Phish
9/2/11
Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Commerce City, CO
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I drove out to Colorado on Thursday and stayed the first night in Ft. Collins with my buddy Dave. The journey took over 12 hours from Illinois. On Friday we made the drive down I-25 to Denver. Commerce City as the name suggests is an industrial suburb on the north side of the city near the airport. A long time friend from hometown Eric and his girlfriend Karla met us at the Super 8 and we all rode together to Dick's Sporting Goods Park which is the MLS home of the Colorado Rapids. There was a good sized shakedown st. assembled in front of the venue. The now infamous Dave Anver Incident took place in the lot directly next to where we were parked.
The show was delayed briefly because of an electrical storm in the area. Sample and Sparkle was an anti-climatic beginning. It allowed late arrivals time to get inside the venue. Sloth got things going. This was my first time hearing Sweet Virginia. It was at this point when I noticed the S pattern. It was good to see Phish continue to keep Suskind Hotel in the rotation after its first appearance at Super Ball IX. Strange Design was another ballad where one probably wasn't necessary. It had been a rather mellow start to the show. Stash, Sally > Sparks was the highlight of the first set. Sally had excellent usage of the envelope filter by Gordo and patient playing by Anastasio. This segued seemlessly into The Who's Sparks off their legendary Tommy album. Again this was my first time hearing that cover. I had room to do the Fiddler on the Roof style dancing during Scent of a Mule. Stealing Time seems to vary little with each version. Shine A Light was the second song off Exile on Main Street played during this set. I had yet to hear Split Open and Melt in 2011 and that selection made the show for me. Squirming Coil capped off this unusual first stanza.
When they opened the second set with Sand it became apparent that they would continue with the S show. Sand is the biggest gun they have at this point. Its interesting how far that jam vehicle has come since its debut with Phish in 1999. Its now a full band jam instead of Trey dominating. This was another strong rendition. Simple is another one of the best jams they have going at this point. This bled into their newest tune Steam. Soul Shakedown Party served as a reggae breather. Seven Below may have been the best jam of the set. Unfortunately, this went into yet another standard Suzy. To my ears SaSS is a generic sounding jam that is inferior to other songs of its ilk. Slave was an above average version and they should have probably ended the set at that point. SiTM didn't work all that well following it up. We were expecting Sanity. That was my first Sweet Adeline so I appreciated that. Sabotage was like a cherry on top of a very unique show that was tied together by all the songs starting with the letter S.
Phish
9/3/11
Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Commerce City, CO
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The show started out with them playing many songs that have been frequent in the rotation during the 3.0 era. Possum and Moma Dance certainly fit into this category. The Wedge is always enjoyable with its "take the highway" lyrics. I've heard Ocelot too many times. The Divided Sky and Funky Bitch are two songs I've heard quite a few times recently. I'm not a fan of Axilla. This was the best Llama I may have ever heard and this was when the set really started for me. Trey's playing during Llama was early 90s-esque. FEFY is my favorite slower Phish song. The jam during Wolfman's Brother was clearly the highlight of the set. The last three songs of the set redeemed it for me.
DWD to open set II was predictable. However, this was a rather brief version that segued smoothly into Tweezer. The soaring jam during Tweezer turned out to be the biggest golden nugget mined out of The Rockies over Labor Day weekend. The eventually led into Phish's best new cover, Golden Age. I'm not a fan of a mid second set Limb by Limb but this was well played. This was one of the best versions of Kill Devil Falls to date and it segued into 2001. Light included a DWD reprise jam. A fiery Julius continued this dynamic set. Cavern worked as a faux closer and Antelope brought us home. This may have been the most cohesive set of music the band played in Denver. Monkey, Tweeprise was a rather standard encore. The sounds of Earth, Wind, and Fire's September sent the masses into the night.
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An unusual Maze opener got the crowd's attention. I liked how both sets each night were under the cover of darkness. BOTT served as a another opener of sorts. Rift was the second tune from that album of the night. Bathtub Gin was an impressive version and was my highlight of the first set. However, I don't think this Gin topped the recent rendition in Chicago. I really enjoyed Gordo's take on the Gillian Welch cover. Halfway to the Moon is a solid new Page song that I was happy to see played. Gumbo, Halley's, and Tube were three songs in a row that used to be jammed out that are now truncated. Timber Ho! and Roses Are Free can lead to improvisational glory but not on this occasion. Chalkdust was a high energy set closer.
When they opened with Rock and Roll I had hopes of a version like the one played at the Gorge in August. However, this was nowhere near that rendition. I wasn't happy when they went with a familiar groove into an off the cuff cover of Come Together. Twist was paired with its usual setlist partner Piper. This Piper had an interesting jam that featured the band stepping into the Storage Shed for the only time of the weekend. Harry Hood was well played on this occasion and I liked how they followed it up with Roggae. Ghost had an interesting jam that went into my first time hearing Guy Forget. I think everyone thought YEM was coming but instead we got WOTC at the last show before the ten year anniversary of 9/11. BDTNL has been the 3.0 anthem so it was a fitting end to the weekend.
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