Ah, back at Lakewood. I was here for the 99 4th of July run and after that promised I would make it back. Phish always seems to throw down here in this great city, tonight would be absolutely no exception. The lot scene was sweet. No security presence at all - anything goes, and everything did. We got a brief rain shower which produced: I was lucky enough to be 7th row DFC tonight (thanks Lee) w/ Tony. Great seats. Best I'd had since first night Shoreline. Nearing 7pm - I still had to find Tony to get my ticket and I was starting to freak a little. I couldn't find him after like 10 minutes at will call then realized there was another will call on the other side of the venue, so I hauled ass over there and luckily found him.

SET 1: Wilson: Great opener, really gets the blood pumping.>

Cars Trucks Buses: Sweet, tour bustout! Not played in 43 shows. Page's playing is sweet and this one actually gets jammed and felt longer than most.

The Wedge: Trey falters w/ the opening licks. Page comes to the rescue and shows Trey the way. Trey hops back on the horse and it's all good from here on out.

It's Ice: Very well played. One thing about this version that I have never seen or heard on disc. The middle jam which is typically dark and evil instead on this night turned rather upbeat and almost ambient. It worked well though and I liked it.

My Mind's Got a Mind of its Own: Got a kick out of watching Mike from close up. >

Wolfman's Brother: This Wolfman's both funks and rages throughout.

Mexican Cousin: Good spot for it, dig this song.

Guyute: Evil and well played. >

Taste: Another great 2003 Taste, highly recommended.

SET 2: Piper: 3rd second set Piper opener and 4th of the tour overall. I personally thought this Piper rocked pretty hard. It gets Very ambient for the last few minutes and segues into >

Mountains in the Mist: Sweet. I saw this debuted from the front row in front of Page on 7/3/99. Nice vocals from Trey and a nice little solo too.

Waves: Like a fresh summer breeze, in rolls Waves. Love the choice here. This Waves is wonderful, I loved every bit of it! Great, great segue into >

Tweezer: This segue just blew me away, I'm at a loss as to try and describe how good it was. This Tweezer just rages the whole way thru. No ambience. No white boy cow funk. Just nasty, machine gun Trey going to work on my dome. Shredding people, just shredding. Wow. The most amazing segue into ->

NICU: Seriously, the Waves>Tweezer>NICU is some of the slickest segueing you will find on this whole tour. Not to mention on a tour filled with LOTS of excellent segueing. So very tasty. Trey calls out Play it Cactus instead of Leo and Mike takes a nice solo. Page actually looked a tad bummed out at first but then looked to be enjoying Mike's solo. Sorta segue into >

Cavern: Ah Trey, I hope you've continued to practice. We can't have another debacle like KS now, can we?! He comes in a bit late on the porthole pirate line but otherwise this is an impeccable version. Sorta segue into > >

You Enjoy Myself: Jesus H, bless you boys! The nirvana segment just puts me into the biggest trance. Page manages to break that with his soft playing and brings the band back to life w/ him. Boy! Man! God! IT!!!!!!! NICE!! I love that the band is having fun with the fans again. All the banter at KS and Alpine night - keep up the chatter boys! Trey struggles just a bit pre tramps (a little off key). Page just funks it up during the tramps’ section, dirty Page! Post tramps sees and utterly and completely Trey led machine gun jam. Sick as all hell. At one point I had some nice eye contact going w/ the red headed one. With arms out and up in front of me, palms up I'm telling him to bring it, BRING THE HEAT TO ME TREY. Going on memory from the show and now listening to the tapes, this at around 15:20. No lie, he laughs at me, and he proceeds to fucking shred it man. Wow, special moment to be sure. Shortly thereafter the jam breaks down and Mike proceeds to funk away at the foundation of the venue. Crazy YEM right there folks. The vocal jam (which I did not catch at all at the show) was based around the Star Spangled Banner. CK5'S lights at this point are seriously driving me to my knees. I've never been so completely blown away by Chris's lights, I felt like I was going to end up in a straitjacket before too long!! A mellow end to the vocal jam allowed me to maintain some sanity, but not much. That was just too damn good.

ENCORE: Wading in the Velvet Sea: What I said about the Alpine Wading encore pertains here as well. After that hot of a show, Wading is a perfect choice. As long as the band puts heart and emotion into it, then I am fine with it; and pleased to see it actually. Page sounds wonderful, I love to hear the man sing and tickle the ivory. It was played exquisitely.>

Tweezer Reprise: I found myself mustering some sort of energy to again break out the flailing angry chicken dance. CK5 again putting the screws to my dome. This sent me out the doors all warm and fuzzy. Thank you Phish for another extremely entertaining evening in the ATL.

Replay Value: It’s Ice, Taste, Piper, You Enjoy Myself

Summary: I was supposed to meet up with some folks from Phishhook after this show, but I was just whipped. We raged the lot hard pre-show and danced our butts off both sets. All I could do post show was find the car, lay down, and prepare to drive to Raleigh. I have attendance bias because I was so close and was with my tour buddy. We raged it hard. But this show comparatively speaking versus Deer Creek and Charlotte just doesn’t measure up. I would rate it a 3.7 out of 5.