Well we spent the afternoon seeing American Pie. I think we had gotten a hotel for this run.

Arrived at the lot, and let me tell you, it was jam packed already.

Felt like a sea of cars as far as the eye could see.

This was show #4 of summer ‘99 and I was a tad exhausted so decided to hang at the car. My traveling companion decided to take his bike and check things out.

He returned a while later and had bought us a couple pot brownies...or so he said...munched them and headed inside.

Fantastic 1st set. Was feeling really good and enjoying the summer winds. PTBM had hooked me up pretty well for summer tour. This night we were down front and a little off page side.

2nd set started and whatever I had eaten started to make my brain foggy and not so in a good state of mind. I was able to maintain but felt that downward spiral where the music was just dark enough to make me want to run. But I maintained my composure and sweated (literally) the fear away as best I could. It was tough.

Then as I was losing my battle to this non-weed brownie...to this day I still want to know what I ingested...a song started up that I did not know. Something about gold, credit, doesn’t matter...this must be BUG. Like a wave of a magic wand I started to calm down. I was able to carry thru and have a more enjoyable ending. Yes Bug made me see that it truly doesn’t matter.

I love this song and I don’t give a shit if it ruins others show. Those are the emotionally stunted music fans.

This is a terrific overall show smack in the middle of a particularly strong tour. Indeed it's hard to go wrong with July 99. By this point the band had already dropped some monster jams, (7/10 Chalkdust, the hot Ghost->Slave combo on 7/4, a fierce Mike's on 7/9, to name a few), were working Siket Disc material into their sets, and having fun getting people to do the Meatstick leading up to Oswego. After a fun show the night before that kicked off with the electric debut of Boston's Foreplay/Longtime (a nod to both Boston area and the return to Great Woods), they pulled off an even stronger offering on this night with plenty of highlights.

You almost get two openers with the NICU, and then the Curtain which in those days typically meant that a good time was ahead. Then the Halley's is out-of-the-gate spectacular. Concise focused exploratory jamming that goes a lot of places in just under 15 minutes. The kind of ambient, textured but dancey grooves the band was laying down these days was the perfect canvas for Trey at the time. He was full of fresh ideas, hitting all the notes. A great segue into Roses are Free (the first since Nov '98) that dissolved into an out of left field N20 bustout is prime first set material. The Reba might be the best of the year, too. So laid back. And atypical at moments, especially in the early goings around 8:45. Again, Trey with the notes, with Page doing his best Brent Mydland impression underneath.

Set two doesn't reach as many high points, with the laid back vibe maybe getting pushed a bit too far at times, though the 20 minutes Wolfman's is certainly worth checking out if you're feeling patient.

Definitely hear the Halley's and Reba!

[I was looking back on some 1999 shows I attended but didn't remember much from, so I decided to give them a download and re-listen to figure out if they were any good.]

NICU is always a fun opener that gets everyone in a dancing mood, and this version is no exception. Slightly extended little jam at the end, right when you would think the song would end, might be a tease of some sort. The Curtain was a relative rarity at this point, making only a couple appearances per year, so I remember being pretty psyched to hear this one. The segue into Halley's fairly standard for Curtains without the "With" section, probably more of a ">" than a "->". Things get interesting in the Halley's. The band takes the vocals of the final verse down to a whisper and then immediately launches into a somewhat dark (minor key perhaps?) grooving jam. Trey throws in some delay loops while Page vamps away on the piano. I'm gonna go ahead and call this Type II, for sure. Definitely worth hearing. The segue into Roses is well done, seems to be Fishman leading the way by changing up the drum beat. Roses is fun, devolves into a slow blues jam which then ends up in NO2 land. The White Tape NO2 ending was a huge surprise, which if you haven't heard it is a cool little guitar melody from Trey. The entire Halley's to NO2 sequence is really great stuff for a first set. Lawn Boy starts right up with Page walking around doing the crooner thing if I remember correctly from the show. Reba jam is pretty standard for the era, but still great, goes to some cool places. No whistling, just a stop/start right into a rocking Carini. Funky Bitch closes out a really great first set.

