Hot Damn!  That was the most enjoyable few weeks I’ve had in years.  From Red Rocks to SPAC, the second leg of summer brought everything back- there are no more questions.  With thirty shows under their belt, Phish is killing it and only getting better.  With leg two diverging so greatly from its June predecessor, one wonders what went down in those five weeks in between tours?!  As a community, we are now basking in a post-tour glow like none we’ve felt in years, and when thinking of what show to sit down and listen to, the options overflow.  August 2009 (with the tail end of July included) will go down as one of the most significant tours in the band’s career, re-birthing the wondrous creativity that put them on the map in the first place.  Nailing complex compositions, taking daring improvisational risks, engaging in stage antics and pulling out songs from throughout their career- the band we once knew is back again and poised to grow better than ever.

Combining a renewed musical ferocity that we haven’t seen since the mid-nineties with a re-discovered spirit of exploration, Phish’s music has literally been brought back to life, bursting with dynamic creativity throughout the entire run.  With a healthy, more mature perspective, the band has been having a blast onstage- an energy that permeated every evening.  Phish shows are Phishy again, a quality that was largely lost for the years of heavier drug use.  The same spirit that imbued the band in their earliest days has once again returned.  Listening to Trey go on a narrative rampage during Hartford’s “Icculus,” telling us once again to “Read the fucking book!”, it was like hearing that voice and feeling that energy that gripped you ages ago on that analog tape.  Say what you will about bustouts, but when the band is nailing some of their most revered and oldest compositions like “Forbins > Mockingbird,” “The Curtain (With),” “Fluffhead,” “Dinner and a Movie” and “Harpua,” there is an undeniable significance in the band’s willingness to closely identify with pieces that defined a different era, while still rolling out new songs simultaneously.  Throughout this tour, Phish has embraced the totality of their legacy and paved the way for a future that holds limitless potential.  I have no doubt that if all band members remain healthy, some of the their finest days lie ahead.

One of the striking qualities of the improv from this tour was how well the band was listening to each other.  Carrying on tight musical conversations, the band members were responding to and building off of each other’s musical ideas with striking fluidity, resulting in some of the most unique jams we’ve heard in ages.  Throughout the tour, the band was so much more musically relaxed, allowing ideas to evolve instead of forcing them, and most often seeing jams through to fruition. Phish was back again- leaving everyone with a completely different sense of the future than we had only weeks ago.  The mystery and intrigue has also returned; that feeling of the unknown when the lights go out has grown more dramatic with the spectrum of possibilities having widened so much.  Building hugely creative pieces all over the second leg of summer, Phish has upped the ante of anticipation each time they step on stage- in short- we can feel the feeling we forgot.

And that was just the first tour!  Whatever incarnation Fall will take, when Phish brings this energy inside four walls, things are going to get crazy.  Notoriously playing darker, more intense shows indoors, I- for one- can’t wait until our refueled band steps into the concrete confines of Madison Square Garden, The Knickerbocker, and beyond.  In the upcoming weeks, we will no doubt be going through the essential music of this past tour- and there is so much to discuss!  In only twelve shows, Phish put the pedal to the improvisational metal, creating so many highlights that I haven’t even listened to them all twice, (with Red Rocks 7/31 II being the only real exception.)  But now we have some time to kick back, relax, and digest some of the most significant weeks of the band’s career.  The “comeback” is now over- Phish has fully returned they and chapter three is already pages underway.

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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:

8.1.09 Red Rocks (Matrix) < Torrent

8.1.09 Red Rocks (Matrix) < Megaupload

Night three- many people’s favorite.  Two sets of fire. Matrix mix by Mat Guido.

I: AC/DC Bag, The Curtain (With), Mound, Gotta Jibboo, Guyute, Punch You in the Eye, Tube, Alaska, Run Like An Antelope

II: Rock and Roll > Down with Disease > Free, Esther, Dirt, Harry Hood

E: Sleeping Monkey, First Tube

AUD Source: B&K 4022 (ortf) > Sonosax > 744T (Taper – Craig Davis)

In a powerful final stanza of summer tour, Phish played a second set at SPAC that showcased some of their newest and oldest songs, weaving together their past and future in a musical tapestry.  Leaving us with one last summer memento, and reminding us that the current state of the Phish is one of pure joy, the band drew from the full spectrum of their bag of tricks.  From a masterful twenty-minute psychedelic exploration and a seamless segue, to a Summer ’09 anthem and an always-elusive bust-out, the band’s full repertoire was on display in summer tour’s closing show.

