This review is solely dedicated to the DWD jam. This jam was like a velociraptor, in the way that it’s a misunderstood creature; beneath the raging desire to dismember people and eat them, lays a gentle predator who just wants to cuddle. As the melody progressed, it became an arsenal of sugary, satiating tunes uprooted from the Gamhendge forest. I was lifted from the dungeons of heat and worry and torment, and landed in the warm afterglow of Christmas ornaments.

Trey was determined to steamroll the crowd with majestic rhythm; he was Genghis Khan meets a hemorrhoid, but in a good way. The heights he reached could only be met if you were riding bareback on a Pegasus that was strapped to an intercontinental ballistic missile traveling at a maximum speed of Mach 8 and you refused to pull back the reins. He captured the essence of ocean waves crashing upon my squishy, glowing butt cheeks during an idyllic sunrise.

Maybe it was just adrenaline and endorphins and serotonin flooding my brain, but it felt like I was drinking malt liquor with a panda bear surrounded by a squadron of beautiful vaginas. What began as a burlap sack filled with inbred baked potatoes more fitted to be a host for alien parasites, metastasized into a gigantic fireball of awesome. With this jam, Phish had slayed the Kraken.

I'm going to start off by saying that this blew last night the hell out of the water. Unlike the Chicago shows and the shows I went to, I had a clear head for this one, and man, I'm still pondering if I hallucinated some of it.

Set 1 highlights are Curtain With, Maze, and the new Say Something (which had a cool Stevie Wonder-esc feel to it). After Midnight was of course in honour of the late JJ Cale, may he rest in peace.

Now the 2nd set, it's something completely different. It starts with a DWD which, well, just was out of this earth. It then makes a sweet segue into Undermind. Undermind goes into a weird almost late 80's Grateful Dead style space-y jam for a minute or a few, and then hit Light.

Light was great, but short. It made a great segue into Sneakin' Sally. This Sally was something special. I'm willing to throw my hat in the ring and say it's the best I've heard since 12/30/1997. It then hits 2001, which includes a tease of some song which I didn't remember the name of, and was quite funky.

Then, Walls of the Cave lets Trey show off his guitar skills, he plays really fast for a few seconds. Fluffhead was Fluffy, and Antelope was great.

As for encores, I'm pretty sure Show of Life is the same as always, and GTBT will always rock.

Also, during the setbreak, the webcast had this little bunch of jokes it scrolled through, which were most likely written by Mike. They were damn funny.

5/5, a contender for my new favourite 3.0 show.

The second set here is as high-class as the one last night, and another fine example of how Phish has been putting together their second sets to devastating effect. DWD has a really strong Type I jam out of the gates (they've been killing their Type I jams recently, haven't they?) that gets mellow and lovely; it's a full band effort here, Mike's deeper lines and Fish's rat-a-tat work and Page on the organ and Trey cranking some wah-wah licks. Undermind segues very naturally out of this, and it's a great version; starting with a nod to one of the sequences from the Dick's Undermind, it instead stays in the same mellow zone as the end of DWD, then shifts to a deliberately off-key minor-chord jam, then (surprisingly) goes dark and ambient, like something out of the late 90s or 2.0, as feedback and buzzing synth bombs dominate. It's very much the opposite of the bright and powerful Dick's version, and just as good in its own way.

Light comes rolling out of the muck, and listening live I was braced for another monster version, but this time Phish had something different in mind. This Light serves almost as a transition jam, briefly stepping out before returning to a reprise of the main theme and then nicely transitioning into Sneakin' Sally. And this Sally is *filthy*, bringing some dirty funk (with a very blatant Guy Forget tease) before opening up and spraying the hose like the beloved 7/6/12 version, and then (just as surprisingly as Undermind) winding down into eerie space, which gets very familiar...

