8/24/71 - Chicago, IL - DP#35 (The Houseboat Tapes) **
A lovely opening UJB. Excellent PITB and a fiery Loser. A shitkicking Cumberland. A VERY RARE Empty Pages. WOAH at this primitive PRown Eyed Women!!! It is VERY different! St. Stephen>Not Fade Away>GDTRFB is beyond blistering!!! This may only be a highlights reel, but DAMN what a highlights reel it is - 10/10. HOLY SHIT GOOD LOVIN' OH MY GOD.
4/26/69 - Chicago, IL - DP#26 ('69 PERFECTION!) **
Setting aside the final two Lyceum '72 shows for a later date, we move on to DP#26. Two rather hiss-laden 1969 shows. Lots of really rare material. This the 5/22/77 of 1969 shows, holy shit. 33-minute Lovelight!!! A TON OF RARE SONGS.
Finally onto night 3 of Chicago 2011
8/17/11 Chicago
Set 1
Ok, I'm nearing the set break and so far this has been the least
impressive set of the run. That is saying a lot considering it is still
an extremely strong 2011 first set. Terrific song choice - Serious A for
effort here - but the playing is on the rusty/hesitant side tonight.
No out and out blunders or anything, but Trey's fingers have some
"sticky" moments and on the whole things don't feel as if they gel as
effortlessly as the previous 2 shows.
That being said, while everythings has been "base-level-2011-excellent", the genuine highlights of the set have been:
Gumbo (ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. FLAWLESS. MAGICAL GUMBO!!!!!!!!!)
Divided Sky (Just. KEEPS. GOOOOIIINNNNGGG!!!!!!!!)
Bathtub Gin (Jam was slightly by numbers, but it was still amazing)
Those 3 are probably all you REALLY need of set 1.
A+ for effort for opening with damn Forbinbird, but it wasn't that good
of a version. Again, A for effort because 1- hard song, 2- OPENER, 3-
extreme rarity.
Major leniency for that but that still doesn't make it all that good. 
Great Cavern to round out this set and a world-destroying First Tube to close it!
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Crosseyed and Painless>
Several minutes of gorgeous Type II ambiance>
No Quarter
Yes! The X Factor from the previous nights returns!!!
You HAVE to hear that transition into No Quarter - it was slow, and perfect and flawless!
HOLY HELL
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8/17/11 Chicago #3
Ok, where to begin.
This was an incredibly odd show. This is probably the kind of show was
absolutely balls-to-the-wall incredible to be at in person, but doesn't
translate great to listening.
Set 1 had its awesome moments as I mentioned before, but set 2 was...
I don't know if it was good or just weird or if it sucked or was amazing.
For those that are unaware, I'm dubbing this The Medley Show
Set 2 was like 1 giant medley of songs strung together. 3 minutes of
Ghost, 3 minutes of Caspian, Sleep tossed in there, a Tweeprise....
It was like they couldn't decide what they felt like playing and kept switching songs constantly.
The novelty factor ran out quickly for me.
Crosseyed>No Quarter>Timber>Tweezer>Prince Caspian (3 minutes!)>Piper
Now THAT was spectacular. If there's something to grab from this show, do NOT pass this sequence and set 1's Gumbo!!!!!!
Now, the rest of set 2...Dank Sinatra, anyone? LOL.
It was FUN as hell, I'll give it that, but while listening it just got
annoying. I was just waiting for it to be over - started getting sick
from all the transitions....
Ghost (3 MINUTES)>Makisupa>Sleep>Buffalo Bill>Golgi Apparatus (WORST VERSION EVER)
That sequence of Ghost through Golgi was maybe the most painful 20 minutes ever. It felt like 40..... 
Granted, the following Antelope was SPECTACULAR, but Funky B and Show of
Life were too little too late to save this crooked ship.
Freaking odd gig, man. A+ for out-of-the-box Phish fun and antics, but C+ for a listening experience, lol.
