12-28-03 - American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL

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please review the show, not the other reviews....

Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2004 09:54:33 -0700 From: eric tipton Subject: Phish show review - 12/28/03 12/28/03 American Airlines Arena - Miami, FL 1: David Bowie, Sample in a Jar, Tweezer*, Bouncing Around the Room, AC/DC Bag, Frankie Says**, Llama, HYHU > Love You*** > HYHU, Tweezer Reprise 2: Gotta Jibboo, Suzy Greenberg# -> Theme From the Bottom, Water in the Sky, Friday, Harry Hood E: Sleeping Monkey, Loving Cup Notes: * - about 15 minutes long; ** - lyrics flubbed; over 11 minutes long; *** - Fish forgot the words, first scat-sung for awhile and then came out with: "I can't remember the words/And it really doesn't matter because I can't sing either/ So who gives a fuck/ it's time for the vacumn cleaner"; # - nearly 20 minutes long, jam very heavy metal-esque for the part following the second verse, last verse not sung. ------------------------------------------------------------------- After seeing all of winter and summer tour, when these dates were announced I knew I had to make it to Miami to ring in the New Year with my closest 18,000 friends. The thought of seeing Phish in a tropical environment on such special dates in Phistory had me eager to see what they had in store for us. Also, Phish has definitely played astounding shows in the state of Florida. As I arrived downtown around 1:45 with Dave Jancy, the lot across the street from the venue was already cranking it up. Good sign I thought. Little did I know just how raging those lots would be throughout the whole run. Pre-show we had a little party in our room(Holiday Inn Marina Bay). Pardon me if I miss anybody: Tony, LMSYEM, djancy75, JoeR67, jwoolfall, jbk, aaw, nestamarley and lizardchick. Good times and very good to see all these people again. I am 30 now. The people I started going to shows with 10 years ago aren't really traveling to shows anymore. This year I met a fair amount of people from the Phook at Phish shows that I really love to hang out with. Just wanted to say thanks to all of you that have at one point or another made last year one he lluva good time to see Phish! I sat with bmuethip the first two nights. The seats were basically twelve rows up from Page, courtside. Just stellar seats, thanks again so much Brian for the hook up! The venue is very nice, it is only four years old. Very modern looking inside and out. Beer was sold everywhere so I never had to wait in a line all four nights. I can't say enough good things about this venue, amenities, security (lack of) etc., so I will leave it at that. Just know that with such a positive experience had by so many at AA Arena that it is only a matter of time until Phish will be back here. Bowie: The boys came out on stage at 8:05. Trippy effects had everyone in the joint thinking Bowie or Maze. At 2:51 Fish starts up the hi hat and its made apparent that they are opening w/ Bowie. Sick way to start out the NYE run, they mean business for sure! The intro wasn't completely flawless but it surely wasn't a trainwreck, like say; Phoenix was. At 7:44 we are into the jam segment. Page and Trey play so well off of each other in this version. The jam quiets down a bit at 11 minutes, nice subtle playing by Page. Trey predictably takes control around 15 minutes or so and tears it up through the ending. Very good Bowie, nice and tight but nothing mind-blowing. Still a great and meaningful way to open up the run. Sample: It's Sample, it rocked in a never-changing sort of way. Tweezer: Fuck yeah, bring the Heat boys! A Bowie opener and then a Tweezer 3 songs into the first set? Who could ask for more than that?!! One great thing about the seats I was in was the sightlines. Not only were we very close to the band, but you could check out everyone getting down on the floor and on the other side of the arena. I think it's safe to say that I was flailing around a bit during the intro. Nice funky work by Page. The jam segment is dominated by Mike grooving hard and Trey playing some bluesy, clean licks. Very nice. This evolves into straight up blistering guitar work from Trey. Shor t but sweet, I absolutely loved it! People that aren't fond of Phish's noodling would enjoy this version for sure. Cool little segue into > Bouncin: Good version. Good placement. AC/DC Bag: Hell yeah! Completely straightforward and rocking. Good stuff. Frankie Says: When the opening chords were played I was not thrilled. Little did I know how this would take off. One of the