[We would like to thank Brad Strode (@c_wallob) for recapping last night's show. -Ed.]

First of all, I would like to thank the inimitable @zzyzx for his excellent write-up of Night 1, and for all the work he’s done for stat nerds like me. My Seattle story is the opposite of Mr. Zzyzx. While he moved here 30 years ago, I grew up in the Seattle area (about 30 miles North in the little town of Snohomish) before moving to Boston and then to North Carolina, where I have lived for 20 years. My memories of the Seattle Center run deep; way back to the days of the Fun Forrest and the Seattle Coliseum (followed by Key Arena), and school field trips to the Pacific Science Center. Needless to say, it is quite an experience to return all these years later with my wife, our 2 dogs (Stormy and Stella Blue), and our Phish family to enjoy our favorite band.

Saturday continued the “fooler” weekend, offering phans comfortable temperatures and dry conditions to enjoy some time at the Seattle Center fountain and surrounding plazas before the show. The vibes on both Friday and Saturday were excellent. Apart from some issues with the size of bags being strictly enforced, everything about the Climate Pledge Arena experience was fairly easy and carefree. A friend who joined me on Friday night for her second Phish show ever noted, “It just seems like everyone is really happy to be here.” I couldn’t agree more. I love everything about this (and Happy Birthday TS).

The lights came down at 8:02pm and @mrs_wallob immediately identified “Free” from the brief noodling from Trey as he prepared his rig for liftoff. Mike came out swinging, taking advantage of his prominent placement in the sound mix, delivering from the high and the low end of his instrument, creating the auditory illusion that there were two basses on stage.

“Bathtub Gin” comes in the 2-slot, continuing the hot streak of this position from Night 2 Coming in at just over 20 minutes on the official recording. About 8 minutes into this journey, Fishman’s snare and cymbal runs drive the band out of “Gin” propper, into an evil minor key experience. CK5 juxtaposed the dark jam with a rainbow kaleidoscope effect, continuing to elevate the possibilities afforded to him by the constantly evolving and improving light rig. Speaking of “Evolve,” the title track off Phish’s newest album follows with a strong version highlighted by a particularly emotive solo from Trey.

“Stash” is up next, and even though Trey had some issues with the composed section between the first and second verse, this version is worth a listen. The “Free” outro chords bring about another dark, swampy jam highlighted by Fishman’s maniacal work on the toms while simultaneously utilizing the ride cymbal to create a polyrhythm playground upon which Trey and Page cycled through their effects library until Mike threw in several deep, CPA-shaking bombs that ushered in the final “maybe so, maybe nots.”

Only the greediest fan could complain about whatever they chose to play in the 5-spot following an exceptional start to the Bicycle Day festivities. But nary a complaint was heard when the opening chords of “Pebbles and Marbles” rang out of Trey’s Languedoc. “P&M” didn’t break new ground (see 10/26/21 for my personal favorite), but was very well played and an absolute treat to hear. “Farmhouse” followed, but seemed to be met by fewer groans than usual. Recently, my complaint with this song is that they have slowed it down from the album version, replacing the segment following the second chorus with a pretty - but very slow - grand piano solo. Tonight’s CPA version stuck more to the album version in both pace and structure, which I appreciated.

Set 1 closed out with a rockin’ “Suzy Greenberg” and a welcome, barn-burning turn through “Walls of the Cave.” One of my buddies declared that 4/19/25 Set 1 was better than either set from Friday night. I’m not sure that I fully agree as a matter of personal opinion, but there was certainly enough interesting jams, setlist flow, and energy to render his declaration as ludacris.

Twenty-eight minutes after the final notes of “WOTC” rang out, Phish returned to the stage and ripped into “Chalk Dust Torture.” For consecutive nights, setbreak lasted less than 30 minutes, continuing a trend from Summer ‘24 that rewarded fans for being quick about their business at setbreak as to avoid being caught away from their seats as lights come down. This CDT, while not breaking the 20 minute mark, covered some really fun ground, starting with an almost jazzy solo from Trey, complimented by a long stretch of Page on the Wurlitzer, where he would remain for almost the first 5 minutes of this jam. Once Page migrated back to the grand piano, Trey begins to vamp, leading on the chunky effects that signify a deep 4.0 jam.

After 19 minutes of CDT, we get our first segue of the evening into “Light.” The jam seemed to kick off with a slight nod to the previous night’s “Golden Age” (although I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a tease) before Trey utilizes his delay effect to great…um…effect, Fishman delivers a brutally good set of tom and snare runs that keep driving the song past 12 minutes and into a delightful return to the conclusion of CDT, which had many of the crowd jumping up-and-down with enthusiasm.

“Fuego” kicks off with a brisker pace than many recent versions. Trey employs his signature controlled feedback for the third time in this show while the rest of the band sticks fairly closely to the theme of the song. One of my favorite moments in a Phish song is when they are fighting to break the structure of the song. Typically, one or two members will be pushing the jam to leap into Type 2 territory while the remaining members are holding down the more familiar beat and melody. In the case of this “Fuego” the structure of the song never quite gave way and the dark jam theme of the night was paid off with a powerful version of “Monsters.”

The MVP of the “Piper” to follow was most certainly CK5. I don’t know that listening to this version will come close to doing justice to the impact that this song had in the room as CK5 and Fishman synced up to shower the audience with a visual and audio rhythmic experience. Glancing across the CPA, all I could see were broad smiles and people dancing their absolute asses off. This is why we are here. “Backwards Down theNumberline” continued the good vibes festival at CPA with a standard run through the song, capped by a furious flurry of notes from Trey to signify the grand finale of the set.

The encore provided dual surprises in the form of “Sleeping Monkey,” which always seems to cap what the band feels is a solid-to-great show, followed by “My Friend, My Friend,” taking its place in the encore for only the second time ever, and the first time since 4/29/1993 in Montreal. I couldn’t help but wonder if “Sleeping Monkey’s” train subject matter wasn’t a reference to the stellar BOTT from the night before. MFMF didn’t go deep like many tentpole versions from 2024, but did finish with more controlled feedback from Trey, and a raucous myfe-free ending.

As we head down the road to Portland for the first show there in over 25 years, we are bringing with us some fantastic memories of two very solid shows at the tour-opening stop. I won’t argue that either of the Seattle shows are first-tier Phish, but they certainly aren’t far off. The band is playing free, but focused. Loose, but under control. Despite all that’s going on around our country and the world, Phish has once again offered a respite from the stresses of “real life,” serving up beautiful, positive vibes for those of us who choose to spend their time driving back and forth across the country to capture them. Thanks Phish for a great outing in the PNW. Please come back soon!

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