This was my first show. I have been listening for about two years (listened to everything from 94-03 and some of 12-19). This show had weird pacing to start and sub-par song choices in the latter half. The setlist doesn't do it much justice, and you shouldn't let the lack of a 20+ minute jam fool you. I'm gonna listen to the show while I write this to hopefully have a little less bias.

First set started promising with AC/DC Bag then got slowed down a lot by 555>Ocelot>Sample.

But once Stash hit it was on. Don't be deceived by the 12:30 time, there was great type 2 jamming, started with lots of great playing from Mike and Fishman while Trey slowly built for a few minutes with short interjections by Page then they locked into a lick for a few minutes reached a beautiful peak then rapidly dropped back down into Stash. A tad short but super sweet.

I know The Wedge is just another of those by the books songs that doesn't really change much but this was like my favourite song for the longest time and probably still lands top 5. That drumming by fishman is unreal. Stash has been teased in The Wedge a lot but only once played before The Wedge (in '03) and twice after ('03, '95).

I had never heard Frost before. It sort of interrupted the groove that just built from The Wedge which would have gone really nice next to Halley's (which would have been another rare occurrence).

Halley's is also one of my favourite, so I was really happy to get this seeing as it is on the uncommon side.

I haven't gotten around to listening to the ghosts of the forest. Ruby Waves was pretty sick, it sounded like it went type 2 but I haven't heard other versions.

Lawn Boy was placed just after the sun set and it was a bit cloudy so it fit really well with the lyrics. Page definitely had some fun with this version.

YEM came and all was well.

I felt like I got pretty much the bare minimum of what I wanted (Stash, Wedge, Halleys, Lawn boy, YEM). Overall my hopes were high if this was the first set what could the second have in store?

Plasma was another tune which I'm not really familiar with. It was pretty good with a nice ambient jam.

I really dig the Kasvot Vaxt stuff, although I haven't listened to much of the stuff past round room. Final Hurrah really picked the energy back up after the ambience of plasma.

Wingsuit is another song I'm not really familiar with, so I'm not sure how out of the ordinary the jamming was. It did a good job of playing off the energy built by Final Hurrah.

Golden Age I have heard and despite it being a jam vehicle I don't actively seek it out. My only excuse is that its technically not a phish song (but that didn't stop me from getting giddy about the crosseyed and painless tease, too bad it had to be saved for the monster BOaF the next night). I was slightly disappointed at this point because I knew that with the length of Wingsuit and the typical Golden Age it was unlikely any other large jams were coming.

Needless to say Golden Age melted face, definitely changed my mind about the song. Lots of great interplay between Page, Mike, and Fishman while Trey stayed back for the most part chiming in here and there with heavy sustain. The teases and jam saved the song.

I Always Wanted It This Way fit beautifully next to Golden Age. It doesn't sound nearly as cool in recording as it does live. The echo effects along with sustain by Trey are super trippy.

Finally Prince Caspian hit and all was well, everyone was back to singing along joyfully. The type 1 jamming by Trey on this was really something else. He voices his guitar perfectly especially on the "afloat upon the waves". I swear I have probably heard prince caspian 100+ times in live recording and never came to appreciate how well Trey plays that riff.

I was pretty happy to get an If I Could considering its rarity but if you asked me how do I want set 2 to close I wouldn't have said If I Could >46 Days. I was really hoping for Cavern but it got played a couple nights before.

46 Days brought the groove which was sorely missing from the rest of set 2 aside from Final Hurrah.

Set 2 had a decent amount of jamming sprinkled with a few rarities, it was a pretty calm set overall. The flow felt much better than the first set.

Drift while you're sleeping was another new one for me. It worked really nice as a show closer.

Despite feeling like an avid listener I still got 5 songs which I didn't really know (goes to show just how unpredictable these shows are).
The first set was very up and down, I think it would have gone smoother if they put Sample and Frost after Ruby Waves.
Overall I give Set 1 a 5/5, and Set 2 a 3.5/5.

Can't wait for next time!