It's that Time of Year again. Labor Day Weekend means Phish DIcks. For a tribute here is the Friday Show from 2011 By: Greg Heffelfinger

The three upcoming shows at Dick's Sporting Goods Park have always been good shows in a great venue.

Phish just wrapped a couple of loose and funky shows a LOCKN festival that both had their high points in different ways. The first night, possibly inspired by the onstage , ragged but right, chaos of Ween, had a good show where they seemed to knock some rust off and with a couple of flubbed parts produced a loose show that highlighted the fact they were just four guys who wanted to have a good time and anything is possible,even mistakes, at a Phish show. Gasp! Phish didn't play a song perfectly. What is happening to the world? My life is over.*sarcasm* That "Ghost>Gin" was great Phish. The next show, was to some a festival set that wasn't jammed out that much. What I heard though, was a return to form that didn't have weird song placement and the closing "Tweezer" through "Harry Hood" was amazing, even if all of those songs are jam vehicles by themselves, excepting "No Quarter" but hell, it's "No Quarter" and I love hearing them play that song. So now we are in the enviable position of heading into Dick's on a high note and the band has been playing mostly good shows since hitting the west coast but after LOCKN, Dick's is looking to be a great weekend.

Dick's Sporting Good's Park 2011

Phish began a tradition of "special" shows at Dick's that began with this show. This year they played a show sponsored by the letter "S". There was a set sponsored by the letter,"M" but this whole show Phish devoted to songs with the letter "S".

Phish has been known for their antics over the years. I've seen them retire the chessboard and the year that Fishman didn't wear a mumu but the Dick's tradition of special shows, I feel might be coming to an end. I'm curious when the spelling game is over. After the "FYF" and "Lushington" shows, last year they spelled "Thank You" in an extended, amazing encore. So here is the first of the special shows, nothing was spelled but every song that was played began with an "S". So here is the show, that started it all. Friday,2011, the "S" show.

Set One of Dicks' Sporting Goods 9-2-11

Just like Phish, each run was different. The first year was the "S" show. The next year, they spelled then played "Fuck Your Face" In 2013, they spelled, "Lushington" followed by "Ha Ha Ha" and said "you asked, we delivered" and whether this was because of the Rolling Stone article of Best Phish Song or not, I'm not sure.  Last year, it was the, "Thank You" encore show. This year, who knows?  At some point I have a feeling the Halloween costume tradition will end although my gut says they just won't play on that day unless they plan on a "costume". I wish there was a Salt Lake City because Vegas is nuts and a lot of people are going to be shut out. What I find curious is this hasn't been Phish's best tour but Dick's tickets are tough to find. The venue is huge but I know of more people trying to get Dick's tickets than were trying to get into the magic of LOCKN. Well, without further speculation on my part, with no more delays, here is the second set of the "S" show.

Written by: Greg Heffelfinger

 

Set Two of Dick's Sporting Goods 9-2-11

Friday, 09/02/2011
Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, CO

Soundcheck: Jam, My Soul, Timber (jam only), Buffalo Bill

Set 1: Sample in a Jar, Sparkle, The Sloth, Sweet Virginia, Susskind Hotel, Strange Design, Stash, Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley -> Sparks > Scent of a Mule, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Shine a Light, Split Open and Melt, The Squirming Coil

Set 2: Sand > Simple -> Steam > Soul Shakedown Party -> Seven Below > Suzy Greenberg > Scents and Subtle Sounds^[1] > Slave to the Traffic Light > Silent in the Morning > Sanity, Sweet Adeline

Encore: Sabotage

courtesy of phish.net

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