[We would like to thank Steve Plock (@howiep) aka @steve81573937, drummer for The Curls , and manager of the world famous iO Theater in Chicago, and Justin Mercer @piperpiperworm for recapping last night's show. -Ed.]

In a year of Phish already marked by so many monumental events and runs, it’s natural for anyone coming to Colorado this weekend to wonder how the band is going to treat these final four shows of summer tour.

2024 came off the heels of the band’s first full Gamehendge performance in 24 years, then came the Mexico run that showed the band stretching out to new lengths in their jams, a hint of things to come later in the year. In April, Phish took the Sphere for a four night run that makes the Dead and Co subsequent performances look like Cocomelon for hippies, and the last two months have seen some of the longest and most exploratory jamming from the band in their entire history, culminating in their first festival in 9 years.

There isn’t much to say about Mondegreen that hasn’t been said in other reviews here, so I’ll only add that as we drove home from Delaware back to Chicago for 13 hours, I couldn’t help but wonder how Dick’s was going to feel as the coda on a year filled with so many milestones and highly memorable moments.

After a spacious and roomy night 1 in the stadium, Friday found a much larger crowd filing in, with anticipation high for how the band would continue the excitement they built after Thursday's show.

The band came out swinging with a fiery version of “Back On The Train” featuring an extended solo section loaded with extra mustard, spicy brown. It was only the first song, but this version of “BOTT” had enough umph to feel like a late game set two ripper, with some allusions to what I call “the donkey motif” of 2019.

Page then lays down the opening chords to “Wolfman’s Brother” and the place starts hopping. This one-two punch of “Back On the Train” and “Wolfman’s Brother” has been employed at least two other times this year, once at the Sphere and again on Thursday at Mondegreen. Shout out to my friend Carly for calling this out in the moment. CORRECT. The jam here moved smoothly from the deep funk we expect from this song into a light blissful floating section before sending us into what my show notes has written as “evil bliss.”

The band sticks the landing on “Wolfman’s” before settling into “Hey Stranger” a song that I found a lot of people were hoping for in conversations on shuttle buses and on Shakedown. We got a strict type 1 jam version here with some fun tonal exploration from Trey dancing around the bluesy chord changes.

Then comes “Guelah Papyrus” a personal favorite of mine and the 199th unique song to be played in 2024. This is the type of bustout I was hoping for a Mondegreen that I felt like we never got, so I was thrilled to hear this song, it not having been played for the last 105 shows. A quick note on other bustouts I’m hoping for–“Stray Dog,” why don’t they ever play “Stray Dog” anymore? It rules! Page is the MVP here as he proficiently moves us through “The Asse Festival” portion of the song with Trey respectably keeping up.

The band then dances their way out of “Guelah” and in to “No Man In No Man’s Land,” a safe landing spot and jam vehicle that puts us in to some Set 2-type territory with Fishman going full on running man mode, culminating a rising piano motif with an eighth note rhythmic punctuation that slams back into the chords. I feel like you used to be able to see the strings that guide the band in moments like these, but when they dropped back into the chorus out of that jam I was like “Wait, how did they do that one?”I’m not sure where “Steam” appropriately fits in a hypothetical setlist, but I wasn’t feeling it here. We got a standard version of the song with notably less actual steam being ejected on stage than normal. Must have used it all up at the Sunday Mondegreen version of the song.

The record label then called and told the band, “Hey don’t forget to play the radio single” and we got a toe-tapping version of “Evolve” Within a pretty decent first set, I’m fine to let the band have this one, but if I had to go to the bathroom, this is when I would have gone. Then came bustout #2 of the evening and song 200 of the year, “Strange Design,” a welcome Page ballad and a nice opportunity to hug your pals at the show.

This felt like the type of set where we’d get maybe a “Cavern” closer, but thankfully, the band slinked their way through the opening of “Run Like An Antelope” and the stadium came alive. This one came with extra sauce, finding Fishman pushing the band in a chaotic frenzy before dropping in to cool, bouncy Rye Rye Rocco.

Set Two launches us out a canon with a blistering version of “Chalkdust Torture” with a jam highlited by Trey weaving in and around Page’s simultaneous synth/piano combination before the band the adeptly slams back in to the final chords of the song.

The ensuing “Sand” was probably the jam of the night for me. Trey kicks on the whale sound digital delay and lays back while Mike, Page, and Fish lay out a dark, sexy canvas that finds Trey bringing in some light funk chords. Sparse, delicate, and plinky. Trey picks up his evil telephone tone and things get even weirder before we get straight up hosed off.

“Ruby Waves” pinballs us further out with the band continuing to use this song as a vehicle to explore multiple vibes and shifts. The band ends up in a heavy cut time rock block anchored by Gordon’s pulsating bass waves, ultimately leaving the song unfinished and gliding into space on Page’s synth surfboard.

Now we’re truly drifting, “What’s The Use?” A welcome catch of our collective breath, and a commendable, quiet audience for this one. “Possum” kicks the energy back up, but signals that things are coming to an end. What’s left in the tank, how much juice do we have here? “Everything’s Right” gives us one more jam in the second set that has some moments of cool swagger that culminates in a nice peak before sending us out on some na na nas.

I’m not normally a “Fee” guy, but this one really hit the spot, especially after Thursday’s “S.A.N.T.O.S.” Complete with megaphone action from Trey, we get another fun, toe-tapping singalong with Trey laughing his way through the final chorus.

And finally, the monstrous “You Enjoy Myself,” 27 min of composition, a particularly righteous Mike/Fish solo section, a short and sweet vocal jam leading back out into jam section number two picking up where Mike and Fishman had left it. Things get wompy, then they get peaky, and then we get the reprise of the reprise with Trey and Fish screaming the “Wash Uffitze and drive me to Firenze” as the final cap on an incredible encore.

Friday night’s the party night and tonight delivered the goods. The band felt patient when they needed to be and the moments of fury were forceful and engaged. As for Phish, these shows have demonstrated that we don’t need gags, or art installations, puppets, or dancers. Ultimately what we are all chasing is four friends feeling comfortable and at home on stage and playing music together. And in that regard, there’s still plenty of gas left in the Phish tank this weekend, who knows, they may even take “The Line” into type 2 jam territory. A guy can dream…

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