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

The next night, I felt the need to give back. I knew I couldn't find that man who gave me the miracle; I didn't want to. But I had to give back to the community. So I bought an extra ticket at face value and looked around for someone with his/her finger in the air, someone that looked like they needed this ticket, and they needed it for free.
I chose a girl in her early thirties, late twenties. I handed her the ticket, and she gave me a huge hug, extremely excited about her miracle. That day, I was wearing a “Harry Hood” shirt, and upon seeing this she started to flip out.
"I can't believe you're wearing a ‘Harry Hood’ shirt!" she screamed. She explained that she was from out West. She was doing the entire tour and has not been to the Philly/Camden area since Winter 1999. The last time she was here was for Phish's two-night stay at the Spectrum (12/10-11/99). I told her that I personally couldn't make it to the 10th, but I was at the 11th. This fact seemed to blow her away even more. After the show on the 10th, she continued to explain, she got a call from her Mom back West. Her father had passed away that night. His name was Harry. The next night marked the first “Harry Hood” opener since 1985 (10/30/85 at Hunt's), which was the first time the song was played. She felt like they opened the show with that just for her. She had not returned to the Philly area since then, and when she finally did, she is given a miracle from a kid in a “Harry Hood” shirt. We both stood there, stunned. Having such a strong connection to a person within five minutes of meeting her was overwhelming - and also what Phish is all about.
The show rocked, to put it simply. A classic setlist, with no huge surprises (although “Moma Dance” is always exciting). Still, every song was simply pumping. A sick way to end the tour and ready us for IT. And of course, they closed the second set with “Harry Hood”.
I can only wonder if she made it to the Boston anniversary show...

As usual for Phish in summer, the second set under the stars easily overtakes the sing-songy sunset opener. And what a set! The XXL Piper opener dissolves into a beautiful ambient interlude before a filthy improvised segue into Mike's Song (which is appropriately raunchy). Weekapaug zips along per usual until the closing lyrics, but the band skips the final vocal line and keeps the rhythm going for a few minutes. Fishman drops some half-time nastiness on the assembly and we get yet another muted-scratching segue into Free. (Why doesn't Trey segue into the song's opening riff anymore? These rhythmic segues get boring when you're, y'know, an obsessive live recording collector...)

Free > Friday, blah blah blah, but the stretched-out Hood takes this show over the top. This version starts to head out into rock-riffing territory like the infamous 7/25 performance, but around 14:00 in (and far from the home key if I remember correctly), Trey tilts from straight-up rock to some eerie iii-I changes, and things get quietly spooky. Mike starts in with some sympathetic upper-register ostinato action, Page throws in some space-age keyboard textures, and we're in an intense musical zone halfway between Hood's standard major-chord lilt and the zonked-out uptempo haze of so many other summer 2003 jams. If (like me) you came to Phish fandom via the Hood from 'A Live One,' the ensuing build and lighthearted return to the standard Hood progression will seem like the logical extension of what you've long known and loved. Good as the other second-set tunes are, the Hood is the thing to write home about.

Interesting how musical moods can change from 24 to 48 hours. Take for instance, conveniently, these last three shows - July 29, 30, and 31. The 29th was everything you could want in a Phish show. Bustouts, long jams, narration, flow - and all played with a pop and tenacity of newly exploded supernovae. It was brilliant; both in construction and execution. Then take a look at the 30th. Dark and brooding. Each song a singularity in and of itself. An introspective psychedelic journey that probably left most in attendance saying, "Am I die?" Then you have the 31st. A near 50/50 combo of the previous two. Allow me to elaborate...