Following a musical dip in the road at Merriweather Post, Phish stepped up their game for the final night at SPAC, providing a triumphant conclusion to their tour.  Coming onstage shortly after a torrential thunder-shower drenched a good portion of the uncovered audience, the band opened with the roaring bust-out of “Llama,” instantly juicing the crowd before slowing things down with the laid- back “Moma Dance.”  A engaging combination, the two opening songs existed at opposite ends of Phish’s musical spectrum reached out to their diverse fan base right off the bat.  But after this bombastic opening, the set seemed to drag for a bit, featuring a string of songs that didn’t exactly pop.  The exception was a stirring rendition of Round Room’s “Anything But Me” in which the band showed ultimate control, painting a powerfully emotive picture with the introspective ballad.

The extensive first set picked up the energy with a mid-set “David Bowie” that, while solid, didn’t compare to Darien’s blistering version of three days earlier.  Yet the first set highlight came in the late set menagerie of the “Poscelope!”  Merging three of their animal-named songs to close the set, Phish played a bumping “Possum” that finalized a portfolio’s worth of versions played this summer.  Ironically, my friends and I had been joking about the “Ocelope” combo since the song’s debut at Fenway, and on the last night of tour, our inside joke came to fruition on stage as the high point of the first set.

Stretching out “Ocelot” time it comes out to play, Phish sat into another jam session in the affable song.  And to the same musical degree that Ocelot is laid back, Antelope is not- providing a starkly-contrasting couplet that ended the set just as it began.  Both versions were legitimate, if not extended, versions that punctuated the set with a bang.  “Ocelot” followed its now-established bluesy path, turning into a well-phrased, guitar-led piece of improv.  A smooth “Antelope” closed the set with a relaxed and dancy vibe- more reminiscent of the west coast renditions than Darien’s scorching second-setter.

After the first half ended, there was definitely a sense that it was a tone-setter for something bigger to unfold in set two; and it most certainly did.  In a fitting decision, the band opened their last second set with “Backwards Down the Number Line”- the first new-school Phish song, which carries a thematic significance for this chapter of the band’s career.  Tom Marshall’s birthday poem to Trey about old friends reuniting has grown in stature from it’s Hampton debut to its emergence as an improvisational vehicle over the past couple weeks.  But last night’s version was a different monster all together- generating a supremely psychedelic excursion that provided not a standout summer highlight, but a preview of what is to come from Phish 3.0’s theme song.  Building the jam into some extra-terrestrial territory, Phish unfolded their final- and arguably their greatest- creative jam of of the summer.  A piece that continued deepening into the musical ether as it progressed, there were more than a few spine tingling segments throughout.  Completely fluid and one of the indelible memories from tour’s last weekend, this “Number Line” segued seductively from its concluding ambiance into “Twenty Years Later,” creating a set-opening suite of their newest material.  Breaking out their rarely-played new song, its placement was impeccable and the performance foreshadowed what could turn into a heavy jam come Fall.

As Phish concluded their escapade through their- soon-to-be-released music, they delved into their earliest archives with a mid-set “Halley’s.”  Based on the infectious energy of the show, it seemed like Phish would finally settle-into a looser, funk-based version of their college classic, but when the musical fork in the road divided, Trey ripped into a brief guitar solo before quickly switching to “Rock and Roll.”  Used in the old-school vein as opposes to as a jam, “Halley’s” nonetheless upped the adrenaline of the entire audience before spilling into one of Summer ’09’s standout songs.  In tour-closing shows, Phish often showcases their successful pieces of that particular tour, and this summer, the Velvet Underground cover certainly fit the bill.  After sparking Bonnaroo’s second set with one of June’s more interesting jams, the song expanded into a second leg highlight with a dose of heftier improv at Red Rocks and one of the summer’s defining pieces at The Gorge.  A certain nod to the song’s significant place in their tour, Phish once again leapt into the fray- locked and loaded- with dense and fiery playing.  Trey undertook some inspired leads that pushed the song out of its comfort zone into more collective improv.  Rooted to the songs quicker tempo, however, Phish explored the given textures without creating wholly new ones.

