The second night of Dublin features a couple repeats from night one, but they work here -- Limb By Limb is much tighter tonight, and Fishman has already shown marked improvement with the tough task of keeping time on this syncopated number. Interestingly, after LxL before Bye Bye Foot, Trey says something like "Bye Bye Foot is my favorite of this new batch of songs, and it's written by none other than Jon Fishman". Within two months they never played it again, but it's a nice tune with some nice chord changes and some wispy, poetic lyrics. The second set is where things get interesting (don't they always?) -- again, like night one, this show is more historic than epic, but we do see the debut of Twist, Piper, Saw It Again, and the official debut (not counting Bradstock) and official last time played of Waking Up, another song I wouldn't mind hearing live! Twist is actually pretty rad considering it's the first ever, but Piper is way short. Possibly the shortest ever at 5 minutes long. We get Dogs Stole Things for the second night in a row and it's a little tighter than night one, and then shit gets really interesting: a jammed out Waste (?!), an 18 minute Bowie with some DEG teasing in the intro and some more 93-style DEG-like teasing in the jam (!), and a funked up, drawn out, stop / start, goofy Cavern (!!) to close the second frame. Circus Comes, Rocky Top, goodnight now. I prefer night two to night one actually... anyway, nothing super important here, but for shits and giggles find yourself a copy of the Cavern SBD that came out during the FTA at SBIX.

Slowly warming up.

Yet another show of new songs. Even some repeats from the night before. This adds to the awkward flow of the 2nd set.

The debut of Dirt is slightly rough, but I actually like how it is played. Cars Trucks & Buses is stronger than the norm. Another LxL not far off from the one the night before, pretty straightforward. For most of the set the crowd wants "Free" and they finally get it. It's the highlight of the set and has some great funk in the middle. Caspian is a great set closer.

Twist comes out the gate for its debut finely polished and obviously well rehearsed, as is Piper. The remainder of the set is very off and likely not totally thought out. A lot of the song selection would soon be 1st set songs. There is a last second show highlight with David Bowie and Cavern. Bowie although not epic or very exploratory is stretched out a little and well played. Cavern strangely enough goes into a funk jam halfway though, mostly Trey messing around with the wah. But it is very cohesive and they go back into the ending section of Cavern easily.

When the Circus Comes and Rocky Top are just the standard encore.

Overall not really any better or worse than the average show the night before. But still a string of cool debuts.

Somewhat of a decent show. The birth of the '97 funk can be heard throughout several of the jams. Most notably, the fantastically groovy Free. Even though the jam stays within it's chord progression, the guys lay down some hefty funk.

Not sure why the guys had to play Limb By Limb and Dogs Stole Things both for the second show in a row. You'd think that at this point in their careers they could continue to mix it up.

Nonetheless, just like ucpete said, make sure you grab the Cavern SBD before you dive into this show!

SET 1: Down with Disease: Solid and rocking. Short. >

NICU: Little sloppy.

Dirt: Debut. A little choppy in the first third, but quite strong after that.

Talk: Good stuff here and perfect placement for this one.

My Soul: A rollicking good time right here.

Cars Trucks Buses: Page out front doing his thing with tasty licks from Trey.

Limb By Limb: Back to back nights. Really nice jam though. Very well done.

Bye Bye Foot: Debut. Be still my beating heart. I absolutely adore this song and count each of you in attendance this evening as extremely fortunate. This one is a bit underwhelming but by the time they get to Raleigh, it is perfection.

Free: Oh! What is this in the mid 3’s? Sick Mike breakdown and then Page going nuts! Completely fresh and awesome!!!! Extremely funky with Mike throwing down. By the late 8’s Page is very heavy in the mix and Mike is crushing that fight bell.

Prince Caspian: Pretty run of the mill version here.

SET 2: Twist: Debut! Pretty decent little jam here.

Piper: Debut of an absolutely beloved Phish tune! Nice, slow, patient!

Saw It Again: Debut! Love the intro, hate the repetitive nature of the lyrics. This tune has been aching for a reworking for 25 years, has so much potential. This one rocks as you would expect.

Waking Up: Debut and a one and done. I remember my tapes calling this Fooled by Images. Pretty dark and introspective tune. Wonder why they ditched it? I like it.

Dogs Stole Things: Two nights in a row. Sounds the same as the night before?

Waste: Trey definitely searches for a way to take this one for a ride and half way or mostly succeeds. Pretty great guitar peaks in here but he hasn’t found the secret with this tune just quite yet. Mike sounds great in the latter part of this one.

David Bowie: Spirited and tight composed section. The jam almost feels like Page and Trey are in a power struggle until they finally sync up in the late 13 minute range. Trey goes for a peak at 14:30 but nobody is in sync with him. Down a rabbit hole we go and it gets fantastic from here! Check the late 15’s and on. Just awesome. Trey’s trilling in the 17:30’s. Super sick. B+++ Bowie.

Cavern: Super funky with crazy effects. This has to be the longest and strangest Cavern ever. 11.25.92 does not count as it is paired with Sweet Adeline and Antelope.

ENCORE: When the Circus Comes: Standard.

Rocky Top: Standard.

Replay Value: Free, David Bowie

Summary: First night in Dublin was way better than tonight. But Free and Bowie are very good! I would rate this show as a 3.5 out of 5.