(Saw the show from the field.)

Last night's first set was tight, interactive, good-time Phish: an ideal summer set, the sort of hour you love hearing live and needn't race to hear. I was so happy with how well the band was singing(!), the clean execution of 'Rift' (and everything else), and the unexpected breakout jam in 'Tube.' I've no idea whether this sort of thing is considered a 'standout' Set One anymore, but it was perfectly satisfying in the moment -- every song felt just right to me, and band and audience had energy to spare. 'Tube' fans take note.

Page and Fish were monstrous throughout.

Fenway franks and highway-robbery bottled water at setbreak. Why not.

'Sand' is barely a song, and its jam didn't quite achieve liftoff as I recall; foolishly hoping for a long journey to begin the set, I was momentarily disappointed -- and I have no use for the perfectly enjoyable 'Axilla.' One of those paradoxes of Phish fandom: they were playing music that was by any sane standard brilliant and weird and groovy, nailing every note, but I thought the night 'needed' something else. And I'd have told you that 'else' was 'more.' Paradoxes of ego-desire in general, I guess.

Anyway, 'Mercury' kicked off and it was astonishing. My old show buddy Mike and I turned repeatedly to each other with those smiles-and-nods that say 'We'll need to talk about this later, but right now I'm in too deep for talk.' Trey seemed to step back at times throughout the show -- his lead/follow moments were a bit more polarized than I expected -- and the extraordinary heights of the 'Mercury' jam saw him receding completely into the group soundscape. They played with such patience and empathy... Everyone comes home claiming to've seen something special, and whaddaya know, I swear I did.

After seeing 'Wading' at the triumphant, climactic SPAC run in June '04 I will always have time for that song. They played it well, if unexceptionally, and the singing was again spot-on, with a little bit of interpretive wiggliness from Trey on vocals.

'Fuego' is 'Fuego,' until it's wonderfully not -- last night's outro jam flowed effortlessly through patient transformation. This was our other shared second-set moment of respectful gratitude. Phish make the extremely difficult seem as simple and inevitable as sleeping or waking, drifting, dreaming.

The rest of the set was the rest of the set -- thank you Phish -- and the encore's one twist was a sprightly little full-band groove in the 'Coil' outro, ultimately giving way (as it must) to the sweetest little diminuendo in all of Phish's catalogue. 'Thanks everybody.'

Was it a great show? Hmm. Why do you ask?

See you tonight.

Was down on the turf, the cool breeze and shade from the setting sun made for a really pleasant night, the sound and sightlines were great.
Set 1 was fun if a little weird flow-wise, but set 2 was really killer. Great jams in Sand, Mercury, and Fuego, and the flow of the set was just perfect. Wading was a great break right when we needed it but then Fuego turned the heat right back up. It felt right.
I love Squirming Coil closer. That is all can't wait for night 2!

Tonight is gonna be under rated. I get that. In terms of the standard of what they can do, it's not "IT". But God damn if I didn't have a blast tonight! As a local, Fenway was just a supreme atmosphere for this band.

Before I go in, these last 3 shows have been a good reflection of summer19. Fun moments of dazzling Phish with sprinkled in mistakes or moments of no direction. But the band it's continuing to show good signs of longevity as well having the most fun I've seen them since bakers dozen (Trey is a 10yr old with the wireless hookup)

First set was really fun, I thought tube, runaway Jim, and Brian and Robert wrap up set1 notables. Good everything's right jam & blaze on. Nothing to write home about.

Set2 features a very good sand (not crazy, but tone and direction had purpose). Sand>axilla>Mercury is a great pairing. Mercury is a clear highlight of tonight. Featuring multiple points of full band interplay and synchronous modulation. Wading is a decent breather, needed to hit last call. 4th quarter finished strong I thought with an above average Fuego jam slinking into the santos, and a ripping zero. Heavy ghost vibe/tease into Santos.

Love a nice bug. Coil was a perfect way to cap off a beautiful Fenway night with the boys. Tonight will definitely get downplayed, but I wouldn't trade this weekend for anything. Everyone & the band are just having a blast.

I listened to the show from an apartment across the street from Fenway on Boylston. Just sitting on the couch with my girlfriend staring out of the window at a bank of video screens I could see in the stadium which was bizarrely showing the band on two screens and a rebroadcast of the day's Wimbledon matches on the third screen.

The First set sounded great. Blaze On felt like it might be going somewhere and then it sort of sounded like something went a little sideways and they pulled the plug. Halfway to the Moon through to the end of the set was just nice fun, sold Phish.

