Phish Tour Review - Fall 2018

Originally posted as a thread on Phish.net in the spring of 2021.

The main event HAS ARRIVED!! My favourite Phish tour of all time, 14 shows (and a YEMSG run) that bring an incredible amount of improvisation and quality Phish – let’s get into it!!

10/16 Albany: The band opens the fall tour with a HOT Albany show – Moma kicks things off before Trey counts the band into a slow Tube (12/29/97 style). This Tube, clocking in at around 11 minutes, is absolutely PHENOMENAL! Between Page’s incredible use of his synths, Fish’s peppy cowbell, and Mike’s rock-steady bass, the first half of the jam is an all-out sexy funk fest. Trey then surfaces from the Leslie, firmly takes the reins of the jam, and leads it into a rocking peak. Not bad for the second song of the tour AND a fantastic omen of Tubes to come! Theme -> Free comes next (I love the way they execute that transition) ahead of an absolutely fantastic Everything’s Right -> Cities (light and airy Type I section, major modulation, big peak, more slinky funk, and a PERFECT butter segue into Cities) and a Walls closer. While the second set may not have a big 20 minute jam, we have one absolute MONSTER of a 20 Years Later. If you are unfamiliar (go get familiar), this is an absolute journey into the pits of darkness, Page’s most evil synths, and a cloud of scuzz. The first of many jams this tour that turn to the dark side instead of the bright and happy more “typical” 3.0 major-key jamming style we expect. I do wish Trey hadn’t brought the chorus back in out of the jam as early, but it’s still absolutely fantastic and we can’t win EVERYTHING. Following this is easily the best Show of Life ever – a fantastically extended version that hits all the right emotions. Pretty sweet for a tour opener and has firmly put a statement out that this tour is going to be fire.

10/17 Albany: Definitely the weakest show of the tour, at least improv-wise, but we do have a fantastic surprise 16-minute Chalk Dust in the 2-slot and a Mercury in the second set that further shows us the song’s trajectory and where it will end up by the end of the tour. Not much else to say about this show except that although it is the bottom tier of Fall 2018, it would still be a pretty damn good show if put into any number of years in early 3.0.

10/19 Hampton: HERE is where things start heating up! Similar to how the Gorge really kicked things into gear during the summer, Hampton immediately fires up some serious heat. An action-packed first set with a Strawberry Letter 23 bustout, a soaring Divided Sky, an extended Undermind, a dark and grimy Meat (SERIOUSLY grimy) – you can tell that they are having a blast on stage and are playing with an extremely high level of energy. The second set is all about the darkness, building off of the Albany 20YL jam. Starting us off with a dark Carini full of screaming Trey leads and Page synth craziness, we are then treated to a relatively mellow Sand that serves as a bridge to the main event – the Golden Age. While I don’t agree with this being the jam of the year, it is an absolute titan, and from the first minor key turn the jam takes, you can tell what’s about to happen. Page begins clouding the jam with alien spaceship noises, Trey dances around with little staccato notes, and the jam hits a fantastic dissonant peak before Fish kicks us into a faster galloping groove. Shipwreck quotes abound, and the jam fragments into deep, dark space. Fish hits the Marimba and we are fully immersed in a hazy cloud. Beeps, fuzzy sounds, and darkness are all that surround us. The cloud grows darker and fuzzier until we are offered the lifeline of the Twist riff bubbling up from the depths. Twist is relatively standard, but we are treated to a rare and fantastic Mountains in the Mist ahead of Meatstick. “More darkness”, says Phish, kicking into Split Open and Melt. They start to space out almost immediately, Trey muddying up his tone and continuing the reverse delay dissonance he’s been playing around with for the whole set. The jam contains some absolutely incredible dark and crazy playing from all four before returning home. Not the best Melt of 2018 but would easily be in a lot of other years. Lizards encore at this point is just the cherry on top. What a goddamn show.

