2021-09-05 Commerce City, CO

 So it's taken me roughly 6 months, but today I finally close the damn door on Summer 2021 for real.

Last weekend I did Shoreline #2, Dick's #1 and Dick's #2. Tonight it's Dick's #3

9/5/21 Commerce City, CO

Set 1

The Moma Dance - Super long, almost 4 minute intro on this sucker! Pretty dang hot rager to kick open the show! Great stuff! You've heard it before, but as usual, it kills, so....Great version as always but nothing "special" beyond that.

McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters - Outta friggin' nowhere.... First version since 2018! Sounds ultra-tight and rehearsed, without the "shakiness" of the rarities performed at Shoreline. Page's piano pounding is masterful. How the hell did they just whip out a damn A+ (for 3.0) reading of McGrupp outta the blue like that?!
I mean, they nailed this sucker!!!

Sand - 14 minute Type II beast. Hell. Friggin'. Yea! Around the 5 minute mark, things start to shift - the jam somehow moves smoothly from minor to major key and we are off into bliss! Around 7:30, however, this starts to turn back towards stranger waters. The robo wah comes out to play and the synths start to say hello. Kinda stuck in a no-man's land between bliss and darkness, swaying back and forth from one sound to the either. Around 8:45, the jam begins to take on an ethereal kind of "late '90s" vibe! By the 10 minute mark, the jam picks up a good head of steam. Trey has set a backwards-guitar sound as the loop, Page is over on the synths, and the robot bliss is slowly taking hold once more! They jam this good sound until about the 12 minute mark. By 12:20, the guys are quickly transitioning back into the dark Sand feel!!! Patient psychedelia, or something like that. And from here they rage it to a close.

Yo, that was the most unique Sand I've heard in a hot minute. I don't think it was uber-incredible, but it was damn good and well worth a listen!!!! Wow!

Sigma Oasis - HOLY FRIGGIN CRAP, WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?! So, I guess just view that killer Sand as a warmup for this badboy! The song itself sound fantastic tonight with extra energy and passion. One of the best versions of the song itself that I've yet heard. The jamming begins around 5 minutes, then around 6 minutes we immediately reach LIFTOFF!! STRAIGHT down into Type II, late-night, synth-jazz murkiness!!! Like how Sand went minor to major, this sucker is doing the opposite, lol. There is some X Factor in the house tonight fer sure! The murky goopiness goes until about the 8:30 mark. Slowly, they start bringing in the bliss with a cascade of swirling notes from both Page and Trey. Throughout this, Fishman is going crazy behind the kit, never leaving a spare opening without a fill!!! He's doing his best Brann Dailor on this jam. Around the 11 minute mark, things take a strong turn back towards the late-night darkness!!! Out come the robot synths and funky wah FX!!! GORDO BASS BOMBS AT THE 11:30 MARK!!! LETS GO!!! TAKE SHELTER!!! This is NUTS!!! Super dark, super...funky isn't the word....If you like your Phish thick and GOOPY, this is the jam for you!!! They rage this darkness hard until the 13:30 mark when it all melts down into a vaguely latin-tinged, almost Twist-style cool off. Very sick. When all is said and done, this is definitely one of the best jams of the year so far. A wildcard out of the blue. MUST HEAR!!!!

>All of These Dreams - Gotta love those planned segues! They transitioned out of that jam like it was written. Good lord. Killer version to boot!

Reba - AND THE HITS KEEP A-COMIN'! The composed portion of the song is very good. I would give it, like, a solid A- . Some near flubs from Trey near the start, and his "execution" isn't perfect at times, but it gets a lot tighter as it goes on. It's better than I'm making it sound. Darn good reading of that. Reba goes on to do it's Reba thing in the solo, turning in yet another peaky bliss-fest of a solo. Not an all-timer, but certainly strong for modern day Phish! I'm overselling this Reba little bit, but it's great!

