7-12-03 - The Gorge, George, WA

please review the show, not the other reviews....

Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 19:36:33 -0700
From: eric tipton 
Subject: Phish 7/12/03 review 

from Phish.net: 7/12/03 - Gorge Amphitheatre - George, Washington

Set 1: Taste, Mexican Cousin, Stash, NICU, Heavy Things, Mock Song*, Army
of One**, Maze

Set 2: Piper, Two Versions of Me*, Tweezer***, Dogs Stole Things, Water
in the Sky, Ghost, David Bowie

Encore: Frankenstein, Tweezer Reprise

* debut; ** first time played by Phish, Vida Blue original; *** ?



The trek from Shoreline was oh so worth it. Quite the scenic drive from
NorCal. We finally made it to on-site camping around 2am on 7/12. There
were still lots of John Mayer/Counting crows patrons in the campgrounds
and those that were still awake seemed to be plenty intoxicated. I have
never seen so many people aside from a DMB show that seemed to be getting
drunk for the first time in their lives. Yee haw.

Within five minutes of pulling into a spot and exiting the car, LMSYEM
found a little friend from the John Mayer contingent. Please feel free to
ask him about his newfound "friend." LOL!!!! Atta boy Lee, we are all
real proud of you son! Tony/Malcolm: why the hell did we not get a pic?!

We camped w/ a plethora of phookers: leonard, marshy1243, junkbondking,
jasongladys, along4theride plus the 4 of us. It was great to finally meet
and party w/ Gladys (already met Rebecca last year, so good to see you
again). All I can tell you is Klingons can fucking party.

So junkbondking (and I think Leonard and Melissa too) went in real early
and reserved a sweet spot for all of us on the terraces (thanks dudes and
dudette). Tons of room to dance and get down. Many thanks for saving that
you guys.

What can I say? the Gorge is a spiritual place to see a show. I had been
here before for the Phish '99 run. However I made the trek by myself and
it just wasn't the same as being w/ a big group of friends. To the Gorge
gang: this is the best experience I have had since we had our whole
college "family" together at Deer Creek in 97. Everything just felt
right. Soun d Cheesy? Yup. But that is the truth. Anywho, onto the show.

First set:

Taste: Interesting selection as the opener, I think this may well have
been the first time I've seen this tune open a show. Solid version though
I think Chula's is a bit better.

Mexican Cousin: Good spot for it (i.e. not an encore). Smiles all around.

Stash: Like Phoenix, a good Stash but nothing mind blowing here. Love
Stash this early in the first set.

NICU: Sweet! [blockquote] Nice evening at home that I dread even more
[/blockquote] Woo hoo! No place I'd rather be than the Gorge!

Heavy Things: If they are going to play it, this is the place for it -
mid first set.

Mock Song: Concert debut.

Army of One: Phish debut, Vida Blue tune. Nice vocals by Page but not a
big fan of this tune.

Maze: Too dang long for my tastes. This one meandered, lost momentum and
didn't have the blitzkrieg ending that I am used to. Still a good set
closer, I was wondering when they would play Maze this tour.

Setbreak: First set highlights: Hmmm, they were few and far between. A
fun set but nothing crazy or groundbreaking. I would say no songs in the
first set grabbed me. My highlight was boogeying w/ a bunch of cool
people and watching the sun go down on this amazing venue.

Second set:

Piper: Ah the boys mean business now! Excellent opener and a nice reward
for the people that traveled from near and wide. Very good Piper that did
not quite match the Shoreline Piper yet still very good in it's own
right.

Two versions of Me: Concert debut. Very nice new song, I instantly loved
the harmonizing vocals and lyrics. This would turn out to be my favorite
of the new songs behind Scents.

Tweezer: Now we are talking! Excellent choice after what had just
preceded it. Like Chula, another relatively short, succint and to the
point Tweezer. I really thought I heard some Free teases in here but no
mention on Phish.net. No boring spacey jams, just the 4 fellas bringing
some heat. Nice Tweezer! I have this seguing into Dogs Stole Things,
Phish.net does not. Bah! >

Dogs Stole Things: Man did I ever think they were going to bust out a
Jesus Left Chicago here. Both intros are relatively similiar but I was a
little suprised to hear Dogs emerge (not sure if I have ever seen this in
a second set before). No worries, the segue I thought was sweet - very
tight. I must say this is the best Dogs I have heard, be it live or on
tape. Trey was just smoking on this one - damn! I was a bit in awe when
this one was over so I wasn't to bummed w/ the next selection.

Water in the Sky: wierd placement. Standard I thought.

