4-15-04 - Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV

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

Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 13:40:29 EDT
From: Turtles916
Subject: Phish show review: B-dogg 4/15

all i'm gonna say is mike gordon is the only one in the band that can
still pull it together

out of the whole weekend trey only excited me during twist and pebbles
and marbles
the meatstick thing was quite trendy and immature. well anyway

Set 1: sloppy and out of time buried alive why did they play it? ac/dc
bag was good i liked it. the crowd seemed catatonic during it though this
was definetly one of the best songs the first set had to offer, limb by
limb was a suprise but trey's voice is starting to do weird things and
this song sort of proved it, it seemed like it was played really mellow
too. the moma dance hasn't been sounding too good since the post hiatus
but it followed up good after limb by limb i won't lie i was pumped up.
then they went to old home place which sounded good thanks to gordon.
roggae,water,all these dreams totally killed the good streak of songs
they had going and turned the first set into shit. stash sounded great
but was to short and strangely went into timber ho which sounded very
loosely played bad song to end that set with.

set 2: 46 days i don't really like this song so i went for a walk. i came
back when i heard drownded which started hard but started getting all
tripped out. it went into 2001 and dwd
through that whole thing i was smoking my bowl kidding around with my
buddy saying"these old men are totally having acid flashbacks" all those
songs had a trippy and ambient sound very spacy, i actually liked that
portion of the show. free had some rough guitar parts in it which ruined
it for me cause i;m a perfectionist and it was starting to make me
cringe. Scent of a Mule rocked thanks to gordon,and page's funky solo i
didn't get that whole jay-z thing i was just laughing at it i thought i
was losing my mind. when i saw phish play this as an encore i think it
was in philly i'm not sure people where booing, this version was played
different man this new albums' gonna suck hard if it has songs like this
on, i don't remeber crowd control cause i was sitting down sleeping
during it. the Slave was very slow building and quiet standard good
closer though, i was sad because i knew it was the end when the started
the song. the new lighting guy sucks, trey wasn't going off at all really
his voice is falling apart, i don't wanna complain but my heros are just
getting old i quess I WITH THAT ONE GUY WHO SAID JUST STICK TO LISTENING
TO THERE GOOD STUFF ON CD AMEN TO THAT.

E: snekin sally was a suprise for the encore i don't care for the song
but i like the funky drawn out bass jam which was replaced by these
retarded raps trey made which made no sense (i think thats why i was
laughing so hard at it) i think treys gonna through a hip stage.


Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 07:03:49 -0700 (PDT)
From: andrew fessenden
Subject: Phish show review 4.15.04 vegas

phish 4-15-04 las vegas.

having become a recent resident of the fine city of
las vegas, I was more than estatic when they announced
these three shows 

at the Thomas and Mack. I spent some time in the lot
beforehand and miracled several people, as someone had
unloaded 9 extras 

on me at no charge for buying their fri and sat tix at
face. Needless to say, it was fun to put smiles on the
faces of those 

who got the miracles. For some reason there seemed to
be an abundance of cheap or free tickets, which I
found strange since I 

could not score them here in Vegas the day they went
on sale because I did not arrive at the box office at
6 AM. Go figure. I 

breezed into the show with no hassles about 15 min
before showtime and settled into my customary spot
behind the stage where 

I like to dance at the thomas and mack. the acoustics
are nothing to write home about, but they are far
better behind the 

stage than anywhere else in my opinion. The opener,
buried alive, was unexpected to say the least as it
was the only post 

hiatus version other than the madness that ensued on
7.15.03 in utah. It was a short version, clocking in
around four 

minutes, but trey rocked the hell out of it and
dropped it right into AC/DC bag- and a seriously high
energy one at that.

