I obviously haven't checked out every setlist page on .net (though given my periods of unemployment and time-killing during law school, I've covered a fair share of ground), but I would hazard a guess that this show features a rating least commensurate with the show's actual quality. You look at those stars and see a typical show from Summer 1996; you put the show on your headphones and hear a show every bit as good as its Winter 2003 brethren. In fact, I would go as far to say that I consider it my favorite show of that fabulous tour, and second in 2003 only to IT Night 1.

Set 1 kicks off with Bowie, already a sign that the band's gonna get down to some serious business, and this is a sharp Bowie that catches a sweet groove at the 10 minute mark and morphs into quicksilver hazy bliss (a hallmark of 2003), then makes a fine return to the classic Bowie jam. The band churns out a thick, dark groove for a few minutes, makes room for Catapult, and then bursts back to the main Bowie theme for a fine finale. But lest you think they'd gotten all the first set jamming out of their system, there's a very good rendition of the now-forgotten Round Room that beautifully peters out in typical 2003 fashion, super-rarity Golden Lady (which I wouldn't mind hearing again), and a fine set-closing Pebbles and Marbles that lets Trey cook, so to speak (and lets him hint ever so gently at DWD, to my ears). That's a darn fine 70 minutes of music right there.

Set 2, as @waxbanks points out, takes on some of the shared qualities of the segue-fests of old, but with a true 2.0 feel. DWD starts up the set, and this is a perfectly good DWD (analogous to, say, 12/11/99's version) that rocks hard before simmering down and slowly, sneakily winding its way into Seven Below (albeit with a key change needed to get into -7 proper). Seven Below, one of the many reasons why 2.0 cannot be dismissed, gets a very nice relaxed reading here, with Page showing off his chops in fine fashion, and the band throws in a DEG tease just for funsies. Then, after making their way back to the Seven Below theme, Trey gets a neat idea and fires up Ye Olde DWD Theme, and the band makes a proper return to DWD. It's a fine piece of business (if not quite as truly dramatic as 12/29/13's brilliant DWD -> jam -> DWD), and wraps up a tremendous opening act to the set.

Anything But Me gives the band a breather, then we get the real meat of the set in a standout Piper from an era where Piper really found its legs as a set-making vehicle. The band immediately whips up a propulsive, heady brew in the Piper jam (another hallmark of 2003), with that new guitar tone helping to add to the jam's raw power. Trey starts snapping off chords as Page gives the ivories a good tickling, and things settle (if that's the word) into an upbeat, peppy jam as Page moves to the organ and Mike starts making his presence felt. The groove starts getting more and more minimalist, with Fish's busy drumming really keeping the pace, and Trey starts playing more optimistic chords as Fish goes to the hi-hats. Then, just as one fine broad wink to the audience, Trey picks out the DWD theme yet again, and we get one final rush before the jam amusingly slides into Makisupa. This is a fine companion piece to (again) 12/29/13's in-the-pocket Carini, and an A+ jam. Everything else is standard, but that hardly matters.

Final thoughts: an absolutely classic show. The first set is very accomplished, even for an era where first sets were often quite strong, and the second set features a deservedly highly recommended jam and a glorious DWD -> -7 -> DWD sandwich. I know 2.0 has a contentious reputation, and can often get a bad rap, but if you can put that aside there's no shortage of riches in those two years. 2/16/03, in my opinion, is one of the most precious jewels in that treasure chest.

Fantastic show wall to wall, and the second set has a mid-90's segue-fest feel - particularly the *two* DWD reprises. Winter '03 a strong tour without the narcotic spaciness of summer '03, and this is the show that kicked it into high gear. Listen especially for Trey's triumphant chording in Piper, climbing through a series of inversions to bring the set over the top. Top-drawer versions of Round Room and Bowie in the first set to boot.

