I went to all three shows this weekend. This show was a great cap to a great weekend.

The first set started quite strong. I was feeling Carini this weekend, and it was a great set opener. The jam in this version really got the place going right away. My Soul was a cool bustout that got everybody excited. Rift was fun to hear, what a great song. Gumbo was really cool, the jam seemed a bit longer than usual (though still not long) and it was exciting when they came back to play some more after the stop. It’s Ice is always great to hear, and this version satisfied. Winterqueen was actually pretty cool and was a nice way to calm down somewhat. I know a lot of people don’t love Yarmouth Road, but I personally don’t mind this song, can’t go wrong with some reggae. Shade was fine, but I thought we had already chilled significantly. I’m not familiar with the GOTF songs yet, but I liked Halfway Home personally, Idk how everyone else felt about it. The Wedge was great as always, perhaps bringing back some of the energy. Antelope really brought back the energy, and this version was particularly rocking. Great set closer. Overall, while there were some parts which were a little low energy, I thought this was a really good set. Maybe yesterday’s set 1 was a bit more consistent, but this set was good too.

Set 2 was great tonight. C&P opened the set nicely. I thought this was the best version since 2017, the jam is really transcendent and really got to me. ER continued the trend, with another great jam. The outro space was quite a nice way to end it, it seemed as if Trey was not ready to leave the jam quite yet and needed to get some final stuff in. Another GOTF song comes with Ruby Waves. Again, I’m not too familiar with these songs, but I thought this song was really good. The jam went Type II very quickly, making the C&P>ER>Ruby Waves a nice sequence. Twist is a standard version, but I really enjoy the song as it always packs a punch. 2001 was cool, got everybody excited and moving. Blaze On closed the set in rocking fashion. This set was great in that it mixed high energy with great jams.

It was a short set, which surprised me initially, but knowing what happened at 2018 MPP1, I was expecting a big encore. Oh boy did we get that. Maze is quite the song, and this version raged hard. Waste helped calm the place down after a nonstop set 2 and that Maze, with a lot of people singing along. I was not expecting Sanity, but I’m glad that is what I got. That song is so funny! My dad was hoping to get Wilson this weekend, even telling my family to be ready for the chant, so we were all pumped when the opening notes started.

What a great show. It wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly quite good in my opinion. I had a feeling this show would be good, and I was blown away with how it went. Let’s keep this energy for the rest of the summer.

So, a few words about this second set. While likely not an all-timer, it is nevertheless very, very good and quite representative of what they've been up to so far this tour.

The first 45 minutes are one long jam sequence, with callbacks to the opening Crosseyed in the subsequent Everything's Right and shiny-new Ruby Waves. Anyone with an interest in 3.0 is probably familiar with the Crosseyed sets by now, but this one has a wrinkle or two. Here, the 'still waiting' line is sung over two polyphonic grooves that eschew the typical rock peaks for loping, skipping beats and airy, even happy, playing.

When the Crosseyed motif shows up a third time in Twist, it's at a point where the band has dropped to near silence in a breakdown of the familiar Twist jam, encouraging (without urging) the crowd to sing along, and when they do it involves them directly in the creative process in a way that the recent woo breaks have not.

The effect, then, of hearing the Crosseyed motif re-purposed and presented in multiple ways is sort of like watching an origami master folding shapes. See this crane? Now it's a fox. Now it's a squirrel.

Combine this style of playing with Trey's interview quotes referencing jambands needing to move beyond the '70's, and maybe we can catch of a glimpse of where they're heading this year, i.e. an aesthetic focused on the new, whether that be songs themselves or former jamming styles deconstructed and rebuilt. A listen to some of the other jams of the tour (Blossom Birds, Charlotte Jim) give credence to this theory, but who knows? The sheer unpredictability of 1.0 is back, with changes from tour to tour and even show to show. As phans, that's something we should all be celebrating.

Tonight’s the night…  Gorgeous evening, smooth ride in, besides the dude who sideswiped that bike chained at the corner, my bud and I found ourselves in a paradise of sweet breeze and spiral clouds that made this a very enjoyable Sunday Phunday. We went in to MPP hoping to score a poster but failed again.  Instead, I was rewarded with a photo op with Mr. Pollock, who graciously doodled on my ticket and posed for a pic.  Enough about me…

Carini.  For starting a show, or for starting a race, or starting a fight, or starting anything for that matter this song is the tops.  Immediate Chad air guitars all over the place.  That note Trey hits and sustains for a short eternity then dissolving it into a crunch, that was cool. They seemed to be in a nice form this time of tour and this jam is not for the faint hearted.  There even was a large inflatable Poop Emoji bouncing around the bowl and heading towards the stage during the perfect lyric parts.  Classic.