------------------------------------------
8/17 Chicago (Would've been INCREDIBLE in person. Set 2 is SEGUE HEAVEN. TOTAL PARTY. Not a great listen but as a party its TOP NOTCH! :D )
Gumbo (FREAKING PERFECT SPECTACULAR 10/10)
Divided Sky
Alaska
Bathtub Gin
First Tube (HOLY MOTHER EFFING HELL ON FIRE)
Crosseyed and Painless (TYPE II AMBIANCE)
>No Quarter (THAT INCREDIBLE TRANSITION HOLY FREAKING HELL!)
>Timber (THAT SEGUE!, VOL. 2)
>Tweezer
>Piper (CROSSEYED REPRISE!)
>Makisupa Policeman (PAGES HOUSE)
Run Like an Antelope
Tweeprize
Chicago #2
After the best-of-the-year first night, this one has some heavy shoes to fill!!!
Kicking off with maybe my favorite rarity, a good Dinner and a Movie into a Ha Ha Ha
Nice! That's definitely keeping the bar up
Then we get an absolute BEAST of a Chalkdust!
Chalkdust is always hot. This one is a step beyond. In the middle, They
go - I'm gonna say anyways - Type II in the middle of a Type I jam.
That statement does not make logical sense. Listen to this version and you will know immediately what I'm talking about.
Trey goes nuts and starts jamming this lick that sounds like he's
playing around with an Ebow or something. You'll know it when you hear
it.
Cue the goods for a minute or 2 and then back to Machine Gun Paradise.
It's off the CHARTS awesome!!!!!
After that we get a rare Mexican Cousin - the perfect "intermission" before a refreshingly early-in-the-set Walls Of the Cave
As usual (gonna hear me say that a lot...) Walls is red hot. The set
placement was great though - I'm tired of it being a closer Worked great here tonight!
Currently in the middle of it.
More to follow. Stay tuned
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Got extremely distracted by family and had set 1 of 8/16/11 interrupted for the last 2 hours....
Currently resuming with a very nice Ocelot.
Where I left off before:
Runaway Jim
>Foam
I Didn't Know
RJ was terrific with a really nicely done chill tone to it. Very patient jamming. Extremely enjoyable!!!!
What's a RJ without a segue into Foam?
Foam was even better than Runaway Jim. An awesome, awesome version.
I Didn't Know brought some good laughter with a raucous vacuum solo
Now Ocelot is bringing that slow-jam, swampy kind of vibe.
Just...patience is the word for this set, I guess. The guys are takign
their time with the songs and just soaking into them. Check out the
great soloing by Page underneath Trey's playing. Like listening to Bob
Weir doing his rhythm-soloing thing behind Jerry
Awesome Ocelot. Awesomelot. Yes, I went there. Throw your pebbles and marbles, I don't care 
After a respite from listening for several days, I move on to 8/15/11, Chicago #1 - the "elements" show
I was holding out until I felt in the mood to watch the stream of it, but I finally gave in and decided to just listen instead.
Night 1 has a highly interesting setlist! Rarities and debuts, songs in unusual set placements.
I have high expectations for this one
----------------------------------------
Back On the Train - great opener. Amazing peak.
Rift - not a memorable version. Better ones in recent 2011 memories, but still a fine one.
Guelah Papyrus
Scent of a Mule
Jesus Just Left Chicago
All three were excellent picks. All played fine but nothing special, imo.
Wolfman's Brother - Now THIS is what I'm talkin about! CHECK OUT THIS JAM!!! I'd call this a perfect example of "Type 1.5"
They go far out but never reach space. They eventually mosey their way
homeward very naturally without a hint of ripcording. A wonderful and
"complete" jam! TERRIFIC!!!!!!
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BABYLON BABY IS A GREAT TUNE AND THIS ONE HAS GREAT JAMMING! AWESOME STUFF!
Beautiful Reba
Alumni Blues - HOTTER THAN THE FRICKIN SUN HOLY SWEET BANANZA
-----------------------------
Made it through set I of 8/15/11 but set II has to wait for tomorrow.
I thought I was in the mood but I'm just not feelin' it tonight.
Forced listening is never good listening
---------------------------------
8/15/11 Chicago - "Elements" 2nd set
Set 1 was great but didn't really jive with me for some reason. Just didn't "connect" with me.
This second set though is the bomb.
BUT, the major highlight....
