(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

I can't begin to put into words how good it felt to wake up this morning. After two long years, I was finally back on the train. I missed out on the NYE show and the Hampton runs due to the mad rush for tickets, and I got shut out of the first night of this Cincy run due to the same reasons. However, I thanked my lucky stars that Phish Tickets By Mail gave me three tickets to at least one of the shows this tour, regardless of their placement behind the stage.
It was raining this morning but my Jeep Cherokee didn't seem to mind the weather. He headed from Erie, PA to Columbus, OH with no problems, then after a quick lunch got back on the road with no grief. However, as we rounded the bend in Cincinnati and could actually see the venue, the truck started giving me beef. Our hotie was just inside Kentucky, about ten minutes from the arena, so we had to make it there first thing. As I rounded the bend the engine in the Jeep started hesitating, and as I got off the highway and into the residential area where our hotie was located, all sorts of things started going wrong. I could smell a burning odor coming through the heating ducts, my windshield wipers began leaving black trails on the windshield, and the Jeep's engine pretty much just wanted to stop.
I pulled into the parking lot at our place of lodging and turned the engine off with a thunk. We checked in and took our stuff to our room, and I spent the rest of my down time before the show driving my Jeep around the parking lot, hoping that it was just tired from being driven for six hours straight. It wasn't cured. However, I wasn't about to miss the show, so we drove the ten minutes back into Cincy with the engine hesitating and all, parked it in a garage and tried to forget about it for awhile.
As we made our way from the garage to the venue, we had to walk up a flight of stairs outside a parking garage that seemed to be attached to the arena and connected by a skywalk above. We climbed the stairs through the freezing rain and in each level of the garage there was a huge lot party going on. Lots of balloons and beers, and lots of "wooks" breathing in car exhaust. All along the way there were people looking hard for tickets, making cash offers of more than $100.
Finally we made it into the venue and found our extremely uncomfortable seats. We were behind the stage at somewhat of an angle, and my companion Nick thought this was terrible. Frankly my girlfriend Jamie and I thought this was great. We were at an angle enough that we were looking at the side of the band's heads, not the backs, and we were really close to the stage. As people filed in, an energy began to build. It was super-positive, as if everyone in the room had been away for too long and was set to have the time of their lives. Security was non-existent, pretty much making it possible to get away with anything you might want to get away with. This relaxed atmosphere really added to the overall scene inside the arena.
As the lights went down the crowd erupted into a deafening roar. In all of my years seeing Phish I have never heard a crowd this loud before. The band took the stage and tore into "The Sloth", driving home some good old-fashioned hard rock for the people. The band then dusted off "Dogs Stole Things", a fun song to hear especially if this was your first show in two years. After that, Trey began to strum the chords to "Piper" and this got the ball really rolling for a night of jamming. The crowd was on their feet and going nuts. The band stretched out quite a bit and really touched on some nice thematic jamming. You could hear the tease from a mile away, and when they finally launched into the first-ever stand alone "Weekapaug Groove" out of "Piper" the roof came off the place.
The segue was executed perfectly and served as a great nod to the night before, when they played "Mike's Song" with no "Weekapaug". As the "Weekapaug" jam came to an end, the band had to wait a minute or two for the insanity to die down before they could continue. Both "Piper" and "Weekapaug" were played as though they were show closers and it was only four songs into the first set. Trey brought the crowd down a notch or two with a beautiful rendition of "Dirt" before they headed into a comical "Scent Of A Mule". "Scent" featured Page's patented klezmer jam, and then Fish pretending to play his drums behind his back, before the band busted into the Hebrew jam section complete with dance steps.
After "Scent", a version of "Walls Of The Cave" from the new album Round Room began. At first I wasn't too keen on this; however, it worked its way into a very tasty extended jam section with lots of inspired noodling and proved that, given time, it would be another wonderful jam springboard. The band brought us down once again with a fantastic "Mist" and then ended the set with a well-placed and well-executed "Sample In A Jar". As the band took its bow the audience went crazy, cheering for quite awhile despite the house lights going on. The crowd spent the setbreak attempting the wave, and it was actually successful more than once.
The band took the stage once again to a warm welcome, and after a touch of noodling slammed into "Tube". Phish seems to save this tune for the really good shows, and this was a really good version with the blues section featuring some nice old school guitar work by Trey. As "Tube" came to an end, the band revved up what was to be one of the best jams of the tour nestled inside a thirty minute long "Bathtub Gin". After the lyric section, the jam began with the typical guitar solo. However, in mid-flight some genius threw a glowstick directly at Trey, who stopped his solo and caught it before it smacked him in the face. He then tossed it back into the audience and began again; however, his next attempt only lasted a few moments as another glowstick almost clocked him one. He picked that one up and tried chucking it back into the audience behind his back but ended up just hitting someone in the face. Anyway, the jam continued and reached places no other version of "Bathtub Gin" had ever reached before. There was ambience, rock grooves, dark noodling, and the works. At one point it was like they were vamping the main theme but each one doing so at a different tempo.
After the jam of the night and by far one of the best jams of the tour, the band completely killed the energy by playing "Friday" from the new album, which has proven itself to be the ultimate throwaway song. The band made a successful dive to bring back the energy by busting into an intense jam-filled "David Bowie" featuring Trey tearing up the intricate guitar lines in this composed masterpiece of progressive rock. After a raging "Bowie", the band decided to end on a low note with an exquisite yet poorly placed "Bug". The band left the stage and came back for the encore, counted off and jumped right into "Suzie Greenberg", much to the glee of the fans. The chorus echoed throughout the venue as everyone and their brother sang along, before Trey settled into a ripping solo that lead into the "Suzie" Funk that had us all getting down to the last song of the night. As the band brought the song to an end with a roar, the audience cheered and cheered and reached decibels of an overwhelming measure.
We left the show and I was so thankful that I drove the six hours for such a great time and that Phish was able to keep my mind off of my Jeep for a few hours. We drove back to the hotie with (surprisingly) no problems, and then woke up that morning and searched the phone book for a garage that was open on Sundays. Luckily the last one I tried was open and I took it there, waited four hours, and then got charged $500 for a tune up and new spark plug wires.
Although I clearly got ripped off, I was treated to a great show and I learned a valuable lesson: if I decide to go on a road trip that is longer than four hours, I'm riding with somebody else.

