After three shows that gradually pushed the pedal to the
floor, Phish had a day off to travel and recuperate. Other than perhaps 3/1, it
seems like this show gets lost in the shuffle of Winter Tour ’03 discussions,
so I’ll be curious to see if it’s not that good of a show or if it just suffers
by comparison. Taking a look at the setlist you’d sure be forgiven if you
thought this was an early to mid 90s show for the first set. Ten songs and no
segues to be found! On a personal note, this Denver show took place on my
birthday, though this won’t skew my opinion in either direction since back in
2003 I was only beginning to give Phish a second try.
Set One
Hard to be mad at a Runaway Jim opener, even as common as it
is. It’s always been interesting to me how much it varies over the years, sometimes
a jam vehicle, sometimes not. This one is a normal one. Similarly, Twist has
only a short jam. At a certain point in this set it feels like they’re just
playing random songs. Like, why is The Squirming Coil the fourth song of set
one? Odd placement to be sure. As I said in the intro, this set feels like a
throwback to the early to mid 90s. There aren’t really any big jams until Walls
Of The Cave but everything is played with very high energy and all four members
are really giving it the gusto. It’s always great to hear The Wedge, and both
Stash and Birds Of A Feather have decent jams, but they’re only that: decent. Walls
Of The Cave ends the set and has some type II jamming but nothing that quite
sticks with you afterwards. In general this first set is well played and has a
lot of variety, but it’s also the kind of set that has no effective flow or
pacing. I know some fans don’t mind sets like this, and I’m not trying to hold
this set to too high of a standard, since everything is played well. It’s just not
the kind of set that sticks with me or gives me anything to add to my list of
excellent 2.0 jams.
Set Two/Encore
I kind of remember from listening to ’98 through ’00 shows
that The Moma Dance never really became the big jam vehicle people were
predicting at the time. It feels like such an obvious song to be the big jam
vehicle of the funky era of Phish but by 2000 it was mostly just leading to
high energy rocking type I jams. So while I may not be 100% correct, I believe
this might be the first type II laced Moma, indicating that Winter Tour ’03 would
continue to have jams in unexpected places. This Moma is really a lot of fun,
from a Dave’s Energy Guide tease to the very Dark Phish 2.0 feel when it goes
full type II. I’ll give the -> segue to them though it’s a bit sloppily
executed. Limb By Limb follows and while it doesn’t go full type II in my
opinion, it does get a bit more experimental and dark-shaded compared to
typical versions. I have this lingering feeling like Trey is cutting off the
jams before they get really deep this set. This and the forthcoming Carini are
good reasons why. After a loose Thunderhead, we’re treated to a somewhat rare
set II appearance from Divided Sky. Nothing much to report with this one, it’s
well played and gets high energy just like a lot of set I was. Carini, as
previously stated, starts to go into full on 2.0 jamming but there’s a moment
toward the end where Trey seems to be waiting for a new direction and when it
doesn’t come he just starts awkwardly playing the main riff to bring the rest
of the band back in line and end the song.
It’s no contest to say the set ending You Enjoy Myself is
the best version of 2.0 yet, as well as the true highlight of the second set,
and by extension the show as a whole. It features some excellent high energy jam
segments where Trey hangs way back and lets Mike and Page take the reins, and
when he finally does come in he just wails and makes an already strong YEM even
better. Machine Gun Trey had his hands all over this show. The vocal jam is all
over the place like usual until someone starts doing something vaguely similar
to the “ah-weem ah way” vocals from The Lion Sleeps Tonight and next thing you
know they’re just doing a cover of it. It’s obviously one of those unrehearsed
covers they occasionally stumble into, so the lyrics/arrangement may not be
totally correct. They seem to suddenly realize they don’t know how the song ends
and it’s one of those vocal jams that peters out yet abruptly at the same time.
Anyway, encore time! We get one of only two encore appearances of NICU (the
other is 7/15/22), and this song will never not sound weird to me when it starts
on its own and isn’t segued into. Am I crazy? Certain songs just never sound
right when started from a full stop; see also Weekapaug Groove and Makisupa Policeman.
But I digress. Definitely a loopy encore with Mexican Cousin bringing the show
to a close, but hey, at least it’s not another underwhelming one song encore.
Overall
Taken as a whole, this show is well played start to finish.
In fact it might be the tightest show yet in terms of the execution; Trey must’ve
really been practicing on the day off between 2/16 and this show. Looking at
the first set, it’s fun and has a ton of variety, but it doesn’t go very deep
and it has really inelegant flow/pacing. Set two is the jammier set so you’d
think it would automatically be better, so, can I shock you? I think they’re
both pretty equal. The jams there may go deeper and venture into type II
territory though this is one of those exceptions to the rule where the setlist
and song runtimes tell the story: it just never gets that deep. It’s
almost like a tease, and like I said above, it’s like Trey gets impatient and
pulls the plug on the jams. YEM -> Lion Sleeps Tonight is an excellent
capper, and the encore is just ok with an uber rare NICU placement.
So there’s a lot of positive and neutralish stuff I’ve said
about this show and my feelings towards it as a whole are similarly muddled.
Had I attended this show I would’ve really loved the experience; it’s a fun and
varied setlist, and there’s a lot of mid 90s-esque high energy playing from
everyone, especially in set one and the YEM. However, I think this show is
textbook 3 out of 5.
In my preamble to this review series I wrote: “A 3 can be a
Phish show you attended and have a lot of fondness for but can admit wasn’t one
of the best ever/on that tour/that year.[it] can be a show that has at least
two highlights, or at least no real lulls/downsides, but doesn’t make a lasting
impression otherwise.” And I think that description is perfect for 2/18/03. This
is the only show so far where I had to really debate about adding any jams to my
ongoing 2.0 best playlist, and in the end it was just the YEM. I think that
says a lot.
