Just like night 3, I love night 4's first set for the song selection. "Roses" is basically the perfect opener, and the energy continues through a "Reba" that features a lot of organ washes from Page underneath some very melodic Trey soloing. "Grind" is a bit random, and everyone sort of takes a turn botching "Beauty of a Broken Heart," which hurts because I love that Page song. The band flips reality on its head next, though, absolutely nailing "Sugar Shack." The set ends with a better-than-average "Waste" and a barely controlled "KDF." If this setlist doesn't jump off the page, the playing isn't going to do anything for you, but it's mostly solid playing with a few rarities. Unfortunately, it leads to a slight train-wreck of an eighth Red Rocks frame.
Before hearing this show, I'd been excited at the prospect of a legitimately solid four-night run of Phish...I mean, when does that ever happen? Obviously, there's the Island Tour, but there's a reason they call it "lightning in a bottle"...you're not going to catch something like that twice. Nonetheless, I'd hoped that even with an only good-great third night, this run could qualify for legitimate classic status with at least a good-great fourth night. I'd read that the second set Kreutzmann sit-in was a disappointment, but I refused to believe it. How could such a thing be bad? And look at that setlist! Well, folks...turns out the Kreutzmann sit-in really does suck. A lot.
The set opens with an extended, jammed-out "Boogie On" that's just awesome. This is probably the highlight of the show, if not of the last two shows: more stop/start jamming, a Trey shredfest, and ultimately some "Taxi-style jamming" from Page and Mike. Great stuff.
The "YEM" after feels a bit obligatory, but it actually has some strong momentum and an extra-fun vocal jam that features drums, oddly enough, since BK comes in during the outro. There's an awkward but charming segue into "Undermind" and we're off into the Straight Up Boring-Ass Rock Drummer part of the night.
"Undermind" is actually pretty solid, if nothing out of the ordinary, then there's a fun drum duel between Fishman and BK, but then the wheels really start to come off. Here's what I wrote while listening: "then seven below. not sure what kreutzman is trying to do with the drums...it sort of sounds like shit. seven below gets spacey around 730. k is still sort of ruining this with his ham-handed drumming. but otherwise, it's cool. trey's doing a lot of reverby-high-octave stuff."
Next, on the following "2001": "neat segue into 2001. page workin' it. this song might be more k's style...? nope. he can't lay off the rock fills on the peaks. is he fucking playing using a bunch of goddamn tree trunks?"
The following "Waves" is ultimately short, and pretty straightforward, while "Zero" is just "Zero," but brings a welcome reprieve from the fucking Ent who was banging away on animal skins somewhere back behind the band for the last few songs.
The encore sort of makes up for the previous few BK-blasted songs...sort of. The "Slave" especially is a perfect closer to a giant four-night run, but the second set proper is really frustrating, to me. Mostly because the jamming during the meat of the set is actually quite good, and would have likely been on par with some of the highlights of the previous three nights, were it not overwhelmed by BK's mad hammering on the drums. His playing definitely puts Fishman's delicate touches in perspective, and while I'm sure it was neat to have him out on stage with the band, I wish it wouldn't have happened at the very end of a run that might have been an absolute classic with one more stratospheric second set. Anyway, pretty much everything from Red Rocks beats the shit out of the entirety of Leg 1, still, so I'm excited to see what happens next (and to get to my first-ever shows at the Gorge!).
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