[originally submitted on Mon, 3 Jul 2000]

Bringing my girlfriend to her first Phish show ever was enough to make this night really cool. The fact that Phish had never played the Meadows got the crowd riled up and made the evening special. And the two incredible shows in Holmdel suggested that the quality of this show would be top-notch. That being said, this show would've been good even if it wasn't.

Two years to the day after my last Ha Ha Ha (in Copenhagen), Phish cracked out this little number. I sensed an ominous feel, as though they were saying, "Ha Ha Ha! You have NO IDEA what's in store for you these next two nights!" This got my mind wandering...."What if this WERE the show where Forbin's reappeared?"...."It's been a long time since the last Harpua..."..."Boy this venue kinda sits on a large Mound"...Ha Ha Ha definitely got everyone psyched, after all, it's pure energy.

AC/DC Bag....a freakin sweet version to boot. It was pretty standard until this crazy Trey section where he played some real melodic stuff. It seemed the night would be huge.

Tweezer is usually not my favorite song, but this version ranks pretty high up there. There was a chill jam in the center I was real locked into. Just as I was reaching that place, my girlfriend turned to me and said, "Hey, this is pretty awesome!" She had latched onto the dark bass groove and the nice, light treblish solo Trey was layering. It was impressive to say the least.

Jim picked up right where Tweezer faded and restored the high levels of energy that had subsided during the Tweezer jam. When Jim slowed to Mike's bass section, I very distinctly heard Trey teasing the opening riff of Nellie Kane. I called it right there. At the time, I didn't know that the tease was hinting to the conclusion of the two-night stand or to the plethora of bluegrass that would ensue the following evening. But this rockin' Jim stopped short and there was a pause.

My words at the time, during the one minute plus break in between songs were, "Look, if it takes this long to make up their minds, they'd better be playing Fluffhead or something, 'cause why would it take this long to decide to play Sample or something? Well, Sneakin Sally would suffice! This was a screamin' funk-filled version. The crowd was bopping right along to the beat and Ginseng Sullivan reared his ugly head.

I love Ginseng, and it was what I then thought I might have heard during Jim. This was a clean and precise Ginseng and when it wrapped, they swung during into...

Guyute. Let me tell you, some jerk behind me was yelling, "Yo dude! Did I call it or what? Sa-weeet! Guyute! I f*ing called that sh*t!" All the while I was thinking, "Yeah, they've played this song every third show for the last two years dude. Relax." But I must admit: this was a very well executed Guyute. Trey was right on with the hammer-ons and hammer-offs and Fish was nailing it all the way.

The third "G" song in a row was Golgi, which I was 100% positive would wrap the set. It was nice to hear Golgi again, and as it wound down I reflected on an excellent first set.

Out came the reprise, and I wondered when that had happened last. I mean, to cap off Tweezer in set one of night one suggests monster things are to come. A nice reprise that was actually extended a few measures was most definitely the end of the set...

Possum!? Come on, I can't believe we got another song at all, let alone Possum. The first set left me salivating!

Halley's started the second set off on a good foot. It's a great song, and the jam was tight. Suddenly, out came

The Mango Song! Maybe the highlight of the night for me, this was an extended Mango that fulfilled my desire for something fun. It was well played, showed the skill and diversity Phish possess, and made me smile. That segued smoothly into Twist, and Twist took off. It almost totally left the main Twist riffs and then came back around, a la many Split Open and Melt jams.

Minestrone was next up. A sweet song that chilled us all out, I think it should be placed in the "light rotation." I fear that too much of this will eventually ruin its intimate nature.

Back on the Train is not my favorite song, so this one did little for me. But it slid ever so gently into:

Makisupa Policeman. So nice to hear the simple reggae vibes of Makisupa. Lots of fun. I feel like this has shown up a couple of times recently. Come to think of it, so has Mango. Would any one complain if they, along with MSO and It's Ice returned to the regular rotation? Yeah, I thought not.

Farmhouse was Farmhouse. Clean and nice.

Sleeping Monkey was a nice surprise. Sure didn't expect it! As nice as it was, it was too slow to follow two fairly slow songs.

That why Bowie worked well. A textbook Bowie that didn't travel too far from the original's boundaries was a nice cap to a nice set whose highlights really laid with the first three songs.

Cavern, which I've now seen in concert 167,432 times, was --at first-- a turn off. But this version, which I've heard referred to as "Tweevern," was really something else. All the little reprise riffs weaved in made this version a little special.