i had caught a couple of nights of hampton, but for many Phans, this was their first show back since the hiatus. needless to say, the crowd was buck wild.

The sloth really got the place jumping. great opener! dog stole things was solid, but the early show piper gave them a chance to cut loose. one of my buddies was bummed to have the weekapaugh'less mike's groove last night, so he got what he wanted out of piper. it was a very good seque and a very rocking weekapaugh,especially for being the 4th song in the show. dirt was a nice slow down tune before driving into scent of a mule. this was big on my list of songs that i wanted to hear this weekend, and they played a good solid version here. it's no alpine '97 or any number of your wilder mules, but it's a good solid first set version. we finally got our first dip into the "new stuff" with walls of the cave. this was a pretty solid version. not my favorite song, but they tacked a nifty little jam on the end to make it worth the while. the set sort of petered out from there.

now, like almost everyone else, i did not think that phish 2.0 ever reached anything near the peaks they were hitting prehiatus, especially 95-98, but one song that i thought they played better in 03-04 than any other era was tube. I saw this version and the deer creek 04, and they were both killer. the deer creek one was tighter than this one, but this was a good intro to the posthiatus tube. gordon and fishman bumped out the funk with some nice playing by page and trey before bringing back to blues town before cracking back into tube. good version. as mentioned, not as good as deercreek 04, but a good listen all the same. then came my personal favorite phish tune, bathtub gin! this one was a doozy, and it ranks up there with the best. they covered a lot of ground here. they moved from the bathtub theme to rock to funk to ambience and they moved between these genres for 30 minutes. this is the best post hiatus version but i'll still take worcester 95, murat 93, and winstom salem 97 over this one. i saw friday at hampton and hated it...this one did nothing to change my mind but after a killer 30 minute gin, who's complaining?! they did work friday into bowie quite nicely. the bowie did not cover as much ground as the gin, but it was still a nice explorative version. as i have mentioned in other reviews, i absolutely dispice but, and in this spot, it just killed me. i figured they would not close with but, but alas, they did.... big time bummer. suzy ended this show and run appropriately.

