Mini Episode #10: Crimes of the Mind, 11/28/03, Uniondale, NY

Attendance Bias

Hi everybody, and welcome to mini-episode #10 of Attendance Bias. Today’s mini-episode features “Crimes of the Mind” from November 28, 2003 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.

When someone brings up "Nassau 2003," I would guess that 100% of Phish fans automatically think of the show on February 28, with the "Destiny Unbound" bustout and the all-time version of "Tweezer." But Phish played two shows at the Coliseum in 2003—the famous one in February, and then the lesser-known show over Thanksgiving weekend.

You can imagine my excitement when Phish announced a short 20th anniversary tour that would consist of four shows over Thanksgiving weekend, stopping at some of their most storied cities along the Northeast corridor. I was thrilled for a number of reasons:

First, I would be home from college for Thanksgiving break. There was no question that I would see at least two of them.

Second, the Friday night show (the first of the four) would be at the Nassau Coliseum. Not only would I be home and 15 minutes from the venue, but so would dozens of friends. It would be a homecoming show, and those are the best.

Third, it was announced to be a "20th Anniversary Tour." It’s not common for the band to overtly acknowledge any sort of anniversary or milestone. Usually it’s the fans who do that with setlist notes or online chatter. Therefore, the normal anticipation I have for a Phish show was amplified by the fact that the band was telling the crowd that this wasn’t just a quick tour–it was a purposeful celebration of two decades together. What would happen? Would each show focus on a different era of the band’s history? Would each show feature a full run-through of one of their albums? Maybe a show with rarities or songs that have never been played live?

Phish chose: “None of the above.” That lesson I keep learning over and over again–Phish doesn’t owe us anything–was reinforced at these shows as we were greeted with pedestrian shows.

One of those knick-knacks, however, were guest spots, featuring important people from the band’s past. The last night of the four, in Boston, featured a touching, 29 minute video that showed fans highlights from the band’s career, rehearsal footage, and other unseen footage that was not accessible in a pre-YouTube world.

The four shows on this tour were largely forgettable, musically speaking, and in retrospect, acted as the breaking point when the 2.0 era went from groundbreaking to a downward spiral. Yet there were still parts to love. And for me, the part of the Nassau Coliseum show that I loved was when Steve Pollak, aka the Dude of Life, came on for the encore to perform “Crimes of the Mind” for the first time in over 500 shows.