As Phish pulled into Star Lake, one of their hallowed summer sheds, last night, things felt like they were back to normal.  After the irregular indoor and festival shows of the south, it felt good to be back at a “regular” summer show.  And when Phish stepped to bat in the second set, it seemed that they felt the same way.  Creating a feel-good melange of improv that left everyone walking out with a smile, Phish played a set centered on jams rather than songs, a trend that is more than welcome among their fan base. Despite rather sloppy composed playing by Trey all night- we watched a “Bowie” fall to pieces in front of our eyes- the improvisation carried this show, and in the end, the jams are what count.  And that is why we’ll be listening to this second set quite a bit in between tours.

Leading off with “Disease,” an improvisational adventure was impending as the band played tightly through the song and far out into other territory in what turned into the highlight of the show, and one of the most engaging jams of the tour.  Moving beyond the composed jam for quite some time, Phish explored some darker places before twisting the jam into a similar ambient-groove that has been popping up all tour.  Following a dissonant and drone path, this murky improv morphed into the intro to “Free.”  While an appropriate and bombastic landing point for this course of improv, it has been avshame to see “Free” cut into a jamless song this summer after having being the staple of so much past summer funk.  At this point the bass bombs move directly into Trey’s guitar solo, leaving any full-band improvisation behind.  Maybe they’ll stretch one out at Alpine- though I doubt it.

After an oddly placed “Guyute,” Phish put the pedal back on the creative metal, launching into the tour’s second “Piper.”  Ready and willing to take another musical risk, the band laid it out in a jam that covered diverse territory.  Certainly exploratory, the band took the jam beyond it’s conventions, even building into a slower groove for a bit.  “Piper’s” musical trapeze act took several twists and turns before settling into into a mid-set rest in “Circus.”  But a brief rest it was as the band dropped into another fantastic “Harry Hood.”  This song has been completely revitalized this summer, and each time its reggae rhythms drop, we know we are in for a soul-searching adventure.  Once again taking the “song-of-tour” candidate on a delicate and triumphant journey, Phish crushed their magnificent classic with another unique path to the mountaintop.

Following “Squirming Coil,” the band didn’t take a bow, leaving time for one more monster.  After a few moments of silence, the opening of “YEM” sang through the pavilion; the perfect cap on a “Disease-Piper-Hood” set.  By far the most impressive rendition of the summer, the band blew up a vintage set-closing version of the song whose precise grooves and high-energy peaks were just what the doctor ordered.  Providing an all-out dance-fest to close the night, everyone was on a high for the goofy encore that saw Fishman perform his first song of 3.0- Syd Barret’s “Bike.”

Kicking off their four night run with a strong effort in Burgettstown, Phish and their travelling circus now head west to Noblesville and the cornfields of Deer Creek.  Looking to build on the last three weeks, the next three shows potentially represent the most exciting nights of tour.  And if the past is any indication, at Deer Creek and Alpine, anything is possible!

1st set note: Arguably the best versions of “Wolfman’s” and “Tube” since the comeback.

I: Golgi Apparatus, Chalk Dust Torture, Bouncing Around The Room, Wolfman’s Brother, The Divided Sky, Heavy Things, Walk Away, Wilson, Tube, Alaska, David Bowie

II: Down With Disease > Free, Guyute, Piper > When The Circus Comes To Town, Harry Hood, The Squirming Coil, You Enjoy Myself

E: Grind, Hello My Baby, Hold Your Head Up > Bike > Hold Your Head Up, Loving Cup

Capping Bonnaroo with a full two-set Phish show, the band entertained last nights’ festival audience with creative jams- both old and new- and a guest sit-in for the ages. Using an explosive first frame and an exploratory second, Phish put an exclamation point on Bonnaroo 2009.  And what a show it was.

The first set opened quickly with the old-school combo of “AC/DC Bag” and “NICU” before the band loosened up with the emotive and extended dance-grooves of “Jibboo.”  Ernest jumped right into his guitar acrobatics early on, foreshadowing a big night for himself and the band.  After a a drawn-out, dancy intro, the band nailed “Punch” for the first time since their return, but the real fireworks of the first set got started with “Bathtub Gin.” The band used a spirited and creatively-phrased “type-I” jam to reach the first huge peak of the show, again with Trey taking front and center and leading the way.  The Phishiest segment of the set, however, began with the chunky, open-air “Tweezer” grooves which lead into a “Horse > Silent” interlude, and was capped by a smoking “Antelope,” that stood out as the improvisational highlight of the set.