underrated jams of the night (seriously). Being so close to Page was very cool seeing him croon away. Very cool jam with some heavy distortion from Trey. Llama: Again, very good placement after the mind tweaking Frankie Says. Gets everyone moving again. At the time I thought it was sloppy, but it's not. Good yet standard Llama. HYHU > Love You > HYHU: Entertaining to say the least. Fishman forgetting the lyrics and all. ?Thank you, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU!!? Tweezer Reprise: I love this tune in the first set closer spot! Again, the whole arena just seemed to get down as one on this tune. Nasty! First set impressions: Very good. It really set the stage for the madness to come. Gotta Jibboo: I was happy hearing this open it up. All I could think of was, Burgettstown Jibboo! There is a little difficulty for Trey around 2:35 or so. This is another tune that has done plenty of meandering/noodling in the past. Not tonight. Trey just tears down the house for a good 3-4 minutes in this one, just wailing away and then bringing it back to the refrain around 12:50 or so. Blew my head off! Suzie: No way, I couldn?t believe they were playing it in this spot. Page?s solo at the beginning had me begging for more. The man can flat out play. The funk was extremely deep around 2:30 or so. At 2:42 it sounds like Page is teasing the hell out of something but I cannot place it (anyone?). The shit continues to just funk out and back into the second verse. ?Forgot my name didja? Happens all the time. Ohhhh!? They flub right out of that (Fishman?) but recover . From here is where things really g ot crazy and I lost my mind for the next few minutes. This dirty, heavy metal jam comes out of nowhere from Trey. Like nothing you?d ever expect to hear from a Suzie. So funny to look down at the floor and see thousands of hippies doing the head banging and then realizing that I was too. Classic! Behind it all Page is playing some really cool heavy stuff reminiscent of What?s the Use. By the way Page needed to get turned up some. Through some of this he is barely audible on the soundboard. Raging, raging Trey guitar work. By fifteen minutes Trey has laid off of the crazy wanking and the jam is going into outer space lead by Page. Extremely psychedelic and mellow grooved gets put down at 16 minutes, What?s the Use so could have segued out of this but it was not to be (unfortunately, I love that song since seeing it in Atlanta ?99). What the hell is Trey teasing around 18:00 through 18:30? At first I thought it was Little Drummer Boy then I thought maybe a little Divided Sky? Lizards? Anyway, when it?s all said and done this version is slightly longer than 19 mind-blowing minutes. Incredible. Highlight of the night. Nice segue into > Theme: ?So toss away stuff you don't need in the end But keep what's important and know who's your friend.? God, I hate Phish lyrics! (10). There is a bit of a Jibboo tease at 4:28. Rocking Theme, nowhere near the version from Philly but it was still damn good. Water in the Sky: It?s Water. Trey went ballistic. Friday: At least it wasn?t the encore. Like Camden, Trey had a few noticeable flubs but for the most part ripped the solo. Cool little intro into it too. Sounded a bit like it could have been Caspian, but nay. Page was really pounding away too. Hood: After the Friday, the energy was flagging. That is one of the few if any points in the four-day run where I remember it being like that. But not for long as this Hood would save the day. Completely old school most of us are used too. Not a thing like the Vegas or Charlotte versions, this one is strai ght up Hood. Was it perfect? No, there were noticeable flubs here and there. But it really was an emotional version and once again Page really lays it down. I loved it and it had me feeling good and pumped as hell for the encore. Cool delay loop jam at the end of it. Second set thoughts: HOT! Jibboo, Theme and Hood were very strong. Suzie was the best I have ever heard, better than Darien ?00 or Minneapolis ?96. Just completely twisted! Encore: Sleeping Monkey: Sweet! It?s good to see this back in the rotation a little bit, I happen to love it played as the encore. Loving Cup: Hell, might as well. Absolutely raging Cup. Sent me out into the Miami night with a skip in my step. All in all this show rocked through and through. Hard to believe that it was the first show of the run, it was that good. Had to make you wonder what was in store for the next few night and if they could keep up the momentum! They could and they did. peace, et "See the city, see the zoo; traffic light wont let me through."
