Welcome to the seventh mini-episode of Attendance Bias! Mini-episodes feature a breakdown of a single song or jam from a show that I’ve attended. I’ll pick a song or jam for any given reason—it was the highlight of the show, it meant something special to me, it's widely renown--who knows?
Mini-episodes are posted on a bi-weekly basis in between full episodes of Attendance Bias, when a guest and I will go over a full Phish show.
Today's episode focuses on "Down with Disease," played on 2/21/03 at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. This show was the first of two nights in Cincinnati, and my first shows back from the band's hiatus. It was a cold, windy, rainy weekend in Cincy and my first time seeing Phish in the midwest. I was excited to get back into the groove of Phish shows, and even moreso by going on a roadtrip from college in Buffalo.
My roommate and I went to both nights in the Blue Chip City, and the run has only grown in stature since 2003. Most people agree that the next night, 2/22, is musically superior to the first night, but I tend to enjoy night one better. The jams may not have been superior but it was more of a straight-up rock show, which I like.
This "DwD" is from the first set of night 1, and has a big jam that would be my introduction to the 2.0 sound. Phish was on fire during this "comeback" tour, and great jams were being thrown at us, left and right. Between the guitar theatrics, the "bliss" vibes, and the proto-electronica ending, this version of my most-heard song set the table for what I could expect at the best of times over the next year-and-a-half.
AUD recording for this episode: Down with Disease, Cincy, 2003