I'll preface this by saying I'm a local.

This show (like most really) was a case of the setlist not telling the whole story. From '92 to '00 Phish played Toronto, and Montreal and Vancouver, fairly regularly. And then after '00, they just stopped. We know some of the reasons why, but to people here who could always count on seeing Phish live and all of a sudden couldn't, it changed things.

While Phish (and HORDE, later jambands) never had the same following in Canada as in the US - we don't have the network of college towns that nurtured these bands in the early days - during the '90s and early '00s in some pockets of Toronto (North Toronto, Thornhill, York Mills, Western U, certain summer camps) Phish were absolutely huge. But the fact that Phish stopped coming here was a contributing factor to the band just kinda falling off the radar to a lot of people around here. There were a ton of people last night at the show in their 30s and 40s for whom Phish had once been an enormous part of their lives growing up, but who had not been to a show in a long, long time.

I include myself in this group, and to us last night was special. It was nostalgic, it was a reunion. You could tell by the blank stares and checking of phones during the Undermind tunes and Yarmouth, that not everyone had been keeping up with the band the way they once did. But when CDT, Stash, Suzy, heck even Bouncin' were played, it was as if time had stood still.

Objectively not a great show, although a pretty good one still. The Stash was an early highlight, and Set I ended on a huge high with a (short) Tube, a great Ocelot and Suzy. Set II was much better, really worth listening to, even with a couple "breathers" (needed if you were actually there in that heat dancing) thrown in. The DwD, Tweezer and Bowie were the highlights for sure. And the surprise Coil thrown into the middle of the encore I think was actually the highlight of the night for many. The only true "surprise" of the night, and always a sweet way to wind down.

Now hopefully it won't be another 13 years til they're back. By then I don't think my legs will be able to hold up.