10/20 Hampton: I love slow Llama. I don’t care who knows it. Outside of that fantastic groovy opener, we’ve got a pretty good first set with slightly extended versions of Runaway Jim and Fuego, a MONSTROUS raging 46 Days, and a Fluffhead with one of the most botched Arrival sections I’ve heard (such is life). Still a high-energy first set, but the energy just gets blown to gargantuan proportions when they open the second set with First Tube. At this point, people at the show might have thought that the band couldn’t get the crowd any more riled up – but as Phish is, there is NOTHING more exciting than Trey absolutely TEARING into the Tweezer riff, and that’s exactly what he does here. This Tweezer is absolutely phenomenal and an often-overlooked jam on this tour despite its near-19-minute runtime. From some fantastic Rhodes work from Page, a really cool on-a-dime deconstruction, and a great peak, this jam flies all over the place. This second set is a little bit awkward due to the Dirt > Number Line in the middle, but they pick things up with a deep space excursion out of NMINML and a surprise airy fourth-quarter Jibboo. The Oh Kee Pah > Suzy to close is a bit sloppy but is bright and energetic (a trend!). Shine a Light encore is nice and leaves us all wondering where Tweeprise went!

10/21 Hampton: Easily one of the best first sets of the tour right here, Stealing Time stretches its legs before the Skin it Back bustout draws a huge reaction from the crowd even before it moves into a crazy Tweezer Reprise-esque jam and peaks HUGELY!! Brian and Robert cools us down, Timber sexes us up a bit, and then they drop into THE Simple. We all know this jam very well. Goopy space leads us into a volcanic hose jam with massive peaks. 20 minutes, first set? Yes please!! Mexican Cousin gives us a moment to catch our breath before the first truly jammed out Camel Walk ever. Listen to the crowd’s reaction when Trey plays that Fall ’97 cow funk lick to extend the song instead of the ending riff – they know it’s about to go DOWN! Mike leads the band into a swampy groove that gets progressively gnarlier before a somewhat awkward finish to the song. Did I even mention the butter-smooth Skin it Back tease from Trey and Mike in the first jam section?? Killer. Set closes with high-energy renditions of BOTT and Saw it Again. This second set does get a little bit maligned because of some questionable setlist choices (I feel like I’m saying this a lot) but the improv around those questionable songs is pretty fantastic. We open up with a mellow Waves that stays relatively contemplative before some whale call, a high-energy finish and an absolutely inSANE segue into Rise/Come Together. The song actually works quite well here because of how good the segue is. Light starts up next and might be the best rendition of the tour – bright and cheerful major mode playing gives way to a synth-y groove, a minor key peak, and a brief descent back into the scuzz of the 10/19 show before….ugh. The Line. WHY, TREY, WHY??? Wingsuit, Your Pet Cat, and WTU follow, not the best fourth-quarter picks to keep the energy up, but they work, and the set-closing Possum is quite the marvel for the modern era. Extended solo from Page leads to Trey bringing the vibe way down during his, turning it dissonant, and building it way up in a way that calls back to 94/95 versions in the same way that the 8/12 CDT did. Absolute must-hear. Double encore is amazing – pretty good YEM. As a three-night run, I believe that this is easily the best Hampton run of 3.0 that absolutely brims over with standout moments and jams. On to Nashville!

10/23 Nashville: I think this show suffers from “no-webcast” syndrome. This and Albany are the only shows on the tour of which there’s no circulating pro-shot video, which is a shame, because this show is absolutely insane! The first set is extremely standard high-energy Phish, with the only thing of real note being the Cool It Down bustout, possibly a nod to the only outdoor stop of the tour in the chilly fall. BUT THIS SECOND SET!!! Oh, BABY! Mike’s Song at Ascend has been quite the powerhouse, featuring the return of the second jam on 8/4/15, but Trey opts for a Type II first jam instead, pulling the band into a major key at around six and a half minutes. After a brief bliss segment, the band deconstructs into some more classic (at this point) fall 2018 sludge-synth jamming ahead of a great segue into Ghost, the real jamming event of this show. The jam begins with some great dissonant tension-filled play, dominated by Mike and Trey’s MuTron stabs before a peak and a mellowing into a major-key feint around the 11 minute mark. Instead of continuing to major, they make a left turn into plinko land with great organ work from Page. Another peak and a return to the song leaves us at the end of an incredible half hour of music. ER comes next, and while it stays largely Type I, it gets into some really great dark and ghostly territory within Fish’s straightforward groove before Page takes control on the CS60 and makes the last minute or so really spacey and dark. SYSF is just a stop in the jam – picking up right where ER left off, this jam gets into a really nice and mellow space. An airy jam develops that’s like the yin to the Hampton Golden Age’s yang – spacey yet very positive and pleasant. Circus serves as a quick breather before Weekapaug torches the venue to close the set. A standard Loving Cup encore is a great cap to an absolutely incredible night of Phish.

