In a weekend LOADED with highlights, Saturday night stands out as my favorite night of the run.

The energy kicked off immediately with a little help from Mother Nature when the rain came just as they were hitting the first notes of Free. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) the rain let up after a few minutes and didn't return the rest of the night. A solid, funky Moma followed and then into Halley's Comet. This is a great song and I really wish they bring back the jam section. In recent years they seem to abruptly end it just as it's taking off. No worries though, as Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan followed and kept the crowd dancing. 555 (one of my three favorites from Fuego along with the title track and Winterqueen) followed and delivered in all its funkyness. It would be the first of four Fuego songs to be played this evening.

A high energy Rift followed and kept the momentum rolling into Sample. Devotion to a Dream was well played but the the next five songs closed a first set that was one for the ages. Yarmouth Road (love this song!)>Sparkle was upbeat dancing fun-ness that let to a well placed Wingsuit to give give us all a chance to catch our breath before diving into Bowie! Trey forgot the lyrics to Cavern which upset some fans but not me. I personally couldn't care less if they forget the words from time to time. It didn't slow things down and Trey was able to poke fun at himself by turning the mic around to let the crowd sing for him. We all need to be able to laugh at ourselves from every now and then.

A 16 minute DWD open dead set two and they were off to the races again. Disease was solid with some stand out playing by Mike. The first What's the Use? in two years followed and was a pleasant surprise. I always love it when something from the Siket Disc finds its way into the rotation. This is an underrated album. I would love to hear My Left Toe.

What can be said about Carini that hasn't already been said? I've only managed to catch a couple in my relatively few 23 shows to date and it always delivers with high energy and this one was no exception. From this point on, there was no stopping them. (Trey was in full bouncing mode. You gotta love it when the band is full of energy and having fun. They feed off the crowd energy and vice-versa.) Carini jammed for nearly twelve minutes before segueing into Light. Light dipped into experimental territory around the four minute mark and carried on for several more minutes before another segue into... (every venue gets one)... FUEGO!!! If there was anyone in the crowd that was asleep at this point, they were quickly awakened by the opening few notes by Page. This song is nothing but pure energy! A slight nod needs to go to Fish as this is some of his finest playing. The drums carry this song and the second section in particular is all about Fish. I swear I had an out of body experience during this tune. (Just to clarify for the record, I was on nothing more than some of Colorado's finest legal medicine.) Much like Guyute, I see this song staying pretty close to the studio version but staying in regular rotation for the foreseeable future.

Slave followed and was well played with an amazingly beautiful build towards the climax. Meatstick is always a fun song but I'm going to skip over it to get to my favorite cover of the weekend, Bold as Love! I absolutely LOVE this song and had yet to hear them perform it live until tonight! Outstanding performance and a great way to close the second set. I'm a huge Page fan and he came through for me once again on this song. (I was 6 rows deep, Page side for this show). The backlight changed to green when he says "her fiery green gown", blue when he says "blue are the life giving waters", orange when he says "orange is young, full of daring", etc. which I thought was a nice touch.

There's nothing I can say about the encore that hasn't already been said. Phish have been playing jokes and pranks on their audience for over 30 years and tonight was no exception. After an entire tour of Horse-less Silent's, tonight they "teased" a Silent-less Horse. I, for one thought this was hysterical. I like their goofy sense of humor and also enjoyed the stage banter that followed. The Fluffhead that followed was the perfect way to end a perfect evening. How on earth would they be able to top this on Sunday night? Never miss a Sunday show...