Five Years Ago: Phish Anniversary Run

You Enjoy Myself – 12/1/03 Albany

This show garnered reviews of all shapes and sizes. Some claim Jeff Holdsworth ruined the show. Others claim elements of this show are the stuff of legends. I fall somewhere in between. Granted, the Holdsworth portion of the show wasn’t much musically but this run was just as much about the band’s history and paying tribute as it was ripping it up on stage for 3 hours straight. All that aside, The YEM is a doozy – with lots of great build up and some thick Mike funk. The entire Tweezer > 2001 > YEM is great and well worth a listen.

Seven Below – 11/29/03 Philadelphia

I always thought Seven Below would make for a great “theme” set where the riff is injected in and throughout songs and jams in a set (similar to the Stash from the Orlando 1995 show or the recently released Tweezer show from Atlanta, 1993). This version of Seven Below is sharp and full of little pockets of groove. The show as a whole is pretty off but Seven Below was able to shine through.

Waves – 11/28/03 Nassau

The extended noodling intro makes this version stand out in a second set that was pretty damn poor. The band falls into a nice groove and the music seems to whirl and crash as waves in the ocean might. The lyrical sections of this song are always a little choppy but Trey screeches and soars his way through the jams, especially in this version.

Julius – 11/29/03 Philadelphia

After butchering Julius to pieces at the Spectrum in February, 2003, this version serves as sweet redemption. Just loose enough to be rocking and just precise enough to hold together a great rhythm, this Julius ended the first set on a high note after the band slopped its way through just about every note of this show.