This may be one of the most underrated shows of Phish 2.0. It was incidentally also my first show of 2.0. The first set is quite solid, starting out with a topical pairing of My Sweet One (Valentine's Day) and Cover of the Rolling Stone (legend has it that the morning of this show they heard they'd be on the cover of Rolling Stone a few weeks later), and the normal leadoff hitting Chalkdust bats in the three hole. But then shit gets interesting -- Fee seemed to suck a little wind out of their sails (at least from my perspective that night), but the outro jam to Fee was stunningly beautiful and led into one of my favorite Tastes. Trey (save his typical flubbery at the *very* end) absolutely rages the jam, which leads into a *really* deep, cathartic Bathtub Gin. I'd personally put this Gin on the same level as the uplifting 2/22/03 version from Cinci. The early 2.0 sound is raw in tone, but the groove is palpable, and this is another perfect example of the full-blown group catharsis on stage that happened seemingly every night in 2003... and we were just in the fifth show back since The First Hiatus. The set closes in fine fashion, but things were already damn interesting from the atypical start and the -> Taste, Gin (both must-hear starting with the Fee outro).

The second-set opening Possum is fine, but the ensuing WotC might be the best rendition of the tune I've heard. Shit gets ridiculously dark before leaving orbit around the 18 minute mark, and we ultimately land on Carini. Though Carini isn't on the level with the 3.0 versions we've been spoiled with thus far, it keeps the darkness rolling. AoTD provides a little breather, and though Trey has trouble hitting the high notes, I found it to be a pleasant song. This was the point in the show where I got pensive, introspective, and emotional (does that happen to anyone else during some of these songs?). Anyway, enough about me... LxL is fine with a big almost ADITL-like build-up to close, and the OKP > Bag -> Caspian (unfinished feedback fadeout) is pretty great with a crazy dude jumping on stage during Bag and screaming something like "LUCY! I LOVE YOU! HAPPY VALENTINE--" [dragged off stage]. Kind of fitting that her name was Lucy (dude likely had a head full of her) and that the line the band sang as he ran on stage was "no future at all". In any event it was a unique way to end the second set. Loving Cup'd and we're on the way out into the filthy Inglewood air. This show is a solid 4 star show, and I am so thankful that my wife (then girlfriend) didn't leave me for ditching her to go see a show on VDay in her hometown (LA). Thanks babe!

On another personal and historical note: I was in my last year of college when 2.0 started, and by summer tour I had graduated, so these were my prime Phish-seein' years. It's a shame they were cut short but I'm glad they're back today and healthy, even though work, wife, and kids put me in a situation where I can only see a couple shows a year. I started *really* getting into Phish in late 2000, right before the end of 1.0, and during the first hiatus I "did my homework" and really listened back carefully to much of the bands' history. I got really into August '93 and December '95 (in the last few years I've graduated to Fall '97 and I don't think I'll ever make it out of here). When 2.0 was actually happening, I was stoked with a lot of the jams, but being a musician myself, I would get super flustered with all the flubs Trey was making. It was evident to me that they weren't really practicing much anymore, which was really frustrating. In some sense I was down on 2.0 at the time, having spoiled myself by spending years listening only to the best of the best (at least technically). But I slowly began to realize a few things: there have always been flubs; there weren't always this many exploratory jams; and not every show is going to be epic. This is all a long-winded way of me saying that looking back ten years after the fact (I've now listened to *every* show from 10/6/00 to the present), Phish 2.0 was pretty freaking awesome and I'm glad I got to see a bunch of shows during that brief stretch. As @andrewrose points out, this show really marks the beginning of Phish 2.0, and it's a very solid show for which I'm glad I made the 6-hour drive from Berkeley!

The first thing I will say about this show is that it is unequivocally underrated. Granted, Winter 2003 if full of some stellar shows that garner most of the attention when casually sifting through this year, and though this show is not one that reaches "stellar" status, it is absolutely filled with many take-home gems, a few of which reach that "all-time" status.