...and (like the eerie space moments of the late 90s) explodes into a perfectly placed 2001, which has become a go-to way to blow off steam after big jam sequences. This is another funky version with the same Flashlight tease as Alpharetta 2, and it's a great way to close another fantastic suite of music. Walls of the Cave is darn good as well, and actually transitions into a surprisingly cool little groove that winds down into Fluffhead; I'd have liked to hear that groove further examined, but hey, who am I to complain about Fluffhead? Fluffhead and Antelope make a killer end to a killer set, and the two encore songs are gravy on top.

I don't think the first set's as strong as last night (it feels somewhat scatter-brained, although it's hard not to like getting a Curtain With, Mike's new song is quite good and has a definite 70s feel, and After Midnight is red hot), but the deep improv in the second set renders that a moot point. This is the best possible way to end a great two-night stand.

Honestly, in my opinion, this two night run sums up everything I absolutely love about my favorite band. I originally said that night one was my favorite of the tour and then night two came along. If you haven't listened to the second set of this show, do yourself a favor and drop everything and give yourself an hour and some change and do so immediately. The DWD's type I insanity is out of this world. The entire band is so incredibly on (Page...). This might be my favorite Sally of 3.0. As I said, do yourself a favor and give this insanity a listen.

This show is truly where ITs at.

HELP!!! I was listening to this show today and came across something....

Go to 50:09 maybe a little before..... Right in the middle of this most epcot 2001 jam there is a very interesting riff that Mike lays first and then at 50:18 the whole band goes into the riff together... THEN at 50:35 Trey plays it for sure..... Listen and tell me you don't recognize the riff utilized for Martian Monster.... It's undeniable and I want to know more. HELP!

Might as well put the TL;DR up top – This show is by all means worth the listen. It’s definitely in the realm of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” and the parts are pretty damn good.

Here’s the unabridged version:

If you’re looking at this setlist and thinking “I wonder if this is as good as it looks,” rest assured that it is. The second set is where this show certainly shines (and that’s where I’ll focus my review), but there are plenty of highlights in the first set as well. Don’t skip over Curtain (WITH!), a nicely peaked Maze, the debut of Say Something, and the After Midnight homage to JJ Cale. The first set is otherwise pretty standard fare for 3.0.

The show really breaks loose with magnificant flow in set two. Don’t worry that it starts with a flub from Mike in the intro to Down With Disease. That will quickly be forgotten when the song gets underway. The jam stays firmly in Type I territory until about the 8:30 mark (all of my timestamps are my best guess using the livephish app). The band takes about a minute and a half to settle things down, finally dropping into some smooth interplay between Page on his Rhodes and Trey on his wah. Fish just kills it through this entire section, utilizing every inch of his kit. At about 13:00, Mike and Fish lock into a jumpy groove that sets the stage for a really slick segue into Undermind.

When the first jam section starts up in Undermind, it’s like a continuation of the DwD jam. It has the same kind of feel and tone, but Mike holds down that distinct Underline bassline. The second jam starts off again revisiting that same DwD jam idea, but Mike starts taking over with some wet filtered bass riffs at 6:30-ish. Within another minute or so, Trey takes the reigns with some slow melodic lines before they head back into a rhythm based jam with some nice dissonant guitar riffs thrown in for good measure. At about 10:45, they drop into ambience, Mike jumps all over his Taurus, Fish moves to his Marimba Lumina, Trey lets the feedback sing, and Page lays down a dark pad for everything to lay on. This ambience allows Phish to make one of the most smooth transitions into Light that we’ve seen to date. The opening chords to Light are jarring, so having them start up out of ambience is much easier on the ears than the others that I’ve heard.

Light being the 3.0 jam vehicle that it is, I was really happy to hear those chords kick in after that DwD->Undermind sequence. Light starts to sound like it isn’t going to disappoint from a jam standpoint, with Trey leading the liftoff at around the 6 minute mark. The band fairly quickly pulls back, sounding like they’re about to revisit the Light theme. BUT NO! That’s just the intro to Sally sneaking in. This Light has to be one of the shortest versions in recent history, but the placement and segue into Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley makes it totally worth it in my opinion. It’s just the beginning of my personal highlight of the night: Light->Sally >2001.