overall:
the fist half of the first set is excellent, and the same can be said for the 2nd set. man, that bug in the 2nd set just kills me...

highlights:
1
the sloth, piper>weekapaugh, scent of a mule
2
tube, bathtub gin

Arguably the best show of 2.0. The whole show is filled with creative, sparkling, devious, wicked jamming, starting with just the third song Piper. We're already in Type 2 territory as this jam changes keys to segue into Weekapaug, played at an insane tempo, meaning just right (slow Weekapaugs have become the norm in 3.0), finally completing the Mike's from the previous night. WOTC is jammed balls-out -- God, I wish I'd get to hear this one sometime.

The second set starts with a jammed-out Tube. This tune was built for a jam, but when's the last time you heard one go past 5 min, let alone 11? Just as they seem to be ready to go into a new theme or a new song, BAM! they're into the closing section. Bathtub Gin -- what more needs to be said? After nearly 40 minutes of awesomeness, I'm sure lots of folks needed a bathroom break, and Friday provided just that, going on for 9 soul-sucking minutes to make sure everyone who needed to got the chance to go before they brought the energy back with a raging Bowie.

I considered myself lucky to get a ticket to the previous night. While that was certainly a good show, missing this one was a pity. One of the classics.

"Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God."
- Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle

This advice for me cuts straight to the heart of my relationship with Phish and Ohio. I went to Dayton in 1997 on a lark, and Cincy in 2003 on a whim - so there you have it. And both occasions involved inclement weather whilst en route.

The vibe at this show was toasty and comfortable. The weather kept the laht scene to a minimum and it seemed that the community just took the pre-show scene and congregated indoors. It really felt special.

Everything from the 'Sloth' opener, the stand alone 'Weekapaug', the epic 'WotC' ... really, it is one of the best 'WotC' played to date, and the Tube > Gin pushed this one into the upper echelon of my Phish experiences.

In general the winter 2003 tour has a lot of high points and this show is certainly among those lofty pinnacles.

I feel weird thinking about this show. First time traveling more than a couple hours for a show, first Phish show for my then-new girlfriend (now wife), first post-hiatus show for me...in my mind at least, there was a lot riding on this night. Can't say the opening two tunes were exactly what I was hoping for. But "Piper" sure as shit was. I listened incredulously as it smoothly turned into "Weekapaug", but the rest of my crew had seats elsewhere and there was no point in remarking to my ladyfriend, "Well, THAT'S never happened before" because she couldn't possibly know what the fuck I'm talking about. Nevertheless, that was pretty amazing. The rest of the set I can't imagine listening to now but at the time I hadn't yet learned to hate "WOTC" so I kind of dug it, but...still this was clearly a very different band than the one I remembered. They weren't even painfully sloppy yet, just somehow hazy and dispassionate compared to what I recalled. I wrote it off as still shaking off cobwebs. I listen to set two's "Tube" and "Gin" nowadays and recognize the goodness and uniqueness of what is going on, and I can appreciate them, even enjoy them. But at the time...I guess I still haven't come up with what exactly I felt was wrong. I think there was just a fire missing. The playing was fine, the music was worthy, but it wasn't firing me up the way Phish used to do. Except "Suzy"; I felt like Page at least came roaring back to life for "Suzy", a tune people kept telling me he hated. I was happy Phish was back, and I had fun without a doubt, but my overriding impression was "hey, they're just getting warmed up still". Yet in hindsight this was one of the best 2.0 shows I saw.