10/24 Nashville: I will take a jammed-out Soul Planet opener any day of the week! 2001 in the 2-slot?? YES! They play some other songs in the set and then OOH WHAT A GIN!! Page hops on the clav early before the jam mellows and quickly leaves Gin proper for a pretty and melodic major-key jam. The band peaks it quite nicely just after the 9 minute mark as Trey’s soloing grows more dissonant and Fish pushes the speed a bit more. They land on a nice minor-key vamp with great trilling from Trey before descending into MuTron plinko territory that slowly but surely grows in intensity, gives us a FANTASTIC peak before a perfectly-executed transition back into the end of Gin to close. I don’t know how this Gin doesn’t get talked about more because it’s an absolutely top-notch version and a contender for jam of the Nashville run. 10/24’s second set, while nowhere near as good as 10/23’s, is still pretty great. Despite the ADHD Trey ripcords, there are some great shorter jams sprinkled in (Run Through the Jungle!), along with an excellent Hood to cap it off – nothing groundbreaking or outstanding, and this second set recalls the summer a little bit in that respect.

10/26 Rosemont: The fact that this show isn’t easily the best of the tour is just a testament to how incredible Fall 2018 is. A slightly extended PYITE opens, followed by high-energy renditions of Martian Monster and Axilla. The Reba that comes next is one of the finest of the modern era; patient, beautiful, dreamy. Some incredible Rhodes work from Page here as per usual too! My Sweet One gives us a nice shot in the arm before the set’s main event; Mercury -> Moonage Daydream. Despite the fact that the band never seems to be able to start the vocals in the right key, they recover and get through the rest of the song relatively unscathed. The jam is absolutely fantastic – Trey leads through a high-intensity Type I zone before executing a nice major modulation (more fantastic Rhodes here) before the jam returns to a plinko zone with great synths from Page. It eventually lands up in a great funk jam before sliding cleanly into Moonage, where Trey proceeds to rip the faces off of everyone in the building. Walls closes this fantastic set of music with another high-energy peak. The 21-minute Tweezer that opens the second set may not do anything particularly groundbreaking, but it’s a fantastic version that follows a great sludge -> major key -> plinko -> HIGH INTENSITY PEAK formula. Trey in particular really takes the reins for this jam (and the set as a whole) with some crazy fretboard fireworks. One butter segue into Golden Age later, we’re in another top-notch piece of jamming – while this is decidedly higher-intensity and more upbeat than the previous version at Hampton, we get a solid minute of deep space at the end before Frost acts as a great ballad cool-down. Limb by Limb brings the energy back up before an absolute SCORCHER of a Sand – remember those fretboard fireworks I mentioned earlier?? THIS IS IT. The rest of the set and show are gravy at this point and the band closes out an incredibly strong first night in Rosemont.

*Note: I attended 10/27 and 10/28, so there might be some attendance bias in these write-ups*

10/27 Rosemont: My first Phish show since Wrigley 2016, I was basically screaming my head off the whole night. The opening Stash is FIERCE and has a bit of extra mustard, as does the Dogs that follows. Next, the Blaze On offers some stellar Type II play that dips into the sludge we’ll see come to fruition in this show’s big jam – listen to this version!! Water in the Sky, Ya Mar, and Vultures were all great, but my personal highlight of the set is the Roses Are Free. While it lacks a jam, the entire crowd went absolutely ballistic during Trey’s solo for an unknown reason (we were all just feeling it) – go check out video on Youtube of this moment! Full of energy, Trey rips through a 46 Days and then Bowie to close the set out. Moma serves as a nice warm-up for the set before they launch into the sprawling 25-minute NMINML. Beginning to leave the song structure at around 9 minutes in, the jam coasts on the groove before Trey hits those minor delay chords just after 11 minutes to take it fully Type II. From here, the jam enters a quiet space where Mike takes the reins with some synth’d-out bass. Trey pokes his way in gradually, leading to a whale-call-esque peak that drops back into the standard NMINML groove after the 19 minute mark. This groove gradually grows sludgier and sludgier, eventually winding up in a reggae death march of sorts (not to be confused with the death reggae jam from the Alpine Ruby Waves) that stomps its way through a fantastic segue into Steam. The rest of the show is pretty jukebox-y, with Fuego featuring a couple minutes of interesting jamming. Rock and Roll blows the roof off the venue one last time. This show features one of the best jams of the year but lacks a lot of what makes the top shows of the year so good. Still – an incredible show!