Back to Sally… Page OWNS this song, driving the groove with his clav through the entire structured portion of the song. Right out of the vocal jam, Mike opens up the funk with some really nasty riffs through his envelope filter while Trey holds down the groove with some rhythmic wah-laden chords. They start to head towards plinko-funk territory, but they never quite get there, opting to settle things down for just a second at about 6:30. This is the first point that I hear Page indicate that he wants to take this jam into 2001. Before they can do that, however, Trey indicates that he’s ready to bring the heat and starts take this jam on a journey to a raging peak. They all know where they’re going into after the peak, so Mike and Page almost instantly settle in on the telltale drone intro of 2001, playing with the it just long enough to make you question whether or not they’re going to actually do it.

At this point, the setlist basically speaks for itself, but Phish drops one funky groove after another in this jam. This isn’t the tightest 2001 I’ve heard, and Mike flubs the last time around on the theme, but it just doesn’t matter. It’s all about the groove and flow right now… and we’ve been grooving and flowing for almost 50 minutes straight at this point.

After that opening sequence, EVERYONE needs a breather, but I’d be hard pressed to find many fans who expected Walls of the Cave to fill that role. This is just perfect placement. Take your breather quickly, because it’s about to rage again… real soon. I think this version is much cleaner than the [date]7/7/13[/date] version, particularly the harmonies. The jam is no slouch either, and it flirts with Type II territory at the end before opting for a transition into FLUFFHEAD!!!

Fluffhead isn’t perfect, but it’s very good overall, and we get a fun “Pillhead… Fluff Hen” lyric switch. Phish has everyone in the palm of their hands at this point in the set, and they aren’t showing any signs of slowing in the closing half of the set. I really don’t know how anyone at the venue was standing this deep into such a great flowing set.

Antelope closes it out. At worst, it’s just going to put a huge stamp on a really great setlist. At best, it will ensure that no one is left standing at the end of this set. In my opinion, it’s somewhere in between. I think they kind of missed the peak in this Antelope, but it certainly did its job in the set closer slot.

Show of Life is definitely not at the top of my list for encores, but I don’t feel like I have any room to complain after that set… Especially when they follow it up with a firey Good Times Bad Times.

This show is most certainly a highlight of 2013 at this point (and the year isn’t even close to being over yet!!!).

7/27/13 MVP, Page McConnell.

First set was just alright imo. After Midnight had to be the highlight without question. The second set was a whole different story. The boys came out with a nice Disease and then segued into one of the best jams of tour imo Undermind. Undermind is a must hear. After they segued beautifully into light I thought this set is going to go extremely deep. Light was good however it didn't go anywhere near as deep as we are accustomed too. Could of been stretched out just saying. sally though once again short provided some serious serious funk. 2001 also way too short imo was filthy nonetheless. Overalll the first set was ok but the second set contained some must hear material. Particularly DWD-->Undermind. The Gorge got slayed again by the Phish from Vermont. Just hope they push some of these tunes further as we move through the west coast run. It's a very good possibility because they seem to be moving in that direction. Can't wait till Tuesday!

I really had the feeling that Phish were playing to the LivePhish crowd. I'm sure people at The Gorge felt the band was connecting with them as well, but I felt as if they were at a live broadcast of a TV show like Conan. They were there, having a great time, but the real party was all of us viewers out in TV land.

Really, though, the best experience was at the Gorge. I don't doubt that, but watching this shit on my laptop was ecstacy once again.

I was laying on my couch at 2 am eating Chinese leftovers, ice cream, ...loved the look on Page's face as he sang Beauty of a Broken Heart. I don't normally watch Phish, I just listen, so seeing this dude's face as he sang really made a lot connect for me. His emotion greatly exceeds his ability to express it, and for that reason, you gotta see him perform. He seems so happy, humble, and a little stage shy.

