PHENSTERS FINAL PHISH SHOW REVIEWS AND OBSERVATIONS
At every venue, there was ONE STELLAR show (comparitavely).
SO, a 50% batting average is REALLY AMAZING for Phish.
(I add and edit daily.)

Thursday, June 17, 2004
KeySpan Park, Brooklyn, NY
Set 1
A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing
Dinner and a Movie
The Curtain With
Sample In a Jar
The Moma Dance ->
Free
Nothing
Maze
Frankenstein

Set 2

46 Days ->
Possum
The Oh Kee Pah Ceremony ->
Suzy Greenberg ->
Axilla ->
2001 ->
Birds of a Feather
Kung
Mike's Song -> w/ On Broadway teases and Gotta jiboo Tease.
I am Hydrogen ->
Weekapaug Groove

Encore
The Divided Sky

Ok 1st nite Brooklyn was a total fiasco. This was by far Phish's strongest tour opener ever. It was also in the pouring rain. But the rain stopped before first set and started up again during set break. Then eased up magically before set 2 . I've never stood in the pouring rain to see a show, I was always fortunate to be under the pavillion in the past. It was truly for the hardcores.
"A song I heard the Ocean sing " tore right into the first set , "Dinner and a Movie" was the song that everybody went "OH YEAHH?!!" to because of the theatre showing  and was sightly botched but quickly forgiven. "The Curtin Width" NEVER HAD SUCH RELAVANCY," Please, we have no regrets!"
it blissfully flowed into SLOW RIFT JAM  into that beautifuly REBA-ESQUE jam at the end.
Sample was the same, anthemy and head bobbing. Moma was lively but short, so was "Free", lively but probably under 9 minutes. Nothing I don't even remember.GO FIGURE. "Maze" was again , lively but short along with the "Frankenstein" which was a nice boost at the end of set 1.

Set 2- 46 days mowed us down like a lawn. Serious jamming  with a smoother than usual seguay into possum.The "OH-KE-PA>Suzi" was a treat especially as the song grew legs and began to run with the crowd. Axilla was short and sweet missing the flashlight jam I expected. 2001>Birds was a pretty decent jam actually so the hillarious Kung which insued was comical and intense with the yelling and the screaming. "Mikes Song" are you kidding?? WE RAGED MIKES and floated down for the Hydrogen, Trey actually improv -noodled his way thru it quite beautifully , which is rare to say the least. He usually sticks to it note for note or botches it . So it was exceptional as we went into Weekapaug. I was so happy by the end of the show  words cannot explain how redeemed we felt after dealing with the elements all day. SOOOO worth it. The Divided encore started so subtley it was scary. Right into the flow. I beleive he botched it pretty bad if i remember correctly.I havent heard the discs yet. WHO CARES?! IT ROCKED!
AND WE HAD A GREAT TIME!!! GREAT SHOW!

Friday, June 18, 2004
KeySpan Park, Brooklyn, NY

Set I: AC/DC Bag, Camel Walk, Crowd Control, Stash, Cars Trucks Buses,
Carini -> My Sweet One -> Character Zero, Tweezer

Set II: Wilson -> Down With Disease, 99 Problems, Big Pimpin', Chalk Dust
Torture, Harry Hood -> Taste
Encore: Bug, Tweezer Reprise

Show Notes: A "SASS" tease preceded "AC/DC Bag." The Phish debuts of
Jay-Z's "99 Problems" and "Big Pimpin'" featured the "retired" rapper
himself, as well as Cyro Baptista on percussion. Before "Hood," Trey
joking announced the arrival of Eric Clapton to the stage. In "Hood"
itself, Mike teased the secret language for "sing a random note."

