8-2-03 - Loring Air Force Base, Limestone, ME

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

Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2004 17:30:22 -0700
From: eric tipton 
Subject: Re: Phish 8/2/03 review


From Phish.net:

08/02/03 - "IT" - Loring Commerce Centre - Limestone, Maine

Set 1: AC/DC Bag, Ya Mar > Runaway Jim, Reba*, Birds of a Feather, Meatstick**, Two
Versions of Me, Vultures, Limb By Limb, Cavern

Set 2: Down With Disease > NICU -> Brother, Lawn Boy, Discern, Waves^, David Bowie

Set 3: Rock & Roll -> Seven Below -> Scents & Subtle Sounds^^ > Spread It Round, Bug

Encore: Dog Log, The Mango Song

"Set 4": The Tower Jam#

 with whistling; **Trey: "we'd like to honor that request" (referring to
loud crowd chant for the song), and sung with Japanese lyrics; ^ with ambient jam;
^^ with Seven Below teases. #An all-improvised (and unannounced, though heavily
rumored) set from the roof of the old air-traffic control tower, taking place about
2-3am, with special lighting by Chris Kuroda. Featured many teases, accompanied by
dancers on rappel lines down the tower's sides. Thanks to Cody Schibi, Allan Morris,
and PhantasyTour for the info.

Well the drive from Camden was pure hell. It rained steadily pretty much the whole
time until we got about an hour from Limestone. Sucked. Thank god we had aderall at
the ready otherwise I would have been in trouble. 13 hours after leaving NJ we hit
the line to get onto the festival grounds?in fucking Caribou; 8 miles from the
gates. At this point we knew we were screwed. At least we got to hear the soundcheck
on the way in. 18 hours later and still no sleep, we made it onto the festival
grounds. I promptly set up camp and set out to check out the concert area. It was
great to meet antelope5/Jill and Greg from livephish. After trying to sell
cigarettes and stickers for 20 minutes, I was accosted by a cop on a horse. He said
if he saw me trying to sell smokes on the tarmac again, he would personally see me
thrown out. Nice. After that I went back to our site and set up on the edge of the
tarmac with my radio, chair and multiple ice cold beers. The stickers and smokes
went like wildfire until it was time to go in. Did I mention I was on 35 hours of NO
SLEEP at this point? Yeah great.

First set:

AC/DC Bag: Great all around rocking Bag. No funk, no loops just straight up old
school smoking Bag! Great way to open up the festival! ?Lets get this show on the
road? had 70,000 people screaming their collective heads off!

Yamar: Sweet! These two tunes to open IT had me thinking back to my first Phish
festival, Clifford Ball. However, this Yamar would smoke the Ball version! I was
really happy they played this again after that sub par version from Raleigh where
Mike was so out of it. True to form he did his scatting of the lyrics that I so
missed in NC. At 6:30 the jam begins to take off and you just know that this isn?t
going to be your average Yamar. AT 8:45 this one is delving into the nether regions
of a relatively dark jam. It continues on the same path thru 15 minutes before Trey
starts to stoke the fires a bit. At 17 the boys bring it back down a bit w/ Page
playing some gorgeous keys! The segue led by Trey into >

Runaway Jim: This is knee buckling segue. So very good. The happy summer time type
tunes continue with an excellent Jim. Even though this is a standard Jim, through
the first three songs it is very apparent that Page is en fuego!

Reba: Oh you fucking guys! I don?t think I could have been any happier than I was at
the first few chords to Reba! People that have not been to a Phish festival but
Phish shows just do not understand the magnitude of these behemoth shows. They are
totally overwhelming. The music cannot be beat! End of the tour, in the middle of
nowhere with 70,000 people ? NOTHING BEATS THIS! A small flub at 2:40, no biggie.
This version is sublime. Bit of a Slave tease at 12:27 by Trey. The jam begins to
pick up at 13 minutes and heads for the finish line. Just when you think this is
going to peak around 15, Trey keeps smoking it! You can tell the whole band is
feeling it ? big time give and take energywise from the crowd and the band. This one
even had whistling, very nice!

Birds of a Feather: No letdown here people! This one gets especially dissonant at
5:40 with Trey letting out some distorted wails on his ?doc. Some really cool, dark
effects by Trey at 9:17 backed by Page funking out hard on keys. At 11:10 or so the
band wanders back into more familiar Birds territory, i.e. fast paced rock. Sneaky
and quiet return to the chorus at 13:20, on the audience source I am listening to
you can barely hear it.

