This was my 15th Phish show (5th at Deer Creek) and thus, I'll leave most of the in-depth reviews to the experts. What I will say however is that I had been chasing YEM until last night and the one we got did NOT disappoint. First second set open since 1989 (via JamBase)? Check. 20+ minutes long with Type II deviation? Check. The first set was as varied as any I've seen, and closing out the second with GT,BT? I just kept punching "firsts" last night. It wasn't the best "technical" show I've seen, but it was definitely one of the most fun and the crowd energy was wonderful. On that note, looking forward to a fantastic Sunday show!

Day 2 of my first Deer Creek run and I'm loving it!

Set one started with a nice Turtle In The Clouds. Stayed a bit slow for me with a decent Undermind and a Drift, which I'm not a big fan of. 3 good parts, but doesn't quite hold together. But then things took a turn with a fantastic Steawberry Letter 23 and later a Camel Walk so tight that, verily, this camel could fit through the eye of needle. Set one ended with maybe the best Split Open And Melt I've witnessed.

An extremely rare YEM 2nd set opener with a first ever post vocal jam jam set things off again. A fun but very messy Howling and a raucous Good Times Bad Times closed out the set. I felt it ended a tad early and expected maybe we'd get something special for the encore...

And we got the SloMaze! What a funky treat!

Overall, Trey came to play and was melting faces all night! On to night 3!

First time submitting a review.

Turtle: I have no use for this song except for the dance moves because I do love when they dance. It was a nice little groove to get people up.

Undermind was a little lackluster. It’s fun listening to Fish play those wack fills at the end and cracking Trey up in the process.

Drift: cathartic emotional release. Very heavy hearing my story get sung to me by the best band in the world.

Letter: meh. Good for stat purposes. Solid performance but it doesn’t do much for me.

Stealing: this was the first sign of the beast deciding it was going to get up and take a look around after the end of Drift woke it up. Loved it. High level intuitive jam

Jim: a little bit disappointing. I really hoped they would take it for a walk. It felt like Trey never found his footing. But Mike and Fish had it going on for sure and they revisited that groove in the Wave jam. Fish also tried out a couple of really cool triplet ideas on the snare that were interesting and unique.

Camel walk: I like the odd time breakdowns. When they hit them it’s awesome and they did here. Full disclosure: I’m one of those people who goes to hear them hit the changes in addition to the improv.

Timber: It cooked along but they wouldn’t take off the leash. It was kicking the stall and they wouldn’t open the door. I don’t get it. I didn’t hear anything that sounded off or was interfering with them stretching it out. Who knows. It did cook right along though.

Julius: I don’t know what my beef is with that song. Just don’t care for it. To me Julius and My Soul are interchangeable blues rave ups. I mean Trey can shred the blues as we well know but Julius ain’t it for me.

SOAM: I love dark evil Phish and will take whatever I can get. This scratched my itch 100%. So my question is this. Is SOAM a type 2 jam? That jam in any other song would be type 2. But that’s what they’re “supposed” to do in SOAM. So does it really ever go type 2? A bit esoteric but it got me thinking. Plus it crushed my son who was seeing his first show. Afterwards he was shouting “I get it now! I understand now! I get what you’ve been talking about my whole life! I get it!” It was a special moment.

YEM: above average in every way. Post vocal jam was wonderful blissy. As my son said “I didn’t know music could be this beautiful.” Historic and special. I’ve heard a lot of yems over 30 years and this is the best of the 3.0 I’ve seen. It holds its own against any 3.0 I say.

Wave: great rocker to keep the energy in the room up and the jam was just what I needed. Patient and exploratory. Mike was stepping into a directorial role. He drove some of the coolest changes. Fish was absolutely on fire. The half time breakdown at the very end of the jam was fantastic. Skies the limit for this one.

Bug: perfect breather after 42 minute opening blow out. Bug is no ordinary slow down number though. It is an exceptional song and they played it to a T. Pretty much my favorite song of the night that didn’t include a jam. Mike owned it. The changes between chorus/verse were pristine. Maybe the best I’ve ever heard for my tastes.

Jibboo: perfectly placed I thought. A good dancer but not too aggressive. Ideal ramp up number to build the energy for show closing. The jam was fantastic. Loved what they did with it. Different direction from the typical jibboo jam that’s centered around treys loops. Which was a welcome development as I feel sometimes they get bound to that and it restricts their field of play. And as a result you don’t get gems like this one. Underrated jam.

Howling: still internalizing this material. it slam dunked the vibe that jibboo set up perfectly. Nice bit of set list work there. Always love the phish dance party. I said to my son this is a newer song and he looks at me and says “it kicks ass!”

GxBx: completely caught me off guard and it was perfect. They needed a rocking slammer to close after the dance party and they picked the best one for that moment. Only two covers up to that point and I was not thinking covers at all. Towering rock and roll majesty. Page singing I know what it means to be alone verse cracks me up every time.

Maze: sign me up. It didn’t sound like anything else they do. Unique not only in its mere existence but in its execution as well.

Ahhh, I accidentally downposted ERRAND_WOLFE 's review! I loved it! I meant to hit upvotote on my phone. Slippery fingers and too much tequila! Up vote! I'm sorry, I don't see a way to reverse it. Thank you Phish, can't wait for summer tour! I'm sorry ERRAND_WOLFE!

Since this review is not long enough to post, I will just say that Phish being in my life has changed me and everything around me. Life is better with Phish in it. If you are considering seeing a Phish show, if your friends are trying to get you to go...GO! There is nothing like it on Earth and there never will be. We are witnessing the crux of human creativity, and if you are reading this, you either know, or are on the cusp of knowing. GO! Phish is for you, it is for everyone! Everyone is welcome! Party on Garth, Party on Wayne!!! Surrender the the Flow!!

Crazy that right now this has a higher rating than Fri and especially Sun. This shows was weird, talk about peaking too early. All the best jams were early in the set which left a weird unsettled feeling, show felt all over the place. Sun Sand was so much better than anything they played tonight, and YEM was good, but then things fizzled. I thought Sunday was by far the best of the 3 and Sat was by far the worst of the 3