This was my first show outside of the lower 48. As luck would have it, I got to meet Leo and The Good Lieutenant after the show. I saw some folks standing beside the buses outside of the venue and strolled right up. I think this was my fourth show, so meeting those guys was pretty f-ing cool, especially after the tasty 2nd set. I still vividly remember a wook with blond dreads dancing by me during Birds, thinking to myself that things couldn't get any more heady. The spooky fog that rose from the crowd during Ghost was just the medicine to get the venue staff to chill and stop enforcing kids staying out of the aisles. Thanks Hastings Street!
The way the songs lined up during the 2nd set will really get you locked in. '99 was a really good year for me and this show was a huge part of that.

Did Phish take a month off before this show? It sure doesn't sound like it. This show is truly a continuation of the 99' Summer tour, and there's nothing wrong with that. The evidence can be found in the boys coming out of the gate strong with a Debut and slaying both Guyute and Back At The Chicken Shack (as they did all summer). Stash got some extra love and Zero sealed the deal for the first set.

As for the second set we get three good long rides out of Ghost, Tweezer, and YEM. Ghost did its job and Tweezer was a dust storm of static and beauty. YEM was also particularly strong. Debuting new songs in the second set can be particularly risky but Inlaw and First Tube where fantastically placed, very good setlist structure.

What more can I say? 4 Stars!

This is a really fun show with plenty of interesting moments to keep you engaged. It's also cool to hear the three debuts, even if they don't do anything especially unique.

Limb By Limb and Stash are the highlights of the first set, the former having a great soaring Trey-driven jam and the latter being a very cool spooky space setpiece.

Nothing too crazy early in the second set. The always nice (but unsurprising) bouncy-build Ghost jam leads to the pretty debut of Josie Wales. Tweezer is the highlight of the show, beginning with a JUICY start/stop funk jam that simmers into a quieter space groove. From here it intensifies and explodes into a great peak. Hear this if nothing else!

After a solid Bug, YEM brings some really nice funky vamps. The band drops out and lets Mike solo for a few measures before dropping the funk once again. Some cool breakdowns ensue using this formula and the vocal jam emerges from deep space. Really solid version.

The encore is a lot of fun and a great way to end this above average show.

One of the strongest tour-openers in any 1.0 era. This show also has the distinction of being rather long. Set 1 clocks in at about 77 minutes, and Set 2 is just over 90 minutes with the encore coming in just under 15 minutes.

Mozambique would end up being repurposed into Scents and Subtle Sounds although I like this song just as much. An utterly fantastic choice for opener, although Trey struggles with some of the lines and him and Page aren't totally in-time together. If you gave this song to 1995 Phish, it would be even more impressive. I wish they would bring this one back; big peaks at the end reminiscent of the Camden Chalkdust which informed most major jams that year.

The big jams all deliver in this show as well. Just solid, all around. Standard-great in an era full of next-level greatness. Also notable for having 3 debuts, only 1 of which has since gone the distance in maintaining its place in the repertoire.

Once upon a time, say all the way up to IT, Ghost was consistently funky, kept a solid rock beat, and 90% of the time kept a dark edge, even on Type IIs such as this beauty. The Tweezer is solid; the first 5 minutes or so of the jam foreshadow Fall/Winter/Cypress.

Using any sort of “objective” metrics based on paper and sound this show is either underrated at 4.1 or literally every 3.0 show needs to be re-ranked based on
1 Setlist content
2 Quality of play (correct notes and timing)
3 No bliss jam or electric piano in Ghost for Pete’s sake