Merriweather Crowd, 6/26, originally uploaded by agillies86.

I caught a few breaks with the show last Saturday. One was that I went to the gig with a work colleague, and he graciously offered to drive. Getting to Merriweather from DC is a haul. Not only did he drive, he packed snacks and fold-up seats for the lot. Nice work.

The second bit of luck came on Friday, when I happened to check my Twitter feed just as the 930 Club tipped its followers off to the release of 150 pavilion seats. I fired up Phish.com and snagged two. The seats I got were center right, about level with the soundboard.

Another thing – I had 13 songs on my pre-show wish list, and I got four of them: Crowd Control, Fast Enough For You, Backwards Down the Number Line, and Slave to the Traffic Light.

Overall, the show was about as good a rock concert as I’ve been to. Metallica-level energy throughout, from both the band and the audience. And, as usual, the Phish community vibe was palpable from the moment we pulled into the parking lot. It’s that same sense of fellowship that MPomy describes in his Nearfest recap.

I jotted down a few observations during the show. Here they are, ordered chronologically:

• Carnival!

• Band at ease  - like they’re in the zone

• Crescendo in Kill Devil Falls

• Trey dancing

• Trey: “This is either what you’re yelling for or at least this is what it sounds like up here.” The band then plays “Tube.”

• Big riff!

• “46 Days” – rock. Pure and simple. Raucous, real.

• Page lighting up Suzy Greenberg with the grand

• Tweezer – if I were an alien watching this, I’d be amazed. Explosion of light and sound and joy.

• Beautiful transition out of Tweezer to Horse

• Fishman – rotoroms or something in Wolfman’s Brother.

• Trey pulled “Good Times, Bad Times” solos exactly.