Mike-led Jams Looking back at (and listening to) Dicks and this summer's tour in full, it is quite clear that when Mike led the way, jams exploded. Carini, Chalkdust Torture, Undermind, Light, Sand: each featured bridge sections where Mike (sometimes alongside Fish but often on his own) stepped to the fore and offered a direction for the rest of the band that was quickly latched onto. These were most pronounced in Sand (12:20), Undermind (8:20 mark), Chalkdust (7:05). These Mike-led segments last for a minute or two, sometimes a tad longer, but they are crucial bridges that enabled the entire band, though Trey in particular, to lay back. For Trey, this freedom of not having to carry things after the initial “head” of the jam, enabled him to pick optimal moments to reintegrate. And when Trey did reintegrate (9:05 in Chalkdust for instance) he came back into the fold with tight, deliberate ideas that propelled the jam from then on. So when those first few jam vehicles make their appearance at the Garden, definitely pay attention to how Mike responds. If he steps up, we’re all in for a treat. Bust Outs This summer saw some incredible bust-outs, notably Skin It Back at Jones Beach, TMWSIY at JB, La Grange at SPAC, Purple Rain, Head Held High and Happiness is a Warm Gun (all SPAC). What’s left on the table? Plenty in fact, but Spock’s Brain, Walfredo, Melt The Guns, Icculus, Quadraphonic Topplings all seem ripe. If you hear the opening bass line to Spock’s to open the second set in either of the first few nights, well, you can actually be happy that the Mayan Apocalypse was a dud. High Energy Show Openers Thinking first and foremost here of the First Tube that opened Dicks which contains an incredible solo section by Trey. His excitement would not be contained and he came out swinging that first night in ‘Rado, cuz “Trey Loves Dicks.” The next night was no slouch either with the first Antelope opener since 1990. The Skin It Back opener at SPAC was also a bananatown express train to funk heaven. The Runaway Jim to open the SPAC leg 1 tour finisher wasn’t the best Runaway Jim but the rest of the night was great. New Material Will Scabbard make an appearance with Trey’s flash new Fender toboot? Are we going to hear any other new material? It would be long overdue and would definitely up the intensity and excitement level. Our only quibble with debuting new material over a NYE run is the crowd and bands’ relative unfamiliarity with the music which can occasionally be energy vampires for the entire room. That’s when the bros start texting their friends downtown. Type 2 Jams Where You Least Expect Them Don’t forget that Limb by Limb from St. Louis. By the end of the Summer Phish was so on point that almost anything was on the table. First set YEM? Sure why not! Take another listen to the Bowie and Antelope from Jones Beach. Phish was within striking distance of breaking both those old standby’s open into straight up Type 2 territory. In particular, listen to 4:30 - 8:30 of Jones Beach’s Antelope. Could The Sloth or Golgi be enriched by an improvisational section? Could we see a YEM opener? We are convinced that at this point anything is possible.