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

In bed at 4 a.m. Blinked open at 11:15 a.m. Game day.
We had a quick jump in the pool, rallied up with friends, and finally went to a well-deserved brunch at the Treasure Island buffet. Plate after plate of food, coffee, juice, and some unnecessary but fun champagne.
Back to the Vagabond by about 1:30 p.m., time for cocktails by the pool and to regroup and forge the night’s plan. I was part of the go-early group this day.
I talked to my friend Melissa (Bubbles) at about 3:00 p.m. and she got me completely fired up. This girl should be a motivational speaker. She wasn’t even going to come to Vegas, but when some tickets became available, she said screw it, flew out from New York, solo, hooked up with some friends, and did Vegas up in style. On Sunday morning she made a helicopter ride over the city, and that afternoon she was seeing Siegfried and Roy before skipping over to the Mack for the show. She was just talking it all up like Tommy Lasorda, and got me so fired up that any residual fatigue
was gone!
Finally took off for the lot at about 4:00 p.m. or so. Cory G, Cletus and I hit the line (good position!), Rick and Leigh Ann cruised the lot to sell more of their license-plate frames (perhaps you bought one? “Slave.....to the Traffic Light). Gates opened early this night, around 6:00 p.m., and as planned we secured the same amount of space, on the same side but closer: section 105, first section off the stage, Mike’s Side, around 20 rows up. Sweet.
The group slowly filtered in and by 7:30 p.m. we were all assembled. Suddenly someone noticed the rafters : the “Ghost” sign was back. But now they had cut off the “82” from it so it read “1 Days Since Last Ghost”. We never saw it because we were on the Mike side, but apparently at the corner where the stage met the loge seats on his side, someone had a sign that said “Mike’s Corner.”
I gave away a lot more CDs and got all sorts of stuff in exchange; a sweet green Dancing Bear necklace, a small chocolate, something else similar. Shortly before the lights dropped, the crowd energy (again palpably high) erupted into the wave. It can be cheesy at a ballgame, but it was dead-on this night.
As show time approached, we all wondered whether Saturday’s energy would carry over; would they just pound us again? The answer, to be revealed immediately, would be a resounding “YES!”.
“Bowie”> “Catapult”> “Bowie”. Any questions?
The high hat started up, and a few people thought “Maze”. I even gave our first-song pool money to Laurie, who had picked “Maze”, only to take it back (yoink) quickly when I knew it would be “Bowie”.
Song one. Check.
The highlight of the “Round Room” later in the set was the long outro jam that was ambient and groovy and, if we hadn’t been steamrolled by an “Antelope” the night before, I would have sworn was going to lead into “Antelope” (reminiscent of the “Fee”>outro jam> “Antelope” from Champlaign in Fall ‘97).
According to the Phish Companion, as Phish prepared for the first Halloween “costume” show on 10/31/94, where they played the fan-voted Beatles’ “White Album”, what they really wanted to play was Innervisions. They worked up “Golden Lady”, soundchecked it a couple times, and performed it exactly once. Until 2/16/03 at the Mack Daddy! Very hard to go wrong with Stevie. Ah, but we were still just getting started. Poor Heart was next, and Greg won our pool (first of our first-song picks to be played).
Set II opened with the dissonant wah-wah that can mean only 2 things: “2001”, or “Down With Disease”. It was the “Disease”, and a beauty. Then a tasty segue into “Seven Below”, This built back up into a good jam, and at some point they rammed it back into “DWD” and the place went ballistic.
At this point, on I.Z’s command, he and I fired our streamers together, and they worked great opening up over the crowd like twin jet trails. Meanwhile, Cletus had out the large bag of shiny confetti that I had taken to NYE ( and failed to use, passed to Iffi and Mitch, who passed it to Cletus in Hampton, who used a little at the Col. Bruce aftershow, but then brought the balance to Vegas!), Throughout the show, Cletus would occasionally launch a big handful of confetti over our group.
When the “DWD” madness finally ended, and the Mack Daddy was again safely back on land, it was time for a tasty break, and “Anything But Me” fit the bill. I’m a sucker for a nice ballad, when well placed (a well-placed “Lifeboy” is still one of my favorite things). And I’m also a big fan of a certain type of Phish lyrics; the bizarro ones are fun to sing along with, but I really like a clever turn-of-phrase that gets you thinking (I like anything that gets you thinking) by creating an image. One favorite has always been in “Guyute”, picturing the Ugly Pig he lectured me in a language strange, then scampered quickly out of range. “Anything But Me” has some nice ones, and in Vegas on this night I had fun with this one: “I am just a raindrop that accelerates without control, losing bits and pieces in descent 'til I'm no longer whole”. Nice.
