Full Show Friday: Phish’s 20th Anniversary Concert

As we wait for Phish to reveal details about how they plan to celebrate their 30th Anniversary, we use today’s Full Show Friday post to look at the band’s 20th Anniversary show. Phish honored the occasion in 2003 by performing a run of four shows on Thanksgiving Weekend with stops at the Nassau Coliseum on November 28th, The Spectrum on November 29th, the Knickerbocker Arena on December 1st and Boston’s Fleet Center on the actual 20th anniversary – December 2nd, 2003.

Not only is high-quality fan-shot video of both sets available on YouTube, but there’s also footage of the 20th Anniversary Montage featuring clips from throughout Phish’s career available on the site. Highlights include an outrageous Rock and Roll that opened the second set, arguably the best Maze in the band’s history, a fun take on Ya Mar that nodded to the Banana Splits theme song and deliciously bizarre and quick jaunts through Weekapaug Groove and Tweezer Reprise without the songs that normally precede them. Let’s take a look…

Phish – December 2, 2003 [First Set]

Phish – 20th Anniversary Montage

Phish – December 2, 2003 [Second Set]

Setlist…

Set 1Harry Hood > CavernBirds of a FeatherYa Mar[1]Horn > Piper >Anything But MeWater in the SkyDown with Disease

Set 2Rock and Roll -> Weekapaug Groove[2] -> Tweezer Reprise[3] >Frankenstein -> Kung -> FrankensteinAll of These DreamsThe WedgeBoogie On Reggae Woman > Cities > MazeWaste

EncoreBug

 

[1] The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana) teases.
[2] Unfinished.
[3] Mike’s Song lyrics sung by Trey.

Notes: This gig commemorated the 20th anniversary of the first Phish show. In the audience, a section of seats were roped off to make way for a music stand. The music stand held a three-ring binder that contained lyrics from the Phish canon, but it did not play an active role in the performance. Ya Mar contained teases of The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana). At the end of Disease, a video screen descended behind the stage. As the house lights remained down, a 25+ minute video was played featuring retrospective highlights from throughout Phish’s career. Before the second set, Mike brought out a tray of desserts and shared them with fans in front of the stage. Highway to Hell was briefly teased by Trey before Rock and Roll. Weekapaug was unfinished. Tweezer Reprise included lyrics (sung by Trey) from Mike’s Song. Appropriately, the post-show house music was the Beatles’ song Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band (which begins with the lyric, “It was twenty years ago today…”).

[via Phish.net]

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5 Responses

  1. Anyone know the story behind the Fluffhead in the montage video? Looks like a taped rehearsal, just curious as to year/location/tapes if any exist beyond the video. thanks!

  2. we chose to drive straight to bohston straight from albany and the mega whiteout we faced the entire drive @ night to Boston. I believe I sat next to Mike’s family mid-level up Page side. great show. Frigid conditions outside but HOT inside. (pard my laziness here) but didnt they show the last chessboard fan move (Binghamton, 95 I think)..??

    Happy 30th to our favorite band.

  3. I remember the mass rush to get in out of the cold. The anticipation of a fluffhead bust out that kind of game, which at first, I thought the band was still playing.

    Anyone else remember the the upper and lower sections doing the wave for a good amount of time?

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