[We thank user @VermontCowFunk for recapping last night's show. -Ed.]

Wow. Phish played an absolute barnburner of a Sunday show last night, gracing Jon Fishman’s hometown and a great lakeside venue with fiery, energetic, and creative playing. 10 shows in to summer tour, the rust has been shaken off, new songs are being woven into the mix and jammed out, and much fun is being had on stage. While only Phish’s ninth show in the Salt City and the first since 2016, the stars aligned last night, and the band treated around 15,000 fans to almost three hours of fun last night.

My friend Chris (@flippingbackward) and I left Burlington Vermont Sunday morning to drive to the show, and after a very weird summer weather-wise so far, it felt great to be on the road under smoke-free blue skies. Rain’s been too present of late, causing serious flooding in Vermont and upstate New York, as well as an early ending to an earlier show, so it was a relief to have a dry forecast in store for Sunday. After the obligatory meal at Dinosaur BBQ, we parked at Destiny Mall, wondering if that name foreshadowed a potential bustout, and biked four miles on a bike path along Onondaga Lake, with no sign of the three-eyed fish that graced a very cool poster for the show, and quickly found our way on to the lot, which hosted a relaxed and friendly pre-show scene over quite the linear series of lots. Shakedown was busting with energy in the late afternoon sun and, asking for a friend, do the nitrous vendors always wear Phish T-Shirts? Time quickly slipped by, and we entered the venue almost painlessly thanks to some very friendly and efficient staff (although I did hear others had a hard time getting in) and quickly found ourselves at the top of the lawn, looking over the lake with a breeze cooling everyone down a bit; spirits were high, and pushed higher by a food vendor blaring some studio Phish at the top of the lawn (never heard that before). We made our way down through the lawn to some great seats in the 100 level, cognizant of the relatively early start times at some recent shows and were in place ready to go by 7:30. Or at least we thought we were ready…

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