The first set is right up my alley. A rampaging Llama (do llama's rampage normally, maybe frolic, but rampage... ahem, that's neither here nor there, back to the music) ... a rampaging Llama starts the evening off the bold typeface exclamation point. My single favorite opener in Phish's repertoire, this is the *perfect* way to start a show, in my funky opinion. Played with great zeal and gusto, this Llama leaves nothing to be desired. In fact, it's a perfect table setter for the entire set! Moma Dance drips in as soon as Llama closes out and this one follows a similar progression to 7.10.03's. That is to say, after a furious Trey-led guitar explosion, the jam slinks into an organic, Mike-infused deep funk jam. This isn't James Brown funk, no, this is dark funk. Highly danceable, but even moreso trippy. A great combination of attitude and sex appeal. Trey plays textures rather than notes, Mike plays an an engine, rather than a bass, and Page and Fish fill in the tapestry with impeccable space and timing. A near flawless 1-2 opening combo. The jam evaporates into Divided Sky, continuing the perfect flow of the set. The energy levels remain in the red, the needle tilting to plaid, and with one push, off it goes. A fury of notes from Trey turns this Divided Sky jam from ordinary into "Well that was pretty sweet!." A very well-placed Dirt continues the exceptional feel and flow of this set. Heartfelt and empathetic, this Dirt is great release early on in the set. Phish sprinkles in another delightful little jam with Seven Below. Twinkling and tiptoeing, this nimble little Seven Below climbs several peaks in dainty fashion. It is not a smoking hot jam, nor is it boring. It just flutters along with grace and style - a really, really solid first set type 1 jam. Since the Seven Below was lacking a little bit of an edge (not a knock on the jam) Phish decided to pack a punch with The Sloth. Again, the flow of this set is fantastic up to this point. Perfect song selection, perfect disbursement of jams and songs, and very adept playing from compositions to jams. Water in the Sky is the one "Hmmm" choice in the set, but Phish LOVED playing this song in 2003, and generally it features some lightning fast playing from Trey. This one was definitely the weakest version of the year, not really bringing much to the proverbial dinner table (Phish, it's what's for dinner) but undaunted, the band blasts into a standard-great Wolfman's Brother. Nothing mind blowing here, expect that it continues to exceptional energy and flow of the set sans WITS. Groovy grooves, wowy-wahs, and sexy splashing all permeate this hairy beast. As I stated earlier, a fantastic "standard-great" Wolfman's. Speaking of which, as was the norm in 2003, a standard-white-hot Possum closes the set. And I do mean white hot. Possums kind of have lost their luster in the 2009-2016 years, save a few outliers, but 2003 was a year where Possum melted faces EVERY SINGLE. TIME. This one melted my face. Phish should have, at least, a couple volcanoes named after them which how they played Possum in 2003...

So here we are. A really fantastic, bright, flowing, engaging set 1. Just like the 29th, but not quite as "epic." Still following the same pattern of fantastic flow and fantastic energy. Now we are on the eve of the final set before IT.

A Piper opener is promising, especially in the context of 2003. 2003 was a great year for many songs, in some particular order: Bathtub Gin, You Enjoy Myself, Piper, Taste, Possum, Divided Sky, and so on... so when you pull up your playlist and see a "03" next to a "Piper" you know you're about to go on an excursion. However (don't you hate it when I say that? Yeah, me too) this one is, well ... it just kinda drones on. It's not dark and scary and dissonant like the 7.30 show. It's definitely not spritely and motivated like Vegas. It's this quasi spacey, trying-to-find-a-groove-for-20-minute-jam that, for me, doesn't do much of anything. I see the little headphones next to it on the setlist page and I genuinely ask, "Why?" With all the amazing Pipers of 2003, this one, again for me personally, is extremely boring. It comes no where near the deep psychedelic episodes of Shoreline or Atlanta. It doesn't hold a candle to the short but raucous Cinci version. Heck, even the NYE opener has way more bite than this one. Maybe someone saw the length of it and said, "f*** it. Headphones." I digress... as you can tell, I am not a fan of this Piper. But apparently someone is. The jam eventually bleeds out into a standard-dark Mike's Song. This doesn't do anything to up the energy levels, but it doesn't hurt the set either. This Mike's has nothing in particular to write about, so I will leave it at that. Hydrogen is always a treat, ESPECIALLY when Trey hits his notes (he does) and ESPECIALLY when it sets up Weekapaug (it does). Weekapaug itself is two-parter. The first part is standard good Weekapaug. Playful slap-bass intermingling with playful jazzy-drums. A feel-good, fast paced jam gets reeled in at about 9 minutes, including the refrain, and... BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Someone must have been the lucky #9 caller because Trey immediately threw in the BONUS JAM! Woohoo! The bands sprints off on a up-tempo, extremellllllly dancey groove that is the highlight of the set (to this point). It glides along like a warm sea breeze and eventually settles nicely -> Free. This Free is, stop me if you've heard this before, standard-good. Some sultry Mike work adds some flair to this otherwise normalized version. The next song is the worst song ever written. Let us never speak of it again. The second monster Harry Hood comes in next. This version is much more airy than the heavy, almost orchestral version of the 25th (the better of the two IMO). Still, this version is inspiring. It magnificently glides and meanders (in a good way) through musical meadows. It is not as multi-faceted as the 25th, that is to say, the 25th gets deeply type-2, whereas this one you can usually kinda tell it's still Harry Hood, but that is not said with any sort of malice or complaint for this version - it is truly majestic. It also, fortunately, culminates in a huge peak! Very special Phish in this Hood. Frankenstein encore puts a dramatic exclamation-point-of-continuity brought forth with the Llama opener.