The second set saw the band going a little deeper. Mercury>Wading followed by Fuego>SANTOS were both really fun. That Encore was very cool, particularly Page's solo. Honestly Page felt really on all night. Having him play out the show was apropos.

Look, from my extremely low-stakes vantage point this show was great. Do you need to seek this show out and listen to it immediately? No, probably not. Should you avoid it? Also no, but also congratulations on living your life in a way where advice on which Phish shows to avoid is somehow relevant to you.

Here is my short little review.

This was my first time in Boston it’s been a blast. I’ve seen a number of amazing places like the JFK presidential library, MIT museum, strolled through Boston historic district, and became instantly smarter when we walked through Harvard yard.

Fenway is such a historic venue that I was stoked to be here. It was a little rough to actually get in the venue. Each gate has like two metal detectors and it was just really slow going. We finally made it into the venue when Free started to play (my crew usually never is late to the start of a phish show, learned our lesson for Saturday night).

Random thoughts below for the songs that I thought were the highlights.

Set 1
Tube. Dropped the funk hammer. Trey threw out his guitar pick. How rock god of him.

Rift. Fire. Go!!!!!

Everything’s right. Went to a dark groove. Funky and spacey. It almost sounded like a theme jam.

Runaway Jim. Fitting. Fast at first. Sounded like a flub at the end jam.

Set 2

Sand. Sunset jam. Get it Boston.
Axilla 2 hot!!!!!!!
Mercury. Harmony great. Fun space jam at the end.
Velvet seat. I went pee.
Diego. Fuego. The drums fucking rocked. Drive that shit.
Santos fuck ya.
Character 0. Jam had a soft part. Not the best version.

Encore was fun but pretty standard. Neat to see page finish the show with his solo and get that standing ovation.

I give the show a B from MIT. Good phish robot work but it wasn’t a home run.

Night 1 was solid, awesome peaks and highlights sprinkled throughout the night. Sound was less than stellar, Trey dipped in and out of the mix quite a bit. Glad we got Brian and Robert, Axilla, Ocelot, and Tube, those were a ton of fun. Free opener after Fourth of July was awesome. Got my second Sand, Everything’s Right, Blaze On, Rift, Sand, Fuego, AND Character Zero closer. I swear I’m a magnet for some of these songs, same happens at Dead and Co I get Stella Blue every show I go to. Say it to me Santos and Mercury proved Phish may be older, but that only means their songwriting and jamming has gotten more mature. Loved Mercury and have loved it for the past year, it’s grown on me a ton to the point of one of my favorites. Glad I got to hear it in person, it’s an exploratory composition that leaves space for jamming and exploring infinite sonic crevices and intergalactic sound caverns. Santos is just a total blast that mixes the best of high energy rock Phish, groovy Phish, and trekking giant peaks Phish all in a song. Phenway certainly learned what space smells like, it’s stanky and delicious. Got that Squirming Coil (And bug but less exciting, still great though) encore to close the night! What an amazing way to end a good show. Beautiful composition and easily in my top 5 phish songs, felt special to get that song. Lights zeroed in on Page as he knit a beautiful sonic tapestry; it was just him and us. Phish means a lot to me for many reasons. One is that Trey’s life has some parallels to mine, and he inspired me to pursue music after giving up on it and gave me a new lease/perspective on life. But even though I owe that to Trey in particular, Page holds a deep and special place in my heart. He’s one of my favorite instrumentalists and my favorite keyboard player in music, so sharing those intimate moments with him brought me to tears (I’m not crying, you’re crying!). What a good show, overall lots of ups and downs which is to be expected, but some insanely special moments too and lots of love for the phamily. I’d give it a 3.6-3.8/5! Extra points for Trey throwing that kid in the pit a guitar pick or shirt (what was it?), that was insanely cute

Far from being a Phish newbie but this was my first show! We pre-partied with some fellow phans we met online and that set the tone for an awesome experience (besides the awfulness of getting into Fenway and the lady next to us who repeatedly bumped into us and blew smoke in our faces until some choice words sent her into exile). I got two songs from my wish list (Rift and Coil) and they were both exquisite. The energy level on Rift was pretty on par with their 1.0 Rift performances and Page's Coil outro was probably the best I've ever heard! Fuego also blew me away. Always thought it was a decent song but they brought it to new levels at Fenway!

Overall, an amazing night of amazing music.

On July 5th, 2019 m’lady and I pulled in to Boston after spending a splendid three nights in that wonderful little upstate town of Saratoga Springs. We were in town (well, both towns really) for another couple of Phish concerts (of course) and were happy to be staying with some of our bestest American friends ever, Joe and Dee. They were the mostest of hostest and went all the way out of their way to make sure we had a great time, and of course we did. Heck, J&D made life so darn agreeable that I even agreed on sushi for dinner and I gotta admit, I enjoyed it.

