Watched on LivePhish webcast. Second set was just about perfect in my book. Carini, Tweezer, and Piper all were great jams. Fluffhead was played perfectly which is awesome to hear for its reappearance. The segue from Piper -> Steam was phenomenal, and Steam was the best version of the song I've ever heard. I Am the Walrus encore was the unexpected cherry on top.

The band is playing great, can't wait to get out on the road to see them in person next week

Man Oh Man! Friday & Saturday night were hot, hot, hot...not even the Windy City could cool it down!

Of course Fluffhead is always a tasty treat, and I think I heard some folks singing along "Caray" Hood and Harry "Caray" in honor of the beloved sportscaster so that was neat.

I didn't get my Mercury (though it nearly burst the thermometer in the city), but Mike's Bass was extra juicy both nights so I was a happy girl!!

I'm not sure if the Zeppelin & Beatles covers were a nod to the new developments in the UK over the weekend, but they sure seemed relevant to me.

I think everyone was honored to be in the historic place of The Whales (Kudos to Status Serigraph for doing the homework for the poster)
and also coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the Cubs.

Bottom line, the Friendly Confines came to a rocking, rolling boil both nights and we loved every minute...we keep it rolling!

The mentality of Phish going into N2 of Wrigley (3rd show of the tour), was to give a performance that would stand the test of time and provide top tier legitimacy for 2016. @n00b100 referred to night 2 of the Mann last summer (08/12/2015) as when Phish appeared to be playing for bigger stakes. Even at that point, the band was more than halfway through the tour.

3 shows in, and the stakes are already quite high and much higher than the first week of shows from last summer.

S1 can be loosely summarized as a peak of phun, phunk and phrivolity. Really digged each song (even Heavy Things lol).

S2 reaches deeply into the tomb of a dark, tense, fire-breathing black dragon and takes an axe to it's neck with 8 calculated licks called Carini > Tweezer > Fluffhead > Piper -> Steam > Wading in the Velvet Sea, Harry Hood, and... > Tweezer Reprise.

By then the band takes possession of the monster's head only to realize that the dragon is really a Walrus that they can now claim to be their own.... cu cu kachoo!!!

Wrigley presented a big scene for the band from Vermont. They weren't about to have anyone leave last night without feeling any regret over what was played and how. Keep the fire burning in Deer Creek, boys!!! INDEED!!!!!

Thought I might have to hide under my blanket for a few minutes in Carini, but then the clouds parted. Lots of "open spaces" in the jams and unexplored opportunities, without the jarring ripcord feeling of a few years ago. Nice to exceptional flow for 40 minutes into the (somehow slightly less gruesome) brick wall that is Velvet Sea. Great work on composed sections and vocals. Divided sky and Fluffhead both great. I thought Hood was elegant, if short and in the pocket. Ripping Trey solos sprinkled throughout the night.

With so many good/great slower (and newer) tunes to drop gears into, it perplexes me why the band lands in the songs they do in the second set. I guess that's phish though...

Spirits were high on this night in Chicago. Fun first set especially down the stretch. Anytime Carini opens second set, you know things are gonna get serious. And they did.

I have been chasing a Fluffhead for 7 years and oh how glorious it was to hear those opening notes following a very good Tweezer. The atmosphere was perfect with an OUTSTANDING breeze blowing rather consistently both nights, the temp was perfect, the smells vivid, and the tunes glorious.

So glad I made the decision to head to Chicago the week of the shows.

This was my first couch tour show this year - looking forward to getting on the road once the boys are back in the NE.

In terms of setlist construction, this one doesn't get much better in my book. Great energy throughout and tight playing. Fluffhead was nailed and it was nice to see it in the third quarter. My expectations were high after Carini>Tweeer>Fluffhead and the Piper -> Steam didn't disappoint. A Hood and Tweeprise to round out the set was excellent, even if the Hood didn't get exploratory. A Walrus in the encore was a fun surprise.

The summer is shaping up very nicely...

