Phish > Philly

Glad the band openly enjoys playing at Mann so much cause it helps make running the gauntlet Philly gauntlet worth it. Projecting my N1 impressions, it felt like Trey took the stage with Serious Face for most of S1 in response to the cues and sound challenges that plagued yesterday's Walls and Coil. High energy, proper flow, and a you-will-enjoy-yourself vibe from the guys overall. The opening Mike's sequence is as good as it looks on paper and the 'Paug had some extra jam slathered on the end. So did the Moma, to the point I forgot how we got there.

Second set is the real goods here, with a subtly powerful SYSF and a sparse but clever segue into the mastodon-sized Carini. Spoiler: I cried a bit under the pavilion lights (see below) at just how pure, powerful, and even joyful it was. Joy was a great call and the saucy microjams in GA, LxL, and Hood made a brilliant fourth quarter. Encore was pretty until the Antelope decided to peak and become a baby mastodon itself.

Top-shelf show - recommend spending your time on this one. Prolly deserves a 4.3 or slightly under but will get bot- bombed down to sub-4.0 because we can't have nice things now.

A note on Philly: The city is gritty and offers no excuse. Lot is a raw dog; this is the one stop I'd be hesitant about bringing kids or the Pope. (On brand, gnarly dude rolled up nest to me on lawn for second half S1 and sells all the drugs, chomps and makes non-stop fusses, takes pictures of himself with his giant wad of stacked, sweaty dollars, then flips me off when I nicely asked him to stop using the flash on his phone. Phucking Philly, mann.)

A note on the venue: The Mann is a tale of two experiences - Pav and Not Pav. Sound is great on lawn (kinda murky in terrace, though) and it's still a Phish show and everything's right. However, for much of terrace and all of lawn, the low-ass overhang of the sky seats eats up the CK5 canvas view to the point where you only get the floor level, stationary row of lights. The Carini and Antelope peaks just don't top the same elevation without Kuroda as Sherpa to get all our butts to the true summit. It's one thing to not be *under* the lights, but to not even see 80% of the rig is a real jerk move of architecture and profit maximization. That limits the "real" experience to pavilion seats if sound *and* light is important to you.

That said, props to the venue for its woods-inside-a-city character with early shade as the sun starts to go down. The food trucks, Adirondack chars, and grassy plaza behind the lawn is rad and allows folks to spread out and enjoy the show in whatever way the like.