[Posted a long time ago, shortly after the show, to Rec.Music.Phish and slightly modified from its original state. -charlie]

I know you have seen the setlist a zillion times, but here is the correct one. Long review to follow...[snip]

If any of you remember seeing a guy in front of will-call yelling "STEVE BILLINGS", that was me. Steve showed up after about a half-hour of yelling..and THANK GOD!!

The Frankenstein opener was no surprise, thanks to whomever it was that posted on the net several days before halloween that it would be the opener.. it was a strong Frankenstein, as usual. Sparkle was next and was fine.. nothing special. WHAT BLEW ME AWAY WAS THE SIMPLE!!! There was this great ending jam before Divided.. this really cooked.. Never heard any Simple even close to this.. Divided was definitely ok. Have heard better Divideds for sure. No signals. Nothing weird or special, if I recall correctly. Harpua was expected, but the Vibration of Death and War Pigs sure as hell weren't.. great to hear this!! No one around me seemed to get War Pigs, though..Sabbath was a bit too obscure a reference for most, perhaps.. Fun tease, though.. Also, Poster Nutbag wasn't eaten by Harpua.. instead, he was sent to hell!! Julius cooked as it always does.. Horse and Silent were perfectly straightforward, but Mike seemed to be into Silent more than usual for some reason (he was jamming at times..usually he just plays it..).

REBA was approx 15 minutes!!! Just an incredible Reba. You have got to hear it to believe it.. was a sortof DARK, HALLOWEEN REBA.. you'll see.. Golgi was the set closer, naturally, and was played without fanfare, like you've heard it played many times before.

Just before the lights went out to start the second set, I heard the beginning of Wish You Were Here. Then, the lights went out, and quickly I heard the beginning of Dark Side of the Moon (with "Money"), then The Heartbeats began.. everyone was freaking out, thinking FLOYD FLOYD FLOYD and screaming it, too, when, suddenly, the Heartbeats/Money crap was cut and the famous Ed Sullivan Beatles-intro came on.. Then I started wigging out (I never sent a postcard in, thinking that there was just no way that they would ever attempt the White Album, sticking instead with something cozy and mildly challenging like almost all Zepplin tunes).. What can I say?

The BEATLES WHITE ALBUM!!! Several tunes were jammed on, but unfortunately not Dear Prudence.. I was hoping that they would give us a version comparable to Garcia, but, alas, not. They jammed on Ob La Di, While My Guitar (in a HUGE WAY!!!!!), Yer Blues, Monkey, Helter, Revolution, and probably a few more. Otherwise, everything was pretty standard, with a few exceptions. The Dont Pass Me By was clearly arranged by Mike in bluegrass fashion, and was good! The Yer Blues really, really rocked. Birthday was not actually played.. Brad Sands came out for some cake, dressed as Fish. The highlight was definitely Revolution Number Nine, though, with Fish on vacuum and plenty of weirdness going on.. Fish disrobed towards the end, which I hadn't ever had the esteemed pleasure of witnessing before, though I know he used to play naked a lot back in the 80s. Just an incredible set of music, in general. There were definitely several mistakes made, but, all in all, the set was the most incredible set of live music I have ever heard.. the nerve it took to do the white album.. geeeezus.

Everyone was exhausted by the third set, even the people sitting still. I was still a dancing freak, even though I could hardly stand. I was by the tapers section, Fishman side, for this set (I was on the floor about 60 feet straight out from mike for the other sets).

Almost no one was moving around me during this set.. the Bowie was great, but certainly not excellent. Bouncin was standard. Slave was jaw-dropping incredible.. I thought I had heard the best version in charlottesville. I was wrong. Rift was disappointing, since I have heard it waaaay too much, and they just never wail on it.. it was still excellently played, of course.. what made me cheer up, though, was the segue into SLEEPING MONKEY!!!! AAAAHHH!!!! This was a SICK version, folks, just hysterical and great.. Poor Heart was standard, and good as always.

Antelope jammed really fiercely, which was incredible since it was soo damn late, but there was a little slip up when they all came back in after Trey's "Bid you To Have any.." line.. you will hear it on the tape. They caught themselves though, and finished the short set strongly. It was a great antelope, but I have certainly heard better. Amazing Grace was great.. hadn't heard that live since bender arena last year, and the crowd was very good.

The jam during the contest that Mike and Fish were doing was fun as hell.. I was one of the few actually dancing to this, ignoring the contest. A "Mounds" bar won (what a "joke".. corporate America would have been soooo proud). At the end of the contest, Trey stepped into the Jam the others were doing, and for a very very VERY brief time, played Mind Left Body. The jam ended, and the most spectacular Squirming Coil I have ever heard was played. I nearly cried. It was just soooo fantastic for "the Boyz" to let Page close the show like this.

I was literally FLOOOOORED by this show. I had difficulty walking back to the car. Incredible. Get the tapes.

THANKS TO IAN AT AOL FOR HIS TICKETS LAST MINUTE!!!!