The bummer: I had a pavillion PTBM for this show, but wasn't able to go. The good news: I was able to sell my PTBM for face to a coworker, who had friends that were already going, so she got to see her first show!

Fishman must have had some Syracuse family at the show, because the spotlight is on him for much of the first set: Dog Faced Boy has lyrics written by Fishman, I Didn't Know brings some Electrolux action, and Taste, First Tube, and the tramps jam in YEM feature particularly excellent drumming. Despite the setlist, the 2nd set is surprisingly enjoyable; The yin-yang of 2001 > Bug and Piper > Driver actually flow nicely. And of course the Limb By Limb opener features a great jam, and more classic Fishman throughout.

Sometimes I wonder about a deeper meaning behind Trey's "We love playing here" comments, like those he made at the end of both sets at this show. I had been at the previous Phish show at Molson Ampitheater on 7/20/99, and I didn't find the venue to be particularly special, although Toronto is indeed a great city. I was living in Rochester NY at the time, and although I didn't have any problem at the border crossing, I recall seeing more than a few tour vehicles being stopped and searched at the border. Perhaps Trey's comments could be inferred to reflect on the response of the authorities to the scene surrounding Phish shows, as in, "We don't intend to take our presence in your city/country for granted" or "Please don't judge our scene by a handful of incidents".

Anyway, this show is a nice change of pace if you've been listening to a lot of 3.0 or early 1.0 Phish. Why did I miss this show? I had to see about a girl...