The EPIC Phish Fall 1999

After coming off the greatest summer of Phish, I was still on a tremendous high about this band. What made things cooler was being able to somewhat introduce Phish to my new roommates from TC when we moved into together at the U. 10/3/99 at the All State Arena in Chicago was my Michigan buddy JH’s first show.

10-03-99 Allstate Center, Rosemont, IL

1: First Tube, Farmhouse, Dogs Stole Things, The Divided Sky, Heavy Things, Horn, Carini, Ginseng Sullivan, Get Back on the Train, Maze, Bouncing Around the Room, Guyute (1:28)

2: Twist Around, Possum, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday -> Avenu Malkenu, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars*, David Bowie, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Harry Hood (1:18)

E: Funky Bitch**, Messin' with the Kid**

*Trey played one verse with his guitar behind his head. **With Sugar Blue (harmonica) and Son Seals (guitar and vocals).

As I recall, it was very rainy outside at this show. I believe CC made his way up from Purdue to meet up at the show and I shafty may have been there too. I don’t remember a lot about the experience except for the Son Seals jam at the end that rocked the house. I have listened to this show since it happened and may even have a copy, but it has truly been quite awhile. I will try to fill in more details later about the experience, but I honestly don’t remember a whole lot.

And then came the December shows…….

The boys decided to start their drive to the millennium in the big D on 12-2-99 at the Palace. This would be Phish’s final show at the Palace and their final in the state of Michigan. This weekend would be one of the greatest weekends of Phish I would see and probably the high point of all my touring with Phish. That isn’t to say that I didn’t like Phish the next 38 times that I would see them. I just think I was fortunate to see them during what I perceive as a really high point of their musical talents, when everything just clicked and they made epic music.

Enough rambling though….

Wow. I think old skool KP, UofM dude JH, and myself left A2 and headed for the Palace. I think it was pretty cold that day. We ran into and chilled with a ton of people from past shows including LE, JG, and the summer tour kids. I believe that this show was the first for a lot of other Ann Arbor folk; JB, and for TM who would be there at the bittersweet end of Phish in Vermont in 2004. I know JCT was there and so was PS.

In any case, I remember not really getting much of a buzz at this show. We had seats on the floor, Mike side (or Trey side as it probably was then) about halfway back from the stage. I remember that the backside of the stage didn’t fill, so they didn’t sell out. Regardless, I will declare it now….

12-2-99 is the most underrated show in Phish history.

12-02-99 The Palace, Auburn Hills, MI

1: Runaway Jim, Farmhouse*, Heavy Things, Roggae, Run Like an Antelope, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Poor Heart, Sample in a Jar, Free, The Squirming Coil (1:18)

2: Boogie On Reggae Woman, Gotta Jiboo, Bathtub Gin** -> Also Sprach Zarathustra, You Enjoy Myself*** -> Little Drummer Boy# (1:19)

E: Bold as Love (0:06)

*With slightly different vocal arrangement (refrain at end). **Unfinished; with "Also Sprach Zarathustra" teases. ***With silent jam. #Basically part of the vocal jam, which ended with Fish alone onstage, standing behind his drums, singing "Little Drummer Boy" (possibly with "vulgar variations" such as "I want to make love to you, ba rum ba rum ba bum bum").

Where do I start?

A sick funky Antelope, a rockin Free, a jamming Boogie On, a solid Jibboo, the most raging Bathtub Gin ever played, a spacey beautiful 2001, an emotional YEM, and a standard Axis encore. (No offense to the Axis lovers, but I heard this song as encore the most of any song besides maybe Squirming Coil) Everyone who listens to Phish should own this show. This show owns serious face in the realms of Phishtory. (Dude, what did I just say?) So the point is here is that you should own this show, and read the book, see the movie, and buy the action figure (Trey is a Jedi).

After the show, JH and KP and I headed back to the big D to get ready for our Friday roadtrip down to Cincinnati. This would be my first venture into Cinci (and my only venture to Miami of Ohio). And I want to send a special thanks out to KP for driving the Jeep, or letting me drive. Sorry about that detour on the way home. You can tell your folks you went to Indiana, hurray!