You know, I am really not trying to over fluff the show openers of this tour. But I can't stop. Sloth, Dog Stole Things?!!? Are you kidding me! And just like that the spaceship has blasted off. If you were late to this show - f*** you. No sorry that's mean, but really f*** you. I think Phish set an airspeed record that night: leaving from earths surface and into earth's atmosphere and subsequent outer space space in roughly 9 minutes. But did Phish jettison the rockets upon breaking free from gravity? No. No they most certainly did not. In fact, they pressed the "go plaid" button and Piper ignited. Piper in the 3 slot of the first set HECK YES 2003!!! This 12 minute freight train has licks of 2.16.03, the pace of a Usain Bolt, and the energy of a Richard Simmons - the three combined make for a dance party that is as controversial as one could possibly be. Amazing. Now this here is what's really awesome: Knowing this setlist ahead of time, I knew there was going to be a -> Weekapaug. The awesome thing is how clean and unexpected it was. Picture it now. Funky grooving away on the balcony, Mrs. Funky questioning my sanity, "Are you STILL listening to 2003??? Wait is this Piper, it sounds like Weekapaug." BOOM! Just like that the sneakiest transition into Weekapaug. Fantastic. It came out of nowhere and was perfect. One of the cleanest -> I can remember. Weekapaug bubbles and grooves and keeps the energy surging, a perfect compliment to how the set was shaping up thus far. Dirt finds a nice home after Weekapaug winds down (and the crowd goes wild) and primes us for a whacky, Page-eccentric Mule. Can someone tell me what's happening during this Mule. antics/crowd wise? Because the crowd is GOING BANANAS during Page's solo and the subsequent duel - I wish I had eyes on whatever was going on, sounds so fun. Walls of the Cave turns on the retro rockets and we have no ventured outside of the solar system. Using the term freight train twice in a set, let alone show, might make it seem like my thesaurus is running dry - bus alas, no. This Walls is an iron clad freight train. It doesn't go into psychedelic wonderworlds like Forum and Denver, but it does burn with fury for 20 minutes. Mist is a prime landing spot as the band starts to disembark. The cosmic dust is settling and we hear the sweet, soft music of the vastness of space. Beautifully played Mist. Sample sends us into setbreak high fiving.

Phish couldn't wait to boogie in set 2. They just couldn't - especially Page. What a sassy Tube this one is. Page takes the reigns right out of the gate with a two-chord "1-1-2" riff that is downright comical. When the band latches onto it and leaves Page doing his thannngggg, I just sat back and giggled my way through the jam. Some really nimble and nifty Trey work interplays nicely with Page. Not to be outdone, Mike "Gacktoidler" Gordon is hammering home the final 4 minutes of this Tube jam. Gin steps up next and delivers a Grand Slam. Right off the bat, during the composed section of the song, this Gin radiated space energy. Carl Sagan himself was dancing. Again, can someone please tell me what's happening during the outro of the Gin jam early on. The crowd has 3 different EXPLOSIONS that sound glowstick-related, and going off of their abundance in 2003 shows, I am assuming glowsticks were pleasantly responsible. Whatever it was, I bet it was awesome. The Gin takes off into a euphoric, celebratory groove. Trey's descending lick is still stuck in my head. So good. They ride this happiness wave for a solid 16 minutes before we *think* they are winding down and returning to the Gin theme. And this is when we approach the Black Hole. Demonic. Robotic. Industrial. Light, gravity, Phish, nor glowstick can escape the pulsing Gin retro-groove. Holy crap. Mike is THUMPING this metallic, really truly industrial, mechanized sounding bass-line. Trey is playing backwards guitar over Mike. Page is layering some galactic keys. Fish is splashing away on his hi-hat before tumbling along on the snare. This is amazing, AMAZING improvisation. The last 6 minutes of this Gin are... just listen. The Tube Gin combo is worth the price of whatever you paid for the ticket. Period. And then Friday comes next. f*** you Friday. But it does bleed somewhat amorphously into a gnarly Bowie. This Bowie continues the intergalactic journey. Wormholes open. Pulsars spin. And this Bowie takes us on a journey. Page again takes the spotlight as the jam blasts along in frenetic Bowie style and JUST when we think a peak is around the corner, Trey winds it back, takes it down, and starts to explore the vastness of the musical galaxy. Floating along for 3 or 4 minutes, Bowie re energizes itself, feasting on the melted minds of those in attendance. Then -- it is satisfied. Swirling back into Bowie jam proper, Phish explodes into a 5-peak apex, each more incendiary than the last! WOW!!! Bug caps off the set, needing no more energy, no more improv, and nothing more to prove. A humble and humility-filled closer after the rowdiness of this show. Suzy sets the arena ablaze again! What an encore choice! Most original song choice, no, it isn't, but man does Page ever crush this. Three separate breakdowns are pure sex and Page has impregnated at least 36 women in attendance that evening, 20 of which during Suzy alone. What a Suzy!!! What a show!!!