A loping Wolfman's kicks off the 2nd set which immediately launches into a funky jam. The jam starts to get a little spacey 9 minutes in, but still has a Wolfman's feel in the rhythm section. Mike starts to hit his pedal bell and then drops some bass bombs while Trey does some light picking. At about the 16 minute mark, the jam really heads into dark type II territory, and then into a Hood-esque chill jam. Great way to kick off the set. The jam kinda fades out and a very quiet Piper starts up. This builds to a typical but fun Piper climax. Interesting placement for Bug, I've always felt it more of a 1st set or encore song, but still cool. Mountains in the Mist is an ok ballad, but not the highlight of the set. The energy level ticked back up again with a rocking Antelope. Possum with Scott Murawski was excellent, awesome bluesy guitar solo from him, with a more traditional Possum solo from Trey, then some great interplay between them. Would be cooler if Scott was higher in the mix, but still a great Possum. The Tuesday's Gone encore was an amazing bustout, featuring some more great guitar playing from Scott. And of course, playing this late at night on a Tuesday was cool.

Highlights: The Halley's->Roses->NO2, Wolfman's, Possum and Tuesday's Gone.

Only the Halley's -> Roses -> NO2 and Wolfman's have stayed in rotation since I listened to this show a little over a year ago. I remember the show as a whole was enjoyable. The atypical Reba is somewhat interesting, maybe verging on a little boring, and the Antelope rages really hard. However, the only parts of this show that really matter are the ones I mentioned previously: Halley's -> Roses -> NO2 and Wolfman's Brother.

The jam out of Halley's is really melodic and the segue into Roses is silky smooth. Yum! There is a little minute-long ambient jam after Roses that morphs into NO2 and there is yet another short ambient jam after NO2 as well. This is a really nice sequence that everybody should hear. This next jam is one of my favorite funk jams of all time. This Wolfman's is... well, let me put it this way: if you are running low on the funk, take a pit stop here to fill up. This bad boy just grooves along for about 14 minutes before we get another few minutes of ambient stuff. The whole thing is very minimalistic and groovy. Definitely a must hear.

TL;DR: listen to Halley's -> Roses -> NO2 and the Wolfman's.

I've never been annoyed at a crowd more than during this Reba jam. Nice, quiet, pulsating groove with Trey and Page going to work on cathartic, serene melodies and the audience just wouldn't stop clapping. It was frustrating and while I might be wrong I believe the abrupt, dark, left turn the jam took into Carini was the bands way of saying they didn't much care for the clapping either.

Anywhoo... This first set is as good as it gets. Sharp playing, high energy, great set list choices and a Halley's jam that was absolutely fantastic. The band goes back and forth between dark and triumphant more than once during this Halley's and then creates a wild sound scape before seguing into Roses. The Roses while is without any extended jam is a high energy version and has a fantastic No2 tacked onto it.

By the time we got through a ripping Funky Bitch to close set one I thought we had a chance at calling this one the show of the tour. But then something disappointing happened. Wolfman's-> Piper really didn't go anywhere. A bit too ambient for my tastes and I don't think I was alone in that opinion as by the time Piper wound down the energy that had been brimming out of the Good Woods in the first set was all but gone.

Then to follow that with what were at the time two new songs in Bug and MITM ( and slow ones)was a risk that didn't pay off. Solid Antelope and a Possum with Scott Murawski and Trey trading licks helped salvage the set somewhat, but I remember leaving the venue on this night opining on what might have been.

I think the band might have gotten a bit too spun at set break.

If you seek this one out, it's for the first set.

Justin, our friend Gupper and I did the Great Woods shows on through Oswego this tour. There was TONS of hype leading up to these shows since they hadn’t played there since 95 and it seemed like they always played some hot shit at this venue. This was also the venue where they last performed Gamehenge in its entirety. The night before was pretty crazy with the Foreplay/Long Time opener…I’m not sure if I’ve been in a more excited crowd in my life. We stayed at a nearby state campground for the two nights and they didn’t seem too happy about having a bunch of Phish kids staying there. Besides the 100 other rules of the campground, there was NO alcohol allowed in the park. It didn’t matter if you were 101 years old, no alcohol allowed. Justin and I, of course, snuck a bunch in (they were searching every car). I think I remember us purposely hiding a 12 pack not really well towards the back of the trunk so that if they found it they would think that they got all our beer but little would the know that we had another case very well hidden up towards the front of the trunk. They found neither. We had a nice fire, met some dude that was walking around and played us pretty much ANY song we requested on Justin’s guitar (Divided Sky, Blackbird) and also got busted drinking by the park police. For some reason they were nice enough to tell us to call it quits and didn’t really harass us anymore. What a pain in the ass though to sit around a fire and NOT be able to drink a beer. Not right…AT ALL. I remember the lot a little bit…lots of pavement, hot. At the time I was really into KVHW. It’s not a drug, it was a band. Fucking great band. They were playing at the Wetlands the first night Phish was playing at the PNC center and I really wanted to skip the Phish show and see KVHW. Justin and Gupper weren’t as thrilled with the idea. Not sure if I would have even done it today knowing what an awesome show 7/15 was but damn I’m pissed I never got to see KVHW.

