2003 Winter Tour - 19 Years Later

[mistercharlie]

PHISH, FRIDAY 02/14/2003
GREAT WESTERN FORUM
Inglewood, CA
SET 1: My Sweet One, The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'^[1] > Chalk Dust Torture, Fee -> Taste, Bathtub Gin, Heavy Things, Golgi Apparatus
SET 2: Possum, Walls of the Cave -> Carini, All of These Dreams, Limb By Limb, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > AC/DC Bag -> Prince Caspian
ENCORE: Loving Cup
[1] Phish debut.

The Cover of 'Rolling Stone' made its Phish debut at this show, presumably as a nod to their actual appearance on the cover of the March 6, 2003 issue of that very magazine. Gin included Entrance of the Gladiators, Woman from Tokyo, and San-Ho-Zay teases. Trey also teased San-Ho-Zay in Walls of the Cave. A fan jumped on-stage and grabbed Trey's microphone during AC/DC Bag before being dragged off-stage.

Starting the 2003 Winter Tour 19 year anniversary this morning.

SET I

-My Sweet One is a great song to kick off a Valentine's Day show!

-I forgot how much I like their, honestly pretty underwhelming, cover of Cover of the 'Rolling Stone'. Also, how happy, and yet disturbed I was that Phish finally made the cover of the Rolling Stone.

- CDT feels like it really kicks off the show and the first two songs were just warm-up numbers. It get's off to a fast-paced Type-I jam. Nothing mind-blowing, but a great rendition none-the-less.

-Fee brings us back to a calm and cool place. Around 7 minutes in it drops to a semi-irregular calypso like jam, nice and laid-back. Delay loops from Trey lead us into a tasty transition into Taste..

-Pretty standard, if not slightly above standard, Taste. Some nice work from both Fish and Trey in the middle section.

-Gin gets up and moving into the Type-II space. Not too deep into Type-II, but enough to wet our whistles for the tour to come. The My Woman from Tokyo teases fit right into the groove. Nothing to write home about, but a fun ride.

Sounds like Fish is pushing for Birds of a Feather before Heavy Things starts.

-Heavy Things is another straight-forward run-through with nice playing, but no surprises.

-Golgi is a fitting finish to the first set of the first 'tour' after hiatus. Everyone wanted that Ticket Stub in their hand. This rendition is short and to the point.

SET II

-Possum, here we go. Let's get this set on the road, and it is not the end! Nothing goes off into II territory, but they play with Possum quite a bit.

-WOTC, The 'meat' of this show! Gets off to a nice start, as the song is want to to, and then slows to a mellow crawl to a very spacey place then a nice trot across the finish line to transition into...

-Carini! Always loved when Carini showed up back then. Even before it was a jam vehicle, it was a great tune.

-All of these Dreams was played.

-LxL was also played.

-Oh Kee Pa -> AC/DC, is the highlight of the show it seems. Strange scream from the fan who grabs Trey's mic, almost sounds like the guy is trying to sing BBFCFM. Departs regular AC/DC space around 6 minutes in. Goes somewhere different than usual. Great work from Mike laying it on thick. They develop a steady pace, with Fish seeming to be doing double-time. This then slows into a sweet transition into...

-Fuckerpants. Oh, to be without Fuckerpants.

Encore


-Loving Cup. Nothing to see here, but this is a perfect song to end a Valentine's show.

All-in-all a pretty mediocre show to start off what is a really great tour with some amazing highlights.

Can't wait for tomorrows show! That's where the action really starts.

[susep]

Nice one Mr. C!  Yeah love the jam out of Fee, laid back, trippy. 

[mistercharlie]

PHISH, SATURDAY 02/15/2003
THOMAS & MACK CENTER
Las Vegas, NV
Soundcheck: Round Room, Time Loves a Hero
SET 1: Llama, Wolfman's Brother > Reba^[1], Life on Mars?, 46 Days, It's Ice > Frankie Says > Run Like an Antelope
SET 2: Waves > Bug > Ghost > Free > Harry Hood^[2]
ENCORE: Sample in a Jar
[1] No whistling.
[2] "Silent" jam.