Sustaining the jam’s sonic residue, the band took a minute before stunning the New York audience with a last-set-of-tour appearance of “Harpua.”  Only days after playing “Forbin’s > Mockingbird” and “Icculus” in Hartford, Phish reached back into their early-history, un-shelving the ultimate bust-out and the “ever-evolving” saga of Jimmy.  Recounting a low point in Jimmy’s live, Trey told the story of how Jimmy discovered his Fishman-eqsue “spirit guide,” who floated in through his window to give him life guidance, delivering the “great truth of all time.”  At this point, Fishman came front and center for a cow-like rendition of Katy Perry’s global top-40 smash-hit, “I Kissed a Girl.”  The bizarre Fishman interlude seemed less than congruent within the flow of the set, but in the zany context of “Harpua,” anything is fair game.  As they entered the final segments of the song, the band was both physically and musically animated as they performed Jimmy’s fateful conversation with his dad and moved into the song’s ragtime ending.  It was warming to see Phish bask in their old-school wackiness again, something that was so noticeably absent from the post-hiatus years.

And to cap the tour, one last run through “You Enjoy Myself” after Hartford’s comedic, but musically-minimalist show closer.  The moment seemed right for a tour-ending “Mike’s Groove,” but nobody can scoff at a celebratory blowout of the band’s seminal piece.  Fitting in every sense of the word, Phish finished their summer comeback where it all began- with the song that Trey offered up a gonad to play five times a day for the rest of his life while coming to his post-rehab realization that Phish is IT.  The feel-good dance-session hit the spot, putting an exclamation point on a summer of dreams.

Who knew that on the thirteen-year anniversary of The Clifford Ball, Phish would be we at this point of re-evolution?  Over the course of one tour, broken into two legs, Phish has redefined themselves and the possibilities for their future- and to be honest, things have never looked brighter.  Engaging in their best playing in so many years, the universe now holds no barriers for how our musical super-heroes; and so many lives, souls, and imaginations have been revitalized in a summer where inspiration and mystery seemed to lurk around every musical corner.  Though it took a little while, things are finally back on course for the Phish from Vermont, and we are all blessed to be along for the ride.

I: Llama, The Moma Dance, Guyute, Anything But Me, Cars Trucks Buses, Chalk Dust Torture, Golgi Apparatus, David Bowie, Cavern, Possum, Ocelot, Run Like An Antelope

II: Backwards Down the Number Line > Twenty Years Later, Halley’s Comet > Rock & Roll, Harpua > I Kissed A Girl* > Hold Your Head Up > Harpua, You Enjoy Myself

E: Grind, I Been Around**, Highway to Hell

*debut, (Katy Perry cover) **debut (original; final track of Joy to be played live)

A night after playing a second set of virtually all improv in Hartford, Phish played their second to last show of summer centered around only one adventurous jam.  The entire show was popping with energy from note one, strewn with spirited and precise playing throughout.  The band played a great show from start to finish, but in the end, Merriweather will be remembered for its array of bust-outs rather than open-ended adventure.  The first set saw the band drop seven songs they hadn’t played this tour including the promising debut of “Party Time,” but the second second set featured only one blowout jam.  Following Hartford with a show of a completely different vibe, Phish played their last Saturday night of the summer.

As the band stepped onstage following an enticing first set, they deciding to open the second set with “Tweezer.”  In a tour that has featured memorable jams out of almost every second-set opener, and a long summer that has showcased the song, we had the recipe for an epic throwdown.  We were finally in for the “Tweezer” we had all been waiting for- the last “Tweezer” of summer would no doubt be a creative highlight of the season.  In a tour that opened with Fenway’s distant highlight, it was only proper to end the summer with a massive psychedelic exploration of the vehicle.  But Phish played a dud.  Where most every second set opener has had several pieces of original improv, this “Tweezer” had zero.  Sounding like they were merely going through the motions, the band loafed through a version that was completely forgettable.  Before it peaked- or even got going- the jam fizzled into “Taste,” creating an ’09 version of their classic combo.  But this time “Taste” far outshone the “Tweezer.”  Launching into a soaring and creative version, it was as if Phish had somehow refueled their tank onstage- a bizarre beginning to the set, no doubt.

