I agree that this show was unorthodox - extended Type II jamming in the opener certainly isn't expected - but this performance, while not spotless, was definitely intriguing. If you're chasing blissful, Major-chord first set jams, last night hit the spot. Everything's Right sounds even better on playback, as does the extended Tube jam. Set Two Carini opener got the overstuffed Allstate arena rocking and the transition to a jam-filled No Quarter (!) didn't disappoint. A welcome Cities > Gotta Jibboo in the 3-4 slot slid into a (mostly sublime) Twist-WTU-Twist. I'm a little over the CZ S2 closer but I really dug the Fluffhead encore.

This night was the best I've ever seen Phish, bringing home the 'never miss a sunday show' anecdote. Someone call the Chicago Fire Department, because Trey n Company burnt....it.....down! Right away this night felt different than the previous two, people were ready to jam and had an itch to scratch. Exploding into the first song you could tell the band had the same itch. Roastin! Energy was lit, and crew were scrambling after the song to huddle up and assess the situation to put the right play in action. Everything was definitely starting out ALL RIGHT! Coming out of second or third song you could tell tonite was special, freakin Trey killed it so hard he was left drooling on the stage after fucking slaying the beast-swear he had to run to get a drag off a bowl or cigarette just to come down! The air was scintillating!! You could see it in their eyes and mannerisms, the band knew the house came to rock, and they were going to deliver firing on all cylinders. Petrichor was awesome! First time live personally, and what a beautiful ride! I always wanted it this way was exactly the way i would have wanted it, pure.....no holds barred.....shredding!!! Arena rock at its phinest as the band pretty much formed into voltron to crush any demons in the world with the rage of light and heat. Thanks CK5-great work with that octopus of a rig!!!! Ive never seen such painted air, and the nuance and control of a room was incredible.....we all floated for a few minutes or more in that bliss! Boys sure did grind! Fuck yeah Trey, fuck yeah Band! What a first set!!!! And those around me couldnt believe we still had another set to go....fuck.....yeah! Buddy called hot mess fuckin carini, n yes, we got a giant carini to start off second half. I love this rocker and it always shakes the room. Quarter into Cities.....heaven! Monster takes on these songs and amazing to see Trey just kill every song with almost perfect execution, couldnt make a mistake, but thats what happens when you fall into the perpetual groove and are zoning. Goota jibbo n twist were all melty, people just gettin weird, so you gotta get weird with it! Happy Halloween everyone! The whole thing-crowd, lighting, glow stick chucking, exploratory oratory notes n hues, came together so horribly wonderful it was shocking, in the best way possible!!! Lovin indoor shows n lovin dark n light halloween vibe, rock gods slaying demons of darkness! Plasma n CZ just added even more heat to the barn burner and you got a four alarm roaster! And wait.....is that.....fluff...head? Fuck yeah it is, personal fave and was exactly what was needed for the send off and cherry on top that blew this night off the charts! Well played Phish, well played sirs indeed! Thank you Trey....thank you Band!!!

Well, as I set down to write this tonight, (everything's still alright) my pad is very messy, got whiskers on my chin.
And but so, here I begin:

As we rolled in early to the big city in the afternoon yesterday,
the rain was just a bit light...& misty
& like,
stuff & things.

I'd felt that after a bit of a nap, I'd trek on out & check out Shakedown St. (or whatever the kids are calling it these daze).
Only about 6 vendors were set up that early, so I headed back in & to my room at the Riot High-hat Place to nap some more.
(In all this round-space dust-rock of a world, only my cat, Ms. Carly Sagan likes naps more than I)

Made it out again an hour later & was happy to find a "Trey is my baby daddy" lighter/leather case.
2 of these were purchased & I was set.
Everything was indeed right, so far.

Just before heading into the Allstate-Rosemont Arena to see the best band in the world, "The Phish From Vermont", we had to get some more presents for a friends B-day gift bag.
(I lost a brown beanie trotting across the parking lot - non-illegal ground score for somebody, pre-show..or trash can. I didn't litter! It was lost!)
The big old Tarjay had your average Chicagon wondering around in a circular hypnotic maze, just like The Phish From Vermont Fall 18' T-shirt would have printed on it. That dude in sunglasses with the X-Ray skeleton hand.
We would soon purchase it among other wares, from the official vendors inside.

