Vintage Phish: 7/29/2003 Post Gazette Pavilion At Star Lake, Burgettstown, PA
After a fantastic summer and fall run, I’ve been reflecting on some of the songs Phish brought back to life. In my opinion, one of the recurring themes this year was the back catalog. We saw several songs that had been dropped from the repertoire brought back in to everyone’s delight. I can’t name them all of the top of my head, but “Destiny Unbound,” “Peaches En Regalia,” “Walk Away,” “Uncle Pen,” “Nellie Kane,” “Weigh,” — all these and more resurfaced this year, making the number of individual songs played in 2009 more than most years (I think 1998 beats it though).
At any rate, it makes me think of the Burgettstown 2003 show. The night before this gig, the band members all received iPods with their entire catalog loaded in. They decided to play a show of rarities, showcasing songs that had not been played all tour, or even longer (this would roll over into night one of Camden as well). For those in attendance, this would prove to be “one of those nights.” Set one opened with the spiritual, “Daniel Saw The Stone,” last heard in Italy 1997. Page dominates on the organ and the band takes a mini vocal jam before going right back into it. “Camel Walk” followed, allowing the band to get funky. Later on in the set, the band takes a quick jam out of “Fee” before Trey plays the opening notes of “Timber.”
Set 2 would prove to be a monster. Opening with the Talking Heads’ “Crosseyed And Painless,” the band used this as a jamming vehicle which carried on over 25 minutes before dissolving into “Thunderhead.” “Brother” kept the energy going, but it was “Harpua” that kicked everything into overdrive. “Harpua” had been unheard since the infamous Dark Side Of The Moon version of Utah 1998. This time around, Jimmy was older, and reminiscing about his life and his searching for IT. This opened the gates for Fishman to debut the Elvin Bishop classic, “I Fooled Around And Fell In Love.” “Bowie” would end the set and a fitting “Farmhouse” encore sent everyone home with stories to tell.
Setlist:
I: Daniel Saw The Stone, Camel Walk, Gotta Jibboo, Cool It Down, Scent Of A Mule, Fee > Timber > When The Circus Comes, McGrupp And The Watchful Hosemasters, Golgi Apparatus
II: Crosseyed And Painless > Thunderhead, Brother, Harpua > Bittersweet Motel > Harpua > I Fooled Around And Fell In Love > Hold Your Head Up > Harpua, David Bowie
E: Farmhouse
download the show here.
