8-10-04 - Tweeter Center, Mansfield, MA

please review the show, not the other reviews....

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 22:29:54 -0400
From: Jeremy Stein
Subject: 8-10-04 Great Woods

This was to be the last of our Phish shows, I could think of no better 
venue as I have seen a great number of shows at Great Woods (NOT THE 
TWEETER CENTER). The traffic coming in was horrific, some of the worst 
that I have ever seen. Once we got into the lot we were told there was 
no more parking, but my wife leaned out and told the parking attendants 
that she was 8 month pregnant and we got bumped into the handicap 
parking and made it in just before AC/DC started ripping. It felt very 
fitting that our last show began with such a good vibe (one of many with 
the band over the years)
As many other reviewer has already said, it was not the best show ever, 
but it did serve as a retrospective for me. Each song brought me back to 
another show in another city with different people hearing the same 
song. Theme from the Bottom is not one of my favorite songs, but it is 
the song that I have heard the most and that made me smile.
The Harry was the embodiment of all that is good about Phish. By the end 
of the song my mouth was fixed in a permanent smile and I was smelling 
Play-do (all that is good in the world)
All told, not the best but still a great end to a great decade. Thanks 
boys
jeremy



Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 15:02:18 -0400
From: Lester22
Subject: Phish Review 8/10/04 Great Woods (Tweeter Center)


A few thoughts on last nightâ^À^Ùs show, the first of my grand finale run
of Phish concerts.  First of all, let me note that the traffic leaving
Great Woods was so bad that I didnâ^À^Ùt get home until after 3 am,
causing me to be pretty much totally wiped out all day today.  It
didnâ^À^Ùt help that the cops on bikes treated my cousin and myself like
we were part of the Bataan Death March. Seriously, talk about truculent
and unnecessarily surly.  We were sitting outside of his minivan, chilling
out after the show, waiting for the traffic to clear a bit before
attempting to leave.  Suddenly, three bike cops come up and huff,
â^À^ÜPour out your beer and leave, NOW!â^À^Ý We say, â^À^ÜOK, fine,
weâ^À^Ùre leaving, no sweat,â^À^Ý and proceed to commence packing up.  
Well, apparently we werenâ^À^Ùt moving with enough alacrity, so they stood
there and screamed at us for a few more minutes before leaving to harass
some other peace-loving guys.  Incredibly annoying, and made worse by the
fact that upon getting into my car, I didnâ^À^Ùt move for a full hour and
a half.  Hence the late arrival in Boston and my grumpiness today.  
(Itâ^À^Ùs wearing off â^À^Ó the second show approaches, which has a
correlative effect on my mood.)

Anyhow, on to the show itself.  Some general notes: overall, a solid show.  
Nothing too inspiring, nothing to write home about, but also nothing that
stuck out as being horrible.  Trey played well, and didnâ^À^Ùt commit any
of the mental mistakes that he has been prone to making in recent years.  
The boys were tight and the singing was in key, more so than usual.  Page
was particularly impressive with his fingers.  The atmosphere was nice, a
little euphoric, a little sad, and a little bit overly anticipatory, as if
the crowd expected the second coming of Jesus Ernest Giuseppe Christ.  To
that end, let me note that there is a certain element of people at Phish
shows that really bums me out and detracts from my enjoyment.  These are
the people who are way too fucked up and behave irresponsibly, whether
itâ^À^Ùs stumbling around like a lost child, getting sick, saying
inappropriate things or talking at an inappropriate volume or during a
quiet song, pushing, crowding the bathrooms, acting very impatient, and
just generally being Not Cool.  Look, I have no problem with recreational
drug use at concerts â^À^Ó God knows I have done my share at Phish shows,
and last night I was happy and high â^À^Ó but be responsible.  Donâ^À^Ùt
let yourself turn into an asshole, people.  We all love this music,
weâ^À^Ùre all here for the same good vibes, so be aware and be
considerate.

The tunes, in brief: The preshow music was the Buena Vista Social Club,
which put me right in the mood for the show.

SET I:AC/DC Bag â^À^Ó What a great way to open a show.  I had been humming
it earlier in the day (along with about a hundred other Phish tunes) so I
was psyched to finally hear it.  An extended jam, but nothing too
inspiring.  Heavy Things â^À^Ó This isnâ^À^Ùt one of my favorite tunes, so
I was less than thrilled to hear it, but again, they played it well.