After a slight lull with “Alaska”- a song that has no business in the second set- and “Let Me Lie”- a ballad that seemed to come at a time where none was needed, Phish entered, by far, the most engaging segment of the evening with “46 Days > Oh! Sweet Nuthin’, Harry Hood.”  Taking “46 Days” off the shelf for the first time since Bonnaroo, the band launched the blues-rock composition into the stratosphere, birthing a multi-faceted psychedelic opus .  Letting things hang out for the only time in the show, Phish oozed outside of the composition, into a jam that left the crowd in awe- something Phish is, once again, doing nightly.  Beginning with some lighter funk and moving into a growling ambient groove, the jam quickly progressed into a heavier abstract psychedelia.  The band laced up their musical adventure boots and went to play.  Amidst a soft melodic ambient canvas, Fishman kicked a dance beat and the band was off and running into a second half of the jam that was pure hose.  Trey was absolutely killing the fast-paced jams with melodic lines that tugged on your heart mightily.  The band took a big musical risk  with this jam, and while the entire thing didn’t flow flawlessly, the payoff was pure Phish glory.  The clear highlight of the evening gradually slowed down as Page rolled into the opening notes of the tour’s second “Oh! Sweet Nuthin.”

Once again, completely owning the cover, the band used the ballad as an emotive breath of air before the summer’s final version of “Harry Hood” rolled off the stage.  A song that has shined all summer since it’s opening incarnation at Jones Beach, Phish took one last swing at their revitalized classic.  Another creative masterpiece, the full-band interplay of the jam was typical of the band’s many awing renditions of the tour, and provided a fitting end to the chapter of Summer ’09 “Harry Hoods.”

Well, we have wound our way to the end of the road.  That elusive SPAC show that never seemed like it would come is today.  Set up to annihilate their final show in one of their favorite venues, tonight will surely be one to remember.  Final shows of tours have taken on an iconic status in Phish history, and the end of such a magical road coupled the band’s first visit to SPAC since the their final flashes of brilliance in 2004, tonight should be something special.

***

First Set Notes: The band came out of the gates, on the heels of Hartford’s epic night, with all sorts of energy.  Starting with the “Crowd Control” opener, Phish threw down seven songs not played this summer, including the debut of “Party Time”- one of the definite highlights of the show.  Written by Fishman, the polyrhythmic song that reminded me a Phishy take on a sort-of New Orleans funk riff.  Sure to be a huge part of fall tour, it was great to see the band begin to bring out their non-album new songs.  Look for a big “Party Time” to kick off Indio just a bit down the road.  Other notable well-played bust-outs were “The Sloth,” “Foam” and “Axilla.”  The set also featured a free-flowing version “Beauty of a Broken Heart” which is going to turn into some retro-Phish disco jams at some point soon.  Once again, the longest individual piece in the entire show was the set closing “Time Turns Elastic.”  Clocking in at just under 17 minutes, the song worked decently as a set closer, but at some point the piece just seems over-indulgent to continue playing in regular rotation.

I: Crowd Control, Kill Devil Falls, The Sloth, Beauty Of A Broken Heart, Axilla I, Foam, Esther, Ha Ha Ha, Party Time, Tube, Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan, Strange Design, Time Turns Elastic

II: Tweezer > Taste, Alaska, Let Me Lie, 46 Days > Oh! Sweet Nuthin’, Harry Hood

E: Good Times, Bad Times, Tweezer Reprise

In a show strewn with Gamehendge allusions and non-stop awing improv, Phish wove one of their finest tales of the summer, tapping into the band’s age-old mythology throughout the entire evening.  The second set was a crystal river of creativity, taking us for a thrilling ride through the annals of Phish history.

Opening the show with a string of songs that could easily have been plucked from a late-‘80s setlist, Phish bursted off the starting block with “Punch,” “AC/DC Bag,” “NICU,” and “Forbin’s > Mockingbird.”  With an 8:00 pm ticket time that bled into darkness, we had ourselves a rare two-set outdoor show with no sunlight, providing the feel of two more serious sets.  Taking a dramatic tone early, Phish lashed through one of their best openers on the way to a second song “Bag” that popped with energy and stepped in some brief funk before ending in it’s classic guitar shrill.  But the most poignant first-set moment came after “NICU” as the band made the long-awaited drop into “Colonel Forbin’s Ascent.”  After sound-checking the song at The Gorge, we knew it was a matter of time before the band unveiled the Gamehendge saga for the first time in the modern era.  Clearly well-rehearsed, Phish moved through the tale with a methodical precision, as Mike’s bass forged the path up the mountain.  Yet, as the time came for the anticipated new-school narration, the band moved cleanly into an impeccable version of the elusive “Famous Mockingbird” allowing their playing to do all the talking necessary.

