Night 3 at the Sphere. Well, this one was kind of a 10-meter belly-flop, compared to what it could have been. I'm not going to go into the quality of each jam and song as other reviewers have done that already. I'll start by saying that if you take the venue and Vegas out of the equation, this was one of the more boring shows I've seen (barring 10/12/2010 in Broomfield). Let's break it down categorically:

Visual presentation: Amazing. I'd go see a band I didn't even like here. Phish's utilization of the Sphere's capabilities spanned from outright spectacular to sometimes feeling like Kuroda had a Windows '98 machine that got stuck in screensaver mode. Score: 4.8 stars.

Sound: Amazing. The FOH sound was mostly immaculate. Fish was a bit quiet at times but didn't detract from anything. The technical ability of the sound system was truly amazing from a clarity standpoint. It wasn't super loud but 100% immersive and just felt perfect to me. Score: 4.9 stars.

Setlist: This is where things start to become puzzling. SYSF and a pretty lame Tube to start things off felt like a wet fart in an elevator. This night was set up to be a ripper and 75% of the tunes were uninspired and flat. It made me miss the days when Trey wore the same stretched-out black Mickey Mouse shirt to multiple shows in a row and probably ate White Castle on the way to the gig. Mickey Mouse Trey would not have let Designer Trey do this to a Saturday night setlist in Vegas. Score: 2.7 stars.

Jamming: The clarity of sound allowed us to hear the band play off each other in a way I haven't heard in a long time. There were a lot of intricate details and licks that would have been buried in the mix at a louder, more aggressive show. That said, something big was lacking in the energy and jamming category - let's just get this out there. Almost an intentional "let's save some energy for Sunday" type of thing. Whenever Mike's pants are tighter than the jams, we're heading into problem territory. Lots of cool trey licks, and interplay that could have developed into great jams but ended up cumulating into mediocre noodling for a few minutes and fading away. Things would get going on a song or a jam and then the wet blanket would come out to make sure nobody was getting too crazy. Score: 3.1

Food/bev Didn't try them but the nachos looked pretty good and had a very nice presentation of Fresno chiles and other little toppings. Had a solid lobby cocktail. Score: 4.7

Closer/Encore: This thing could have turned around with some late 2nd set heat or a good encore. The venue felt oddly low energy as the band left the stage after 2nd set but I guess that's to be expected when there's a SANTOS closer on a Saturday night in Vegas. On to a turdy Life Beyond and a predictably short Tweezer Reprise that felt like it said that they could rock if they felt like it, but let's save that for another time. "Don't give up hope" was the right Chorus to end on, that's for sure. Score: 1.1

Overall Rating of the night (including Vegas/Sphere vibe and dropping into the casino party post-show) 4.9. Would go again.