Gilmour25 (Spence), Cher9094 (Cher), jwoolfall (Jeff), danelson1749 (Dan) and spiritsdad (Brian) all ended up hanging out w/ our group this afternoon. Really nice to meet Spence, Cher, and Brian. Chris and I were the ones to go in early today. I think we left our campsite at about 3 or so to go in and hold a good terrace spot. So as we are exiting the campgrounds there are three people in front of us walking with index fingers in the air. Chris says he has a couple extras to get rid of. They ask how much. He says I will give them to you for 25 dollars, 15 under face value. They say forget you, we will wait and get tickets for free. After that it just got ugly. To make a long story short, there was a relatively brief, intense verbal altercation. They were shouting things at us like, "Ever heard of the family? This is the one and only time in 81 Phish shows where I have ever been in a situation like this, it was really strange. I'm not one to use the wookie stereotype but when the shoe fits... So Chris and I grab a sweet spot on the terrace Mike's side. He takes a nap, and I head for the beer garden. Met some nice folks in there and leave after two beers. The rest of our group got in around 7-7:30.

SET 1: Runaway Jim: The band ripped into this at 7:43. This Jim was relatively standard yet still had plenty of fire to it. Very nice opener.

Scents and Subtle Sounds: I was stoked to hear this again especially considering this was the first time I had heard it stand on its own (i.e. not being segued into). Rock solid version that was close to 12 minutes.

Axilla: Oh yeah, heavy metal Phish baby! Short and sweet, nice and
rocking. >

Carini: Oh man another sick and nasty Carini, much like the San Diego version. This one was every bit as intense as the CA version, good stuff. Although am I the only one that thinks this song has become overplayed? Don't get me wrong, I love it. But don't need to hear it at every 4th show.

Dog Faced Boy: Standard.

Round Room: I like this in this spot. This RR really got quite jammed out - I really, really like this version. It got quite trippy actually w/ Page laying on the synthesizer heavily at the end. Excellent!

Halley's Comet: It's on now boys and girls! Huge grins from everyone around us. My face hurt after this show I was smiling so much. It does not get much better than Halley's at sunset w/ a bunch of your friends getting down! This version featured more rock than funk, they never really took it out there, it was just under 9 minutes long. At the end Mike plays electric bagpipes (we had no idea what the hell it was from so far away). This added a very quirky sound to the end of Halley's. Soooo Mike Gordon!!>

Guyute: Meh.

You Enjoy Myself: Hell yes, thank you Phish! The nirvana segment featured and extremely respectful crowd. You could have heard a pin drop! Trey has some minor difficulties at 4:40 but otherwise no problems. This was a very solid YEM and the first to have a vocal jam (Shoreline segued right into Simple) which completely tripped me out, very nice! Great choice as a first set closer, I think it is the best spot for YEM personally, so I was very happy w/ it here.

SET 2: Llama: Ah, the boys waste no time in tearing it up. Sweet.

Wolfman's Brother: Hmm, another repeat huh? Cactus completely owns this version; his bass drives this song, and everyone follows along. You can hear Trey quietly chording Jesus a good twenty seconds before they segue into it. Pretty rough and flubby by Trey here but when they do launch the segue it sounded pretty good to my ears. After the Dogs Stole Things last night, I think our whole group was kind of expecting a JLC at some point throughout this show. ->

Jesus Just Left Chicago: This version shook me to the very core! My mouth was hanging so wide open that I must have looked like Cletus the slack jawed yokel after this one was over, sick sick version. Page of course owns this one big time - crisp vocals by the Chairman and who can tickle the ivory like this man? Very impressive. You can tell Trey is itching to tear it up by the time Page turns it over to him. He just tore us all a new one, from bluesy riffs to in-your-face shredding. This right here is one of the reasons I love this band so much: they can play so many different genres of music in one night it's just a joy to see.

Seven Below: Another repeat huh? Well, 22 minutes later I could care about that. This 7 Below goes everywhere and then some! A very spaced-out trippy jam evolves somewhere around 11 minutes or so and continues for another few minutes. Fishman seems to have had enough of this, he sped up his beat quite a bit and brings the band (and the crowd) out of their trance. They reach a really nice pinnacle and then they segue back into the song itself which was a really rough transition I might add. But that was pretty easy to overlook considering the nutty jam that we all had just witnessed. Whew!

Harry Hood: Appreciate the placement and the nightcap but this Hood is not good, well below average.

Chalk Dust Torture: Really? I thought for sure the band would want to close it out with Hood but what do I know? Another reason I love this band, they will always keep you guessing. This one gets well jammed. Nothing too crazy but they take it out there a bit. Good set closer.

ENCORE: First Tube – Standard.

Replay Value/Summary: Wolfman's Brother -> Jesus Just Left Chicago, Seven Below. I felt this show was better from top to bottom than the night before. But second set from first night wins best set of the run in my eyes. Back to the campground to party into the wee hours. All I can say is Gladys can put any man/woman half his age to shame - the man put me down y'all! To everyone I met at the Gorge -> what can I say - we all had a blast! Our group really made the weekend for me. Awesome music, great folks in a truly stunning setting. I will never forget. Thanks to you all for making my Gorge '03 run what it was - unforgettable.