Ghost: Ladies and Gentleman please buckle your seatbelts. No loop intro
to this Ghost. This one starts quietly as do all Ghost's w/out the delay
intro and I think it caught a lot of people off guard. Crowd goes nuts as
they figure it out. This Ghost is just friggin' crazy people. 18-19
minutes of no let up whatsoever. No space, no ambience. Just 4 guys up on
stage doing what they know best, shredding like madmen. This Ghost will
surely go down in the books as one of the best. Pure Phish at their
collective best here.

Bowie: Wow! Take no prisoners attitude by the band here. Like the Phoenix
Bowie, nothing w/in it seems to crazy. The composed intro to the song
sure was alot more tight than the botched AZ version I will tell you that
much. Strong Bowie to close out on hell of a second set. This set would
end up being my favorite of the 4 Washington sets, no doubt in my mind.

Encore:

Frankenstein: Hell yeah! No let up at all. I love this cover and what
they do w/ it. This one was definitely torqueing on my reality helmet.

Tweezer Reprise: Everyone knew it was coming and welcomed the opening
notes to it. Nice and subdued glow stick war upfront. That's right, no
one whipped any at the stage or soundboard or taper's section. The west
coast knows what's up!

Second set highlights: Piper, Tweezer>Dogs Stole, GHOST. The Ghost was
one of the better versions I have seen. Sick.

Nice show and had a wonderful time w/ good friends. The best part? We got
to do it all over again the next day! Woo hoo! It was nice meeting
clearerphish I believe before first set (or was it the next day?). These
things tend to run together for me but very nice meeting you Patrick. The
next day I met many a phooker - review tomorrow.

Edit - I give this show a 7 on the Tipton-o-meter.



peace,


et




Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2003 01:11:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ryan Ainsworth 
Subject: 7-12-03  Gorge Amp. 

FIrst off...The Gorge has to be the best place to see a concert. The venue and
weather couldn't have been better....the show...
�
Taste...not the explosive opener everyone was hoping for but the jam turned
pretty good in the end
�
Mex. Cousin...not a big fan of this song but kind of a cool song to hear live
�
Stash...yes!!�� Trey and Page kind of took over this jam and it turned pretty
vicious.
�
NICU...my first time hearing this..I love any song that Mike sings in
�
Heavy Things....this jam turned really good with Mike thumping along hard the
whole time...I love the ending to this song too.
�
Mock Song...I'm not a big fan of the slow stuff off "Round Room" but it's nice
to hear it live
�
Army Of One...I had no clue what this was...good vocals from Page.
�
Maze...the sunset during this song was unbelievable....from this song on, the
rest of the weekend was sick....very, very funky Maze...great set ender
�
Set II
Piper...great song to open a set with...Trey was kind of in his own world a lot
of the second set...and the other three just kind of rode along
�
2 Versions Of Me....very cool song...I really like the lyrics to this...hope
they play it more in the future.
�
Tweezer...this version was pretty standard at first then Fishman picked up the
pace and the jam turned pretty funky.
�
Dogs Stole...I've always liked this song and was excited to hear it live.
�
Water...incredible!!� this was probably the longest and best version of Water
that I've heard....not sure on the time but they jammed it out...great playing
by Page.
�
Ghost....I kind of knew we'd hear a Ghost this weekend because they hadn't
played it yet, and it didn't dissapoint...very funky Ghost..Mike was laying
down some sick bass lines.
�
>Bowie...wow! I really wasn't expecting this Bowie...the jam was pretty
standard with the ending getting really fast paced...and the lights kept up
with the pace...Kuroda is a genius.
�
Encore:
Frankenstein>Tweezer Reprise.....I love Frankenstein as an encore and the
Tweezer Reprise was a good way to end the night.
�
The first set started out kind of slow but they really caught fire during the
Maze and never let up the rest of the night.


Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2003 22:59:27 -0800
From: Alan Tenenbaum 
Subject: 7-12-03 - The Gorge, George, WA
�
1st time at the Gorgeous Gorge and catching a show on the West coast and all
I can say is WOW. To tell you the truth, I've never been a phan of the
outdoor summer shows primarily because I don't dig 1st sets in the sun minus
the phull Kuroda kick. But this venue makes the 1st set a blast to be part
of! Songs like Mexican Cousin/NICU/Heavy Things were more than a pleasure to
groove too as I faced the beautiful scenery.
1st set highlight was the Maze that derailed from its course into Type II
territory that was mindbending. I tell ya, my friend and I heard some Dave's
Energy Guide teases coming out of this and it seemed to be the Type II Theme
thrown around throughout the 2nd set (and which had been confirmed in my mind
with the David Bowie set closer)!
2nd set was all good! Even the Dogs Stole Things (which had a nice segue if I
recall) was rockin'! The highlight no doubt was the dank GHOST with deep
funk, and type II madness.

Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 17:27:15 -0500
From: Jeff frawley 
Subject: 7/12/03 review

7/12/03 Gorge Amphitheatre
George, Washington


This couldn't have been a more pleasurable weekend!  Incredible weather, great 
venue of course, and a scene that I found to be- in contrast to the February 
shows I saw- relaxed, friendly, and more about the Phish show than the 
different types of Molly going around (not that there wasn't still a 
ridiculous amount of drug talk).  To the show:
I usually like song-by-song reviews of shows, but to be quite honest, the 
first set of the first night featured few songs truly worth reviewing�kind of 
a surprise considering the venue the band was playing at.  Strangely, Taste 
opened and was a great way to get things going.  Other than that, there were 
two jams to speak of: Stash and Maze.  The Stash I found to be enjoyable, but 
I saw many die-hard Stash fans shrugging their shoulders in indifference at 
set break.  Too bad�I thought it was just spacey enough at some points and 
just rocking enough by the end�short, though.  I guess Army of One is worth 
mentioning at least.  Vida Blue tune, so obviously featured some nice Page 
vocals, but was bluesy and slow, and if I remember, kind of corny lyric-wise.  
Then there was the Maze!  Great, long, intense Maze, with a never-ending 
string of peaks, followed by distortion, followed by more peaks to blast us 
into set break.  The floor was going nuts!  Incredible pink sunset right above 
the landscape as the boys left for break.  As I said, the majority of the meat 
of this set was slow and not really worth hearing, but if you for some reason 
seek out the set, listen to the Maze (and maybe the Stash) over and over!

Set 2:  In contrast to the 1st set, this one was chalk-full of great 
selections and long jams�and oh yeah- GHOST!!!

Piper- Very shocking, considering it had just appeared two shows ago.  Trey 
started it up right away, and in terms of the lyric section, the shortest 
Piper I've ever heard.  They got right to the jam, and it really took off.  
Some very heavy chording by Trey- reminiscent of the heavier, Trey-lead rock 
jamming I found to be typical of the Feb. tour.  This jam was fast, loud, and 
seemed to get more and more so until they died down at almost 16 minutes.  
Good way to start the set off; kind of floated into

Two Versions of Me- While it felt like the energy completely left at the start 
of this debut, I enjoyed this tune from start to finish.  I really liked the 
chorus and lyric outro, some soulful singing by Trey.  I wish I remembered a 
bit more about the jam�I thought it was beautiful yet very powerful at the 
same time�kind of like Scents and Subtle Sounds jam.  Good lights, good 
follow-up to a heavy Piper.

Tweezer- I went nuts�had yet to see it since the break, and I've been 
listening to a shitload of Tweezers lately, really wanting to hear it at the 
Gorge.  This one was fantastic, much much funkier and more focused than the 
Tweezers they've played since being back (very pleasing considering that most 
of the Tweezers I've been listening to are '97 ones).  Right at the start of 
the jam, Trey threw down some riffs that indicated a loud, funky version.  The 
sound got heavier and the riffs more repetitive as the jam developed, and soon 
enough, we no longer had a dark funk jam, but an explosive, driving, beat led 
by Trey's descending blues riffs.  The jam got quite intense, but quickly 
dropped into a steady pace, almost hinting at a Walk Away (much of this jam 
reminded me of the Alpine 2000 Tweezer, which of course went into WA), and 
then the tempo slowed to a 12 bar blues pace, and they masterfully key-changed 
into

Dogs Stole- great transition, with little more than a slight head-turn from 
Trey to Mike!!  The place went nuts.  It had been a while, so glad to hear 
this one.

Water in the Sky- Not the best placement, but a great jam in this one.  As far 
as I know, the 7/10/99 H2O in the Sky is the only one to go anywhere really, 
and this one blew that version out of the water.  Very crisp builds by Trey 
and fun piano work by Page�about an eight minute version, kept the intensity, 
but we knew we needed something more open-ended.