[Highlights]
Set One: Everything is well played and high energy but there’s
no obvious highlights.
Set Two/Encore: The Moma Dance -> Limb By Limb, You Enjoy
Myself -> The Lion Sleeps Tonight
OK I’m going to start this with a spoiler because I can’t
contain myself anymore! After an excellent first night in Vegas, Phish would
deliver, hands down, the best show they had played in the 2.0 era to this
point. 2/16/03 may not be as well-known as 2/28/03 but I could actually see
someone enjoying this show more, depending on a few different factors. This is
also one of those rare shows where the setlist kind of does tell the tale, with
some exceptions we’ll soon get to!
Set One
Hearing a bunch of loops and Fishman on the ride cymbal, so
is it Maze? No, holy shit! What else can you say to a David Bowie opener?! It
was the first in nearly a decade, it seems, but what makes this even more
special is the Catapult sandwiched in the middle. Trey is not doing his best
during the composed parts, at one point seeming to stop playing altogether and
try to get back on the horse, as it were. This Bowie jam, thank god, is one for
the ages, with interesting staccato jamming sort of like the beginning of some
Stash jams, a Manteca quote around 8:40 from Trey, a non-riproaring Trey mostly
playing abstract repetitive lines and letting Page and Mike lead for awhile, a
fun Catapult appearance, and a strong ending. This Bowie -> Catapult ->
Bowie segment would set the scene for the rest of the show. After a dependable
Horn (no segue) and a fun Guyute (still one of my least favorite composed songs
but it’s growing on me), Round Room starts up.
It's no hyperbole to say this Round Room jam is one of my
favorite jams ever. Ever! It’s just such an insanely unique and interesting
jam, with Fishman starting us off on woodblocks and the jam becoming bouncy and
rhythmic. Trey mostly hangs back and plays textural stuff as the jam gets more
energetic and abstract/dark, with an excellent ending that feels like a storm
cloud passing overhead and away into the distant horizon. Sublime! As a bit of
a chaser to that magnificent cocktail we get super rarity Golden Lady, played
here for only the second time to date. To be honest I’m a very selective Stevie
Wonder fan though I will say this one is pretty great and a good fit for Phish,
so I wonder why it isn’t played more. Boogie On Reggae Woman is better, ok
sure. Anyway. Setlist yet again shows a > where there clearly is none. Poor
Heart is up next. It’s fun, almost feels like it’s playing the part of a short
high energy song to set up the set ending song. Where I wish there was a > there
isn’t one, though. Ah well. Pebbles and Marbles closes out a stellar set one.
Set Two
The opening of set two is sure something! “He’s gunna fuck
it up! Fishman doesn’t know this song!” Oh Trey, you who live in the glassiest
of glass houses, maybe don’t cast stones? Anyway, another rager of an open to
set two, with a fucking killer Down With Disease -> Seven Below -> Down
With Disease sandwich, complete with one of those rare non-unfinished
Disease’s. Enjoyable but standard DwD jam, starts to get spacey before Fishman
drops the Seven Below drum beat and Trey picks up on it immediately as the rest
of the band slowly gets on board and we hit a near-perfect -> into Seven
Below. Despite forming the meat of this sandwich the Seven Below jam doesn’t go
super deep before we head back to Down With Disease. Well -> back into DwD I
should say. After a big loop ending to DwD we > gently into Anything But Me.
This is one of my favorite Phish ballads, so happy to hear it! Especially since
my understanding is they don’t play a lot of Round Room album songs because it
brings up bad memories for Trey. After a good but not great version we get a
minute or so of ambience before Piper starts up. This Piper, often dubbed the
Viper (for Vegas Piper, get it?!), is a monster type II beast (not necessarily
in a spacey/experimental way though) and is one of the best versions ever. 2.0
really was a great time for this song, as next year we’ll get to the phenomenal
SPAC version. But I digress, back to 2003! You simply have to hear this one to
get a full grasp but at one point toward the end they start playing the DwD
ending/riff but in the musical key of Piper, it’s nutso. Around 19:05 it sounds
like Trey is starting up Rift for a few seconds, maybe just a tease? Fishman
plays the Seven Below drumbeat as the jam just keeps going. Soon, before you
know it, we’re -> to Makisupa Policeman. Keyword was ssssssssssssSpliff. Fairly
high energy Makisupa too, some excellent solos from Mike and Page. Trey keeps
emphasizing the word “house” in this version for whatever reason.
I’m still not happy hearing so many Character Zero’s on this
project so close together. This is actually a pretty good version with a decent
solo from Trey, though I do wish if they’re going to close a set with this song
they either jam it out a bit or segue into something else to be the proper
capper. Anyway, the mood deflates with Friday. Ugh, another single song encore,
and a Friday encore to boot. Unlike 1/4/03 version, which had killer soloing
from Trey, this one just lands like a wet hunk of sod. Page tries his best but
it’s just a meh ending to an otherwise killer show.
Overall
Well, 2/16/03 is easily a 5 out of 5. It has some of everything
that’s great about this band: insane jamming, fluid and fun segues, a rarity (and
a cover to boot!), excellent set pacing, etc. My only complaint is the show
ends on a bit of a downturn, as neither Character Zero nor a single song Friday
encore are acceptable in my opinion.
On a bit of a side note: 2/16/03 is useful as the kind of
show that exemplifies the difference between a 5 out of 5 and my top tier S out
of 5. It’s just not quite there in the pantheon of the all timer shows, but it’s
still a truly exceptional show and is the best of 2.0 thus far.