I tried to buy the poster also, but my wife wouldn't have it.
She thought it was ugly.
I think I did too, but I didn't care.
Wanted it anyway.
Poster tubes banned or no.
My old Grateful Dead buddy, @Vegandad1969 had already got his framed after going to the Friday show with his family,
& I knew I could not be outdone by that louse.

Speaking of great peeps, I got to hang with my super cool .net buddy, @Cohron1 before the show even started & it was a blast, as it always is when meeting up with other .net friends that you've Pm'd with over time, yet never met "IRL" (Whatever that is).
I'll never forget a year ago when he sent me a ton of his old live audience Phish cassettes outta the goodness of his heart. Way cool dude.

So,the show..
It was a blast.
I didn't make it to either night 1 or 2 & it's a bit of a shame, because this run has things in it that compliments back & forth, each of the 3 nights.
@Kipmat & @Missblue75 did do all 3 & they did it right!

Fortunately, for me & my wife, they chose to rage with us this Sunday night & we were honored to share in their vibes w/nearby-personal-space vibrations breaking the speed of light-sound with dance moves unparalleled by your ave. dude or dudette.
Dude.

Meanwhile, I was texting frantically w @MShow96 trying to relay how the Pleroma was here & now & everywhere (but especially here) because, like...the whole dualistic-dualism-cosmogony was bringing me down..(but my fingers were not working right). It didn't go thru.

I'd been hyp-motized by @kipmat's high Phish Wisdom.
Thinking of how there was gonna be no way in Gamehendge that any of these 3 shows were ever gonna end up in his "Underrated" thread, my mind was spinning & my vibes were not yet chill. I almost had The Fear.
------------------------------------------
1. Everything's Right
It got it going - the previous 2 nights had already let us know this, but playing it in the opening slot cemented that fact.
I hadn't read the news of the day & didn't know of any tragedy in the world.
I was only being there then.
Being here now for that matter,too.
Doesn't mean I don't care, but time & space have their place.

2. Destiny Unbound
I look over at someone & they are pointing at me. I point back.
I had my @DaleCooper original "Looking For Owls" shirt on (which got many compliments that night, along with my new skeleton-sunglasses scarf that I was going to give to Mike,if perchance I met him on lot) & all I can think is, "this is not my Buffalo Bill.
It is Jill &..Highway Bill".

4. Miss You
So,my wife whispered (didn't quite chomp) in my ear that this brought down the high energy vibe too soon (or something like that) & being my wife, she is Always Right (because I'm not doing that anymore).

But these songs that do mean something to us & the band need to be played sometime.
We need to have faith in the band.
So I did. And it payed off.

I let myself reflect, & in that moment pay respect in my thoughts to the many loved ones that have passed away these last few years.
By the time "You're everywhere" was sung, I thought of how even my previous pets can be seen in the faces & mannerisms of pets that are now in my care today.
How the glance of a face on the street of a random human jars me into thinking I just saw my grandmother who passed this last year. Or my dad 10 years ago.
And my conviction that it is true:
Just go back far enough in time & we're are all eventually related to each other & most likely, all really just "One".
What else would we be?
Say we get hit by a previously unknown,uncharted asteroid tomorrow.
The physical earth would be gone, but what of the spiritual earth that remains in this space?
We're Every-when-where & we're also Every-One.

5. Heavy Things
Hey, I missed this song earlier. Description not needed^
Time is not running backwards is it?

6. Petrichor
I knew somewhere inside that with the rain, this tunage would be played.
Phish,why you be so predictable sometimes?
I love ya anyway. Great Prog-Jam!
Is it Nektar influenced at all?

7.I Always Wanted Page To Want It This Way Because I Would Always Love Whatever Page Wants To Do & I Would Dance My A** off, How About You?
Astounding treat. Do NOT miss.

