Set One Notes:
Mike’s Song kicks things off to a rocking start, opening up a low-key groove with some satisfying organ pulses from Page, backed by wah-chunking, a tasteful light funk siren, and some tickling of the clav. The Mothership floats on the groove for a while, moving into a pretty piano-space in the second jam, Trey casting wah-infused licks out into the room. Hydrogen is the right call here, as it was in Vegas, meeting the chill piano-space opened by Page in Mike’s quite well. Weekapaug sees Trey letting some notes just hang and hang, building up pressure before he lets the hose loose. Page is shining, as he has throughout this Mike’s Groove, laying the musical path upon which Trey is charging across. Soon, the jam sinks down beneath a wah-haze, catching its breath, Mike (in my opinion, I’ll always argue this) either pushing for, or heavily implying Xeyed. Soon, this ‘paug gets wide open, a truly spacious groove developing. Suddenly, Weekapaug Proper reemerges, like the Sun coming out from behind the clouds after a misty, hazy rainstorm. Hood, up next, is a fantastic placement. Can’t beat a first set Hood. We get some space-anthem-type-shit from Mike(?) right before the lyrics kick in, Fish being so delicate on his cymbals throughout. Hood is one of those “epitome of the Phish ‘thing’” songs to me, like it is the definition of quintessential. As the jam emerges, I am taken back to that place of red-yellow sunshine coming through the mist after a light summer rain, Page swirling in satisfying stereoscopic sound. It’s often nice, in these Type-I Trey-build up jams, to listen around Trey, to the other three, working to understand how they interpret their roles in the music as Trey plays Rockstar Guitarman. By the time we are feeling good about Hood, I really have no sense of where we are in the show, as it feels like so much has already transpired despite really being so early in the show, relatively. Train Song, as it has been throughout this tour, is a perfect interlude. I’ve always dug Billy Breathes, and it is a conscientious cool down after hitting the audience with that Mike’s Groove/Hood 1-2. There is something kinda cute about the “sleep beside the stair” lyrical origins. Frankenstein is a sweet call to get the place moving again. “70s-funk-prog-monster terrorizes Hampton crowd” the headline proclaims, the “freak out” middle section here being particularly nutty. A friend comments, “Great set ender! - Wait…” Izabella comes charging out, Hendrix on the mind all tour, Trey trying to channel that unrestrained psychedelic-magi-music-man energy, building and building this jam into manic-rock peaking, closing a 1-2 punch of great cover calls to end the set.

Set Two Notes:
The human sacrifice section of the show kicks off with the Vermont-rock classic, Halley’s Comet, in case you were not aware. Mike, of course, stays on F, and we truly enter THE HAMPTON HALLEY’S. This is the soundtrack of a moody jaunt to Andromeda, down-tempo cosmic-pulse-grooving intergalactic dance tunes. The groove becomes a vehicle for the calm, clear mind, allowing the ego to step back and allow for something approaching an unmediated experience with the true nature. Soon, the groove reels in on itself, gently moving into an orbit around a gas giant, full of billowing, swirling orange clouds. The Mothership settles into a low orbit, slowly rounding the planet to reveal a deep red alien sunrise. The craft moves onward, plunging into a hemispheric hurricane, shaking and being pummeled, until suddenly emerging in the eye of the storm, opening a space for Tweezer to come through. Wow, it’s great to hear THIS come out of THAT. Off the bat, Fish and Mike are so locked-in, with Trey dropping BEK teases; this, folks, is pure, grade-A Vermont cowfunk. “Mike is in the pocket right now.”, a friend comments. This is a Pure Grooving variety of Tweezer. There is nothing gnarly to squirm your mind and body through, nothing floaty and ambient on which to daydream, no, this is purpose-built for dance catharsis. The transition into BEK involves: a) good communication, b) tripped out wizardry. It’s just so high quality, straight butter. This BEK feels like a continuation of Tweezer, really serving as the Tweezer jam’s peak… but it’s also a stand-out version of BEK itself, I’d say, the best BEK of the tour up to this point. Mike drops bombs all over the groove, and we get some sweet peaking moves by Trey and Page. Piper arrives next, taking its sweet time in the intro, and why not? It serves as a great time to collect oneself after that huge trio of tunes. This is a classic straight up-shifting ’97 Piper – what a unique role Piper can play in a set, with its maniacal, disorienting lack of the familiar structure that we have learned that rock songs follow. The looping, ever-building chords don’t let you go, getting pushed deeper and deeper through the worm, until suddenly, the band hits that down-shift, and you are free. Classic straightforward slow-build Piper here. Run Like an Antelope is a great Saturday night closer call here. Page shines, Trey is wrapped tight around the groove and driving it hard. We get some classic neurotic ’97-style ‘lope peaking, with a clean transition into the Marco-section. This RLAA is a great cap to an all-time set, for sure. The Bouncing encore seems well received by the crowd, who can be heard singing even through the SBD. I don’t have the disdain for Bouncing that many seem to share, I think it is a straight good vibes song that can be deployed well. Would it have been my first choice here? No. Did I just deliver an all-time musical performance as a member of the American rock band Phish? Also no. Does the band owe me, or anyone, our pick of encores after that show? No. Bouncing works. Tweezer Reprise blows the top off of Hampton one more time, sending the place out with some serious bouncing and raging. Really, a great, energetic Tweezerprise (Tweezreprise?) here, folks.

This is an all-time show, and it deserves that reputation.