After having stated in my Hartford review last week that it was going to be the only show attended on this evidently history-making Fall Tour I quietly put out into my Phish universe thru my Phamily of Phriends that if a what would be an obviously coveted Fall tour-ending Saturday show ticket was to made available to me that I would love to attend it based upon the most excellent time that I had with my Phamily at last week's most excellent show. So there I am sitting in the couch of one of my beloved Phamily's couple's house when one of their best friend's comes in while the webcast is in progress and surprises me with the ticket because her brother and his wife had to back out at the last minute. I was ambushed by my Phamily, but in the best possible way so everything that is typed from this point on was made possible by Phamily and this is my public thank you to them for looking out for me.

So f'ing A WOWSER! I was one lucky dude to be able to attend the only two shows on this Fall Tour that I could realistically attend due to family obligations and get tickets for both of them virtually at the last minute and grateful feels too insufficient a word to describe my feelings to be able to do so. So with that being said and after witnessing the Halloween show via couch tour and hearing from all of my Phriends that attended Friday's show that they were still, indeed, en fuego…:-wink/wink!…that the possibilities for last night's show were endlessly wonderful. And I believe to these ears that they tried their very best not to leave anything on the musical table. And succeeded to the best of their ability, both performance and set list-wise.

The non-stop fun started with the familiar guitar riff of dud-uh, dud-uh: WILSON! And the party at Broadwalk Hall officially started at approximately 8:15PM. And continued with the riffs of Rift. And how could then they not play Ocelot when I wore my Ocelot shirt last night, given to me for my birthday while in Denver by the very same folks that I watched the Halloween webcast at their house and planted the bug in one of their best friend's ear 'bout perhaps passing along to me the now available ticket for last night's show? Another killer version, Trey obviously loves the song and is letting it all hang out on it. Then a relative but beautiful breather with Water in the Sky. Then back to full-party mode with a absolutely killer trio of songs: Sample in a Jar, Funky Bitch and an unusually early-in-the-1st Set placed 46 Days which certainly seemed to signal that they were willing to empty out the musical bag without any reservations. Then something musically special occurred: the unleashing of Theme From the Bottom from its usual boundaries into an extended jam that was both musical manna from the musical heavens (quoting the Shaft theme) and just plain ole' hilarious, with Trey and Fishman doing a verbal call and response on who was Fishman's least favorite President (Bush), 2nd least favorite President (Bush again, ha ha ha!) and his favorite beer (Busch!). Face were melted and jaws were being picked up from the floor at the end of this song as they even went back to the main theme of Theme just to remind us where all this musical insanity had started from and while they were deciding where to musically go afterwards we the attendees showered them with love and affection for what had just occurred with our screaming lungs. And rightfully so, the look of amazement was just downright priceless…:-big grin! So they decided to cool us down a bit with the reggae-tinged Yarmouth Road to allow us to catch our collective breath before finishing off the hour and a half long 1st Set with first Limb By Limb and then the beloved Mike's/Hydrogen/Weekapaug musical triumvirate. The buzz for what had just been witnessed and the anticipation for what was to follow was clearly palpable during the half hour-plus intermission while we all were reattaching our faces and picking our jaws off the ground.

While I was hoping that I would become Crosseyed and Painless at the beginning of the 2nd set, they decided that I would simply have to get Down with Disease. And I and apparently the collective masses was ok with that as the dance-fest started feverishly anew. This jam vehicle then segued into the next jam vehicle, Piper, which was fast, furious and unrelenting in its sensory assault. Then my personal highlight of the show: Roggae. It was just downright beautiful, it reached deep into my soul and tugged at my heart, a picture-perfect version. Trey's guitar tone was reverberating in the hall while the band sympathetically provided the musical vehicle for which he played his craft out on us. Just magnificent. It then segued into an equally beautifully-played Waves and the two songs back-to-back was one of the best segues ever witnessed, on this night they just seemed to be made for each other. Then the stunner as the freezer was opened one last time and, duh!, revealed Uncle Ebenezer in it again! No kidding…:-wink! I'm getting the goose-bumps just typing this at the memory of the reaction when we realized that the funk that is Tweezer was to be unleashed on us and the dance-fest and the glow-stick war that ensured was one of the purest moments of joy ever witnessed and felt by yours truly. And I'm guessing by more than just myself…:-smile! And the woo's made one final appearance before MSG and the band clearly reveled in eliciting them out of us, the funk was down and dirty while we danced on the stickiness of the Hall's floors. This eventually segued into catching up to what Julius was doing nowadays and it was rocked out to the max. And strangely enough a song that never to my ears seems to sound right anywhere in a show when played on this night sounded perfectly placed. BDTNL was both celebratory in nature and musically fleshed out, Trey once again showing his love and affection for it and I, for one, took the opportunity to acknowledge my Phamily of Phriends during it for without them I would not have been there. And as a exclamation point they unleashed one final song, Character Zero and Trey reminded us once again that he is a Rock God sent down from the musical heavens for our enjoyment. During its conclusion he thanked up from the heart for being such an loving and open-minded audience during this ground-breaking run and pure love was truly abounding in every inch of the venue. The Sleeping Monkey that I thought might awaken last Sunday at Hartford since the last time it was awakened at Jones Beach during the pouring rain but did not was finally awakened last night, much to our pleasure and humor as Fishman playfully hit his falsetto during his solo moment then the tour that will apparently go down in Phish lore as one of the most consistent and enjoyed by both band and fans came to its last orgasmic conclusion in the form of the Reprise, one last dance-fest for the soul.

What else to say but that it will be a very enjoyable two months of anticipation for those lucky enough to finish this fine year off@MSG. And for those that finished their personal Phish year off last night, one might think that they will walk off tour pretty satisfied with what they were able to witness either last night or on prior nights. Judging from the shows heard either personally, via couch tour or thru the other available means nowadays it was a virtually no-miss tour and one that showed that the boys in the band are excited with the musical possibilities in front of them and that they clearly intend to forge forward and not rest on their laurels. Long live the Phish as they win. Again. Hope to see you'all@MSG! Should be some sort of four-day party!

Peace,
Alex