So here we are. Summer tour nearly complete, with only Phish's first festival since Cypress looming a mere 2 nights away. This tour was not nearly as consistently-amazeballs as Winter 03, but it if you look past the obvious gems, you will be quite surprised to find the high-quality improvisational exploration of Phish hidden in shows and sets and songs you might have overlooked. I will do a tour breakdown after IT, so buyer beware, this is an everything-must-go sale! Be prepared to listen to songs you may well have written off, and be prepared to find your shopping list devoid of jams (ahem, tonight's Piper) that some folks might say you simply must splurge for.

Must-hear jams: Weekapaug Groove, Harry Hood
Probably-should-listen-to jams: Moma Dance, Seven Below, Wolfman's Brother, Possum, Piper (I guess)

I had an amazing show experience from 7/31/2003 in Camden. My wife and I were staying in a Philly hotel and had the day to kill, so we caught Pirates of the Caribbean in the movie theater before hitting the lot early. We were hanging with friends in the lot closest to the Ben Franklin Bridge for a while before heading in. We had seats for this show, and even though they were three rows from the back, it was still enough to be inside when the skies opened up and poured down rain.

This night seemed like a complete rebound from the previous night. Llama kicked things off and raged out of the gates. Moma Dance quickly took the reins and got funky right away. Moma Dance started blending into an ambient space when the opening chords to Divided Sky chimed in. This was my first Divided Sky, and I had been craving this song at every show I had ever been to. It was and is my favorite song and a pivotal reason that I learned to love Phish in the first place. Anyway, I was in my glory, Divided Sky was EXCELLENT, and Phish could have played a three hour long Brian and Robert to close the show and I still would have been fine. Fortunately for everyone else, this was not the case.

Dirt was a nice and mellow breather from the raging Divided Sky, and a slightly-lengthy Seven Below ensued afterwards. The Sloth was spot-on, Water in the Sky reminded everyone on the lawn that they were no longer dry, Wolfman's Brother soared to type-1 peaks as did Possum to close the set.

Set two opened with a twenty-two minute Piper that trudged along in a dark and mucky groove. Mike's came out of the dark Piper and took the classic approach, segueing into Hydrogen and then Weekapaug. The transition from Weekapaug to Free was obvious in the moment and signaled that the band wasn't pulling out any stops for the rest of the night. Friday was another breather, I don't like to hear Mike sound so sad. Hood was an epic, especially for 2.0. Frankenstein gave us all a little energy for the all night driving most of us were about to endure on our way up to Limestone, Maine for the IT Festival. I loved this show.

The Setlist Team has definitely got it right that The Moma Dance is a Recommended Jam. It's the big story of the first set, except perhaps the very satisfying tension-and-release peak of the Wolfman's Brother that precedes the set-closing Possum. Piper kind of goes into ambient passages that are very palpable but may not have that much replay value, but Weekapaug Groove tends towards an high-energy sustain that carries over through to the end of the set into a Harry Hood that has a lot of 2.0-typical jamming, namely the double-stopped kind of Trey playing that integrates so well with Page's and the rhythm section's. I tend to want to find a lot to love in any era of Phish, trying to ignore whatsoever "flaws" there may be in favor of the heights, and though I would rate the previous show more highly due if only to depth of jamming, this is a great show... one that would be oh so welcome now in the 3.0 era, if only people had the diligence to listen to the forest for the trees.