Next up My Soul, what a great tune.  Just getting us to remember why we are here, people. Rift, that opening gets everyone up and moving, if you weren’t already.  The chick next to me kept whacking me with her dancing convulsions during this tune.  She couldn’t get enough Rift.  Do you even rift, man?  Then the slinky opening of Gumbo.  I have been waiting to hear this one for a time and wasn’t disappointed.  The groove was hit and ran nicely, then they stopped, conversed, then starting Gumbo jamming again, que crowd explosion.

It’s Ice > Winterqueen.  I love Its Ice and have been chasing it for some time.  Finally, Page gifts me what my soul needs. Nicely played and ivories tickled into a frenzy.  The segue into Winterqueen was smooth as a baby’s behind, maybe too smooth for the audience did not even react when the song started.  I love this song and was a bit sad for Trey.  No one cheered or reacted until the Prince on Guitar line.  Anyway, Yarmouth Road is one of my favorite Mike tunes and they seemed to be hitting the high notes and the middle jam was sweet.  This set was full of songs that had gaps and the boys dusted them off and polished them up for us tonight.  Shade and Halfway Home to slow things down.  My first Shade, I really like the melody and the message.  I had a perfect view of Trey wah-wah and during Halfway Home’s solo he was working the Wah hard.  I would recommend listening to that one with headphones on. 

Ending the set with The Wedge, nice surprise, and Antelope.  Incredibly well received, executed, and pumped the crowd into a dancing symbiotic mass.  Everyone full smile, full dance moves, even had a dude with crutches who wore a helmet.  We all should have worn one, because PHiSH slayed us. 

Set 2 started with two 15-minute jams, Cross-Eyed and Everything’s Right into Ruby Waves is a must listen.  Kick back, put your heady’s on and escape.  The transition into Twist is worth it alone.  Then comes 2001 a short powerful blast off with glowsticks flowing.  Then Blaze-On.  I forgot my phone, so I did not know of time and social media, and I never figured Blaze On would end the show, but the message was clear; Live your life and be kind, Blaze On.  Whenever I start to get anxious regarding issues, these dudes always, and I mean always, remind me to re-center myself and care for my shoes, I mean friends and family.

Encore time.  MAZE, holy… first Maze encore…ever, and did they deliver.  I love this tune and again have not heard one live before.  Then I wish my wife was with me for Waste.  Beautiful song into I lost my mind a couple of times.  WILSON- WILSON- WILSON…. What a treat tonight was.  Thank you PHiSH and Phish.net for allowing us to get all this out, bad grammar and all.

I will be honest: this show...did not do it for me at all. Which is a bummer because it started off so strongly. The four song lull during the middle of the first set crushed the momentum and that is a dangerous thing to do to a bunch of hippies on their third phish show in as many days. Antelope is a vehicle that relies heavily on Trey wizardry that he simply cannot summon at will any longer. And that’s completely understandable- I’m just of the opinion that they should shelve it.
Crosseyed had a decent jam and definitely got the energy back up, but the way they brought it back throughout the set...they do it every time they play it. Ditto for the “woos” in Ruby...at some point it feels like pandering to the audience when things aren’t clicking.
Finally, basically every jam in the second set (and Carini) modulated from the i to the IV. No risk. Not a lot of heart.
And you know what? Maybe that’s just me. I just didn’t hear it Sunday. Hopefully better things in store for the rest of the tour.

Night 1 was filled with energy, and Night 2 was no less.

Carini is perhaps one of the best ways to open a Sunday night, and a good sign for what was to come. This one has some real nice peaks and I thought it had even more in the tank, but the My Soul transition was sweet. This started a nice streak of bust-outs, and for someone like me who is attending their 19th show since my first in Dicks 2017, this was a nice surprise. Rift was played really well, and a relisten confirmed this. Gumbo and It’s Ice are at the top of my chaser list, so to get them back to back was a real treat. Trey struggled on Ice a bit, even letting out an audible sigh on the recording, but who can fault him for writing such difficult music? It really shows that he’s pouring all he’s got into this. Winterqueen is gorgeous, and I liked it in this slot. I know not many are happy with a follow up Yarmouth, but I love that song. Another chaser I was happy to catch. Halfway Home was great with Page’s backup vocals, and Wedge is always welcome and fun, but the Antelope was pure fire from Trey. The tension he builds up in that peak is unlike any others that I’ve seen live thus far. Amazing stuff and a good sign for Set 2.

Crosseyed opener with a nice jam, followed by a deep, dissonant Everything’s Right was the highlight for me. Ruby Waves is my favorite GOTF tune, and I was super happy to see it go Type II. I thought that was some real creative stuff, especially from Fishman. Twist was great, and 2001 was an absolute dance party. Even EMS and staff were dancing and throwing glowsticks, being taught the appropriate timing by a few folks on the lawn rail. Blaze On was rockin, and knew that we would get a special encore with a shorter Set 2 time-wise. And boy was that true.

First ever Maze encore? Waste? SANITY? Wilson! All I can say is wow, that place was going nuts.

This was my 19th show, and while not one of the best, definitely a contender in my top 5. The energy was off the charts, and 7 new songs in one night is always a treat.