Punch You In The Eye â^À^Ó Well, this was a nice surprise, seeing as I
have never heard it at a show before.  An oldie but goodie for us older
but gooder folks.

Wolfmanâ^À^Ùs Brother â^À^Ó I love this tune, and they did a fantastic job
of it, getting into some really nice jamming at the end.  I was a bit
dismayed that they didnâ^À^Ùt play the accelerando section, but hey,
thatâ^À^Ùs the beauty of live jams â^À^Ó the music goes where it is
supposed to go.  Also, I kept wishing for horns; this ties into my greater
wish that theyâ^À^Ùll bring out the Giant Country Horns for at least one
set between now and Sunday.

Theme From the Bottom â^À^Ó Another of my favorites.  I spent a lot of
time wishing the people around me would lower their voices.  Also, I was
impressed that they nailed the vocal fugue at the end, since Iâ^À^Ùve
heard them screw it up many times.

Birds of a Feather â^À^Ó I donâ^À^Ùt love this song, but it was
rockinâ^À^Ù and they had a nice jam at the end that went to a lot of
different places.  Trey teased â^À^ÜSimpleâ^À^Ý a few times, which got me
all sorts of excited, but they never hit it.  For the rest of the show, I
was calling â^À^ÜSimpleâ^À^Ý as the next song out of every jam, to no
avail.  Oh well, perhaps tonight.

The intermission music was Miles Davisâ^À^Ù concert from 1964 called
â^À^ÜFour and Moreâ^À^Ý featuring George Coleman on tenor sax.  I love
this album because Coleman wasnâ^À^Ùt the most amazing saxophonist, and he
plays out of his shoes on it.  Very sad when they cut off a solo of his to
bring out the band for the second set.  OK, maybe not that sad.

SET II:Mikeâ^À^Ùs Song>I Am Hydrogen>Weekapaug Groove â^À^Ó I knew
theyâ^À^Ùd play these three at Great Woods.  Weekapaug is only about an
hour and a half away from here, and Iâ^À^Ùm sure there were a lot of
audience members who had been there.  Myself, Iâ^À^Ùm from there.  
Literally.  Weekapaug is a village thatâ^À^Ùs part of the town I grew up
in, Westerly, RI.  So I have spent many days on the beaches in Weekapaug.  
I was psyched to hear Treyâ^À^Ùs finally tell the story of where the song
came from.  Apparently, in the summer of 1987, the band was playing a
private party in Weekapaug, and the song â^À^ÜDecember 1963 (Oh What a
Night)â^À^Ý by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons came over the radio in
their Plymouth Voyager.  Someone in the band changed one of the lyrics to,
â^À^ÜTryinâ^À^Ù to make a woman match your moves,â^À^Ý and phishtory was
made.  The three songs were all great, and the end featured a nice, solid
jam.

A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing>Piper â^À^Ó Trey wrote this for a friend of
his who is a sailboat captain.  Iâ^À^Ùm not a big fan, and it seemed like
the band isnâ^À^Ùt either.  Pretty uninspired playing; could have passed
for a studio track.  Piper is a perennially favorite, but itâ^À^Ùs
actually one of the Phish songs that I actively dislike, so I was less
than thrilled to hear it, especially given what it came out of.

Makisupa Policeman â^À^Ó Man, I love this one.  Just to hear it makes me
happy, I almost couldnâ^À^Ùt care less how they play it.  The secret word
was â^À^ÜCactus,â^À^Ý and instead of Trey referencing a spliff, he said
something to the effect of, â^À^ÜWoke up this morning, drank a cold glass
of milk,â^À^Ý which got a chuckle out of everyone.

Dog Faced Boy â^À^Ó Wow.  Totally unexpected, at least by me, and a
lovely, lovely surprise.  If the people behind me could just have shut
their faces for two minutes, I wouldâ^À^Ùve enjoyed it even more.

Friday â^À^Ó Eh, this is another take-it-or-leave-it tune for me.  Last
night, I couldâ^À^Ùve left it.  The vocals were very rough in spots, and
itâ^À^Ùs just not a really interesting tune.  But fortunately, they
followed it withâ^À¦ Harry Hood â^À^Ó Damn, what a great show closer.  
The glowsticks were a-flyinâ^À^Ù and the jam was a-rockinâ^À^Ù.  Thank you
indeed, Mr. Minor.