After a surprisingly strong tour opener, Phish rolled into Las
Vegas for a two night stand that would further solidify the strength of the
Winter tour. While the 2/16 show is well known to me (no spoilers beyond that),
I have to say I was surprised how good the previous two shows were. Man, has
Phish ever played a bad show in Vegas?
Set One
Good but throwaway Llama opener that is immediately
forgotten as Wolfman’s Brother starts up. This version has excellent full band
interplay with a jam that is by turns funky and rocking and towards the end, abstract.
One thing I keep noticing in 2.0 so far is how much more I hear the other
members step up to lead or contribute new riffs/ideas during jams, but also how
much Trey has been sitting back and choosing the right times to ‘take over’, so
to speak. This Wolfman’s really gets abstract and interesting towards the end,
with the 2.0 Trey guitar groan/drone sounds and all, and we get a > segue
into Reba (which for some unknown reason I wrote down as Bathtub Gin when I was
taking notes). There’s some lyric flubs from Trey but Page steps up and helps
recover, as well as some sloppy playing from Trey during the complex composed
parts, but what else is new? There’s a strange, hard to explain, almost
restless feeling to Trey’s playing during this Reba that makes it worth a
listen but not worth being a top tier version by any means. No whistling, man,
I forget how rare that is…Next up is a bustout of Life On Mars?, which if I
remember right was inspired by NASA announcing back in 2003 that they had found
water on Mars for the first time or something. Anyway, it’s an OK cover, not
much else to say.
46 Days follows, has a loose jammy intro (even more than the
studio version) but ends up being a fairly standard Trey guitar rock showcase.
It’s Ice is a sort-of-rarity that I find myself liking more as I get older and
hear more Phish, for whatever reason. It’s too bad that this one feels so
succinct and off, somehow; the ambient part is rushed, for instance. Setlists
say there’s a > into Frankie Says but I don’t hear any. This song is another
sort-of-rarity, and always welcome. Another non-segue into Run Like An
Antelope, for what it’s worth. Like the It’s Ice, this one also feels off and
rushed. Couple flubs from Trey; oddly low energy peak and slow build throughout.
Keyword was spliff instead of spike.
Set Two/Encore
Waves to open a set is always welcome! Great jam along the
lines of the studio version; towards the end they do this extended vocal outro,
with ambient/spacey backing getting more intense until a > segue drop into
Bug. We’re back to the initial vocals, like with Twist. This ballad has really
grown on me over the years, though ironically I think I prefer the ’00 and
studio version without the extra set of lyrics (I feel like Phish started out
not really caring about lyrics and they’ve overcorrected and have too many lyrics
in each song now!). Another > segue into GHOST! First of 2.0, wooo! The
intro sounds jammy and uncertain, as if the band expected Trey to do the usual
delay loops and instead he was doing the initial ’97 style where it kind of
just starts. Trey really hangs back at the start of the jam and lets Page and
Mike tear it up. Once he tags in, we get a high energy rocking jam that goes
for awhile before we settle into a weird outro segment, with organ washes and
repetitive grinding playing. This is a really good Ghost jam but I don’t quite
get from it what others seem to, labelling it the best ever. To me it’s a B+
instead of an A version.
There’s a sort of -> segue into Free. I gotta be honest,
between Free and Character Zero I’m kind of over both of these songs being
played so often in 2.0 so far. Less Billy Breathes, more Round Room, guys! Now,
all of that said, this version of Free is FUCKING KILLER! No, it’s not some 20
minute type II masterclass, but it’s a fucking rager of a funk/rock jam that
Mike steals the show during. You can either hear him turn himself up or the mix
turns him up because he’s playing soooo good. I wish it had kept going but they
bring it to a close and a > segue into Harry Hood. I’m officially going to
label this Weird Hood, because it is weird as hell. The intro is loosey goosey,
not in a “Trey forgot how to play it” way, but in a “let’s stretch out these
composed parts of this song and have fun” kind of way. The ending jam segment has
what setlists call a “silent jam” (hard to explain but you’ll know when you get
there) and even gets genuinely type II for a few minutes before we head for the
usual feel good ending. Speaking of feel good endings, this show lacks one.
Hey, wait! Let me explain. I really like Sample In A Jar, but if they’re going
to play it in the encore, they have to play something else too. These one song
encores are a bummer if they don’t give it socks like they did 1/4/03 with
Friday. Now THAT’S how you sell a one song encore.
Overall
Some of these shows I’ve waffled on the score because it
feels like depending on my mood I could go either way. This show is one that I
knew the final score of before I even sat down to write this. Oh, I briefly
considered giving it a 3, largely because I think the first set lets the full
show down. Not that it’s a bad set by any means—that Wolfman’s is really
enjoyable, and the rarities are nice if not particularly well played—but it
lacks anything truly seismic. Set two really shines, though. I may not like the
Ghost as much as others but this set flows really well and contains some
extremely fun and raging moments, including Mike tearing down the building on
Free and the Weird Hood. Had the first set been stronger, or the show opener
and encore been better, we might have been looking at a 5. But in the end this
is a textbook 4 out of 5 show if there ever was one.
[Highlights]
Set One: Wolfman’s Brother, few rarities/bustouts including
Life On Mars?
Historically speaking, tour opening shows for Phish are
rarely the highlights of said tour or year. Yet occasionally you get shows like
7/15/98 or 9/9/99 where they’re surprisingly strong right out of the gate,
possibly because they hadn’t been off the road for that long (in the case of
7/15/98, not even a week off!). No need to keep you in suspense but I think
2/14/03 is overlooked as a fantastic tour opener, and it rings in the true
arrival of 2.0.