The last show of summer tour and the first show for me and a friend. It was raining, and I was shivering in a T-shirt as I stood on the uncovered grass beside the Delaware River. The boys walked onstage and started playing Llama, and I knew I was in for life. They had made a decision to reflect the current situation. "Cold, steady rain. Rain!" Trey sang.

I can still hear his sharp, angry notes as the band opened up the jam (2:10). I was trying to dancing and trying to build warmth, but I was still uncomfortable. The discordant playing resonated.

Those upward-facing peaks from Trey in Moma Dance (7:15), with Fish egging him on, communicated to me that the band was ready to have fun and not just coldly grind. Mike said he was ready to party too when he engaged the distorted wah-wah effect (9:24).

Moma Dance settled down and Trey picked out the initial notes to Divided Sky, which my favorite song at the time. I knew I was in good hands. My body followed along with the rhythm of the composition. The pause came and the crowd cheered and it did feel like we were all along on a religious trek together and we had to celebrate the moment. Trey's wistful denouement followed.

Dirt -- a perfect Farmhouse slowdown song. Seven Below -- okay, I was listening to Round Room before this show and I thought it was a pretty good song. It sounds to me like a good specimen of 2.0 songwriting. The Sloth - a rousing rendition for my first taste of Gamehendge. And then ... Water in the Sky? Boring. Wolfman's came with a fun peak. Possum delivers a little more Gamehedge. Nothing special. Set break.

Set 2 starts with Piper, a song from Farmhouse I loved then and still can't get enough of. The downcast jamming from 8:56 to 9:48 stands out, reminding me of the darkness from the beginning of the set. But within two minutes the darkness gave way to a bliss jam as Fish slowed the pace. Trey apparently not sure where to take the jam at 15:53. Mike drops a few fat bombs. Fish picks up the pace and Trey's confidence is building, the familiar distorted tone is back in minutes 18 and 19. Page is adding flourishes on the B-2 Hammond. Just proud rock without much of a direction, which is fine. Mike is back with the wah as the beat slows and Trey backs off the aggression. Page keeps throwing down extended melodic backgrounds. Fish lets the beat peter out altogether.

So Trey calls for Mike's Song. It gets a bit interesting at 6:55, when Trey plucks out some discordant higher notes that end up being the setup for a peak. But the improvisation is over in a little over a minute as the band moves on to your standard Hydrogen and then of course Groove. The boys got locked in to a funky/angry chord progression loop at 10:45, with Fish riding the hi-hat, speeding things up and then slowing things down again. Trey backs off and Page playing softly, opening up a void with slow, relaxed drums. Trey sees an opening for Free, plucking his strings till the band catches up. It's a bit of a forced segue. At minute 4, Mike is slapping the alien funk bass as Trey keeps the power chords coming. He leads the band through the logical end of the ballad, leaving quiet. He sings the first words to Friday, a more forgettable Round Room effort than Seven Below. "Why isn't it Friday today," indeed. They do it and they end it, and they reward the crowd with Hood. The jam loses direction at the 14-minute mark, but Trey plays hopeful clear notes that match Fish's pitter-patter. The band collectively digs around in a rhythm-heavy corner until returning to familiar Hood ground at minute 19 and following the path out.

No one is going to argue with Phish going to Edgar Winter's Frankenstein for an encore. At 6 minutes, it was fun, but it was over too soon.

In the end, the cold didn't matter. The outing changed me. "One of the best nights of my life," I wrote in my journal.

Well, this was my 80th show and I was expecting a real heater as the band knows just like everyone else on tour that lots of people will be skipping this to make their way up to Maine. Before heading into the lots we made our way down towards St. Joseph University. Across the street from the gymnasium we got a philly cheese steak. When in Rome? We hit the lots at about 4pm. We met some really nice kids from Dallas, TX that we hung out w/ all day. They would later follow us up to Maine. The sky was extremely overcast with some very pregnant looking rainclouds overhead. I was none too pleased by this considering I had lawn. Luckily, I had some great raingear, it would definitely be put to the test. We listened to the Utah show in the lots and that got us nice and pumped up for this evening’s festivities.

SET 1: Llama – Great way to open the show with a smoking Llama. I thought the one in Raleigh a couple of days ago was a bit better than Camden’s. Still, tight and raging all the way as you would expect from any Llama. Shows that open w/ a Llama never seem to disappoint me, and this show was no exception to the rule.

