An incredibly gripping show from start to finish. It’s tough to know where to start and how to process it all. But I’ll give a few tidbits as I’m heading back home after the show...the Ghost>Rift was an incredible one-two opening punch. The Ghost immediately had this gooey thickness and complexity that put vibes of 12-30-18 in my mind which never really went away throughout the night...the first set was full of incredible energy and each song a highlight in its own way, but special mention to Cool it Down. The song had such swing and swagger to it. The band was just oozing confidence...the second set was all about exploration, countering the energy of the first set. Each song seemed to get to its own unique place: the ER hypnotic, the Ruby Waves gentle grassy knolls, the Twenty Years Later hanging in midair while attaching itself to the sides of the venue, the BDNTL where Trey’s solo notes sounded like golden arcs of friendship. These songs went places. No one true highlight. More of a gel of a set with each song still retaining uniqueness...very special stuff and then a gorgeous Slave to send us on our way. Couldn’t have asked for more to end this lovely Holiday Weekend!

Maybe this was one of those Rorschach test shows... a Phish litmus test. I realize there was no 20 min “tent pole” jam, but I was still surprised to hear gripes walking out of the Coliseum tonight, I thought Phish brought us the Sunday night heat in Nassau.

Rocking Ghost show opener gives us a nice peaking jam right out of the gates, a rare and beautiful TMWSIY > Avenu Malkenu > TMWSIY, bust out Cool it Down, and a filthy peak laden 11 min Tube, what more would you like from your S1s?? How about a space jam Martian Monster > Timber combo, and a soaring Roggae? Excellent S1 in my book.

S2 starts with Everything’s Right, and the band locks into a slick groove which seemed to carry into the next several songs’ jam segments. Each band member seemed to be doing work tonight, we got a mixture of white light peaks where Trey always dominates, sci fi synth psychrock from Page, driving locomotive beats from Fish, and pocket-vibrating low tones from Mike. Egalitarian jamming, in both distribution to band members and in the multiple pieces of improv distributed throughout the set. Disease’s brief jam melted into Cities obscenely effortlessly. Carini peaked hard and fast before giving way to a combined near 25 min of the aforementioned very successful full-band improv in Ruby Waves > 20 YL. BDTNL rocked, Trey has so much fun with this tune every time. S.A.N.T.O.S. was tailor-made for arenas like Nassau, and we fist pump as the Kasvot classic shreds the set to a close.

Roses is sing-along fun and an unexpected encore, and then a concise but solidly peaking Slave to the Traffic Light sends us out into the Long Island wind and rain.

The band looks well set up to deliver some heaters in the second leg of this fall mini tour.

Last night was the night that where (IMO) Phish mastered the microjam formula and used it to great effect. At no point did I feel let down, with song choices or a dip in energy. It felt like N2 of Camden, but done right. There was no big Tweezer or Roses but an entire second set that felt like one big jam with song segments and at no time did I feel the dreaded R-word, they were taking chances left and right. If I was not at the show and I looked at the song lengths, I might question to listen or not. Don't question it, from Ghost to S.A.N.T.O.S. this show brought the fire.

One thing I want to add is how good 20yrs Later has become, I've caught it 3 times in a row and it has always brought the goods. While shortest of the 3 (Albany '18, Camden '19, now Nassau '19) this one combined moments of the previous 2. Sad that this is the 1st and only stop on the Fall mini tour but thankful I caught last night and have less than a month to enjoy them again.

Before I begin let me preface this with some backstory on the night so anyone reading this in the future will know. It was a miserable cold and icy rain night in the tristate area, and driving to Uniondale from Philadelphia was an awful experience. I was ready for Phish to throw down to make the trip worth it and lo and behold, they did.

The lights go down, and we start with a crunchy Ghost, one that finds its way and peaks, with some nice trilling action from Trey quite quickly. This will be a theme throughout the night, shorter jams (in the 10-15 minute range) that get to where they need to faster. It seems the band is being able to cut out 4-5 minutes of meandering in the mid section of long jams and get to the point with ease.

Ghost ends and Trey launches right into Rift, which is played with fervor and intensity. The band is tight and Treys guitar lines are hit perfectly. TMWSIY comes next for a little cooldown and it's airy arpeggios waft throughout the building, until Avenu Malkenu arrives for a jaunt and the crowd swells are joins in the singalong. Another theme for the night seems to be massive crowd singalongs during certain songs/choruses (Timber, Cool It Down, Cities, SANTOS).

The wedge comes next with a nice micro jam in it with more focused playing from Trey. Words are then exchanged between Page and Trey, and Martian Monster launches into deep space. It's a grimy, dirty version with some different than usual sampling from Page building into a cosmic noise before crashing back into the main riff.

Timber arrives next, and although I've caught 3 of the last 4 Timbers, it's always a nice time which good band interplay. Cool It Down is after, and the crowd joins to singalong especially in the chorus. The band looks happy and rocking, and there's some good instrumentation in the back half of the song. Roggae follows and is serviceable, nothing to special about this one but it's played nice enough before jolting off into Poor Heart which grabs the crowds attention straight ahead. The energy is back and high after that and some more words are exchanged between the members and Tube begins.