Set One
This show starts off with a nod to Valentine’s Day as well
as a debut cover that nods to their cover story in Rolling Stone magazine
before we really get cooking. Chalk Dust Torture lets Trey loose and continues
the high energy, focused soloing from the previous show. Then there’s Fee! This
version gets jammed out and spacey, including a full segue into Taste (which
for some reason in my head I kept thinking was Free so that it’d be Fee ->
Free). Trey is a little shaky and inaudible with his guitar playing at the
start of Taste but the jam segment is more potent and a bit looser than
normal—not at all type II but kept my attention more than the standard Taste. The
jam times continue to roll with Bathtub Gin, which I’ve now heard a few times
already in this retrospective review series. This is by far the best Gin of 2.0
(so far), setting an immediate high bar for the rest of the tour and year. This
is like a modern/2.0 cousin to the legendary Great Went Gin, very fluid and bouncy
and uplifting. Heavy Things is in my opinion a real dull thud of a song to
follow with, so I was happy they closed with Golgi Apparatus.
Set Two/Encore
Something about these setlists is weird to me; I understand
opening with My Sweet One to acknowledge Valentine’s Day but Possum to me is
always a set closer or encore kind of song. Anyway it serves its purpose well,
nothing too remarkable. The energy and especially the jamming reach a new
height with Walls Of The Cave. This rare type II version is, along with the
first set’s Fee and Gin, the birth of the 2.0 jamming sound. WOTC takes awhile
to get there, and it isn’t as focused as future 2.0 behemoths, but it’s by far
the best and most interesting jam I’ve heard in this series so far. There’s a
fun grinding/chaotic segue into Carini that resolves the jam nicely. Carini is
a bit slow and sludgy, though, and Trey holds back on the short jam. All Of
These Dreams serves its purpose as a mid-set breather. Limb By Limb, while not
an all-timer, has a focused and patient jam segment that shows now that the
band has their shit back together they will not sleepwalk through songs. A fun and
a bit sloppy Oh Kee Pa slams into AC/DC Bag, which also feels like weird
setlist placement, close to the end of set II.
(A quick aside, if you’re wondering what on earth happens: a
fan jumps on stage during the composed part of AC/DC Bag and interrupts a lyric
to say he loves someone and to either wish them happy birthday or Valentine’s
Day; it’s hard to hear. This freak occurrence seems to influence where the Bag
jam goes)
Anyway, this one has one of the most unique jams I’ve heard
from Phish. This Bag is nothing like even other type II versions like Hampton ’97
or the recent NYE ’23 version, with Trey stepping back and playing mostly just
simple patterns and staccato rhythmic playing while Mike and Page try to figure
out a place to go. Instead the jam stays in place for a few minutes before
getting more quiet and sparse and a full-on segue into Prince Caspian. I don’t
know if this is a great Bag but it’s certainly a weird one and a must hear for
people seeking out jams that are non-standard. Anyway, Caspian is ok and has a
weird ambient ending I haven’t heard before. The set as a result kind of
just…peters out. Loving Cup, the final Valentine’s nod, closes out the show
with an exclamation point after the weird trail off into ellipsis that was the
end of the second set.
Overall
I said in the last review that the show was all sizzle and
no steak, well, they certainly brought the steak to California for this show!
Even moreso than 1/4/03, this show proved that Phish was back and trying new
things. For a tour opener it’s incredible how strong it is; this didn’t at all
feel like they’re warming up for a night and the jams are still coming. I’ve
previously heard about half of the Winter ’03 tour and I can see why some
people say it’s very consistent and one of the most underrated tours. 2/14/03
really brought the jams, and the rest of the playing was of high quality, too.
The song selection and setlist placement is a little wonky and threw me off at
first, though honestly on subsequent listens I like them trying new things like
Possum opening a set or a quiet, peter-out ending to Caspian. I’m ALMOST
tempted to give this show a 5 out of 5 but for as strong of a show as it is, I
don’t think the overall experience quite gets there. The jams, while either nascent
deep/fresh 2.0 jams or high energy rocking fun like Gin or Limb By Limb, most
likely aren’t going to be among the best versions of the year. I do highly
recommend this show, and it’s easily the best I’ve heard in this review series
so far, but there just isn’t that X factor that tips the scales to 5 out of 5
or a S out of 5.
Given the extremes of the last show, it was nice to get back
to something normal with this one. While I will say that this New Year’s run of
shows wasn’t outright bad, listening through them will confirm for you why you
don’t see people talk about them. Anyway, 1/4/03 is probably the most
consistent of the NYE run, as both sets are well played and feature at least
two well played songs/jams.
Set One
This is a strong first set that starts out pretty good and
gets better by the end. Especially compared to the previous show’s first set,
this one is mostly tight and locked in, with just a couple flubs from Trey here
or there. Roggae has some killer soloing from Trey and stands out a bit above
the average version. Maze is a typical heater; high energy with Trey’s solo
section a bit more droney and holding onto notes than is the standard. Saw It
Again makes a rare appearance, but the real set highlight is the Split Open and
Melt. This jam more than any other hints at where 2.0 is going with the jamming
style, as it’s as intense as the usual Melt but uses more loops and spacey/droney
playing from Trey and Mike. In all likelihood it won’t be one of the highlights
of the year but as far as 2.0 shows so far, this Melt is the top of the pile
and a must listen for 2.0 spelunkers like me.