Bathtub Gin - And this "what the hell is going on?!" , SEVEN SONG first-set comes to a close with a 14 minute Bathtub Gin. Right off the bat, Gin feels a bit more uptempo and lively than some recent ones. Goes as usual until around the 6 minute mark, the speed suddenly increases! The electric keys and robo FX come out to play, with Trey doing a ton of sputtery wah+delay sounds!!! KILLER!!! This leads to a quicker, uptempo kinda jazz-funk style or something. Runaway train incoming. By the 8 minute mark, the heat is still building. Page moves over to the synths to solo along with Trey. Gordo is tearing it UP in the background! Unfortunately, the quasi-Type II fun gives way to a more standard classic-rock, peak-in-progress jam that you would expect. Page back on the piano, tempo at 200 mph, Trey noodling around, etc. I would put this a small step below the Sand from earlier. A terrific set closer and a very strong reading overall. Light on the strangeness, sometimes less is indeed more.



All in all, what a way to open the final show of the summer!! Hot dang what a set!! This could stand up there as a 2nd set and nobody would bat an eye. Certainly one of the strongest first sets of the summer (top 6 or 7, probably!). Good lord....

 

Set 2

On paper this set looks rather songy and it's an hour and 40 minutes. Let's see...

Set Your Soul Free - 19 minute set opener, longest song of the set by a stretch. The jam begins properly stretching out around the 6 minute mark. The late-night jazz-funk thing is back. Trey is doing lots of cool work with reverse-guitar and delay FX before returning to a standard tone. At 7 minutes, the boys threaten to turn this jam towards the bliss (and this they do). Page introduces some pulsing synth washes. By 8 minutes, Page is back to piano and the jam has that chill, blissful, classic rock vibe going on. Around the 9 minute mark, Trey kicks on a cool wah/octave/something effect. The jam stays in this "typical rock jam" mode until about 10:30. Page jumps back to the synths, Trey is using delay slashes, Gordo is playing with FX. We aren't in outer space yet, but we are slowly heading that way. Boringly, they revert back to the blissful classic rock jamming. This jam is very nice, but that's all it is. Basically it's like the Sand in set 1. Objectively it's a strong version, but it won't knock your socks off or blow you away. Around the 14 minute mark, Trey begins playing with the bullfrog robo honker, but the rest of the band is content to stay in "type I" mode, so to speak. Ooh, ooh, ooh! Here we go! RIGHT at the 14:30 mark, the guys all simultaneously sync up, at exactly the same time, on a repeating rhythm and we have reached the liftoff point!!! The drumming slows down and things are getting ominous! Page is pounding the piano, Trey is on the RoboFrog5000, and the jam is working it's way skywards! How did we go from "nothing really happenning" to "HOLY CRAP HERE WE GO!" just like that?!?!? At 16 minutes, Trey starts doing sustained bends and the jam is getting downright FORCEFUL. Cue the outer-space delays....We are leaving orbit, boys and girls!!! By 17 minutes we are 100 percent in weirdo, strange-space Type II. Synths and piano together, Trey shredding it up like it's 1997, Fishman just SMASHING those cymbals....Runaway Rocket Ship! At 18:45 we reach a strange anti-peak and the jam proceeds to slowly wind its way down into blissful nothingness.....


Not the greatest jam of the summer - the first 15 minutes are pleasantly enjoyable, but very much of the "We have heard this 100 times already) variety. Then in the last 5 minutes, they go full X Factor ridiculousness!!! Grab it for the last 5 minutes or so!!!!

>Lonely Trip - Yet another great version. Not much to say. Beautiful, and great placement out of that jam!