Trey teased San-Ho-Zay in Wolfman's Brother and Ghost. Reba did not have the whistling ending. Life on Mars? was played for the first time since March 2, 1997 (253 shows). Antelope included Stash teases and a 2001 tease. Fans hung a large white banner over a section of the venue balcony proclaiming that it had been "871 Days Since Last Ghost"; the same banner appeared the next night indicating "1 Days Since Last Ghost." Hood included a "silent" jam.

2nd show of the tour, here we go!

Set I

- Llama gets us off to a fast start. Page and Trey are firing on all cylinders in this version. Nice way to begin a show, as always.

- Wolfman's brings the funk! The song developed a nice type-I groove and settles there for a few minutes until it lets loose around 6:50 for some heavy, crunchy funk. Trey keeps the Wolfman's theme going while Page plays a funky line. We depart the Wolfman's theme about 11 minutes in for a laid-back and rolling jam that will lead us smoothly into...

- Reba! A genuinely great Reba. Nothing too extraordinary, but a well played version.

- Life on Mars? The first one since March of '97. A treat of a song, well played and unvaried.

- 46 Days. The new song sounds great. Not the jam vehicle it will become, but it shows the promise of what it will be.

- It's Ice is always one of my favorites, even when they don't do much exploration in the breakdown.

- Frankie Says is a good chance to hit the bathroom and it just so happened that I needed to right at this time today! A strange outdo melds nicely into...

- Antelope. Nice Stash teases from Trey right out of the gate. Some chaotic instrumentation around 6 minutes in. A fairly standard rendition otherwise.

Set II

- Waves. Another new song stretching its legs. Nice little jam that doesn't get too deep into the waves before fizzling out and into...

- Bug. Nice little breather between Waves and the monster Ghost to follow.

- Ghost. Now we get to the good stuff!  Regular Ghost run-through, doesn't step too far into Type-II, but just enough to get you moving. About the 15 minute mark it drops into a very low and relaxed section, funk-free, with Trey playing the high notes and noodling around a bit. This meanders into...

- Free. I love a good Free! Mike alway kills it on Free. Just fantastic!

- Harry Hood. Great Hood. Remember when Trey could rip the shit out of a Hood without flubs?!? They get loose and fun with it. Real Rockin'.

Encore

- Sample is a nice encore. I love the tune, so I wouldn't have left early.

[mistercharlie]

PHISH, SUNDAY 02/16/2003
THOMAS & MACK CENTER
Las Vegas, NV
SET 1: David Bowie -> Catapult -> David Bowie, Horn > Guyute, Round Room, Golden Lady > Poor Heart, Pebbles and Marbles
SET 2: Down with Disease -> Seven Below -> Down with Disease > Anything But Me > Piper -> Makisupa Policeman, Character Zero
ENCORE: Friday


Phish played Golden Lady for the first time since October 20, 1994 (458 shows). Trey chided Fish at the start of the second set, claiming that he didn't know how to play Disease. Trey teased DEG in Seven Below. The jam out of Piper included an In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida tease from Page and a Rift tease before moving briefly through the ending segment of Disease (in the key of Piper, no less) before segueing into Makisupa.

All right! Here's where the tour really starts kicking in!

SET I

Love it when a show starts with strange effects! It sets the stage for a crazy night.

- David Bowie. Helluva song to open with, and the first time since '93! Off to a great start with Type-II developing early on in the jam. Trey leads the team into some dissonant space before Mike start singing...

- Catapult! This song can really be sung over any jam and it's great. Right back into...

- David Bowie. The boys return to end Bowie off right.

- Horn. Short and sweet.

- Guyute. Always a welcome treat. Nothing to write home about, but still fun and well executed.

- Round Room. Yet another new song on this tour. Why don't they play this more? Only played twice since '03. It sets off onto a slow building jam around 6 minutes in. Really mellow playing as they bring the song to a close. Nice jam for a new tune.

- GOLDEN LADY!!! Did you remember they covered this? I almost forgot. I remember them teasing it on 7/25/99, but that's it. Great Stevie cover.

- Poor Heat. Again, short but well played.

- Pebbles and Marbles is probably my favorite 2.0 song. I freakin' love it! Great early jam for this one. No deep dive, but we found those pebbles!

Set II

...I have a meeting for work. I'll have to review Set II after lunch...