WAVES
FRIGGIN
WAVES
HO-LEE-CRAP-ON-A-CRACKER
LIVE THIS WAVES
BREATHE THIS WAVES
DROWN IN THIS WAVES AND BE THANKFUL YOU DID SO
The rest of
set 2 so far was great, but nothing beyond the best of 2011 so far. Sand
and Light were terrific versions with great sections of Type II and
terrific segues.
Dirt was great and unusually powerful.
BUT
Waves is tapping that hardcord X Factor.
BIG TIME.
And now that GENUINE segue into Undermind....
Holy freaking crap.
------------------------------------------------------
Waves>Undermind
Sorry for the hyperbole. It was absolutely warranted.
My mouth is currently hanging askew and my face is numb and tingly.
Absolutely far and away the best performance (just these 2 songs, at least) of 2011.
For millennia to come, when people think of 2011 they will remember the Chicago Waves>Undermind
------------------------------------------------------
Please forgive me everybody....Final thoughts on the MONSTER show that is 8/15/11
Ok, so set 1 was up and down for me - terrific song selection, but some
of the performances weren't anything special. But 2/3 of the set was
definitely "we hittin' that rocket sauce tonight" level awesome
Set 2 - my goodness. Where to begin.
First off, if you want anything from this show, GET THE WAVES>UNDERMIND>STEAM.
PRONTO.
If you're not satisfied with this sequence and the incredible performances within, you are not a Phish fan. Plain and simple.
Now, the opening 1-2 punch of Sand>Light was downright terrific, but, the aforementioned trio was GODLY.
If this were
any other show I'd be going banana sandwich bonkers about that awesome
Sand>Light, but in light of things to come (unavoidable punnage....) ,
there is nothing to be said.
Waves>Undermind>Steam
Say it with me.
Waves>Undermind>Steam
Get the picture yet?
After Steam, Fire and Camel Walk were pretty excellent, but c'mon, you ain't gonna top that trio we go.
Silent In the
Morning was just the song I didn't want and Harry Hood was a pretty bad
version (though the terrific jamming ALMOST redeems it.)
Point is...
WAVES>UNDERMIND>STEAM
CAPEESH?
In case it's still not clear enough, here's my Idiot's Highlight List for 8/15/11...
8/15
Chicago** (Inconsistent from song to song, hence not a higher rating.
The highlights are better than ANYTHING else in 2011 so far though.
Truly an X Factor show! "ELEMENTS" SET. GET WAVES>UNDERMIND>STEAM.
GET WAVES>UNDERMIND>STEAM. GET FRIGGIN
WAVES>UNDERMIND>STEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Jesus Just Left Chicago
Wolfman's Brother (Sick Type 1.5!!!)
Anything But Me (MOST RECENT VERSION!)
Babylon Baby (Debut)
Reba (Beautiful!)
Alumni>Jimmy Page (ABSOLUTELY INSANE!)
Sand (SPECTACULAR Type I!!!)
>Light (PERFECT segue into. GREAT FUNKY TYPE II)
>Waves (FRIGGIN SPECTACULAR!!!!!! HOLY FREAKING CRAP MOST ROCKING WAVES EVER PLAYED. GOES TYPE II)
>Undermind (THAT INCREDIBLE GENUINE SEGUE FROM WAVES OH MY FREAKING GOD. TYPE II IMMEDIATELY. Dissolves into ambiance)
>Steam (EXCEPTIONAL. BEST STEAM YET!)
>Fire
Camel Walk
Harry Hood (Just for the terrific jam. Song portion is poor)
Everything's Right - unexpected Type II jamming opener! Very beautiful, actually.
Destiny Unbound - Excellent version, comes close to being "jammed out" but never really gets there.
Heavy Things - I love this song but am almost always disappointed by live versions of it. Toss this one in that pile.
Miss You - absolutely SOARING guitar playing from Trey. Wonderful rendtion.
Tube - Takes a long time to get going but around 7 minutes in we get a
full-blown "I'm a Man" jam happenning and things head for the sky!!!!
Worth hearing for that alone
Up next is Petrichor - other than the other 2018 versions, I can't
honestly say I've heard the song more than 2 or 3 times total. I love
Time Turns Elastic, but Petrichor has been way harder to keep me
interested in, so I won't really be able to say one way or another how
good this was.