Set Two/Encore
Not in terms of the jamming or anything else except the
setlist itself, it’s really stark how set one has NO segues at all and set two
is mostly all one continuous set of music. Yet as the saying goes, the tale is
in the tape not the setlist. This set is a clear indicator that they’re getting
their mojo back. Good but not noteworthy Rock and Roll opener, fairly standard
Mike’s with a cool semi ambient ending/outro; full segue into Mountains In The
Mist with an amazing Trey solo worth seeking out, sort of quiets down and stops
IMO before Weekapaug starts up from zero (this song always sounds so awkward
when it doesn’t arrive on a segue) and is a good high energy version that dips
its toe into type II toward the end; full on segue into What’s The Use? (which
in some ways could be used like I Am Hydrogen in a Mike’s Groove) which has a
quiet ambient ending that segues into a rip-roaring Down With Disease, which,
while not very experimental and barely over ten minutes in length, has some
killer playing from Trey throughout including a cool, unique wah wah pedal loop
segue into Fast Enough For You, which like so many songs from this set has an
astoundingly good Trey solo in it (legit one of the best FEFY performances); after
FEFY the song seems to have ended and the Phish.net setlist says there isn’t a
> segue into 2001 but IMO there is one it’s just quiet and lowkey. This 2001
is actually one of the more short and tired sounding versions I’ve ever heard,
and the big rock vamp endings mentioned on the setlist notes isn’t as fun or
interesting as you’d expect.
Friday encore ON PAPER looks like trash. I can’t stand this
song typically, let alone as the encore to cap off a run of shows…but GOD DAMN
this is the best version and everyone else who says so is right. Trey was
absolutely brilliant with his solos this show overall but especially second set
and encore!
Overall
After finishing this show for the first time I scribbled
“All sizzle and no steak, but it’s great sizzle.” I believe that’s a good summary!
This was the best of the NYE run overall. There maybe were some moments
especially on NYE itself that were more memorable, such as the jammed out Piper
opener and the Runaway Jim -> Time Loves A Hero, but this show actually
sounds like a real Phish show and has excellent, energetic playing in both sets.
Gotta go with a 4 out of 5. Trey really stepped up his game since the last show
but with a few exceptions there simply isn’t anything here that is noteworthy
and will be on lists of greatest jams or shows ever from this period.
[Highlights]
Set One: Roggae, Maze, and Split Open and Melt especially!
Set Two/Encore: Strong set overall, Trey’s playing/soloing
was on point throughout especially on the ballads like FEFY and Friday.
One of the most important things I ever learned about being a writer is to know the difference between wanting to quit a project and actually needing to quit a project. Sometimes it’s a matter of needing to restructure your life so that you can finish what you started. Other times it’s more about changing the scope/scale of a project so that not only can you make progress, you can actually progress towards finishing it.
I started this Phish catch-up project because I needed a new series to help motivate me to write on a consistent basis again. In starting it, I always had in the back of my head that this was probably too ambitious of an undertaking, and I’d probably want to quit multiple times because it was too daunting and time consuming. What I should’ve been thinking this whole time is that it’s not an all or nothing project, and I need to stop making this feel like a series of college essays I have to do research and take notes for. It should be fun to do this project, damnit! But sticking to my structure of talking about the show in song-by-song detail simply isn’t possible.
Now, there may still be shows that I have more to say about, and will write longer reviews about. But it’s obvious to me I need to drop the set by set, and song by song, approach. This simply takes too long and I’d probably already be close to done with the Winter ’03 tour if I didn’t start out like this. I’ve been stuck on the 1/4/03 show for weeks simply because it’s not a show worth taking so much time and effort for. If I can get my thoughts down in a couple paragraphs and highlight the important/best moments of the show, why am I going to try to say something interesting about every performance of Waste or Rift? Why am I writing linear walkthroughs of each jam if most of them aren’t top tier versions?
So, whoever is actually reading this: starting with the next review, you’ll be seeing shorter but more frequent posts. And we might actually make it to my first show, 10/11/23, before I’m 50 years old!
Before I get to the review, I wanted to apologize for the
lack of posts. Without going into all the details, it’s been a rough month or
so, including losing a longtime beloved pet just as I was starting to work on
this review again. I know I don’t have to explain to anyone who has experienced
these times in your life, that you simply can’t focus on endeavors like this,
that don’t really matter and are read by like negative one people. Anyway.
[Prologue]
Without giving too much away ahead of time, I have to say
that this show is the earliest example of the worst and best that 2.0 Phish has
to offer. As the third in a series of four ‘reunion’ shows, you can deduce from
the setlist and song lengths that the band were continuing to reignite their
jamming skills. Hell, it’s a five song first set, and the encore is the only
one this run of shows that is two songs instead of just one! But a setlist
doesn’t tell the tale of the tape, and all is clearly not well in Phish…
[Set One]
Tweezer- OK, yeah, I’ll take a ‘Tweezer’ show opener! I
mean, 11/17/97 has a five song first set that opens with ‘Tweezer’, I’m on
board! There’s something a bit sluggish and slightly off about the composed
section of this song. Trey does that weird riff-variance thing he does a lot
during 2.0 where he kind of plays the main ‘Tweezer’ riff but he kind of plays
a different riff at the same time. Anyway, jam starts off like a ‘99/’00 era
version minus the Trey loops, with Mike taking commanding lead while Trey and
Page comp in the background. Around 7:00 Trey starts some patient, restrained
soloing. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always need my ‘Tweezer’ to be
type II so I’m pretty happy with this one so far. Around 8:00 Trey lays down a
loop but it gets a bit swallowed up in the rest of the sound going on. They
start putting the pedal to the metal around 8:30, increasing the tempo from a
crawl to….err, an amble. Big peaking jam feeling starting at 9:45, are we
heading for a peak and cool-off? Heading out into type II? Trey and Page play
responsive lines around each other for a minute or two, by 11:00 Trey has fully
woken up and started cooking. Page stays on the organ to play chordal
accompaniment as Trey hits an enjoyable but pretty standard peak and steps back
with sustained notes. By 12:35 we’re cooling off, quieting down and possibly
heading to an ending. Nope. Trey starts playing high register spacey guitar
noodling and they feel stuck in place, unsure where to go next. Loops from Trey
at 13:45ish but they’re quickly overwhelmed by Mike’s deep space bass sounds.