My Sweet One is a appropriate, quirky encore for a Valentine's Day show. A statement opener, not quite, but one fun enough and contextually relevant enough to make all of us smile and know that Phish was present in the moment with us. Cover of the Rolling Stone throws us a curveball 3 minutes into the show - another topical nod to Phish's very first, and very weird, cover on Rolling Stone magazine. This one-two punch was plain old fashioned weird Phish being weird, funny Phish being Phish ... aka Phish being Phish. It got laughs and smiles and cheers from the crowd, and really loosened up the vibe as the meat of the set (and show) crept around the corner...

...did I say crept? I meant bounded! A smoldering Chalk Dust really kicks things off. Clocking in at 9 minutes, this version really takes off. It never ventures from the arena-rock anthem that we love so much, but it certainly doesn't need to. It packs one hell of punch! The crowd is fully energized now, ready for more. Fee comes in next and, in the moment, is met with equally surprised/elated/deflated energy. An odd mix, again, at the time, but as time went on, so did the immensity of this version. Fee is a bustout rarity, and to have Fee played in the first set of the first show of their first tour back was a big statement and nod to their long-lived history... again, re encapsulating the feelings I have been describing where Phish just seems/feels happy to be playing music again. This Fee wastes no time venturing into the most placid, fluid, water-droplet jam. As soon as the outro starts, Fee morphs into an ethereal cloud of misty musicianship, It sounds as though the four members are weaving a song, not playing one. This is my favorite version of the song and should be taken very seriously as "best ever" alongside 7.8.99. Please take the time to listen to this version. Fee slowly fades away into a clean -> Taste. The energy is back.

Knowing we had just witnessed a sublime version of this song, so early in the set/show/tour, the crowd welcomed Taste with great gusto - and the band returned it. This version really packs some focused heat. Nimble muted guitar work from Trey, inhuman rhythms from Fish, tasteful alternations of accents and exclamations from Page on the piano, and Mike providing a textural foundation on which the other three played their parts. This version culminates in a ferocious peak, and even though Trey doesn't quite stick the landing, it is an "A" version.

The next song is Bathtub Gin. Not just Bathtub Gin. My personal, undisputed, create-multiple-threads-(per year)-on version of Bathtub Gin. This Bathtub Gin is fire and purity. It is angelic and inspirational. It is hauntingly beautiful and beautifully divine. It hits peaks which, to my ears are unparalleled for any version of this song, and perhaps, depending on my mood for the current day, unparalleled for any song they've ever performed. The two "spoilers" below are video/SBD recordings of it. I urge you, I implore you, to take 19 minutes in an undisturbed space with good speakers or headphones, close your eyes, clear your mind, and let yourself soar with this Bathtub Gin.

[Spoiler]

[Spoiler]

Wow. Right? I mean, wow. That Gin. Just the highest of highs. Add onto that the stretch of Chalk Dust, Fee -> Taste, Bathtub Gin can go toe-to-toe with the best 50 consecutive minutes of music Phish has ever played... what a segment, what a set. Heavy Things could have been played on a recorded for all I care, and seemingly the crowd too (just listen to the eruption when Gin winds down), but still it was well-executed with a pretty Trey-led solo "mini jam." Golgi puts a single, solitary, necessary exclamation point on one hell of a set. Unreal stuff in this first set. I am nearly worn out writing at this point because of how exhilarating and emotional that first set is. Yes, it was my first show, so there is bias. But I believe, truly in my heart of hearts and my ear of ears, that the 2.14.03 Set 1 was something amazingly special.

Possum explodes out of the gates in Set 2. And I mean explodes. Much like (but better than) the 1.3.03 version a month prior, this one hits three stunning, jaw-dropping peaks the likes of which we just don't see anymore. Possums today take on a more Western-y, playful back-and-forth style, whereas Possums from days past took on this rage and passion. This Possum is a must hear for fans of peaks. A deep space Walls of the Cave comes next. Clocking in at 23 minutes, this version patiently lifts off into outer space. Staying true to the WOTC jam for about 14 minutes, they really work as much rock-and-roll out of the song proper before evaporating into some deep, scary, intense space. This version is quite spectacle and should not be taken lightly. Making no attempt to exorcise its demons, WOTC gives us an evil -> into an equally evil Carini. As I said earlier, Carinis in this era and previous eras are not the modulating, major-key drivien jams like they are today. This Carini is gritty and dirty. Dark and evil. Not exactly a must-hear version, but I can guarantee you it scared the crap out of many, many in attendance that night.