After I heard the NYE show back and heard the Piper opener, I started a discussion with some friends by saying that the NYE Piper was the best that I had ever seen live. This sparked all sorts of “best Piper” discussion, and several people pointed to the 7/6/98 Prague version as being their favorite. Indeed, it is quite solid, with a long jam that jumps all over the place. (It was this discussion that got me the 7/6/98 CDs for free that inspired me to burn a bunch and hand them out in Vegas).
Well move over, there’s a new sheriff in town. This Vegas Piper is immediately in the discussion. It was freaking ludicrous. It ended in a long, spectacular funk jam that just kept going, and topping itself, and building, and breaking down into wah-wah guitar, then ripping off again. It never lost its momentum. It was only fitting that it would segue back into “Down With Disease” (third time) for a spell, then jam off in another direction, before finally settling down into a crowd pleaser, “Makisupa Policeman”!
Somewhere around here, as we were throwing all our remaining confetti all over the place, I got a big confetti flake directly in my left eye. We saw it in there but couldn’t pull it out, so we resolved to deal with it later.
Even as the “Friday” encore ended, we were hoping for something else, but to no avail. Hey, we can’t complain in light of what went down in Vegas for two nights, but still, the moment called for a triumphant encore, even just a “Funky Bitch” or a bustout “Viva Las Vegas” cover, or something. But that was really the only miss of the whole two nights.
We spilled out of the Mack, called our limo, and in about ten minutes we were sitting in the stretch, drinking vodka on ice (no mixers to be found) and listening to the 1993 soundchecks disc that I had brought.
Because most of us had been in Vegas for two days and had not yet gambled, our group decided during the show that we would rally up at the Vagabond and head just up the Strip to the Frontier, where some friends had discovered $5 tables the night before. Got back to the hotel, and while waiting for everyone I went next door to Subway and grabbed a foot long sub and inhaled it.
Finally we headed over to the Frontier at about 1:00 Am. or so, and we quickly commandeered a blackjack table, with about five of us sitting and playing.
And then it happened. In what I can only figure was the crescendo of this weekend full of magic and madness, I briefly turned into Rain Man. We were playing blackjack, and at one point I was dealt an ace first card. I casually asked the dealer, “Gimme the Jack of Hearts”. Bang: Jack of Hearts. It was a big laugh, everyone was shaking their head, myself included, and the next deal came around and my first card was again an ace. People looked at me. “Oh, this time it’s the ten of. Clubs.” Can it possibly be right this time? Bang: ten of clubs. OK, this is weird. And now the table is freaking out, myself included again! It takes several minutes for the game to resume. People are yelling and cheering, “He just called another card!”.
I really can’t explain why it happened, just total random luck. And I really can’t explain why it happened a third time, about ten minutes later, next time I drew an ace first card, people looked at me and I just said, “Uh, Queen of Hearts”. Bang: Queen of Hearts. Somewhere during this time I’m told the floor manager came over and replaced the pit boss to oversee things, and we were all yelling and laughing. I asked the dealer (same guy all three times) if he had ever seen anything like this and he shook his head in disbelief. But that was it. The casino must have known it was a fluke since I was playing little money at a $5 table, and after less than an hour in the casino I cashed out (won $20, woo hoo!) and hit the sack.
Mia and I had to fly back to LA in the morning on an 8:10 Am. flight, alarm clock going off at 6:20 a.m.
Monday was a very long day. Flew back to LA, hung out with family for a bit, then piled the girls into the car and drove all the way back to the Bay Area. Arrived about midnight. Ouch.
I had to be back in the Bay to appear in court (I’m a law-talkin’ guy) on Tuesday afternoon. The court of appeal, no less, very formal and quiet. It was quite a culture shock, going from screaming-confetti-thrower to suited-legal-arguer in about 36 hours.
Oh, and that morning, driving to San Francisco, I finally pulled that piece of confetti out of my eye.