Soon Trey starts a sluggish -> segue into the next song. All in all not a
BAD ‘Tweezer’ but a very forgettable one. Another jam that feels like throwing
things against the wall and waiting to strike gold that is never found.
Theme From The Bottom- Just as a jam being long doesn’t mean
it’s good, a segue being a full -> doesn’t mean it’s a good -> segue.
This one is both too drawn out and too clumsy. Not for the first and certainly
not for the last time tonight it sounds like Trey is playing in the completely
wrong key and his fingers are fumbling all over the place. To be fair, the jam
portion is high energy and around 6:30 and forward Page is really saving the
day with his playing. But I have to address this: there’s a big difference
between ‘being rusty’ and just straight up fucking up, and this first set
should be a key example of that difference. Look, I’m not here to judge anyone;
I’ve had my own substance abuse issues and I don’t want to come off like I’m so
much better than Trey. But I’m also not charging people money to listen to my
band live. I’m glad he’s sober now and that we got the happy ending of the
story, but it doesn’t excuse how embarrassing the flubs are during 2.0.
Foam- Oh boy…Was Fishman trolling Trey by starting this
song? If you can’t hear that Trey is fucked up beyond control, you have no
business calling yourself a fan of this band. I can excuse a mistake here or
there but Jesus this first set is cringe inducing. As a hardcore fan I can and
do try to look past these things to see the good parts of 2.0 but I would never
play a show like this for my wife or around friends who are more casual fans. It’s
no exaggeration to say it honestly sounds like the couple of times that I put
on Phish or The Grateful Dead and tried to play along on guitar, just halting
and off-time and hitting sour notes and so on. At least the rest of the band
are on their game tonight, Page treats us to some lovely soloing like he always
does. When it comes to Trey’s solo he seems eager to redeem himself, a thread
that will run throughout this show and 2.0 as a whole. This ‘Foam’ nevertheless
instilled a faint sadness and permeated the rest of the show the first time I
listened to it, just like “oh, a song they used to play with effortlessness in
’94 is now a struggle to get through for the band and me”, such that
when complicated songs came up later in the show I was bracing for impact. Oof
the ending of this ‘Foam’ though…
Pebbles and Marbles- Sound of Trey tuning a string before
this song. Despite this being a new song and its debut, so you’d assume it was
practiced a lot recently, there’s still a roughness to Trey’s playing that
cannot be put down to “well it’s been two years, they’re rusty.” No, Trey is
just incapable of getting it together though I will say he does ok with the
vocals. Maybe it’s just me but I can feel the rest of the band stepping up to
help carry him through this song until he gets to the easier parts like the big
rock jam breakdown at the end of the studio version. Sounds like we’re taking
this one out for a spin. Around 7:45 still a standard jam on the song’s main
theme. Page continues to carry the jam on his back by 8:30, trying to spur Trey
on it feels like, who is starting to realize he can play guitar after all. At
9:15 Mike tries to introduce a bouncy bassline but Trey ignores it and starts
doing his chorus pedal bliss jam peaking thing. Gotta say despite all the jams
that look long and interesting on paper, this NYE run has been underwhelming.
Like, a 15 minute ‘Pebbles and Marbles’ sounds amazing and intriguing in
theory, but not when you realize it’s longer than the album version and is the
same exact kind of jam yet I’d argue is less effective. My headcanon is that
Trey keeps wanting to prove he isn’t fucked up on drugs so instead of doing
dark/dissonant or spacey/ambient type II jams he wants to be like “look I can
still do Machine Gun Trey and play fiery rock solos!” OK, great, good to know,
but can we get something else? So far this first set is cringe inducing
composed sections and ho-hum paint-by-numbers jams.
After the song ends on the official release I think it’s
either the band or some audience members talking loud about it being
“psychedelic” and “Xan’ing out on that drone” (as in Xanax I assume). A portent
of things to immediately come. You can definitely hear someone saying Trey’s
name.
You Enjoy Myself- This is like “school recital” levels of
fucking up. Even though Trey stops the band and admits how ashamed he is, this
is still one of the lowest of low points in all of Phish history. Look, at this
point we all know he was in the depths of his addictions during 2.0, so his
playing it off like “we” are “rusty after two years off” is a lie not even
worth calling out. He continues to not play the best once they do restart the
song and I’m remembering now why when I was listening to 2.0 in the past, I’d
always skip past the composed sections of songs. I mean, the ambient section is
cool I guess, but that’s the easiest part to play! Around 6:15 it’s
particularly obvious Trey is lost and forgets what to play. Can we please get
to the jam already? Mike and Page solo sections are decent enough. As Trey
starts his solo Fishman introduces a funkier beat and Mike starts to drop bass
bombs. At 12:25 though we’re back to a standard issue ‘You Enjoy Myself’ jam. At
about 14:15 Trey starts a fun guitar line and the band picks up a bit. Twirl
and release playing at 15:00 that is the most interesting thing he’s played all
night. As with the running theme of 2.0, Trey really pushes himself to redeem
the flubbed composed section with high octane soloing. I guess if you’re going
to end a pretty wretched set like this one has been so far, this is the way to
do it. I mean, sheesh, did somebody give Trey a bump at some point during the
jam because he’s finally playing with drive and purpose! Around 18:13 I can
hardly hear Mike or Page because Trey has overwhelmed the audio mix. Mike bass
solo at 18:45 with this cool new gooey space bass effects. Someone starts the
vocals back up before I think he was really done but eh, oh well. Vocal jam is
the usual take-it-or-leave-it strangeness: a George Takei theme combined with a
melody that vaguely sounds like ‘Tweezer’ or something, and an ending including
groaning and moaning.