8.Grind
I'm not really all that into numbers, but that was number 22, I believe.
Earlier,my wife mentioned that she saw this cute older couple in their 70's, or maybe even 80's up behind us.
I looked for them again after this was performed & couldn't find them.
Really wanted to see the reactions to the Barber Shop Quartet Aquatic Craniate Animals singing this to us all.
Another treat. No tricks involved.
We think one person is old & another young, but in the cosmic framework of things, we're all relatively the same age now, alive & breathing on this earth.
Go back a few hundred or thousand years & there you'll see "old people".

--------------------------------------
Set break was weird.
I don't remember it & I might have got naked.
--------------------------------------

7.Buffalo Bill
Nope. Something else. I made @Vegandad1969 super Jelly 'cause he ain't got no Carini yet. Ha! Louse!

8.No Quarter
Place melted into a Zepp-Page mind warp
& Tool couldn't even match this.
Dark Phish.Screaming Phans (thought I'd never type that)
& magik of the next level.

9. I'm tired of numbering things now. Maybe..
Cities > Gotta Jibboo > Twist -> What's the Use? > Twist was gooey sticky (like the beer on the floors that were keeping me & my peeps from dancing & from tying my shoes) & also, it was just like the best cat meme you've ever seen.
Sorry,feeling Narcissistic again. I'll get over it soon. Send me vibes.

10. Shade
Song is Gnostic AF.
Performance was nearly flawless.
Check it before you wreck it & don't hate it or even rate it.

11. Plasma, Character Zero
ENCORE: Fluffhead
Just gonna finish this little piece of gonzo-garage philosophizing review by saying the 2 top performances were these last ditties. Which two?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Halloween will be crazy as I'll get out.
Expect the unexpected & or an Ohio Players album.
Maybe King Tuff's, "The Other".
I don't know.
I have no idea what I'm talking about.
Appy polly loggies for misspelled handles,memories & nudity.
Have fun.
Rage on until the dying of The Light.

wow, i suppose i spoke too soon on this one. wanna take this opportunity to clarify: when i said "worst show of run/tour" i certainly did not mean this was a bad phish show! pretty much impossible for them to play a "bad" show right now - their jamming is so consistently great that it seems it's song selection that can uplift a show. and for me personally, this show's song selection (at least in the first set) left something to be desired. (petrichor is just not my cup o' tea, but it was certainly beautifully played.) they really brought it during everything's right, tube and IAWITW.

second set was a marvelous, flow-centric set, with an absolutely fire plasma, which is a very underused song imo. fluffhead had some flubs, but trey has rediscovered his ability to destroy during the arrival conclusion.

i'll admit this was not my favorite show of the tour, but it definitely continued the run of incredible shows that phish has been produced during fall 2018. it's a good time to be a phish fan.

Let me begin by saying: I love indoor Phish! Allstate Arena was rocking all weekend, the phans and the band were fully engaged, dialed it, and loving every minute of it. The first set featured an eclectic collection of songs, with highlights for me coming from Destiny Unbound, Tube (with a Chicago nod), and I always wanted in this way (man, I love hearing that tune live). All very worth a relisten. On a personal note, I had not previously fully engaged with Petrichor, but it was beautifully executed and I'm going to explore that song for some time coming. The second set began with a Carini that got the ripcord, but for a good reason..No Quarter that brought Led Zeppelin to life for the phans. Cities and Jiboo both also worth a listen, into a Bass Bomb filled Twist sandwich filled with WTU. I heard plasma close BD 8/5/17 first set and have hankering to hear it again since. Simply put...hottest tune of the night. You Must Listen to Plasma!! Sing along Zero blew the roof off Allstate and Fluffhead encore cherry on top with just a couple of glitches to remind me that Phish is composed of actual humans and not mind bending aliens from outer space sent to earth to hypnotize large groups of people. Peace!

You know the band is firing when Big Boat tunes don't kill the set/show. I am in love with this one. It was fluid, they jammed in unexpected places (song or set-wise).

Shade was my first dance at my wedding and was much more welcome by the crowd than the Dick's version. Miss You always makes me think of my college roommate who was gone too soon.

If I *had* to pull a bad from this show, it's probably the choice of Heavy Things (which at the time I loved) or the quick dip out of Cities.

Much Love.

I had the amazing treat to fly from Toronto for the 10/27 and 10/28 shows. They were my first since Wrigley 16 and did not disappoint.

