First Set:

Free is always an amazing opener. The song starts slow and builds up the crescendo cry of the crowd that we are “FREEEEEE” and ready to get this party started. Funk continues with a fairly straight forward Moma Dance and Hailey’s Comet. The next segment of the show from Stealing Time through Sparkle is more song-oriented. Everything is well played but nothing strays too far from the script. From there the band looked to stretch things out a bit. Wingsuit starts off very pleasantly and builds up to a soaring peak. Bowie really gets cooking in the back half of the jam. Cavern takes us to setbreak in its typical raging fashion.

Second Set:

And here is where we really get into it. Disease comes out with a bang. Initially its a super high energy jam but around the 10-minute mark mellows out into a groovy sunny day walk in the park. It’s such a sublime jam. Gradually our main character wanders off into a far off section of the park. The scene grows darker and the trees around us seem to be reaching their branches around us and we gradually dissolve into What’s the Use? Carini comes roaring up from the darkness and drags us to his secret place where the initial jam gets dissonant. But then we begin climbing and erupt out of the darkness into an uplifting major key segment. We have made it through the scary times, let us rejoice! The final couple minutes of Carini brings us back to the sunny park but now we have an extra skip in our step. The transition to Light is a little abrupt but the song selection feels emotionally fitting. Light goes to some fun places — gets real funky, then plinkoy, a brief woo jam, and finally a dissonant transition into Fuego. The Fuego is pretty typical but the band does play around with it a bit at the end. A strong rendition of Slave comes next with a slow and steady build to the final jam. Our hero has emerged from the darkness, basked in the light, struggled against the traffic light (presumably in their stolen Fuego) and now its time for the Meatstick. The set ends with a cover of Hendrix’s Bold as Love that serves as the cherry on this psychedelic Sundae.

Encore:

The encore included the triumphant return of the pairing of The Horse and Silent in the Morning (along with some on-stage shenanigans). And at the very end a lovely Fluffhead.

My experience:

My very first show! I had just moved to Denver and this was my first real social outing since getting settled. I went with a friend from work’s crew and had a really amazing time despite not knowing any of the songs. It took awhile for the Phish bug to fully inoculate but this revisiting this show always gives me a warm cozy feeling.