It's no hyperbole to say that this is the worst set I’ve
ever heard Phish play. I’ve heard sets that were worse than this one in terms
of being boring and forgettable, but they’re inoffensive. Despite being
familiar with at least a dozen shows from the 2.0 era, I was shocked at how
obviously fucked up Trey was during this set and how many mistakes there were.
On paper this set looks like jam heaven but literally nothing about the improv
in this set is noteworthy. Even for type I jams they aren’t notable or enjoyable.
I understand this is all just my opinion but I’m concerned about anyone who can
defend this set. Even with the 2.0 considerations, it doesn’t have any jams or
playing that redeems the sloppy composed sections and off-feeling. It’s truly
the worst of everything that 2.0 has to offer in one set, and I can only
imagine how they felt backstage during set break.
[Setbreak]
I’ve been having the kind of weekend where you listen to
seemingly random music as your mood changes. For some reason yesterday
afternoon I was in a Lana mood and saw that my wife and I had never listened to
Blue Bannisters on vinyl despite owning it for over a year. It was the
right idea because I was reminded of how I admire this album’s musical
consistency and blue/blues theme running throughout its lyrics. I can see some
people not liking it as much as her other albums for this musical consistency
though for me that’s part of the appeal. It’s kind of a long album and only had
a couple songs I think really caught fire online, but trust me and give it a
chance when you’re ready for its introspective, contemplative mood.
[Set Two]
Birds Of A Feather- Ok, Trey was still kind of off with his
playing, but it’s nowhere near as egregious as the first set. Pretty decent but
standard ‘Birds’ jam you’ve come to expect. You can just feel Trey
willing this set to be better than the first by a Texas mile. Whatever he did
during setbreak, it’s not my concern or place to judge, but it sure worked.
Wolfman’s Brother- If ever there’s a case of a band or a
sports team coming back strong after half-time and salvaging the day, this show
has to be it. I simply can’t in good conscience dismiss the first set just
because they delivered a decent second set—because make no mistake, as strong
and fun as this Wolfman’s turns out to be, this set would otherwise only enter
the discussion in terms of best sets of the NYE reunion run. Everyone knows
that the Winter tour is where 2.0 started to cook, but it’s fun revisiting this
run to see the sparks starting to relight in the band. But I digress. The Wolfman’s
jam has some fun sparse playing between all members around the 7:00 mark. Mike feels
like he’s leading the jam, and throughout this set it feels like he’s also
determined to step up and salvage the show after set one’s shit sandwich. Some “oooh,
ooo” vocals around 7:45, I think from Trey and Page? It’s blink and you miss
it. 9:00 has Trey using some raw, growly effects and a pitch shifter to make his
guitar tone lower, which I feel is one of those hallmarks of this era and certain
jam styles in general. 10:00 Page goes back to piano and the jam suddenly comes
alive and sounds brighter, as if you opened the drapes and let the full sunshine
in. Mike is still dropping bass goodness all over the place as Trey takes fire
and treats us to a rocking, peaking Wolfman’s. I don’t know for sure if this is
the first time a 10 minute plus Wolfman’s had this kind of bright rock jam and
wasn’t a funky and/or spacey type II jam. I seem to recall really loving the
first Wolfman’s they played at Hampton during the ’09 reunion NYE shows, and it
following a similar funky to rocky jam journey. Am I crazy? Anyway. 13:00 is Trey
remembering who he is, Lion King style. Locked in, hosing us all down with
patient yet energetic Trey soloing his ass off. Almost before you realize it,
though, he kills his guitar and starts doing funky rhythmic accents as Mike
hits his kick ass cyber bass. Or is that Page on a synth? Maybe. Anyway, before
you know it, a very abrupt and not at all -> full segue like some setlists
say into…
Makisupa Policeman- Man was it good to hear them laughing
again. I do wonder if anything Trey references was real. Again, knowing by this
point he’s said in interviews he was already a full-blown addict, I
unfortunately am the kind of person who is like “hmmm, was it a fatty joint, or…pills…?”
Anyway, that’s shitty of me and let’s move on. This is a fun Makisupa! I love
versions that take their time and get dubby with loops and stop/start dynamics,
had me flashing back to some ’97 or ’00 versions I vaguely recall. As it should
be, Mike is the force driving this Makisupa jam until Trey’s loops start to
divide like cells and overwhelm the mix around 4:15 onward. Man this really
sounds like a ’97 or ’00 version but I can’t remember which, maybe 11/19/97..which
also followed a Wolfman’s (albeit a BEEFier version). Page gets NASTAY on the
clav around 5:30, and this reminds me that while the other members were never
slouches during 1.0, I really think 2.0 brought especially Page and Mike to the
forefront. Sometimes to rescue Trey, mostly to add their own ideas and be more
assertive more often. Things just kind of come to a stop and after a few
seconds someone counts off…
Axilla I- I was a bit concerned about this one but I’m
already sort of grading on a curve for the show at this point even after the mostly
great preceding three songs, so let’s go! Actually Trey seems to have nailed
the lyrics and I don’t think I noticed him screw up on guitar once. Not like
this song is a super composed complex one but it requires a certain energy and
focus, y’know? Sadly no Part II ending though they tease it. Overall, gotta
give it to Trey. This was also really great song placement for the flow of the
set, bit of a pick-me-up.
