2019-07-10 Uncasville, CT

 7/10/19 Uncasville

Great setlist and the first Dogs Stole Things since the Baker's Dozen
I have low expectations after the insanity of 7/10. Just gonna jump right in and enjoy it

Buried Alive - Awesome version to open that Trey does not butcher! AWWRIGHT YO!! This BA is the tits! Absolutely crushed!!!

Cavern - Yes, Cavern is list worthy tonight! Holy crap this sucker smokes!!! I'm sick and tired of Cavern at this point in my life but holy hell I can listen to this one all day! The set placement was a great surprise, the guys nail it, and it hotter than the sun. FREAKIN AWESOME CAVERN!

Dogs Stole Things - Still, the energy is through the roof and this bustout is red hot!!! Jeez guys, save some hot sauce for set 2!!! Trey just nails it and the whole thing is fantastic.

Sugar Shack - Absolutely flawless. Trey must've practiced because he nails it. TERRIFIC SUGAR SHACK LOADED WITH ENERGY!! AWESOME VERSION!!!

Stash - 14 minutes and totally excellent. Goes to some pretty darn cool arabian-sounding places. Very inspired jamming, again, absolutely LOADED with energy! Freaking raging heat on this sucker, holy moly. ABSOLUTELY FRIGGIN OUTSTANDING FLAWLESS ADVENTUROUS STASH WORTHY OF ALL-TIMER STATUS!!!

Wingsuit - Oh my goodness, absolutely perfect set placement and beautiful version. It feels good indeed! FANTASTICALLY BEAUTIFUL! TREY AND THE BOYS ARE SOARING TO THE HEAVENS! OH MY GOD. THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING IVE EVER HEARD.

WHERE DID THIS WINGSUIT COME FROM! OH MY FREAKING MOTHER OF HOLY BANANA SATANIC PIGSBLOOD JESUS. 

  THAT WAS FLAWLESS!! THAT SOLO WAS BEYOND THE MOON!! THAT WAS INTO ANOTHER FREAKING GALAXY!!!!

Limb By Limb - Holy freaking crap, calm down wolfy, it'll be ok. Perfect set placement here, slowly rising from the ashes of the destructive Wingsuit. Absolutely outstanding Type I Limb By Limb. I don't know what they did before the show, but whatever drugs they took to play this good, please administer me some right now. Mother of christ...

Gumbo - Funky and gooey. Bust out that clavinet, Leo!! Down and dirty, nasty and funktastic. Yea, baby! It's pretty short but accomplishes a lot in its 5 minute run time. Again, another perfect performance for the evening!

Stray Dog - A good time boogie rocker to keep us on our feet after the funk of Gumbo. Still goin strong!!! Absolutely ripping Trey solo goodness.

Steam - Pretty strong version that grooves hard from the outset. Again, Trey is throwing everything at the wall and most if it is sticking. Everyone is playing their hearts out and the vibe is strong as heck. Just hardcore goodness from all!! Fantastic!!!

TREY DESTROYS WORLDS ON THIS STEAM!!!!

David Bowie - Extremely cool ambient/spacey intro jam for a minute or so. Everyone playing with effects and stuff. Then BAM into Bowie. Excellent all around version to cap off a truly 10/10 flawless first set.


This first set was so good, I honestly can't believe it. Literally every single track was list-worthy. The guys are playing with some voodoo x factor magic this night, energy out the wazoo. Do not skip this set. Holy freaking crap.

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Set 2

Didn't have time last night so I left off at set break. Here we go:

Party Time - Absolutely ON FIRE!!! The one I got in Charleston was a blast, but this one is a beast. The whole band is, well, partying like their lives depend on it. Outstanding opening to the set!!!

Chalkdust Torture - Starts surprisingly slow. Groovy tempo on this one fer sher. Around 6 minutes in, they drop into dark Type II. Very unexpected sounding jamming!! Very unsettling vibes going on. Things stay dark and mysterious, with new rhythms coming and going before some ambiance begins to creep in. 9 minutes in and we've covered more ground than many jams cover in 20!!! Trey steers us slightly towards land with some piercing licks perfectly timed. This jam is COHESIVE AS HECK. Page begins to sprinkle in more upbeat keys and the jam heads for a much more positive sounding direction. Absolutely outstanding "micro" jam, as the folks call it. LESS CAN BE MORE, BABY!!! Do NOT skip this CDT!!!

>Ruby Waves - Pretty horrendous "segue" (if you can call it that, lol). Truth be told, the song portion is just ok - nothing wrong but it never really feels overly terrific. But - and that's a BIG but! - the guys immediately break back into that awesome dark jamming from Chalkdust. It's almost as if that CDT jam was simply interrupted by Ruby Waves but never actually ended. Extremely cool stuff. And just like that CDT, the jam is only what, 3 or 4 minutes?! Like, holy crap talk about getting your money's worth here!!! Jeez...Slowly, the jam devolves into a much sparser area. Fish keeps the rhythm frantic with Page laying down lengthy sustained notes and Trey noodling away in the back. Appropriately, we segue into....

