02/09/16 was supposed to be my first Phish gig. I was supposed to excitedly travel thousands of miles to see them, but instead work and an airline fond of suddenly jacking their prices up got in the way, so, I had to sell my tickets and camping pass. I was pretty down about this for a while, but there's always tomorrow, and there's always the webcast.

SET I:

Ghost started the gig, fresh off it's excellent Lock'n version and it immediately jammed, though it didn't really go anywhere. NMINML was next, and had some pretty good Trey soloing. This one feels like it will grow on me, but for now it's not groundbreaking or anything. That's what much of the show feels like actually: Jams that seem OK but that will definitely get better with time. Breath and Burning, my favorite of the 2016 batch of new songs, followed. Undermind, Heavy Things and your average Stash were performed before the greatest song ever written, Ass Handed was played in a swing style. (''Tonight we're swingin' Dicks!'' Fishman says before badum ching-ing like he's playing with Touchpants.) A tight Wedge, Alaska and a very good, uplifting and soaring version of 46 Days close Set I out.

SET II:

Antelope kicked Set II off, and had some very nice Trey/ Page interplay on the high end. These two have been killing it all summer with their work together. The customarily tempo changes, Trey customarily shreds and the song finishes. Then, BOOM! Mercury's back! The first since last year's Dick's performance, who doesn't love this epic? They soundchecked it, but it's bona-fide return was still a quite unexpected and wholly welcome.

Seven Below followed, which featured an OK jam I guess, but it wasn't very fulfilling and very much paled in comparison to the 8/2/15 version. It then awkwardly >'d into Birds of a Feather, then Wombat, and then, I thought it was going to be another song-y set, before ya Boy Tweezer drives his car through the wall, stumbles out of said car, screams ''The party has arrived!'', and the crowd yells in joy as it's riff kicks in. It felt like there was instant energy again.

Trey immediately goes for tension, which Mike underscores. Fishman then turns the jam rhythmic and Trey ups the tension with slightly discordant and slow soloing before heading into a more conventional buildup. Page backing him up along the way on the Grand then moves to the B-3 and Trey gets a quote going, while the rest fuel the tension and get more rhythmic. Trey starts the build up, begins slowly soloing before heading into more rockish territory and before seemingly going for the peak. The rest start then go back to tension briefly before restarting the buildup and then and Trey starts screaming, before things cool down and Jim starts up.

Jim had some good and melodic Trey/Mike interplay. It gets quiet, before emerging with some quickfire Trey soloing (which sounded a bit reminiscent of the 12/30/15 Gin) before heading back into the Jim theme and Suzy which ended the set.

Bug and Tweeprise was the encore

OVERALL:

A good show, definitely one of those that I think will require another listening or two to fully appreciate, so don't take the rating as definitive from me; I think some parts that only sound OK to me now will sound great as time goes on.

The band seemed very eager off of Lock'n, and that energy rubs off on the crowd to make for a fine show. Only time will tell if it's better than Lock'n Night 1.

HIGHLIGHTS: 46 Days, Tweezer

RATING: 3.5 - 4/5