Must hear jams: Piper -> Weekapaug Groove, Bathtub Gin!!!, Suzy Greenberg
Probably-should-listen-to jams: Walls of the Cave, Tube, David Bowie

The Sloth is very well played and a pretty random opener. Piper is a nice exploratory warm up jam. The segue into Weekapaug is pretty slick. Walls of the Cave is a relentless momentum driven jam with great peaks. Mountains in the Mist is gorgeous as usual.

Tube is always a welcome set opener, and this one has a nice stretch to it. The Gin jam starts in a kind of up tempo down tempo jam. And dissolves into what seems like the end as Trey plays the Gin riff. But the rest of the guys won't have it. It goes into a nice cohesive groove led by Fish. The majority is mostly noodling weirdness. Not really a fan of it, seems a little too fluffy for me. Bowie is very strong and well played.

Overall a string of good songs strung together around standard stuff.

Did I say disease? I ment Gin

woops, my bad on the Weekapaug with no Mike's on 8-24-1993... wtf was i looking at?!

The Bathtub Gin is easily the highilght of this show. Definitely worth a listen.

Also, per this setlist database, Weekapaug was also played without Mike's on 08-24-1993.

The first time i've been to back to back nights to see Phish and it won't be the last. Loved both shows, the first night being better (setlist wise) than the second. But overall, both were great. I hope to see more mutiple nights of Phish in the future.

The Sloth is such a great opener I'm surprised it took until 3.0 to get used in the slot more often. Dogs Stole Things is always a treat. Piper in slot 3 is so crazy but very in line with 2003. Trey really shreds in this one. It's mostly a typical type 1 rage fest until the surprise segue into Weekapaug. This was totally out of nowhere and felt so good. Paug gets it done like a late second set version. Man they are really cooking tonight! Dirt calms us down before heading into a goofy Scent of a Mule. I'm not big on this song so I can't speak to if this is a good one or not. WOTC by now has firmly established it's chops as a powerhouse and this version is no different. Huge and thick, this Walls just keeps getting bigger and bigger as it builds to an extreme climax. Mountains in the Mist is such a delicate vulnerable song. It lays us down to rest. Sample is good closer.

Tube starts the set with great work from Trey and Page. Interplay is abundant in this incredibly fun jam. Next up is one of the biggest highlights from the tour. This Gin is all over the map. Type 2 very improvisational. Trey's growly tone works so well with this kind of jamming. He starts to reel back the jam with the standard Gin closing line but then they decide to hang out in the exit lane for a bit longer for a decidedly demented take on the Gin theme. Friday settles down and leads us in to Bowie. David Bowie goes intergalactic several times before getting mellow and ramping back up to big finale. Another stellar jam for this ferocious set. Bug caps off one of the best sets I've heard so far. Stick around for Suzy Greenberg to hear Page light up the keyboards with 3 different breakdowns!