The Moma Dance: Hell yes, bring the funk boys! Long, long Moma clocking in at about 12.5. At 9.5 the jam goes from raging to relatively funky w/ Mike dropping bombs with his new bass tone. Very cool stuff here. Page starts to lead at 11.5, leaning heavily on his organ. Trey follows this up with some very dark, heavy chords. What follows is an absolutely divine segue into>

Divided Sky: I think my heart stopped for a couple of seconds in hearing this segue. Gorgeous. The intro vocals are just a tad off (Fishman?). Awesome Divided, almost a perfect ten in my book.

Dirt: I just love this song. Holds a lot of personal meaning for me. Great follow up to a raging start to this show. Some beautiful interplay between Mike and Trey. A minor flub by Trey leading up to the climax, nothing too distracting but it’s there.>

Seven Below: Boy they cannot go more than three shows this tour w/out playing this. Nothing too crazy, just a nice, solid 7 Below.

The Sloth: Excellent, way to crank the energy back up after Dirt and 7 Below. Standard yet very good.

Water in the Sky: You knew this had to be on its way what with the rain and all. Nice, jammy Water.

Wolfman's Brother: This tune sure has seen a lot of attention so far in ?03. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: behind Gin and Hood, Wolfman’s is the song of 2003 so far. Lots of good jamming and this one is no exception. Page really brings the funk on this one early on. The funk deviates into Trey really ripping it up with some blistering arena rock style riffs. You have to love watching peace loving hippies throwing down, excellent jamming that could have been taken further but I was still content with this version. >

Possum: Yee ha! Nothing beats a Possum first set closer. Standard Possum.

SET 2: Piper: Another Piper second set opener. At 9:57 Trey hits on a consistent
theme for about 5 seconds that sounds awfully familiar, but I cannot seem to place it. At 11 minutes, this one takes an ambient turn. Not really what I was hoping for. At this point in the night the rain was coming down pretty good and I would needed something to shake my bones to and at the time – in the rain and rolling solo - this didn’t really do it for me. Very psychedelic though. At 18 minutes the jam wakes up a bit and starts heading for the home stretch. The last few minutes of the jam are pretty fired up, then it quiets down a bit again leading into a segue >

Mike's Song: Now we are talking folks! The opening notes send the whole venue into instant ecstasy! They had not played Mike’s since 7/21 Deer Creek, so this was a welcome treat to my ears. The opening riff is rusty but oh well. This Mikes is a little on the slower side than I am used to. This is not a bad thing necessarily, merely an observation. Once this Mike’s gets cranked up, it takes no prisoners at all. Raging, ripping, this indeed got my bones shaking in a way that the Piper could not. Short but very tight Mikes.>

I Am Hydrogen: This summer’s Mike’s Grooves were all classic editions, i.e. all with the Hydrogen centerpiece. I love that! Very old school. None of the grooves were jammed out per say, just straight up and nice and tight. This Hydrogen is sweet, not a flaw to be heard. Way to go Trey, you nailed it man! >

Weekapaug Groove: Bring it Mike! Sweet intro bass solo! Thumping away like only Cactus can. Page hops on the organ around 6 minutes and insists on getting funky! 6:20 Trey doesn’t want to much to do with the funk and begins shredding on some classic Weekapaug riffs. At 8:26 they bust back into the lyrics. Alas, they are nowhere near done with this just yet. Mike provides the backbone w/ Fish hitting on his snare. Page and Trey funk it up big time, into an In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida tease starting at 10:40. The funk is deep here. This may well be the longest Weekapaug of the tour. If not, it is easily the most jammed of the tour, very cool Paug, definitely the best of the tour. ->

Free: Jesus people, that segue is just sickening; it really is too good
to be true. 4:05 sees Cactus dropping bombs, excellent bass run by Mike. Not as aggressive as some Mike/Free solos (6/30/99 comes to mind) I have seen but still very good. Good Free, nothing to out of the ordinary but the segue out of Paug was killer.>

Friday: Hmm, after the great run before this, I thought the least I could do was keep an open mind about it. I won’t lie, I was a little disappointed when this started up. I crash I cry; I burn but I; still follow anyway. Decent Trey solo albeit w/ a couple of minor flubs. Nice breather. >

Harry Hood: Awesome, great way to end up a sweet second set and get us bopping down the road to IT. After the Charlotte Hood, I was not sure what to expect here. That one was just too over the top for me, too much spacey weirdness. This Hood however maintains a relatively upbeat jam, one that you can really get down too. At 20 minutes things all come together and merge back into a traditional Hood jam. At 22 or so the jam climaxes, I can feel GOOOOOOOOOOD! I would have liked to have seen more tension built up into this release though as with others on the tour. If they take that much time to jam it out, they should really have a fired up ending ya know? Still I felt darn good.