10/28 Rosemont: This show’s lack of a “big” jam and the questionable-looking setlist definitely affects its reputation, but it has some incredible flow and shorter jams! Everything’s Right kicks things off to the tune of a massive Type II peak (the OPENER!!), followed by another voyage into the swamp with Destiny (Trey ripcord, yes). Heavy Things and Miss You are both great songs – could have done without them back to back though. Tube kicks the energy into overdrive with some fantastic full-band interplay before Trey modulates to major by way of some great staccato melodies. I’m a Man teasing ensues before a great peak and drop back into the song. My big complaint about the show comes next as Petrichor completely sucks the energy out of the room. I don’t hate the song, but it really stops all momentum of any set its in. IAWITW isn’t the best song either, but the jam here is pretty fiery and closes the musical portion of the set well – Grind sends us into the break as a nice bonus. The second set here has some fantastic flow, opening with a great Carini (very Page-led!) that fades into No Quarter – the first and only Type II version to date. Out of Trey’s final solo, he leads the band into a sludge-y groove (lots of this on the tour) that eventually modulates to major and goes perfectly into Cities. I can’t help but think that this show would be looked upon much more favourably if they had jammed Cities for another ten minutes instead of Jibboo, but the latter was a fantastic and airy jam as per usual. A fantastic (and surprising) Twist -> WTU? -> Twist comes next, Shade cools us down, and then Plasma serves as the improvisational highlight of the set, offering one of the fiercest jams of the run as Trey takes absolute control and shreds his way through multiple peaks. Still full of energy, Zero closes the set (complete with whooping from Fish and Trey) before a rough-ish Fluffhead closes one of the best and most consistent three-night runs in recent memory (imo).

10/31 Vegas: VEGAS BABY!! One of the STRONGEST four-night runs of the era, this Halloween run has everything Phish has to offer. Opening with Buried Alive is both a nod to Halloween and making a statement; they were NOT fucking around. Ghost comes next and reaches a fiery major-key peak with Buried Alive teases (also VERY strong Mike!!). Crazy Sometimes, Free, and More are all standard first set fare, and we are treated to the first jammed-out Halley’s in YEARS next! Finding a mellow groove, the band rides that for a few minutes nicely before it is somewhat prematurely ended for Ocelot. Still – a jammed Halley’s is a jammed Halley’s and we’ll take what we can get these days! Theme soars but the real insanity starts when Fish kicks First Tube off at one of the fastest tempos we’ve seen them play in all year. Trey bounces around the stage like an eager puppy, ripping hot lick after hot lick and burning the MGM Grand down for the first time of many this run. Black curtain drops across the stage, and we are in Kasvot Vaxt land. I’m not going to go into detail about the second set because so much has been said already but it’s just a phenomenal stunt that’s so perfectly Phish. Set 3 opens with a nice SYSF that seems to meander a little bit before finding a nice major-key groove that gradually peaks and returns home to the song. Tweezer is next and features some great organ work from Page right from the get-go, leading the jam into a percussive zone that persists throughout. This jam has some fantastic grooves in it, a trend of the 10/31 show, and while it doesn’t peak hard or break really interesting ground, it is a fantastic listen. A brief spacey outro gives way to an absolutely gorgeous and ethereal ASIHTOS, peaking gloriously with great whale call from Trey and Rhodes from Page. Don’t be fooled by the 9-minute runtime – this is easily the improvisational highlight of the set and is a must-listen. You can’t blame the band for being a bit tired at this point, and they close out the show with standard readings of BDTNL, Meatstick, Bug, Antelope (faceplant into rock!), Loving Cup, and Tweezer Reprise. While it’s easily the worst show of the run (not counting the KV set), it’s still no slouch and there are plenty of gems to be had.