Trey kept the pocket deep and his melodies funky,
using a lot of sustain during the jam portion of the
song.DC clocked in at 

over twelve minutes, and it was never monotonous.A
short pause and we get limb by limb, which suffered
slightly from treys 

vocal problems (which were evident throughout the
night). It seemed like he had a sore throat or
something- (there were no 

problems with his levels thru the pa system) Once the
jam settled in, however this version of limb by limb
was NO JOKE- as trey just kept hitting us with mind 

bending arpeggios and amazing melodies syncing
perfectly within the time signature. It was a rather
long 

version, clocking in at over eleven minutes. This gave
way to moma dance, which produced some of the funkiest
music that 

phish has ever put down. Page and mike really stepped
up on this one, and  fishman kept the pocket deep for
them to go to 

town. the part before the lyrics clocked in at nearly
five minutes, and the song in total clocked in at
fourteen minutes... 

and the pocket was very reminiscent of fall 97 tour
and the advent of black eyed katy in Raliegh, NC.
Towards the end of the 

jam trey really turns the jets on, pushing the
envelope of funk until it was bursting open with sick
and dark runs of sustain 

up and down his guitar. Fish, page and mike followed
suit, speeding up the tempo and turning it into a
hardcore rocker.At the 

conclusion of moma we were treated to a nice version
of mike singing old home place, which was welcome due
to trey's voice 

needing a break and the rest of us needing a break
after the madness that was the last half of moma
dance.From there they 

kept it low key with a really tight roggae, which is
always nice to hear. Trey had some really nice
melodies during the jam 

sections and it sounded like his voice was gaining
stregnth little by little. A dark star type of jam (i
dont know how else 

to explain it) developed out of roggae and eventually
settled into water in the sky, which gave us all a
chance to take 

another needed breather. My only real gripe with the
show was that they followed this with all of these
dreams- which I felt 

was not a good pick considering the previous three
tunes were in the same vain (except perhaps portions
of roggae) as all of 

these dreams. It was a well played version, however,
and the song itself is growing on me a lot with
repeated listening. They 

quit messing around after about four minutes of all
these dreams and launched into stash, however, getting
us all back into 

the moment rather quickly. I like my stashes under ten
minutes, and trey kept this one really hot for about
nine with some 

good guitar work and unique vocal phrasing before
seguing right into timber HO! And this version was in
my opinion in the top 

three ever with sacramento 96 fall and dayton fall 97
being the other two. Evil, dark, and nasty, it was
everything you want 

from the song. The jam into the reprise is so amazing
it must be heard to be believed.Timber closed the set,
and had everyone 

around me just amazed at how this band is actually
getting better with age instead of the other way
around. I personally felt 

they were slipping hard in 99-00 and the hiatus was
the best thing ever for them....In my opinion they are
at the absolute 

top of their game right now.After a set break beverage
and smoke, I hit my spot for the second set. The
opener was 46 days, 

which is not one of my favorite new tunes- but this
version was played a little slower and a little
funkier than normal, 

giving it a nicer feel than other versions I have
heard. They stretched  it out for around eight minutes
before launcing 

right into an amazing version of Drowned. now I know I
have not been critical of this show at all, but it was
really that 

good!!! Page nailed the vocals on drowned during the
intro and the jam developed into a cool ambient type
of feel with out 

the annoying loop pedal presence. Page led most of the
way during the jam, with trey mostly comping on
rhythm. Towards the 

end of the song they began speeding up the tempo
again, seguing effortlessly into 2001. A funky, but
not spectacular version 

was hampered by its legnth (just under six minutes) so
the jam never really came into full fruition. The DWD
that followed, 

however, was again, one of the best versions I have
heard post hiatus with perhaps the exception being
nassau last fall. 

Almost seventeen minutes and never stagnant, the jam
constantly evolved throughout the course of the song.
The boys are doing 

an amazing job lately with keeping the jams fresh and
different- something I feel they were getting away
from in 99 and 00. 

The free that followed was absolutley epic, and must
be heard to be believed. Trey's voice problems were
evident during the 

opening lines, but the jam inside was some of the
deepest minimalist funk I have heard during that song
ever. it reminded me 

a lot of the version from the HSBC show back in fall
1996...nearly flawless. Mike really turned on the
juice around four and 

a half minutes into the song- making everyone in
attendance feel a little like Ron Jeremy :) if you can
imagine. I can not 

stress enough- get a copy of this show at all costs.
What followed free was different, to say the
least....A nicely done 

scent with the russian dual jam seguing into a funk
backbeat....and then Jen Hartswick comes out. We were
all scratching our 

