what a joy to be back reviewing shows. and what a show to begin with!

from the moment the carini jam went type-2, one could tell the band was feeling it, especially Trey. he was so precise with his melody creation during the short-but-sweet opening jam--it was a precursor to later events. and then they follow it up with a raging wolfman's--great placement for this. a beast of a Sand follows, again going into a beautiful hose section led by trey. we "cool down" as it were with a pleasant pairing of Lawn Boy and WACTOOB, followed by a Tube proper. Tube was very solid--again it was clear the band was feeling. not stretched as long as purists might long for, but it got the job done and more. Nellie Kane was normal--always a pleasure to hear though. next came 3 songs in a row from Rift, which was a great sequence. Trey absolutely nailed the middle section of Horn--i didn't hear a single wrong note. Wedge one of my personal faves, followed by Walls which is actually not one of my personal faves but definitely a fitting end to a great first set of phish. but little did we know...

set 2. oh man. this is for sure among the best sets ive seen in my 100+ shows. the blaze on was simply magnificent. for so much of the jam, despite modulating into several different keys and alternating between modes, fishman and mike stayed locked in to the general Blaze On rhythm. however, at the perfect moment, as the band settled into to an I Know You Rider-esque chord progression, fishman kicked the jam into high gear by going into double time. mind you, this is like 18 minutes in to an absolutely elite jam, but the rhythmic change really took it up to 11. best version of Blaze On ever if you ask me.

wilson is just perfect placement there--keeps the energy up and is more unexpected than in its typical set opener/closer spot. and then we get to the Simple. simply (no pun intended) one of the most distinct phish jams ive ever seen. after a brief type-1 section, the band then launched into a thrilling jam, featuring dark funk and deep rhythmic exploration. jon fishman put on an absolute clinic. the drumming in this jam is truly outrageous. it must be heard to be believed. listen to it.

another perfect placement for hood, albeit a standard version for 3.0 (meaning contained interesting playing and was very good). INNYLTB (they don't make these initialisms easy...) is a great song--i think as fans become more familiar with it it will be very well received.

and then, after a 27-min best-version-ever blaze on and a 24-min absolutely top-tier balls to the wall simple,, they encore with Sanity. this band, man. LxL was nice here--i am enjoying the strange placements during this tour so far. and then SANTOS sends us home.

what a show. this tour is unreal. phish is the greatest band.