11/1 Vegas: A slow and thick Everything’s Right opener gives way to a grimy and funky jam that eventually leads to a brief bliss jam before returning home to the song. AC/DC Bag is its usual high-energy self before Wolfman’s starts off with a peppy groove. Featuring some fantastic synth and Wurli work from Page, this jam shuffles along (fantastic Fish work) before Trey brings it to a boil and explodes back into the song proper for a song finish. The first set tunes continue with Nellie Kane and Funky Bitch before we get treated to our second Type II Chalk Dust of the tour, and arguably the best one. This second jam quickly gets percussive and dirty and charges ahead with fantastic momentum. Trey teases Third Stone From the Sun, peaks the jam, and perfectly transitions back into the ending of Chalk Dust. Must-hear!! I Been Around shticks it up, Joy gives us a breather, and Walls RIPS! A top-tier 3.0 rendition with some of Trey’s strongest and most confident Type I soloing of the tour. Blaze On leads off the second set and ventures out into the unknown around 7.5 minutes in with some plinko led by Trey’s MuTron and Mike’s synth bass. The jam mellows and goes major, though retaining the plinko vibe. After a nice peak, it dies out into a funk groove with Trey HAMMERING some wah riffs in a cool stop/start section that they fumble a little bit before launching into a high-energy NMINML. A noticeably speedier tempo than the huge Rosemont version, Trey blazes through some Cool Amber and Mercury teases before setting up a laid-back vibe to the jam. We are led into a huge Type I peak before they end the song and transition into Fuego. Similar to the 10/31 ASIHTOS, this one coasts on a bed of warm Rhodes and synth from Page and gets really interesting in its last couple of minutes. The plinko vibe of the set continues in Twist, which earns its second sandwich of the tour, though it lacks the smoothness of 10/28’s. NOW – let’s talk about this HOOD! Jam gets rolling patiently and the band finds their way into WACTOOB – first teased by Mike and immediately latched onto by the other three. The jam then turns minor, we get a bit more plinko, and then a grimy groove ensues, leading to a massive Type II peak before the band brings us home to Hood with some outstanding trilling from Trey. A top version of the era easily and a true standout moment of the show. 11/1 tends to get overlooked due to it being sandwiched in between the insane KV Halloween and the absolute monsters of 11/2 and 11/3, but it’s a top-quality show that offers a lot of fantastic improvisation.

11/2 Vegas: My favourite show of the tour, this is a perfectly constructed Phish show to me. High-energy opener in Cavern, bustouts in Beauty of My Dreams and If I could, funk in Weigh, yet another absolutely RIPPING 2018 Sand, a fiery BOTT > Martian Monster, and a top jam of the year in Mercury. The culmination of the song’s journey as a jam vehicle, this builds on the previous versions from BGCA, MPP, and Rosemont from earlier in the year to create a multifaceted masterpiece. Moving from the Type I section into a rocking groove, the band wastes no time peaking it before moving into a mellow spacey section. Trey quotes the song’s main melody again in a different key and begins a big build. Trey’s beautiful and melodic soloing overtop of Page’s piano gets bigger and bigger as Mike hammers away at the bass, we are lifted into a euphoric rocking peak jam that gives way to some fantastic plinko. Fading into Suzy to close the set, this Mercury stands as one of the best jams of the tour and year, and its status is only elevated by its placement in the first set. The six-song second set flows impeccably and features three more fantastic classic fall 2018 jams in Soul Planet, Disease, and Sally. Both Soul Planet and Disease feature some great interplay between the four band members and move from bright and airy to dark and dirty. The highlight of the set, in my opinion, is the eight-and-a-half-minute Sally. The jam is at a great upbeat and fat pocket created by Fish’s tight hi-hat work. Trey really hammers the MuTron effect, and along with Mike’s synth bass and Page’s clav, we are treated to a nasty funk jam. The real magic starts at around 6:30 when Fish switches to the ride cymbal and the funk becomes straight filthy hip-gyrating music. Likely the best Sally since BGCA 2016, I do wish it had continued on instead of segueing into Light, but we end up with another fantastic piece of improv before a great Slave closes the set out. The first HYHU since Gorge 2016, complete with Fish twerking and standing on Page’s piano, precedes an absolutely INCENDIARY GTBT (about which Trey remarked that he wasn’t sure if he knew how to play it). InSANE show!