Seven Below - I didn't want that jam to end, BUT that was a terrific call by Trey for once!!! Great transition!!! The boys waste no time getting to the goods and 3 minutes in the jamming starts. It's a pretty good 8 minutes that goes from frantic funk to more blissful rock areas. This jam is much more meandering - everyone is taking their time and soaking it in, nobody quick to cut to the chase.

Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan - At the end of 7 Below you could kind of sense them running out of steam. A lackluster intro to STFTFP confirms this, lol. Not the smoothest intro! Pretty nifty Stealing Time. Not a great one, imo, but it feels like it tries to be a little different at times, almost jazzy in spots. Pretty darn cool, actually!!! Hell, the final minute is pure 1999 ambiance! When the hell has that ever happenned out of a ST?!?!?!?!?

>Piper - Keeps the goods going. Builds nicely out of ST and feels more like another excuse for a jam than the song proper (song? what song? ). Which is why we love Piper. Also, back into RW it goes!!!

>Ruby Waves Reprise - SICK!!! A full on reprise of the song with more great Type I jamming to close out this monster sandwich!!!! SICK SICK SICK!!!!

>I Always Wanted It This Way - SICK SICK SICK!! Came PERFECTLY out of Ruby Waves!!! Terrific 10 minutes of just awesome Leo action. Don't miss! Awesome jamming! The jam descends into jet-engine ambiance tricking you into thinking Cactus is about to slam into Down With Disease. Instead we get....

>Drift While You're Sleeping - Absolutely perfectly (as with every other song choice this very constructed set...) placed, we get Drift. Awesome version of my favorite GOTF song!! What a freaking smashing set! The jams were short but they were terrific and the song choices were perfect.

Bouncing Around the Room - It's just a nice BATR to ease us into the encores. Nothing more, nothing less.

Saw It Again - Is Saw It Again

Slave to the Traffic Light - Look, its Slave, its the closer, its awesome. What more do I say?

 

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Ok, final thoughts on 7/10/19 Uncasville

Set 1 was amazeballs. Add it to the list of absolutely start-to-finish PERFECT first sets. Seriously, its that good.

Set 2 followed suit but had a different character than others. The guys were in the mood to jam, but Trey was also in the mood to keep switching songs. This led to multiple shorter jams that were super excellent, just not very long. Again, "microjam" is the term, I guess. Perfect example of it in this 2nd set.
The flow in set 2 was pretty superb - while the transitions weren't all flawless, the song choices were pretty much dang perfect. And that entire Ruby Waves "sandwich" is fantastic.

On the whole, if 7/9/19 is one of the best of the year, this show is definitely at the very top of the "you've heard the classics, now dig deeper" pile of 2019 gigs.

Damn excellent from start to finish, but a little bit of a haphazard feel at times.

I'd give this show a strong 4.0-4.2 rating, probably. Sick gig.  

2019-07-09 Uncasville, CT

Been waiting a week or so to listen to 7/9/19 Uncasville. I was wanting to watch the DaaM webcast but I've accepted that I don't have the time right now

Oh well, the audio will do just phine...


Terrific and interesting looking setlist. I remember hubbub around this show with the standalone Weekapaug and the Energy and whatnot. Also I believe it has the only Phish performance of the GotF tune "Wider" as well.

Set 1:

Energy - Excellent tune to kick off the show. First version since August of 2013!! 226 show gap! 5 minutes in and the jam comes out of nowhere with everyone funking it up big time. Big Cactus and Page energy here. The guys settle into a good groove and give us some Sand-esque jamming for about 5 more minutes. All in all a killer and unexpected show opener!

>Weekapaug Groove - Full on standalone Weekapaug!!!! SICK!!! And they rip this sucker to pieces. Wow, what an opening to the show!!!

Moma Dance - Red hot version, but nothing special. Hot Moma is Hot Moma!

Lengthwise - is Lengthwise

>Maze - HOLY CRAP GET IT PAGE!!! The guys manage to nail Maze for once and provide a smashing version that any 1.0 show would be glad to have!

Petrichor - A very strong version, imo, but I'm just not a big fan of it yet. A for effort!

Things People Do - Another rarity, lol. Love this and wish they played it more.

Sample In a Jar - Nice, but Sample is Sample.

Bathtub Gin - I actually don't think this really does too much that exciting. It's 16 minutes though, so surely stuff happenned that I just am not comprehending


Awesome and unique first set!  

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Set 2

Soul Planet - The original debut performance is still my go-to, but this one is dang excellent! The guys nail the song portion with extra gusto and energy, rocking down the friggin house. Hot jam that goes slightly ambient type II for a few great minutes of inspired playing. They close it out before approaching What's-The-Use-Land, but that's ok because they SEGUE FLAWLESSLY INTO WIDER!!!!!