So the crew going down to Cinci was JH, KP, and longtime Phish vet, my only close friend to see more shows than me, PS. Before we left Detroit, JCT called me saying he was stuck on the side of the road in Ohio, off of I-75, at something like exit 119 or 118. His kidz at Miami were obviously closer to him then we were (1 hour vs. 3 hours away) so we really didn’t think we were really going to be his savior that day. So we noticed exit 118 or 119 about a quarter mile before we took it. A split second decision really made the difference in the decision to see if JC was still stranded.

And who do we see, sitting at a gas station on the corner, waiving their hands and rejoicing at our arrival? None other than JCT and his buddy Murph. We hadn’t spoken in 3 hours, and there they were shivering in the cold, waiting for a miracle. So the 2 of them hopped into the Jeep, one of them in the trunk, and we continued on our journey down to Cinci. (Your welcome, dude)

I don’t recall if we went to Oxford before going to the show, but I know we crashed in Oxford both nights during PS’s semester long adventure at Miami. There was one particularly animated character hanging outside the First Star center who gave us an hours worth of entertainment as he begged for an extra ticket. We met up with CC and one his friends from Purdue (::pumps arm:J) Anyways, here is the setlist from the first night.

12-03-99 Firstar Center, Cincinnati, OH

1: First Tube, Wolfman's Brother, Bouncing Around the Room, Get Back on the Train, Billy Breathes, AC/DC Bag > Possum, Slave to the Traffic Light (1:09)

2: Sand*, Limb by Limb, Bug, Piper, Harry Hood** (1:08)

E: Rock and Roll (0:06)

*With Trey on keys. **With glowrings, and Trey waving his guitar for feedback at the end.

I can’t say that I recall a whole lot about this show. I think we sat Mike’s side (which will become as usual as time goes on) but definitely not on the floor.

After the show, we went back to Oxford (about an hour drive?) and chilled at Miami of Ohio, got Bagel and Deli the next morning, and headed back to the venue. This night, I would have the best seats that I would ever have for a Phish show; second row right in front of Trey (your welcome KP. The bad news was that before the show, I was feeling incredibly sick, like strep throat, dizzy, fever sick. Going into the venue, I didn’t know if I could actually handle the show.

And here comes by shoutout for the weekend – the medical staff at the First Star Center in Cincinnati. They hooked me up with some powerful cold, Sudafed type pills and told me to drink a lot of water. This helped me so much that I can’t thank those people enough. You kick ass in my book.

12-04-99 Firstar Center, Cincinnati, OH

1: Heavy Things, Simple, Ya Mar, Guyute, Tweezer -> Dirt, Loving Cup (~1:00)

2: Down with Disease, Split Open and Melt*, The Moma Dance, Farmhouse, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, When the Circus Comes, David Bowie (1:13)

E: Julius, Tweezer Reprise

*Man jumps on stage, is chased by 2 security guards around, finally jumping on Page's baby grand.

So being in second row and hearing an amazing Phish show, needless to say, I had a rockin time. I got some great photos too. Thank you to the security guards that did not take JCT’s camera. I just got a fresh copy of this show and it sounds sweet. The Moma is very toit as is the Bowie, the Tweezer, and everything else. It was a great finish to this 3 night run of shows. And sitting in those great seats, I quickly tuned out the fact that I was really getting sick.

I feel that this 3 night run from 12.2 to 12.4.99 was my high point for Phish, even with the shows coming up at Big Cypress Seminole Inidan Reservation down in the Florida Everglades. And for Phish, it would be the kick off of a great December tour with great shows in Albany, Philly, and at 12-18-99 at Hampton (great show to own as well).

We went back to Oxford for the night then started heading back to Detroit the next day. We took a small detour that took us to Indiana (thank you very much) but we eventually got back on the right path and headed back to the U. I had a great time in Cinci, a city I have become much more familiar with through other shows and family who live on the outskirts of city.

I want to thank everyone who made this experience so memorable, KP, JH, PS, JCT, Mph, and CC; Thank you from the bottom of my heart. These were the best days of Phish for me, much better than Cypress and more memorable than all of 2000.

THANKS FOR READING. PEACE FOLKS.