Anyway, onto the show. Halley’s is fun but Trey’s alarm clock bugs me now more than it ever has so it’s hard to block it but it was great and the -> into Roses is perfect. I’m sure Justin and I were just about pissing ourselves at that point since we were both HUGE Roses fans, and Ween fans for that matter. Folks say this Reba is really good…I don’t know, maybe. Carini is what Carini was back then and I always enjoy a Funky Bitch in the first set. The Wolfmans is where the fun starts and gives you nice mix of funk and a touch of ambient/space that was popular around this time. It’s great to listen to and definitely the highlight of the show. You know what? I like Bug. I don’t know why but I do. I feel like I should hate it because it always shows up at the WORST times but for some reason I get into. The line “nothing I see can be taken from me” speaks to me for some reason. OK, another confession, I’m totally gay for Mountains in the Mist and I think the end of a second set is the PERFECT spot for it. Fuck you. I love the song. I want it deep inside me. Fuck you. Antelope was great…love the Meatstick teases. I had yet to hear Meatstick at this point but Gupper saw it at Merriweather a few nights earlier so we were clued in when it opened up the second set at PNC. I doubt any of use picked up the teases on this night. Normally, Possum to close a set would be a letdown AS ALWAYS, but tonight it featured Scott Murawski on guitar so it’s was acceptable. I actually knew who was Scott was since I saw Max Creek a few times in Buffalo previously! (thanks Jimmy T! “MAX CREEK”) In case you didn’t know, Scott plays guitar in Mike’s band now. Don’t know why they choose to play Tuesday’s Gone but it was great and again, the crowd goes wild.

Glad I got to listen to this one again and I need to go back and listen to night one as well. I don’t remember being totally blown away by either show but they were both a lot of fun. All that’s what it’s all about guys! FUN!!!!!

BB

Jibboo Crew

Despite the fact that Halley's Comet is the only Highly Recommended jam in this show according to the Setlist Team here at Phish.net, I feel like Reba is the star of the show. I'm quite inclined to say that, as Reba is my favorite Phish song, and because this version is atypical in verging upon Type-II jamming. The Halley's is jammed, to be sure, but the jam feels like one big bridge between the song it came out of into Roses Are Free (as if the band had rehearsed it or at the very least planned the transition... not that there's anything wrong with that!) NO2 is very interesting to hear with its White-Tape instrumental ending, and as for the rest of the first set, I think this Funky Bitch is one that I would point someone to as a stellar Type-I example, especially if this show and maybe the night before were released archivally. The Wolfman's Brother to open the second set is very long and--to me--just kind of monochromatic in the sense that it sort of gets deconstructionist, which is nice, but treads water within that milieu for its entire 20-minute length. For someone who cut his teeth on Phish's eclecticism and was initially attracted by that feature of their music, this version could even be considered boring upon relisten. Bug > Mountains in the Mist is a nice pairing of then-new songs, with Bug in particular having developed beautifully within my apprehension whereas I used to not like it that much. Possum and Tuesday's Gone feature Scott Murawski--formerly of Max Creek, now guitarist in Mike Gordon's band--but as another reviewer points out he stays kind of under the radar, not really playing anything over the top, which could be considered tasteful and probably should be. The bottom line is that it seems like the band was having fun at this show, and if I had been there, I would have been, too!

I remember being in 9th or 10th grade and getting stoked on my first chance at a heavy chunk of summer shows. I was flipping through the Doniac Shvice and looking at the list of venues for summer 1999. Obviously the venue was still referred to as Great Woods. I don't know what it was but that popped out at me and something deep within knew that show was going to be a heater. I flew out for merriweather and stayed on through Oswego. Missed Terrapin by one show and missed the Darkside Harpua by one the year before. I got this quintessential NO2 in though and wouldn't trade it for anything. I didn't know what the fuck was going on during things like this and Kung. Fortunately I was with a tight click and by the time Big Cypress cane around I was pretty fuckin seasoned for a teenager straight from LA. That summer was amazing. This is must listen phish. I was on the rail for the first time in my life (also hippy flipping for the first time.. which was... a little terrifying in the beginning... I was nervous on the rail and those got I was in a puddle of mutants... at any rate...) this was my phish truly great show. I had the Ventura shows and Vegas 98 under my belt. A few others but this was a mind blower. I haven't ever re-listened to it but I know that it's worth a spin. Much phlames.

