There's no doubt that the quality of the Hampton 03 shows lands them on the lower end of the scale, which makes sense with them being "warm-up" shows and all, but this third night is pretty good and you'll likely find it to be the best of the bunch. I like the setlsit construction of both sets well enough, and there is good improvisation to be found without having any huge jams. Roggae and Maze are both really good in the first set. The second set all flows rather well, and I'm a big fan of Mountains in the Mist, so its unusual placement in the middle of Mike's Groove is a plus for me. I really like the set-closer slot for 2001, despite this being the only instance in which it occurred. You may scoff at the Friday encore but this debut version features a nicely extended guitar solo that has not been topped since in my opinion.

Still, this is a 3 star show, and the February tour is when 2.0 gets rolling in earnest. If you're looking to hear a show from the infancy of the post-hiatus period, 1/4/03 is the best option.

I can't believe that this show is rated so low. I lost the cds to this show years ago but it has always been one of my favorites. I had a driving job at the time and would listen to this show over and over again.

Highlights for me are the SOAM to end set 1 (sloppy, sloppy, good!) and the Mike's groove with a Mountains filling. I absolutely love Mountains in the Mist and personally think this song does not get played enough. I love the placement of the song and it reminds me a bit of Feels Like Rain from Grateful Dead's Without a Net album.

The best part of the show for me is the Groove into What's the Use?. What's the Use is very underplayed. I would take this song at each and every show.

Friday encore didn't do it for me but seriously, this show is a must listen. I know there are better 03 shows like 2-28 and 8-3 but 1-4 should at least be in the conversation with great shows from this year. Give it a listen before disagreeing!

The interesting thing about these Hampton show is that there's no real progression throughout each night. And there's no real feeling of the guys "settling in" or "getting comfortable". But if you look around you'll see some goodies sprinkled throughout.

Llama does what Llama does best. Boogie on has a very nice but very short jam, it's a pretty great deal at 7 and a half minutes! Roggae has a gorgeous soaring section, unfortunately the transition back is extremely sloppy on Trey's part. Maze is great. Bouncing is a standout among most post 94 versions, I like lots of Page. SOAM is evil and chaotic like you would like it to be to cap things off.

Rock and Roll although a little stretched out does nothing for me. Mike's song on the other hand does. It's peak as hell and just a powerful version. Mountains in the Mist is nice filling for Mike's Groove. The transition into Weekapaug is awkward to say the least, but soon all is forgotten as we are taken for a ripping ride. DWD is peaky and good. The rest of the set is fairly straight forward.

Friday get's it's debut and hate it or love it, it's melancholy nature works well in this encore slot to end the NYE/Hampton run. To me it does at least.

For me, this closer of the post-NYE '03 Hampton Run is average-great but largely unremarkable--I don't consider this Roggae a noteworthy jam, for one--outside of the Weekapaug > What's the Use? The Weekapaug features some Whammy'd staccato picking from Trey that is highly engaging, and What's the Use? is a great landing pad, although seen with more frequency in these past few years than some phans would apparently prefer. Outside in, we have two debuts in Anything But Me and Friday, the latter of which I must concur is quizzical as an encore choice, the former of which is another of the languid ballads that really get me right in the feels. This feels like a mostly run-of-the-mill average-great Phish show to me, with a setlist stacked in favor of favorites, and only a few songs past the 10-minute mark. (Well, honestly, seven of them, which in a show where only 18 songs were played is over a third of them, but anyway!) I like the show, but I don't think I'll return to it often.

I liked this show upon first listen. Like most of this period it has some rough edges but they were clearly on the same page this night and they landed some sweet grooves. The magic comes in unexpected places.

The Mike's>Mountains>'Paug>What's the Use is nasty, wicked and sweet all at the same time.

Very happy to own this one. It will be played often.

SET 1: Llama: Some fire out of the gate.

Boogie On Reggae Woman: Very funky and fun, Page rules the roost.

Roggae: Stash tease at 6:44. I like this Roggae, has a good jam, but I wouldn’t seek it out in the future.

Maze: Tons of tension built up – very impressive with a solid climax.

Anything But Me: Standard.

Ya Mar: Very energetic version. This is a charted version that says, and quote “This one will make you weep with joy” LOL. I did not weep for joy but I did enjoy this version. Not only is this version charted, but it’s also highlighted in yellow. It’s a good version, but I believe .net has this one as overrated. IMHO.

Saw It Again: Nice, I love this tune! This one doesn’t go beyond what is typical but had to be intense in the moment.

