We got to the lot and waited in line for it to open, we were probably within the first 40 cars in. It was really hot out all day, enough to necessitate my always handy Kelty sun shelter! Hung out w/ Mike (nestamarley) and his girlfriend Kelly for a while. I managed to tie on one hell of a buzz before this show, I am so glad I did seeing as how crazy this show would be! I ordered the whole tour on mail order. I only got three pavilions although I upgraded many as I went along. But Burgettstown was the one show that PTBM hooked me up with: 15th row DFC. Absolutely amazing seats I will never bitch again (did I just say that!!). I have to think someone was looking out for me on this night and lo and behold that surely came true. I was by myself in that seat. But it did not matter one bit, so many cool people were around me ? I will never forget some of the conversations I had w/ those around me at set break and after the show! Just one more reason why I love Phish and the people that follow the band!

SET 1: Daniel Saw the Stone: Holy Shit you have got to be joking! This was the first Daniel for me. I honestly never thought I would hear it. Played for the first time since February 23, 1997 (285 shows). It was very tight and true to form that I have heard on disc. What an opener! >

Camel Walk: Well I will be damned. Apparently, the band is really feeling it tonight. I think we might just be in for it! Only my second time seeing this (10/1/00 in Phoenix). Funky as hell as you would expect. Again very tight and true to form. People around me are going nutso as am I!

Gotta Jibboo: I laughed to myself a bit here. After the two songs that came before, it is almost a justification to play Jibboo! Actually that is not really true considering the song has been put on the shelf for the most part. It was only played once in Chicago and then once this tour. This one just rips! Wonderful interplay between Page and Trey to begin the jam segment. It is so cool watching these two from so close locking up with each other and leading the band to new heights. Not a dull moment at all in this Jibboo, just straight ripping throughout. Nice!

Cool It Down: This one caught me so off guard (you may see that statement quite a bit in this review!). I did not know what it was until someone close to me figured it out about 20 seconds in. What has gotten into the band tonight I am thinking? Very frisky! Another first for me and a very good one at that. Very bluesy feel to this song. Page just banging away on that baby grand ? awesome!

Scent of a Mule: Yeeha! I love the fact that this tune has become a once a tour treat. I used to see it all too often in 95 and 96 and it became old hat. Mike is all over his fight bell during the duel, always a sign of a hot show to come.

Fee: Woo hoo! The hits just keep on coming! Nice, clean version. Trails off into the ambient space that has followed Fee around quite a bit since summer 99. Absolutely filthy segue in to ->

Timber (Jerry the Mule) - This cements the fact that the band means business to me on this evening in Pennsylvania. This Timber is pure shredding material. Sinister, scary and dark it totally blew me away! Wailing guitar riffs by Trey that really put me on another planet! This is another song that I just cannot get enough of! Awesome, searing Timber Jerry >

When the Circus Comes: Everyone needed a breather after all that! I have had kind of a love/hate affair w/ this tune. Tonight it was all about the love baby! Totally right on version and sweet placement too. >

McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters: Holy shit! I believe the last time I saw this was 4-5-98! Was it played perfectly? No? But it certainly was not botched either like some would have you believe. I thought it was played admirably well considering the frequency of which it is played. Mike owns this version; he shines above the rest.

Golgi Apparatus: What an appropriate way to close out an amazing first set! I saw you with a ticket stub in your hand indeed! Trey’s quiet little solo in this choked me up a bit: just thinking of everything I had seen on this tour and the great people I had met! It was all coming together so nicely here in Pennsylvania! Nice rendition of Golgi.