It was as if I could see the bandmates practicing in living rooms in the 80's. All of that intimacy was still there on stage, and trey had this odd semi-childlike way of moving his body. Although he doesn't show it at every show, the dude is just as much of a freakshow as Prince.

Friday night was a late one for me, and I didn't have the same energy I did then. I was amazed that the guys were able to bring it so completely. Even though I wasn't absolutely tripping on what they were playing like I was back on Friday night, I was still as engaged with what I saw on my laptop as if I was bingewatching The Wire.

During the show, I realized that I'll be busy every night after Tuesday's show in NV. I may be able to catch Wednesday with a bit of luck, but I doubt it. Even though I've only seen one show in person this year, I feel like I've really toured with the band. This is the first tour I've been able to listen to every show, and I feel I understand so much more about how the band works. I also understand why they'd want to take August off after the CA shows until Dick's.

Jesus, playing night after night must be so exhausting. This winter, when they're not touring, I want to go back and see how long they've played good shows consecutively. Hitting it out of the park more than 3 nights in a row is a godlike feat. I feel like I've traveled with them, much as I've felt with home teams in sports I've watched night after night.

The band has sounded fresh every show this tour. They seem to be playing what they want, when they want. I imagine their off time surrounded by their kids and wives doing healthy things. They have truly embraced DadRock.

I had this feeling last night that seeing the Gorge shows was like seeing The Sex Pistols first bunch of shows in England. The legend goes that every person that saw a Pistols show went to form their own successful band. I felt like picking up a guitar for the first time in years---not to emulate the virtuosic musical stylings of Phish, but just to have fun with music---which is exactly what I saw them doing during Fluffhead.

Even though I've heard the song hundreds of times, it's never made as much sense to me as it did last night. The guys know the lyrics are beyond stupid, but they stick with them. Trey really does look like the kid from Midnight Kitchen performing for his mom. The lyrics are the way the band steps out of the supreme high clouds of perfection and interfaces with us mere mortals. I believe they are some of the greatest musicians alive, and despite their brilliance, the years of non-stop action movie quality rock, at the end is still old Fluffhead. It's quite sweet.

The second set was where it was at for this show. The first set honestly was just meh for me. Maybe because of the high expectations I had after Friday nights' phenomenal show where it seemed the band was just charged and playing with high energy and busting out some fairly uncommon songs and playing them extremely well. To follow that up with an Architect opener? I'm just like "Really"? Now, I'm not one of those TAB haters. In fact I love the Traveler album overall. But there is one song I began skipping after listening through that album a few times. Care to guess which one? If they want to play it, then they should play it, but as an opener? The crowd was pumped and ready to get grooving so it felt like all the air was let out of the tire when they started with such a lame song. Then the band would have to recover. "Golgi" was a nice start but it didn't quite do it for me. "The Curtain With", now we're talking.

The first set overall was up and down. "Kill Devil Falls" is just kind of a "meh" song for me though I never go to the bathroom during it either. "Moma Dance" is a Gorge standard (played 5 out of 6 Gorge runs since its debut), so I would have been dissapointed if they *didn't* play it. "Maze" is another Gorge standard and I thought they played it about as well as one could expect, though it's not one I personally get excited about anymore. Next, I would have preferred "Army of One" over "Beauty" for a Page song. Much like "Architect" on Trey's Traveler, "Beauty" is probably one of my least favorite songs from Page's album.

Though I miss the "Roses are Free"s of 98 and 99 that would go on for 30 plus minutes, I still enjoy this one and was glad to hear it. "Say Something" was a nice new Mike tune that I enjoyed and think has a lot of potential. It sounds so much like a 70s rock/funk song a la Little Feat I thought for certain it was a cover I wasn't familiar with. I love how Mike gets his vocal range up to "Emotional Rescue" levels at times. Which is another reason why I thought it must be a cover. I didn't think Mike wrote songs for himself that got that high. But I liked it, and hope the band start exploring its jam potential in the future.