Overall, a great show not worthy of "legend-hood," but ranks right up there in the "Dude, that was AWESOME!" range.

I hit every show summer 2000. This was my fav. Crowd was chill and knowledgable but definitely threw down when needed. Song selection was unexpected which is always great. The whole show is worth a spin. If you're a fan of jams in songs that dont usually have jams then this one's for you.

On 6/30/2000, I was still twenty years old and my sister Keara wouldn't turn sixteen until that October. We were still totally green in the world of Phish. I had two lawn tickets for both nights of Meadows in Hartford, but the second ticket was up for grabs. I was home for the summer from Rutgers and was trying to convince my mom to let me borrow the family minivan so I could drive to Connecticut for two more nights of Phish. I was also trying to convince her to let me take my little sister with me. Somehow, she let us both go. My parents are awesome.

Keara did not know of her lucky destiny until the morning of. I woke her up and told her to get dressed, she was going to Hartford. To this day, she sometimes tells me this was one of the greatest moments of her life.

We had a nice ride up until we hit some killer traffic on 84 East, but it was all good. We parked in the ghetto lot for Meadows after we checked into our hotel. Great googley moogley! This was one of the craziest parking lots ever. First we parked near some kids that had a beer pong table set up already, it was great stuff. Then we walked to the far end, climbed a big grassy dirt hill, over the railroad tracks, across the over pass, and up the street to get to the venue. I told Keara that it was going to be crazy watching people try to get down that hill after the show. We got a good spot on the lawn, Page Side Rage Side, and met some good people from New York and Pennsylvania.

HA HA HA opener! Game on. It was ominous, awesome, and remains the only one that I've seen to date. AC/DC Bag was incredibly well played and bursting with type 1 excitement for almost thirteen minutes. The muted strums at the end of Bag fed into a first set Tweezer. There is a nice type 2 jam that changes key from A minor to D and transitions into Runaway Jim. We were hanging with a guy out on the lawn in a Fishman dress from Pennsylvania that called himself Runaway Jim. Keara and I felt like it was all meant to be. It was a great Jim that took us all over the D major scale and back again with some detours inbetween. After a few moments of consideration on stage, Phish busted into Sneakin' Sally. Sally was received very well on the lawn and we were getting down through the second quarter. Sally eventually turned into Ginseng Sullivan, which some people frowned on, but not me. I like that song and Phish plays it better than the original, slower version. Guyute was great in the next spot, especially the peak before the new born elf part. People used to get sick of Guyute back then, but whatever, the song rocks. I expected Golgi to close the set, as did many other people, but we were surprised with the first set Tweeprise instead. Hartford was pumping and ready to take a break when the low build up for Possum emerged. No way! Possum closed an incredible first set.

My sister handed out lollipops to strangers during the set break while we chatted with our new friends on the lawn.

Set 2 started with Mike vocalizing the beginning of Halley's Comet which took off into a nice type 2 jam. It built up and eventually turned into The Mango Song. YES! Mango was awesome and jammed itself into a ten minute Twist. The band took a breather while Trey busted out his Taylor Acoustic and played the beautiful Inlaw Josie Wales. A peppy Back on the Train mutated into a reggae groove and Makisupa came to our house. Trey must have read my mind. "One bourbon, one scotch, one...BIG FAT DOOB!" Farmhouse was a nice moment to enjoy being outside in the summer night, Sleeping Monkey seemingly TUCKED the show into bed, but not before one last exclamation point before the night was over. The Bowie hi-hat started slapping away and Phish slapped us all in the face with a terrific version to close down set 2.

The Cavern encore was awesome. It sounded really tight with all the Tweezer tease fills for the intermittent guitar parts, but eventually Fishman dropped the ball which resulted in Trey yelling, "Jon Fishman, MOBY DICK! DICK! DICK! DICK! DICK!" and rocked the ensuing Moby Dick tease. It was one of the best Caverns I have ever heard.

Leaving Meadows was as much fun as I imagined it would be. Keara and I safely made it down the road, across the overpass, over the train tracks, and down the hill to the bottom of the parking lot. Before going back to our mom's minivan, we decided to watch people struggle on the hill. I can't tell you how much we laughed. Drunk and spun out kids were having a hell of a time. People were sliding down the hill and tumbling to the bottom with regularity. The best was when one guy came barreling down the hill, grabbed hold of a tiny, thin little tree that was growing out of the side of the hill, the tree snapped, and the guy came tumbling down to the bottom despite all of his best efforts to fight gravity. It was just like a cartoon.