This is an exhilarating and confusing show to revisit. It contains an inarguable top-5 Piper ever, and depending on your taste and/or mood, the finest rendition ever. It also contains a lot of filler material and a sub-60 minute second set. But it also contains a 20-min Bowie show opener. As you can see, we are dealing with quite a polarized show today, so let's start where Phish started!

David Bowie creeks and groans as the lights go down. Then tension builds. The stage is set. Are they really one-upping their previous two shows' openers? I mean say what you will about My Sweet One/Cover of the Rolling Stone and Llama ... but there's no denying the mood they respectively set for the evening. David Bowie upstaged all. This Bowie is demonic. Pure evil. Now you might be saying, "Hey Funky, aren't most Bowies kinda evil?" Why yes, yes they are. But this is especially evil. Like the shopkeeper in The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror III kind of evil... potassium benzoate ... that's bad.
[Spoiler]
When you hear people speak of the darkness of 2003, this Bowie embodies it. A near 14 minute jam segment touches on all sorts of darkness, hits the depths of Moria summoning the Balroq when Fish crashing is splash cymbals, and then climbs out to daylight on the onset of the Catapult lyrics. I am particularly fond of how they really swing from dark into light post-Catapult... ch-check it out. You get your full show's money worth with this version. Do. Not. Miss. It. Unfortunately, to my ears, that is the standalone highlight of the first set. Horn is well played, although not *perfect* (persnicket'd) and the same can be said for Guyute. Round Room reaches 12 minutes, but for me personally, is a rather boring jam. It just kinda loops and repeats, as if the band isn't quite sure which musical direction to take the song: jazz? space? dark? Now, some people love this Round Room - perhaps due to its overall scarcity and the fact that this one is the one true jammed version to date - but it just doesn't do it for me. Golden Lady was a fun cover, but played a little half-assed in my opinion. This Stevie song, I think, could be crushed by Phish the way Boogie On is. But this version is lackluster and kinda thrown together, it doesn't feel very rehearsed. Poor Heart gives a little kickstart to the set, but too little too late. Pebbles drops in the closing slot of the set. It is a rocking version for sure, but pretty straightforward. All and all, this set lacks flow and lacks any re-listen material after the monstrous Bowie. Still, that Bowie... wow.

Set 2 kicks off in the same fashion that Set 1 did ... growling and groaning to life. A good sign indeed. This Disease rockets into the stratosphere of rock, really packing a punch and about 3 minutes of type-2 material before a really seamless, super clean segue into Seven Below. I love this segue. Seven Below features a nifty, nimble jam highlighted by Trey. Mike never strays from the studio Seven Below bassline, but he doesn't need to, as he is laying the foundation for Trey (and Page) providing a peppy, spunky jam. Seven Below returns into the DWD theme and really sets the arena ablaze. Much like Bowie, this was 20-minute chuck of must-hear music to open the set. Anything but Me allows all of us to catch our breath before one of the highlights of the year, the decade, and the song itself comes to fruition. Piper. This Piper. Whoa. I don't have the musical training or lexicon to describe how tight, refined, exploratory, giggly, jaw-dropping, exhilarating, dancey, fancy, and fun this Piper is. I don't even know where to start. Do I start at the end to the DWD reprise? Or the super-giggle inducing Mike/Fish breakdown culminating with Fish on the woodblocks? Or Trey's triumphant, cathartic chording in the middle section breakdown? I don't even know. Do yourself a favor, right now, and listen to this Piper. It is a 10/10. 100%. A+ version of the song. To add victory to accomplishment, the Makisupa that follows is downright funny. Yet another Mike/Fish breakdown is pure hilarity. I LOVE Mike's work and I LOVE Fish's cymbal/snare work even more. This Piper -> Makisupa is what IT is all about. It is for jams like these that we travel, save, scrap and scrounge to get our butts inside the doors. Pure awesomeness. Even though we are a mere 50 minutes into the set at this point, we really don't need much else. Well, given the choice hell yes we need more music, but at this point, f*** it, Phish just hit grand slam. Character Zero is a victory lap. I will not mention the encore because we will all be worse off for it.

So as you can see, in this particular situation, the parts are greater than the whole. The show as a start-to-finish unit lacks some flow, but it contains two absolutely historic versions of two songs. Take that as you may, but do not skip over this show... especially the second set!

Must-hear jams: David Bowie, Piper -> Makisupa Policeman
Probably should listen to jams: Round Room (not that I enjoy it, but so you can hear the banding actively trying to grow the jam), Down with Disease -> Seven Below -> Down with Disease

Riding on the heels of yesterday.

Bowie flies right out of the gate. It has a very solid nice groove in it's jam. Excellent weave in and out of Catapult that leads to a fantastic conclusion to a great sequence. Great version of Round Room, definitely one of the better versions overall. Cool Golden Lady Debut. Also one of the better Pebbles and Marbles. Yet another solid first set.