Ocelot is another "meh" song for me, though I do have to say this was an above average version, and a nice set up for what was to me a shocking set closer, only because I had not heard the sad news of JJ Cale's passing. It was a really nice finish to an overall up and down, and at times disjointed first set.

Now the second set. I haven't listened to the Toronto version that everyone seems to be raving about, but this "Disease" was top notch in my opinion, doing what a good Disease jam should do, exploring all facets of Phish's jamming styles before melting nicely into the next tune, which in this case was a nice "Undermind". "Light" was unusually short, but you'll get no complaints from me as I was much happier to hear them segue into the funky opening notes to "Sneaking Sally". Now played at two of the three post-breakup Gorge runs, this funk monster did not let us down, as the crowd was collectively boogieing down harder than they had all night. Beautiful seague into a funky 2001. Has anyone identified the mystery jam? That's something isn't it? And I'm sure they've done that tease before haven't they? Anyway, i love it when the band finds a groove that they like and stick to it, as I've seen in versions of 2001 of the past.

"Walls of the Cave", a Gorge first, and I believe my personal first since Coventry (though granted I have only seen 12 shows post breakup). They were just on top of it during this song, and Trey's guitar solo was ripping. Next came another song that's starting to become a Gorge tradition since 2009,"Fluffhead", which was also beautifully played. Then the "Antelope" closer. This is just one of those songs I can't get sick of. Standard "Antelope"? Sure. But is that a bad thing? I thought a very nice ending to a smoking set.

Encore, not as unique or as long, or as rocking, as the first nights' Hood>Fire encore, but any time they want to prolong the show a little bit longer by playing a two song encore, even if it is with a song "Good Times Bad Times" I've seen as an encore probably a dozen times, I will not ever complain.

Thanks for coming back to the most beautiful venue in the country Phish. This time, could you not wait two years? Would love to see you there in 2014!

Fantastic show! The smoke from the fire in the distance was turning the moon crazy colors and really added to the experience. I promised myself that I would never miss another Gorge run again after that weekend. I hope that I keep this promise.

Surprised they didn't play "Fire" or "Fire on the Mountain."

As much as I love The Curtain With, the first set didn't light my fire the way the other 3 sets this weekend did, despite it and the KDF>Moma>Maze combination that followed amounting to a tasty little tour of their wide range. I did like hearing some new tunes in both these shows (first Curtis Loew) and the playing is plenty tight as far as I remember but I don't think I'll give it repeated listens like I will for set 2.

The whole band improvisation was creative and coherent through the opening run of songs in the 2nd set. The band didn't pick up on Trey wanting to ->Sally right away so that segue isn't as slick as 8/19/12, but it's still pretty slick and that hour was the equal of the best hour of 8/19, or really any hour I've ever heard from this band. All time classic stuff.

A few notes:
At ~8:00-8:10 of Undermind Trey clearly teases Time Turns Elastic.

The Fluffhead is not pristine. Trey was dodgy during a good stretch of Fluff's Travels (including @3:56, 4:46). During the final rage at about 13:00 it sounds like Trey is ready to wind it down/abort but Page is still raging and the band kinda forces him to gear back up for a 2nd pass.

After Fluffhead, Trey thanks the crowd, which usually means the set is over, but then he changes his mind and fires up Antelope. Smoking great pair of songs for the live audience.

Overall, the atmosphere was incredibly positive with electric joy and glowstick fun but also somewhat surreal with smoke blowing across the river from a wildfire, enough to make the light show better and also burn my eyes as I danced my ass off.

dutchbag.... "but the real party was all of us viewers out in TV land."

that is hands down THE most absurd comment i've seen in forever.

get outside yer little tube box.. the real party, the one @ the gorge, couldn't fit inside the worlds greatest television.

howling @ the tv just isn't the same as thousands of spunions under a gemmy moon.

architect opener was perfect, because of the setting.
i saw u with a ticket stub n your hand...on tv?
there was a massive forest fire raging within sight all weekend, just wild. im sure it connected everyones experience out there, but not at all on tv.
i could go on and on...
instead: we follow the lines going south!

thank you phish for an amazing weekend

5/5 for the gigantic beach ball.