In my opinion, this is the stronger show of the Cincinnati '03 weekend by a meaningful margin. As I noted in my 2/21 review, N1 isn't necessarily weak per se, but it fails to reach the highwater mark set over the course of much of the rest of the tour. 2/22 in contrast boasts some more inspired jamming, especially as you get into the second set. Even the encore of this show breaks the mold of the traditional Suzy a bit.

Set 1 opens with a fun warm-up Sloth (some excusable flubs here and there, but otherwise a great crowd pleaser) and a nice Dogs Stole Things. The Piper jam here is spiritually akin to the previous night's DwD: excellent within the bounds of a largely Type I space. Here though we get some nice dynamic variation and a great chance to hear more Mike / Page magic as Trey takes a more backseat approach for much of the time. The major point of note is a smooth segue -> Weekapaug (allegedly the first Mike-less Weekapaug, but I think there's another one out there somewhere...). Weekapaug jam starts out similarly to many of the mid 90s versions with a nice percussive upbeat jam, but turns a bit dark for a bit where Page shines on the distorted clav. The segue back to Weekapaug is great. Dirt is a pretty breather, and the outro is played with a bit more gusto than typical (listen to the way the band sways along with Trey's solo). Page does great on Mule, but Trey is a little hesitant to really let it rip, presumably because it's a tough-to-pull-off part. WotC gives us another hot type I jam before Mountains and Sample take us home.

Set 2 is really where this show stands above the previous night. Tube features some really excellent play from Trey and Page, and I especially love how Fishman drops out here and there to give Page's piano a little more emphasis on the turnaround. Bathtub Gin gets its second February 2003 appearance and again delivers phenomenally. The jam turns dark early on as Trey inspires a descending jam that provides a nice harmonic deviation from the typical Gin jam. Later, the band picks up the pace to a rocking groove that eventually recedes to an ambient, Page/Trey-led space where Trey plays with altered variations of the Gin theme layered with tone shifting effects. Eventually the rhythmic divide between Trey and the band becomes more pronounced, but make sure to listen to the underlying groove because Fishman and Mike are putting in some great work here. I'm a Friday fan, so I like this choice as a cooldown before heading into another killer jam on Bowie. Doesn't stray too far from the beaten path, but the work done here is great, especially on Fishman's part. Some awesome dynamic variance as well. Bug is a spirited closer, and the Suzy encore delivers a final little blast of energy with an especially groovy jam and moments where Mike/Fishman just let Trey/Page work their stuff.

2.22.03

SET 1: The Sloth: First of 3.0, has only opened shows 19 times of the 174 times it has been played and not since 7/15/92. Definitely a nod from the band that this was going to be a hard core, Saturday night throwdown in SW Ohio.
Dogs Stole Things: Solid. Trey rips the hell out this solo, total scorcher.
Piper: Solid Piper, great placement! Trey lays way back in the cut in this one and allows it to get funky. He rip chords the hell out of it and forces everyone into Weekapaug. No one, and I mean no one saw that coming. The segue seemed perfect in person but upon careful re=listen, no exactly perfection. I didn’t catch the Dave’s Energy Guide tease, can someone point out the timestamp? ->
Weekapaug Groove: Heavy metal groove in the late 4’s is unique! First ever stand-alone version. Show has been straight fire out of the gate!
Dirt: Perfect cool down, I love this song so much. Trey gives the solo a proper ripping and takes it briefly into a space it hasn’t seen before, likely not on purpose. >
Scent of a Mule: Definitely not a fan of this tune but this one was plenty entertaining both at the show and upon re-listen!
Walls of the Cave: First new tune of the night. Some how this one just never takes it’s foot off the gas – just straight fire basically throughout the entire jam, for a tune including the composed section that is 21:09 – it seems somewhat impossible – but there it is.
Mountains in the Mist: Yes, was much needed at this point too.
Sample in a Jar: Trey rips this one to SHREDS.
SET 2: Tube: The cloth from which all versions should at least have some similar threads b/c this one is exceptional, one of the very best. >
Bathtub Gin: Complete Hose in the mid 10’s, unreal. From here Trey takes a firm grip on the reins and leads the band through a gritty, aggressive romp for about 6 minutes. Quite thrilling. Things really start to settle into a heady, chill space starting in the mid 16’s. The space they get into after they stop playing around with the theme is so good, early 20-minute range, and then back to the theme at 21:20 – fantastic!! This gets exceptionally dirty and funky and finally hits the ending after almost 26 glorious, all time jamming. Peak Phish and a major tour highlight.
Friday: Fans are getting PTSD from this by now but at least it is not in the encore slot. So odd that this is a new song and Trey can’t hit most of the notes in the solo. >
David Bowie: For two seconds in the intro this sounds like Buried Alive. It almost sounds like Page is on the theremin here in the intro. Really creepy, evil stuff. Mike and Trey trading licks is choice too. Solid, yet unspectacular. Workmanlike in nature.
Bug: Standard.

