This was my first Phish show. Of course it gets a "5"! And before anyone calls me a noobie, I am 54 years old and have seen a LOT of concerts. Started getting into Phish after buying Live Phish 16 (big Lou Reed fan -- I ended up REALLY liking the other three discs of that set).

I started eating up their catalog (I have MOST of their studio CD's -- haven't listened to Round Room -- listened to Farmhouse for the first time on the way to this show) ~ 1 year ago. And I have dozens and dozens of their live releases. I was really hooked when I bought "97". Wow.

Anyway -- this show. Let me just say this about the 1st set -- I simply do not understand the number of reviews on this forum that question song placement. "this seemed like an odd place for that song", or "this song at that time just ruined the momentum." People! Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but these are artists. I don't question whether Rembrandt used oil or chalk. HE'S the artist.

Anyway -- for my first show, and proud of the way I had beefed up on their catalog the last year or so, the first set definitely threw me. But it was SO WELL PLAYED. I HATED asking my compadres "what was THAT song?" But, oh well. I enjoyed it!

Second set: Down w/ Disease just scorched. loved it -- "Here we go!" I thought to myself -- they are going to throw down now. Loved the Free and the BoaF -- the latter just cooked. Solid A+ version. Harry Hood was incredible. Architect was like one of those songs from the 1st set, and I haven't delved into the Trey solo material yet, but it was a nice tune. Simple is as favorite of any that they include in the Mike's Groove sandwich. This whole suite was incredible. I think Trey is a much better guitar player in Phish 3.0 because he sits back and lets the other band members take control and he picks his spots. And when he soars, he REALLY soars -- and he did on this set ending extravaganza!!!

The encore was great. Waste is Waste, but the GTBT was a scorcher. I mean, for my money, that one song would have been worth the entire admission. Wow.

So, I am ready for Alpharetta! My compadres said that I had a 'winner" for my first show, and I had to agree -- I thoroughly enjoyed it! ALL of it!