After scooping up my brain from the floor of UIC Pavilion Monday night, I didn't know what they could possibly do to top it on Tuesday.

Certainly a different feel for Tuesday night's 1st set, but I appreciate it more on repeat listens.

The Chalkdust gave me hope for another explosion of a set, but set 1 was more of a fun, streamy type of trip. Very good, but likely unappreciated by some of the phans who had attended both Mon & Tues.

If you get a chance for a vacuum cleaner solo in IDK . . . you take it and you don't look back. I always appreciate those because I haven't gotten many of them.

Nice close to set 1 with Wedge>LBL into a sweet headnod into Exile on Main Street.

Set II - no matter what show I go to, I always find myself trapped in some ungodly line to the men's room or trying to get in the venue when the band decides to play DWD. I've literally seen 5 DWDs, and I've walked in late on all 5. I think fate should give me a break one of these times.

I think Twist will always be underrated only because so many older phans didn't like the Farmhouse album. I'm with them on Heavy Things (because Phish songs shouldn't be played at places like American Eagle and Outback Steakhouse), but Twist has a great guitar riff, groovy sound, and an overall great feel. They can jam it a million different ways. I enjoyed this one very much.

Backwards Down the Number Line - ummm . . . wow. I never expected any of their newer stuff to play so well live. But Backwards was explosive happiness. You could see it on the faces of the crowd and the band . . . just a great time. I felt like I was surrounded by 9,000 of all . . . my . . . friends. This was the performance that made me instantly say I need to re-invest some time into their newest stuff.

Theme - always a treat. Great chance to enjoy something slower, people watch, and take in the entire scene.

Golden Age - during my "Angry @ Phish" period from '04-'09, TV on the Radio was one of the many bands I discovered and fell in love with. I was so happy to see the phab phour covering TVOTR. They don't often cover newer bands, and I hope that's significant. I want to believe this is the band's way of saying "if you haven't done so, check out TVOTR." I concur.

A Day In The Life - knocked it outta the park. Just an awesome, awesome performance. Simply explosive.

YEM - I've gotten so many YEMs over the years, I can't help but judge the entire show based on the performance of this song. If anyone in the band misses a beat or a note, for whatever reason, fair or not, I use it to paint the picture of the show. I guess this show was a masterpiece because this YEM was pristine. Again, the best version I had ever seen

(Note - I'll never hold a candle to the true veterans who have seen hundreds of shows. I have ultimate respect for them and their understanding of this band. I've only been to 20 shows over the last 11 years, pre-hiatus, post-hiatus and post-breakup. But I do know enough to recognize a good YEM when I hear it, just like I know a bad YEM when I hear it. 8/16/11 was spendid.)

E - Heavy Things . . . now I know what the veteran phans were complaining about when I first started going to shows. I thought it was a nice rendition, but I'm over this song.

Slave - I said going into this run that I didn't need or want to see a Slave. For whatever reason, this was one of the few tunes that left me lukewarm. But like they did all thru the UIC run, they convinced me and changed my mind. This Slave was terrific.

Rocky Top - whenever this band goes bluegrass or reggae, I'm all in. It brings so much energy and Rocky Top is one of their great covers. I was shocked when I looked up the stats and saw how rare Rocky Top had become. They played it so much in the 90s I guess it deserved a break. But I'm glad I was here to see it. This version was like a trip back to the 90s when the band was young, hungry and standing in the shadow of Jerry and the boys. Simply awesome.

Overall, the 2nd set and E of this show was explosive and resurrected the insane energy of Monday night.