Around 6pm on Tuesday, 7/28/15, I boarded a "party bus" to head to the Austin 360 show. This version of a "party bus" had NO A/C and NO MUSIC except for the screeching owl sounds emitted through a small speaker next to the driver. The bus scene was reminiscent of a not-so-savory show... hot, the sounds don't quite hit your ear the right way, kind of feels like a mockery of what should be party time... but the people... oh the people... new friends, future friends, old friends... the people are always solid. After "Mock Party Bus 3.0" and the heatwave of an Austin show, Grand Prairie's intimacy and air conditioning were welcomed.

The boys fired up Tube, and signaled that 7/29/15 would be a super-happy-fun-time-funk-fest. Guelah with A/C warding off the Texas heat means antics from the boys... dance boys, dance! Love it. I won't go through the whole setlist, but PYITE is always appreciated, and the STEAM. For my ears, Steam was the first set highlight... savory, tight, and exploding with energy at points. I had never heard it in a first set, but I'll leave it to the experts to tell you how many times that has happened. While I am prone to hyperbole, I will say that this Steam was at least up there with any I've attended live. Stealing Time seemed to have some extra mustard. Divided Sky was Divided Sky (meaning always great), and when it started rolling my neighbor showed me her picture of a dog exclaiming that the best part of Divided Sky is "the paws." Oh cheesy dog puns, why can I never (and always) get enough? Squirming Coil was the first Phish song that got me into the band back in '95, and this one didn't disappoint... pleasant, beautiful work by Page to end set one.

Set 2 got off to a rockin' start with CDT. Would I get a CDT to parallel that fateful night in Commerce City when the jam played the band? Of course not, this is Phish... don't ever expect the same thing twice. That's what is great about this band and it's phans... we're always changing, always creating, always dancing, always open to that which is... IT. CDT into Simple... savory memories of my last Simple at Dick's plastered a smile across my face, and it stayed for the rest of the show. BOAF answered phan requests, and I started wondering if we would also get The Sloth to answer the gigantic sign hanging between the 200 & 300 sections. Fuego Fuego'd up, and the 25 year old Colorado Native next to me crossed his arms and said with more than a hint of annoyance, "not another Fuego." Being an old ass bastard of 38 these days, it was my place to tell him that in '96, I could have done without another Free or DWD, but now I look back on those days as some of the many best days of my life. Now I yearn for those same songs that I once rejected. He told me with smiles that he could only be happy if the next song was Julius, and man, what a Julius it was! Way better to my recollection than the last Julius I witnessed at '14 Jazz Fest. There were more goodies on the way in the form of phan phavorite Harry Hood, followed by The Connection bust out and JUICY FIRST TUBE... man that song sounds great indoors! (First time I saw it was 5/19/99 at the TAB show, Fillmore Denver.)

Grand Prairie was great. The critic in me would say it wasn't quite near the best show I've attended (Big Cypress), but definitely fiery and worth a re-listen... especially that Steam. I'd take a show like this anytime! Come back to Texas, Phish!!! Just come in the Fall or Winter next time for cryin' out loud... or just keep it indoors in the Summer.

Other notes: My favorite moments of Dallas Summer '15 were randomly meeting up with my new best friends from that hot Austin mock 3.0 party bus, dancing in the aisles with a friend of 20 years and a new friend of 2 days, bonding with some college kids and reminiscing about that batch of college good ol' days, THE MUSIC, Fish on the vacuum, and Trey holding his guitar directly above his head while standing on his tip toes. You could tell the band was in great spirits, and that the energy in Atlanta would be infectious. Go get 'em boys.