wow, that was my 6th show and my first of the summer (and my first time at Bethel Woods)! i had a great time and the band killed it. it had been pouring throughout the day depending on your location, but had more or less stopped by showtime. it drizzled on and off throughout the first set, and rained steadily throughout set 2. First Tube was as always a super energetic start, No Man’s Land had a really great little jam there, CK5 was killing it. Cavern was an interesting but super fun early set 1 choice, always love that ending. MFMF is a song I love, but adding that immense jam at the end was otherworldy, absolute highlight. Bug was the perfect beautiful cooldown as i sat down in my $10 rented lawn chair. Julius got the whole crowd moving and Page and Trey really shredded this one. 2001 is my personal favorite song to see live and this one felt like an all timer. SO funky, with the jam sections in that comfy “Type 1.5” space. at the climax when the lights go bright white, it’s just pure euphoria. indescribable. Taste was awesome and a great way to continue the energy, with some great soloing from the band and Hither-Yon Jon absolutely shredding some fills. Zero was a powerful set closer exclamation mark and everyone had their fist up in the air. well, the set was curiously cohesive, one of those sets that’s full of regular set closers, so the energy is just soaring the entire time. i checked a bunch of significant “most common not seen” songs off my list during that set. at set break i vended some delish funnel cake and got back to my area just as the lights came up and they faded into the Wedge. which was great, Trey killed it and it fit our wet surroundings thematically very well. BOOM tweezer, a song that seems to follow me around recently. they dropped into the jam very well and it’s hard to describe what happened next, i’ll leave that to the pros, but just listen to this one, you won’t regret it. i was absolutely transfixed by CK5’s work, starting here through most of Set 2, so i wasn’t really thinking about what the band was doing, other than “this is awesome”. Pillow Jets was a nice “breather” and a song i liked hearing, but that little pleasant song didn’t last past 4 minutes. it turned into an evil, slimy, snarling beast of a “jam”. eventually, the rhythm was completely gone and it was just a wild heaping goop of noise and synth. reminds me of a modern Melt, but then they picked it up into a fast paced high energy shredder that reminded me of Piper (we’ll get back to that). but all of a sudden Fishman took it to a funky little groove and before we knew it it was Tweezer, again. they gave it a pleasant little micro-jam before Trey started playing the chords to Piper very slowly. i recognized it before the rest of the crew or anyone else. it was as close to a “slow build” Piper as i’ve heard recently, but it took off quickly and started exploring and improving without hesitation. the rain was so refreshing and i didn’t even feel a need to put any gear on. we were all soaked and just letting the beautiful playing and the astounding light show wash over us. Piper jammed nicely, again, harder to describe, but i swear I heard a Let it Grow tease here. and there was a very obvious Mountain Jam tease in Tweez as well. this Piper went back into Tweezer again shortly, which was super fun to get a little Tweezerfest on night 1. then it cooled down and Trey prepared to segue into something, and it was Shine a Light! one of my favorite covers, and the only one of the show, unless you count 2001. it was beautiful to see everyone just basking in the rain letting the light shine on them. what a beautiful song. then Chalkdust burst in and we all gave each that “oh it’s ON” look without a word. the jam on this was wonderful, Trey was just shredding this and the lights were unbelievable. ended the set very well as usual. BBFCFM was completely unexpected but super fun and the lights were wild. Jibboo was also very unexpected but brought the house down for one more funky dance party. nice Type 1 soloing here. then it was More. not only do i love More, but 3 out of my 6 shows have closed with More, and i couldn’t be happier. it’s such a burst of energy, love, and light and everyone in the crowd was in on it. every time i see this band, i’m just blown away by how powerful our altogether communal experience is. talking to people in the lot, making friends at concession, there’s nowhere else in the world where being social is this easy, not to bring myself into it, but it’s just so easy to be happy and free at a phish show. and the boys absolutely crushed it. can’t wait for night 2.