heads needless to say when trey began spitting Jay-Z's
"girls girls girls" along with jen, and pretty much
nailing it! It was 

a surreal sight to say the least, especially when trey
says the line "yo put your number on this paper so I
would love to 

date ya, holler at ya when I come off tour"- shit was
priceless. hell, the whole thing was priceless. His
vocal cords were 

shot, but he gave it a hell of a good try-i would
advise critics to listen to the real song and attempt
it themselves. His main problem was not cracking up
all the time! It was one of the coolest moments in
phishtory in my opinion due to the comedy factor.
Right out of "girls girls girls" they resumed the
russian dual jam and finished scent.Secret smile and
crowd control followed, both new songs that arent
quite doing it for me like stuff such as scents and
subtle sounds, which I love. Crowd control has a
"drowned" feel to it and Secret smile has a jam
reminscent of wharf rat at the end. A nicely played
slave ended the set. What could they possibly do to
top that show? A super hot sneakin sally- thats what.
Complete with a sick ass "play it leo" funk jam in the
middle. The lyrics of that song never fail to amuse
me- I crack up every time i hear them as it reminds me
a lot of my old life. A fitting end to an amazing
show, they trailed into a vocal jam to end the show.
And it was definately one for the ages.
namaste'
fez
[email protected] 


Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 20:12:02 -0500
From: William Hrdina
Subject: Phish show review

4/15/2004 Thursday Night Vegas

My first Vegas show after 10 years of seeing the band and I gotta say I
wasn^�t impressed.� The lot was pretty cool even though there weren^�t
nearly as many people as I thought there would be in Vegas.� For the
first time I wasn^�t just there to see the show but I also had my first
novel Portal, self-published, to sell and found quite happily that I was
correct that socially conscious sci-fi could sell on a Phish lot.�

I got three tix for 20 bucks each which was really nice, this 42.50 a
show thing is ridiculous, they need to play more and charge less- these
are rough financial times and the high ticket prices are unnecessarily
painful. ��

The whole show was general admission, a nice touch, but I agree that it
was immediately obvious that Chris Kuroda is crucial as the lighting
would be just that much off the entire show. �

They started with Buried Alive and it was immediately obvious the sound
sucked. And I was straight in front of the stage albeit in the balcony.�
Still, the sound was as bad as in the World Music Theatre here in Chicago
and that^�s reaaaally bad.� I don^�t know if the sound was screwy down on
stage too but something was definitely going on down there.� Even though
it sounded like a bad old analog tape the ACDC Bag that followed was
great until the end when the sound deteriorated even further.� Trey said
something about an annoying sound, but I couldn^�t be sure what he was
saying.� He played a crazy distorted note that made me think they were
going to bust into BBFCFM but it turned into Limb.� The rest of the set
list featured the band playing pretty, but very slow jams that sucked the
life out of what was initially a very loving crowd.� It wasn^�t terrible,
but it wasn^�t really interesting either.� The Stash>Timber was cool, but
very mellow and again the sound was ick.

Second set was a huge improvement.� The sound was 100% better and it must
have been apparent down on the stage too because the whole show had a lot
more energy. �Lights were off badly on several occasions.� 46 Days was
nice. �But the highlight was the 2001>DWD>Free>Scent run which was more
than worth the price of admission.� Jenn came out and jammed with Trey
with a sloppy but fairly humorous rendition of Jay Z^�s Girls Girls Girls
before returning to finish the Russian influenced portion of Scent.� Then
they played Secret Smile and Crowd Control the first time I^�d seen
either live and gotta say, I think Trey^�s using his best material with
the solo band cause yuck.� I actually thought Crowd Control was a bad
Cheap Trick cover.�� They ended with a pretty but standard Traffic Light
and encored with a nice Sneakin Sally with a vocal jam that featured the
cococut song ^�They put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up^Ԡ
I^�m pretty sure I heard Trey saying ^�The sound was screwed up^� during
the end of the vocal jam but half way through traffic light the sound
dropped out again and I couldn^�t be sure.�

After Miami, Vegas was a let down.� Oh well, everybody has rough days,
they^�re still the greatest band in the world and I^�ll be there with
bells on all summer.� Bill Hrdina