Ok this show was the most fucked up show Ive ever attended. Its a short, simple story so try to pay attention. The Brooklyn Police Department arrested probably 100 people in the parking lot before the show. These kids ranged from the blatantly stupid, to the cautiosly dumb. If you did stupid shit in Brooklyn YOU GOT CAUGHT and put in jail. There were so many undercover cops arresting people it got to the point where I was warning people and in mid-sentance they were in cuffs. SERIOUSLY.
But I gotta give credit where credit is due. They had that shit on LOCK DOWN.
And I appreciate not being arrested. I sold art in the parking lot and gt some posters confisgated by the Phish cops. I lied to their faces about every question they asked me and I was on my way,
minus 50 posters. No biggie : )
NOW, we get inside the venue, and its WALL TO WALL TEENY BOPPERS. HUNDREDS OF LITTLE FRESHY WHITE BOYS 15-18 years old COMPLETELY CLOGGING UP THE WHOLE FRONT 15 ROWS!! UNFUCKINGBELEIVEABLE.
SO,There we are, 10th row center again, and there are all these young pimply faced newbies complete with dental braceswith rubber bands mulling around  looking very naive .
IM COMPLETELY SURROUNDED by dorky little white boys at their first show. The crowd was too thick to leave, the show started . ACDC BAG to open is strong but short lived , and the Camel Walk had all the noobs around me baffled as how to react. By now the band has realized the immediate crowd is full of non-dancing , clueless teenage morons and no women whatsoever.
The obvious lack of crowd response/energy compared to yesterdays PARTY makes it hard for them to even care.
Crowd Control  is the appropriate musical SPANKING this group deserves, and the Stash is is obvious retort to the massive arrests made earlier in the day."Police in the corner gunnin for you"
CTB was a toss away and Carini was extremely uninspired and botched and short. The band is now trying to create forced energy out of the reactionless teenagewasteland that now stands before them. NOTHING. Barely any dancing, not  even a raised arm in excitement. ZERO ENERGY TRANSFERRENCE.
" My Sweet One" was rare enough to get excited, but was clobbered down by the mindnumbing head bobbing chords of the intelligence insulting Character Zero . Tweezer was obligatory at best to create a bigger encore but nothing more.

SET 2- Obviously Trey read my mind for the Wilson opener, the cops and the influx of nubies was reason enough. DWD was jammed but the message is still there. Then life at the Phish show became A BIG COMMERICIAL FOR JZ. He rallied the white boys and we all danced to the ghetto fabulous tunes of  "99 Problems" and "BIG PIMPIN".
EXCEPT- the diminished energy of a bunch of  rich white teenage boys could only muster a shout-out of "medium pimpin and spendin cheeze" .The half hearted cries of misplaced urban angst comming from a populace of caucasian males under the age of 20 was hardly convincing .But Listening to the disks its pretty funny.The jam out of chalkdust was pretty insane , I even forgot waht song it was for a second. Harry Hood with the clapton introduction is pretty funny.
the jam was the usual crowd pleaser.

I easily called the BUG>TR encore out loud. All in all we had fun but it was as musically usless as the Kid Rock show. Fun and stupid, You had to be there.

Saturday, June 19, 2004
Saratoga Peforming Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY

Set I: Reba, Runaway Jim, NICU -> Scents and Subtle Sounds, Wolfman's
Brother, Walls of the Cave -> David Bowie

Set II: A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, Piper -> Tweezer Reprise Jam ->
Gotta Jibboo > Limb By Limb, Cavern
Encore: Wading in the Velvet Sea

Show Notes: "Harpua" was teased toward the end of the "Piper" jam. Trey
forgot all of the words to the third verse of "Cavern," only just pulling
it together in time for "deadly ice calm" line. He then eked out a quite
self-referential "Purple Haze" tease before coming back in with the fourth
verse. "Limb by Limb" may have contained some "Disease"-type jamming.

for the first time in my life
I understood what Limb by Limb is about.

Its about Trey playing guitar, He peels his fingers off the rim, and he becomes unglued while his fingers are in mid air but they land to reform, all along ,as he paints a  musical land scape to all the moving bodies/limbs in the crowd. WOW I can't believe I actually wrote that down. 

This show raged until the very end.
ASIHTOS>PIPER IS PROBABLY THE BIGGEST JAMFEST OF THE TOUR!
We spent this show on the Lawn which was a little rough. We partied with the whole Albany Krue, & the Mass kids ,Troy, Merredith,Emy and John. Even saw Milt for a second. Boop was there too guns a blazin like Annie Oakely. We Got our Yippie on ,on the Lawn.  The Lawn at SPAC is GHETTO and far away from the action. We were all so high  for 1st set we were running around like kids weaving in and out of little human mazes tha surrounded us.  I even tried to hear the David Bowie and groved a little.

By 2nd set the lawn had calmed down a bit but was still grimy. Really what killed me was the set closing "Cavern".
Seriously , I was far away and all but the TR jams outta Piper were insanely bright. Must have been incredible up close. The Loop in "Gotta Jiboo" was delightfully predictable and fun.
WHY OH WHY Trey would CUT THE FUCKING HEAD OFF THE DRAGON LIKE THAT IS A MYSTERY....
The show was really going well, only to be  beheaded with a botched 2nd set closing "Cavern".
Its plainy -BAD MATH . The "Velvet Sea" was Comical as someone yelled out loud-
"Somebody Hold Me!" The whole lawn got a chuckle out of that one and  once out of the venue we proceded to get LOST as HELL .Seems we walked down the wrong road to get to our car and wound up on the motherfucking highway walking 2 miles against oncomming highway traffic on acid, to the next exit entrence to the venue. It was Rosie , Jesse Lindsay and I , grumbling and trudging along for what seemed like MILES on end. Finally we found our car and headed towards Chris's house where he HOOKED me UP !! YOU FUCKING ROCK BRO!! THANK YOU!!! Those  nuggets lasted me for days!.
Totaly botched day, FAT show with its head cut off . WEIRD.