I'll be brief. Couch-toured it after coming back from Chicago. First set was a bit disjointed and a few hiccups. 2nd set was off the hook! Sneaking Sally always rocks.....best since 97?....hmmmmm.....check out 6.4.11 from Cleveland with jam into Hood. Safe travels all!

Whether or not one enjoys festival camping boils down to expectations. If you expect that you might enjoy sleeping comfortably through the night then perhaps festival camping is not for you. If you expect to lounge in bed comfortably anytime past 8:30am, or if you expect little to no fireworks set off in the general direction of your sleeping area, or even if you expect something as simple as a quick little hot shower in the late morning, well, maybe you’ll want to book a room.

Festival camping is generally for me. I just set my gearshift to the ‘Hi’ gear of my tolerance and keep my hat on. And I assure you, earplugs are an enormously useful supplement. New to me this year was an eye-mask. I turned myself into The Who’s Tommy for the night and it helped me get up on the right side of the air mattress come the early morning of July 27th, 2013.

M’lady busied herself making coffee after coffee and quesadillas for brunch while I sat around and did nothing but enjoy same. Eventually I grabbed a guitar and found a nearby tarp commune with jammers and beers. We rounded out the midday with some really excellent music and several cold beers in the hot, hot shade.

M’lady and I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging with our neighbour friends under their shade tent where we mulled the forest fire that had clearly been taking shape a few hills away, and all the thickening smoke it was sending our way.

Before we got too drunk the two of us extracted ourselves from the conversation and headed in to the venue. I wanted to get a poster and find a closer spot for the show than we had the night before. We got in early enough to get the desired merch but the terraces had long been cherry-picked, so we found a nice spot on the grass just above the floor area. We had a few hours to kill in the hot sun but we had the remains of a bunky umbrella-cum-parasol with us – picked up for free at a booth at the Ottawa Jazzfest – and margaritas and chicken strips with curly fries to keep us contented.

I left m’lady to take a stroll and sauntered up the hill to the very centre of the venue. As I was walking up the hill towards the barren spot I had selected in my mind someone else was walking down to the same barren spot. We both got there about the same time and sat down a few feet away from each other, the only two people sitting on the vast, raked lawn. We got to talking about the Dead and the Allman Brothers and general tour stuff. Ten minutes later we stood and hugged, I went back down the hill and he went back up.

Tour is fun.

Back at our spot m’lady and I got surrounded by a group that included two kids at their first Phish show with their dad. I asked them what they were hoping to hear; the ten-year-old says Prince Caspian and his little brother wants Moma Dance. Noobs.

As the show started the smoke coming in from the distant forest fire was palpable, and while there’s no benefit to having smoke in your eyes at a show, the haze gave significant substance to CK5’s light show. Even while the sun was still up his beams of light shooting into the audience became thick shafts of colour.

The first set was a bit of a sleeper – I blame the kids who got both their calls – but the show overall was pretty great. At one point the top of the mountain behind the stage (and across the river) was glowing red with fire; I’ve never seen anything like it. The band should have changed the lyrics of Maze to Haze but I’ll forgive them, especially after the monstrous funk that was Sneakin’ Sally Though The Alley.

After the show I meandered up and down Shakedown looking to trade my extra poster for a night one poster but found no takers. I considered looking for a jam but realized that people are generally way too messed up after a concert to be able to make and/or appreciate acoustic music very much. Amplification rules post-show.

