I grew up in the area, so the fact that they were excited to play Weekapaug (named after a town located only a few minutes away from my parents’ house, which is my very convenient lodging option tonight) meant a lot to me! I loved that they acknowledged the song’s origin story in such a special way (I read earlier that it’s only been played without Mike’s in two different shows, both in 2003). My parents have never been interested in coming with me to a show, but they’ve always liked the Weekapaug connection, so I was really happy to text them that tonight.

Musically, the big highlight for me was (probably unsurprisingly) Sea of Stars. I was lucky enough to see one of the NYC GOTF shows and the composed section was incredible on both occasions. I’ll need to relisten, but my immediate impression of tonight’s jam was that it started out in the gentle arms of a 1974 Dark Star and seamlessly made its way into the crushing nightmare of 1974 King Crimson (the album Red). In other words... it was amazing.

One more thought: I was in the back of the floor next to the tapers section and it was both the danciest and least talkative section I’ve ever been in at an indoor show. I’ve only been on the floor one other time so maybe I just picked the right spot, but I really loved being surrounded by such a focused, joyful, and unselfconscious crowd. Thank you to my neighbors for helping create such a special night!

Tonight was full of new material and amazing energy to counteract the “washed up nostalgia act” connotation of playing at a casino. So we can get back to what matters most: wooks on acid playing roulette. The segues were incredibly smooth, the jamming was fresh and, at times, evil. Best show of the tour. Night one and done!

SET 1: Energy -> Weekapaug, Moma, Maze -> Lengthwise -> Maze, Petrichor, Things People Do > Sample, Gin

SET 2: Soul Planet -> Wider -> Undermind, The Final Hurrah, Beneath a Sea of Stars Part 1, Ghost -> BOAF, Waste > Golgi

ENCORE: Foam, Contact, More

One of the beautiful things about being a Phish addict is comparing the impressions I have of a show with those of my phellow phans. Sometimes it seems as if we all move like birds of a feather... like whippets we dance. Other times, it seems as if I was the only one watching the show that I think that I saw... I'm not quite sure where everyone else was observing from, but it was certainly a different show than I saw. This show, Mohegan 1, falls into the latter category.

Currently, the .NET score for this show is a paltry 3.8. I'm not sure what you all thought that you witnessed, but apparently it was an alternate show in a different universe from the one that I watched. Let's analyze this beast of a show and try to figure out what kind of [bad] drugs you guys have been taking (a wise man told me that you should always avoid the brown acid).

The show kicks off with the first of several bustouts, the infectious Energy. Unlike a lot of these rarely played bits of fun, this one sounds rehearsed and well played, and the energy that it creates (did you see what I did there?) is outstanding. With its big dance factor segueing into an incredibly rare hometown special Weekapaug, it's really incomprehensible to me that anyone would find this to be less than a stellar start to this show.

A pretty standard (that means well played) Moma ensues before we find ourselves facing a dark and mesmerizing Lengthwise/Maze. This is tight and scary and hazy... just the way we like 'em!

A pretty much picture perfect Petrichor comes next. I'm not a fan of the term "extra mustard", but this one really deserves the monicker. Delicate and intricate and beautiful... just a really enjoyable ride.

Things People Do isn't the strongest tune in the stable, but the cool down here is more than acceptable. I know that a lot of you don't love getting Sample, but I'm a huge sucker for it's compelling hooks, and this is a very good one. The set closes down with the best Gin of the tour so far, and that's always a welcome addition to a great show!

Moving on to the second set, we find a really strange set list staring us in the face. But, sometimes the set list doesn't really tell the story, and that's the case here.

Soul Planet may not be the most sophisticated song, but the fact of the matter is that Trey simply loves playing it... and it shows with a great type I jam. This leads into the new track Wider... not a spacy jam vehicle, but not a bad cool down song either (we could do much worse). A strong Undermind with some outstanding piano play from Page takes us to the first break of the set. Not the spaciest open to a second set, but it certainly meets the danceathon criterion.

While the KV songs are still not quite aligned in my cranium, they are certainly beginning to grow on me. Final Hurrah may not be the highest quality song, per se... but this reading has a great, super danceable jam attached to it... and that makes it a winner for me.

Next up is quite possibly the most intriguing new song in the rotation, the laid back Beneath A Sea Of Stars. This is a very pretty song that could honestly slip by as just another Trey cool down song except for one important fact... the boys just love jamming this thing out! I first read the reviews from Camden comparing this to Dark Star and thought to myself that someone was a little too much of a fanboy... and I'm not sure that I'd award it that level of praise just yet... but this thing gets pretty lost in a lysergic haze before stretching its tentacles and morphing into a full blown, bad ass, type II jam. Nice!