Concluding the opening segment of the set with the return of the their iconic tale, the entire venue was buzzing as the band dropped into the first “Birds” of tour.  Phish attacked the piece with the proper ferocity that often lacks with more standard versions.  With machine-gun accuracy, Trey led the band- chugging like pistons- through a nasty excursion that broke structure with some high-octane improv within a darker musical canvas.  The second-leg bust of of the Ghost-era song came in shredding fashion, juxtaposing the ’98 vibe with the Gamehendge-laced opening.

Complementing “Birds,” as the other stellar first-set chunk of improv, was a delicate and extensive “Stash.”  Bookending  an organically grown melodic segment with fluid sections of darkness, this version capped a second leg that featured exclusively standout explorations of the murky jam.

With the New England crowd floating at setbreak amidst an incredibly lax venue, everyone could sense an impending bomb coming in the second set.  But what form it would take was anyone’s guess.  When the band came out with “Down With Disease,” everyone sensed an impending journey, but little did we know that by the time we caught our breath, one of the greatest Phish sets of the tour would be over and our band’s revered history would be revitalized in a Phishy adventure for the ages.

As we exited the composition of “Disease,” the band dove into another stunning second-set opener, bursting with original ideas strung naturally together, upping the psychedelic ante with each musical shift.  Slowly delving into more transcendent territory, Phish continued to bring the music outwards in a stylistic journey that immediately leapt to the forefront of their most emotive and poignant jams of the summer.  Knitting a delicate web of psychedelia out of their anthemic vehicle, Phish carefully crafted an introspective tour highlight.  As the band wound the jam down, they landed in more Gamehendge culture with a ripping version of “Wilson.”  While not always suited for the second-set, it worked perfectly within the context of this show, giving the audience a raging landing point for some out-there improvisation.

A set that flowed flawlessly, both musically and energetically, rolled surprisingly into a mid-set “Slave”- once again illustrating that any set-list conventions are out the window.  Placed under the mid-set spotlight, Phish molded an awe-inspiring piece that carried over the aura they had left in “Disease.” Fishman’s accented and gentle drumming meticulously framed the jam, while Page, Mike, and Trey wove their congruent offerings into a path of wonder.  This “Slave” was another second-leg version of a song that fully realized its essence; a majestic centerpiece of a set that wasn’t about to slow down.

Maintaining the upbeat and magical feel that had defined the set thus far, the band opened up another tour-highlight in a courageous “Piper.”  The most thematically developed version thus far in 3.0, this “Piper” saw the band undertake a full-on engagement, connected by a string of percussive segments that seamlessly built into one of the most exploratory jams of the night.  Landing in a section led by Trey’s quirky note-bending- a la Alpine’s version- the band’s musical reaction time was negligible as they continued to stretch out their excursion with uptempo rhythms.  The band was simply feeling it all night long, seamlessly segueing into “Water In the Sky” out of the wild escapade.  Its odd placement was supplanted by the fact that the band naturally ended up in the song, and it flowed seamlessly out of their virtuoso playing.

Ending the segment, the band soaked up enthusiastic appreciation for the non-stop joy-ride we were amidst, but before we got a chance to revel in any grandeur, the band brought everyone’s focus sternly back to the stage with the opening chords of “Ghost.”  Finally revisiting the song that blew up at Red Rocks- it did so again- but in a wholly different fashion.  While Morrison’s highlight was defined by a looser, wide open rhythmic canvas, last night’s “Ghost” went for the jugular in a more guitar-rock rendition that brought fiery, rather than laid-back energy to the set.  Taking the rugged version to a ripping, yet linear, peak, at the top of the jam Trey slammed into some hard rhythm chops that within seconds transformed into Talking Head’s “Psycho Killer.”

