[Thank you to user @THEWATCHFULHOSEMAKER (McGrupp), Ryan Mannix, for recapping last night's show. -Ed.]

One aspect of Phish Shows that I feel rise above any other live performing artist, is their ability to construct a Narrative over the course of a show. Many great artists are able to approximate this by crafting a tried and true song list of their strongest material and setting them in stone for entire tours, or even careers.

What Phish does, as you well know, is something else entirely. Every night themes emerge and evolve naturally, and morph and disintegrate again; at their best, they can take you on a musical journey just as satisfying as a good book (which you should read by the way).

A small musical tease in the improvisation can completely alter the course of the evening (think the 11/27/98 “Wipe Out” show).

Or, a lyric can nudge the music in a different direction, like on 9/03/21 during the “Chalkdust Torture” Jam, “Runaway, Runaway, Runaway” lyrics from “A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing” (played earlier in the set) appear, prompting a total left turn into “Runaway Jim.”

Of course, I can’t mention Narrative without the Show from 9/6/15 which features not only an actual story told in “Harpua,” but the coded message of “Thank You” in the setlist, which was a wonderful conclusion to the tale of “Spelling Things at Dick’s” (Note for Editor: we could use a stronger title).

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