At this point, if the show had ripcorded into Caspian, Number Line and Slave, I would have been quite happy... but it didn't. We got Ghost, BOAF and Golgi. All well played and quite the ticket for bringing the second set home in a grand fashion. But, we're still not through with this thing... fucking Foam and Contact in the encore slot??? Stupendous! Yes... I'm conciously choosing to ignore More... although the dance factor is prime.

The way that I count them, there are 9 grade A choice tracks here [Energy, Weekapaug, Moma, Maze, Gin, Soul Planet, BASOS, Ghost, BOAF, Foam & Contact], and another 7 songs that are super solid [Petrichor, Sample, Undermind, Hurrah, Golgi, Foam & Contact]... that's 16 great songs out of 20 (not counting Lengthwise), and that makes for a stellar show in my book!

Best show of the tour so far!!!

Beneath a Sea of Stars Part 1 is almost certainly going to be a litmus test jam going forward - people dislike the song, and people will dislike the gnarled and *weird* 1994-invoking jam that comes from it, and that's totally fine. If this was a one-off, that's totally fine, too. If it isn't.......................well, then we'd better fasten our seat belts, because we're in for a bumpy ride. I'm talking a Jurassic Park level bumpy ride. And that's a good thing, I think.

A few other notes:
1. Thank goodness Energy returned. I'd been pining for it to reenter the rotation since it almost went stratospheric on 8/4/13 (IMO, the Jim that came afterwards was the mea culpa for Energy collapsing, the victim of Fish's kit needing repairs if my ever-faulty memory serves), and not only did it come back strong, but with a dope segue into Paug to boot. Not too shabby.
2. Darn good stuff all throughout both sets. The segues into Wider and Undermind were incredibly slick, so much so with Wider that I didn't even realize it was a new song.
3. Ghost -> Birds threw a lot at the wall and enough of it stuck (plus they were clearly enjoying themselves with the Paug callback) that it's worth hearing again. The whole show is, but you know what I mean.

Big thumbs up from this guy. Real interested to see whether the Beneath a Sea of Stars jam was a one-off or a harbinger.

I had an extremely good time on the floor! Energy > Weekapaugh gets it started and are cleverly jammed. This Maze
is extremely psychedelic and at times scary. A double shot of Gin ends the set.

Trey takes Soul Planet by the reigns and shreds his way to victory. Undermind and The Final Hurrah get superb type I jams, and Beneath a Sea of Stars anchors the set! I caught the debut of this song in Camden, and after tonight I can see it becoming a jam juggernaut. Ghost and Birds of a Feather breathe hot fire onto the depths of the set, and Golgi ends it in rocking fashion. Great to see Foam, especially in the encore slot. My first Contact after 24 shows!

This show has a good balance of new and old songs, and ripped from beginning to end. This show makes me so happy Phish is performing at this level 36 years in! I’ll see ya’ll tomorrow.

Listened to this one from home...
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First set was great. Energy was a nice surprise and segued beautifully in Paug. Moma (or "momma", as the dude at sirius said) is always welcomed. Maze, Lengthwise, Maze was a highlight. Petrichor is one of my favorite's of the newer tunes. Only downside to me was Things People Do....not a fan of the song or energy. Sample and Gin were a great end to my favorite first set of the tour.
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Soul Planet is definitely the lesser of the Souls, but Trey took it places. Wider and Undermind was fantastic. The Final Hurrah is one of the Kasvot highlights for me.
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Beneath a Sea of Stars, Ghost, Birds and Waste are incredible. Listen to this. Would have loved if the show ended there. You could feel the energy from the recording. Love Golgi, but really would have liked the set to end with the beauty of Waste.
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Foam encore! I feel about the encore similar to the ending of set 2. Contact would have been a perfect ending. It feels good. Especially with a second night coming up. More was great, but changed the feeling a bit.
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This is my favorite show in recent memory. Can't wait to re-listen.

I was listening in my car for a drive from NY to DC and there was many moments of sheer jubilation. This show is definitely a top show for 2019 and I am shocked it is not rated higher. The first set was fun with many highlights but Set 2 as always is where the meat is. I just want to note how happy I am for these GOTF tunes. Beneath the sea of stars I hope sticks around as a new Jam titan and Wider can just show up as a jam segment and I think that says alot! I just wanted to share my admiration and I will allow smarter people to dig deep....On to Night 2!!!

Seem to me that Every time Phish comes to Connecticut they really seem to pour it all out on stage and really give the fans a magical show. So lucky to be a resident here as it is probably the only one A few things redeemable about this state—>That phish plays here and is close once in while during tours. This first night was no exception. Everything I could want in a phish show and more. I love this band and can’t wait to see him again, again, again, and again. So happy just to go out and see a night of phish, but when they play like this it really makes me realize why I am so fascinated. God bless these men! Here’s to many more years!¡ cheers!!!! What a fucking night! Just electric.