>Simple/Catapult/Simple - Oof, going into that so suddenly out of Lonely Trip was like a brutal case of whiplash! Zero flow in that transition! Thankfully, Simple itself sounds extra well-played tonight. Right at the 6 minute mark, they dive straight into RoboHonker Type II. The Simple bliss gives way to an anxious and dark vibe. We ain't in Carini-ville yet, but that's the way things are heading! Love the "digital clock" sound Trey starts using around 6:45. Page is bopping away a groove on the piano that Trey and the boys latch onto. The darkness gives way to a more upbeat and funky kind of "dance" vibe!!! At 7:40, Page moves to the electric piano while Trey lets it rip on the wah pedal. Good old fashioned funkiness ensues. Heck yes. At the 8:30 point, this moves directly into a outta-friggin-nowhere rendition of Catapult!!! KILLER! The crowd roars their approval! "I went to Dick's and I hooked up with a machine!" THIS IS AWESOME!! We spend a long time in glorious Type II Catapult Funk Land!!! Robot Catapult Funk Party!!! THEN WE GO INTO COOL AMBER AND MERCURY! HELL YES!! X FACTOR DANCE PARTY! BRING IT ON!!!

Yooooo, that was some Phish 1.0-level craziness! That was AWESOME!!! That was so much FUN!!

>Meatstick - Awkward ripcord/transition into Meatstick. Fits the fun vibe of the seat. Meatstick is Meatstick - Trey is at the point of falling apart from laughter throughout. Great stuff. Awesomely, the song manages to have a genuine jam and not just fizzle out! They go back into that weirdo Catapult thingy from Simple!! ROBO MEATSTICK!!! Yo, this Meatstick gets WEIRD. Lonely Tip quotes, that "digital alarm clock" set on a looper, zany Type II strangeness. What the hell...



Sooooo....that was something else eh? Yea, that whole Simple>Catapult>Meatstick is the definition of MUST HEAR. Strange Type II party zaniness at it's most weird. Good lord.


>Ruby Waves - So the RoboMeatstick fizzles out into bleeps and bloops. I was expecting Light to get shoehorned in but Trey opts for RW instead. Ruby Waves is short but oh so sweet. Calm and blissful dad-rock jamming, to spazzed out Type II space-rock awesomeness. This sucker RAGES. It's basically 12 minutes of insanity. MUST HEAR!!! HOLY FRIGGIN CRAP! It rages so friggin' hard than has an incredible, blissed out, die-down. This took that Set Your Soul Free out back and shot it dead. This is one of the greatest "short" jams of the year. Incredible!!!

>Bliss/Billy Breathes - Awesome segue! Absolutely gorgeous, A+ reading!!

Most Events Aren't Planned - Hell yes, THE sleeper Page track! Sounds terrific and kicks all kinds of major ass as usual. Play this more often!
It's not as ridiculous, as, say, the Alpharetta 2018 rendition, but it's still killer.

>Harry Hood - Outstanding version. Starting around the 5 minute mark, the jamming really takes flight, with a terrifically patient bliss section that seems to go on forever (in the best way). Everyone playing all quiet, etc. Super triumphant and buoyant lead in to the "you can feel good" peak section. Then the section hits like a 2012 Number Line and we rage our way to the finish line. Holy moly, this Hood was downright JUBILANT!

More - Is More. Strong Type I but nothing special. Drives home the triumphant vibe of the night. Great stuff!

Say It To Me SANTOS - See More, but it's fresh and new and I like it better, so it gets highlighted



Hot damn, what a friggin' show!!! Certainly one of the best first sets of the entire year thus far followed by a HEATER second set. The second set felt a little "we don't know what we want to do next" at times with jam lacking in length (slightly) and kinda random song selections at times. But the actual playing was A+ top notch which completely overrides all of that. The final couple minutes of Soul are great. The Simple>Catapult>Meatstick insanity and the "surely everyone has forgotten how AMAZING this is" Ruby Waves are all MUST HEAR! Harry Hood feels a tad "light", but is worth your time as well.

A terrific show that had a wonderful party vibe. They couldn't have capped off the summer tour much better than this! I'd say the 4.3 rating on .NET is pretty accurate.