyway. They are both firing at 888% the whole 18 min rendition of the song. It's no wonder the PA blew.

(No but really I feel the marimba blew it from how far they pushed the sound system during "Cities")

K. Hope I didn't post this already.

Crunk posting.

Loving Phish.

A Friday night with Phish in my home state. This has not happened since 10/25/13, which was only my 2nd show. I went with my cousin, who's first show was at the Boston Garden in '92. We got in during the shredding Dogs. What a great way to get us going with Gin. FEFY, Strange Design both absolutely beautiful. Cities, wow what a jam. Jazzy, layered, colorful. Cool end to the set with Space Oddity. They came back with Ghost and I knew we were getting down this set. Fast tempo exploratory jam that led us into Light. It going right away with really dynamic full band interplay. You could tell they wanted to let this fully develop, and they certainly did. Inspired lines from Trey throughout kept it going. I remember just getting lost in the music, much like what happened numerous times at Magnaball last summer. Everyone around me too. I have no words to describe the PA issues other than to say it was a debacle and had that not happened, this show would have turned out different. The soundboard recording of Wolfman's shows a unique groove developing between Page and Mike, both on keys. We couldn't hear it at the time, but I remember seeing Mike over on Page side. The rest of the set was pretty good, but it no doubt was rushed, unfortunately. Slave was really good to close, and Walrus was the perfect encore. All in all I thought this was a pretty great show, for me anyway

Had a couple pavilion seats for this show, but hung out on the lawn with some other friends when my original show partner bailed. No matter, parked in the $50 (!) parking lot so we could get out of there in a reasonable amount of time....I've learned my lesson after a dozen or so shows at the venue over the years. To prepare, I listened back at the 7/12/99 show I attended at the same place 17 years prior for a random point of comparison/trip down memory lane.

Unfortunately, this venue has gone way downhill since '99. From the $50 parking lot to the $15.75 (!!) beers, its absurd from a purely financial standpoint. Cops on patrol swarm the lots and force people to dump out beers, bathrooms/concessions were poor, and the sound was absolutely abysmal from the lawn after the Wolfman's PA debacle. Unacceptable in this day and age for a venue to make millions off every show only to provide an inferior product to almost every amphitheater around the country. Some may call it sour grapes, but a band like Phish deserves better, and places like the Centrum (or whatever Telecomm its named after these days) provide it in spades.

In terms of the music, I thought the first set was pretty strong all around. Highlights included an early Gin (love the placement) and a jazzy Cities that was the show highlight for me. After a long wait for the bathroom during setbreak, I heard the latter half of Ghost and Light, and they were both excellent. From Wolfman's onward, I felt like I was listening to Phish through my iPod headphones, a muted experience to say the least. I ran down to the Pavilion for Walrus, and it was solid.

On balance, if my last Phish show at Great Woods in '99 was a 4, this one was a 3.5. Onward and upward, but please skip the Xfinity next time boys, you deserve better.

This was a good show, but not a great one. The sound seemed off the whole night, even before Wolfman's. Somewhere between Light and Wolfman's there was a really funky jam going on, and then when they came back out, the rest of the set seemed rushed and not as fluid. I was extremely happy to hear Fast Enough for You and Strange Design, but overall I feel like Phish is getting lazy again with their setlists. The majority of the songs they played had already been played on tour, and with the catalogue they have to choose from, I feel they could have mixed in a few more they haven't played yet. And although the Space Oddity was awesome, that too takes away from the specialness of when they first played it a couple of weeks ago. It should have been played once as a fine tribute and then shelved. I'm not sure if Phish has ever played the same accapella song more than once on the same tour before.