Sunday, June 20, 2004
Saratoga Peforming Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY

Set I: Rift, Julius, Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home?, Waves,
Gumbo, Water in the Sky, Horn, Poor Heart, Drowned

Set II: Seven Below, Ghost -> Twist, You Enjoy Myself (w/ a song i heard the ocean sing jams)
Encore: Good Times Bad Times

Show Notes: Trey broke a string during "Julius" for the first time since
November 29, 1996. Dr. Jack McConnell sat in with his son Page on piano
for "Bill Bailey," at the end of which he also tap-danced a bit on stage.

This was my favorite show of the tour. The second set was SOLID. Plus we were 4th row center. And , all the people who had been doing tour for the last decade were there as well. AG, Senior, Jersey Fresh, Foxy, Summey,All the Super hardcores in one big pit of seething energy. Trey broke a string during the furious jamming during Julius and being so close to watch Page's dad do the  Charleston shuffle to "Won't  you please come home Bill bailey" for the SECOND TIME , was a intimate treat which I will never forget. The rest of the set flowed along as usual untill we all read Trey's lips and shouted aloud "DROWN!"
The next 10 minutes Trey fed off the energy of the crowd like an attention starved puppy. As the jam began to wind down, we refused to let it go, we started going nuts and they gobbled it up . Drown grew enormous legs and ran hard for another 10 minutes! INCREDIBLE!!

Set 2 SPAC Sunday, June 20, 2004
Ok this set was AMAZING. "YOU-GAWZER-AMAZING!" REALLY TRULY AMAZING. THANK YOU.
All I want to add is that we(senior,me,jersey,foxy) called this setlist before the set began.
AND as Trey was walking backward from Johns drum Kit,
I was already COUNTING OFF "You Enjoy Myself"  OUT LOUD!!!
"1-2--1-2-3-4!" & BAM ! Trey Busts into YEM and we all go berzerk.
And for 30 seconds I was the coolest guy in the room! Pure heaven for a Phishhead like me .
My absolute pinnicale moment as a career Phishhead. Counting off the YEM for Trey at SPAC.
So in tune.
The Good x Bad x encore was so enormously healing and relavant with Jersey sittin right in front of me,
We both got a huge chuckle out of it and Lindsay and I felt REDEEMED for yesterdays NONSENSE.
EPIC SHOW!!!!! MY FAVORITE OF THE TOUR! Deer creek 2nd nite is a DAMN CLOSE SECOND.

Monday, June 21, 2004
Ed Sullivan Theater, New York, NY
Scents and Subtle Sounds, Scents and Subtle Sounds, 2001, Wilson, Chalk
Dust Torture, Tweezer > Tweezer Reprise.

Show Notes: Phish performed on top of the Ed Sullivan Theater's
second-floor marquee at West 53rd Street and Broadway. The soundcheck
earlier that day included a instrumental jam similar to "Quantegy" from
Trey's solo disc "One Man's Trash." After Phish appeared around 6:20 PM,
a funk jam was pumped through the speakers, possibly performed inside by
Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra. The first "SASS" was taped for the
Late Show with David Letterman and aired that night. Then Phish waited as
an instrumental version of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" was
broadcast from the speakers, again possibly from Shaffer inside the
theatre. The remainder of Phish's performance was for the benefit of a
few hundred fans assembled on the sidewalk across the street.

This was hillarious! We took the Train with Rosie and and Jesse and caught the whole performance.
The Wilson was epic in the fact that we were chanting this menacing "wiiiiiiison" in downtown Manhattan. A Truly unique experience . The Speakers were set up on the street on poles and the Band played above the Marquee. Really a cool way to break in the city. Thanks so much Rosie for showing us the city, weve never had such a good time!

Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Verizon Wireless Music Center, Noblesville, IN
Check: Jam, Undermind, Main Street, Bluegrass Jam (x2)

Set I: Llama, Bouncing Around the Room, Bathtub Gin, Ya Mar, Pebbles and
Marbles, Army of One, Split Open and Melt

Set II: Halley's Comet -> Crosseyed and Painless -> Slave to the Traffic
Light, Nothing -> 46 Days -> Scents and Subtle Sounds -> Brian and
Robert, Limb By Limb, Cavern
Encore: Waste

Show Notes: Trey teased a variation on "Stash" in "Ya Mar." "SASS"
featured a jam similar to "NO2."