11/3 Vegas: The tour closer! While it doesn’t quite live up to 11/2 overall, it has one of my favourite second sets of the tour and some more first set gems! Moma through 555 is pretty standard fare, but this Tube! My favourite version of the song EVER starts to shift modes around 4 and a half minutes in when Page moves from clav to synth, and Trey leads a beautiful major modulation soon after. With fantastic Wurli and then piano work from Page along with Trey’s MuTron riffs (they remind me of gently bursting bubbles in this case), a great peak ensues before one of the SMOOTHEST returns to Tube I have ever heard – listen to the way Mike suggests that they return to the song’s orginal key of A minor and then Fish jumps right onto the Tube beat! *chef’s kiss* After a quick breather in Farmhouse, we get a rare Lifeboy inside Mike’s Groove to close the set! This second set gets DARK – Carini takes off immediately into the darkness and features some DDHVL quotes from Fish. 46 Days keeps the energy high before Scents brings us our only upbeat jam of the set and some fantastic hose. Crosseyed brings us back into the darkness before 2001 keeps the party vibe going. Trey wastes no time as 2001 ends, ripping right through Possum and then into Split Open and Melt to close the set. Melt is the culmination of the dark jams of the tour, quickly moving out into a hypnotically droning space, briefly moving major key, and ending with a fantastic eerie space jam before returning home to the song. An absolute all-timer version (especially for 3.0) that I would rank 2nd for the year behind 12/30. Wading in the Velvet Sea and Character Zero offers a standard encore to close out an absolutely phenomenal Vegas run and tour.

12/28 MSG: Opening with WACTOOB was a statement. From the first moment of the show, everyone immediately knew that the Kasvot Vaxt songs were here to stay. While there’s not much else to write home about in this show, it features lots of standard average-great play and a fantastic Set Your Soul Free that moves through a fantastic blissed-out space highlighted by Page’s Moog Voyager. A raging Gin closes the second set that also contains a serene Swept Away > Steep and the first Final Hurrah outside of the costume set.

12/29 MSG: Hoo boy…this is it. Two of my all-time favourite Phish shows, back to back. Opening with Buried Alive (which is ALWAYS a harbinger of an absolute barn-burner to come), the band delivers an incredible first set with a gnarled Blaze On, the first non-costume Turtle in the Clouds (and still the best version), a distinctly Type-II 46 Days that moves from plinko to pretty major key before sliding neatly into Cities. Corinna offers the set’s only cool-down before a bouncy Wolfman’s Brother comes out to close the set. This jam quickly leaves Wolfman’s proper behind thanks to some great delay work from Trey and bubbly B3 from Page. Moving into a major key jam, the band rides it out for a while before Trey throws in some Party Time quotes. After peaking, the jam dives back into piano-led funk before touching back down in Wolfman’s – though they stay in the modulated key of E flat for the finish instead of returning to the song’s native B flat. Set two opens with an absolute POWERHOUSE of a Carini. While barely reaching seven minutes, this jam has incredible momentum that informs the insanity of the rest of the set. Coloured by dissonant synth screeches from Page and a driving beat from Fish, the jam quickly departs the dissonance on a warm bed of Rhodes into a nice major key jam that melts into Tweezer. This absolute masterpiece of a jam is one of my favourite EVER. Beginning with delay from Trey, we get some start/stop woo action (going to quickly state that I don’t mind woo-ing when the crowd does it on beat – which they do not here) as a bridge toward the next segment of the jam. Page hops over to the wurli as the music begins to depart Tweezer proper. Trey pulls the band smoothly into D major as Page dances around on synth and Mike lets an absolutely seismic bass bomb loose. As the jam continues, Trey weaves beautiful melody after beautiful melody over Page’s warm bed of electric piano. Fish picks up the pace as the jam grows in intensity before Trey switches to rhythm around the 13-minute mark to let Page take the lead for a bit. Hitting the piano just before 14 minutes, Trey comes back in with a series of chords that continue to elevate the energy and lead the band into an I Know You Rider-esque chord progression. Trey then unleashes one of my favourite guitar solos he has ever played. The notes contain such incredible emotion and bring me such joy on every listen. The crowd parties along with the band as the energy reaches stratospheric levels at the peak of the jam. The band just keeps going and going – until the apex of the peak is reached at last and, with barely a second thought or glance to the other band members, Trey plays a quick little melody and drops directly into a swampy minor-key jam that transitions perfectly into Death Don’t Hurt Very Long. This is all fun and games, with an effects-laden Trey and Mike duel, a Bob Weaver drum breakdown, and a perfect transition back into a bonus 7-minute blistering Type I Tweezer jam. The rest of the show is gravy at this point, so a 10-minute 2001 to rock everyone’s pants off before No Quarter and First Tube close the set is even just a bonus. A high-energy encore of Shine a Light and a DDHVL-infused Tweezer Reprise closes one of the finest shows of the year.