Ghost- Thank you thank you thank you!!  Again, the new Ghosts' intros rise up 
without warning and without loops, and I love how it takes about 5 full 
seconds for the crowd to realize the song's emergence, and then explode.  They 
still can't get the re-intro (right before going into the jam) down and on the 
same beat, but oh well.  This jam was mind-blowing!  Started like the other 2 
Ghosts since the break�rather straight ahead slightly faster, but this one 
definitely had a little more funk and swagger to it.  I was enjoying it, and 
then started to realize the jam was really building to a climax; pretty soon, 
we were submerged in a screeching, full-fledged rock jam with Trey laying some 
ear-piercing licks over very strange synthesizer effects from Page.  The tempo 
kept getting faster and the lights crazier and the solos higher until the 
whole amphitheatre felt like it was going to explode.  Maybe the greatest peak 
I've ever heard in a Ghost, at least in terms of sheer energy and intensity 
(both band and crowd), and the boys kept pushing it higher and louder!  After 
about 17 minutes, they came back down to the Ghost funk and ended the 
song�jaw-dropping jam and maybe the best thing I've heard them do since the 
hiatus.  I heard some comments that it was sloppy, but I thought they kept it 
together even during the most ridiculous peaks, and that they crafted an 
unbelievable, machine-like sound out of the momentum.

Bowie- Just glad we got another song after the Ghost.  Not an incredible Bowie 
by any means�rather short and unfocused, but the lights and the visible energy 
of the crowd after the Ghost made this Bowie seem pretty good.

Encore:
Frankenstein- Fun encore, probably the first good one I've actually witnessed 
in some time�high energy maintained.
Tweeprise- Rather short Tweeprise, but they were just going nuts�especially 
Trey.  A mini-glow ring war on the floor, one of the few appropriate and 
functional ones I've ever seen, really added to close the show with a bang.
Overall, a good show fueled by a very good second set�maybe the best set since 
they've been back, but I'm hesitant to say that because it could just be the 
Gorge talking.  If there wasn't a show the next night, I might have been 
pissed that the 1st set was so blah.  But man that Ghost�  
 
 
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 22:04:53 -0700 From: nathan 
Subject: 7-12-03 Gorge Review


Very interesting show.� This was my first time at the Gorge so I wasn’t
sure what to expect as far as the venue is concerned.� Great place to see a
show.� The sound was amazing and the crowd was very cool, not invading each
others space etc. Anyways, on with the music:

First set: Rather then going song by song I’ll just give some
highlights.� Trey seemed to be off in his own world at times during the first
set in particular and even some in the second set.� He also seemed at a loss
for notes at times.� Not to say I didn’t enjoy his playing, cause I
really did, it was just weird.� “First Mock Song” �live was
decent.� Not a song that evokes a lot of excitement, but “Its Just A
Mock Song”.� Page showed off his vocal finesse in the debut of
“Army of One”.� Wasn’t a crowd pleaser per say but is a
well written song.� Maze was just SICK.� I've never heard a Maze quite like
this one. �During Page’s build up, trey was throwing out all sorts of
trippy weird counter points and interacting with Page.� Very Cool.� When it
was Trey’s turn, things turned weird again. �It almost made it to a
crescendo when Trey brought it back down and directed it into an unseen
corridor of the Maze.� Eventually they made there way back into the build up,
but never reached a huge crescendo.� Interesting first set.�

Second Set: Started off right away into some high energy with
“Piper”. Things once again got weird in a Phishy way before
morphing into a new Trey song called “Two Versions of Me”.� This
thought provoking song started off a bit loose, with the four locking up a
bit later in, and turning it into quite a pretty song.� I enjoyed it.
�Interesting note: at one point Trey turns around and says something to Jon.�
Mike looks at Jon as if to ask “what did Trey want?” and then Jon
shrugs as if to say “the hell if I know”.� It struck me as quite
humorous. �Then into Tweezer.� Funky and fun with some interesting places as
usual, which morphed into “Dog Stole Things”.� Then “Water
in the Sky”.� Very tight.� I love this song.� Then “Ghost”
Yea.� I love this funky song and so did the entire crowd.� Got dark and
weird, not as funky as usual but altogether a fun listen.� Now what…
Bowie.� YES what a way to end the set.� The tension and release crescendo was
awesome as usual, with Trey really pushing the limits.�

Encore: I knew there had to be a “Tweezer Reprise” but what
first.� BAM. They hit us hard with the opening riffs of
“Frankenstein”.� By far my favorite Phish cover.� They played it
perfect as usual before going into a very powerful “Tweezer Reprise.
“� The crowd was just going nuts with glow sticks flying and all.� What
a way to end an amazing second set.

All in all I liked the second set more then the first. I really love
Trey’s new tone through his Fender combos.� Very raw.� He did seem to
be in his own world a lot during the show, but this often brought the music
into some interesting places.� Definitely worth getting a copy of.� Nateful


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