ENCORE: Suzy Greenberg: Standard. Trey “Thank you very much, glad everyone survived the hotel fire this morning.” Oof, not the best way to get that out there considering the fire that claimed 100 lives during the Great White Show in Rhode Island two days ago.
Replay Value/Summary: Just a smoking, white hot show front to back. Walls, Tube, and Gin are not just highlights but all-time versions. The show got off to such a hot start never let up. Phish throws down in Ohio and tonight was no exception. At the time I felt this was the best show of the tour. Now, I feel like 2.20 has a slight edge on 2.22, but just barely. I would rate this as a 4.25 out of 5. The parking garage scene at these two shows was outrageous by the way.

Second best show I’ve attended to date the only one better was Reading Pennsylvania 2013 right before Halloween. The downward disease walk away and 20 years later beat this tube and bathtub gin and Weekapaug The best part of the show was the Piper into Weekapaug first time they’ve ever played a Weekapaug by itself a full version and not a tease So that was pretty cool to see the first one ever that stretched over multiple days and I got the Mike’s too and I wondered why we never got the paug yesterday but instead went to a really heroine inspired free and never went to simple I am hydrogen I’m not even close to coming back to the groove it was a weird time in Cincinnati but it must’ve meant something to the band because TAB wrote the song Cincinnati inspired by something that happened with the hotel fire and I’m glad everyone survive the hotel fire Susie was a great encore very well played the whole show was just awesome even Friday wasn’t bad second best version to the one in Miami 12 28 03

The jamming in this show is far more on point than the previous night at the same venue, in my opinion. The Sloth is a rowdy opener for sure, but the first intimation that the X factor would be intact was the Piper -> Weekapaug Groove, with Piper stretching its wings a bit jam-wise before an incredible segue into Weekapaug to finish the Mike's Groove from the previous night. Walls of the Cave is definitely extended, exceeding 20 minutes in length and featuring some woozy and characteristically 2.0-style jamming. Mountains in the Mist of course is a welcome rarity. Tube tops 10 minutes to open Set II, but the Bathtub Gin is a fine jam to revisit in the wake of the 7/31/13 Tahoe Tweezer to see how a "kitchen-sink" jam with multiple concise and coherent movements can be accomplished in a shorter (if you can call 26:52 short) span and without the obnoxious woos. David Bowie also sports an amazing version, and Suzy Greenberg is an atypical version in that Page takes a quasi-solo (in the sense of being unaccompanied) section. 4 out of 5 stars.

WEEKAPAUG GROOVE on her own a woman alone she does not need a man let her run wild and free and alone on her own fuck men Who needs Mike when you have his SHIT MAGIC Bass guitar slapping the shit out of Mike and the Security Dude at the Doorway Blocking the Way to a Hotel Fire
Crazy night many people are lucky to be alive me included
Great Show!! Not epic like 2-28 shortly thereafter but almost that good it was riding a wave about to peak and it did at IT and then Crashed down to earth like the song Friday which ironically sounds beautiful this time and only one other time the best ever 12-28-2003
Magic was in the air in Cincinnati that night for sure !! I felt it and so did the band

This Disease is THE TITS!!!