TL;DR, very good show, underrated first set, excellent second set.

I get the impression that there is some ambivalence over whether this is 4.0 or a continuation of 3.0. Personally i think this show answers that question very effectively. It’s still Phish, but many things old are new and it feels like the band as a whole and individually have entered a new era.

The second set on this one is great, but the first set is more than solid. Some might complain about the song selection but Phish is not and never has been a greatest hits band. If you want to hear the hits, don’t bother. Technically they don’t have any. What they do have is a deep and expansive catalog and the ability on any particular day to deliver magic no matter what song they happen to be playing at the time.

Evolve, a song off of Trey’s 2020 album “Lonely Trip” debuts and opens set one with a nice mid tempo feel and solid performance. It’s a newer Trey song so some amount of cynicism from phans is to be expected but it is catchy, and it establishes a theme for the evening.

Next up is Free, which is I believe the first repeat of the 2020 summer tour. It’s a personal favorite and it’s already clear at this point that the band is in a nice place. They are evolving, they are free. But freedom is not without challenge and occasionally pain. Trey’s guitar playing expresses that well. It is precise, nuanced and expressive.

Trey was relatively chatty all evening and opens Ocelot by noting how good it is to be present. He is not alone in this sentiment. The song itself is both sinewy and joyous and fits in well with a first set that feels designed to slowly pull us all into another place known as set 2 where the band will turn it up another notch. The interplay between Trey and Page in the jam section of Ocelot is particularly tasty.

It’s hard for me to believe that the same mind that conceived “Ass Handed” is responsible for “My Sweet One”. Both have their appeal but for the longest time I thought “My Sweet One” must be an obscure bluegrass cover. It’s catchy and fun and the band nail it here. Again there is some nice chatter at the end as Trey and Phishman banter back and forth about who is supposed to count off the next song.

“Cool Amber in Mercury” is a return to a more mid tempo feel from the frenetic fun that is “My Sweet One”. It’s a nice jam vehicle and things seldom go badly when the band pulls out a Kasvot Vaxt song. While there is nothing particularly remarkable about this version it does manage to keep the flow flowing.

“Halfway to the Moon” is a great pick for this spot in the set. Page delivers this Stones classic well and his playing throughout is tasty and always on point. In the jam section all the parts are moving in a way that is both distinct and completely united at once.

“Water in the Sky” is another expressive mid tempo song that neither elevates no detracts from the set. It is a nice bit of glue that provides contrast to what comes next.

“Theme From the Bottom” is another personal favorite. Phish may not have hits in a conventional sense, but if they did then I’d like to think this would be one of them. It’s a great jam vehicle and the lyrics are at once whimsical and thought provoking. It is again clear that everyone is in a groove with Fishman laying down a great foundation, Mike providing both a bottom end and great counterpoint while Trey and Page make a bit of musical magic.

“Suzy Greenberg” is always fun but I don’t think this is going to go down as anyone’s favorite version and is arguably the weakest song of the show. Trey struggles a lot with the lyrics for some reason. It’s reasonably well played otherwise.

Which brings us to the first set closer, “Fluffhead”. I don’t have anything clever to say here but I will voice the opinion that this is a more than competent rendition of song with a lot of moving parts. It is for me seventeen plus minutes of musical bliss.

On to set two.

“Mr. Completely” is not a song I’m familiar with and it’s a bit of a rarity. Apparently it’s from Trey’s first solo album. An interesting way to open the set. Nothing really stood out to me on this one. I generally need to hear a song four or five times befre I really hear it if that makes any sense. I could in theory do that for the purposes of this review, but there is too much good stuff coming up so I’ll pass for now.

BOAF kicks things into another gear, though there is a slight vocal flub by Trey at the beginning. I get the impression that he’s still not 100% happy with his latest guitar setup as there are times when he seems distracted and can be seen looking down at his feet. That being said, this is where everything starts to elevate.

Ghost is not a personal favorite. I don’t hate it, but when the song starts I always end up thinking to myself “Trey, you have in fact told us about the ghost, many many times in fact”. That personal bit of angst out of the way I will admit that it’s a great jam vehicle and anything that inspires Trey is a good thing. The jam in this one starts murky and chaotic, at times feeling a little like a slow moving train wreck while avoiding any sense that the band is less than 100% dialed in. Eventually it morphs, but only partially into “Bathtub Gin”.

Hearing “Bathtub Gin” done in this way was the highlight of the evening for me. Was it planned? Did it just happen spontaneously? I guess the fact that it happened at all is what really matters. I don’t know that there is any other band out there that could come close to this level of demented creativity. They did something similar with “Fuego” in Arkansas. Maybe this is a 4.0 thing?

“Also Sprach Zarathustra” slotted in nicely. It tends to be a fan favorite, and with good reason. This one does not disappoint.

SOAM closes out the show with authority. It has funk, it has passion, it has groove, it jams. It is in short a great way to end arguably the best set so far of summer 2021.

The band encores with “Character Zero”. The start of this is a bit sloppy, possibly because they were rushed due to a impending curfew? Mike hadn’t even fully gotten his bass on when Trey kicked things off and it takes a bit of time before they all hit their stride. Once they do they close things out nicely.