2003-12-30

Wilson contained War Pigs teases from Mike and was unfinished. The song may have been played as an opener in memoriam of actor Earl Hindman, best known as “Wilson” from the television series Home Improvement, who passed away earlier in the day. NICU contained Shafty teases from Mike. Weigh was played for the first time since August 2, 1998 (202 shows). Gin included Show Biz Kids teases. 2001 included a P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up) jam containing some brief lyrics, as well as Gin, Auld Lang Syne, and The Little Drummer Boy teases. Tube was unfinished. L.A. Woman was a Phish debut; Birds included L.A. Woman teases. During Makisupa, Trey noted that they were going to play Touch Me, but decided not to because Fish couldn't remember the words and they didn't know how have a horn section. To make it up to the crowd for letting them down, Trey brought out George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic (also known as The P. Funk All-Stars). Trey commented “and that’s even better than Touch Me!” Page teased Touch Me while Trey was talking. The ensuing P. Funk Jam moved through pieces of several classic Parliament/Funkadelic tunes including Butt-a-Butt, Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker), P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up), and One Nation Under A Groove. Get Low (Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz) was also part of the medley. By the end of the jam, Fish was alone on stage playing vacuum. Fish then exited, leaving the stage empty. Phish returned alone to finish Makisupa; to prove that P. Funk was better than Fish singing Touch Me, Makisupa closed with Fish singing the first line of Touch Me a cappella. During the last chorus of Contact, Trey sang lines like “L.A. Woman” and “Make my funk the P. Funk” in place of his usual harmonies.