So I sat for an hour with a drink or two and marvelled at the fireworks. Every highway sign for a hundred miles in any direction had the fire risk arrow set at “Extreme” and there we sat in a massive field covered with dry, mowed hay with smoke pouring over our heads from the encroaching forest fire across the river watching everyone and their brah lighting off boxfuls of amateur explosions that cascaded down onto an unspeakable amount of cracklin’-dry combustibles.

It’s truly a wonder that there has never been a lot fire at The Gorge, squawks old grey-beard.

Driving out the next day I was shocked to see a wheelchair piled amongst one of the vast camping-area garbage piles. Someone certainly had a good show. I also remember literally driving through burning forest fires on-and-off all afternoon as we headed south away from The Gorge. That was something I had never, ever experienced before.

Thank goodness for air-conditioning.

http://www.toddmanout.com

What a setlist in the second set! Two authentic segues (->, not >, which is the only way of life) and Walls of the Cave > Fluffhead > Run Like an Antelope to close, where I think I remember watching the webcast and thinking upon the start of Fluffhead and Antelope that they were gan'na exceed curfew. Say Something debuts, although it's among the crop of recent Mike songs that kinda turn me off... something about logorrhea, maybe, not to put too fine a point on it (LOL), or just the loping Skin It Back-type rhythm that seems to guide the composition of all of that ilk (Cf. Crazy Sometimes, 555.)

The start of this second set is solid gold. Some of the cleanest transitions of this summer tour and maybe 3.0 Phish in general. And it ends as strong as it starts. I just found the a download for this soundboard and I've got to say that this show definitely ranks in my top five of 2013 summer tour. Happy listening.

Night two at the Gorge was equal and in ways better than the previous night. The highlights of the first set for me were Curtain With, Moma>Maze. So while still a decent set, I feel night one's first set was much better.

DWD opens the second set and the rest is history, the whole second set flows and should be listened to all the way through. Atleast DWD>2001. With DWD>Undermind>Light being my favorite part of the show, After the Walls of the Cave gives the place sortof a quick breath of air before reenergizing, Fluffhead>Antelope to everyones delight.

SHow of Life encore was beautiful and Good times left everybody in a good mood. Loved camping at the Gorge and consider these to be some of the best concert experiences I have had so far.

This is my favorite show of the summer so far, and I couched it! Can only imagine what it was like for the attendees- Nothing like a show at the Gorge. After seeing them at kick ass at SPAC, I had a feeling it would only get better- and boy was I right.

SET 1

They kick it off with Architect, a solid choice albeit slightly repetitive. Golgi was funky just how it should be, and I will never get tired of it. I love when they play anything off Junta, haha. The... THE CURTAIN WITH! One of the better compositions Trey has written, for sure. Beautifully executed, the jam and the written parts. KDF is next, and Trey DESTROYS. Seriously. This might be the sickest KDF I've heard all summer. Moma is a crowd favorite, funky as hell with a quick transition to Maze which always gets me riled up! Page has an organ solo in this one (per usual) that is just incredible. Triplets and sixteenth notes played so fast you can hardly see his fingers gliding across the keys! Band is completely locked in, Trey strumming some straight up EVIL chords in the jam. Pretty standard rest of set, Say Something was debuted and well done with some tasty improv, After Midnight was a good high-energy closer.

SET 2

Aaaaaand the awesomeness returns. This set felt like one huge JAM to me, with a damn near perfect segue after every tune. DWD > Undermind take up the first 26 minutes with excellent jamming. Trey is on FIRE for this one, it is ridiculous. Some awesome Type II improv separates this DWD version from the standard. Undermind is always a treat, and the boys like to bust it out at Dick's!