Twist- The opening of this, oof, not great but they pull it together
before the lyrics. Speaking of, I wonder why they went back to the “substituting
every sound” lyric from the pre-Farmhouse album version? Some lovely piano
playing from Page at 3:35ish at the start of the jam. Really feels like he and
Trey are locked in and Mike is right there with them. Twist has always been one
of my favorite Phish songs, in terms of the song itself as well as how it can
be used live. They can either keep a tight, blues-rocky jam like the Vegas ’00 version
or have long type II odysseys or serve as a segue point/energy shifter between
other songs in a set. This is another song in terms of this writing project I
had heard very recently, during the 10/7/00 show. That version, while longer,
also had a similar jam vibe and ended with a short spacey/ambient section
before segueing into the next song. Hmmmm. Well, I don’t want to accuse a band
of copying itself too much too close together so I’ll close this song by saying,
I fucking LOVE the keyboard sound Page uses around 8:20. Well, I’ll also say, this
is another part of a jam during the NYE run that I feel doesn’t quite get there
but hints at the jam style that most people associate with 2.0 Phish.
Free- Why did it feel like Trey was laboring even more
through this than he remotely was during Axila I? I’ve always had a so-so,
mood-dependent opinion of this song. Not for nothing, but has there ever been a
type II version? It’s like Undermind where it feels like such an obvious song
for jam fodder but I don’t think they ever did, and they hardly even play
Undermind (and when they do it doesn’t sound like the album version). So, yeah,
it’s Free but played a little slower than usual and Trey sounds exhausted
throughout it like he’s singing after running a mile in gym class.
All Of These Dreams- It’s not a perfect album but I really
love Round Room and I was excited to see it towards the end of this set. Trey actually
holds it together pretty well on vocals, too. Somebody—Page?!—accidentally starts
to sing the chorus again around 2:14. Well I guess it’s not just Trey who can
be off his game. Yeah? Yeah. Anywho, it’s a decent first version of this
ballad, big pop from the crowd for Page’s piano solo! Browsing the LivePhish
app it looks like this song became a bit of a rarity, that’s too bad!
Possum- I was never big into this song until it was part of
the encore of my first show and everybody, even people who weren’t dancing
before, seemed to suddenly be grooving and jamming to this song. As such, I now
understand its power and what a fantastic choice to end the set. As so often
happens with this song, it’s basically the same jam every single time, but like
Antelope, Trey is able to just pop off and do his Jedi mind tricks. Since it’s
just a bunch of wall of sound end rock song live vamp stuff, it was honestly
kind of hard for me to tell but toward the end of this version of Possum, they
do some instrument switching shenanigans. They seem to randomly bust out this
gimmick like a sort of carny trick to pop the crowd. I guess live, seeing it in
person or even visually, it would work, but on tape it’s just like…ok yeah,
they do this at the end of most sets? I would never have known they were
swapping instruments.
Contact- So we start the encore with a silly celebrity guest
joke from Trey? Alright, I’m listening. This song is so dumb but so great, it’s
pure Phish. We get a decently long, fun stop/start funk jam in the middle like
it’s 1997 all over again. Ok, yeah, this second set and encore still don’t come
close to offsetting the dumpster dive of set one, but I’ll give it to them,
they’re sure fucking trying. For a hot minute this jam was starting to
give me Dayton ’97 Tube/Dayton Jam vibes. This performance alone makes this the
best encore of the batch of shows I’ve reviewed so far. Where was this in set
one, lads?
Tweezer Reprise- Yeah, they’re probably always going to play
this song during a show with Tweezer. But given the sad showing of set one, did
they really earn this one? I guess that’s up to you to decide for yourself, but
to me it feels a bit like a victory lap that was only earned at the very end,
like sniping someone with a red shell just before the finish line in Mario
Kart. In pro wrestling terms, this song can be cheap heat. Sure people will
always react well to hearing it but it always feels the most appropriate if the
show had a truly type II beast Tweezer (or even a Tweezerfest).
So, this set was more normal, right? I mean, it’s got some
decent jam moments sprinkled in, and it’s actually competently played (mostly),
so nothing to either greatly praise or criticize. The encore was a big
highlight even if I didn’t personally feel they earned that Tweeprise.
[Final Verdict]
I was going to say that this was a tough call for me—set one
is absolutely a 1 out of 5, no question, and set two is a 3 out of 5 because I
was grading on a curve, so do I split the difference or…?—and spend multiple sentences
hemming and hawing and possibly some mulling over for good measure. But re-reading
my original description of what a 2 out of 5 show is, I feel like it’s all
spelled out there and this show is that to a T. If they had rebounded with a second
set that existed in the top tier of the best ’03 sets that were yet to come, I
could maybe, maybe talk myself into considering a 3 out of 5. If the
wind was in its favor and I had had an especially good nap that day. But damn
if this isn’t one of the weakest shows I’ve heard from this band. After hearing
the first set I literally—and I mean that word truly—couldn’t bring myself to
listen to the second set for at least a week. It bummed me out so much it made
me feel like I had seen a close friend get sloppy drunk and piss his pants
while crying and apologizing to everyone. The second set at least reaffirmed
that this writing project was worth continuing, not because it’s any great
shakes but because they could pull it together and deliver a pretty good second
set and excellent encore.
So, yeah, 2 out of 5.
[Highlights]
Set One: Nothing (no, not the song Nothing, literally
nothing was remotely good)
Set Two: Trey was still alive, Wolfman’s > Makisupa,
Possum was fire as always
Special Commendation: Contact! This song had one of the best
jams of the night.