Can we stop here and appreciate how good of a song Tube is? It always brings good jams, whether short or long, and tonight is no different. This multi-peak jam is joyous and upbeat, with more trilling from Trey. It's the highlight of the first set and a must-hear, before landing back into the bluesy-bridge to finish out the song.

At this point we all thought the set would be over, even though the ending of Tube wasn't the big rock closer as usual. Trey talks to Mike and the band launches into Character Zero. Feeling like a victory lap on a great set, the energy is high and both and crowd and band are rocking. Overall a wonderful first set, with some classic sounding Phish, bookended by two great jams (Ghost, Tube). The second set hype is real now.

Set break goes by and the band takes the stage promptly at 10pm. Seeming unsure of what to start with, there's a little hesitation before choosing Everything's Right. But alas everything is right as the song delivers yet another great jam. ER is becoming the most consistent jam vehicle of the past few years and I have no problem with that. And this time we get another deep spacey cosmic version. It's dark and gyrating, and unique without any traditional peaks. Mildly reminiscent of 12/30/18's ER at times. Mike hits some bass bombs and Trey and Mike exchange words and a drone begins before Mike slams the intro to DWD. It's a feverish version with no wandering around. Peaks are hit high and fast and a deep groove is landed on when....

Okay this is the weirdest moment of the show by far. Trey starts singing Cities over the groove and it fits and the band lurches into a slower groovier rendition that's continued through the chorus and second verse and jam before catching up to speed later. It's a completely unexpected transition and took everyone by surprise, even the rest of the band. This is why we Phish though, you never know what you're going to get. The groove settles down and Carini crashes in like a truck to a brick wall. It's heavy and dark and gives a short but sweet jam before fading into Ruby Waves. RW is becoming another nice jam staple and this version is another one for the books to check out. Another cosmic jam which settles nicely.

20YL starts up and the crowd seems to not be too pleased with it, but then I remember 6/30/19 and how great of a jam came out of that... The main portion of the song reaches the darker bridge and we can all tell it's only going to get darker. More cosmic untraditional jamming as the stage feels like it might lift off and blast into space. It's a great version and might be the highlight of the second set. Number Line follows with a joyous type I jam but we're not over yet. SANTOS closes the set with high energy. A perfect cap to a weird and unique second set with lots of interesting, yet untraditional jams.

Encore begins with Roses Are Free, a nice tip of the hat to 4/3/98 and we close the show with Slave, which is always a good choice.

Overall a wonderful show. It might not have been an upper echelon classic show, but it's a standout of the year with a tight and focused first set and an exploratory second one. Attendance bias leaves me to give it a 5/5, although if we had half star ratings (WHICH WE SHOULD) it would be a 4.5/5.

The show was well played. I enjoyed the song selection in the 1st set. They never play TMWSIY, and I thought they did the song proper. Timber Go is always welcome. With the exception of that Tube that was jammed out, the set felt like the band was holding back for the 2nd set. The Everything's Right got heavy and launched everybody. The mega jam got traded in for several different jams, and it worked. I thought Kuroda also shined during the show.

This is why you never miss a Sunday show!

I posted a review yesterday with what I felt to be constructive criticism regarding timing, focus, etc. Tonight's show countered that for me. This felt like focus and playing with intention the entire show! And what a first set. Pretty much from the opener up to Wedge I was grinning ear to ear. I'm not a big Martian Monster guy, but it was still tasty. Very fun Tube as well.

It was funny streaming and watching Trey react to missing the intro to Poor Heart. He really wanted that! Just a beautifully played set.

Second set had some new tunes towards the end, but they were very well played. The DWD > Cities was the highlight. The transition to Cities was so fun and unique. Really cool stuff.

Second leg of this tour has some nice momentum!

Now that we have this 2019 Fall Run in the rearview mirror, I think this show must be at the top, certainly in the top 2. It was a lovely little tour and brings us all a new chapter in "the Phish from Vermont," as Trey giddily remarked to the crowd to end the Charleston weekend. Say what you will about that show, who in their right mind would see a "Chalkdust Reprise" coming? That Plasma bit to close it all out made me laugh on the way to work on a miserably raining Monday in New York, and who but this band could do that?

For all the new Phish we got in the 2018-19 creative spurt (Kasvot, numerous tunes not on Big Boat, GOTF, Vida Blue, Mike's band) this show has some of my personal favs in "Everythings Right," "Ruby Waves" and "SANTOS." Top that with maybe the best bust-out of the tour (all 2019??) in a thoughtful ode to Lou Reed, along with some classic 80s Phish and you've got a winner. Coming out of the gate with Ghost-Rift bliss for nearly 20 minutes and inserting a smoking hot "Tube" in the first set also sends this show into the tops of the tour. Certainly a strong contender for best set of the tour IMO. Can't wait for MSG and wish everybody the best in the holiday season!!