Date: Thu, 01 Jan 2004 23:16:03 -0500 From: Chuck Feldman Subject: phish review 12-28-03 1: David Bowie, Sample in a Jar, Tweezer*, Bouncing Around the Room, AC/DC Bag, Frankie Says**, Llama, HYHU > Love You*** > HYHU, Tweezer Reprise 2: Gotta Jibboo, Suzy Greenberg# -> Theme From the Bottom, Water in the Sky, Friday, Harry Hood E: Sleeping Monkey, Loving Cup December Twenty-eight, two thousand three set one Bowie composed section: no screwups, crowd singing very loud and of course hot for a bowie opener jam: this was not a warmup, all phour members were rhythmically tight and communicating more rock based, less dark than your average bowie, pure building, eight bars tension then resolution, again and again until... climax: chords teased by page directly before, all trey's triplets are timed and toned tightly Sample composed section: no screwups, page's vocal mike had to be turned up during his bridge 'you treat me like the others...' jam: totally average in length and intensity, trey wailing away Tweezer composed section: mike's vocal mike was a little soft on 'its gonna be cold...' jam: stayed upbeat, did not dwell in ambience for long, faded out with nice clav work from page Bouncing composed section: spot on. always fun. Bag composed section: everyone knew the words and showed it. jam: very enjoyable, the most dancable of the set so far, funk starting to appear out of rock Frankie Says compsed section: crowd chatter was very loud during this. an underrated song, very phew phans sung along jam: great ambient work, jon using every single little cymbal in his kit, trey quieted down to let page's organ work come through nicely Llama composed section: a faster tempo than usual, which is pretty fast! page's organ was loud in the mix which is good. jam: what was once twelve bar blues is now a less predictable and very swinging jam, swingin in the sense of off beat crash cymbals from jon HYHY -> Love You -> HYHY vaccuum solo: first two minutes were very impressive with rhythmic drive. ended with loud flatulent-like noise. henrietta also introduced the members of the band Tweeprise composed section: no screwups. harmony sung well, good set closer set two Gotta Jibboo composed section: trey is somewhat unsure which sectinos lead into which, but nothing to complain about jam: jam of the night. euphoric. personally, it evoked florida: sweetwater fragrant lush and lively. driving bass, simple melodies by trey, thick grand harmonies by page Suzy Greenberg composed section: crowd jumped and continued to be jumping. no neurologist, but there was 'forgot my name, didja?' jam: a very heavy rock jam, trey outlining some sinister chords and jon keeping steady heavy cymbals Theme compsed section: page hit his vocals nicely. the guitar riff out of the secoind chorus into the jam that everyone likes was a little subdued. jam: returned to previous jibboo territory. less full and thick than most theme jams which was a positive, good segue into the 'from the bottom, from the top' ending Water in the Sky harmonies were tight, crowd yelled 'filter through the EVERGLADES' Friday composed section: I think I like this song a lot more than most people...very good jam: great drum fills, this jam managed to build in intensity without being repetitive and I think was a huge improvement over the Round Room version Hood composed section: opening had mike using his really phat bass tone, which drew applause. jam: really epic, everyone knew it was the set closer...a lot of change, a lot of nice transitions, tempo changes. eventually they are grooving in a minor key and trey play the three descending notes that signal the 'you can feel good' over the minor sound, then page and mike switch smoothly back into hood, drawing tremendous applause and the whole arena singing the climax. the last two chords were precise: brap! *silence* badadooooommmm....and there's your set encore Sleeping Monkey composed section: jon sings his solo verse with passion and nails each note jam: trey wails and wails...then goes and tells page to play the opening chords of Loving Cup thanks for reading my review! Gratefully, Dob
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2004 15:49:56 -0800 (PST) From: Brian Cole Subject: 12/28/03 Welcome to Miami!� The boys hunkered down for the first of the BUST-OUT 4 night run�(shout out to the 3 night runs at Deer Creek and the Roxy and of course the festivals) in�a brand new palace and they sure aimed to deliver on all 80,000 tickets and to all 20,000 ticket holders.� Balancing the oldest of old�school first set Bowie opener and AC/DC Bag (Lets get this show on the road! indeed) with a sick Tweezer (Mike being especially funky) after an unreal tune up jam that had the building quaking, yes, this was all in the FIRST SET!� The crowd had their monies worth already�and�for an instant I thought it was the end of the show after the Tweeprise, but no, we got�one whole�more set to come! �For first set crowd pleasers a Sample, Bouncing, Llama�and HYHU�Love You HYHU sandwich,�with Fishman�acting the part of the funniest/funkiest man in show business�sent everyone (including the first timers) to set break with a BIG smile.�You might not think it from the setlist but one of the nights sickest jams was smack�in the middle of a mightily jammed out Frankie Says, thats right Frankies was way�jammed out (I call it the Miami Jam), with heavy�Dark�Star riffs that brought to mind GD 6/23/74.� Luckily it�ended up not being the last visit to outer space, because the 2nd set opener Jibboo went into orbit and Dark Star too, but the real�gem�had to�be the crazy Suzy Jam Theme, with the Suzy Jam channeling Warren Haynes with a dark jam, almost Stranglehold or even�Kung kinda dirty dank rock, coming out into a clean Theme being worked over by my man Page who was large and in charge for much of the night.� The Water in the Sky got a Big Cypress jolt from the "filter out the everglades" line, and everyone got off.� Unfortunately, the energy loss in Friday was palpable, but I needed a rest, thanks Trey (just kidding, they should have kicked it up a notch, but then I always wish they�would just rock out 110%!).� A Hood closer is always good and then here it comes...tada, the Sleeping Monkey encore, I�had the sinking feeling that it was some kinda of�joke and had to laugh, but sure enough a PHAT�Loving Cup was served up to send the rabid masses out wanting more, solving the issue of a year�marred by�mediocre encores, on this night, it�is safe to�say�a beautiful buzz was�had by all.� Long live the double E: peace, big brian in FL