Yet when crashing the presumed set-ender to a close, Phish didn’t leave the stage as Trey approached the mic. Telling the anecdote of seeing his first concert at Jadwin Gym in Princeton, NJ, he spoke of a three-hour show that captured his imagination of what a live concert could be. He then welcomed his boyhood hero, co-Bonnaroo Headliner, and subject of his story, Bruce Springsteen, to the stage. With wide-eyed smiles, both guitarists used “Mustang Sally” to acclimate to each other, and to allow Bruce to get a hang of the Phish. After concluding the standard, Bruce said, “Let’s give this a try,” as they entered his 1984 dark-horse song “Bobby Jean” off “Born In The USA.” A gorgeous composition that that “was considered a musical breakthrough for Springsteen during the recording, with its more accented rhythm and near dance groove” (WIki), it was the perfect selection for the collaboration. Capping the set with “the best “Glory Days” ever,” Bruce turned the soloing over to Red who annihilated The Boss’ hit with his signature licks.  It was a completely surreal experience to hear Trey shred amidst Bruce’s hit from our childhood- a total collision of worlds- it was awesome.  As the song ended with a colossal peak, the lights came on rather abruptly- set break. Phew- they were playing two sets! We all began to wonder if the Phish / Springsteen blowout would be the conclusion of the festival- and as good as it was- thank god it wasn’t.

What came next was one of the most risk-taking jams of the tour as the band took Velvet Underground’s “Rock and Roll” from a high-octane rock excursion into all-out ambient psychedelia, traveling a most adventurous path along the way.  Delving into some arrhythmic dissonance, the band created the darkest and most ominous portion the show before segueing slowly into “Light.”  I thought before the set that the band would feature a new song as a vehicle for the second set, and this was IT.  While the jam was introduced at Fenway’s tour opener, the band chose largest stage of tour to blowout one of their best new songs.

Embarking in some fast pace improv throughout most of the “Light” jam, the band then slowed down, taking it farther out there, landing in some ending in some “Manteca”-sounding funk.  Emerging out of the experimental”Light,” and capping the exceptional set opening trio, was a slowed-down and dirty “46 Days.”  Not necessarily the song you’d expect at this point, the band killed the festi-sized version; and following the incredible run of improv that had just occurred, the blues-rock served as oddly natural landing point for the first part of the set.  The band took little time to launch into a majestic “Limb by Limb” that served as a congruent soundtrack to the liberating outdoor atmosphere that Bonnaroo provided.  With as much space as anyone could want, Phish threw down an incredibly danceable show, allowing everyone to take full advantage of their vast surroundings.

Following “Limb,” the band slowed things down towards the end of the festival with a strangely placed, yet poignant, “Farmhouse” that wound up working quite well as the set’s cool-down song.  A late-set “Number Line” provided some additional new spice to the mix before Phish turned to a regal “Prince Caspian.”  A quintessential late-set version saw Trey dive into a monstrous solo as the late-night crowd soaked it in.  But instead of rolling into the final guitar chords of the song, the band dropped into a blistering “First Tube” that ended the set in a never-ending blissful peak.

With a “Suzy,” “Reprise,” ending, Phish closed the show on the highest of notes, making every Phish fan who decided to make the trek to Manchester’s massive gathering glad that they did.  After playing to the audience on Friday, Phish decided to do what they do best last night, and they created one of the most improvisational and engaging shows of tour.  On top of their game, Phish was the clear main draw of the weekend- and the only band for which the festival turned off the obnoxiously bright, massive neon “Bonnaroo” sign that graced the top of main stage.  In the end- as the crowd thinned out throughout the last day of the festival- when the second set started, the environment was soley focused on Phish.  And under the wide open Tennessee skies, they provided us with another memory along the yellow brick road of Summer ’09.  Next stop- The Fox!

I: AC/DC Bag, NICU, Gotta Jibboo, Punch You in the Eye, Sparkle, Bathtub Gin, Character Zero, Tweezer > The Horse > Silent In The Morning, Run Like An Antelope, Mustang Sally*, Bobby Jean,*  Glory Days*

II: Rock & Roll > Light > 46 Days, Limb By Limb, Farmhouse, Backwards Down The Number Line, Prince Caspian > First Tube

E: Suzy Greenberg > Tweezer Reprise

* w/ Bruce Springsteen

Over the course of a three hour set, Phish threw in a little bit of everything, creating a musical melange specifically designed for the massive and mainstream Bonnaroo audience. Following a snooze-fest of a Beastie Boys show that didn’t translate to the huge stage, Phish introduced themselves at 11 pm with the straight-ahead rock of “Chalk Dust Torture.” Indoctrinating the colossal crowd into the world of Phish, the band followed up their popular opener with “Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan,” “Divided Sky,” and “Possum.”  For those of us that have been on tour, the first quarter of the set seemed a bit boring, featuring songs that have been played multiple times each, but with the onset of “Down With Disease,” a song that was bound to go big after such a tame opening, the show started in earnest. The band tore into the energetic jam that quickly morphed into the first show highlight with a stretched out, dirty segment of improv that remained creatively anchored to the song’s theme.