Disease kicks things off, it doesn't go very deep being the jam gets ditched into 7 below. The segue is nice back into DWD from 7 Below. I'm not sure but this may be the only show with two weave in and out sequences to start both sets. Piper goes lightning speed right off the bat. They are trying to find their footing for most of it. The middle section is very Birds Of A Featheresque. Trey eventually finds a nice little riff towards the end.

Friday is surprisingly a great way to end the show in my opinion.

Overall I like this show a hair less than the night before. But still a nice few shows to kick off the tour.

The Bowie --> Catapult --> Bowie is exceptional, especially the --> back to Bowie. Run through a brick wall type intensity. Definitely my highlight of the show. I can't decide whether the second set is good or very good. The DwD --> Seven Below --> DwD is very good, and Anything But Me works pretty decently as a pillow. Probably comes down to the Piper and your tolerance for 03-04 Pipers. Sometimes I'm in the mood, lots of times I'm not.

Bowie opener is really nice! The jam starts strong and begins to go deep and dark. Trey finds a crunchy little riff and starts the Catapult lyrics over it. This is evil! The sudden launch into the end of Bowie closes a top tier opening segment for any Phish era. Horn and Guyute come next and are mostly fine with a few hiccups. Nothing to write home about. I really like this Round Room and I wish they would play this one more. It's such a slightly off kilter song that screams "Mike wrote that." The jam seems to keep building into a big break but it never comes. Aside from that, I dig vibes of this one a lot. Golden Lady is an odd but welcome cover. I don't detect any obvious errors but it does feel timid overall. Shame this never popped up again for them to really kill it. Poor Heart and Pebbles liven up the last bit of the set but are straightforward. Bowie is the star here but the rest of the set is a little aimless.
Disease open set 2 just as it has many times before in energetic fashion. Things start to get more interesting as Fish pulls back and the jam gets spacier. Trey comes in with the Seven Below lick in what appears to be a tease but morphs into a full on segue. Seven Below is pretty good but it doesn't get too far out there before Trey pulls us back to the end of Disease. A good little jam sandwich. After a breather, we get an absolutely Piper! It starts off with balls to wall rocking then settles in to a funky breakdown with Mike and Fish. It builds to Trey hamming it up with some stop and start chord breaks and a surprising turn back into Disease! This is one of those jams that has me smiling the whole time through. Makisupa allows the band to goof around a bit before closing things out with Character Zero. W O W what a set. Especially that Piper which I believe is the first of the big '03 Pipers. Things are really starting to heat up only 3 shows in!

Killer show to wrap up the first great weekend of 2.0 Phish. A rare Bowie opener kicks things off nice and hot, distinguished by a cool dip into the major key which burns for a bit before moving toward a more frenetic and chaotic riff session. Once Trey lands on something he likes, and the rest of the band picks up on the pattern, we get a surprise Catapult that fits quite nice. Nothing about this machine malfunctions though, as it launches the band right into a soaring Bowie finale expertly. Horn is a little laid back, but Guyute is pretty decent. Round Room isn't one of my favorite Phish tunes, but man this jam is so cool. The beginning feels almost like the blend of an Antelope intro and a subdued Runaway Jim jam. Though the sounds evolve, the band is patient and restrained. They keep the groove nice and low, allowing it to slowly melt into a contemplative drone. Happy to get a surprise bustout of Golden Lady (the random covers are a nice theme throughout the weekend). Poor Heart is par for the course, but Pebbles and Marbles rocks real hard to close out Set 1.

The DwD -> Seven Below -> DwD sandwich is a cool one, especially as you get to the subdued tail end of the first DwD. After a really clean transition, the band catches some nice grooves on -7 (especially as Page moves to the piano around 7:35). Anything but Me is a nice delicate cooldown after a burning DwD finish, and the band puts that rest to work in the Vegas Piper. Without giving a long-winded comprehensive review, it's hard to fully pay respects to this beast. But I'll just note that the 16:00 - 17:30ish section where Mike and Fishman continually drop out to let Trey and Page just groove is fucking awesome. (Also obligatory comment about the DwD reprise because gahddamn that's hot.) -> Makisupa is nicely done. Really love Mike on this one, definitely worth checking out if you like Makisupa (and even if you don't!). Zero is pretty typical, as is Friday. But I never really appreciated how pretty Friday is until this listen...especially the Trey/Page harmonies on the chorus. It's a nice tune, though maybe best suited outside the encore slot.