The show started with The Moma Dance, which was funky punch in the face! And a punch that I wanted! I secretly was hopping for a Moma but I was actually hoping that the Moma would happen in the second set so the jams could be longer. And Moma jams are awesome! With that funky tone set, the boys then transitioned into AC/DC Bag, which kept the funk alive. Then there was a transition into 555. Now with this transition we had more of the groove move into a “dark/spacey” jam style, which marks of a lot the songs from the album Fuego. 555 also slowed down the pace a bit, which was nice set up for WAN (this song on my wish list before the show ☺). Heavy Things came next which brought back up the energy. A nice little happy birthday song and then a 46 Days. Now up to this point there had been no crazing jams yet but overall I particularly like all of these first songs because the boys diffidently brought the funk to this show, which I did not see in St. Paul.

With the entrance of IDK, I saw the boys return back to earlier Phish years. And actually for the rest of the first set the boys were playing like they did in the 80s and early 90s. To describe early Phish would be to combine “weird/jammy/unpredictable/funny” feel into a giant ball of jamband rock that is what the rest of the songs in the set had. Also with Fishman coming out with the vacuum also told the crowd that the boys were bring us back to their younger years. Next song was a long and hearty Divided Sky and then a Cavern both songs again bringing out the old Phish sound. And then Led Zeppelin. E-P-I-C. Cavern moved in into an explosion of Good Times Bad Times. It really capped off the high energy, which was what the boys wanted to create in this show. Now I would have put this cover as the favorite song of this show because when the boys were playing this song I was getting shivers from the level of passion and intensity put into this song. Wild, rare, strong and beautiful, Good Times Bad Times was a mighty cry the boys wanted to crowd to here. They wanted to make an emphatic statement that this tour was going to be crazing, awesome with that Phishiness we all love.

The hits just came coming. Carini opens the second set and it is hard, mean and slimly sick which actually had a Zeppelin like feel which was a carry off from the first set. This show was not your happy go lucky bouncy, Grateful Dead, 60 hippie feel. This was hard Rock! So lets get rocking! Carini transitioned into….the one…the only…TWEEZER. The crowd went wild, the type of wild like that would come from the Cubs winning a playoff series. My brother and I had Tweezer on the top of our wish list before the show so we were going crazy when the boys started to bust it out. And then the second song I had on my wish list was transitioned into: Fluffhead. It was beautiful because after the boys have chilled the crowd down with the Tweezer jam we then heard the signature first notes of Fluffhead rang through Wrigley and I was in utter awe and love. I would have never imaged that this combination was going to be played. It showed this beautiful combine of a “slimly/hard-rock/funky” jam with old school Phish. The two songs of Tweezer and Fluffhead and their jam combination was my favorite “song” of the night.

Fluffhead slipped into to Piper which moved the set into more a spacey style jam of the show. It gave me a new respect of Piper for it really has a crazy/spacy sound. Piper actually moved into probably the best jam transition of the night, which was Steam. The energy and vibe had mellowed and chilled into nice funky groove to sooth the night at Wrigley. Steam went into WITVS, which was a nice calm touching song to end this 6 song jam session. After a small break the boys started up with Harry Hood or in our case at Wrigley “Harry Carry”. When the boys sang Harry instead of the crowd saying Hood we sang Carry. It was amazing that they played this song but it was a great gift for the Phish Phan’s at the home of the Cubbies. Harry then grooved its way into Tweezer Reprise, which was amazingly strong. Again, again, again the mighty Phish roared and again, again, again I was in awe by how powerful this show was. The second set like the first ended off with great strength and power of a hard rock jam energy.

The encore was a special treat, a crazy Beatles cover. There has been a special affinity to The Beatles this tour and to cover I am The Walrus was good statement about how this show took some of that crazy style of The Fab Four.

And in many ways this harder feel is somewhat impossible for Phish in 2016. The boys have been playing and giving us the groove for over 30 years and lets be honest, the boys could have given us a strong harder jammy feel in the 80’s or 90’s but now as Trey, Mike, Page and Jon have all crossed the age of 50, they do not have that same level of energy. But that is ok. The boys know how to redesign their sound that can still have the spirit of that hard jam from years past. In all, Wrigley was a powerful show and the type of power unique to our 2016 Phish.

I wasn't a huge fan of the set list as it was pretty uneven and slow at times, but they did pickup the energy starting with Cavern.

The second set is where it's at though, they could have stopped after Fluffhead and I would have been satisfied. The Carini jam was what 3.0 Phish is all about, throw in a Tweezer sandwich and my appetite was satisfied. Piper -> Steam segue was bonkers and the rest of the set was solid if not above average Phish.

