UMass hasn’t looked or felt like this since 1995, when Phish last played here. Thousands of fans gathered outside the Mullins Center to try to buy, trade, and sell Phish tickets before the show began. A dreadlocked family of four stood together with a sign that read: “Who’s got our Saturday tickets?”; a grown man stood, crying in the boxoffice after losing his tickets, and not being able to get any more; and a young Hampshire student waited eagerly at the front of the line after arriving at noon to buy an original poster and t-shirt.
At least fifteen minutes before Phish even came onstage, thousands of audience members stood peacefully, eyes closed and smiling, nodding their heads to the invisible, but present energy that they were collectively experiencing. Phish refers to this energy as the "vibration of life", the steady buzz of seven beats per second that "energize you... for the rest of the evening." When Phish played the Mullins Center in 1994, guitarist Trey Anastasio took a break in a song to explain the "vibration of life", adding that "you gotta be careful with this stuff... it’s powerful stuff." Whether it is a coincidence that 7 beats per second equals 420 beats per minute is still unknown.
By about an hour after the show was scheduled to begin, guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, keyboardist Page McConnell, and drummer Jon Fishman made their way to the stage, greeted with uproarious rejoicing, laughter, applause, and the shouting of nicknames and song titles. Trey scratched a few sounds out of his guitar, Fishman loosely followed him, and the rest of the band gradually joined in with the upbeat, chirpy chord progression of "Meatstick", which segued into Fishman drumming the introduction to "Party Time", a new song that he wrote for their 2009 album Joy. It was a festive, simple, even silly song of boisterous drums, organ, and the repeating line "Party Time! Party Time!" Perhaps they played it because of UMass' party school reputation; more likely, it was to let us all know we were in for a party all weekend.
As soon as it ended, Phish dove into more familiar territory with "Golgi Apparatus", written by Anastasio in eighth grade. A short, energetic gem of a composition, “Golgi” has been a crowd pleaser since its 1986 debut. Next came “Kill Devil Falls”, a new, simple, rock-based song that Phish has insisted on playing frequently over the past year.
Next came “Tweezer”, an old classic, as if to say “sorry for all the new stuff!” Debuting twenty years ago, “Tweezer” is a simple, pentatonic-based riff, that evolves into a lengthy jam, often reaching abstract, atonal points at peaks. After the crooning, lounge jazzy “Lawn Boy”, sung by Page McConnell, a speedy, bluegrass tune, “Sparkle”, and a furious and punkrock “Big Black Furry Creature From Mars” came Phish’s famous rendition of “Hold Your Head Up”, featuring Trey on drums, and Fishman on vocals.
Next came a rare moment, surely one that will go down in “phishtory”. Fishman, famous for playing not only drums, but also the Electrolux vacuum cleaner, played a vacuum solo over Syd Barret’s “Love You”, using the hose of the cleaner as a mouthpiece, while changing the size of the opening of his mouth to change pitches. After a few self-deprecating remarks he made about the abrasive sound of his vacuum and annoying nature of his solos, he sat back down at the drums.
Trey picked his guitar back up and began “Possum”, causing the audience to whip out their tickets (which have a painting of an ugly possum this tour) and wave them around while chanting the lyrics. The “Possum” jam lasted five energetic minutes, but never climaxed quite as powerfully as it has in the past (listen to August 17’s version for an example). The set ended with “Tweezer Reprise” with lyrics from “Meatstick” substituted in.
After a fifteen minute break, the lights dimmed for the second set, and the quartet once again took their places on the stage. Noises poured out of the stage and filled the room with the bubbling, murky wall of sound that could only mean “Down With Disease” is first up. An old favorite, “Down With Disease” is a funky rock tune with an extended, meandering jam, which rocked nicely for a few minutes, but never quite found its energy last night, as it has in the past. Any concerns about Phish’s energy quickly subsided when they began “My Friend, My Friend”, a delicately constructed piece that begins as a triumphant, classical sounding piece suitable for an action movie soundtrack. It continued into a unsettling, dark segment, possibly referring to Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
A few more songs passed, including a notably high energy “Maze”, and an always appreciated “Piper”, but it wasn’t until “Harry Hood”, a long, complexly arranged classic, that the audience knew the night would end in glory. After a long, pallete-cleansing jam, Phish segued into the familiar intro arpeggio to “You Enjoy Myself”, arguably the band’s most beloved and interesting composition. Through several tightly composed sections, a choreographed trampoline dance, and a fiery jam, “YEM” ended with the usual vocal jam, an eerie improvised a cappella that ended with piercing, unison screams, then a fade to nothing. Night one had ended.