I refuse to comment on this show, other than to say that IMHO the "Brian and Robert" negates the "Crosseyed and Painless" energy wise.
Sorry,  for me, this was one huge night off. Even the jam inside Split sounds like Treys on Oxys.
" Army of One" is probably the highlight of the show.Nothing was a weird pause in the action as well.

Thursday, June 24, 2004
Verizon Wireless Music Center, Noblesville, IN

Set I: Loving Cup, Cities -> Back On the Train, Vultures, My Mind's Got a
Mind of its Own, Down With Disease -> Rock and Roll

Set II: Tube, Run Like an Antelope, The Wedge, Timber (Jerry), Prince
Caspian -> Simple, Walls of the Cave>Down With disease reprise jam
Encore: The Squirming Coil

I want to go into detail about the delusional story i see in the 4th dimension.

This setlist expresses the story of the beginning of phish as a band, and the painful end.

Loving cup "im the man from the mountian" in the beginning it was incedible "what a beautifl buzz"

HOLY SHIZIT! HUMONGOUS SHOW!!!! (again whats with the decapitation?)
Great energy during cities, vultures was short, I called the MMGAMOIO out loud after Trey gave us a single noodle. A minute later theyre playing it to the ASTONISHMENT to the people around me and myself. So in tune.
The disease>Rock and roll was actually a great seguay.
Set 2
Best " Tube" EVER?! Perhaps. With 3rd stone from the sun jam !
The "Antelope" was so insane all I could do was gawk at the music. "Wedge"?! "TIMBER HO" all in a row??!?!! SO aggro!! THEN...
I actually stood still holding my girlfriend during "Caspian". "Simple"? A bit confused I danced on, relishing the memory of the last 40 minutes . As they careened into "Walls of the Cave", my heart sank.
It 's probably the best version of this song I dislike so much. But simply for the DWD reprise jams its the best version ever.Weird, a song about the END, with a song about the END inside it. A vibe I cant stand.  We made a dash for the taper section to be close to friends. And at the end of Pages Beautiful piano solo, I broke down and cried for about 10 minutes. The lights came on and I was still overcome with emotion.
It was an extraoridinarially meaningful show , a tale of the end of an era told thru setlist. So Beautiful.
I am going to miss Deer Creek and Phish tour, sooooooooo much .
Im going to miss my friends and meeting new people........its hard to see it go........*sniffle*

Friday, June 25, 2004
Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI

Set I: Julius, Roses Are Free -> AC/DC Bag, Glide, Anything But Me, David
Bowie, Wolfman's Brother, Golgi Apparatus

Set II: Seven Below -> Buffalo Bill -> Lawn Boy -> Mike's Song -> I Am
Hydrogen ->
Weekapaug Groove,W/ Chicken cluck jam.
You Enjoy Myself -> 2001 -> You Enjoy Myself
Encore: Sample in a Jar
Show Notes: Page signed an autograph while out on the front of the stage
during "Lawn Boy." "Weekapaug" contained a "Seven Below" tease.

This show was alot of fun! During Julius Trey sings if i remember correctly, "Dont' break another string" as on of the verses because of the incident in Brooklyn. This is also "Dickie Scottlands's" birthday so I call ACDC BAG to open. The Golgi was funny because the band was watching security checking harshly for tickets towards the end of the set.

Set 2
All I remember is Blissing out during YEM.
FATTY SHOW.

Theres a huge rooster cluck jam out of Weekapaug. Trulay an amazing show.

Saturday, June 26, 2004
Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI

Set I: Access Me, Scents and Subtle Sounds, Stash, The Moma Dance, The
Divided Sky, Wilson -> Funky Bitch, Character Zero

Set II: Boogie On Reggae Woman -> Ghost -> Free, Friday -> Piper -> Harry
Hood
Encore: Possum
Show Notes: This show marked the debut of "Access Me." Trey and Mike
rearranged their microphone stands after "Stash."

UM what happened? Why did Trey play Friday in the middle of all that GREAT music???
!st set s sents and subtle sounds was a pretty jam.

Oh I remember,  the music almost ground to a halt during a usually lively "Free" .
I was at that moment, convinced a couple members of the band was wasted on dope and this downward spirial was the result.

I remember sitting behind the tapers section withLindsay Eric , Mary and Shane.
The Free contained the usual "Emmanance Front " jam.