Bouncing Around the Room: Standard.

Split Open and Melt: Sound issue's right out of the gate, briefly though. Composed section is slop. In the late 7/early 8 minute range things get super weird with lots of loops and droning. This goes on for about a minute. At the 9-minute mark Trey comes back as leading the jam with licks here and there. Unfortunately, there is essentially no tension built up in this one so the release is totally meh. Not great.

SET 2: Rock and Roll: Straight ahead rager, nice way to open the last set of the run. >

Mike's Song: Pretty solid Mike’s right here. Has a good amount of sustained intensity. >

Mountains in the Mist: Oops, can’t go into Simple, already played that. >

Weekapaug Groove: Lots of low key funk. Love the space they get to in the later 7’s and early 8’s. Very cool stuff. Nice theme created at 8:30, Fishman is killing it here. It get nice and weird in the late 8’s. As this winds down they almost get into the same groove that turned into Kung out of Drowned at 7.25.03 – check it out! >

What's the Use? -- Thought the transition here was pretty cool. >

Down with Disease: Pebbles and Marbles tease at 7:30. ->

Fast Enough for You: Cool transition out of DWD, nice and patient to make that one happen. Exceptionally rare to get FEFY this deep in a second set, although the last time it was played (9.23.00) it was played in almost the same slot. The Leslie gets busted out in this one at 6:50. Pretty good version!

Also Sprach Zarathustra: Standard. Trey thanks everyone for the last 4 shows, etc etc.

ENCORE: Friday: Standard.

Replay Value/Summary: This is a tame show, the weakest of the 4. Maze and Weekapaug I would revisit. Outside of that, not a lot of meat on the bone. Don’t think they had much left in the tank after likely many hard partying nights in a row. Winter tour looms. I would rate this as a 3.5 out of 4.

Set 1 Highlights: Llama, Roggae (Standout Version), Maze, Split Open and Melt

Set 2 Highlights: Mike's Song > Mountains in the Mist > Weekapaug Groove (Standout Jam) > What's the Use? > Down with Disease -> Fast Enough for You

The final night of Phish's return from an over two year hiatus roars out of the speakers with one of Phish's best opener in Llama (2/2 across openers with last night). This version gets the show started in an aggressive manner before the band drops into Boogie On Reggae Woman which is met with a great crowd response. Boogie On sees the band flowing into a slightly extended funky jam. An absolutely wall-shattering Roggae comes next and I can't even put how pretty this one is into words, just listen to it. A rocking Maze shows up next and gets the Coliseum audibly rocking again. Standard versions of Anything but Me, Ya Mar, Saw It Again and Bouncing follow before one of my favorite set closers rears it's gnarly, dissonant head: Melt. This version of Melt is an excellent set closer and gets into some very chaotic space beyond the Melt jam itself. Overall, an interesting set with fantastic bookends and some great and meh in between. Rock and Roll kicks off the final set of the Run and gets and extended Type-I workout before dropping right into Mike's Song. This is an unusual Mike's Song that struck me as pretty gnarly in terms of Trey's phrasing and it completely excludes the usual ending and transitions into the second jam only briefly as an ambient bridge into Mountains in the Mist. I'm usually averse to having a non-Simple/H2 song in the middle of Mike's Groove but something about how gnarly that Mike's felt to me and how well done that transition was made it perfect. An absolutely earth-crushing Weekapaug Groove comes next and starts oddly with Trey strumming the riff by himself before the rest of the band joins in. This jam is just so fckn wild, the way the band keeps their insane momentum while adding in levels of dissonance in this one just blows me away. Oh, and also it briefly drops into space before the Coliseum takes off with What's the Use. The perfect flow continues with a late-set Down with Disease that segues beautifully into Fast Enough for You. After a minute or so of spacey effects (seems to be one of those cool > filled shows with lots of ambience between songs) Fishman drops the 2001 drum beat and the whole place just goes absolutely bananas. 2001 closes the set with Trey thanking everybody for coming out. Friday shows up in the encore and this is one song that I really am not a fan of. I'm sure they were excited to play it but I'll skip Friday. Overall, a tale of two sets to be sure. Check out this New Year Run! There's a lot more gems than you may remember!

