Well, this was my 80th show and I was expecting a real heater as the band knows just like everyone else on tour that lots of people will be skipping this to make their way up to Maine. Before heading into the lots we made our way down towards St. Joseph University. Across the street from the gymnasium we got a philly cheese steak. When in Rome? We hit the lots at about 4pm. We met some really nice kids from Dallas, TX that we hung out w/ all day. They would later follow us up to Maine. The sky was extremely overcast with some very pregnant looking rainclouds overhead. I was none too pleased by this considering I had lawn. Luckily, I had some great raingear, it would definitely be put to the test. We listened to the Utah show in the lots and that got us nice and pumped up for this evening’s festivities.

SET 1: Llama – Great way to open the show with a smoking Llama. I thought the one in Raleigh a couple of days ago was a bit better than Camden’s. Still, tight and raging all the way as you would expect from any Llama. Shows that open w/ a Llama never seem to disappoint me, and this show was no exception to the rule.

The Moma Dance: Hell yes, bring the funk boys! Long, long Moma clocking in at about 12.5. At 9.5 the jam goes from raging to relatively funky w/ Mike dropping bombs with his new bass tone. Very cool stuff here. Page starts to lead at 11.5, leaning heavily on his organ. Trey follows this up with some very dark, heavy chords. What follows is an absolutely divine segue into>

Divided Sky: I think my heart stopped for a couple of seconds in hearing this segue. Gorgeous. The intro vocals are just a tad off (Fishman?). Awesome Divided, almost a perfect ten in my book.

Dirt: I just love this song. Holds a lot of personal meaning for me. Great follow up to a raging start to this show. Some beautiful interplay between Mike and Trey. A minor flub by Trey leading up to the climax, nothing too distracting but it’s there.>

Seven Below: Boy they cannot go more than three shows this tour w/out playing this. Nothing too crazy, just a nice, solid 7 Below.

The Sloth: Excellent, way to crank the energy back up after Dirt and 7 Below. Standard yet very good.

Water in the Sky: You knew this had to be on its way what with the rain and all. Nice, jammy Water.

Wolfman's Brother: This tune sure has seen a lot of attention so far in ?03. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: behind Gin and Hood, Wolfman’s is the song of 2003 so far. Lots of good jamming and this one is no exception. Page really brings the funk on this one early on. The funk deviates into Trey really ripping it up with some blistering arena rock style riffs. You have to love watching peace loving hippies throwing down, excellent jamming that could have been taken further but I was still content with this version. >

Possum: Yee ha! Nothing beats a Possum first set closer. Standard Possum.

SET 2: Piper: Another Piper second set opener. At 9:57 Trey hits on a consistent
theme for about 5 seconds that sounds awfully familiar, but I cannot seem to place it. At 11 minutes, this one takes an ambient turn. Not really what I was hoping for. At this point in the night the rain was coming down pretty good and I would needed something to shake my bones to and at the time – in the rain and rolling solo - this didn’t really do it for me. Very psychedelic though. At 18 minutes the jam wakes up a bit and starts heading for the home stretch. The last few minutes of the jam are pretty fired up, then it quiets down a bit again leading into a segue >

Mike's Song: Now we are talking folks! The opening notes send the whole venue into instant ecstasy! They had not played Mike’s since 7/21 Deer Creek, so this was a welcome treat to my ears. The opening riff is rusty but oh well. This Mikes is a little on the slower side than I am used to. This is not a bad thing necessarily, merely an observation. Once this Mike’s gets cranked up, it takes no prisoners at all. Raging, ripping, this indeed got my bones shaking in a way that the Piper could not. Short but very tight Mikes.>

I Am Hydrogen: This summer’s Mike’s Grooves were all classic editions, i.e. all with the Hydrogen centerpiece. I love that! Very old school. None of the grooves were jammed out per say, just straight up and nice and tight. This Hydrogen is sweet, not a flaw to be heard. Way to go Trey, you nailed it man! >

Weekapaug Groove: Bring it Mike! Sweet intro bass solo! Thumping away like only Cactus can. Page hops on the organ around 6 minutes and insists on getting funky! 6:20 Trey doesn’t want to much to do with the funk and begins shredding on some classic Weekapaug riffs. At 8:26 they bust back into the lyrics. Alas, they are nowhere near done with this just yet. Mike provides the backbone w/ Fish hitting on his snare. Page and Trey funk it up big time, into an In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida tease starting at 10:40. The funk is deep here. This may well be the longest Weekapaug of the tour. If not, it is easily the most jammed of the tour, very cool Paug, definitely the best of the tour. ->

Free: Jesus people, that segue is just sickening; it really is too good
to be true. 4:05 sees Cactus dropping bombs, excellent bass run by Mike. Not as aggressive as some Mike/Free solos (6/30/99 comes to mind) I have seen but still very good. Good Free, nothing to out of the ordinary but the segue out of Paug was killer.>

Friday: Hmm, after the great run before this, I thought the least I could do was keep an open mind about it. I won’t lie, I was a little disappointed when this started up. I crash I cry; I burn but I; still follow anyway. Decent Trey solo albeit w/ a couple of minor flubs. Nice breather. >

Harry Hood: Awesome, great way to end up a sweet second set and get us bopping down the road to IT. After the Charlotte Hood, I was not sure what to expect here. That one was just too over the top for me, too much spacey weirdness. This Hood however maintains a relatively upbeat jam, one that you can really get down too. At 20 minutes things all come together and merge back into a traditional Hood jam. At 22 or so the jam climaxes, I can feel GOOOOOOOOOOD! I would have liked to have seen more tension built up into this release though as with others on the tour. If they take that much time to jam it out, they should really have a fired up ending ya know? Still I felt darn good.

ENCORE: Frankenstein - I love this song in the encore spot. So fiery, funky and psychedelic all within the same song. Great way to end a nice Camden run and a sweet tour. Typically mind blowing lights by CK5 at the end w/ a wicked drum solo by Fish. Also some cool loops by Trey to back it all. As usual, Frankenstein blew my lid. Very sweet. Thanks Phish!

Replay Value: The Moma Dance, Piper, Weekapaug Groove, Harry Hood

Summary: This was a rock solid show. I have a feeling I would have enjoyed it a bit more in the pavilion but what are you going to do right? By the way, I have never been to a venue where they have soooo much security to keep people from jumping into the pavilion. I was standing against the metal fence Page side at the front of the lawn the whole second set waiting for my opportunity to jump in, but it never came. Security was ALL OVER IT! Big shout out to my rain gear for keeping me dry on this night!!! 31 hours later we would finally waltz into the IT festival grounds. Nightmarish drive to say the least! I would rate this show as a 4.3 out of 5. Much more traditional Phish show if you will versus the night before. They played all the hits.