Great playing overall for this show.

Average at some parts with some solid versions of songs peppered throughout.

Halleys Comet has a very strong jam and awesome segue into Roses are Free.

A great Reba played just the way it should be.

Wolfman kicks off the second set in style with a great 99' jam and is the perfect pairing for the Piper after it. But it is also an anchor jam for a mostly average set of songs after the fact.

Scott Murawski was an interesting guest in the fact that he was more conservative and left less of a footprint than many other guests do. Is this good? Bad? I feel indifferent about the Possum as several days before Derek Trucks destroyed it when he sat in. Tuesdays gone was good for the fact that it was a debut and worked fairly well with Scott although it's also just a typical one off debut song.

Overall great show. To my ear it just falls short of the night before.

FIRST SET SMOKE SHOW WITH A SECOND SET MIND ERASER

Hard to top the opener energy from the previous evening (Foreplay/Longtime), so the band opted to go in a different direction: jams... glorious, amazing jams. There is nothing better than Phish outdoing itself through pure creativity. Who needs a straight out of left field cover song, when you can play your own music in such an artistic and captivating manner? Set two is anchored with a mind erasing 21 minute Wolfman's Brother. It is the ambient take on the 97 versions of the jam. Stop what you are listening to and throw on this Wolfman's Brother. I am 99% sure it's better than whatever is currently embracing your ear drums. Hell, it gets so deep that Mike needs the FIGHT BELL to call the match.
Prepare thyself, the aliens are coming.

SET 1
NICU opener is funky, calypso-groove fun for the masses, but it is but merely a placeholder in this set. The monster segue of THE CURTAIN > HALLEY'S COMET > ROSES ARE FREE > N02 is the "raison d'etre." THE CURTAIN brings with it a feeling of past greatness and has many of the parts of Phish that we all love - singalong choruses, intricate composed sections, slashing guitar riffs and the feeling of being transported to another world during those opening notes. Where were we going? Wherever it was, HALLEY'S COMET was
taking us. We go through Cadillac rainbows, get tangled in spaghetti, get served our thick strawberry goo, all along the way to the central part of town. Trey wastes no time peeling off squealing riffs and fast-fretted runs, instead he goes straight for the ambient groove. The central part of this town is ambient funk-ville. This groove is the anti-Halley's Comet solo and jam of the past and veers towards the core of Phish as one. The 2012 Summer Tour "all are one" jams should thank this grandfather of greatness. This Halley's Comet jam is a lesson in sum is greater than parts. The monumental jam leaks into what seems like Ghost.... but then a last second right turn takes us to ROSES ARE FREE. Roses was so under-played at this point in Phish's career it was a huge treat to get this tune. The song gets the crowd going and pours into a very loopy, soupy ambient jam that seems to be spiraling out of control (because it is) as it drops into N02. This N02 is unique because it contains the actual "composed" section atop the swirling loops and sirens. A first time play. Ever. A very beautiful and almost Crosby, Stills and Nash style composed jam of delicate chord changes and patient loving playing by the band. All that over some weird ambient siren loops. Quite a sonic buffet. An excellent Reba > Carini adds another set highlight.

SET 2
WOLFMAN'S BROTHER goes ambient early and often in this stellar dark and dirty version of the classic Hoist cut. Just so deep and layered and funky before it gets sucked into the galaxy. Mike's finds a very unique riff early and steers Trey towards the dark side. Soon enough the drone loops and feedback starts. Mike drops into slap groove mode. The crowd erupts for the glow-stick war. The funk gets deeper. You can feel the energy on playback. It's what you want... hell, it's what everyone wants. Darker, funkier, deeper into the groove. Page is so in the pocket he's invisible on the low clavs - like Bernie Worrell under water. It sounds like the entire amphitheater is slowly sinking into the ground and everyone loves it. Mike incorporates the Fight Bell just to let everyone know that this thing ain't over yet. The band melts into a subsonic spacey wormhole and the jam gets sucked into the vacuum. The rest of this set is nothing compared to that Wolfman's Brother, so I will pretend like it doesn't exist.

Follow me @TimberCarini on Twitter