Meatstick: Big chant for this leads to Trey, ?We would like to play your request!?
Tour bustout here. First since 10/7/00. Trey, ?We just take our sweet time up here
because we have nowhere to go for two days!? Big cheers for that, comical Phish. I
don?t care how much haters rip this song. I love it in small doses! Fun lyrics, Mike
dropping serious bombs on your ass ? comical Phish is what this is. They have a
couple of lyric issues they fumble through but again, it hasn?t been played since
Shoreline ?00. Complete with Japanese lyrics this is a rollicking good time. Nice
solo by Trey followed by more bunker busting Cactus bombs. Cool Meatstick. Like I
said, very fun in small doses.

Two Versions of Me: Nice place for this new ballad.

Vultures: Excellent! You?ve got to love this song. The degree of difficulty is
outstanding with this song. They pretty much nail it notwithstanding a little flub
around 5:40. It?s good to see this song get a little love on this tour. I personally
would like to see it like once every five shows or so. But that?s me.

LXL: Nothing too out of the ordinary for Limb. Very solid Trey/Page led jamming. I
love hearing Page tickle the ivories on this song. Solid Limb.

Cavern: Thank God Bonner Springs is a distant memory at this point! Standard and
well played Cavern to end a very strong first set.

Setbreak ? First set highlights: AC/DC Bag, Yamar > , Reba, Meatstick

Second Set:

DWD: Time to let it all hang out ! A very rocking Disease finds itself backing into
quiter jam at 11:40. Mike sounds great throughout this section. Before long this
becomes a cup of noodle soup. Around 15:15 I really thought they might take it into
Manteca but it was not to be (how cool would that have been though?!). At 16 minutes
you?ll find some heavily distorted effects by Trey which goes on for quite awhile.
Honestly, with my sleep situation this was not doing me one bit of good. Way to
trancy/ambient. Sorta segue into >

NICU: Cool, this woke me back up in a hurry. I had fun dancing a little jig to this
number, fun NICU as they all are. At 2:40 Trey flubs and actually chuckles a bit
into the mic, funny stuff. ?Play it again Leo!? Ha ha! 4:43 ?Play it Cactus?, Mike
proceeds to lay it down with his cooky new bass tone, nice. Fishman steals the
limelight away from Mike (who didn?t want any part of this segue at first) >

Brother: Rough segue. Seriously, Mike wanted to keep rocking out and Fisman kicked
the drumbreat and pretty much had to wrench the rest of the band along with him. I
surely cannot complain about seeing this breakout tune twice in four shows. I
probably won?t see it again in another 25 shows so I will take it when I can. Good
brother, but not as good as Burgettstown. Still fun as hell though.

Lawn Boy: Tell ?em Leo! You have to love the spotlight on Page, I just wish it were
there more often. Nice breather and typically good solo by Mike.

Discern: Blarg. Way too much abience and distortion in the middle. Again, not
contributing to my alertness factor!

Waves: Was really hoping for something a bit more dynamic after Lawn Boy and
Discern. Composed section is very tight and danceable as usual. From here though it
just gets too damn ambient! But if you were on five hits of acid, I?m sure it was
pretty cool. Seriously this sucked. Bad. Worst goddamn song of the festival, by a
mile.

Bowie: Finally, a heavy hitter to wake me up after sitting through 30 minutes of
boring crap. This is a re ally nice Bowie that they stay patient with in the early
stages and keep it dark and sinister. Refreshing bit of jamming here after what came
before it. Very clean peak. This may well have been the shortest Bowie of tour, not
to mention one of the shortest I have seen out of 24. Good Bowie.

Setbreak ? Second set highlights: Brother, Bowie

Rock & Roll: Woo hoo! I was so pumped to hear this! Let it rip Page! This R&R is
unrelenting ? nothing ambient or spacy about this one at all. Just tight overall
band jamming on this version. The funk shows up around 15 minutes and they ride this
theme into >

7 Below: For christ sakes, YOU JUST FUCKING PLAYED THIS AT THE LAST SHOW IN
CAMDEN!!!! NOT TO MENTION HOW MANY TIMES IT HAS BEEN PLAYED ON THIS TOUR ALONE!!!!
Sorry, had to vent. Im listening to the tapes for the first time since being there,
it was nicely played, and not overly long. But at the time I was so disenchanted, it
did not matter. Bogus. Slight On Your Way Down tease at 11:35. Segue into >

Scents and Subtle Sounds: Cool segue. My favorite new tune. But hello! This isn?t
the right time for this!!! This is the 3rd set Phish! Must I say it again? Play some
heavy hitters!! And at least get the goddamn lyrics right (4:22), jesus. 7 Below
tease at 8:08. Segue into >

Spread it Around: Worst.Song.Ever. This song screams, put me on the radio! Or MTV!
Bogus.