SET 2: Crosseyed and Painless: Whoa, this cannot be. My brain is melting. I had chased this song big time until I finally got it at 7/12/00. I was shut out by PTBM for 10/31/96 and felt cheated since then when it came to Crosseyed. God did they ever deliver the goods with this version. Fish has a little trouble w/ some of the lyrics but who the hell cares! My section was a mass of people hugging, high fiving and smoking everything they could get their hands on, it really was a sight to behold! When this breaks into the jam segment, Mike really throws down some downright funky licks. Very uplifting jamming at 8 minutes Trey and Page lock up and take it up and up. Back to Trey led jamming at 10 minutes. Page is so good throughout the middle part of this. I know I say it too much, but Page and Trey play so well off of each other it is like they know what one another is thinking. I can’t explain this section other than pure bliss. Beautiful music! At 18 minutes Trey goes for a harder edge and by 19 minutes everyone seems to be regrouping a bit. Two minutes of some serene ambience later, segue into ->

Thunderhead: Man, I will tell each and every one of you: hearing the opening licks was like waking out of a dream; but not in a bad way at all. I rather enjoyed the placement of Thunderhead. C&P was extremely intense for me. Flame on, but I loved hearing Thunderhead here, loved it.

Brother: Wow, the boys at this point just keep reaching into that bag of tricks. On the board you can hear Fish ask if he should start it so it’s comfortable. Funny stuff. Here he goes now, JUMP!!? Even listening to this right now on disc, I am still blown away. Phish at their collective best. Trey just goes totally machine gun from the 4 to 5 minute mark. My mouth was hanging open at this point. Sick, sick, sick. At 7 minutes after Brother is over and the band is discussing the next tune someone nails some gear on stage w/ a glowstick and Trey says, “That’s it, we are out of here!? Kind of jokingly.

Harpua: Oom Pa Pa Oom Pa Pa! Oh my sweet Jesus. Harpua. People losing their stuff all around me, myself being one of them. Jimmy = directionless and listless?. He’s searching for IT. Segue into >

Bittersweet Motel: NICE! An obvious huge, huge cheer for the halfway between Erie and Pittsburgh line! >

Harpua: Jimmy gets into a rock band and finds that everything is leading to IT – LMFAO >

Fooled Around and Fell in Love: Fishman: This is what happened to Jimmy. Hilarious! A song that parodies Fishman’s womanizing and his current situation w/ his new baby. Complete with vacuum solo. >

Hold Your Head Up > Harpua: And then just when Jimmy found love, life came up and bit him in the ass again? Not sure what that was all about! Great harmonizing at the end. Was it perfect? No. But I loved every damn second of it, reveled in it. It is Harpua people, and if you want to pick it apart so be it. I thought it was amazing. I want… a DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOG! >

David Bowie: Overplayed or not, are they trying to break my feeble brain? If so, they are doing an A-1 job of it! The intro is spooky as all hell thanks to some Trey loops w/ a little heavy Page synth taboot. The composed intro is close to perfect. This is Bowie is dark and nasty. This one never lets up one bit. Plain rocking throughout. Left me weak at the knees, I was glad to have a seat between this and the encore! Great, great Bowie.

ENCORE: Farmhouse – Haters, you were not at this show if you are ripping on this as the encore. It was perfect as the encore for me. For me, it felt like a Farmhouse in the face of what we had just seen on stage, a bunch of likeminded people in one space celebrating our favorite band and an amazing show. I thought this was a poignant way to close out the evening. Great encore and a perfect way to send us on our way to NJ.

Replay Value: Gotta Jibboo, Scent of a Mule, Fee, Timber (Jerry the Mule), McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters, Crosseyed and Painless

Summary: Best first set I have seen since 12.7.97. We must have hung out in the lot until 2 am, whenever the cops kicked us out. We hung out w/ Mike/nestamarley - dude I must have told you 10 times how cool it was for you to go home on such an incredible high point. You deserved that show Mike, big time bro. This is why people follow tour; to find that one show that will keep them talking for years and years. Well, we got it tonight in Burgettstown, PA. I felt like I had been baptized after seeing this show, born again in The Phish. Everyone I saw after this show seemed to be smiling from ear to ear, this was a show for the ages; of that I am convinced. I would rate this as a 4.5 out of 5.