Coming here a little bit more than 8 years later just to say a single thing. The Piper in this show, though not being near an all-timer and clocking in at only about 8.5 minutes, is incredibly knotty and psychedelic, and is definitely, in my ears, a 2010 interpretation or anticipation of the sound they have been pursuing circa Fall '18, minus a decent share of the tripped out delays and synth effects of the current sound.

Hopped over to Springfield Mass with my friends after the Providence show. We had a buddy in school over there so night one we were planning to crash and post show party there.

Dropped the stuff off, grabbed some grub, and headed over to Amherst. The lot was pretty fun actually, it was nice weather (man I miss Fall in the Northeast). I was able to pick up some cool and old school lot t-shirts as well. The weird Police in towers was kind of off-putting, but my experience was hassle free and we met some nice folks parked next to us.

Venue was cool, kind of had like a high school gym vibe (albeit a large one). We were able to get to the floor and get pretty close up. Someone did throw up right on the floor pre-show... but it seemed to get cleaned up pretty quickly.

Set one started off with Meatstick. This was a fun opener and worked well for my money. Requisite dancing and Japanese lyrics.

Party Time was up next representing Joy and kept up the fun. It was ok.

Golgi followed, and was well received. Thoroughly enjoyable.

KDF kept the new tunes coming, and hit a nice peak. It's a fun little sing-a-long.

Tweezer! Boom, mid first set. Great placement. This one actually had a nice jam too. I think it clocked in over 12 minutes or so and Trey hit a nice little major key line with the band filling in around him. Definitely a highlight.

Lawn Boy was cool to see. Page milking the crowd and Mike had a nice solo. Nice spot following a good Tweezer.

Sparkle was fun and I was getting a decent number of tunes that I had yet to see live.

BBFCFM was awesome. I always like seeing this. Shredding rage with a bit of comedy.

HYHU Love You HYHY - more comedy, and awesome to get a vacuum solo. Maybe you don't want this every show, but there's nothing like your first time with Fishman and a vacuum.

Possum was great after the sort of comedy/ Page, Mike, Fish section of the show.

Tweeprise! This was awesome, and you could tell the fun the band was having. Throwing in Meatstick lyrics.

Overall set I: Started off with a nice party vibe, Tweezer brought the jamming goods, and they finished the latter half with a gag/comedic theme. A really fun set.
Highlights: Tweezer

Set II started off with Disease, which they had opened the previous show with. I wasn't loving a repeat in such quick succession, but this is a great song. The jam was fairly long, but didn't really offer a ton of great ideas.

The kicked into My Friend My Friend, which was awesome, and I thought it was a great placement here. Good fun.

They dropped into Caspian, which was fine, although not the best placement in my opinion.

Halfway to the Moon was up next. This newer Page song was pretty cool, and I like the sort of melancholy sound it has. Trey's part is nice, and Page does a good job with the vocals.

Boogie On Reggae Woman brought the funky dance party vibe and was a lot of fun here.

Maze was it's usual strong self, tight and fiery version.

Wading > Piper slowed things down than sped things up. A little bit nondescript.

Hood was a nice placement and brought some good vibes to a sort of up and down set.

YEM was my first and was fantastic to see. Sure, it's not what it used to be, but this is quintessential Phish and is always solid. Vocal jam in the live setting was something I'd never really comprehended.

Encore: Shine a Light - it's a pretty song.

Set II: Like I mentioned, up and down. No major jams and the big effort they made didn't quite get there in Disease. That being said, they played some cool songs MFMF and executed well Maze, Hood, YEM.
Highlights: Nothing you need to seek out.