Going into the second night I was unbelievably amped for what was to come.

Set 1:

As soon as Everything's Right started, a huge smile appeared on my face. I absolutely love this song and had been hoping to catch one at these shows. For a show opener, this sprawling version featured extended Type-II jamming and an absolutely INSANE white-light peak. There are very few ways to start a show better than that. Must-hear. Next up came the funky Destiny Unbound. Composed section featured a couple minor flubs from Trey but the jam got absolutely swamp-nasty. Heavy Things and Miss You are great songs - one is a laid-back dance tune and the other is an emotional-yet-still-uplifting song. I was not unhappy to hear either of them. The Tube that came next was amazing. Starting in typical Tube territory, Page hopped from clav to Wurlitzer to Rhodes and back while Trey sprinkled staccato notes over Mike and Fish's deep groove. Switching to major key and reaching a nice peak, Trey instigated some sick I'm A Man teasing and Page hopped over to the B3 as the closing verse brought a rousing burst of energy from the crowd. Though Petrichor did bring the energy level down a bit, but it was a song on my bucket list and I enjoyed its performance. Though I am not a huge fan of IAWITW, the jam was fiery and brought the set to a great close ahead of a quick Grind.

Set 2:
I remarked to my dad during setbreak that I would love a Carini. When the first grating power chords rang out across the arena, I freaked a little bit. The dark and nasty jam turned funky and after a brief major-key peak, Page brought the jam to an ethereal close on the Rhodes that signaled the start of the Zeppelin classic No Quarter. This version got extended past its normal structure with around 5 minutes of Type-II jamming that got nice and funky before a slick -> to Cities. Unfortunately, this got a bit of a ripcord ahead of a bright and airy Gotta Jibboo, which seemed to summon a light breeze to cool down the arena a little bit. The Twist that followed was a gorgeous Type-II version with a segue into WTU?. This was my first time seeing this song live and the silence in the middle was absolutely beautiful. The little Twist Reprise after was a nice treat. Shade is a gorgeous ballad that is a favourite of my mom's, so she was very happy to see it. At the time, I wasn't too familiar with Plasma as a song, but as the jam got grooving, I made a mental note to check out other versions. This 12-minute jam felt so much longer as the band brought it to a massive peak. As they strummed the last notes, I prayed that we'd get one more rager to close out the set, and they delivered in the form of my favourite Phish song, Character Zero. I still don't understand why this song gets so much hate as a set closer. There is no scenario where this song doesn't absolutely burn the house down, and this version featured Fishman egging Trey on and a gnarled guitar solo that left a massive smile on my face.

Fluffhead is Fluffhead. Unreal song that has probably my favourite moment in live music ever at the Arrival section.

Unreal show.

this was a weird phish show. first set had some highlights - opened with an absolutely incredible everything's right. just sick, powerful type 2 jamming. i would highly recommend listening. Destiny is always a treat to here. The Tube was good as well, and I Always Wanted It This Way did culminate in a vicious peak. Heavy things i'll forgive. Miss you was unnecessary, you just played heavy things. the real problem, though, is petrichor. it is simply too long, and somehow, even with phish's eclectic catalog, just does not fit with the rest of the music. it is too orchestral/too broadway sounding, and also again it is just way too long. the section at the end always gets me though, just wish they would cut some of the fat off. make it a nice 8 minute song if they want. anyway on to set 2.

second set featured some very nice jamming. the sequence of Carini -> No quarter (a jammed no quarter!!) -> cities was absolutely money phish. the gotta jibboo raged. the twist was nice, and the what's the use sandwich was very cool. shade was a very unnecessary cool down, and definitely the low point of the set. Plasma was perhaps the high point; like the everything's right, the band seemed like they were flying as they ripped apart a type-2 peak. character zero is character zero. all in all, a fun set. the sequences were cool, but it was missing a marquee jam.

fluffhead encore is always awesome, no matter how many flubs. people complain about flubs a lot, and i get it. however, i think it's just easier to accept that they're going to happen and try to enjoy what we can. good thing they're even playing the song.

ultimately, this is probably the worst show of the run, and maybe the worst show of the tour. but if this is the worst show of the tour, then this is a pretty fucking good tour.