BLOGJAMMIN': 6/3/11 Phish @ DTE Energy Music Theatre

PHISH
6/3/11
DTE Energy Music Theatre
Clarkston, MI

I: Wolfman’s Brother, Funky Bitch, Sample in a Jar, NICU, Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen >Weekapaug Groove, Tela, Chalk Dust Torture, The Wedge

II: Down with Disease > Fluffhead > David Bowie, Waste > 2001 > Cavern

E: Good Times Bad Times

We rented a mini-van from Enterprise and my friends picked me up early on Friday morning. We made the uneventful journey on I-80 to I-94. Upon arriving in Ann Arbor we turned north and then east to our hotel in Pontiac near the remnants of the old Silverdome. This was my first time to Pine Knob which has since been given a new corporate name. All the seats in the pavilion seemed close to the action and there was a only a small lawn. I had a good experience at the venue. I was in the pavilion behind Kuroda and the tapers. I saw my friend Kacie in the same row. We knew it was Mike's birthday and this was the first outdoor show in Michigan in ages.

Wolfman's out of the chute set the tone for a special evening. It seemed like all night long that Trey would allow jams to go on longer than usual essentially letting Mike have more of the spotlight. The next trio of songs was well played but are tunes I've heard frequently. A mid set classic Mike's > Hydro > Weekapaug was a nice nod to Gordo's birthday. An inflatable ball requesting Tela was answered by Trey and that branded this first set a winner. They played a unique take on Chalkdust Torture and this appeared to be the end of the set but then they kicked down The Wedge as an added bonus. "Take the highway..." It was good to be back on tour. Up until this point it was a well played show with a few explorations in Wolfman's and Chalkdust. Weekapaug had some nice full band interplay.

Down with Disease was when this show would become something very special. It seemed like there were several moments when Trey could have started up another song but he decided to let the improvisation continue perhaps because of Mike's birthday. The DWD would clock in around 25 minutes. Phish was winning throughout the course of the entire jam. Gordo seemed to decide upon the choice of Fluffhead and it was a well executed segue. After a spirited version of Fluffhead they performed what was the best version of David Bowie in the 3.0 era. At this point they could have walked offstage after DWD > Fluffhead, Bowie and it would have been a successful set. Waste was well placed in the ballad slot. 2001 was a Mike-led dance session that included a smooth segue into Cavern to end one of the best sets of Phish I've ever seen. Good Times Bad Times was incredibly well played in the encore. This capped off an almost perfect show from Phish at this point of their career.