This post might contain pseudo-conspiracy theories and too much speculation about what the band is thinking.

All night Trey had an evil grin on, running around orchestrating things much more than usual, visibly running over to Fish and Page in particular on multiple occasions.

A lot of this tour I think is about confounding expectations from the fans. Messing with setlist order, limiting covers, jamming different vehicles, and especially tweaking the 4th quarter roster. This has made for some highly entertaining and original shows, despite the repeats this creates.

The Mike's> Ghost 'segue' (definitely not a '-> ') was one of the most baffling things I've seen at a Phish show. It caught *everyone* off guard, taking a couple of seconds to process that yes they were hearing Ghost. This is such an unusual pairing (first time ever I think), and just impossible to pull of, that I think this was planned ahead of time. All four stopped on a dime and were immediately in the Ghost 'drop.'

After generally jamming things out like never before (well, starting last fall I guess), this tour has the confident swaggering vibe that again Phish can do anything. We're not all really pulling for them to make the free throws at the end of the junior high b-ball summer league here, this is grown-ass man obliteration of anything they so choose to do. This is Jordan time. Flipping it on and off like a switch--Chalkdust, why not? Gin in the 2nd set? Sure. Jammed out Limb by Limb? Yep.

I know this is ridiculously (even heretically) an overstatement, but that vibe feels like the band I got on board with in '97. Swaggering jaw dropping stuff nightly, like what else did you expect?? This is Phish 2014, where an 'off' night has a stunning 20 minute Hood or a very solid 20 minute Disease. Those are off nights these days, that's just how it is.

So back to Pine Knob, which I consider to be a intentional mindfuck of the audience, orchestrated by Trey to give us the jam blue balls. Every time a pocket was established in a jam (Ghost), or we were headed for some intense dark stuff (Weekapaug) or a gorgeous, swamp-bliss ethereality *with* a beat (Tweezer), or a tempo shift to type II land (Piper), we were unapologetically and JARRINGLY ripped out of the fabric of the enveloping jammy goodness. Brutally so. Much like the pre-planned punch in the eye of the Ghost drop. That entirely set the tone for the night, and led to one of the most bizarre (yet still enjoyable) Phish shows I've ever seen.

There was a massive feeling of WTF? at least in everyone in my immediate vicinity. And Trey (for the most part, but I think Mike did it once too) rushed us out of the jams into the next song in very jarring transitions, harsh-feeling. But the thing was, the next song was almost always something I wanted to hear anyway, another jam song. To me, this indicates Phish is well aware of the 'ripcord' phenomenon and instead of 'Horsing' us, it was Ghost, or Fuego, or Weekapaug.

I can only think this is an intentional reference to the ripcord on the part of Trey. Something like let's build up a number of promising jams (no problem there, these days), and right when everyone gets into them, lets just pull the plug. And in a real jarring way.

None of those songs 'made sense' coming after the song before them. Just like Mike's> Ghost. And the level of verbal communication between them on stage was also way more than I had ever seen. Something you would need to do if you're planning a bunch of stop-on-a-dime transitions. And the shit-eating evil grin by Trey. And the absolute and amazing refusal to just go for the tonic shred in Possum, but to tease us, over and over again, with what we wanted to hear, to almost do it and then just not. Fucking with us. And the control, the mastery over the dynamics required to do that. Possum was this show encapsulated in a single jam.

Also, they ran through nearly all of the jam vehicles. Perhaps to force their hands into something incredibly original and unique for Northerly. I honestly can't begin to imagine what the 2nd sets will look like. And I really feel that that is the point. During their most creative and original periods (97-98) it was really very difficult to call what the jams would be. We are back into that mode again, something thoroughly unexpected. Something I think Phish did on purpose. To give us the joy of the new again, to cause wonder, and in this case to cause head-scratching.

For uniqueness, I'm glad I went to this show but also thank god I'm going to the Northerly run.