Taking a short breath, Anything but Me kills some time before Limb by Limb swoops in and makes an attempt to take off. At this point, I think the band might be emotionally drained from the sheer magnitude of what happened in Set 1 and the first 3 songs of Set 2. They kinda lost that zeal and passion with which permeated the show up to this point. No matter. The version is passable, but not great. Oh Kee Pah was a real treat, regaining some momentum for an awesome late-set ACDC Bag. The Bag was really gaining steam until some dude hopped up on goofballs stormed the stage and took Trey's mic, yelling that he loves Lucy, and happy... Valentines... Day. Sigh. Don't do this shit fans. Seemingly unphased, Phish drips into a suuuuuper slinky little jam in ACDC Bag. It sounds nothing like the Bags we are used to today, and is full of improvisational mastery and originality. I love this Bag. Bag fades unceremoniously into Prince Caspian, and I think that was Phish's signal that they have nothing else to prove for the evening. A prototypical Loving Cup ends the evening the same way My Sweet One started it, heartfelt and appropriate.

All and all, a mind-blowing set 1, a disjointed set 2 with a couple tentpole jams, make this show one that will undoubtedly having you say to yourself, "How did I not listen to this before?!"

Absolutely-must-listen-to-right-now jam: Bathtub Gin
Must-hear jams: Fee -> Taste, Possum, Walls of the Cave
Probably-should-listen-to jams: Chalk Dust Torture, AC/DC Bag

Fully agree with ADAWGWYO here. I wasn't at this show, I wouldn't hop on this tour until a four night east coast run. But this right here is where Phish 2.0 started in earnest, and it makes a strong case for revisiting, at least this early stuff. In my mind, February 2003 is right up there with some of the best months in Phistory; 8/93, 11/95, 12/97... This show might not be the best of the short tour (that honour probably goes to 2/28, with honorable mentions to 2/26, 2/20), but for a tour opener it certainly makes a statement. The Fee->Taste is sublime. The Bathbub Gin SMOKES. LxL has nice wall of sound energy too, and it's hard to find fault with a late show Oh Kee Pa->Bag. Check it out!

This show is underrated and overlooked. If it were a east coast show, it would be raved up and legendary. But it's not. Anyways, The My Sweet One opener then COTRS is a nice way to open a show. The Fee->Taste is mellow but very smooth and enjoyable. The Gin is disgusting. WOW. Instead of the usual Trey lead in to start the jam, Page takes the rein and it becomes a very funky 20 min jam session. Real nice for all you Gin fans. WOTC is nice. 2nd one ever and executed with conviction. I don't remember much of this show as I was living in the Valley at the time and all my phriends had flown into town. We took a 20 person limo over the hill to Inglewood and, well... you know how those things go. LA, Vegas, Vegas. Excellent 2.0 Phish if you asked me.

Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion

The fulcrum of our pre-show activities for this tour opener was a bubbling pot of Crawfish Monica, which is now available by mail order; they send you all the frozen goodies and you heat it up yourself (preferably while lubricating yourself with a Hurricane or two). Get it while it’s still legal, kiddies.

The crowd at the Forum arrived late, and the pre-show energy was unusually subdued; many of us wondered aloud whether Phish would come back well-rehearsed, or slinging the same unpredictable slop that characterized the Hampton run a month and a half earlier. We settled into a couple killer seats on Mike’s side and waited an eternal forty-five minutes for our answer, which was... well, some of both.

Fishman charged with authority into “My Sweet One,” getting the first nod to Valentine’s Day out of the way early and invalidating the “Roses Are Free” opener call that Gary and I had made earlier in the afternoon. “Cover of a Rolling Stone” was an appropriately fun way for the fellas to knock themselves down a peg, which they always do with style and grace. These first two tunes felt pretty much like soundcheck.