Oddly enough, the song had played over the PA shortly before the show, and many fans had sung along with the house music.  Without knowing for sure, everyone had a hunch the band either heard or found out about the goings on and wove the nugget of the evening into their show.  Carrying an increase in adrenaline for everyone in the venue, the band crushed the cover, but just as it seemed they would sit into the song’s grooves, they dwindled their music into an amalgam of digital effects, creating a bizarre, and interesting musical texture.  Sticking with the odd soundscape, Trey took his guitar off and joked about dancing to this weird music, poking fun at someone’s continual front-row gyrations.  At this point, Trey’s joke got carried away as both he and Fishman took turns dancing to the layers of effects, while Mike and Page laughingly looked on.  After spending a few minutes bantering and dancing, Trey leaned to the mic and opened Phish’s lyric-poem, “Catapult.”  Always saved for innovative musical passages, Trey deemed this the right time to bring out yet another quirky piece of Phish culture, but the most epic bust out was yet to come.

Using the sustained musical pattern to connect pieces the of music, Trey turned his banter to the days of his youth- days before cell phones and DVDs.  Mocking our overly digital age, Trey continued, saying that he didn’t have video games as a kid- and he was around for the invention of Pong.  Continuing his assessment of present-day culture, Trey noted that no one any longer reads books.  With perfect timing, the band made the chord change into “Icculus.”  As they vamped over the chord progression, Trey continued his diatribe, telling people to break from technology, commanding people put down their “fucking iPhones and “DVDs” and to “Read…the…book!”  In a stirring rendition of the band’s legendary “non-song,” they announced that the spirit of Phish is alive and well, visiting their great and knowledgeable prophet for the time in ten years-since Oswego’s memorable final set.  Cementing the show’s special significance in the band’s increasingly memorable late-summer run of ‘09, this night had turned readicculus!

Sliding back into the digitally-looped theme from earlier, the band counted off the beginning to the only song that could have ended such a Phishy affair- “You Enjoy Myself.”  The band played an immaculate composed section and into the funk, but as Mike and Trey hopped off the trampolines to start the jam, Trey took off his guitar and decided to put his dancing shoes instead of playing, quasi-popping to a Mike-led groove.  In a small travesty, the guitar never came back into play and the likely-last “YEM” of summer fizzled without ever really happening.  It was for sure going to be a blowout to end all blowouts- capping a massively triumphant set- it had to be.  But it wasn’t.  Perhaps there was curfew issues, but I had heard they had none.  We will never know, but the expected groove-clinic was left for another day- and in all probability- another tour.

But with a show that carried such power and improvisational peaks, there were copious memories to go around.  This was one of those nights where things just clicked from note one, leaving us with a show that certainly  stands among the best of tour.  Bring on Merriweather for the last Saturday night of summer.

I: Punch You in the Eye, AC/DC Bag, NICU, Colonel Forbin’s Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird, Birds Of A Feather, Lawn Boy, Stash, I Didn’t Know, Middle Of The Road, Character Zero

II: Down With Disease > Wilson > Slave To The Traffic Light, Piper > Water In The Sky, Ghost > Psycho Killer > Catapult > Icculus > You Enjoy Myself

E: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Phish kicked off the final act of their summer circus under the tents at Darien Lake last night.  The amusement park atmosphere oozed into the amphitheatre as Phish crafted a festive show with a standout second set- combing diverse songs into a creative frame that included some of the most stunning improv of the tour.  Combined with a first set that carried its weight just fine, Phish offered a full platter last night in Darien, playing their fourth standout show of their career in the western New York venue.

After a strange and impersonal stop in a Chicago soccer stadium, Phish tour felt like home again in the intimate confines of Darien Lake.  Coming out for the second set to an already amped audience, Phish stepped up and played one of the best jams of the tour in an open-ended and adventurous “Drowned.”  Taking one of their favorite vehicles of the summer on a psychedelic odyssey, Phish gave a nod to the insane set-opening version of 2000 that made it to immortality as a Live Phish release.  Last night’s go-round featured the band’s revitalized jamming style, born at Red Rocks and on display throughout the past two weeks, stringing together creative ideas into a completely original piece of music.  Writing in the car on the way to Albany, I haven’t had the luxury of revisiting this magnificent jam yet, but my gut is telling me it is right up there with the company of The Gorge “Gin” and “Rock and Roll” in terms of exploratory risk-taking and success.  Connecting several passages of extremely cohesive improv, the band took us on a set-opening “roller-coaster of the mind,” to quote Trey, himself, from Darien Lake ’93.