A Llama opener is always a good thing. Always. Although, that doesn't necessarily mean what follows will always be (as) good as the pounding opening drum riff and totally frenetic guitar riff that essentially says, "BLASTOFF MOTHAFUCKKKAAAS!!!." Well you can't blame them for trying! Perhaps some emotional/spiritual/or perhaps even physical fatigue was setting in for this set - understandably so as they hadn't played a show together in 2+ years ... let alone four shows in five days - let alone reunion shows at two of their biggest "home courts." These guys are professional musicians, absolutely, but they are also people who experience emotion, stress, and the general atrophy that comes with the amount of invested energy, soul, and electricity they brought to their fans the previous three nights, and subsequent two decades. My defense of the (speculative) band's spiritual/emotional/physical status in this set is because I do love them so much. But since I am here to review the music itself as much as I am here to explain the far-reaching impacts of the music on its listeners and bank alike, I will try to be as fair as possible. So here goes... (hangs head in shame)

The first set is dull, minus Llama. The band seems worn out. Emotionally and spiritually drained, which by no surprise would lead to physical fatigue. Nothing pops in the first set like things were in the previous nights. It feels like they can't *give* anymore. This is awesome because Phish really gave it all the previous three nights, but not so awesome because I am sure the paid ticketholders might have had expectations a little higher due to the magnitude of the previous thee nights. Oh well. It is still a Phish show and I will bet good money that most of those in attendance had a pretty good time.

Set 2 packs more punch. It opens up with a straight-up, type-1, rock and rolling version of Rock and Roll. Nothing fancy here, just 12 minutes of in-your-face shreddage that already makes up for the lack of energy in set 1. A very solid opener. Mike's Song drops into the two slot and immediately picks up where Rock and Roll left off. This was a *very* strong 1-2 punch to opener this set. Mike's Song gets into a growling, aggressive, yard-dog style jam that provide the ferocity and intensity that was non existent in set 1. The Mike's jam was really fantastic, even though it lacked its signature peak (this was strange and weird, a very "wtf?" moment I am sure for the show-goers). It sounds like Phish is about to drop into Hydrogen, no wait, Simple, no wait, Mountains in the Mist. It sounded as though there was some mis-remembering of previous nights' setlists, or miscommunication on what would flow out of Mike's, but eventually they get to Mist. Another head-scratcher. Mist was well-played and provided a nice, although unnecessary break to catch our breath (like I speculated earlier, perhaps the band just didn't have much left in the tank after the sheer emotional and spiritual immensity of the previous three nights... and that's not even mentioning the amazing improvisational exploration they were able to accomplish). Weekapaug is MOST WELCOME after Mist, as the dance party was in dire need of the musical equivalent of a AED to get the blood flowing again. Paug delivers! A rolling, grooving version that ventures into deep type-2, this Weekapaug is really a show-saver. Filled with bubbly Trey, splashy Fish, bouncy Mike, and scratchy Page, this version has it all. It goes deep into the rabbit hole before emerging on the other side as What's the Use?. A new perfect pairing. Ethereal and spacey, this WTU is just what the doctored order to give us our recommended daily dose of psychedelia. Thank goodness. WTU grumbles and growls into Down with Disease in very interesting fashion. This DWD follows in the footsteps of Rock and Roll and Mike's Song, as it delivers balls-to-the-wall type-1 maelstrom. A true scorcher of a jam, this version could find a home in easily 1994. It is really fast, and really good. Plus it returns at full sprint to the signature, triumphant DWD riff at the end which I ABSOLUTELY LOVE! Gives me chills to just think about. Fast Enough For You finds an odd niche in the final frame of the final set, and while I like the song, and I do enjoy the peacefulness and dreaminess of this version, it feels out of place. But then again, who I am to judge - this is only one man's opinion. Regardless, the song is beautifully played. 2001 is next which, from the opening snare hit, has the feel of the show closer. This version, for all intents and purposes, is bland. Not much going on here, save for a truely heartfelt, warm "Thank you" from Trey. Sorry 2001, you really did try.

Friday is the encore. It is also the single worst song in the history of the earth. I am sorry for those of you who experienced Friday at this show, in this spot (I myself have seen two... and I am a worse person for it). What a bummer to close the run, but let's, not let one song rain on our parade! The whole four shows were really, truly a statement from Phish that THEY WERE BACK!

Must-hear jams: Weekapaug Groove > What's the Use? > Down with Disease
Probably-should-listen-to-jams: Mike's Song, Fast Enough for You

I would like to point out that this Weekapaug gets dark at the end, unusual for Weekapaug but I guess not that unusual considering the general darkness of the tour to come. Check out this groove and the nice segue to What's The Use?, as well as the typically freaked out SOAM if you need some darkness in your life