I just got to Lake Geneva after an all-night drive, so tonight but I’ll go with the Cliff Notes version on a herky-jerky show that didn’t totally elevate. With a first set filled with fresh songs and bust outs, the band set the stage for a huge second with opening “Disease -> Sand.” As the band segued out of “Sand into “Twist,” it seemed like they were setting up an improvisationally-based five or six song stanza of dreams. Flowing like a river through the first thirty minutes of the main event, the band seemed primed to weave one of their sets of the summer, but all of a sudden, Trey got jumpy. Red bailed out of “Twist” with an insistent transition into another oddly placed, mid-second set “Rift” before the jam even got going. But when the guys cranked into an ever elusive second-set “Bathtub Gin,” things seemed primed to get nasty. But as they forged into an original and engaging jam, Trey got the idea that cutting the excursion for a second set “Fluffhead” was somehow a good idea. Though “Fluff” certainly popped off, the set that looked super-promising from the early jump off had dissolved to a disjointed ride. A late-set bust-out of “Ride Captain Ride” kept the energy high and was great to hear, and when Trey wove the piece into the “Antelope” intro and the jam, they formed a quality late-set couplet.
All in all, last night didn’t contain the coherency that has underlined most of the show’s of this summer. “Disease – > Sand,” however, is definitely another stellar segment of Phish that must be heard. The “Disease, in fact, flowed incredibly well, ballooning over the fifteen minute mark and was jammed to completion for the first time this summer. Flowing nicely into “Sand,” the band kicked down another rhythmic throwdown, in what is quickly developing into the leading “MVP” candidate for Leg One. Check out that segment for sure. Notable bust-outs in fun a first set included the third “Sweet Jane” ever, “Mound,” “Life On Mars?” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” A fun night of Phish, but the second set really coulda been a contender…
I: Crowd Control, Dinner and a Movie, Sweet Jane, Limb By Limb > Possum, Mound, Life on Mars?, The Mango Song > Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, Strange Design, Birds of a Feather, Halley’s Comet, While My Guitar Gently Weeps
II: Down with Disease > Sand -> Twist -> Rift, Bathtub Gin –> Fluffhead, Ride Captain Ride, Run Like an Antelope
E: Cavern > Sanity, First Tube
PS…I rescind my comment from the last review saying that the Deer Creek “Tweezer” is the “Tweezer” of the summer. It’s not.