Bill Hrdina

Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 20:11:44 -0700
From: Tim Etter
Subject: Phish show review 4/15/04

��� My thoughts about this show, during the show were - Trey is really
sloppy. After the show, my thoughts were - Trey was very reckless and it
actually worked at times. He went to another place and time during AC/DC
Bag. He wasn't on the same planet as the rest of the band. �But during
Moma Dance, he grooved it back together. Stash wasn't the best version of
that song ever played but it got abandoned for a triumphant Timber Ho!
What a way to close the set!
��� I went to the show Thurs. night totally pumped with anticipation for
what ever would happen. They could have played the entire new album from
beginning to end, and if i've never heard any of the songs it would have
been fine with me.
��� Waiting for the second set, I half-expected to get the Giant Country
Horns. It wouldn't be a dissapointment if they didn't show up though. 46
Days had a nice tone, and�then Drowned was the fire that erupted though
the Thomas & Mack. I've seen better Also Sprachs, DWD is overdone, but
Free drove a spike right through your soul. In a minute I'll be free, and
you'll be splashing in the sea. Scent of a Mule is one of my favorites at
a show because of Mike Gordon, however, I could have done without the
Trey-Z. It was funny for about 15 seconds, then it was embarassing. Slave
was a good ending to a strange night. Trey wasn't as high as he was
during the first set. Sneakin' Sally was a funky encore. I thought they
stretched the vocal jam on for a little too long, especially hyping
Fishman's new magic suit. But the "Lime and a Coconut" jam made it more
enjoyable.
��� My overall thoughts upon exiting the Thomas & Mack were that I had a
really good time. I've seen better Phish shows, this one had many highs
and lows, just the way all Phish shows do. But I never once thought "Can
I get a refund?", because I just saw the best live band on earth, and it
was only the beginning.


Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 20:17:50 EDT
From: Amyadeleincail
Subject: Phish show review

Set 1
Buried Alive> fun

AC/DC Bag----- . OK still getting started but pretty sloppy.

Limb by Limb----- kinda boring, at one point, Fishman looks really angry
about the sound and started beating the drums with a look on his face
that said, "Trey what are you doing?"

Moma Dance------ alringht even though trey missed the last notes of the
bag or limb, can't remember which one, so they had to play another verse.
Old Home Place------ I ran away to Charlottesville where I worked in a
sawmill tool- kinda fun being from Virginia.
Roggae- whatever
Water in the Sky------- kinda gay
All of these Dreams -------the rest of your lifetime, devoid of a care,
if you keep your eyes open you will find yourself there not really
enjoying the show.
Stash> ......slightly mounting a comeback. Northeasters really enjoyed
the TH!
Timber Ho!

For most of the first set I couldn't hear Mike's bass. Thought that maybe
it was because we were behind the stage so I walked around to the front
but it didn't sound much better there.
Set 2
46 Days------ interesting
Drowned> thank you page
2001----- still a little dull
Down with Disease------ slightly lost
Free----- one of the highlights of the night
Scent of a Mule>


Girls, Girls, Girls*> trey has no business as a rapper, couldn't hear any
of the words to the song and at one point Trey 'Plugged' Jenn's late
night show which made me sick!!!!! I Couldn't believe that they were
trying to sell tickets right there on stage. Jenn is a�good musician
and�she should have�played the trumpet instead of what went down which
was pretty depressing.�

Scent of a Mule
Secret Smile ....IM bored
Crowd Control ........
Slave to the Traffic Light .....a slight comeback, still not on point, I
just like the tune.
EncoreSneakin' Sally Through the Alley>
Vocal Jam

Sneaking sally was pretty fun though it still wasn't tight at all. I had
lost my voice from Booing at that point and spent most of the aftershow
looking for the cashier to hand them my ticket so that I could get a
$50refund.

The lights were horrible all night, almost nonexistent, and I agree with
the overall review: "all three shows were an ode to CK"


Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 09:04:50 -0700
From: Dan Tracy 
Subject: Phish show review

4/15/2004.

�

Fucking phenomenal.�

click here to return to the 2003 reviews page