“Chalk Dust” had gotten a nice workout at Hampton, and they tried to bend the mold a little with this one, too. They didn't quite bury the needle, but they did manage to get the crowd cooking. Apparently, Brad laid out lyrics for Trey for “Fee.” I didn’t notice this, but did quite enjoy the song; the outro jam was unique and weird and boded well. “Taste” was clearly intended to redeem the NYE disaster, and proved to be an especially sweet version of a song that has pretty much stagnated after ‘97, in my opinion.

“Bathtub Gin” was the first real declaration of the set. It featured a patient and probing jam, a satisfying climax, and some preposterously jazzy work from Fishman (whose maturation on drums reminds me of a dizzyingly fine red wine). “Heavy Things,” it bears mentioning, was stretched out longer than normal, which did not exactly thrill me, but there you go. “Golgi” was a rocking but fairly standard ending to a very solid set.

The second half opened quite strongly with a straightforward but smoldering “Possum” that compared favorably to the smoking Hampton version. The “Walls of the Cave” that followed invited some comparisons to mid-70s Dead, and that's certainly fair; it had a country inflection at times, and wandered far afield (at one point, Chris Kuroda was obviously leading the jam, to great effect). The “Carini” that rose from the ashes of “Walls” was kind of a lumbering mess, but not altogether unpleasing. “All of These Dreams” I can take or leave.

My first “Oh Kee Pah” was a tense affair. I was afraid it was going to fall apart Jenga-style, but they nailed it, and dropped neatly (if not predictably) into a wonderful, angular, peculiar “Bag.” This jam was inspired by the weird energy that SCD (“Stage Crashing Douchebag”) brought to the stage, and finally just evaporated into nothing. Beautifully done. Unfortunately, “Prince Caspian” was somewhat unremarkable, and Trey left the stage holding his wrist as if in pain.

If he were, you’d never know it by the smoking “Loving Cup” encore. Phish opened the show by poking fun at the idea of love, and had earned itself a shot at the genuine article by the end.

Bullseye... and on to Vegas!

Solid show. Two songs make this night stand out:

1. The 20 min Gin which features almost ten mins of solid melodic jamming. Its not the best of the tour but if you take a listen, it'll definitely brighten your mood. I gave this version 4/5 stars in my itunes

2. "Cover of the Rolling Stone"...amazingly fun song. Combine that with the fact that this was the only time Phish ever played it

Andrew and ADAWGWYO have it here. Read them, and I'll just add a couple of things.

The last couple of minutes of WOTC are really interesting, it just takes Phish a while to get there. Ending the show with Prince Caspian, especially one that came out of a subdued, yet lengthy AC/DC Bag, is not their usual way of calling it a night, but after the guy came on stage, Trey was in a weird mood. It still makes for a decent listen.

Fee>Taste is quite nice, and the Gin is a rocker. One other thing: give Cover of the Rolling Stone a listen. Just once if that's all you want, but you'll enjoy it. Then watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PU-FYoiVA8 />
The entire show's on youtube too, FYI.

Attended! Lot scene was fun/small and tickets were on the ground!

SET 1: My Sweet One: Valentine’s Day – get it?

The Cover of 'Rolling Stone': “Now it's all designed to blow our minds - But our minds won't really be blown - Like the blow that'll gitcha when you get your picture - On the cover of the Rollin' Stone” - I had no idea what this was until the chorus. >

Chalk Dust Torture: Standard, good jam.

Fee: Cool jam, effects heavy. Very heady. First of many great jams of the winter tour! ->

Taste: Trey DESTROYS this in the late 8’s and early 9’s. Trilling and machine gun. Sweet! Ending is iffy.

Bathtub Gin: So, I cashed everything in that I could to do this entire tour. Job, everything. At 15:54 in this Gin, I knew I had made the right choice. 19 years later, I look back and love the decision. Incredible Gin, the definition of hose jamming. Incredible.

Heavy Things: LOL, they earned the right to play this one. Standard version.

Golgi Apparatus: Standard.