I am the Walrus had me absolutely floored - Best. Band. Ever.

First set was a little choppy, though I thoroughly enjoyed my first vacuum solo ever. The second set is what the Phish is all about, great blissful Carini Jam into a spirited (albiet short) Tweezer into the first Fluffhead in a year and a half. Whilst Piper was OK, the segue into Steam was unreal! Velvet Sea was well placed for once and the Hood was uninspiring, but blissful. Love any non-encore Tweeprise these days and the encore was, well what I can say - it was one of my favorite Beatles songs and not played for six years!!!!

This band never ceases to amaze me and remind me why we've traveled long and far for that pheeling!

For whatever reason, The Moma Dance made me feel this was going to be a real good show. The AC/DC Bag>555 confirmed it. Can Moses play that vacuum cleaner or what? Love the new red headed drummer. First set finished with a bang.

The second set? Oh my. Well played. Lovely jams. I thought the flow of the second set was superb. The setlist was great. Give this a listen, you won't be disappointed. Loved: Carini through Velvet Sea. Perfect if Harry had been jammed out more. Good show. Fun Walrus.

Thought I might have to hide under my blanket for a few minutes in Carini, but then the clouds parted. Lots of "open spaces" in the jams and unexplored opportunities, without the jarring ripcord feeling of a few years ago. Nice to exceptional flow for 40 minutes into the (somehow slightly less gruesome) brick wall that is Velvet Sea. Great work on composed sections and vocals. Divided sky and Fluffhead both great. I thought Hood was elegant, if short and in the pocket. Ripping Trey solos sprinkled throughout the night.

With so many good/great slower (and newer) tunes to drop gears into, it perplexes me why the band lands in the songs they do in the second set. I guess that's phish though...

SET 1:

The Moma Dance: funky start! Standard version but not unwelcome.

AC/DC Bag: standard. Effects at the end lead >

555: funk central so far, nothing too out of the ordinary but good flow.

Waiting All Night: good placement, beautiful song. There are smoother versions out there though.

Heavy Things: many will not like this placement. I love this song, so I do. Trey laughing in the early going of the lyrics, adorable.

Happy Birthday to You: for tour manager Richard. Funny and over-the-top, Trey having plenty of fun.

46 Days: short rocker. Sounds like Trey briefly teases the end riff of Chalk Dust at the end of the solo.

I Didn’t Know: nice! Trey: ‘feel the burning suction - it’s Moses Heaps!’ Afterwards he tells a story about how Fish used to use that vacuum cleaner to clean the floor in his and Trey’s apartment.

Divided Sky: awesome placement, late set 1 is about as good as you can get for this. This is an incredibly sharp version with not a flub in sight. Jam is very nimble as well, Trey rips this old classic a new one. For 3.0 I would recommend this one.

Cavern: LOL at Fishman getting lost and playing during the pause. Not smooth.

Good Times, Bad Times: standard.

SET 2:

Carini: let’s get it on. Band is really feeling it with the ‘lumpy head’ screaming before the jam. Goes major key and contemplative at 6:00, Page finessing the electric piano. Very pleasant full-band droney interplay here, with an especially divine riff at 8:00. Washy, spacey, shoegazey. Reaches a great peak from there and then transitions. Tempting to groan whenever a Carini goes major key but do not be fooled. Mike has it right with the fight bell at the end. This is the real deal, very solid jam. >

Tweezer: awesome, though would’ve been better placed as set opener with Carini second. Nondescript funky jam that finally gets real interesting at the 9 minute mark once Trey dives into his back of tricks, and from there this one sounds awesome. Bassy techno effects, horror movie synths and Mike going ham on his new pedal that he also uses on Lawn Boy 6/26. Last few minutes are great, rest is fine. Gets ripcorded right at the end >

Fluffhead: woah, bustout - first time played since 2014! Crowd goes wild. Weird and not so ideal placement but who cares, it’s Fluffhead. This is a nearly flawless version, absolutely ripped considering it hadn’t been played for a while. They clearly practiced it and it shows. Recommended for sure if you want a standard but nearly nailed 3.0 Fluffhead. >

Piper: ugh, so damn good out of Fluffhead. I would’ve melted away, can’t get much of a better Piper placement than this really. Jam turns funky very quickly. Fish absolutely rages here, great playing. Short jam but very dark and effects-heavy, not bad at all. Definitely not standard. Transition into Steam is great, perfect tempo match and continues the same dark funkiness. >

Steam: standard. Nice piano outro from Page.