>Wider - THAT SEGUE! I DIDNT EVEN KNOW WE WERE IN THE NEXT SONG UNTIL THE LYRICS BEGAN! Good version of a good song that shows potential from the get-go with some flawlessly playing from Trey and a great kind of chill-funk mood infused into the song by the rest of the guys. Really, really must-hear, awesome stuff. Can't say I've heard anything else like this! Cactus even plays with his effects! Slowly the jam devolved back into that ambient bliss from which the song arose. Incredible stuff, really. I don't know how they do it.

>Undermind - AND INTO UNDERMIND WE FRIGGIN GO!!!!!!!! They are doing it! The X Factor is flowing!!!!! Again, as with Wider, the segue into this was impossibly perfect and flawless. A++++++ Trey. Leo leads the jam out of the gate with some great jazzy playing sprinkled throughout with Trey's delay-stabs. At the end of the day this is just a great little Undermind ala the Moma in set 1, but one absolutely cannot ignore that dang transition and flawless execution. Holy hell.

>The Final Hurrah - Excellent and funky, nice and dynamic. Awesome stuff. Absolutely KILLER version!!!

>Beneath a Sea of Stars - Goes toe-to-toe with its 6/29/19 debut brother. That previous version was MAGIC. PLEASE check that out if you havent!! This one picks up where that one left off, sounding very Terrapin-Station-esque in its beauty. Very elegant and grandiose, yet soothingly calm at the same time. Who needs Petrichor when you have a beast like this in the roster?! This is MAGICAL. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. Please refer to the jam-chart description of this as I can't possibly do it justice. One of the greatest pieces of blissful music that has ever graced thine ears... It's like Dark Star-meets-Terrapin-meets-Wingsuit or something. Just insane. And then they bring it into a full on Type II jazz rave or something. I don't know what this is but I'm 'avin' it. Big time.
Jul 09, 2019 Setlist - Phish.net 

 

Hold up everyone. I need to take a break.

Ok, steady on, amigos

>Ghost - Out of the blissful soup of Beneath, a hot and exploratory Ghost arises. It's only 11 minutes, but they QUICKLY get to the jamming, beginning with some watery and ethereal playing, staying in the same zone as the previous excursion. Surprisingly non-funky and much more feel-good than usual. They somehow morph it into a major key bliss-a-thon. Everyone is riding this sucker for all its worth. There is some especially great interplay between Mike and Fish. Really sounds like they are following each other. This is less a proper Ghost and more like a coda to that Beneath a Sea of Stars. Eventualyl though Trey does hit upon a rhythm that the other guys lock into and we are off into spastic funk land. Or something. I don't even know anymore. It's just fantastic stuff. Awesome stuff. Also - WEEKAPAUG JAM.

>Birds of a Feather - AND IT JUST KEEPS GOING AND GOING AND GOING!!!!! WOO HOO!!!! Alright!!! They attack indeed - I do fear the feathered creature! Having already worked us into a frenzy, Trey takes a difference approach and brings things on down, real chill and smooth like. Let's ride this sucker to the stars, baby. Slowly they work it back up and things get hot again. Trey introduces a great little Third Stone From the Stone jam before hitting those sustained leads we all know and love. Now things are raging again and are toes are tapping and our butts are a-wigglin'. Its' still building though and the guys are all working this musical dough more and more, locking on to each other's playing and patterns. Absolutely spectacular.THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!! Eventually the black hole explosion slowly melts away as Trey reintroduces the song's theme and we perfectly conclude the song after another chorus.

A-FREAKING-PLUS BOAF.

Waste - My favorite Phish ballad. Absolutely perfect set placement. Holy this was like a cool drink of ice cold water after laboring in the hot sun all day. Omg that solo from Leo - please Page, I can only cry so much. Good lord. Talk about tugging at the heart strings.


Golgi Apparatus - The magic can only last so long and we get a lackluster Golgi Apparatus after that BEAUTIFUL Waste. Oh well, it was good while it lasted, lol. Too slow, Trey flubbing it up...next!!

Foam - The token Foam for the year. A pretty good one that doesn't sound half-assed! Wonderful piano again from Page (he is on FIRE tonight!!) and a wonderful overall addition to this insane set.

Contact - And the rarities keep comin'! Contact is Contact but its wonderful to hear. Awesome and unexpected. Surprisingly jammed out, this sucker gets downright groovy! Wow! Who woulda thought Contact could be so interesting! AWESOME.

More - A smashing-if-predictable More to cap of this 10/10 set


All in all, this show was impeccable. Set 1 had clear highlights but nothing was less than excellent. Set 2 was pure X Factor Magic from the start all the way through Waste. Just incredible. One of the best shows of this terrific summer tour. Do NOT skip this sucker!!!!!!!!!