SET 2: Possum: Honestly? This is a great version for this era. It smokes.

Walls of the Cave: Absolute powerhouse, an all timer to be sure. Love the last 7 minutes of this. Amazing headspace. ->

Carini: Pretty rough segue out of WOTC.

All of These Dreams: Standard.

Limb By Limb: Big, old droning wall of sound built up in this one.

The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony: Well, this was certainly unexpected. >

AC/DC Bag: Stupid stage crasher “I love you Missy!!!” In the late 5’s they seem committed to taking this one Type II. Really cool stuff in here especially from Mike and Fish. This just never develops into too much though. ->

Prince Caspian: I remember being so disappointed when this started up and eventually realizing it would close the set, what a buzz kill. Out of the gate it is played at a very slow speed.

ENCORE: Loving Cup: Played very slow. Standard other than that.

Replay value/Summary: Fee, Taste, Gin, Walls. Not sure what happened in that second set. All downhill after Walls. But, there are some significant highlights with two all timers – Gin and Walls. Pretty good tour opener. I would go with a 3.8 out of 5. AC/DC Bag is a charted version but I just don’t see/hear it. Would never actively seek it out myself or recommend it.

Great tour opener. A fun debut leads into a ripping version of Chalk Dust Torture. Tension and release is huge here. Fee has a very nice ambient jam that leads into a well played Taste. The Gin is magnificent, building to one of the band's most blissful peaks. It's mesmerizing and, in my opinion, one of the finest readings of the tune in its history.

The Possum 2nd set opener shreds and contains more high energy peak jamming, calling back to the earlier Chalk Dust. The Walls of the Cave that follows is a truly remarkable, dark, and intense thrill ride that will have you on the edge of your seat until it slams into Carini. Such a fitting landing pad. Listen to this jam. The rest of the show is rather standard, save for a stage jumper interrupting the "no future at all" segment of the Bag, and a pretty hot Loving Cup encore.

Overall this show is definitely worth checking out, it's very fun. Gin and WotC -> Carini will blow you away.

Not a bad way to kick off a tour!!!

My Sweet One carries on a cute little Valentines tone. Cover of The Rolling Stone is a cool debut (although kind of a dark foreboding anthem of what was to come in the next few years). The jam out of fee is excellent, a great little warm up jam. Fantastic segue into Taste. Great Taste with some fantastic drum work by Fish. Gin goes into a nice tranquil jam. Not your typical Gin hose jam, it goes into a nice happy melody with a nice peaky ending. Nice segue into Caspian.

Overall a fantastic show.

Strong Possum to start the 2nd set. Strong Walls of the cave that swiftly goes down the rabbit hole. Trey is gnarly tone shoots through a dark groove. Then it dips into some mellow and pleasant ground. The segue into Carini is fantastic and unique. Strong Bag with the infamous stage crasher confessing his love for valentines day. It also has a nice Fish led jam coming out of it.

Valentine's Day Phish. I bought this show online and skipped to the Gin and Golgi right away.

Taste> Gin Heavy Things is good but if you're short on time check out Carini instead.

Possum isn't like Phish circa 1980 but I'm not complaining. Walls of the Cave is the reason everyone came to that night. A musical library gem. They encored with Loving Cup a coming to full circle move on their performance, as they opened with a roaring drum lick and blunt harmonized vocals. Page is then introduced properly, the band isn't just backing up Trey.

This concert offers a lot of Pagehose and if Mike's tucked bass can't convince you to listen to this little pocket of winter tour nothing will.

Fee has an absolutely GORGEOUS outro jam with especially melodic playing from Mike, soulful piano work from Page, and some beautiful melodies from Trey. Eventually Page heads to the clav and synth for some funkier and then spacier fills while Trey continues to build his solo while Fish pounds away on the drums and Mike continues his absolutely stellar melodies throughout this song. The segue into Taste is very smooth. Taste featured sound playing from all 4 members. I thought Fishman particularly shown during this song.

