oh, the sweet farewell to the island tour! this could very well be the best four night run tbey have every played. the set lists were brilliant every night. the playing was full of energy and seemed extra inspired. plus, the band seemed to be very focused and completely in sync. this night is no exception.

initially, it seems that they might be doing their first "standard opener" of the island tour, but wait, here comes a smoking hot yem 2 songs in following oh kee pah. very nice version. the composed part is played well, and fishman and page come out of the "tramps section" with a very nice groove built up. when trey finally gets back in, they are on fire. good jam. theme works very nicely out of the vocal jam, and mcgrupp, with a nice dark page solo, is a very pleasant first set surprise. speaking of 1st set surprises, this nice gin>cities combo is golden. this is the first gin in a year of full of bad ass gins. page and trey are in sync hear, and gordon and fishman really lay down a nice foundation. the cities jam leans a little toward the nasty great went version. very nice slow funky jam. sparkle is nice and snappy, and then melt rocks in the closing slot.

down with disease is nice and exploratory. they tack a nice cohesive ride through this jam before drifting into a very cool yamar. this one jams out prety far before prince caspian. this is one of my least favorite phish songs, but it works well here, especially since the rest of the set helps you forget about it. maze starts out typically, but page really soars on his solo, then the whole band just takes off. after a quick run through shafty, they find themselves in a funk nasty possum. it starts out in its typically bluesy fashion, but then it really turns a corner into a funkier realm. trey tells people that they are free to leave but if you like funk music and dancing you better stay. pretty funny stuff....who's leaving this shit. they are mired in one of the thickest funky jams i've heard them play, and eventually, they delve head first into cavern. they spare no punches on this cavern either. on paper, a possum>cavern looks like a decently solid way to close a show, but on this night, it was a remarkable, jaw dropping closing sequence. bold as love does the job in the encore slot.

this show really has it all. i think i like the first night best, but this show has the nice tight funk jams, good strong funk jams, and some very nice and tight compositional work. both sets are littered with highlights and very strong inspired playing.

high lights:

set 1:
oh kee>yem, mcgrupp, gin>cities

set 2:
dwd>yamar, maze>shafty>possum>cavern (gotta hear the possum>cavern!!)