---> ---> ---> Wow! I enjoyed that way more than I expected to. It seemed pretty flawless execution-wise. Also it felt a lot more cohesive than TTE (which sometimes feels like 5 different songs slammed together)
I Always Wanted It This Way - This is such a weird song. The first I heard was the Mexico 2019 version and it hooked me on it! I love it, haha. This one wasn't the beast that one was, but it reached Type I Energy Explosion Melt Your Face levels, so that's good
Awesome version.
This set was excellent - the only out and out non-highlight was Heavy
Things. This was easily the best complete overall set since the
Nashville shows
Night 3 of the run and up through What's The Use it's basically been a home run.
Reading .NET reviews and the forums over there just for the heck of it, I'm not jiving with most opinions of this run.
For me, Show 1 and 2 both had lots of major highlights, but were not
totally overall great shows. They were both very pick-and-choose, imo.
This show, 10/28, is imo the best of the 3 by a wide margin. As a
complete listening experience it's been a perfect play from the start.
Hell, this second set has been a spectacular example of choosing the right songs at the right time!
Carini>
No Quarter>
Cities>
Gotta Jibboo>
Twist>
What's the Use>
Twist
That's a 54 minute segue fest. And a true built-by-the-second one at
that. Not some ripcorded bunch of songs jumbled together. This was
legitimate evolution from one song to the next - organic, rather.
And that's what is separating this from the other 2 shows for me. The
whole show has hung together as one piece remarkably well, regardless of
whether you enjoy the setlist or not (no major qualms from me).
In other words, ROSEMONT '18 #3 IS WHERE IT'S AT!
Stash - not my choice of opener, but it had a pretty tasty jam. Got dark!
The Dogs - rocked good and raised the roof but didn't do anything jam-wise
Blaze On - I still think the song itself is dumb, but this was a great version. The jam was must-hear, imo. Just wonderful upbeat bliss jamming that rocked.
Water in the Sky - beautiful but non essential
Ya Mar - Very fun, keeping the upbeat momentum of the last two songs. Non essential though a good toe tapper
Funny but disappointing.
I remember when this show happenned I was down in Laredo, TX at a T/A truck stop waiting in line for my diesel fuel receipt.
At the time I was listening through 2009. I remember this show was webcast free (or the first song was) or something.
Anywho, nice tiny nostalgia with this
A fine PYITE to open. This is one of the songs that got me into Phish
and I am ALWAYS stoked for it on a setlist. Thankfully, this is not
completely butchered like so many 3.0 versions, but it is a tad slow. It
does seem pretty funky overall though which makes up for it.
Good start to the gig!
Martian Monster - A nice headbanging funk slam. Can you imagine this in 1998 or something?! Good stuff.
40 minutes into set 1 and it is pretty disappointing.
Enjoyable enough, but all that's worth hearing again so far, really, is
Martian Monster and the guitar solo peak in Reba (it's pretty bad
otherwise).
How does this show have a 4.5 rating and 10/24/18 has a 3.7?!?!? 10/24 annihilated this to bits so far.
I don't get .NET ratings at all, man...
At least Mercury is next, and I believe this is the version I chose to
use for my "Non Albums Songs" compilations a few years back, so I am
actually quite familiar with it and it is a beast!
Not really jiving with this show for some reason. On paper I should love
it but it just doesn't have the energy and X Factor of the 2 Nashville
gigs.
This is definitely a cherry-pick-your-favorites gig.
So far:
Set 1
Martian Monster - awesome heavy funk workout, very 1997/1998!!!
Reba - the composed section sucked but the guitar solo peak was mind blowing!
Moonage Daydream - maybe the winner of set 1. This has the Nashville energy!!! WHAT A BANGER!!!! FREAKIN ROCKED!
Mercury - doesn't really go anyhwere in its duration, but its 18 minutes of album-ready perfection.
Walls of the Cave - Its WOTC. It's an explosive nuclear guitar bomb. We know this.
Set 2
Tweezer - INSANE DANCE PARTY TYPE 2 BEAST!
Golden Age - SEE ABOVE!!!!
Eh, I finished my review there at the time. Sorry folks! :)