Some swear by this Gin, and it reaches a magnificent peak at the end, but I don't think it is fully deserving of all the credit and attention it gets. In my opinion the REAL highlight of the show is the incredible Walls > Carini, All of These Dreams run in the first half of the second set. (I include All of These Dreams because it's a beautiful ballad). I'm a sucker for Walls of the Cave - I love it. I love any Phish song that mixes complex composition with improvisational experimentation like this particular version does. I also love Page's powerful piano chords to open up the song. The composed section of this version is a little rough in places, but the jam more than makes up for it. The first half of the jam is full of organ swells and gritty uncompressed guitar, but this eventually fades into a sparser jam with more delicate soloing by Trey and absolutely beautiful playing by Mike. This segues into a sloppy but powerful Carini. I love Trey's maniacal solo in this song. Though it doesn't reach the improvisational heights the song has been taken to in recent 3.0 renditions, the brief jam is menacing. Next up is All of These Dreams - a beautiful ballad in my opinion - which includes a rather soulful solo from Trey.

This show marks the beginning of a prolific period of 2.0 highlights, and while I don't think it's as strong a show overall as some of the following shows of the Feb. 03 tour, it's highlights definitely place among the best of the tour.

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

My wife Mia and I hit the road from the Bay Area on Thursday the 13th, destination: Phish in LA on the 14th (Valentine's Day!) and then in Las Vegas on the 15th and 16th, for the first three nights of their first tour since ending the Hiatus.
We left the night before because its a six to seven hour drive in best conditions, but we had our two girls with us (three and one half years and four months), making it an eight hour drive that can fray everyone's nerves. We hit the halfway point and our Motel 6 about 10:30 p.m., primed for some great sleep to rest up for the weekend. We got some sleep, hit LA by noon the next day and went to my Mom's house in suburban Palos Verdes (coastal LA County), where our girls would spend the weekend with their grandparents. I grabbed a half hour power nap, and by 4:00 p.m. we were off to the Great Western Forum with my brother and his girlfriend driving in their car. We hooked up seamlessly with our large group of Santa Barbara based friends at their hotel about a mile from the Forum -  Greg, Cory G, Rick and Leigh Ann, and Paul M, who would be in our crew for Vegas, and a special treat with Corey L and Jenn J for LA only (and sitting in our section). We were quickly off to the lot.
The first thing I noticed in the lot was that people couldn't sell extras; they were offering under face value and not getting takers. Apparently there was a sizeable ticket release just a few hours before show time. The lot was pretty full of people, but kinda subdued for a tour opener.
Most of us had reserved seats, so we didn't hurry in. My (other) little brother though was among those with general-admission floor seats, so he got in line when the gates opened, and he called to tell me he was about thirtieth in line. When we got inside, we found him on the rail, right in front of Trey and Page's space...nice. We got to watch him bob his head and grin from our seats all night.
Our seats were pretty solid, we had six together in a line, in the lower sections about twenty rows up straight sideways from Page's piano. There was a great view of the band, floor, and light show. Plus plenty of space to move and to welcome in other friends who stubbed in.
Another interesting note is that we got to our seats around 8:00 p.m. (show time was listed for 7:30 PM.), and the place was still half empty, even the floor. It mostly filled in later, but it was not standing room only.
Finally at 8:30 PM (!) the lights dropped. You know that amazing feeling when the lights cut out, you swear you can hear the big switch being
thrown, and all that's left is the stage bathed in soft purple light.
Let's get this show on the road!
Mike came out in a big white Fedora, and he looked hysterical. He kept it on for about two songs. We always like to try to pick the first tune, but no one guessed "My Sweet One"....of course, Valentine's Day!
The encore was the best of the three nights, as the band nodded once more to Valentine's Day with a scorching "Loving Cup". Back on Phish mini-tour with my Valentine -  oh, what a beautiful buzz!
It took a while to get out of the lot. Several clutch quesadillas and a root beer helped things out. Big thumbs down to the Inglewood/LA police department for circling a helicopter over the crowd no sooner than one half hour after the last notes of the encore (about when we got to our car), instructing people to vacate the premises. We were all in a gridlocked line of cars trying to do just that. Settle down guys. You don't want half of these people driving just yet, anyway.
Of course coming out of the show we were all smiles, it had indeed been a good show. But now that show is paling in comparison, and fading in memory, after what happened in Vegas -  where Phish dropped the BOMB.

