Never been to Great Woods before and I was glad to see the relatively relaxed scene before the show, arrived a couple of stress-free hours before the 7PM ticket time and spent a couple of them touring the entire lot scene from ends to ends and enjoying a shirtless, beautiful sun-soaked afternoon.

Found the venue to be kind, barely a pat down and never bothered inside. Typical shed but I must say this: it was one of the most polite crowds I've ever interacted with, my movements to and fro were met with kind movements and words. Everybody, including the staff, seemed to be in a good mood and pretty much paid attention to the dialog occurring on stage...:-wink/smile.

I'm guessing it was my 1st Llama, having attended 'bout two dozen since Jones Beach '09, and it rocked. The Moma Dance moved quickly forward to the funk (thanks, Angela!) then Possum made the 180 back into the unique sound that Phish is when they rock. Though two of my favorite all-time Phish songs, I've seen them maybe a bit too often over recent shows and perhaps didn't appreciate them as much as if I hadn't heard them in a while. Regardless, two pretty solid versions.

Cities is one that I never tire of, an inspired choice for a cover song, and this one did not disappoint. "Find yourself a city to live in." Indeed.

Instant Karma!, honestly, didn't do it for me. The rest of the set, however, did. Bowie rocked, Rhymes was cool, I was wearing my Pat Metheny Group The Way Up t-shirt and they graced me with what is IMHO the most Metheny-influenced Phish composition, The Divided Sky, it reminds me of Metheny's The First Circle. I'm actually a bit surprised that no one mentioned that Trey flubbed one of his guitar runs toward the end of its run near the end of the song, I winced a bit but he got it back on track and, overall, it was one of the better versions witnessed. And though I love Faulty Plan and appreciated it being thrown in after TDS, it never really was jammed out as other versions have proved that it can be. Still, a very solid 1st set which definitely had some very great moments.

Moved from under the pavilion to the seats in front of the lawn for the 2nd set to hang with some of my peeps (thanks to Ali, Justin and Abby!) and was greeted with smiles and Back on the Train, a fave but one I had written off since it had been played a mere two shows before, they've played better versions but that didn't matter to me, I grooved it as hard as it could be grooved. Rock and Roll, oh boy! The jam that ensured was one that legends are made of, by legends...:-wink. I'm a relative newbie, don't know if this was a Type 1, Type 2 or Type whatever jam, all I know is that they jammed and we were all shaking our booties so whatever it was, it was successful...:-smile.

Might have been my first Mango song, it grooved but others grooved harder to it than I did. It's all good. But I think I grooved harder to Bug than most, a personal fave and I wasn't shy 'bout showing it. Then my personal highlight and I'm guessing my first attended version of Pebbles and Marbles, the first part of the song with the lyrics was great and the last part when they collectively kicked the song's ass every which way they could was the highlight of my show. Wow!

The rest of the set was solid, Halley's Comet felt (?) a little short and so did the Meatstick but after being fortunate enough to witness the legendary MSG version I guess all of them afterwards are going to feel "short", LOL!

The Antelope ran straight into the end of set 2 but not without making us frantically chase it down in a musical sense. Good solid version. I knew that there was a 11PM hard curfew and was surprised when they first pulled out Suzy for the encore then finished it@11:03, here's hoping that they had a five minute grace period from the powers that be. Regardless, a rocking way to end a very very good show. I probably had a better time hanging with my peeps than the show itself but don't get me wrong, it was a very solid show with some very worthwhile playing that should be seeked out by those that weren't fortunate enough to be there. And those that were.

Onward to Camden, 2nd night Merriweather and the rest of the 1st leg. So far, so good...:-smile

Peace,
Alex