Note that this setlist looks insane on paper - it IS that good. Gotta love Page's work on the Wurly here. Thing sounds pristine. Near the end of the UM jam a huge beach ball floats around the audience, fitting the music perfectly. CK5 does a great job w/ lights as always. Light is cut just a bit short for Sneakin' Sally. Bring da funk! At almost 13 minutes this is a must-hear version with a VOCAL JAM in the middle!! Serious scat-ology going on here! The jam continues into a short 2001, then WOTC > Fluffhead > Antelope take up the next 35 minutes. Probably my favorite closing segment from this year, I actually got up from my chair and danced for this! Won't go too far into it since this is long-winded already but damn was it good!

I wanted to give this show a 4.5 out of 5 but we can't do halves yet. If you haven't heard Gorge 2 yet, prepare your ears and brain for a full melt. Thanks for reading, pholks

~monk

As always the boys play true to form at the gorge. The atmosphere and people are all fantastic as always. Never miss a gorge run. If there is one venue that provides consistent bliss..... It's the gorge.

The sneaking Sally is one of the best in my opinion. Say something was a great tune and after midnight had the people moving and cheering.

Undermine into light was fantastic. I know people love light as a new jam vehicle but for me it just isn't that great ... Personal opinion.

I wish the boys would bring back frankenstein into the mix and more yem action.

I think the riff we're all debating mid-2001 is a little jam on the original disco version by Deodato (check the 2:30ish mark)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0rDBncLS6k&feature=youtu.be&t=2m32s />
It's definitely not Flashlight (more descending than ascending) and not Smooth Criminal, that bass line dances around way more then the straight ahead rocking of this little section, I feel like this is what they're having fun with.

Or they could just be awesome.

Pillhead. Am i the only one who noticed trey said pillhead during fluff? After the banker lyric? Anyway i like this show alot. Good energy throughout. Got me off the couch and dancing during 2001. Unique undermind. Plenty of funky goodness.

yes! fluff was super tight
...and massive. mike was huge, esp during the "check this out" interlude.
then they took the ol' lope for a walk in the park type intro, before totally ragin the high gear of yer soul.
and the sally>2001 was absolutely crunk.
2nd set is quicky becoming an all time fav.
the vibes were so large, and the 1st relistening assured me of the technical mastery, the timeliness of the transitions, the patience, the spaciousness, the funk and the zoom.

these homies are shamanic, and 30 yrs later...
on top of their game. again. and again!

OOOppps, I'm meant to say SMOOTH CRIMINAL. The jam funk theme during 2001 is MJ's Smooth Criminal, not Black or White. Sorry. Don't ask me how I know all this.

To those here asking what that theme funk jam is during 2001, it's Michael Jackson's "Black or White." They've done it on a few versions of 2001 the past couple years. LOVE IT!!

DrShaws, they got on that same idea/jam in the 2001 from Alpharetta. Not sure what it is but I dig it.

What was in 2001? It's been bugging me all morning.

Best Fluffhead in YEARS! Check the transition points, Trey NAILS it! High energy, uptempo and just awesome!

Couched toured the second set only. Realizing I was paying too much attention to PT, I turned off my phone and just paid attention. Mellow flow, massive segue-fest, great moments throughout, and real tight.

Impressed. This is the second webcast I attended this tour, the first being Chicago Night 1. I've witnessed 2 great sets, and 2 great DWD's.

On the note of Sneakin' Salley: yeah, it's great. But my standard-bearer for that one is 10/31/98. I didn't think tonight's was that great, but it's definitely above-average for the tune.

Drshaws - sounded a little Twisty to me.

just heard curtain with. Not even close to manchester 2010's epiv version with serious peak at the end between all band members. Fall 2010 was a really special tour, I don't know if they have surpassed that augusta, utics, manchester, ac run.

Why can't anyone write an objective review of any Phish show they've seen? "Everything was great"; "best Tube since Dayton '97"; "Mike was laying down lines like he had done at Van Andel '98." i get it -- Phish is one f the best live acts today. But what a boring crowd of yes men.

I will always cherish Phish and my memories of seeing them many dozens of times. Now, though, I'd rather see an M83 show in Prague or some exciting city like that.

Kyle Sullivan
Seattle, WA

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