ENCORE: Possum â^À^Ó Whoo!  Another great one.  Very solid, and itâ^À^Ùs
just a fun tune to begin with.  Well placed, good energy, and I canâ^À^Ùt
stop grinning when I hear Trey play that distorted guitar hit right after
the lyric, â^À^ÜSomeone hit a Possum.â^À^Ý I was hoping for another
encore, but the silly blue laws in Massachusetts mean a large fine for
anyone who plays past 11 pm.  Fortunately, I get to see a whole different
show tonight.  I am expecting it to have a completely different feel, at
least in terms of energy from the band and song selection.  Still dying
for a Simple, thoughâ^À¦


Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 13:44:40 -0400
From: pell2
Subject: Phish show review-8/10 Mansfield

My first ever review but a fan since '94. Let's start with the lot before
the show:
 
My friend and I were situated way back into the farther-most reaches of
the lot on the left-hand side against the woods, which turned out to be a
very chill spot (no cops or security ever came by, great for pissing only
a few steps away from the car, and the best spot to hear the
soundcheck-which I couldn't make out what they were playing anyway, but
still nice). Never left the spot to see what Shakedown may have had to
offer (not in the mood to trip out tonight-maybe tomorrow night).
Instead, we sat and quaffed a few Sammy's, smoked a little schmoke,
talked about the previous night's setlist at Hampton and what they might
play tonight, and went inside about 7:15pm, a half-hour before the band
got onstage (unbeknownst to us, otherwise could've enjoyed another beer).
 
Now I'm not one to break down each song measure by measure; rather I give
my feelings about the sound of the song itself overall. I'm actually
pretty easy to please as I see many people seem to be quite critical of
Phish's shows and song selections. Take it easy pholks, this is not the
Sox in the World Series with Trey surrendering the walk-off homer to lose
it all. If he flubs a few notes or even if the band plays a slow (even
shitty) selection, my night's not ruined and neither should yours'. On to
the show........
 
Set One:
 
AC/DC Bag:    Was a very good opener, crowd was happy and singing along.
This one went pretty long too, about 16 minutes if memory serves correct.
 
Heavy Things:    Every time I read someone's review with this song in it,
this gets trashed. Yes, it's very pop-y, but it's very special to hear
(especially for me as I had this played during dinner time at my wedding
last year). Again, the crowd was singing along word for word so it didn't
appear to bother anyone.
 
PYITE: Excellent! Crowd going nuts now, especially during the build-up to
the HEY parts. This had at least one additional (encore)??? I'm sorry, I
don't know the word to describe the ending of this song, but you may know
what I'm talking about anyway.
 
Wolfman's Brother: Very nice slappy funk laid down by Mike. Not a very
long version either, pretty tight.....about 8-10 minutes.
 
(Side Note): Now, we're four songs into the set and so far, this
absolutely wasted funknut next to me has managed to slowly get under my
skin with his completely out-of-it head bobbing and spinning around while
staring at the people behind us. I don't care what you do at the show,
but please keep it in you own space! This assbag (although we had an
empty seat between us) was literally resting on me at times, rubbing his
greasy "not washed since IT fest" hair against my back. I managed to
gently shove him off me and that was finally the end of it as he was
nowhere to be found during the second set (thank goodness). I wouldn't
dare start an argument or fight over something as little as that, but
seriously, it bugs the shit out of me to be bothered like that during "my
band's" last performances. OK, enough ranting....
 
Bottom: Awesome to hear. This may be the last time we hear this tune as
it's not frequently played. Pretty short version though; didn't ever
really get to that "rolling" drawn-out ending, but still cool.
 
BOAF: Another tune that I see people getting bored of-not me! Love this
tune although this was not your standard 8 minute Birds. This one got
spacey for a while (at which point someone in front of us yelled "Get
ready for 'What's the Use' !"). Once I heard that, it was time for a
bathroom break as I was made susceptible to that 15-20 min. piece of crap
the last time the boys were at Tweeter Ctr in Sept, '00. Alas, they did
not go into WTU and instead kept BOAF going for a good 20-25 minutes
altogether.
 
SETBREAK: Nothing much going on
 
Set Two:
 
Mike's Song>Hydrogen>Groove: Fantastic! Simply fantastic! My favorite
Phish sandwich! Although I didn't notice anything spectacular, it was
still mind-blowing. Mike's rocked, Hydrogen was mellow and sweet, and
Weekapaug sped everything right back up. After Weekapaug, Trey took the
mic for the first time tonight and gave us the story of the origin of
that song. Of course, I already knew about Weekapaug (being from RI, and
making several trips a year down to Misquamicut Beach-the best beach in
RI) but it was nice to hear Trey mention it.
 