Overall: This was your typical average Phish show. Nothing transcendent and the best jam was the first set Tweezer for me. Catching Hood and YEM back to back was super cool though.

2.5/5 safely middle of the road.

Others have done a fine job recapping the setlist, so I'll stick the basics. This show remains one of my favorites after twenty shows, exclusively in the Northeast region, since 2003. It has an infectious joy from the start, and ends with a YEM that is noteworthy for its perfection. This is the kind of show that flies under the radar because it lacks a defining unique moment that distinguishes it from other shows on this tour (such as Guyutica and Manchester, NH from the same week). But it merits repeated listening for its upbeat song selection and quality performance. In the 3.0 edition of Phish, this is one of the better weeks of performances, and this show is worth seeking out.

This was a family show, no, not phamily.
It was also the type of show that hooks kids onto the band.
Phish still knows how to cultivate fans and they know where to do it.
They gave 'em a little bit of everything, stayed accessible, and ripped it up. I was impressed with how they did it and I'm sure a lot of college students went back to their dorm and tried to figure out the next time they could see them. This is why Phish are pros and why I feel they are totally committed, smooth, and in control here in 2010.
They are not stale, either. I like how they are breaking or ignoring molds with a Friday night Rock and Roll and two nights in-a-row Down With Disease. This goes back to the summer when they toyed Tweeprise to our delight throughout consecutive nights and sets.
Back to Phish owning it. Listen to the encore "Shine a Light," it's theirs.
Keep it up boys.

What a show! Kept me on my toes, with two very different but very good sets.

They were clearly in a silly mood set one and it showed in the music and in the setlist. Meatstick as an opener is great, gets people smiling and dancing. Partytime served the same purpose, appropriate for a college show! Golgi was standard, I liked its placement in the set not closing a set like it usually does. Kill Devil was a bit of a letdown, I am open to this show and know they can jam hard on it, but this version was a little flat. Tweezer on the other hand was GREAT. They took the jam to some very cool places and if anything I think they cut it short, I think the song had 5 or 7 more minutes in the tank. Then right back to the sillyness! Chairman of the boards took over for Lawn Boy which was great since I was first row Page Side, Rage Side. They brought Sparkle up to a frenzied pace with its depressing deliriousness. BBFCFM was ripping, mike screaming, treys guitar straight from a metal band. Fishman had his moment in the spotlight which I think he loves, good Electrolux solo, and he remembered all the words to Love you even though he warned us he might forget some! Possum is overplayed but still enjoyable. When Trey started into the Tweezer Reprise in the FIRST I saw page mouth "REALLY?!" which they slid meatstick lyrics into. Absolutely fun and silly first set.

Set 2 was very serious and very good. I was a little disappointed they came out with DWD since i heard it the night before, but this version was 10 times better, heavy, heavy jam. DWD went unfinished into My Friend, My Friend. Price Caspian was solid, good sing along, unfortunately that was also unfinished (its got such a great ending!) I was pleased with Halfway to the Moon, it doesn't feel like a lot of their new songs do, harkens back to another period. Boogie On was owned by Page on his organ. Maze was undoubtedly the highlight of the show to me, this song live is nothing but power. Wading is always a great change of pace song, I think they nailed the vocals. They came into Piper too hot and fast which didn't leave them anywhere to go, but it was still great to hear, didn't think we would get one this weekend. Harry Hood was tight, moreso than in Augusta. I was paying very close attention to the YEM and I don't think trey or mike missed a single note. Spot on.

Shine a Light is a great song with a great message to end the show on a positive note.

Overall this was just great blend of great sillyness and serious serious bombs.

Part 2 of Cosmic Adventures in Synchronic Time by Steve Urban: Fall Tour 2009. Phish is back in Philadelphia for the first time in over 5 years. A group of friends and I decide it’s a perfect night to find the legendary “magical” Rhombus. Tony Smith, a pioneering figure of Minimalism in American visual art, created the black metal sculpture, titled “New Piece.” Its plaque tells us that in 1966 it was a “Gift of the artist in commemoration of Albert Einstein’s life and work. Presented on the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Institute for Advanced Studies.” Unfortunately, a thick blanket of fog prevented us from finding the Rhombus on that dark autumn night.