SET 1: David Bowie -> Catapult -> David Bowie: Exceptionally rare for Bowie to open a show, only 7 times in 490 times played. Last time was 12.30.93 – kind of a good show, maybe you have heard it lol. Great indication of how awesome this Vegas show was going to be. They would open the Miami NYE run with this too! It has only happened two times since, both times in 3.0. Definitely a solid Bowie here and the Catapult in the middle is nice if not a bit forced as it seemed to come out of nowhere. ->

Horn: > standard

Guyute: Not bad not perfect but not a train wreck either.

Round Room: The effects coming out of the vocals are so sick. Page owns this jam! I've often wondered after they knocked this one out of the park. Why they put it on the shelf someone in the band must not have cared for this song. this gym, I would strongly recommend and will re-visit for many years to come.

Golden Lady: > I was listening to the one and only version of this song from October 20, 1994, on the drive from Denver to the Los Angeles show so when this popped up at the show I was completely stunned and overjoyed, I love this tune!

Poor Heart: Somewhat surprisingly this is played pretty well outside of some difficulty with the ending.

Pebbles and Marbles: Some really bad sound issues one minute into this. The beginning of this gem feature that distinct 99 Trey guitar sound that I personally love. He is ripping the Thomas and Mack Center a new one in the early part of this jam. Well jammed but nothing that I would necessarily seek out for a re-listen.

SET 2: Down with Disease -> Seven Below -> Down with Disease > Trey laughing in the beginning here before they start it up. Trey says Fishman doesn't know this song he's going to f*** it up ???? sure enough after Mike's they solo intro. The part that comes after that is a mess as Fishman comes in late and screws up Trey. Severe sound issues in Seven Below around 4 and a half minutes in. Can someone pinpoint the timestamp of the Dave’s Energy guide tease in Seven Below? In terms of the jamming of this segment – it is solid yet unspectacular. But the full body of work is impressive.

Anything But Me: Standard. >

Piper -> repeating theme 12:50. That repeating theme the Trey hits on and then carries through for multiple minutes starting at 12:15 is so cool it's not perfect but once they really ramp it up is fantastic! Definitely the highlight of the night if not both nights. This version is a must hear for any Piper fan.

Makisupa Policeman: Killer segue out of Piper.

Character Zero: Standard rager.

ENCORE: Friday – Again? Sloppy, too. Ugh.

Replay value/Summary: Just a great show, so much fun almost top to bottom with the exception of that brutal encore. Why do that? Round Room and Piper I love and will continue to seek out in the future. The Bowie and DWD sandwiches are great bodies of work but not necessarily ones that I would actively reach back for or recommend. I would rate this show as a 4.2 out of 5.

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

I was on the floor, ten deep in front of Trey for this one, which was awesome because he took over this show. I predicted a “Punch” opener, but I don't think anybody was ready for what was about to happen... “David Bowie” > “Catapult” > David Bowie!
There is no way anybody ever predicted this in a million years. The last time “Bowie” opened a show was 12/30/93. Before it started, Trey teased a riff that might have been “Julius”, though I'm not sure. That got people stoked and then he turned and talked to Mike and Fish. Fish started the “Bowie” beat and the crowd was stunned. People's jaws dropped. The energy just built up and then finally Trey pulled the “Bowie” opening off to perfection. This was probably one of the most surreal moments I've ever had. The energy was amazing during this song.
This set had a weird flow to it after “Guyute” finished. “Golden Lady” was oddly placed and I think the set could have used one more song, maybe a “Melt” after “Poor Heart”. The “Bowie” was amazing and I'm still stunned that they opened with it.
I vote for the “DWD” reprise out of “7 Below” for high energy point of the run. The second they segued back into “DWD”, everybody in Thomas and Mack went completely bonkers. I personally didn't see this coming.
The “Piper” is the best one I've ever heard. The buildup was beautiful and somewhat epic. The crowd really appreciated this selection and it was very loud in the arena. At about the five minute mark Trey hit some rockin’ chords and all of the sudden about a hundred glow rings went flying from this one spot on the floor, and then it was on: one hell of a glow stick war. Trey's face was priceless and I think it was at this point he started jumping up and down. There was such a great connection between the audience and band during this song. It went on for what seemed like a half hour, glowsticks flying everywhere, with lots of exploration in the jam.
I thought maybe they'd segue into “Guy Forget”, but instead they decided to go into “DWD” once again. The place went crazy again.

