This show wants us to think about the past (and time itself), but I think we need to spend a minute or two on the present first, and talk about what exactly the band is up to this tour. It's not just a fluke now, or a handful of outlier shows: this is a full-on renaissance, a band remaking itself yet again, after having already done so only four years ago.

Their sound is so thick at the moment--so many vibrations, so many echoes, like a model of some quantum system. Songs come and go, but there's a through line in nearly every set, every show. And that through line has touched on more and different emotional and evocative spaces than at any other point in their career.

How many other bands can reinvent themselves at such a late stage? Hell, how many other artists? Monet, maybe?

Yeah, I just compared Phish to Monet. Deal with it.

Listening back to the Dick's shows from '11, in some ways it's not even still the same band. They've come so far. Patience is a virtue as a Phish fan: it's taken a decade from my rekindled interest in the band until now, where they're as meaningful to my life as they were in the '90's, but for much different reasons. I don't think we, the older fans, fully realize how lucky we are to have art that grew up along with us, always at our side when we needed it.

Which brings us to this show, with its obvious references to time and the past, and its anniversary vibe. Narrative design seems part and parcel to lots of sets this tour, and here it's taken to an extreme. As someone who's been at a lot of these shows over the years, I was brought back to a number of Dick's performances, like 9/2/16. Or 9/5/15, with it's great ASIHTOS > CDT, replicated here to great effect. When the band launches into the Plasma/Party Time/CDT/46 Days et. al. mashup late in set two, it feels like a trip in the Dick's Hot Tub Time Machine.

You don't need any of that meta stuff to appreciate this show, of course. The Carini is up there with the best of the tour, and presents all the fun and happy parts of alien visitation. The CDT jam is particularly static for this tour, but it's groovy as all hell. And the Slave is a towering version. But in some sense it's useless to talk about individual songs or jams in a show like this, which demands to be taken as a full unit.

In the tarot, the fool's journey is cyclical: he travels in a circle, arriving where he began, but armed with knowledge and experience he lacked at first. In many ways, that seems an apt metaphor for the last ten year's at Dick's.

You always end up where you start.

Disclaimer: listened on the audio stream via XM.

I thought overall this show was an excellent continuation of the improvisational exploration witnessed at Shoreline. Moreover, it serves as a launching board for the rest of the weekend.

Personally, I felt the setlist, particularly in the 2nd set was a bit forced and sometimes 'songy'. With that said, SEEK OUT THIS CARINI TO END SET 1....WOW. Reminisicent to the Deer Creek Blaze On, this version visits a beautful realm of bliss and hose...must hear version.

Chalkdust in the 2nd set is also worth a revisit, another great example of this band's ability to explore improvisationally this tour; Trey was on fire again for this rendition.
Perhaps not as exploratory, but BNTSOS Part 1 (following CDT) has some excellent interplay from the band.

A very good show overall, looking forward to the next two!!

Overall a really fun start to the run. Energy was great in the first set. We get 3 tour debuts and dicks first foam. Carini monster jam to close it, seems like we are in for a great night. Rise is a puzzling opener call especially without a jam. ASIHTOS is always welcome though especially followed by a DEEP and deliberate chalkdust. The light Plasma chalkdust torture mash up was really fun!! Jim and slave to close it out not bad at all. Slave almost felt like it was going to bust out if it's structure before we get a raging peak. 3 song encore. Check your shoes, waste some time hugging your friends and then rage that dicks zeppelin debut before calling it night. I'd say this show is a solid 4 with two 20 minute jams and some oldies. See yall tomorrow!

I cannot and will not get into the minutiae of this show except to say I “enjoyed” the 1st Set a little more than the 2nd, primarily because of some of the deeper nuggets like Vultures and Pebbles. That being said it was to my ears a complete show, complete with intent and “mistakes”. But that’s perhaps for someone seeking perfection, which I never look for. That would take the surprise out of the moment imho. And tonight’s tour de force inclusive of CK5 had a *lot* of moments.

I do want to say that the glo sticks emanating from above our heads during the 2nd Set definitely was epic!

I also want to say I purchased the three night webcast after this show tonight. I rarely say this but I need to see this show again. I’m a listener, not a watcher but the only guy in approaching 50 years of concert going to demand my visual attention is CK5. All five are reaching dizzying new heights on every level. Dick’s was the only place to be last night.

For a couple minutes, it seems like this ASIHTOS is about to take off into outer space. Then, for some reason Trey scuttles the tune with a couple slashing chords. Ouch. Good news is the Chalk Dust that follows is excellent. Patient, focused, and committed, it's a solid example of the kind of second-set jams the band has been laying down at nearly every show all summer. (but I would still like to hear an extended ASIHTOS take full advantage of the new sounds Page and Trey have been making on this tour)

Dick's is a special run. Everyone from the fans to the staff to the band is just super happy to be here at our annual Phamily reunion. This year is personally special for me because I was able to make the whole Gorge -> Shoreline -> Dicks run for my first multistate run in a very long time. I've had such a blast that at those previous five shows and I'm really excited to see what they have in store for the end of tour.