Anyhow, beer pong was still going strong when we got back to the minivan. We said goodnight to our parking lot neighbors and made it back to the hotel alive to gear up for the next night.

PHISH, FRIDAY 06/30/2000
MEADOWS MUSIC THEATRE
Hartford, CT

SET 1:

Ha Ha Ha: Standard.

AC/DC Bag[1] - Strong jam, but nothing out of the ordinary other than the length. Definitely sets the tone for a great set. Would recommend. The last 45 seconds is Trey playing staccato, something that you might hear in a Fee jam… >

Tweezer: This one is pretty tame. Mike opens the jam with some serious underwater funk. The jam doesn’t have much life other than from 10:30 to 11:30. Nice segue into Jim >

Runaway Jim: Solid enough jam don’t let the time stamp fool you though, there are about two minutes of dead air. Like Tweezer, this jam is somewhat workmanlike in nature and nothing much grabbed my attention.

Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley[2] - Standard >

Ginseng Sullivan: Standard >

Guyute: Standard

Golgi Apparatus: Standard >

Tweezer Reprise: Standard >

Possum: Trey gets the jet fueled up and prepped for takeoff – seriously, check out how high he takes this jam and then launches it – sounds like a plane, would recommend.

SET 2:

Halley's Comet: Solid jam with good length. Basically, it’s one long groove monster. >

The Mango Song: Such a chill jam. This one would be great to put on at the end of a long day or night to wind down. Gets into a very quiet, ambient space and then out of that segues into Twist. >

Twist: Standard.

The Inlaw Josie Wales: Standard.

Back on the Train: Standard. >

Makisupa Policeman[3] Some interesting effects in this one.

Farmhouse: Standard. >

Sleeping Monkey: Standard. >

David Bowie: Standard.

ENCORE:

Cavern: Tweezer and Moby Dick teases are fun, and the MD stuff is foreshadowing of what would go down at Deer Creek.

Summary: Interestingly enough, I always loved this show. But upon this relisten, it has lost some of it’s luster. It’s just not that strong. I think it is a little better than average, I would give it a 3.75/5. Phish.net current rating is 4.25/5 (>50 ratings).

Replay Value: Possum, Halley's Comet, The Mango Song

[1] The ending of AC/DC Bag was unusual, as Trey repeated the closing guitar tweaks before breaking into the Tweezer riff.
[2] No vocal jam.
[3] The key phrase in Makisupa was "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Big Fat Doob."

The ending of AC/DC Bag was unusual, as Trey repeated the closing guitar tweaks before breaking into the Tweezer riff. Sneakin' Sally did not contain a vocal jam. The key phrase in Makisupa was a play on the blues classic One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer, with "Big Fat Doob" replacing "Beer." Cavern included Tweezer teases and a Moby Dick tease after Trey introduced Fish under that name. Runaway Jim included Nellie Kane teases.
SHOW RATING
Ratings are currently offline.
Overall: 4.25/5 (>50 ratings)
JAM CHART VERSIONS
Tweezer, Possum, Halley's Comet, The Mango Song
TEASES
Nellie Kane tease in Runaway Jim, Tweezer and Moby Dick teases in Cavern, Le Freak tease in Halley's Comet

21 years later I have a few good memories.

I did Hartford and Camden by myself that summer. Made some good friends in the lot and I remember crossing the street to use a restroom at McDonald's. Wondered why there were two lines of women and one line of men...until I got into the mens room and realized the second line of women was for the stall in the mens room. Good times.

I called an AC/DC Bag opener to my lot friends and when we settled in the lawn for the show was happy to get Ha Ha Ha instead and then got some cred with those folks when the went into Bag right after.

Really ejoyed this one from start to finish.

This show was a blast! Got my first HaHaHa, opener no less!, and a Sleeping Monkey... love when some rare stuff gets busted into some of the greatest jams of that tour... this show gets overlooked and I usually overlook it myself, but from being on this whole tour (minus 4 shows) This was a really fun night and has tons of goodies... The whole first set was amazing, should have been a 2nd set really.. the 2nd set was fun and great, but it wasn't as good as the first!! but the encore was sick, really good "encore" Cavern