Fan-favourite for winter '03, and not just for the ballyhooed Destiny return: Gin and Walls rock, the Hood is a joy, you've got a high level Bowie, and the multipart Tweezer is probably the best post-hiatus version even without the cooldown Shakedown. Deeper than 2/26, less escapist(?!), and probably Greater on balance.

Oh, and:

Destiny. Unbound.

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

There has been lots of discussion about this show, but anyone who was there knows that they witnessed something very special, both for the fans and the band. Exceptional jams in “Bathtub Gin” and “Back on the Train” rounded out a flawless first set, which concluded with a powerful “Walls of the Cave”, a song that really started to take shape around this time.
Then...the “Tweezer”. Twenty seven minutes of near-ecstasy climaxes around the fifteen minute mark, when Fishman locks into a deliberately slow glide of a beat, Mike begins to walk on a low end cannon, and Page colors existence. Trey hits the ultra-note, using a pitch shifter to raise the peak higher and higher, again and again, allowing the energy to swell on a long plateau, washing out everything around you, making you see sunsets, the ocean, fireworks, the love of your life all at the same time....the very epitome of a 2003 Phish jam is found in these extended moments. If this isn't what the band is trying to do with the longer ambient jams, I have no clue as to what they're thinking.
Only get this show if you can afford to listen to it every week for the rest of your life...it's addicting.

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

I have a problem with this show. I can't stop listening to “Soul Shakedown Party” into “David Bowie”, no matter what I'm doing. I find myself waking up in the middle of the night needing to hear that hi-hat. It haunts me. I feel bad neglecting the other songs from this show, but I can't help it. I've never heard anything like this before. I'm not saying either one is the best ever, although they are to me, but the two of them together are doing strange things to my brain.
Page hypnotizes me during “Soul Shakedown Party”. We were sitting about three rows behind and directly in between him and Fishman, and every time I listen to this song, I can still see his fingers pulsing out that reggae beat.
I think this is where the problem stems from. Once I feel that vibration, I get lost until the disc ends. I'm not getting any work done. Is there a support group for this?

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

This is for all you skeptics out there who think Phish has been over and done with since at least 1997. I was, until very recently, one of you. This show at Nassau was very simply as good, musically speaking, as any you'll find in any top ten all-time list. I remember telling someone at the Philly show (who had obviously had a fabulous time that night) that they had put on a fun show, but had a long, long way to go before it was like the old days again. Little did I know that that long journey was going to happen very quickly over the course of the two next shows (because, yes, Worcester was also phenomenal).
Setbreak saw me searching the halls for others who were aware of what had just gone down. I'm not one to scream things out in the lots, or whatever ... but I found myself yelling "Who has a ‘Destiny’? You all have a ‘Destiny’!" And, like inside, not everyone caught on. But what was special were the handfuls that did ... the hugs that were thrown around, the knowing looks ... the quiet "Dude, they PLAYED DESTINY" between strangers.
Forget for a moment that they played “Destiny Unbound”. Consider this: the twenty seven minute “Tweezer” rivals any jam Phish has ever put together. After a good five or six listens, I see it standing next to the 12/6/97 “Tweezer” and the 11/17/97 “Ghost” as one of my top two or three of all time.
Sure I would have loved to hear a “Piper”, a “2001”, a “Fluffhead”. But by the end of the second set, it just didn't matter. A shorter but beautifully executed “Hood” (a la Jersey) is fine with me. In all honesty, repeats didn't make me groan once on this tour. A flawless set. And a legendary show. Maybe everyone there didn't get it. But I did. And I know I wasn't the only one. I can't believe this is all happening again.

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

I've been seeing them for almost ten years, and I swear, I felt the same exhilaration this night as I did at my first show in 1993. The jamming was just top notch. Incredible. The energy apparent was so thick you could cut it. Every song seemed to fit in perfectly. Although the “Birds” opener threw me off, I was quickly put at ease with the positivity oozing from the stage.

And of course the “Destiny Unbound” breakout...

Everything about this show was just right. Seriously. After seeing more than seventy shows, I think this is easily in my top ten (including 10/31/94, 7/16/94, 12/31/95, Big Cypress and Clifford Ball). This is one to remember. Looking at the setlist may be misleading. It has none of the crazy stuff (albeit the “Soul Shakedown Party” and “Destiny Unbound” are crazy rare) such as “Fluffhead”, “Mike's Groove”, “Harpua”, “Col. Forbin's”, “Icculus”, etc.. which for me comprise a dream setlist, yet this show itself turned into a dream setlist. They were jamming tunes voraciously which up till then were more standard. (Listen to the “Get Back on the Train”!)

For those that weren't at this show, but were at 4/3/98, remember the insane energy during the “Tweeprise”? Well, this “Tweeprise” has that same energy, only the whole night was full of that energy.

This was THE show for me. Its been years since I was that pumped all about one show.

What is it with Nassau? They must love it there.

-Adam Schneider