[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.

Read more...