Enjoyed this show, but not as good as the night prior IMO. 2019 Phish is exemplary for how deftly Phish goes Type II in just about every jam, and this show is maybe one of the best recent examples of this trend. That said, I felt that the song selection on this “Island Tour Revival” run left something to be desired (having been at both nights of Providence and Sunday in Nassau): the 20YL sprouting from the remnants of the Page-ified Ruby Waves was decent enough, but one could feel the room’s energy deflate immediately upon the beginning of the BDTNL that followed (and this from someone who likes that song). Maybe this doesn’t translate as such on repeated listens (attendance bias goes both ways!), but I was sober in the nosebleeds at the time, so make of that what you will.

Minor gripes - overall the jams were pretty much what you’d want them to be if you’re clued in to the fact that contemporary Phish can squeeze an entire mammoth jam’s worth of development into sub-10/15 minute takes on just about any song in their repertoire.

Surrender to the flow and all that.

Highlights: Ghost, Timber, Tube, ER > Carini (loved Fishman’s toying with the beat - and Trey’s subsequent poo-pooing thereof - on Cities BTW)

I drove to and from Philly with a friend to see this show and it was well worth getting home completely exhausted at 3am. The area around Nassau is weird (I had never been to Long Island before) and the awful weather made it a very interested pre show experience. I saw so many people just giving away tickets on Cash or Trade and had high hopes that Phish would reward those who made the trek to this historic venue. After a few Kentucky Mules in the parking (my friend came prepared) we headed in.

I won't do any play by play but wanted to make a few comments on general tightness and energy of this show. I wouldn't necessarily put any particular song on the jam of the year bracket but as a whole this show was so cohesive. Every song seemed to be in the right spot. The micro jamming was also on point even in short songs. Listen to Martian Monster and Timber for examples. These songs are so short but the communication between the band members was on point and you could tell everyone was feeling. Set 1 highlights include Ghost, Cool It Down and Tube. The jam on Tube was particularly hot.

The second set was more of the same, nothing stretching too far but covering incredible ground in short amounts of time. Do I wish the DWD or Ruby Waves kept going, yes, but just amazing set list flow even though some may complaint of the dreaded rip chord which has been seen less and less these days. After Carini, we figured out that security could care less where you stood and made our way up into the lowest levels of the single digits Page side for some good ole fashion Page side rage side. Loved seeing the band indoors that close as I'm never lucky enough to hit good lotto seats. When they went came back out with Roses you could see Trey laughing. Send everyone home on a classic Slave to the Traffic Light and call it a night. Fun show with tons of micro and high energy jamming, crazy journey getting there and extremely relaxed security made this show one of the most fun I've seen this year.

Did anyone catch Page dropping the THX effect in Carini? I can't put my finger on exactly why, but I absolutely love that it became a thing, even if it ends up being short-lived. Can .net start tracking this official, and important, stat please. : ) Page, if you ever read this, keep it up buddy.

PS - this show was pretty sweet to listen to after the fact! I hope everyone enjoys it like I did.

I can’t wait for Pittsburgh they played an amazing Prince Caspian and Mr. completely so I’m psyched to see what’s next for the same venue two years later and hopefully the band will be well rested because of two days off in between they can visit Pittsburgh at their leisure enjoy the college and the hotel without the pressure of moving on to the next city the over 4.0 ratings are promising for a good if not great I’ll be at very small tour. I am sure will hear drift while you’re sleeping or I’m about to run. Because we haven’t yet but I would rather hear another Ruby waves I love the lyrics to that song and the 30 minute one only was the icing on the cake that showed me I was wrong about thinking drift while you’re sleeping is the best on the album it’s good the reggae is good but that whole album is good ghost in the forest that just sounds cool what a cool name for a band Trey certainly loves ghosts and souls and water he is obsessed with oceans and waves and sailing And all the metaphors about the soul but what about the spirit just curious we are not just body and soul we are body soul and spirit I so rarely hear trey use the word spirit. I love all the animal songs and even though I didn’t like Kasvot it is starting to grow on me if it’s done correctly good placement and where I don’t have to hear all 10 songs in a row I still think turtle in the clouds is a shit song and the other nine N. that great but they are growing on me you’re still my favorite band so I have to put up with their crappy albums like round room. Don’t u wanna go
Let’s go
Timber Ho (let’s roll!!)
Fuego (cuz u need a stolen car to get into heaven)
Jesus just left Chicago
When the circus comes to town
Roggae
Sing Monica
You never know
It makes no difference
Ginseng Sullivan
Antelope

Set 2
The curtain with
About to run. (With Eric Clapton intensity sprinkles)
Runaway Jim
Dog stole things
Sloth
Dirt
Lizards
7 below
Way down in a hole
Make sure My grave is kept neat
Pebbles and marbles
Round room
City
Light!

Encore
Drift while your sleeping
Wading in the velvet sea
A life beyond the dream
Show of life

Even if they just play a few of these I’ll be happy and what really makes me happy is 20 minute jams I mean lawn boy jammed that was hilarious and whimsical and they need to do more of that kind of shit