Ranking Dick’s: #9 09/06/2015 (2015 N3)
Setlist:
Set 1: The Landlady, Free > The Moma Dance > Seven Below > Prince Caspian > Backwards Down the Number Line, The Line, Scent of a Mule> Saw It Again, Halfway to the Moon, The Birdwatcher, Frankenstein
Set 2: Wilson > Down with Disease > Carini > Steam > Piper > Also Sprach Zarathustra > Tweezer > The Horse > Silent in the Morning > Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: Tweezer Reprise, Harpua> After Midnight> NO2 > Keyboard Army> Your Pet Cat> Once in a Lifetime > United We Stand
Quick Lowdown: This show is an easy one. “DWD” and one of the greatest encores in Phish history. The rest of the show has some moments but the encore alone vaults this show all the way up to #6.
Set 1 Recap: “The Landlady”. Just let that sink in for a moment. My jaw hit the floor and then I looked around and nobody around me had any idea what it was. 768 show gap. Yet another bustout opener at Dick’s. “Free>Moma Dance>Seven Below” is a great run of songs to follow. The “Seven Below” especially is a sweet placement and produces a nice small jam. “Caspian>Number Line>The Line” is a snoozefest. The rest of the set finishes strong with “Mule>Saw it Again” bringing the energy back up. “Frankenstein” is always a fun closer. Crazy set of momentum swings. Slightly below average for me.
Set 2 Recap: “Wilson” gets things started on the right foot and preps for the improv highlight of the night in “DWD”. This “DWD” is truly on the epic scale. This “DWD” starts off like it is going deep and dark, but man do things turn drastically. A simple rhythmic lick from Trey lets the band form around him. From there one of the most organic, gorgeous peaks develops. This is no Memo 1 minute bedroom peak either. This baby is of the solid 5 min variety. I cried tears of joy during this “DWD” and was a heaping mess by the end of it. It still conjures up all the happy emotions on every re-listen. Absolute master class on bliss. I will never forget how I felt during that “DWD”. When “Carini” came after I thought the place was going to explode. “Carini” gets dirty and funky but never goes next level. “Piper” is a standard run through and then “2001” drops which has a cool last 3 minute mu-tron funkdown. “Tweezer” emerges and everyone was expecting the beast mode. Instead it stays closer to the felt although the last couple minutes are very nice. “Horse>Silent” is a bit jarring but the “Slave” closer is absolutely perfect. This “Slave” delivers and caps things off like only “Slave” can do. This one calls back to the 2011 “Slave” with some nooooooooooooootes. Well above average version. Overall this second set is upbeat and features a jam for the ages (“DWD”).
Encore: I seemed to be in the minority, but I was a bit disappointed that Phish didn’t produce any setlist antics. I thought it was something special and unique to Dick’s and was a cool tradition. I was still happy with the 2015 run and was ready to rage the “Tweezer Reprise” to end the show. 2015 was great everyone! See you next year! Those were my thoughts…until…
“Oom Pah Pah”….
WTF….NO WAY….
There is nothing like bonus Phish. When that bonus Phish is “Harpua” in the encore? Things are about to get stupid awesome. So the brilliance of this encore starts with Trey telling you that you only need to write “Harpua” in the setlist once. He is telling you they are about to spell something. Still I had no idea, I was wayyyy to caught up in the moment. We go into “After Midnight” and it’s officially on. “NO2>Keyboard Army”. Just nuts. “Keyboard Army” was THE moment for me during this incredible encore. I NEVER thought that would ever happen again, and the beauty echoed through that soccer arena. That is the thing about Phish, everything is always on the table. God I love this band. “Your Pet Cat” almost gave me a heart attack before the big moment of the encore…”Once in a Lifetime”. “Once in a Lifetime” was one of THOSE Phish moments. The crowd was shocked, in a euphoric trance, while somehow still finding the energy to get down. It’s one of those moments when you look at everyone around you their faces are in pure ecstatic bliss. Don’t get me wrong, the version was pretty ugly but it didn’t matter. It was a party. “United We Stand” caps things off and finished the spelling of “THANK YOU”. The summer 2015 tour was magical and Phish capped it with one of the greatest encores in it’s history. Just wow.
The Takeaways: “Seven Below”, “Down with Disease”, “Slave to the Traffic Light”, “Thank You” encore
This Show Summed Up in One Gif:
Score: 4.5/5