7/29/2003 was and still is one of the best Phish shows I have ever seen. First of all, I love the city of Pittsburgh. I am a diehard Penguins fan and have been coming out almost annually to Pittsburgh to see hockey games since 1995. My cousin was a graduate of Duquesne University and lived ten minutes out of the city, so my wife Stephanie and I stayed at his house for two nights. Burgettstown was our first of five shows of the summer, including both Camden shows and IT. This show, hands down, was the best.

I have a VHS of Phish 7/21/1993 in Middletwon, NY in which they sang Daniel saw the Stone at the end of the show. I knew this song right away when Trey let out his' "Heeeeeyyyyyyyy...." Sweet. It went right into an excellent Camel Walk. I told Steph that this show was already worth the ride out from New Jersey. Gotta Jibboo was tight and built into an excellent, euphoric peak. Cool It Down was a great bust-out and built a nice type 1 jam out of the last chorus. Mule was energetic and fun.

I was so glad to here Fishman lay down the opening percussion to Fee, a song that had always eluded me. It was one of the wishful songs I predicted in the parking lot before coming into the venue. Fee transitioned into a raging Timber. Circus was nice. At this point I could smell somebody smoking a clove cigarette and I instantly needed one. I found the source and asked for one. The dude kindly obliged. It turns out that he bought the pack from the same store I frequented quite often in Red Bank, NJ called Faith's Aura. Small world.

I couldn't believe I was hearing McGrupp begin from the end of Circus. I was in Phish heaven. Mike's bassline at the end of the song helped bring the sun down and a sweet Golgi sent us on our way to set break. This set was A+, without a doubt.

Crosseyed opened the second set and never looked back. It was one of the most ridiculous jams I have witnessed, reminiscent of something from late night Big Cypress. Crosseyed dropped down about six gears and slowly shifted into a breather Thunderhead. I liked this version better than the first one I saw in Philly on 2/25/03, it didn't feel like it was losing energy from the crowd. When Brother started up I thought the guy behind me on the lawn was about to lose his mind. By the end of the jam, I was losing my mind with him. Brother was smoking!!!

The band took a little while after Brother to talk amongst themselves, but the last thing I expected to hear was "OOMPA PA OOMPA PA PA!" Remember that scene in the movie Half Baked when Dave Chappelle broke into the weed storage room and couldn't control his emotions? That was me at this moment. Maui-Wowie!!! Without reciting the entire story of this Harpua, the highlights included:
-a nice and predicatable version of Bittersweet Motel
-finally knowing what Jimmy looked like (young Fishman with the goggles and crazy beard on Trey's shirt)
-Fooled Around and Fell in Love with a sweet vacuum solo
-Fishman: "This is what happened to Jimmy," and "That's what Jimmy did. He fooled around. He fooled around! And then basically, God, handed him his little girl. And his big girl. And maybe ten other girls or something, maybe boys, who knows? That's where Jimmy's at these days."

Bowie capped off a perfect night to close set two. It was straight forward and ripping with power. Another A+ set. The Farmhouse encore wasn't something insane like I was thinking a show such as this would produce, but it was tight and just fine. I was calling friends right after this show to describe the pure bust-out bliss that Steph and I had just witnessed. As I stated above, this is one of my favorite shows ever, definitely obtain a copy.