Can’t wait to do it all again in Camden for 3 nights!

The anticipation was of a traditional show for MPP 2019 N2 and, boy, I don't know if Phish could have done too much more to turn my expectations upside down. First of all, they went on at 7:27, the earliest I've seen them go on in the few short years I've been paying attention. Carini is always a solid opener and this one did not disappoint. There are few better songs that give Phish a chance to show off their old school blues chops like "My Soul," with a notably solid solo from Trey at the end. Rift has more coherent composed sections than ones in recent memory! Gumbo is such a classic Phish song that it could appear anywhere in a set and I would praise it. I was so confused at the pause, maybe I just haven't seen enough? Either way, the heavy funk vibes bode well. Speaking of another well executed Rift song I loved watching Trey's fingers weave up and down the fret board for It's Ice. This one has a cool little groove instead of the "tick tock" interlude on the album that I particularly Enjoyed.

I don't know if it was my position a few rows from the back of the lawn or the flow of the next few songs but I honestly felt the energy drop a little bit for the next few songs. I love Yarmouth, with it's unconventional chord structure and vocal sounding guitar hook, but I got the sense others (including tour buddy @Hambono) did not. I have a soft spot for soft songs but I think the placement after Yarmouth Road hurt this Winterqueen, but a little jam made my neck and shoulders start to sway. Shade also felt sort of off coming on the heels of another ballad, but it's always a quick one so I don't mind it. Half Way Home shows us Trey plans to continue pushing the GotF stuff hard, I won't say anything further given the current polarization on the .net. The Wedge is The Wedge, and this one serves to rope us back into some familiar territory, with some always welcome type I jamming around an old standby. At this point I'm amazed at the number of Rift songs that I've heard over the past 2 evenings, and wait for them to play Weigh. The antelope is solid. I was in St Louis when the Blues scored during the quiet part which turned the whole place electric, and this one wasn't quite as hot, but my tour buddy called it for set one closer so we enjoyed it nonetheless.

Cross-eyed! Here we go! The first set was slow and they reliably take Cross-eyed pretty deep so I get pumped. This one starts out strong but I feel it doesn't really go anywhere to impressive. Fishman agrees and drops it
Everything's Right also has acted as a reliable jam vehicle recently, with strong NYE and Mexico versions on my mind, I know this is the one. But it ain't. Not bad, just a jam that hasn't taken the heights I was expecting, knowing what the band has been doing this tour (read: BoaF @ Blossom on Wednesday). Then Ruby Waves starts and I toss of my hands in exasperation. I was waiting for this show to pick up and... Wait, what is this nasty Spacey drum and bass? This was the jam of the show in my opinion. Moments of space bliss, some harder rocking leanings and this well balanced JAM ends with Fishman playing the Twist beat! Check this out! How often does Fishman pick the next song in the middle of a jam? I'm not sure, but if he was feeling it then so am I! Twist to 2001 to Blaze on bring the energy back I had been hoping for, and although I had my doubts at first, the night is saved. You know Trey is feeling confident when they end N2S2 with Blaze On!

I have only one question as the encore looms, what is Trey "still waiting" for as he brings up this quote from jam to jam in the second set? Why the first ever Maze encore of course! Page really shines in this one. If I didn't tell you, I like slow songs, and took a best friend from college to his first show MPP night 1 this year, and we had been jamming Waste just prior to the show. Needless to say (even though it wasn't my first one this tour) we were elated to hear the song.

Now the special moment of the show for me: I got too shmucked up in Mexico N2S2 this year and passed out on the beach sometime during Mercury and woke up as the encore was closing. Upon my return to consciousness in the med tent, hooked up to a machine measuring my vital signs (thanks for all you guys who made way for EMS. I heard y'all parted like the Red Sea!) @Hambono informed me that they had played Sanity and I missed it! This was my one chance! In MEXICO! I'm only writing this review because I haven't done one yet and .net auto emailed me to write one based on my attendance listing (which I have never added until the next day up until yesterday), but Holy God Almighty those boys played Sanity for me. I was so hot for Wilson it hurt. I love Phish, and I love you!

Often I feel like set 1 is fire but then all the traveling catches up with me and I am not 100% there for set 2. Wow, talk about a not-traditional show. I'm writing to all you nuts from Tree House Brewery, enjoying a Haze, getting psyched for Bangor. See ya there!

After a pretty rough first night at Merriweather, the second night is a bit of a stronger affair, sporting an overall SAT score of 1049.16. While this is a respectable and quite listenable show, it is certainly not as strong overall as Blossom, or even Charlotte. But the opening trio of Crosseyed & Painless (165.05), Everything's Right (131.12) and the hot new jam vehicle Ruby Waves (107.64) make for a very good second set, and make this show worth giving a solid spin. Overall, while this show is not one that I will revisit often, I will certainly be adding these three songs to my highlights playlist. Here's hoping that the momentum continues to build during the long trek up the coast to Bangor!