Opening with 46 Days should go a long way towards easing the setlist FOMO that people might have coming out the previous two stops given that this had already appeared in the #3 slot at the Gorge on Saturday night. While there were plenty of excellent songs that hadn't been played yet on this leg (including Reba, Ghost, YEM, Bowie, and Antelope), resolving the question of "will there be repeats" early and making it clear that they are going to play what they want to play was much appreciated. This run will have something for everyone.

Steam and Timber got things going with some nice little microjams. While neither of these were particularly long, they locked in quickly and grooved easily to make the most of their relatively short durations.

Vultures, and Pebbles and Marbles are the personal collector's items in this set. I love both of these songs deeply, and it's been multiple decades since I've seen either. So grateful to catch them back-to-back.

I was very surprised to hear Carini make a reappearance, given the face melting sunset opener we got at the Gorge. This version did not disappoint; who cares if they repeat songs when they play amazing versions each time out. This time around, it ended with a stunning bliss jam to end the set. To my ear, this jam resolved out of the minor-key evil into the same major-key progression that sits underneath Slave to the Traffic Light. The result was a bliss peak that was harmonically and structurally evocative of a Slave, but was still its own unique variation. We've never heard a Carini set closer before, but if this is what happens when Carini closes a set then I'm all in on it.

ASHITOS typically isn't my jam, although this version was starting to make me rethink this. There was an interested interplay between Fishman and Trey when Trey wanted to take the offramp but Fish rejected with a pretty forceful snare fill to keep things in ASHITOS for a few more bars. Ultimately, the TreyDD energy was too strong and we ended up in Chalkdust, which is what Trey clearly wanted to play. Chalkdust has been really strong this tour (Alpharetta 1, anyone?) and the next 20 minutes did not disappoint. Somehow we landed in Beneath a Sea of Stars for about 10 minutes of free jazz featuring CK5's light rig. From the Stars came Light and Plasma (very astronomical!), with Plasma proving that "you always end up where you start" in by recapping the entire show in tease form to put an whimsical end on a stellar 40+ minutes of music that formed the meat of the second set.

Any show where the second set breather song is...Runaway Jim is probably going to be pretty fun, just saying...

There is nothing like the opening notes of a Slave at Dicks. Big hugs all around as we settled in for the end of a fantastic evening. After the way Carini ended the first set, I would have not have predicted it but apparently a full set is enough of a refactory period for the band to fully recharge the bliss batteries. By the end, everyone is utterly spent.

Cavern and Waste were lovely in the encore slots, but the shout out goes to the first appearance of Good Times, Bad Times at Dicks. This version seemed to kick into a bit of higher gear at the end, closing out the first night of Dick's with an energy that bodes well for the next two nights.

Happy Dicksmas y'all. See you on the Grassy Knoll.

With such a great tour happening now, it’s easy to pick apart this one. This tour has been very explosive at points that these more Mello ones get a hard time. ( me not being excluded from that. ) for a opener for a 3 day run I feel this is pretty normal. I’m sure tomorrow there going to peel your face off. Any PHiSH is good and I’m glad we’re so spoiled on heaters this year we get to compare and be really proud where these guys are right now. I love this band!! ( guy from couch at home* )

Back after a short hiatus from the west coast run. Just not easy to stay up that late from Alabama. Funny the times we live in: got miracled from the couch. Buddy purchased the webcast and then let me watch it from his account. It’s in that spirit of giving that we arrive at Dick’s. A band that has been in the giving spirit at a venue that is the definition of a gift that keeps on giving.

As the 10 year anniversary of the Dick’s run kicked off the boys seemed to bring the heat to what felt like a very front loaded show. 46 days I mmediately stepped into type 2 territory and that theme was pervasive throughout the first stand. Stand outs of the first set were Timber and Carini. Timber’s short but complete thought of a jam sequence hit the spot and Carini closed like a swift kick to the…

With ASIHTOS In the second spot I thought we were finally going deep but after a succinct jam then gave way to the bands favorite jam vehicle of late: CDT. I was fine with getting CDT’d.

The second set was strong but if this were a bout of sets, numero uno was the unanimous decision.

Overall strong showing and bodes well for the remainder of the holiday weekend.

Mahalo Nui,
Matthew

I’m kinda baffled by this night. While I enjoyed some of the song choices through the first set, It seemed to me like a night where they couldn’t find an identity.
Can you really say that last night was better than Sat gorge, or either of the first two AC nights? I hate sounding negative, cause this my band and there’s no place I’d rather be, than at a Phîsh show, but for my 10th of the summer, this was by far my least favorite.
I never really felt connected to them last night and I hate that feeling. It almost seemed appropriate choosing the songs they did in the 2nd set because they just were off. No doubt that they’ll have a band meeting at Denny’s this morning and figure it out over a couple plates of Moon over My Hammys….

Sat Dicks will slay!!!!!!

If I’m reading between the lines correctly; one deciding factor that helped make this a high-ranking, enjoyable show is the total omission of any of the material from “Kasvot Växt: í rokk”. Keeping those songs on the shelf equates to a more enjoyable listening experience. Yeah, I put in writing what you were thinking!