Well, I had the option of either going last night or tonight...

What I think I missed in song selection and setlist last night I made up for in groovyness tonight!! It was such a tight, phat groove heavy show, with some of that great new "Farmhouse" groove that's so dominant in songs like Sand and 1st Tube worked into old classics like Tube and Mike's. Lawn seats, right in the middle, below a video screen. This was going to be fun.

Started it all off with BURIED ALIVE! Oh my god, how long has it been since this one was last played!??!! My first, and with a rare classic to start it all off like this, how can you not have a great show??? It was a pretty standard version, played well. After the final chord of buried, we were treated to the opening piano choard of WOLFMAN'S. Ah so solid! A great first set warm up song, and played very cleanly. Trey's voice sounded superb on this one. FOr the jam, it started out with some basic but well-played noodling from Trey before being led into a dark, sinister and groovy beat. It stayed there for a while, never realy leaving ther boundaries of a Wolfman's jam, before finally drifting back into the theme. I couldn't believe the AXILLA I we got next!! I was going nuts, jumping up and down, just happy to hear a fun rocking song. Hmmmm, so far, three relatively short songs - I think I see a long set coming up ahead. And oh was I right! POOR HEART followed to give everyone a break and to start off one of the night's three bluegrass tunes. And oh how nice was Page's solo during Poor Heart??? Virtually no Trey soloing, concentration on the baby grand the entire time. Page was ripping up and down some happy bluegrass licks, with a lot of support from the rest of the boys. Next came actually my first SAMPLE. Well, no big deal, fun tune, good melody, and "I am a rock star" soloing from Trey. You know, the same type he does during "Bug." I called TUBE as one of the songs tonight, and I was psyched to hear I was right again!! When the jam started, it was right away that super-groovy summer sound that Phish has been putting on most of the new album and a lot of other things too! This was a very tight, crisp jam, with some loops from Trey, and his very own keyboard solo. BEAUTY OF MY DREAMS followed, with some dank Mike soloing. ROGGAE was a beautiful song, and Chris helped make it a true "circus of light" with his incredible show, as always. It seems that every tuime I see Phish, the lights are even better. The next song puzzled me at first, but then I realized it was one of my long-forgotten newer favorites, VULTURES. Great com[posed section, with a new vocal arrangement that suggests to me studio reworking has been done on it. Look for Vultures on the next Phish studio release. The lights at the end were intense, with Toph rotatiog the lights around, so incredibly fast! And, along wiht those lights, Trey was giving a distortion heavy, metal jam with power chords and everytthing! Dirt was a fun cigarette song, and then MELT started. Ah thank you, Phish gods. A well-played and energetic Melt finishes off the first set in [phine style!

JIBBOO opened up the second set after a typically long break. This was a lot of fun, with Trey talkikng about Toph and Sands in the lyrics. But the amazing thing about tonight versionw as its new and classic style of jamming. The jam actually built from the typically laid back and playful Jibboo lines to a raging, chord heavy and crash cymballing finale before resting back to the Jibboo theme. This build was similar to a Hood or Slave build, putting a great classic spin on a new tune. BUG followed, and I was SO PSYCHED!! I liove this song! FIRST TUBE just plain rocked, and then the glow stick/ring war broke out on the lawn. WOw!!! First Tube went on for a while, Trey jumping up and down on stage, and jamming on the major section for a long time. The opening notes of MIKE'S started up and we knew we were in for a treat. But little was I to know that this would be the best Mike's I have ever heard! It started nicely, typical, until the jam started, when they settled into a heavy groove. The bass was wet and sloppy, Page was on the Moog, and Trey was adding color and hue to the sound. They put a new spin on this classic piece, which grooved just as hard as the first Tube that preceded it! Then, as the groove wound down, Trey started playing some classic, choice Mike's licks, which were very reminiscient of older shows' sound. It was great how in the same jam they put together their old and new sounds. They segued into what I thought sounded like Simple, but it was really just a change of pace and key and that's when the fog came out. They took it down, in the fog, really slowly and chill, and Tr4ey started to play SWEPT AWAY! Wow, a while since this one! And it was such a perferct segue out of Mikes, I couldnb';t believe they pulled it off. After an obligatory STEEP, Trey was making loud wailing noises from the doc as the rest of the band took the slow pace of Swept Away, and added the drums and bass to HYDROGEN! I didn't get to hear a H2 or a Weekapaug at the last Mike's I heard (5/23/00) but this was a beautiful and slow versionb of H2. Extended it seemed, I didn't remember it being that long! It went naturally into WEEKAPAUG, with Mike slapping the shit out of his bass to start. Some great Trey soloing in this weekapaug when, after a good deal of jamming, Trey began to tease a bluegrass song I knew. it turns out that the whole band heard it and segued SO NATURALLY! into NELLIE CANE. This was a bluegrass song that I love that I had never heard before! My other prediction of a GHOST closed the set, with an extremely intense and fast jam at the end which sounded nothing like the Ghost we know and love, but it still sounded fuckin amazing!!!

wow, encore was WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS, and that's just what it did. Trey cryed his 'doc into the night and we left with smiles and veggie burritoes in our hands. The highlight?? This Mikes>Swept Away>Steep>H2>Weekapaug>Nellie Cane MUST BE HEARD IF YOU LIKE GOOD, SEAMLESS SEGUES! So dank... AH well, catch you all on phall tour..