Wading in the Velvet Sea: standard. Earned.

Harry Hood: awesome choice for this set, but this is a very short and mundane rendition. As far as I can tell this is the shortest version of 3.0. What gives? Poor version.

Tweezer Reprise: this was definitely needed after that Hood.

Encore:

I Am the Walrus: woah! Big surprise, big bust-out - first since 2010. Great encore for a very good show.

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Overall: before listening to this show I was puzzled by the high score here - the setlist didn’t look too impressive really. Great example of how appearances can be deceiving and how you don’t need 30 minute jams left and right when the flow is on point. Set 1 is good clean fun, nothing out of the ordinary but great sequencing and constantly keeps my interest. Set 2 has some extremely solid microjams (and the show’s only real clunker in that Hood.) What really elevates this show though is the Divided Sky and Fluffed, both of which are up there with the cleanest, most passionate and shredded 3.0 versions - absolutely model exeamples of those songs. Obviously the encore is a big bustout and that’s cool too.

Overall I really enjoyed this show, happy to give it 4 stars on the dot (the current rating of 4.257 seems a touch high.)

I felt this night was the lesser of the two nights. But what did help was where we were for second set. I've heard some talk about how the sound quality wasn't the best and I totally agree with this for the night before and first set when I was on the floor. We had a large group at this show and some friends had children with them and were posted super high up in the stands page side. It wasn't till I had made my way up there that I got to appreciate how good the sound was up there. I really wish I had been there first night second set than battling for space on the floor for sub par sound and very little effect from the lights. I normally move around at shows and know this most generally the case, but for this venue it was the difference between night and day.

Murphy's, located behind center field, turned into a veritable high school reunion for myself and about twenty-five others. VHS class of '94. It was so hot all day I just paced myself really nice and slow. Getting off the train at Addison, knowing that Phish would be playing, gave me chills. This was my first show in three years.

The second set was especially fun. It's always great to get Divided Sky and Fluffhead in the same show. They pull off the lengthy pieces seemingly with little effort. I liked the Steam a lot, as always, but I was left wondering what's become of Hood.

We were on the right field side, which maybe wasn't the sweet spot. Nice to hear Phish again though.

How good to see "the boys" smiling so much on the webcast. Personal observation: both The Moma Dance and Waiting All Night reference sails or sailing. Other than the fact that the Moma intro was somewhat extended, that's about all that's particularly notable about the first part of the first set (other than the beautiful relaxation of Waiting All Night, which to me is kind of like the aural equivalent of an elongated first descent into a good bath, or some similarly calm euphoriant experience.) Glad to see the pinging loop in Heavy Things, which I really have a hard time hearing the song without. Sometimes Trey doesn't set it, I think a few New Year's Runs ago he didn't for example, and I'm glad when he does. Not that I necessarily want live performances to be carbon copies of the studio versions--far from it, in fact, though I can enjoy it when they are--but that loop is really a part of the song for me. Reminds me of how much I love Trey's leads in the Big Cypress version. That version may be my favorite; it just seemed charged with a really positive, optimistic energy surrounding the millennium despite the fear of the Y2K bug (it didn't matter!) Maybe that trichromatic major chord progression just lends itself to happy-sounding "soloing." Happy Birthday to Dickie Scotland is heartwarming, and you gotta love the big rock ending. Feel the Berning suction! Trey's chops are in full effect on Divided Sky, and the set closes twice if you will with Cavern and Good Times Bad Times. I wouldn't say the second set is must-hear, but it's at least average great. I won't enumerate its many merits except to laud the I Am the Walrus encore. Tour's great so far.

They played Waiting All Night and brought tears to my eyes. Heavy Things was sloppy. Carini was cool. Tweezer, Fluffhead, and Reprise was nice. Oh yeah, Divided Sky and Cavern were impeccable. I dug I am the Walrus. Great night until the $150 drinking ticket outside of my favorite place on earth.