When we got to the lot outside of Fenway Park m’lady did a walkabout trying to sell her brand new, hot-off-the-presses Kasvot Växt/Häagen-Dasz t-shirts (I won’t even bother…it’s a Phish thing) but she didn’t do very well. She didn’t do as poorly as one fellah we saw who somehow drew the attention of about thirty police officers who mounted a frantic chase through the makeshift marketplace, eventually taking him down and dragging the poor sap off to some misdoer’s stalag. Bet he has some story to tell.

My story is probably much less dramatic but I’m sure it’s a whole lot happier. It was my first time inside one of America’s most famous ballparks. We would be sitting with Joe and Dee the next night but for now we bid them farewell until the end of the show and headed in the direction of our seats along the first base line. Traversing the labyrinthic bowels of the classic building one could feel history bleeding from every riveted girder. The foyers and hallways held little rhyme or reason – unlike more modern stadiums with their cookie-cutter concessions around every bend – except to offer a plethora of food and beverage items in an Escher-esque cacophony of railings, stairways, ramps, and escalators. We filled our boots and made it to our seats ten rows up from the field.

This was the 25th anniversary of my first ever Phish concert (July 5th, 1994 in Ottawa) and here I was 114 Phish shows later still not knowing the names of the damn songs. Okay, in my (very weak and meagre) defence there were little-to-none of my favourites played in the evening’s pair of sets (except maybe Character Zero, but I mostly like that one because it makes m’lady cringe*) but just like that first show a quarter-century before I didn’t need to know the songs to have a great time.

A funny memory of this concert: just below our seats was a field-level bar that was very, very busy all night. It was set up to serve the floor – our section was along the back of the makeshift bar – but even still I noticed several people ordering drinks from our side and getting served with no lineup at all. It was unspeakably more convenient than going up to the concession area behind us for a drink and I almost went down there, until I noticed that every back-door order came with what looked like a very, very hefty tip. Okay, let’s call it a bribe, for that’s what it was. It went on all night and those bartenders made a killing.

At the end of the show m’lady accidentally left her USA-only cell phone** under her seat and by the time we found Dee and Joe and discovered it missing we were already well on our way back to their place, so it remains lost to this day. But that didn’t stop us from getting together with friends! Get this: We ran into a our good friends Steve and Rosie from back home in Ottawa right in front of Joe and Dee’s building! They had been walking from the show back to their hotel (which turned out being just a block from D&J’s apartment), they recognized m’lady and I from across the street and joined us for hugs and a nightcap. I love serendipity.

And that’s one of the main reasons I don’t like cellphones. They are serendipity killers. “Huh?” you might be thinking (as you quickly check your messages). “What are you talking about?”

Don’t even get me started.

*It sounds like I’m liking the song just to spite her, but nothing could be further from the case. Though I initially didn’t care much for Character Zero either I once found myself air-guitaring along to it at a concert and I instantly came to appreciate the song’s blatant rock & roll nature. So, in an effort to spread my hard-won enjoyment of the song to the woman I love I have played up my enthusiasm for it (and my air-guitaring) to the point that I have convinced myself to count it as one of my favourites. Hobby-Phishing can get complicated.

**Being anti-phoney I cringe at the mere thought of m’lady owning a cell phone, even if it is just for when she travels south of the border. But then, I have an archaic cellphone of my own that I use when I’m in Africa, so I bite my tongue. Hard.

https://www.toddmanout.com

Free: solid opener

Blaze On: normal type 1 peak version

555: standard

Tube: great extended jam in this one. Mike is fantastic. Bliss peak

Brian And Robert: standard

Halfway To The Moon: Page’s turn

Ocelot: standard

Rift: played well

Everything’s Right: first type 2 jam of the show. They find a nice place and build it to a great peak and that leads us to

Runaway Jim: unusual set closing placement, but a good one

Sand: to start the set, this jam stays type 1 and peaks back into the song, rather than getting out into exploration

Axilla: standard

Mercury: fantastic type 2 improvisation here. Red queen Trey solo is 10/10. Gets spacey and contains Mike bombing and drilling

Wading In The Velvet Sea: gorgeous solo from Red. I love love love this song, hate me all you want

Fuego: love this placement, and we get more type 2 greatness. Cowbell

Say It To Me SANTOS: I think this song is great as a closer, but not here. Should’ve waited. Really good version though