The distorted ending to this just sums up my mood ? sucky.

Bug: The boys are really pushing Bug these days. This version of course rocks arena
style. Too little to late.

Encore:

Interesting Trey speech in regards to improvisation on this tour before this >

Dog Log: Damn, my first in 81 shows. Think someone?s trying to make up for two
lackluster sets? I do. This theory would be proved with the next song in the encore.
Page really goes to work on the baby grand. Sorta segue into >

The Mango Song: Sweet. Great, great Mango! I was beginning to feel much less jaded
at this point. But why wait til now guys?

Third set highlights: Rock & Roll, Dog Log, Mango Song

OK, so this is a pretty harsh review. But after what I went through to get here I
expected more. The third set is like Phish is trying to force feed all this new
stuff down our throat. I like most of these songs (um not Spread the Crap Around).
But not in the third set of a fucking festival! 3rd set of your festival should be
reserved for your best ? the heavy hitters clich? again must be used. Fellas, please
take a note from the Clifford Ball and see what it is that you are doing wrong. I
was there and that was magical. This third set was seriously painful besides Rock &
Roll and maybe Bug and the encore(s). Very disappointing. I did not make the tower
set. I went back to our campsite and had maybe one beer and one bowl. After 43 hours
with no sleep, I crawled into my tent and passed the fuck out.

Tomorrow would be a new (read: much, much better festival Phish show) day.
Tipton-o-meter: 7.3 - The encores saved this rating and this show.







peace,


et


Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 21:32:15 EDT
From: [email protected]
Subject: 8/2/03

A lot of people need to realize how good this festival was and stop bashing the sets.�
Highlights:
Yamar->Runaway Jim- great jam and segue out of Yamar
Reba- tight ass composed section, flowing beautiful jam
Cavern- perfect closer
DWD->NICU->Brother- nice jam and segue into NICU, Mike is crazy, !!BROTHER!!
Waves->Bowie- very experimental jam, perfect composure�in Bowie
Rock�& Roll->Seven Below- very long and tight jam in the R&R,�nice segue, Seven Below's
groovy jam builds and drops you off into some of the deepest funk ever


Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 18:05:26 EDT
From: [email protected]
Subject: review 8/2/03 limestone

ok so this festival was awesome. the traffic was a true test of survival skills, but it
was so worth it.� im not even gonna talk about anything but the music cause it was all
i had time for after the traffic.� the whole weekend was packed with good stuff, i must
admit after seeing the setlist from the PA show i was expecting some big tunes to show
up, maybe a forbin -> mockingbird or a tela.� but none the less the shows were
outstanding.� Highlights: yamar- amazing, ive seen amillion yamars but this was
great.this was more of a "yamar-> jam" in my opinion, rocking and very unexpected sound
for a yamar jam.� reba, amazing, the guy next to me was complaining about this reba
cause he said it was sloppy, i hope he stubbed his toe on the way to his tent.� it was
beautiful.� vultures, i love this song, i never thought of it as a HUGE song, but this
version was one of the best songs of the weekend.� DWD->NICU->brother....ok, these
three songs right here had me full on sexually arroused, the nicu wasnt standard at all
and included a great mike solo which led to a short dark transition into brother.� oh
my god, brother is the best song ever, i havent heard it live since 4-5-98 and i nearly
cried when fishman started slamming his way into it.� very tight version and definitely
one of the best songs of the weekend in my opinion.� rock n' roll, someone said this
set was the wrost set they ever saw, i thought it was great because i worship the
velvet underground, this was a great version and i think seven below and scents and
subtle sounds are two of the best new phish songs.� also trey was teasing on your way
down in there and no one seemed to notice, how come people dont acknowledge great
teases? bug was a wierd closer but i didnt care, and the dog log-> mango was an
unexpected and delicious encore.� seriously� i just wanna burst into a fit of rage when
someone says "i dunno man, dog log isnt my favorite song, coulda been better."� no, it
couldnt have.

Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 21:00:58 -0400
From: Matt and Anja 
Subject: 1st day It review

Waiting 17 hours in traffic (got to see the sunset AND the sunrise) then
wading through mud would normally be a bummer, but hey, we're here to
see PHISH so who cares about a few setbacks?!

I was pumped from the start having called the Bag opener, so that put me
in a great mood for the rest of the night. The whole first set got
everyone jumping, despite the exhaustion I'm sure most people felt.
Meatstick with Japanese lyrics was hilarious! Definitely great to see
the band honoring requests like that. Reba was dead-on, Birds had a
rocking jam, and the whole band was solid.

I kind of had enough of DWD after the winter tour, but I can't complain
about a great tune. NICU into Brother was fantastic. I was pissed that I
missed the whole extravaganza at Star Lake, but the Brother somewhat
made up for it. It's taken me a while to get used to most of the new
songs, but I've stopped complaining about them. To anyone who said that
at any point during the weekend sets Phish sounded terrible, or it was
the worst set in Phish history, quit going to shows and let someone else
have your ticket! They are the greatest jam band and no one has any
right to complain about what they do or play.

Third set was really nice. I had to leave during Scents & Subtle Sounds
just because I was so exhausted. Fortunately I could hear everything
crystal clear on my way back to the tent. Seven Below is my favorite new
song and I was ecstatic to hear it. The main riff that Trey plays just
sends chills down my spine. Bug is always good to hear. And what a great
encore! Dog Log and Mango Song are so sweet. Hadn't seen either of them
at a show before, so that closed the night out nicely.

I wasn't privy to any of the rumors about the Tower Jam, so I missed
out.....oh well.

Hope everyone had a great time!

- Malinow

Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 13:26:57 -0400
From: [email protected]
Subject: Saturday Limestone Review

The Second and Third sets on Saturday night showed a flawless continuity and
cohesiveness that can only be found in the best of Phish sets.  Trey, Mike,
Fish, and Page walked on stage clothed in all black, and it was apparent
right from the start that the boys were serious.  They had come to throw
down some vintage pychedelia.  

All was warm up for the Waves>Bowie which was easily one of the highlights
of the weekend.  Waves features some of Tom Marshall's best lyrics.  Trey
peered out at the throngs and unwrapped the lyrics like a sorcerer revealing
the hidden secrets of the universe.  The jam that followed was epic to say
the least.  A spacious and breathing Waves, with just the right mix of happy
and hopefull noodling twinged with dark and stinging metallic rifts.  And
this wave crashed seamlessly into the Bowie intro, a slowly bubbling
cauldron for Trey to stir.  Of course, the Bowie delivered as the band
effortlessly delivered the climax from what seemed to be a bottomless void
of dangs and twangs.  

The withches brew continued to boil as the third set began with the always
memorable Rock N Roll.  In Limestone, time never seems like an issue and the
boys are always are able to relax and open up their jams.  Rock 'N' Roll
continued in this style, with beautiful ambient style jamming that had begun
with Waves the set before.  This sound was reminiscent of Lemon Wheel, when
they treated the crowd to an unannounced 4th set.  When they settle into
this mode, they are a breathing organic whole.  What "songs" they play
becomes irrelevant.  All songs spring from and return again to the
fundamental groove which has the power to move all things.  7 Below was born
next from this void and assumed many forms before retreating back into the
cosmic groove.  Next came the growing legend that is Scents and Subtle
Sounds.  Another masterpiece of the Tom Marshall/ Trey Anastasio lyrical
conncection.  Phish lyrics keep getting better and better and Scents may be
the pinnacle to date.  Teamed with the visual mastery of Chris Koroda, Phish
painted magnificent imagery with both the lyrics and jamming.  The oft
repeated, "Colors in the Void" refrain will haunt us all for many years. 

Although some would frown upon the song selection, the entire weekend Phish
was in a nasty and unshakable groove.  Trey continues to use the massive
Limestone crowds as a forum for showing off his new songs.  He unleashes
them in big spots that make them the focal point of the set.  This didn't
seem to be to the liking of the Fluff-hungry crowd, but none the less serves
Phish's artistic freedoms and inspires them to create more and more music
which in turn, is a revelation for us all. 

Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2003 15:07:14 -0400
From: Mark_Linnen
Subject: Re: IT festival- both shows- 8/2/03

The drive in:

What were they thinking?  From what I understand, everything changed
because of the 10 inches of rain in the week preceding the festival, but
the way that everyone ended up parking (on the runways with tents 0-20
yards away on the grass) seemed to make more sense than what they'd planned
in the first place (parking and camping on the grass).  Oh well, this
on-the-fly logistical alteration somehow cost us a full day on beautiful
highway 89- we had a great time getting wasted on cheap american beer,
tossing the frisbee, and harassing the high-school assholes in front of us
that insisted on littering the highway.

