(photo by Mandy Berman)
I awoke in Worcester in good spirits after having witnessed the best run of Phish since Dick's 2012. I made the short hour cruise down I-84 to Hartford with relative ease. I stayed at the Super 8 located by the Comcast Theatre where I saw Phish in 2009. It's a pretty ghetto area of downtown but was very to the venue formerly known as the Hartford Civic Center which was the home of the Whalers. I parked in the garage next to the Hilton and made the short walk across the street to the venue. The religious whack jobs out front added a weird vibe. I decided against the Pollack print. There was a long line and I wasn't wild about the design. The pre-show PA music was quite mellow and fit the Sunday evening setting perfectly. I liked that there was a Dunkin' Donuts inside the venue where I was able to get some coffee. It was freezing inside the cavernous 17,000 seat arena. They had a curtain behind the stage and were not using any of the behind the stage seats like they usually do.
With Lou Reed's passing the Rock and Roll opener was somewhat expected. I was happy to see them explore an opening song like that. I used the restroom during Ocelot. Must have been the coffee. I was able to make it back to my seat by the start of Tube and the dance party that ensued. That was my second Halfway to the Moon of the tour. Fee with Trey on megaphone made the Phish set. That's always been a favorite of mine. Maze was high octane but the next 3 songs were a bit of a lull. They answered back though with two jamhorses of the post hiatus era. Walls of the Cave especially with its silent trees section was good stuff.
Chalkdust was a short rocker to start the second stanza. This show was all about the 17 minute Tweezer though. It was a blissful journey. This finally led into a BOAF interlude before returning to jamming with Golden Age. This was marred by wooing. Another jam-less Halley's proceeded one the best 2001s of the modern era. The tour's first Fluffhead had a few flubs but it was good to hear the Phish classic. Slave was another highlight of the evening. This was a patience, well played version in the getaway slot with the crowd getting on the highway to either head home or in my case head for Pennsylvania. At this point of the tour a Loving Cup encore guess was easy to make. Tweezer Reprise brought the house down and concluded a solid Sunday night effort from Phish. Trey mentioned that both he and Mike had seen concerts in this room when they were younger. Hartford was a nice compliment to the run in Worcester. It was an impressive weekend of Phish in New England.
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