8/28/12 Phish @ Chaifetz Arena - St. Louis, MO

PHISH
8/28/12
Chaifetz Arena
St. Louis, MO

Set 1: Punch You in the Eye, Runaway Jim, Ocelot, Reba, I Didn't Know, The Curtain, Peaches en Regalia, Mound, Sample in a Jar, The Sloth, Camel Walk, Possum, Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)

Set 2: Chalk Dust Torture > Frankie Says > Undermind > Sand > Walk Away, Limb By Limb, Julius, Also Sprach Zarathustra, You Enjoy Myself

Encore: Shine A Light




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I drove to St. Louis during the middle of the day.  The weather was sunny and warm.  With Bobbyluv and his wife Erin moving to Denver this was to be a final gathering at his apartment before the show.  We cooked food on the grill for dinner.  After we parked in the SLU garage and walked around the Shakedown St. which was quite distant from the actual arena.  My friends had a few drinks at a bar which had a Phish cover band, Riker's Mailbox.  It was pretty cheesy to see a Phish cover band before actually going to see them.  However, the excitement was palpable as the crowd made its way from the lots and bars to the new campus arena with the city's trademark arch not far off in the distance.  This was the gateway to the west, an appropriate start for this final stretch of five shows that remained on the Phish Summer Tour. 

I've always loved arena Phish shows and this new arena was build with acoustics in mind with he panneling on the ceiling.  My spot was in the corner on the page side in this one level arena that is smaller than the one formerly known as the Kiel Center which Phish played in 1996.  I called the PYITE opener.  Jim stayed within the box.  I felt Ocelot was played with a bit more gusto than usual. 
I always enjoy Reba at about this point of a show but this wasn't the most memorable one by any means.  I Didn't Know was a comedic interlude with Fish on vacuum.  Curtain without into Peaches was a nice combination.  This was a decent 3.0 era Mound.  Not far from the Cahokia Mounds.  Sample in a Jar always works in the first set of an arena affair.  Sloth/Camel Walk was a nice old school pairing.  Possum appeared to be the set closer but Quinn provided a fun singalong.  This was a good first set but void of any risk taking. 

I was happy to see them explore Chalkdust a little bit outside of its normal territory before landing in Frankie Says.  I liked what they were doing with Undermind.  Both Chalkdust and Undermind from this show were a preview of things to come in Commerce City.  Sand stayed relatively groove oriented but was definitely a major highlight.  Walk Away kept the high energy at peak levels.  From Chalkdust to Walk Away the band had been on fire.  No one expected Limb by Limb to be an all time version but thats exactly what it was providing the high water mark of the show.  Julius and 2001 were both perfectly placed and well played.  There was only one way to cap off such a successful set of Phish and that was of course their quintessential tune, YEM.  The Rolling Stones spiritual anthem Shine A Light brought the crowd back down to earth before sending them off into the night.  The second set made this show a winner.