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 23:17:29 -0500 From: Steele Reply-To: Steele Subject: Phish show review 12/28/03NG � This show was the best phish show in my experience that I have ever seen. I have heard alot of mixed reviews, but me personally, I love the melodic jams they have in this beautiful second set. Miami, I cant even begin to explain how amazing this city is and especially being there for a Phish show. If you went, you know what I mean.�After trying to walk in an extremely packed, but energized Shakedown, the show began. Set 1: David Bowie- excellent opener. Played almost to perfection and the jam section was very experimental. Sample- Standard version, but placement made this version particularly awesome. Tweezer- Short but sweet version. Mike was going absolutely insane. I thought he would be wearing a neck brace after how massively he was bobbing his head. Bouncing- Disappointed at first, but pleased near the end. I've never actually seen this one live, but I know many people sure have. ACDC bag- Good solid version. Got the energy back after bouncing. Frankie says- I really don't care much for this song, but this version is awesome. It has a very improvisational jam at the end which lasts for about 6-7 min. llama- good version. Page was showing his true colors on this one. HYHU>Love You>HYHU- hilarious. Fishman messed up the words and that was pretty funny, then he started to run laps around the stage and did some crazy antics. Tweezer reprise- An extremely incredible way to close this killer set. I waited in anticipation for what was to be the best 2nd set I have ever witnessed in my entire life. � Gotta Jibboo- heard them tear this song up from 07-29 and wanted to hear it live. This version shows what this set is about. Melodic and excellent guitar playing from Trey and the band and audience flowing and one and sailing down a river of intense music. Suzy- This song got the place rocking. It was really funky during the first jam section, the second was a bit of heavy metal type playing by Trey and solid quarters by Fish. Really interesting jam> Theme- This was a peak experience in my life. I just remember seeing this band do this to me and feel my mind and body float away into oblivion. This was the best playing I have heard Trey do all year. By this point the set has already changed my life. Nothing could end it. Friday- This is where the song belongs, not in an encore. This version was played very well. The jam got really intense and I felt very good energy during it. Water in the sky- I love this song and just danced like crazy and had a very fun time with it. Harry Hood- This is the way this show had to end. I had never seen this live and it was so peaceful. Thank god for music and the feelings that it can give me. Sleeping monkey- great song to encore with. Played it very well. Loving cup- TWO ENCORES!!! and loving cup. This is a way to end this stellar show. To me I thought this show is going to be the best out of all the nights in Miami. I had a changing time here. Thank you for reading. peace. Bryan Steele
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 16:04:06 EST From: [email protected] Subject: Phish show review 12/28/03 I thought it was a great show highlighted by an awesome first set. I just want to point out if anyone recognized the Mind Left Body Jam after Frankie Says. Mike
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 22:36:46 EST From: [email protected] Subject: Phish show review �I have never seen Phish play with more focus, energy and excietment than they did on Monday night in Miami.� Sunday's show was good, but Monday's show is a must-have whether you were there or not.� The entire scene in Miami was so perfect;� amazing weather, zero security concerns, an amazing lot scene with absolutely no worries or hassles, a rested band, a really slick�arena�and a truly incredible, positive and asshole-free crowd that showed to just share in a truly great experience.�I didn't even see one drunken kid brother or sister the entire time!� I have been seeing Phish since '89 and this scene and these Miami shows were unreal.� On Monday night, the band interaction was superb, especially during Free and Piper.� Another highlight was Trey just losing his mind during Good Times at the end of the second set.� The setlist was solid, especially the second set, and this was one show you just have to listen to truly appreciate.� Miami will go down as one of the best scenes in a long time.� The arena and the city had never hosted Phish for four days and at I first, after Sunday's huge first day crowds, many of us thought the authorities were going to come back in huge force on Monday; it simply never happened.� Very very cool!!�I still cannot believe some of things that I saw.� My faith has been restored!
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