On Saturday morning, I saw a dude wearing a t-shirt that said: 'Jesus Is
Coming, Look Busy'.  I've never worn a witty t-shirt at a Phish show.  I
bought an intentionally ironic 'Don't Blame Me: I Voted for Nader' shirt
online before the festival, but it didn't arrive in time.  I was
disappointed.

On to the shows:

08/02/03, Saturday

Set 1: AC/DC Bag, Ya Mar > Runaway Jim, Reba, Birds of a Feather, Meatstick
, Two Versions of Me, Vultures, Limb By Limb, Cavern

They definitely laid it down this set.  Trey was wearing a shirt that said,
"NEE-HAN," which means "hello" in Chinese.  All of the campsite areas had
Chinese restaurant-themed names and there was Chinese food for sale
everywhere.  Also, great Kerouac quote about "it" from On the Road on the
way into the venue underscored the many 'it' references that were
strategically placed in the music and venue.  Kind of weird juxtaposition
of 'it' and 'chinese' stuff to think about for the weekend- never quite
understood why they did this.

Oh yeah- one thing that stuck out about the shows was the professional
camera work that they were displaying on the video screens.  The giant (30
yards?) swinging arm with a camera on the end of it dominated the lefthand
side of the venue and probably annoyed many.  If you know someone who works
for Phish, tell them not to do this again.  Look for a DVD of this weekend
soon.

Anyway, highlights were:

- a tight Reba.  This was my first post-hiatus show. Pre-hiatus, I heard
this a couple of times- very sloppy versions, by my estimation - and
figured that this was just how they played this live.  WRONG.  This was
note-for-note a composed song with a pretty little doodling jam in the
middle.  Great version- very pleased.

- Meatstick with Japanese version of the lyrics- Mike and Trey danced.
Everyone laughed.

- Cavern: "Take care of your shoes" has never rung so true- many people
were caked with mud up to their knees throughout the weekend. I'd say I'm
on the obsessively clean side of the Phish fan base, and I still have
pretty fucking dirty feet 3 showers into my return to the daily grind.

Set 2: Down With Disease > NICU -> Brother, Lawn Boy, Discern, Waves, David
Bowie

Bowie was the only highlight in this set for me for the same reason as Reba
above.  They're really doing their old composed stuff right.  The rest of
the set was just ok at best.  The unfinished Down With Disease (why even
play it if you're not going to come back into the chorus?), the 40 minute
pointless and average version of Waves - this was the 2nd most painful
'moment' of the weekend, if 40 minutes can be described as a moment- , and
the awful new song, 'Discern' ruined the 2nd set.   But there's always hope
in the 3rd set...

Set 3: Rock & Roll > Seven Below, Scents & Subtle Sounds > Spread It Round,
Bug

WRONG!!!! This will go down as the worst set in the history of Phish
festivals.  I have a buddy who's one of those Rain Man types about Phish
setlists and generally lives to see Phish; about 1 minute into Spread It
Round, I asked him what song it was- his response, "I don't know- I wasn't
listening."  This song was definitely the lowpoint of the weekend- kind of
sounds like a rocking version of a 70s dogfood commercial jingle- it's the
worst, least original song that I've ever heard them take seriously.  My
wife calls it "the herpes song"- get it? Anyway, after literally sitting
through that tripe, I swore I would leave if they didn't bust out a serious
surprise for the set closer.  The opening notes for Bug played and I
mournfully marched back to my tent.

Encore: Dog Log, The Mango Song

Cool songs, but I'm glad I had the backbone to leave before they were
played.  A man's got to have principles.


Encore II: The Tower Jam (a.k.a., "the worst-kept secret ever')

There were 2 jams here.  1 was instrumental and the 2nd vocal.  The vocal
one ended with Jesu, Joy of Man's Desire (if you've been to a wedding,
you've heard this).  So, for those of you who were hoping to hear a song
during this set and are bitching that you didn't, you did!

Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2003 13:02:31 -0400
From: "Rich, Steven" 
Subject: IT 8/2/03

The show was solid for the most part. Great 1st set one of my highlights of the
whole weekend was the 1st set 1st night. I was very excited to see them come
on� the stage and I was thinking to myself is this going to be worth IT? The
$150 ticket the 14 hour ride in from Bangor Maine thinking we get a head start
and drive half way Thursday Night and still not pull into the parking lot until
after 11:00pm Friday Night and then being parked down in "J" which was about a
far away as you could be and having to track through the mud to get to where we
wanted to be. IT started off with� the AC/DC Bag which I thought was a great
opener�and Ya Mar to follow was pretty solid>Runaway Jim and Reba was GREAT.�
Birds of a Feather had some good moments and Meatstick was fun.� Two Versions
of Me I guess they have to throw new stuff in (I guess)� Vultures (love that
tune) Limb by Limb was solid� and Cavern I thought was a great closer and I
found myself saying Yeah so far IT is worth IT. Then we went to sunk city to
kill some time and more mud was a shame all the mud. I remember Lemonwheel and
I thought that festival was great and we had no traffic in or out and great
shows and no mud so expectations were high especially with the $62.50 price
increase in 5 years.�
2nd Set DWD was awesome and I was right there in the moment >NICU great tune
,Brother they kept it going and I was with them, Lawn Boy nice mellow tune to
catch up on some air and water. Discern not my favorite new tune but again they
need to throw them in there and waves very long and noodled out too much for me
with a great jamming David Bowie to close it which was needed.
3rd Set Rock N Roll was rocking then for me it was like taking 5 valium Seven
Below had some good jams in there, Scents and Subtle Sounds was ok and Spread
it around was ok too. Bug to close the set really took away the moment for me
and then the Dog Log encore was nice but really Dog Log encore followed by
Mango Song I love Mango Song and enjoyed it but the dedication put in by the
fans the money spent and miles traveled and all the BS from the Jiffy Johns to
the mud to the lack of water towers and to do a show that was solid but like a
7.5 to 7.5�on a scale of 1 to 10 just didn't do IT for me. I will probably be
back next year if they do IT without the higher expectations and just plan
differently or I may just see some other shows and leave the festivals to the
other 70,000. I think and this is my opinion which I am entitled to is that
some of the Jams were amazing and they were on and I was psyched to see them
but part of me was thinking the whole time OK when and I going to leave Mars
and hit Jupiter or Saturn and the place I love the most Pluto which I can say I
hit for a brief moment during DWD and to spend all that time and money and
effort with all the walking it is a hell of a lot of work for very little play
and it's kind of like buying a Nitrous Balloon for $20 after you have had a few
and are in the jonzin state of mind you want it so bad and you pay for it and
after it's all gone was it really worth it? For me the answer is no I really
wanted them to play just and unbelievable show and I am sure some people will
disagree with me and say it was Phucking awesome and I am on crack and that is
fine but to spend a ton of money you should get a quality like a 8.5 or 9 show
and I don't think IT was. Anyway I enjoyed the moment because that is all we
have is the moment and made the best of it and had a blast with my friends and
Yes I would do IT again but this review was on the show and that is my 2 cents.
�
Peace to All
���� Steve

Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2003 11:57:21 -0400
From: brian 
Subject: IT review


We drove up from New Jersey, driving through the night for 10 hours, hitting
the back of “the line” at 7:30 AM. We proceeded to wait another 11
� hours to get to the show. My but is still the shape of my car seat. We made
the best of it, as everyone around us did. Okay, aside from the traffic, which
was actually kind of fun, here are some highlights from a phan who’s been
waiting forever for this event.

At the end of the line, closest to security, phish’s private plane buzzed
the crowd. Must have been MAYBE 250 feet in the air, very very low and very
very cool.

The crowd was extra nice to each other because of the conditions. I fond tons
of people sharing water and everything else you can imagine.

The weather held out for the most part and I have never seen skies like I did
this weekend. Absolutely amazing looking.

Phish rocked the house. From screaming guitar jams to floyd like, almost techno
jams, they really dipped into a little bit of everything.

Traffic, mud, who cares, this weekend was outstanding, and the crew really did
a great job on the fly. From what I understand the place was completely
reorganized on the fly Friday morning. Pretty good guys, pretty good!

Aside from your normal few who were too messed up to communicate, and some
drunk frat boys yelling at everyone, it was a great show. I will be at the next
one, wherever it is, except this time I am showing up 2 days earlier.

Rock on, and thank you Phish, for a weekend I will never forget.

-Brian Perla, split open and melted grilled cheese.

�

�

HAPPYBOX

click here to return to the 2003 reviews page