As the band brought the tour-highlight down into an ambient palette, they artistically passed into the intro of “Prince Caspian.”  Using the dreamy composition to resolve “Drowned’s” excursion, Phish placed the usual late-show power-ballad squarely in the the middle of the second set.  Exploding a focused and regal version of the fairy-tale saga, Trey took a glorious solo as the band chugged away, creating a continuing whole-band highlight.  Before crashing into the final chords of the song, Trey started the opening licks to “Rift” in another creative call that worked masterfully.  Taking up the opening rhythms, the band jumped atop the change and they were off and running into a blistering rendition of their mid-’90s classic.  Showcasing their precision all night long, this second-set “Rift” carried every bit of momentum of the previous thirty-plus minutes into a triumphant and shredding version of the song.  “Drowned > Caspian > Rift”- a Phishy combination of songs that flowed beautifully- and as the band landed on the last vocal note of the song with pride and a sense of musical arrival, the crowd greeted them with a heartfelt ovation.

Following the opening suite of the set, Phish moved from “Rift’s” first song to its last with a interlude of “Horse > Silent.”  And as the band subsequently cued up “Sparkle” in the middle of the set, you knew something big was coming next.  As the amphitheatre overflowed with energy, the band slipped into a centerpiece “Antelope.”  Taking the mid-set jam on a ferocious jaunt, the band got into some snarling patterns, putting the magnifying class on the frenzied improv.  Navigating the break neck music locked together, this jam embodied the narrative essence of the song- musically depicting a dramatic escape from an oncoming predator on the Serengeti.  The stand-alone mid-set version allowed “Antelope” to shine in a unique place, wrapping up a second-leg of versions that have re-upped the ante for the old-school song.

When the band dropped into “Suzy,” it had the certain vibe of a feel-good set closer, but as the band wound down the swanky funk textures, Trey delicately strummed the opening to “Fluffhead!”  Even though the song is “back in rotation,” every time it starts it still feels like a complete surprise; providing the same sensation last night when it was unveiled as the exclamation point on an energetic and unique set of Phish.  While sometimes “Fluffheads” can have huge emotional impact without impeccable playing, Phish crushed a virtual note-perfect version in a huge set-ending highlight of the night.  Bringing the show to an energetic peak, the band used their multi-part composition as a show-stopping closer on a tremendous summer night in New York.

Phish brought out the fireworks in the first set as well, featuring a second song bust-out of “Dinner and a Movie” that, with their re-found diligence, sounded awesome.  Following one song that almost everyone wanted to hear, the band rolled out a first-set funk-down with a thick and expressive “Wolfman’s.”  The liquid-groove session was bookended by another sinister bust-out in “My Friend, My Friend,” a song that converged with nightfall in a dark confluence of Phish and nature.  After a well-played “Sugar Shack” whose carnival-esque melodies gelled with the night’s surroundings, the no-brainer first set diamond came in the late-set “David Bowie.” As Phish dove into their psychedelic opus, they did it with aggression and meaning, bringing the delicate piece on mind-numbing journey into darkness with more than a few original passages of improv.  Molding arguably the heartiest “Bowie” of the entire summer, Phish was noticeably clicking as they careened into musical space. A version that was an experiential highlight of the entire show, I’m sure this one will hold up on tapes.

And just as band landed their intense voyage, ostensibly ending the set, they revved up a “Bathtub Gin” that immediately evoked memories of The Gorge’s other-worldly excursion.  This first set version, though, was much more contained, breaking structure with cathartic melody while remaining anchored to the song’s rhythm in an interesting and dichotomous version.  Before closing the set with “Golgi,” the band paid homage to the late Les Paul, who passed yesterday at 94, by playing a jazz standard popularized by the guitar legend- “How High the Moon.”

One down.  Three to go.  With a show that began summer’s last four nights in style, Phish still left plenty room to blowout the next three with endless possibilities.  Will they play another “Ghost?”  After a massive version on the first night of Red Rocks, we haven’t heard from the song again.  Will they drop a second-leg “Ocean Song”- maybe at SPAC- its improvisational birthplace?  Where will the end-of-summer “Tweezer” fall?  With their current “anything-goes” style, these next three second sets are as predictable as the the lotto, upping the anticipation for the conclusion of summer.  Act two comes tonight in Hartford, and we shall see what Phish has in store- you’re guess is as good as mine.