Interesting tour opener with My Sweet One but it fits vibe for Valentine's Day. Cover of A Rolling Stone is fun little nod but the set really gets going with CDT and a nice type 1 jam with good energy. Of course the big highlights are Fee > Taste > Gin. Man, when Fee jams are good they are GOOD. Speckles and sparkly. Taste is definitely above average but I wasn't going crazy about it. The storied Gin lives up to the hype! I see a lot of similarities between this and the Went Gin. More of a vibe than anything I can put into words. I'll say that the Went Gin was the culmination of an entire summer tour and festival whereas this Gin is in set 1 of the tour opener! Heavy Things and Golgi close things out in a fine fashion. Phish is back, baby!
Possum comes out swinging with a very well played average-great version to kick off the set. WOTC in its second ever appearance gets an extended type 1 jam followed by a cool ambient digression and mellow jam. This kind of pattern would pop up a lot in big '03 jams. An old school Carini is next and its loud and fiery like any old school Carini should be. From here the set kinda loses a lot of energy. AOTD is a nice little break but LxL comes out a bit sloppy (it sounds like Fish couldn't quite remember the beat). Bag seems to restart the energy but instead gets really quiet. It's cool in isolation but feels a bit weird. Caspian as well remains subdued rather the power ballad form it took in '99-'00. Overall the set starts strong and kinda peters out.

2.0 Phish is among the most distinctly recognizable eras for a few reasons: Trey's gritty guitar tone, some rough-around the edges compositional execution, deep groove-based improvisation, and a few odd new tunes. On the whole, there are relatively few shows that hit the level of consistency through both sets that the band was hitting more frequently in the '93-'99 years. But boy when they hit, they hit.

We get a taste of that here with the Winter 2003 opener, which arguably kicked off 2.0 in earnest (though the New Year's Run has some highlights too). Set 1 opens with some fun tunes, including a new cover to celebrate the band's upcoming magazine showcase. The Fee outro jam leans more on the percussive and rhythmic side than some of the heavily ambient versions from '98-'99, serving things up nicely for a Taste that begins contemplative but bursts with energy by the end. With no rest for the wicked, Bathtub Gin carries the heat (the first of many fantastic 2003 Gins). This is a great example of what phans mean when they distinguish between a Trey solo and a full-band jam: every member pulls their weight in laying into the groove and building to a textbook hose peak. Pure celebration on all parts. Heavy Things and Golgi are pretty standard, but it's worth noting that Fishman just crushes this whole set. He takes every opportunity he can to be completely expressive in his drumming (just listen to the drums on Bathtub Gin to hear what I'm talking about).

Possum has an interesting ebb and flow of energy as it works toward its peak in an indirect, nonlinear path. The band is playing with the waters as they slip into Set 2. But the second-ever performance of WotC indicates no hesitation as the band dives head first into a meaty jam that turns quite Type II in its final few minutes. The -> to Carini is pretty cool, if not perfectly executed. All of These Dreams is a sweet cooldown before we head into a really sweet LxL. Trey's droning guitar sets a chaotic soundscape upon which you can really focus on Page, Mike, and Fish. It's a unique one, and you might miss the soaring Machine Gun Trey typically present in the tune, but it's worth listening for any fan of the rhythm section. The final real highlight of the show is a cool AC/DC Bag, notable not only for the stage-jumper's surprising Valentine's Day message, but also for its beautifully subdued, percussive jam. While Trey and Fish work the backdrop, Page and Mike have some really nice gentle moments in the front. The melt into Caspian is nicely done, and the appropriate Loving Cup encore bears some nice gusto that would be indicative of some great versions later in the tour.

Upon relistening, I think this show deserves a a higher rating; it should probably be safely in the low 4's rather than barely over the mark. In any event, it's certainly a foreboding beginning to one of the coolest tours/years of the band's music.