ENCORE: Frankenstein - I love this song in the encore spot. So fiery, funky and psychedelic all within the same song. Great way to end a nice Camden run and a sweet tour. Typically mind blowing lights by CK5 at the end w/ a wicked drum solo by Fish. Also some cool loops by Trey to back it all. As usual, Frankenstein blew my lid. Very sweet. Thanks Phish!

Replay Value: The Moma Dance, Piper, Weekapaug Groove, Harry Hood

Summary: This was a rock solid show. I have a feeling I would have enjoyed it a bit more in the pavilion but what are you going to do right? By the way, I have never been to a venue where they have soooo much security to keep people from jumping into the pavilion. I was standing against the metal fence Page side at the front of the lawn the whole second set waiting for my opportunity to jump in, but it never came. Security was ALL OVER IT! Big shout out to my rain gear for keeping me dry on this night!!! 31 hours later we would finally waltz into the IT festival grounds. Nightmarish drive to say the least! I would rate this show as a 4.3 out of 5. Much more traditional Phish show if you will versus the night before. They played all the hits.

Underrated show. Yea, Hood/Piper/Moma get all the love, but there's a lot of other goodies here that I think some other reviewers maybe missed.

Set I: Fierce Llama sets the tone for a take-no-prisoners barrage of Type I crispiness. Moma absolutely scorches - great take. D. Sky is well-executed (I don't recall any notable flubs) with a killer jam - also a great take. Seven Below rages quite concisely - a nice surprise peak. Sloth is a treat, also well-executed IIRC. There's a little difficulty getting WitS off the ground at first - hello 2.0 flubbery - but the Wolfman's that follows totally slays. I'd call this a particularly notable Type 1 affair, which tees up Possum well. Possum is properly played but otherwise not super notable. THAT SAID - this first set breathes total fire. Charizard shit. Phish fans come for the big jams, and I get that, but I love a good first set, and IMO this is about as good as I've heard through the rest of '03. Bust outs, big jams, obscure nuggets? No, but it doesn't need to have a 30 minute SASS, a YEM closer, or a Tweezer to get the love from this listener. Get over yourself if you think a Phish set has to have a 20+ minute jam or a Forbin's > FFM to still be worthy of praise and notability. jk the ocean is love and I don't hold it against you

Set II: Piper rips - I'm a big fan of spacy '03 Phish and this Piper's mid-section is a great example of this, with a killer groove on the back end that elevates the whole affair. Lots of shredding in this Groove - Trey bodies Mike's and Paug, but his lack of the Ross compressor shows in H20. That said, it's a largely on-point recitation at a time when that wasn't a given (it unfortunately still isn't). Decent --> into Free, which may have a hiccup or two scattered across the composed sections, but the jam is more of the top-shelf Type I variety exhibited elsewhere. The big Hood hits some bouncy segments in its exploration, features some good Page on organ lending a soul-inflected vibe to the mid-section while Trey hits his typical blues chromatics atop. The second space-voyage of the set creeps in as Page lays out on the organ, Mike builds a bedrock of drone, Fish finds a light ostinato on the rim, and Trey continues to bounce around in '03's plinko-adjacent manner. Soon the effects start coming in as Trey joins Mike in the land of the minor-key drone, Fish opens up the groove, Page takes chordal charge on the ivories and the '03 haze threatens, if only for maybe 90 seconds, to bring this jam to scary places as the cadets and spunyuns in the room start to take cover lest they be consumed by chemical ego death. Page suddenly brings us back to calmer waters with a deft deployment of our friend the D major, and thus begins the ramp up to the jam's typically cathartic ending. Cue wall of cymbal swell, and a fermata'd resolution brings Set II to a close. Not the peaky, climactic, shreddy Hood that comprises much of the "best ever" lists, but this one's punching above its weight based purely on the exploration therein. The Frank-Encore (Franken-Core?) gets off to a shaky start (Trey rushes), but deploys almost the full barrage of '03's effects pallet and hits all the right notes to send the throng home. Crunchy stuff all told.