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

If you look at past shows with “Catapult” in them you will notice that most of them are some of the best shows ever. Knowing this, I believed we might be in for something epic on this night. The “Horn” and “Guyute” that followed dashed that dream, however. They’re not bad songs, but just not songs that are played in epic shows, and man have I heard “Guyute” enough already even after two and a half years of Hiatus.
I was pumped for “Round Room” and I believed that this song had great jam potential until they actually did jam on it. This was very typical of the ambient style from 2000, which I am not a fan of. Listen to any of the jams from the second set Hershey 2000 show and you will know what this “Round Room” jam was like.
“Golden Lady” may have been a bustout but it wasn't exciting. That, my friends, is a cheesy song. “Poor Heart” was a welcome boost in energy as much of the crowd was starting to look dazed. “Pebbles and Marbles” was a song I was hoping to see and I thought it could be a second set opener. It may have served better as a set opener, because it just doesn't cut it as a set closer. They were working to get this to rock pretty hard, but I felt it was really choppy and rushed. I love the song, but this version didn't impress at all. This set was the worst of the four this weekend.
For the second set, you could feel the spacey openings of “Disease” right out of the gate and it was on! The beginning of this “Disease” was rough to take, though. The sloppiness was akin to many of the composed sections of the Hampton songs I have heard (see “YEM”). There were some groans, but by the jam section we had forgotten all about it as Trey was absolutely ripping this song apart. This jam got down to a groove pretty quick, not a typical rock and roll “Disease” that can get repetitive and dull by some accounts. I for one like the “Disease” that can settle and groove, and this pleased me just fine.
The segue into “Seven Below” was the first real segue of the weekend and it was the Phish I fell in love with so many years ago. I think Mike was playing the bass line to get the segue going and Trey moved in quickly to follow suit. I didn't think a “Seven Below” could be as good without snowflakes and dancing ice fairies, but this one beat New Year’s. Trey really got the industrial, grungy guitar going. He jammed over the theme and then into open territory, brought back into the theme, back out into uncharted territory, and back into “Disease”! This was absolutely sick, and I was pumped to get a segue both in and out of a great song like “Seven Below”.
“Anything But Me” was fine by me, although it killed a little momentum. I like the song, and at the end it sort of sounded as though they were just going to pick up an ambient jam. At this point a couple of us were thinking/praying for a “2001”, but when “Piper” kicked in we said we would settle. The NYE ”Piper” raged and contained all the energy necessary for the first song back. Could it be beaten?
That “Piper” was Mike Tyson getting bludgeoned by this Lennox Lewis of this “Piper”. It was hands down the best I have seen or heard and I have seen and heard a ton of “Piper”s. The thick gooey funk that worked its way into this twenty minute jam was just what the doctor ordered. The start/stop Trey solo ala so many of those Fall ‘97 shows is something I have been dying to hear again for years. The jam back into “Disease”, which some have incredibly called lame, was magic to my ears. This jam is one that should be ranked with many of the best, and would fit perfectly into the best sets of any Fall ‘97 show.
The segue into “Makisupa” was strong like the “Disease” — > “7 Below”, and the song was entertaining as always. I am surprised I haven't read more people comment on how prominently Trey was saying the "house" lyric because we were all obviously finding out that "the house always wins" this weekend! Did no one else find this funny? I got a good laugh out of it.
The “Friday” encore sucked, no other way to say it. I have come to expect shitty encores from this band over the years, and this was a prime example. Suck it up and send us out into the streets of Vegas
in a frenzy!
Overall it was a great, great weekend. In terms of music, it is probably the best two-night run I have seen since Philly in ‘99. It was the most fun since Vegas 2000. It had glimpses of some of the best Phish jamming anyone has heard since Boise ‘99 and the best of ‘97. There was though some looseness in the composed sections of some of the Phish standards, notably the sloppy “Disease” and some problems in the “Ghost”. Strangely enough, these two songs produced the best jams of the weekend, which means I will surely sacrifice perfect composition for sick jams.