oh kee pah

The white-boy reggae groove Makisupa Policeman disappeared from Phish’s repertoire for 323 shows starting in 1990. The tune made its triumphant return in the middle of Weekapaug Groove at this show. Both the segues into and out of Makisupa are extremely well played and it has been a staple of the catalog ever since.

Speaking of the Ya Mar, poor Big Red asks “Leo” to “take it” a bit before it’s time for Page’s solo, so Trey makes the most of it yelling “don’t play it yet” and “keep not playing it” before it’s finally time for Leo to take it. Mike and Trey are having so much fun with the faux pas that they keep talking about it during Page’s solo.

Trey’s playing throughout this ‘Paug is incredibly focused, but he turns it up to a ridiculous level for his final stab at the solo which starts at the 24:25 minute mark of this track and continues for one of my favorite minutes in Phish history. You want to hear some jaw-dropping Trey? This minute of action is your huckleberry. If you listen to nothing else from this show don’t miss out on the Mike’s > Hydrogen > Week > Makisupa > Paug sequence which you can stream above.

My pockets stuffed with creme caramels and a Barq’s root beer, I rounded the corner of the Majestic 10 and thought, ‘hey, where is everybody?’ For the special screening of “Phish 3D,” I had expected utter chaos, a sea of tie dye T-shirts and, well, sweet-smelling smoke. Never fear — I hadn’t looked far enough.

There was a line out to the curb, and it was more than a half-hour until showtime. It was just a regular Tuesday night at the movies, with hundreds of Phish phans lined up to celebrate with their favorite band in 3-D, and on 4/20 no less. (The film’s limited release opens nationally Friday.)

This was a typical Phish-going crowd: There were 40-something fathers talking about “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” college kids wearing sunglasses and backward hats, middle-aged couples, babies (!) and me, a moderate Phishhead having gone only to Coventry in 2004. In fact, many phans were reminiscing about Coventry in line giving high-fives and recalling their outrageous experiences.

I nodded off during “Phish 3D.”

That’s said with neither shame nor pride. It happened during “Maze,” a Pink Floyd-like space-rock jam where drifting off and dreaming seemed appropriate. I was out, probably, six pleasant minutes.

“Phish 3D” is the Vermont-born mega jam band’s latest foray into movie theaters and it is, for the most part, a straight-ahead concert film. The sound is superb and the view is up-close and personal.

If, though, you thought Phish might address the five years they broke up - or singer-guitarist Trey Anastasio’s drug and alcohol addiction and rehab - well, they don’t. This is not Phish’s version of Metallica’s “Some Kind of Monster.”

The movie, directed by Lawrence Jordan and Eli Tishberg, was filmed in three days around Halloween 2009 in the Southern California desert. Those who were there talk about what a wonderful carnival atmosphere it was.