12/30 MSG: Did someone say finest show of the year? Yes, this is it. Everything you could ever want out of a Phish show (except maybe a vacuum solo). Funk-ified Alumni Blues opener (shoutout to ZZYZX!) into a standout 3.0 Mike’s Song with grimy clav work from Page. Boom. First Glide II since 1995? Yes, please. WEEKAPAUG JAM! This is my favourite Weekapaug ever, probably because of how Page absolutely obliterates the jam – taking the lead both on the wurli and synth while Trey hammers power chords. Instead of finishing Weekapaug (they almost do), the band makes a left turn by way of a perfect segue into Crosseyed and Painless! This ripping version just keeps the energy of the set high before fading into a short spacey jam that leads into the live debut of Bliss, featuring Trey on acoustic guitar. Just like on the album, this short instrumental leads into Billy Breathes, which precedes a succinct and energetic No Men in No Man’s Land. The next foray into Type II jamming comes in the form of a Tube -> Weekapaug -> Tube sandwich highlighted by the vast space contained in the jam. Through the Rhodes, CS60, Trey’s ambient Leslie loops, and Mike and Fish’s strong pocket. Segueing into a brief Weekapaug jam, the band brings it to a crescendo before perfectly slotting in the ending of Tube. More closes the set with a huge Trey smile. Set 2 opens with Cool Amber and Mercury, which stays Type I but gets the crowd moving. The Everything’s Right that comes next is anything but standard, as the band layers hypnotic loops over synths over a great rhythmic groove – a culmination of the jamming styles that have been explored throughout the year. A gorgeous peak awash with Page synth, wurli, ride cymbal, and whammy Trey adds another standout jam to 2018’s already bulging portfolio. Plasma continues the spacey grooves of the set before Light crashes in for another amazing excursion. A blistering Type I jam gives way to a soaring and beautiful section, bringing the jam just across the 20-minute mark before fading into a lovely Velvet Sea. The lone cool-down of the set, we are treated to a Split Open and Melt closer that tops the list of 2018 versions in my opinion. Distorted whale call from Trey, sweeping synthscapes from Page, and incredible textural drums from Fish all contribute to an angry alien-like space jam – the last evil jam in a year full of them. 12/30/18 Set II perfectly demonstrates what I love about 2018 – you can have both soaring bliss jams and weird darkness in the same set, something rarely found in Phish history. Closing the show with a four-song high-energy encore is just the cherry on top.

12/31 MSG: The final show of the year, a victory lap of sorts after the band torched the arena to the ground for the previous two shows. A standard first set full of rocking playing (don’t miss the Chalk Dust!) precedes a second set-opening Down with Disease, possibly Phish’s most predictable move for this slot. The jam quickly modulates to major key and features lots of great B3 work from Page and Weekapaug-like licks from Trey. Around 11 and a half minutes, it dips back to minor-key land at Trey’s urging and delivers a healthy dose of gnarled delay-centric play. Mike is especially dominant in this part, and helps lead the jam to a great peak before fizzling somewhat prematurely into Farmhouse. Seven Below starts up next, and the arguably greatest version of the song develops. Finding a jam motif similar to that of the 12/30 Everything’s Right, Trey begins powerfully soloing over Page’s warm bed of Rhodes. Post-peak, a wizard-space-funk groove develops – a jam that pops up again in the 2/21/19 IAWITW and the 2/22/19 SYSF. Trey grabs some woos before the jam segues into Twist by way of a funky Steam-esque groove. The band tries to execute a Hood > Passing Through > Hood to close the set, but misfires and just ends up stopping the Hood jam right as it was getting good…can’t win ‘em all! New Year’s gag, flying Trey and Mike, etc – solid third set with basically no improv closes the year on a very high note!

FALL 2018 RANKED

12/30

11/2

12/29

10/26

10/19

11/3

10/23

10/21

11/1

12/31

10/20

10/28

10/27

10/31 (not counting costume set)

10/24

12/28

10/16

10/17

Thank you for reading!!