For most of the show, Phish inserted “singles” in between jams to keep the attention of the massive crowd, and one of those jams was a  standout “Stash” that took a psychedelic excursion outside the structure of the song.  Creating a textured jam, the band eased their way from adventurous a type-I+ “Disease” to a more exploratory “Stash,” and would soon enter the most adventurous jamming since their return later in the set.  But before the band launched us into the stratosphere, we were served a healthy dose of swanky funk with the on-point grooves of “Wolfman’s Brother.” Playing meaty versions of some of their classic vehicles, the band eased the audience into their path of improv; a path that would lead to the darkest, most psychedelic adventure yet- ironically stemming from the rock-based “Kill Devil Falls.” Leave it to Phish to create the biggest jam of the night- and one of the most interesting of the 3.0 era- out of the one song that it seemed least likely to stem from. Certainly the type-II highlight of the show- and the tour- Phish was back at IT, creating magic out of thin air under the wide open skies of Tennessee.  If you could only listen to one jam from this show, this would be it- but there was still plenty of excitement to follow.

Segueing out of show’s improvisational highlight, Phish slid into “Free”- a fitting song for the huge open-air setting of the festival.  Mike’s bass leads bellowed across the acres, as fans enjoyed limitless dance space in the over-sized setting of Bonnaroo. A perfect climax to the improvisational odyssey that preceded, “Free” put an exclamation point on Phish’s most “out-there” jam of the tour.  Adding a ballad to diversify their set, and to illustrate the full spectrum of their skills, Phish pulled out a well-placed and poignant rendition of “Wading In a Velvet Sea.” As the band held onto the song’s ending, they once again dropped into the re-focused “Harry Hood.”  Taking ample time to delicately build the jam, Phish crafted yet another patient improvisational journey, taking the audience on a thrilling ride to a soaring peak.  It’s hard to put myself in the mind of someone seeing Phish for the first time- of which there were many- but if anyone had given themselves over to the experience, this “Hood” may have been the piece that hooked them. A gorgeous build of their emotional classic, one would have been hard pressed not to be touched by this improv.  Reminding us of sacred “Hood” experiences under the stars at Phish festivals past, this was another “Wow!-Phish is actually back!” moment, as the confluence of music, memory, and emotion swirled into a colorful ball of bliss.

The band collectively turned the last hit of “Hood” into the first beat of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” breaking out the cover for the first time since Stuttgart, Germany on 2.26.97.  Showcasing yet another aspect of their game- cover songs- the band busted out a rarity to please the Phishhead and the Bonnaroo contingents.  Not knowing what time it was, this seemed like the fitting end to the festi-set, but upon the final hit of the song, Phish blasted off into the tour’s second “2001”- a wide open funk session that was a perfect match to the larger-than-life surroundings.  A laid back dance-session in the middle of the night was just what the doctor ordered as we bounced through the warm southern air to the bulbous rhythms.  Complete Phish crack, the magnitude of the experience was undeniable as the band took it to the top, then dropped into a set-closing “YEM” that could be seen from a mile away.

However, the Phishy smorgasbord wasn’t over just yet.  As Trey and Mike jumped off their trampolines and into the beginning of the “YEM” jam, the band entered some excessively relaxed funk that looked to be the onset of another patient jam.  But as soon as we got acclimated to the grooves, the band seamlessly, and surprisingly, segued into “Wilson,” bringing some audience participation into the mix.  Following a brief, yet fierce, version, the band tore back into the “YEM” jam in cathartic fashion.  While they certainly could have let the “YEM” jam play out a bit longer, they had a curfew to deal with and an encore to play, hence the vocal jam arrived a bit prematurely.  Stamping the show with “A Day in the Life,” Phish played a classy cover in front of such a diverse crowd.

Combining straight rock and roll, funk, bluegreass, compositions, covers, and sublime improvisation, Phish created an ideal sampling of what they are all about; a formal introduction to the greater masses. In one of the more unique slots ever played by the band, they pieced together a set that pleased just about everyone in attendance.  Closing out the main stages for the day, Phish left their indelible mark on Bonnaroo 2009- an imprint that will only become greater with their festival closing two-setter on Sunday night.  Despite all the clusterfucks involved with this festival, once you arrived in the open field- with all the room you could ever imagine- under the sky and the all-mighty power of the Phish- things couldn’t have been better.

Chalk Dust Torture, Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan, The Divided Sky, Possum, Down With Disease, Alaska, Stash, Golgi Appartus, Wolfman’s Brother, Poor Heart, Kill Devil Falls > Free, Wading In The Velvet Sea, Harry Hood, Highway To Hell > 2001 > You Enjoy Myself > Wilson > You Enjoy Myself

E: A Day in the Life