Okay yea so the Type II banner-wielders of this show are pretty much only Hood and Piper. Whatever, it's all killer stuff nonetheless, like a greatest-hits show played with the '03 rawness and edge that makes this one of Phish's most rewarding years to explore, if I may humbly opine. I'd give it like 4.3 stars if I could, but I gotta hit it with the fiver on account of .net's wack-ass rating system.

This was my first show. Both my now-wife and best high school friend had been touting Phish for years. I wasn't interested. Firstly, the show was in Camden...not my favorite 3hr drive. Secondly, I wasn't interested in doing stupid drugs in the parking lot. Being "older" and more accustomed to chill vibes at Dead-related shows, I didn't want some jack-ass teen with nitrous to ruin my night. Thirdly, it was going to pour.

I brought my poncho, stood next to the guy with the joint, and declared that if they didn't play someone else's music I wouldn't likely enjoy it.

And then magic. Sound explosion from Llama...light explosion from Kuroda, and I was off. After this show, I don't know how many re-listens I did of Possum or Harry Hood. Mind was blown when Frankenstein started and my buddy leaned over to me and said "this is someone else's music, dude."

I'm much older now, and nearly 40 shows in, and if it wasn't for this one, I probably wouldn't have been as hooked as I am today.

Interesting how musical moods can change from 24 to 48 hours. Take for instance, conveniently, these last three shows - July 29, 30, and 31. The 29th was everything you could want in a Phish show. Bustouts, long jams, narration, flow - and all played with a pop and tenacity of newly exploded supernovae. It was brilliant; both in construction and execution. Then take a look at the 30th. Dark and brooding. Each song a singularity in and of itself. An introspective psychedelic journey that probably left most in attendance saying, "Am I die?" Then you have the 31st. A near 50/50 combo of the previous two. Allow me to elaborate...

The first set is right up my alley. A rampaging Llama (do llama's rampage normally, maybe frolic, but rampage... ahem, that's neither here nor there, back to the music) ... a rampaging Llama starts the evening off the bold typeface exclamation point. My single favorite opener in Phish's repertoire, this is the *perfect* way to start a show, in my funky opinion. Played with great zeal and gusto, this Llama leaves nothing to be desired. In fact, it's a perfect table setter for the entire set! Moma Dance drips in as soon as Llama closes out and this one follows a similar progression to 7.10.03's. That is to say, after a furious Trey-led guitar explosion, the jam slinks into an organic, Mike-infused deep funk jam. This isn't James Brown funk, no, this is dark funk. Highly danceable, but even moreso trippy. A great combination of attitude and sex appeal. Trey plays textures rather than notes, Mike plays an an engine, rather than a bass, and Page and Fish fill in the tapestry with impeccable space and timing. A near flawless 1-2 opening combo. The jam evaporates into Divided Sky, continuing the perfect flow of the set. The energy levels remain in the red, the needle tilting to plaid, and with one push, off it goes. A fury of notes from Trey turns this Divided Sky jam from ordinary into "Well that was pretty sweet!." A very well-placed Dirt continues the exceptional feel and flow of this set. Heartfelt and empathetic, this Dirt is great release early on in the set. Phish sprinkles in another delightful little jam with Seven Below. Twinkling and tiptoeing, this nimble little Seven Below climbs several peaks in dainty fashion. It is not a smoking hot jam, nor is it boring. It just flutters along with grace and style - a really, really solid first set type 1 jam. Since the Seven Below was lacking a little bit of an edge (not a knock on the jam) Phish decided to pack a punch with The Sloth. Again, the flow of this set is fantastic up to this point. Perfect song selection, perfect disbursement of jams and songs, and very adept playing from compositions to jams. Water in the Sky is the one "Hmmm" choice in the set, but Phish LOVED playing this song in 2003, and generally it features some lightning fast playing from Trey. This one was definitely the weakest version of the year, not really bringing much to the proverbial dinner table (Phish, it's what's for dinner) but undaunted, the band blasts into a standard-great Wolfman's Brother. Nothing mind blowing here, expect that it continues to exceptional energy and flow of the set sans WITS. Groovy grooves, wowy-wahs, and sexy splashing all permeate this hairy beast. As I stated earlier, a fantastic "standard-great" Wolfman's. Speaking of which, as was the norm in 2003, a standard-white-hot Possum closes the set. And I do mean white hot. Possums kind of have lost their luster in the 2009-2016 years, save a few outliers, but 2003 was a year where Possum melted faces EVERY SINGLE. TIME. This one melted my face. Phish should have, at least, a couple volcanoes named after them which how they played Possum in 2003...

