It definitely was an odd night. The rain delay delayed the fun for only an hour and a half, and the band made up on lost time via a slightly shorter set break and the extension of the curfew until 12 am. All and all, the crowd looked ragged and tired after Chicago and the heat of the afternoon and the ups and downs of waiting out a rain delay.

Set 1: My Friend was great opener. Something special for the crowd. Its dark conclusion gestured towards things possibly to comes later in the set/show, but on the whole, the night was lighter, funkier, more upbeat. It is also worthy noting that the design of the first set (like in St. Paul) was thoughtful and decisive, modulating the energy flow expertly throughout. All versions of songs during this and the second set felt clipped or rushed to me, but each was incredibly tight, although never really breaking out the shell. The slower Camel Walk was nice, got people moving. Maze was easily the highlight of the first set. Page for President!!! Page was definitely the band and jam leader for the night. Was really hoping for a Melt to close the set, but as previously noted--things stayed relatively light on this night in humid Indiana.

Set 2: Second set was a bit a slow burn. In my opinion, PYITE never really lands solid as a second set opener, and then the shift into BOTT pretty much guaranteed the delay of deep jam for another song or two. Light marked the beginning of the show's short exploratory period (ending with Boogie). The jam was a little choppy, reminded me of some of the stops and starts in the long jams in early summer 2014 (Mann Feugo, CMAC Disease) before those Sunday shows really started to drop hard week after week. Golden Age, in my opinion, was the jam that really had some legs, but during a mid-jam band council of sorts, Mike abruptly shifted gears into Boogie. As has been previously noted, check out the Boogie outro jam. Funky breakdowns like this kept the show cohesive throughout, and hopefully foreshadow more funk to come in Philly etc. I hate to say it, but Shade was a bit of a downer. The intro sounds like Have Mercy, so I was really psyched for a moment, but then Shade started with its lyrics being unusually repetitive and the instrumentation not doing much for me. Possum was an attempt to recoup the energy, and did just fine in that role as always, but I think a Slave would have been more palatable at that point, given the relative lack of jam exploration throughout the night. Rock and Roll was probably all around the best delivered song of the night, and that of course bodes well for the Mann. Get ready, cuz Phish is going to burn that shed to ground by the end of Wednesday night.

But a great night all around. No regrets ever with this band. 3.5/5