On the off day between Phish’s two shows in Boston and their next two at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut m’lady and I were happy to be hosted by our new acquaintance-turned-friend Sam at his home in Cape Cod. We had met Sam the previous fall at some Phish shows in Albany, we enjoyed two nights of nice chats outside our hotel and took him up on his offer to visit.

Sam and his son showed us a great time. We went out for a cruise around Martha’s Vineyard on their beautiful boat, enjoyed an excellent dinner at a legendary local spot called Seafood Sam’s (no relation), rode in Sam’s Jeep down to the beach for a heckuva sunset, and closed out the evening munching yummy frozen pizzas and binge-watching Bob’s Burgers back at our host’s house before turning in for a solid rest. And it all started with a short post-show meeting almost a full year earlier.

Gotta love how music brings people together. Especially music that comes with a built-in travelling circus.

When morning broke on July 9th, 2019 it was time for us to part company. M’lady and I headed to our budget hotel thirty miles from the next Phish concert to meet up with our Boston friends while Sam dropped off his kid and made his own way to the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, where we would all be joining 10,000 like-minded individuals for the show. Soon enough Dee and Joe arrived at our hotel and the four of us set out for the show, arriving at the stand-alone casino complex early enough to swing a leisurely dinner in an onsite Italian restaurant, a meal that was peppered with visits from and sightings of friends from all over.

For a den of sin, the Mohegan Sun was a pretty nice place. It was rather un-Vegas, with shops and distractions scattered liberally amongst their ubiquitous gambling opportunities, and the place didn’t reek of greed and hopelessness the way The Flamingo and Caesar’s Palace do. Maybe it was still too new. It was a bit of a crush getting into the show but it was a happy, friendly crush shared with good people in pleasant surroundings. Inside I headed straight to the concession area and laid out way too much money for a lemonade.

Yes, a straight-up lemonade. I was driving. And you know, I enjoyed that lemonade so much I almost swore I was going to give up drinking at concerts. I even got myself a second one.

I’ve certainly typed way more words than I should have without yet mentioning the show itself, which I enjoyed very much. It started with Energy going into Weekapaug (without a Mike’s Song, weird huh?) and than a Moma Dance (which I can take or leave, to be honest) into Maze, which has long been one of my Phish phaves. And inside this Maze they squeezed a run through one of Fishman’s little moments of superfluous gold, Lengthwise.

And whilst this was all well and good (or better), I must aim my attention (and thus yours) towards the next number, a little ditty called Petrichor that is oft-maligned by people much phishier than I, an orchestrated classical scion that remains gloriously instrumental until being abruptly interrupted by lyrics so cheesy and incessant that they somehow retroactively tie the whole shebang together, and I love it. It’s a chance for Fishman to use the large and cumbersome marimba lumina that his roadies go through the trouble of setting up for him every night on the off chance that they will play Petrichor, and it’s a chance for Trey to show off his inner orchestra. When out for an evening stroll it’s not uncommon for a rock musician to hear large cresting symphonic lines sweeping through their mind’s ear; cascading violins and majestic French horns towering above manic ‘cello glissandos and thundering timpani, with an unimaginable yet unforgettable woodwind melody piercing through it all…and on that rare occasion that said rock musician manages to squeeze the sound out of his head it often sounds an awful lot like Petrichor (or maybe Tubular Bells).

And like I say, I love it.

The set closed out with Things People Do, Sample, and Bathtub Gin which was also pretty great. And this was just the first set. The rest of the show had a few more of my favourites too: Ghost, Golgi, and even Contact.

To be honest, what a great show to be sober at! I wonder if they would always play that well if I stopped drinking at their shows? The world may never know.

