, attached to 2016-08-26

Review by Dento557

Dento557 As far as Summer '16 goes, when comparing it to the other shows that I have either seen or listened to, both these Lockn' shows were the best.

Set 1:
The first two chords of "Wilson" sparked incredible excitement in me as we all screamed his name in vain at the top of our lungs. This moment was a treat and made me feel that we were in for a hell of a night, while also probably dropping the jaws of all the heads that were unfamiliar with Phish. More excitement came as "Wilson" segued into Mike's first few notes of DWD. However, it seemed that this excitement got to Trey because he jumped the gun and started singing the first verse early. Realizing his mistake he shook it off, allowed the band to arrive at the part he thought they were at, and then continued the song. This moment made me nervous as to what the night will be like, but the nerves quickly morphed into bliss. After a feel-good "Free", the funk fest began with an absolutely flaming "Wolfman's Brother" which contained an outstanding peak led by Trey's crazy sustain. After that an awesome jammed out "Tube" that kind of reminds me of the one from SPAC '16. The rest of the set is mostly straight, funky, tight and a lot of fun.

Set 2:
Once Trey started strumming those beginning dead notes I immediately exploded into a jumping lunatic, because "Punch You in the Eye" is easily a favorite of mine. The finale of the song ended as the beginning riff of "Blaze on" started. This has an absolute killer jam. Very spacey and pretty melodies on Trey's part, but Fishman kept the groove going so everybody was still dancing. It's a great version that stands out from others. Then, we get a pretty standard "Fuego" that is full of energy as always. But, what happened next is THE real deal. "Fuego" went into possibly the best "Ghost" that 3.0 has ever seen. For reference, it is comparable to the ones from Dick's 2014 and Magnaball. Please, if somebody actually reads this, direct me to a 3.0 "Ghost" that may be better. Tangent aside, it was a spectacular version with some great Trey solos, that transitioned into a rare second set "Gin". This "Gin" as always, was a highlight. Despite the fact that pretty much every "Gin" is amazing, this one was unique because of Trey's use of effects that created a crazy, but beautiful landscape. Also, opposed to making the jam more guitar solo based, Trey played around with lower, effect-blanketed notes as the rest of the boys played. Mike eventually starts this haunting grove that signals everybody to start building tension. After awhile, Page pushed for some release, sneaking in some Major chords. Trey started playing some held out, high bending notes and ascending melodies until it peaked into a nice I-bVII-IV type chord progression. After this release it quickly drops down and segues into "BDTNL", letting us all know the night is almost over. Normally, I do not love this song, but this seemed like the placement was perfect and for whatever reason, Summer 16' is allowing this song to provide some magnificent jams compared to the past. After that, an amazing funky YEM with a cool not so standardly played "Character Zero" encore.

Overall, this was a fantastic show. It was possibly the best of the tour so far. Very worth the listen, especially the Wolfman's, Tube, and the Blaze On>Fuego>Ghost>Bathtub Gin


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