Coming into this show I had really high hopes after not being super impressed with the previous night. There were a few jams that shined through but I was expecting something big for Wednesday night.

I’m a native to this venue. Seen a lot of shows here but never got to see phish. Personally there’s nothing too special about the venue itself. With one of the biggest lawns around there is plenty of room for chomper heaven. This show was full of them too. Although I can’t complain because there were minimal talkers. Other than the mom (which was probably her and her son’s first show) that was taking videos with her flash on the whole time, the crowd was rather good tonight for being on the lawn. Eventually the mom was dancing and having a good time, was glad they enjoyed the show.

The first set immediately kicked off with Moma. And let me tell you the crowd was going nuts. Even the security guards were dancing. Right then I knew the band was going to be locked in for the night. Free comes next which was pretty standard but had me really focusing in on mike. Where I was standing on the lawn might have just been one of the best spots for a very well balanced sound. For the whole night I would be locked in on Mike. Undermind got me excited, I’ve never been let down by the song and this one kept that streak going. Nothing super big but a solid, tight jam. Tftb was nuts, trey started raging the place and I knew he’d be on fire for the rest of the night. Almost no flubs from him so far in the show (he’s getting old I don’t blame the guy if he does). My sweet one is always a pleasant surprise. Can’t complain there. Steam is always welcome in my book, this one wasn’t great but a good jam. Train song is just the usual train song and they had to throw a slow one in there somewhere. Now Halley’s is always one of my favorites basically due to it having two of my favorite jams of all time. Everytime they play it I have high hopes of a 20+ minute jam but alas we just get a standard one. Now I’ve seen several everything’s right before this show. Everytime it plays I always think ugh, then mid way through the song I get a guilty pleasure and start to enjoy. But then the jams always come and this one was no joke. It might be up there in the talk of one of the jams of the summer. An absolute rager that had almost every person jumping up and down by the last two minutes. This one will be on repeat over and over for me.
First set gets a 4.5/5. Overall it was a super tight set. No flubs from Trey and the band was locked in. The crowd was left extremely satisfied.

Before the second set I was fired up. I was ready for several huge jams. But, of course Julius starts it off and I think uh oh here we go. The crowd goes fucking nuts for this. I’m ready to get it over with, then carini hits. Carini being the mvp of the tour, I was ready for the jam to take off but we only get a 10 minute one. Nice little jam but nothing worth relistening to. Sysf isn’t too bad for one of the newer songs. Again, was expecting a big jam but nothing took off. Wingsuit got some groans but the jam was beautiful. Not super long but impactful. Scents is always welcome and not too shabby but short jam. I’ve seen waste a gajillion times so nothing super special but the crowd ate it up. Now SOAM was the highlight of the set. Just screeching evil tones from trey. But the mvp of this song was CK5. The lights were perfectly matched. I was in awe. Not one I’d go back and relisten to all that often but the live experience was unbelievable. They end it with zero and of course I wasn’t too happy. But I was hoping we’d get a nice encore with a rarity. Nope we got Suzy and that completed the chomper fest.

Second set 3.5/5 overall had lots of tight playing and decent short jams but not something I’d go back and revisit.

The show itself gets a 4/5. The first set was awesome. A great live experience. The second not so much. But I have to say, if someone has never listened to phish before this show is great to show them. Full of the “hits” and not too long of jams where they could get bored if they are new to the jam scene.

I’m have a good feeling about what’s to come at merriweather. At least we know the chomper hits won’t be there.