toddmanout.com

This is the only good show out of the last 5. They started the tour better than they’re ending it I like to every song except for Beneath a sea of stars I do not like that song at all It’s like Shade or thread there OK songs but they’re just so boring I can’t imagine what it must be like to hear them live I mean are they trying to put potheads to sleep-the only ghost of the forest songs that I really like are about to run Ruby waves DWYAS and a life beyond the dream. And I think the only reason I like that last one is because I heard it for the first time at Blossom as an encore and it was played really well compared to the other two versions they played since listen to the guitar solo at Blossom people were shitting on that song for being too slow and it is too slow but listen to Trey guitar solo it is Absolutely gorgeous he hits all the right notes all the right sharps all the right flats it’s just beautiful and I left Cuyahoga Falls going back to my home 10 minutes away think thinking about that song and repeating the catchy line in my head yes Trey I can see I can seeWe finally got our foam but we have still yet to get Esther I know everybody thinks Tila is the best girl Tila or Reba but for me I like Esther even better than Reba it’s a hotter song to play and so when they play it just right when Trey hits all those fast guitar notes just write it’s it’s like an orgasm he so rarely plays it well but when he does usually he only played it well in the 90s there are a few versions after 2000 that are great I’m hoping we get one over the next two days and of course a Harpua icculus and col forbin into ffm are all rarities yet to be touched in 2019. Except that’s not really true because they did do it during sound check but most sound checks we can’t listen to even from a distance except at Hershey Arena and a few others I remember hearing sugar shack in 2010 and I was like cool play it during sound check so I don’t have to hear it during the show LOL I hate sugar shack that song can suck my sugar balls. Now as far as Mike songs that reminds me I would love to hear a don’t you want to go into let’s go let’s go is a great Mike song it is very energetic and perfect life and yet they don’t play it hardly at all another one that’s under rated is Marissa I really like that song it’s a short quick little ditty kind of Bluegrass he and they only played it into thousand 17 in Pittsburgh but I still remember the song vividly and I couldn’t get it out of my head it reminds me of my Wife doing the dishes and watching her hands and thinking about How sexy and small they are and just lusting over her hands it has really good lyrics for such a short song yes my wife may not be named Marissa but Mandy sounds awfully close and Mandy has a way of thinking when she looks at me that way and yes the weight of the world does stop and it starts to sink when in Mandy’s Eeeee—-Eyes I.....ah swim. Speaking of rarities I want to hear a sloth on your way down if I could I know they already played it but I love that song such a beautiful piano solo build at the end sounds like angels dancing and now they’ve played coil twice almost in a row and that is one of the only songs I’ve still yet to hear live I was so mad I missed it Another cover I want to hear really badly is of course another golden age but Sea and Sand>Roggae I love the velvet underground and any Bob Marley song or Beatles song cry baby cry over while my guitar I prefer the shorter Beatle songs gently weeps is just a little bit too well depressing obviously oh and I almost forgot show of life play that at as the very last song of the tour so I can finally have some meaning I know that song gets shit on but I really like that guitar solo in that song plus the lyrics are not cheesy they’re not just about love or souls or oceans or space in general there about pain and heartache but with lyrics that aren’t so cheesy I’m in the lyrics to soul planet are fine but they’re kind of cheesy and the lyrics to drift while you’re sleeping or just plain silly The answer is love let’s all just get along and sing coomb by Ya there’s no evil in the world there’s no God or devil everything is just great we’re just people that used to be monkeys and let’s just get along ......Oh and everything will be saved by marijuana and cannabis oil and I call bullshit. People think that evil is somehow idea or this concept outside of their bodies but the truth is we are all born evil we all have light and darkness in us and until we admit that we are part of the problem and we are all to blame and it’s not mistakes it’s called sin we are never going to understand light and love and Jesus and anything good because were starting with the wrong premise That everybody is really good inside and the world is the problem or something outside of ourselves and we just need to fix the planet that is one Devil’s greatest allies convince us that we are good there is nothing good in me and there’s nothing good in you reading this review All good and any good gracious gift comes from the father of lights and his name is Jesus and he made you. But fish turning into a Christian band isn’t the answer either because most of them suck Musically The passion and the talent that fish has is extraordinary they just believe in the wrong things like page talking about aliens on the IT DVD How he had no reason to disbelieve the guy but he’ll just believe the Bible which has all kinds of historical proof and deep down everyone knows there’s a God we just want to keep sinning The Bible says we love our lies are stealing our vanity our pride our hatred are wanting things called covetousness-so we ignore A God of accountability a God of righteous holiness and instead just call him mother earth and to grade him and make a God in our image which is called idolatry us and I am very guilty of myself I’m addicted to playing video games and my wife says they’re my God How could someone as intelligent and talented as McConnell say such retarded things. They would rather believe in aliens and mother earth and that we all used to be monkeys and Men are mostly good and that’s the world that is evil rather than believe in a God of accountability. And by the way I hate all cults there are many cults With one central leader and he’s just a man I worship no man not even tray Anastasia not even Eric Clapton or Denzel Washington or President Obama they are all men who will die the only one that conquered death was God in the flesh the son of God Jesus Christ maybe if the fabulous fabulous for some believed in the truth they would make better concerts. It’s almost like I’m trying to egg them on to at least do the final two shows well one out of five that are anywhere half decent that’s pathetic to have so much talent it’s like they’re throwing it away like they did in 2003 it’s hard to watch