Ready Player Playoff Mode Phish For the Win

“[Flying saucer emoji]” - @funkyCfunkydo

“Non-stop thrills” - @n00b100

Before I get going with the task at hand, explain the title(s) of tonight’s recap, and get to the music, I would first like to express a little gratitude, and—if I may—a little camaraderie amidst the fever of playoff season. When I first decided to come out to LA for these shows at the Bowl, it was an impulsive jest while I was deep in relistening to the February 2003 quartet I caught in preparation for the long retrospective we published on the blog just before Mexico. For a minute or two since I’ve wondered if I was a little hasty and indulgent, but as I mentioned yesterday, this was my first trip to see Phish on the West Coast since I started seeing the band in Montreal in '94, and while any doubts about my decision were pretty much lifted early on Friday, tonight’s performance absolutely obliterated them.

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I could get used to this! And by "this" I suppose I could be referring to a lot of things: the majesty of the Hollywood Bowl; the flawless weather; the smooth security and ease of movement in the venue; the consistently kind people and old and new friends it’s been easy to bump into, despite having flown solo for my first West Coast Phish shows in almost 30 years of seeing the band. No complaints on the set and setting so far from me; it’s been a great weekend. So what about the music, did it measure up to the mood? Would we be giving out any new stars on the Phish Walk of Fame tonight? Roll cameras, action:

The stage was certainly set for a Saturday night special. After casting off any suspicions of no repeats from the opening notes on night one, with everything back on the table the band had a full arsenal of hits to dig into tonight, and they certainly put it to use. In fact with “Leaves” the only exception, the first set was comprised of songs all debuted in 1998 or earlier (many of them in the 80s). Four songs in, it almost seemed for a moment like Phish was going to walk out a full cast of their own star personalities from the catalog—not from Gamehendge, mind you—but the likes of the “Ghost,” “David Bowie,” “Esther” and “Harry Hood.” As it turns out, the only other eponymous character to show up would be Sneakin’ Sally (with a notable performance), but there were plenty of other roles to be played.

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[Phish.net thanks @andrewrose for this four part reflection on one of Phish's strongest individual tours: Winter 2003. -Ed.]

PART 4: Destiny Refound in the Round Church

Accompanying Playlist

02/28/2003 - Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY

Well I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into when I decided to revisit these four shows from 2003, much like I didn’t know what I was getting into 20 years earlier heading out to them. As I sit down to write the last entry on 2/28/03, I’m feeling a little apprehensive that I won’t be able to do justice to this magical performance (or at the very least give it the level of attention as I did to 2/26 in Part 3). It’s actually giving me a fresh appreciation for the band’s ability to show up night after night, especially after a big performance, and try and outdo themselves. It takes a certain kind of stamina and dedication–and let’s face it, a little derangement—to keep it up. And the fact that as I write this the band is about to kick off another year of shows in 2023 is downright mind-boggling. But enough with the disclaimers; this show doesn’t need my entry to solidify its place in the pantheon, any more than it needed that "Mexican Cousin" in the encore. But the question is, does it work anyway? Let’s dive into the finale with Part 4 to find out.

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[Phish.net thanks @andrewrose for this four part reflection on one of Phish's strongest individual tours: Winter 2003. -Ed.]

PART 3: The Moment the Stars All Turned Around

Accompanying Playlist

2/26/2003 - Worcester Centrum Center, Worcester, MA

Alright folks, well if you’ve been skipping class and missed Parts 1 & 2 of this twenty year later trip down Phish-in-February lane, now is definitely the time to sit up and take notice. This is where the memories start to be a little less cloudy for me, and it’s not without reason. Before I dive into the show proper, though, I thought it might be worth sharing a little pre-show memory that could have very easily been nothing but a deep regret.

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[Phish.net thanks @andrewrose for this four part reflection on one of Phish's strongest individual tours: Winter 2003. -Ed.]

PART 2: To Think That It Fell From My Hand

Accompanying Playlist

02/25/2003 - The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA

(Continued from Part 1: How is it I Never Saw?)

