(Writing up in retrospect to 2021 from the next year).

This show is absurdly great, if a tad bit uneven in the last quarter stretch. Phish are clearly cruising on the steam from the night prior and bring us yet another all-timer jam in only their third appearance in 2021. But first thing's first: this first set opens up properly with Sand. A groove-infested pedestrian jam leads us to Everything's Right. ER has proven to be a premier jamming vehicle since its debut nearly 4 years prior (from this show), and this one proves no different. Straight away, only 2 songs into their third show, ER gives us a taste of what's yet to come. Lots of different effects and synths are utilized to their fullest capacity, and roughly 16 minutes in, things die down. But that's no problem because for 2021 Phish, this is second-nature. It probably came just as natural as breathing. The rest of the set is fine, and surprisingly no ballad/slow number to think of and Stash and Gin close things out properly. Stash is played exceptionally well. Again, I think we take songs like Stash for granted because we've heard it so much over the years, but this song is not easy to perform at all. There are so many intricate nuances and cues in the song proper that it would be easy for performers even at Phish's level to miss some steps. But this one has only minor flubs. Can't even tell it had been technically shelved for over a year.

Now onto the meat of the show. CDT is the big takeaway jam and it's one of those jams that's always left me scratching my head since hearing it the first time. It clocks in at 26 minutes, bettered in length only by the Randall's '14 CDT. And yet, every time I listen to this one, it's over before I even realize it. There aren't really a lot of different movements in this one, and it basically plays on the same/similar themes for the first 22 minutes. 22 minutes of pure unadulterated musical joy; the type of jam to have you snapping or tapping your foot along with a smile across your face. The last couple minutes, like the Carini from the night before (a similar styled jam) build up to a big crescendo and we're left lifted off our collective feet, minds equally blown. Another observation regarding this one is that Trey and Page are very restrained in their new effects/synths here until the very end when they're used ever so gently. This jam proves to me that if you stripped Phish of their new sounds, underneath it all, this jam is not only possible but entirely plausible.

Up next in the opening triptych is Steam>Caspian. Steam is a nice breather; the proverbial cigarette after such an intense experience the song prior. But Caspian. Let's talk about how this Caspian packs almost as much a punch as the ER in the first set. Firstly, Trey and Page are not restrained at all in using their new toys. And the result is an almost dissident-sounding jam which gives us (or me, at least) a much different feeling than the carefree lyrics would have us feeling. To put it shortly, if you're going to listen to the CDT, you need to tack on the Steam>Caspian. Well, after 45-ish minutes of some of the most thrilling Phish in 3.0/4.0, we get a Golgi, Bag, and Shade. All well deserved, and (again) surprisingly polished-sounding. Mike's>Silent>Weekapaug sends us off happy.

I'm feeling a solid 4-4.2/5 on this one. It's insanely well-played, but I have to account for some set list oddities in the back end. Still well worth giving 2.5 hours of your time for.