ASIHTOS: One of the best new songs from the album and one that my friend
had wanted to hear. Pretty heavy version, but was cut fairly short
(around 6-7 minutes) to go right into
 
Piper: Boy, they sure do love playin' this tune. Third time this tour so
far and almost a guarantee to hear at Coventry. This one didn't get out
there too much and was cut short by Trey (rather abruptly) and led into
 
Makisupa Policeman: Cool tune. Reggae vibes. Key word was something to
the effect of "Woke up the other morning, drank a pitcher of soy milk"
which is kinda funny because my brother is a vegan/religious nut and
drinks that crap. Can't really say anything about it, I've never tried
it. This tune was short and sweet and ended after about 5 minutes.
 
Dog Faced Boy: Doesn't qualify as a bustout, but only the second time
played since haitus ended. Obviously, a slow-down but nice to hear as
Hoist was the album I first purchased.
 
Friday: Quoting someone else's review of a show in June, "You could
almost hear a collective groan through the crowd". Actually, it wasn't
almost; I distinctively heard a collective groan and why not? This songs
stinks! Actually, I can take it (as I said, I'm pretty easy to please),
but not right after another incredibly slow tune. Kinda ruined the mood
and made me think twice about downloading this show, but it's only 6
minutes of boredom so I'll go through with it.
 
Harry Hood: Alright! We're back in this! Nice version, nothing out of the
ordinary. Fairly weak glowstick war. (This has been said hundreds of
times but I must concur, STOP THROWING THEM AT THE BAND!! It's so fucking
stupid as to think what could be going through the person's mind at the
time they throw it. Do you want to hit someone and cause the band to stop
playing? Get a clue!)
 
Encore:
 
Possum: The only thing I called all night and it was a good one.
Excellent song to close a night with and get us thinking about the
possibilities of the next night's setlist. (I also close this as the song
to close Coventry for the contest, we'll have to see what happens) "Your
end is the Road".........Indeed it is.
 
Until the next show and Coventry.
Steve P



Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 13:43:53 -0400
From: Carmine Nardone
Subject: phish show review 8-10-04 

"You deserve better and once I was it"
I really took guts for Trey to stand before a SOLD OUT Great Woods crowd 
and 
sing that line,  mainly because it is so true.  Last Night started off on 
the right track, and after a BIRDS 1st set closer, anticipation could not 
have been higher for the second set. Many friends told me Hampton was ok @ 
best, and I think we were all waiting for the house to come down.  
Unfortunately, the second set was filled with the worst of Phish.  I'm not 
saying the set was horrible, but it never hit stride.  The mistakes were 
numerable, and the frustration was obvious.  I'm starting to look @ this 
whole last run a little differently now.  I just hope we can hit a point 
of 
TRUE MAGIC @ least one time.  Trey pulled @ my heart during DOG FACE BOY. 
"But ask me, and I'll do anything for you."
I don't have to ask...you already know what I want.
oh, and from the bottom of my heart...THANK YOU.


Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 08:59:04 -0400
From: mark or karen
Subject: Phish review Aug. 10 2004  Great Woods

Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Tweeter Center Boston, Mansfield, MA
Set I: AC/DC Bag, Heavy Things, Punch You in the Eye, Wolfman's Brother,
Theme from the Bottom, Birds of a Feather

Set II: Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, A Song I Heard
The Ocean Sing > Piper, Makisupa Policeman, Dog Faced Boy, Friday, Harry
Hood
Encore: Possum

I thought the Tuesday "Great Woods" show was great. The opening AC/DC
bag rocked out and then evolved into a heavy syncopated jam that went on
and on, without becoming too repetitive, which can sometimes happen with
these guys ;-) Punch You in the Eye and Wolfman's Brother were also very
well played. The band seems to be reaching in a new direction, searching
for a new sound, which is both refreshing and poignant, given that we
won't be able to see how this sound would have evolved over the next
year or two.

A great Mike's Groove opened the second set, again very well played. The
middle of the set was somewhat mellow until Harry Hood appeared. Overall
I preferred the first set, but the second set was certainly enjoyable.

Hoping for a rockin' Great Woods closer on Wednesday!

Mark A. - Nashua, NH



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