So here we are. A really fantastic, bright, flowing, engaging set 1. Just like the 29th, but not quite as "epic." Still following the same pattern of fantastic flow and fantastic energy. Now we are on the eve of the final set before IT.

A Piper opener is promising, especially in the context of 2003. 2003 was a great year for many songs, in some particular order: Bathtub Gin, You Enjoy Myself, Piper, Taste, Possum, Divided Sky, and so on... so when you pull up your playlist and see a "03" next to a "Piper" you know you're about to go on an excursion. However (don't you hate it when I say that? Yeah, me too) this one is, well ... it just kinda drones on. It's not dark and scary and dissonant like the 7.30 show. It's definitely not spritely and motivated like Vegas. It's this quasi spacey, trying-to-find-a-groove-for-20-minute-jam that, for me, doesn't do much of anything. I see the little headphones next to it on the setlist page and I genuinely ask, "Why?" With all the amazing Pipers of 2003, this one, again for me personally, is extremely boring. It comes no where near the deep psychedelic episodes of Shoreline or Atlanta. It doesn't hold a candle to the short but raucous Cinci version. Heck, even the NYE opener has way more bite than this one. Maybe someone saw the length of it and said, "f*** it. Headphones." I digress... as you can tell, I am not a fan of this Piper. But apparently someone is. The jam eventually bleeds out into a standard-dark Mike's Song. This doesn't do anything to up the energy levels, but it doesn't hurt the set either. This Mike's has nothing in particular to write about, so I will leave it at that. Hydrogen is always a treat, ESPECIALLY when Trey hits his notes (he does) and ESPECIALLY when it sets up Weekapaug (it does). Weekapaug itself is two-parter. The first part is standard good Weekapaug. Playful slap-bass intermingling with playful jazzy-drums. A feel-good, fast paced jam gets reeled in at about 9 minutes, including the refrain, and... BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Someone must have been the lucky #9 caller because Trey immediately threw in the BONUS JAM! Woohoo! The bands sprints off on a up-tempo, extremellllllly dancey groove that is the highlight of the set (to this point). It glides along like a warm sea breeze and eventually settles nicely -> Free. This Free is, stop me if you've heard this before, standard-good. Some sultry Mike work adds some flair to this otherwise normalized version. The next song is the worst song ever written. Let us never speak of it again. The second monster Harry Hood comes in next. This version is much more airy than the heavy, almost orchestral version of the 25th (the better of the two IMO). Still, this version is inspiring. It magnificently glides and meanders (in a good way) through musical meadows. It is not as multi-faceted as the 25th, that is to say, the 25th gets deeply type-2, whereas this one you can usually kinda tell it's still Harry Hood, but that is not said with any sort of malice or complaint for this version - it is truly majestic. It also, fortunately, culminates in a huge peak! Very special Phish in this Hood. Frankenstein encore puts a dramatic exclamation-point-of-continuity brought forth with the Llama opener.

So here we are. Summer tour nearly complete, with only Phish's first festival since Cypress looming a mere 2 nights away. This tour was not nearly as consistently-amazeballs as Winter 03, but it if you look past the obvious gems, you will be quite surprised to find the high-quality improvisational exploration of Phish hidden in shows and sets and songs you might have overlooked. I will do a tour breakdown after IT, so buyer beware, this is an everything-must-go sale! Be prepared to listen to songs you may well have written off, and be prepared to find your shopping list devoid of jams (ahem, tonight's Piper) that some folks might say you simply must splurge for.

Must-hear jams: Weekapaug Groove, Harry Hood
Probably-should-listen-to jams: Moma Dance, Seven Below, Wolfman's Brother, Possum, Piper (I guess)