After what I thought at the time was a bit of a letdown on 2/24, my expectations were likely more muted coming into the Spectrum, despite it being my first (and last, I think?) show in one of the many ‘hometowns’ we seem to have in the Northeast. Lord knows they’ve played some good ones at The Spectrum (hello Fall 97), and more recently at the Mann in 2015, which comes quickest to mind. And these days you can spot Gritty at just about any show. But the town or venue weren’t super significant to me at the time, and Gritty was just a twinkle in his Fraggle Daddy’s eye; we were city hopping on tour, and I honestly didn’t know what to expect, or which version of the band was currently brewing.

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[Phish.net thanks @andrewrose for this four part reflection on one of Phish's strongest individual tours: Winter 2003. -Ed.]

PART 1: How Is It I Never Saw

Accompanying Playlist

02/24/2003 - Continental Area, East Rutherford, NJ

Well another twenty years have passed, but when you track all the days they’re kind of always passing, aren’t they? Anyway the last time I did one of these (when publishing this retro look at Summer 99 and the Meatstick craze), I laid out what seemed like a necessary disclaimer about the pleasures and perils of nostalgia. It’s still relevant, but this time I’d rather skip that, point you to the footnote, and get down to business—because I have some things to tell you and me about February 2003.

So let’s rewind again, this time back a bit further to the sun coming up at Big Cypress. I didn’t know it then but there would be no “PHISH 2000!” for me. That magical clock turning we did in the Everglades was my last show before the hiatus in 2000, and I had gone off that next summer to do the obligatory European backpack tour with my girlfriend. I turned 20 in August 2000.

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Welcome to Canada y’all. Been a while. Has it? Time sure feels messy these days, and this band just keeps on plugging away blowing our minds, despite it all. In any case, I feel like there’s a lot of ways to set the context for last night’s show in Toronto. We could call back to the band’s recent history at the venue in 2019 (a show which I thought was unfairly maligned), or whether or not they’d bust out "Misty Mountain Hop," which they debuted here in 1999. And then there’s the context of this unique tour, which has at times been brilliant and, at other moments, felt like maybe the momentum of their revived post-Covid identity has been waning a bit, Trey especially. I said to a new friend before the show that, really, the biggest knock on 2022 is that it’s sitting right next to 2021 -- a year in which the band performed to a level they really had no business reaching this late in the game. So what would this tour’s Canadian stop add to the story? Would it be a throwaway gig between AC and Alpine, or a can’t-miss, out of the way gem? Where do we stand? Let’s find out…

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Ok turkeys it’s recap time! For everyone at home keeping score the year is 2019. The date is November 30th, and it also happens to be Thanksgiving weekend. (Here in the USA anyway; back home in Canada where I’m from we do Thanksgiving a month earlier. But don’t worry, we have a long terrible genocidal history with respect to our indigenous population too.) Anyway, a lot to be grateful for tonight, and I’m sure a lot of folks went home happy. I’ll start my recap by offering some gratitude for finally having met @Icculus face-to-face, a solid 25 years after our initial exchange via a B&P of what I believe was the Bomb Factory.

On that note, the band certainly brought out some heavy artillery tonight, but count me among those who hope that “Plasma” reprise is now safely stored away in its holster for the foreseeable future. I thought the show had some powerful moments, and also some surprisingly rough ones, but we’ll get to that…

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Is it time, yet? Has it spent long enough fermenting in the ground that we can take it out and do something with it, again? For a bunch of humans who pride themselves on their ability to appreciate the present moment and all the ephemeral beauty it has to offer when the course is uncharted, we sure do enjoy swimming around in nostalgia, don’t we? As I get older this once indulgent tendency of mine has waned and I see the irony of hoping to relive the moments that were only so beautiful in the first place because of how fleeting they were. That perfectly placed note on the crest of a crescendo that just as quickly comes crashing down on the other side. How long can you stay surfing when you’re busy talking about the wave you caught last week? But you know, as I get older time starts to feel a bit more like an illusion, and sometimes we do find ourselves at these milestones and it feels appropriate to check in on what history has to tell us if we put our ear to the dirty, sticky ground. So if I can be permitted the indulgence, let me take you back to the Summer of ’99, and a string of shows I caught twenty years ago, from July 12th to July 21st, and see how a window into that moment in time might help us appreciate this one that much more.

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