Character Zero: closing ragyness with extra Mike goods

Bug: standard

The Squirming Coil: love ya Page

Interesting show from Fenway. The jamming in Mercury and Fuego is awesome, but some of the song choices and placements are a little iffy. This is a 6/10 show. Highlights are Tube, Everything’s Right, Mercury, Wading, and Fuego

Compared to the rest of the tour this is a below average night and I’m not surprised because Fenway 2009 was terrible too n for some reason they do play a certain way depending on the venue that they’re at and I hate to say it it shouldn’t matter where they’re at but if there at the gorge or in Camden or anywhere in New York or Vermont or Tahoe they’re going to play better they do care where they are at Blossom too and Somewhere between Erie n Pittsburgh burgettstown n because I guess it’s Cleveland and the rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame and all that. Those 2 and the whole northern east coast are shined on a bit brighter in general This Boston show Though in the geographic area where they should play the best shows was well it only had a couple things worth noting I do love any long Tube and it was a good tube it was a tube over three minutes so I’m already happy I love the song Brian n Robert so I’m sentimental over that the rest of the first set was terrible Not in terms of song titles but for some reason it just didn’t work ocelot is the only song title I just hate that song No correct placement or even a jam even a 20 minute ocelot is terrible to me that made sound sacrilege but except for an OK ender I love runaway Jim and even though it was a short one that song is amazing you can’t do that wrong as long as you play it OK and it was definitely a good Rockin way to end the SEt sort of like a 46 days a rock 8 minutes like a stealing x set 1 closer Not good not bad just OK but I’ve heard amazing runaway gyms that went on for 30 minutes this one was not even in the same league then for set two To me only Mercury and Fuego Are even worth talking about now Santa is a better song than both of those two I mean listen to some of the best sans and they beat the shit out of any mercury or Faygo but tonight those are the only highlights I have a softspot for wading I heard it my first night to 2 21 03 in cinci
As the encore and they did this one long note tray just held the note for ever it seems like and I fell in love with the song but tonight was just another terrible boring version of it not as bad as Coventry where Paige cries and the band totally loses their shit but still not good at all I don’t like anything off Casbah so I’ll always remember where I was when I don’t hear the songs because I hate all of them And space doesn’t have a smell retards but you guys are believers in evolution so you are retards by definition then you really fuck us with a bug encoreNot even your they can’t make a mistake in there’s no such thing is pissing in our ears fans hate bug I mean it’s like trying to make time turns elastic into guyUte It’s never going to happen and bug will never be a good encore even if it’s saved by one of the best song chorus and one of the best set closers coil it’s like they know where we live and what we hate it so they have to throw the shit in with the light in the darkness with the sun they have to piss on us when they’re giving us the best possible H2O trey does that shit just to laugh at us Which is why I now know they hate their fans because they can play 13 shows with a 4.5 rating the donut shows they know what we want they choose to play shitty shows I am convinced that they really believe we came from monkeys and therefore the human race does not deserve good shows but I believe we are created in Jesus’ image and we deserve 4.5 every night. This tour is garbage give me 2013 2012 2000 1519 9597 9897 and 98 were good because they discovered funk 95 the band became alive as Trey put it that is the year they were born 94 they added Bluegrass 91 through 93 they experimented with really dissonance sounds like David Bowie really getting that We don’t give a fuck we’re just gonna go there creativity 98 was the best year 99 they got a little bit too slow will to dank and they stop caring but some might say it’s still the best year obviously 2000 and 2003 and four are the worst years with only a couple highlights there were definitely a few highlights in 2000 and even 2003 there was only one good show in 2004 619 Every other year had at least more than one show that was good but 2019 is turning out to be much like 2009 a Lotta new stuff all these Kasvot songs and all this ghost of the forest stuff just like all the joy stuff and trying to re-interpret the undermind stuff but with no success in 09 It did not really blossom till 2011 and maybe in 2021 will have good shows again 2017 was an amazing year I forgot about 2017 how could I forget That too was such a fucking great yearApparently it Has to be an odd number But that theory goes out the window because so is 2019 And only four shows have been truly great. And blossom and night1 Connecticut don’t quite count They are right on the 4.0 barrier but only four shows have made it past to the 4.5 ish land Considering almost every showing 2017 was 4.0 or above this year leaves us yearning for better A 3.5 show from fish might be a 5.0 from any other band but I admit I have way too high expectations for this band because they’re my favorite band I hold them to a higher level and they are not meeting it in 2019 Fenway can be totally skipped both nights in Fenway were terrible as far as I’m concerned