"Down on myself again, step into space. Wondering how I can, alter my place. 
In this hull of creation, someone else made. Who was probably wondering, why I have stayed, and never progress, into things I could be. If I found the right partner or if I could see, beyond all four walls, into fog that surrounds, my need for redemption and pins me to the ground. When out there beyond, just a half step away, its something I touched but it slithered away. And it’s something to strive for, and someday ill see if I’m somehow alive for someone other than me."

Determined we returned to the Institute that weekend and found the Rhombus. However, later that evening on a rooftop in Lower Manhattan, a triangular spacecraft flew above our heads. It smoothly glided completely silent and could barley be seen. But we all saw it make a right turn and change direction. The stealth craft is known as “the Wedge” or TR-3B flying Black Triangle developed in the top secret black military as Project Aurora. Somehow this spacecraft and the Institute for Advanced Studies were connected but how? Whistleblower on the Philadelphia Experiment and the Montauk Project, Al Bielek, claims to have been assigned to Project Invisibility at the Institute. Albert Einstein of course worked on these advanced projects during WWII. The encounter with the U.F.O. somehow got me back on my spiritual path. I remembered the vision of the unity consciousness grid, which I had outside MSG at Phish on New Years Eve 2002. For the first time I began to practice the merkaba meditation daily. Then one day at the Alley Pond Environmental Center in Queens, NY while sitting lotus position with Drunvalo Melchizedek’s Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life Vol. 2 on my lap I activated my merkaba. At exactly the same instant I heard the high-pitched cavitation of propellers from afar. Two black military Helicopters flew directly past me and quickly disappeared. The men in black were real and they knew how to time travel.

In Maureen St. Germain’s new book “Beyond the Flower of Life,” she writes, about the Merkaba Meditation, the Unity Consciousness Grid and even dedicates a full chapter to these Black Helicopters. She writes that, “The Christ Consciousness Grid is an etheric crystalline architectural structure of energy that envelopes Earth and holds the energy of… the perfected human. It could just as easily have been named the Buddha Consciousness or Mohammed Consciousness.” “The grid came from a version of the future where mankind achieved Christ Consciousness… and we, humanity, built it.” We recently spoke over the phone and she said that, “there are many versions of the future out there and the ascended masters tuned to the one where humanity made the ascension.”

Furthermore, Drunvalo Melchizedek writes in “Serpent of Light: Beyond 2012” that the Unity Consciousness Grid is a network of energetic connections between sacred temples and sites around the globe and special crystals which link them, creating a grid which supports an increasing, shared, "unity consciousness." This grid is a tool to assist humanity in the evolutionary process and the shift in consciousness that will occur sometime within "The End of Times" window lasting from 2007-10-24, when the Hopi prophecy of the Blue Star was fulfilled, to 2014-10-24 and not necessarily on the date when the wheels of the Maya calendar align on 2012-12-21.

You may be asking yourself, “How does all this relate to the band Phish?” and “Why would the ascended masters want me to share this information with the Phish community?” I had an incredible experience, almost a year after our visit to the Rhombus while in Amherst, MA during Phish’s Fall tour on 2010-10-24. I was meditating within my merkaba, as well as doing the unity breath meditation, and rainbow bridge meditation. There were 3 star tetrahedrons one stationary and 2 spinning in opposite directions, which merged with the Octahedron, a Rhombic Dodecahedron, a Stellated Dodecahedron and a Icosahedron combining to create great complex polyhedrons. I visualized the rainbow bridge around the earth, around myself and then placed the symbol inside of my heart chakra. I merged the sacred space of my heart’s toroidal field with my activated merkaba. At that moment of synchronization I felt the most beautiful feeling of spiritual bliss achieved by a love for all living things. A rhomboidal hexahedron or rhombohedron aka the Rhombus was there too with the Unity Consciousness Grid. Here was the “ ‘solution’ to help us avoid probable self-destruction!” Divided Sky, The Wind Blows High. Divided Sky, The Wind Blows High.

Part 1: 10/21/96 and 12/31/02 MSG New York, NY *Cosmic Adventures in Synchronic Time was originally published in Surrender To The Flow