Review of the 5/22/00 Ghost

This Ghost is one of my all-time favorite jams and my favorite Ghost. The band starts it off with a nice, long intro and moves quietly through the verses. The jam begins in a very laid-back manner. Trey doesn't do much during the first segment of the jam, which allows Mike and Page to really lead. Mike quickly locks into a funky groove and Page explores many keyboard effects like a mad scientist and uses them to dramatic effect. These are the type of sounds that crawl into your head through your ear and stay there for a while.

The jam picks up at about 10 minutes when Trey joins in over Mike's continuous groove. Only for about 2 minutes of this 27 minute jam do we hear some of the typical rocking, pentatonic playing from Trey found in many Ghosts. Trey starts playing a simple, pretty progression at about 15:45 and the rest of the band follows suit. Great trill from Page at 16:25. Trey alters the progression slightly and expands it, but keeps the same feel. This uplifting passage chugs along for a while with each band member adding color, but Mike's playing is especially amazing. Around 20 minutes into this jam is one of my favorite performances by Mike ever. Simply beautiful.

The band slowly builds to a brief moment of tension. It's over quickly, but Trey plays an emotive riff here that always gets me. This peak is relatively tame for Phish standards, but it is very effective as it resolves the previous 20 plus minutes of jamming. At 24:30 the band enters a beautiful, ambient outro and Mike further solidifies his claim to MVP of the jam with some more gorgeous work. Trey plays sweetly here as well.

Phenomenal jam.

I have listened to this show at least twice and there's mostly nothing that I can really recommend (the Bowie's not too bad, I guess), but the Ghost here is my favorite Phish jam of all time and probably will be even after they hang it up. I've described the 7/20/14 Ghost as compressing everything good about 2.0 without indulging in what's bad about 2.0, and that's kind of how I think of this Ghost - compressing everything great about late-90s ambient Phish without indulging in the worst of late-90s ambient Phish (no small feat, given how long it is!). Mesmerizing (gotta bite from the jam chart, sorry) grooves, spacey playing from Trey and Page, and - starting at 15:41 on the FTA recording - one of my favorite passages in the history of this band's oeuvre, the moment when Trey hits on That Lick and Mike Gordon has the moment I will always remember him for, that zone of serenity where you can't help but focus on the bass player (the bass player!). Again, the rest of the show is perfectly fine, but the Ghost will live forever and there's a fabulous SBD floating around that you should get your hands on right this second. Yes, this second. Go.

This was the second night of a two day run at Radio City Music Hall...and in my own opinion..was the better of the two nights...This place is one of the classiest and most historical, if not the most historical in all of NYC..Some fans even decided to wear a tie to the occasion...just to give it a little bit more class..Truly a historic venue...small, intimate and has great acoustics...the perfect setting for a phish show...you could even possibly compare it to some of the smaller venues Phish used to play in....My buddy Nick and I scored orchestra pit seats...so we got down to about the 7th row..dead center...and settled in...

Set I:

My Soul: Nothing fancy...not a bad choice for an opener...

Chalkdust: I remember being loud as hell...maybe because we were somewhat closer to the speakers than usual..either way, chalkdust never gets old..great song to get the crowd amped up...

Billy Breathes: Always been fond of it...slowed down the pace of the set a little bit...but was enjoyable...

Heavy Things: A tune that was getting a lot of play during this period...standard version...

BOTT: Another song that was heavy in rotation at the time...nothing crazy..Felt like this could go off in a good direction...but before you knew it...it was cut short...a rather short version...

SOAMelt: A pretty good version here...doesn't get too dark and doesn't stray too far....at one point during the song...all the light were turned off on stage and all the lights were turned on inside the venue...then vice versa...caught everyone off guard when all the house lights were turned on...after a second or two..everyone cheered and kept on grooving...pretty cool I thought...

Sparkle: Always a good time when you catch a Sparkle...everyone gets into it...

Horn: Another one that's always a pleasure to catch...One of the more beautiful phish songs in my opinion...Little did I know that this would be the last Horn I would hear...almost 12 years now...

Gin: I love a gin first set closer...and was happy when they started this up...A nice one here...pretty much, just straight jammin by Trey for the most part...gets a little spacy towards the end...

Highlights of set I: SAOMelt, Horn, Gin

Set II: This set is great and is pretty much the highlight of this run...and should be heard...

Bouncing: Nothing out of the ordinary...a song I'm not afraid to admit I enjoy...

Bowie: The intro alone takes a while...gets quite dark and your just waiting for it to take off...a pretty underrated version in my opinion...has a nice overall buildup before Trey puts the finishing touches on it and brings it back home...

Sand: This was my first Sand...such a great jam vehicle...this one might not get all the recognition but a good one nonetheless...although I would catch another one at my next show 6/29/00 and that one should be heard by Sand lovers as well...This one is just dark and dirty...Gordo keeps that great bass line going...while everyone else works around him...

Mango: Didn't see this coming...I love this song..this is a recommend version for sure...crowd was pumped to hear it, as was myself...For whatever reason this song and it's lyrics have always had a profound effect on me...would like to see this a little bit more in the rotation...but as it doesn't get as much play as it did...it makes it more special when you catch one...I would get my last one, later on during the summer...

Ghost: Seeing as how this version has gotten a lot of publicity as of late here..it inspired me to write this review...I had forgotten what a standout version this really was and how fortunate I was to catch this one...One of the more mellow ghost's you will ever hear, but is a top ten ghost for sure...of course that's only my opinion...defintely my favorite I've ever seen...this one had us after a while wondering where we were...we got completely lost in it...no funk...just a nice deep dark space jam...Page brings you aboard and the rest of the band just lifts you off...a must hear for sure...

R&R: This is another crowd favorite...and a really appropriate song to play in a NYC venue...crowd was going wild during this and the boys were defintely feeding off of us...after that monster ghost...this was a perfect end to the set, I thought...At one point during this song, in the top balcony, in the back of the room, there was a banner that said "Thank You" and was being passed back and forth, as a lone spotlight was put on it...I thought this was one of the most beautiful gestures I've ever seen at a show...such a simple phrase that had so much meaning behind it...it actually brought a tear to my eye...couldn't have asked for a better end to the night than this...

Encore:

Bug: Thought they might go somewhere else with the encore...but since this song was pretty new and starting to get some play during 99 & 00 it might have been expected...played with the old lyrics, which I prefer...it's a pretty good version...and should be checked out...

Golgi: Another song I'll never get tired of hearing...crowd loved it and had the place hopping...as if the rest of the show hadn't reeled us in...

Highlights of Set II: Bowie, Sand, Mango and Ghost

This was definitely a special occasion to be a part of if you were lucky enough to get tickets for it. Playing Radio City for the first time, you could tell the boys were excited to experience this famous hall. Although it appeared for both days there was a certain amount of nervousness in their playing. Having also just come from Letterman a few days prior on the heels of performing farmhouse, there was alot riding on the success of this album during this week.

My Soul was a great way to start this show, as there was this tangible old school groove in the air. Not my fav, but blues is always welcome in my opinion. It seemed that this show was both commercial and experimental at the same time. This was a time when Trey was getting into orchestrated feedback with his rig ala hand movements in the air. I was lucky enough to score backstage passes from the production manager at the hall, so I stood sidestage behind Trey for Sparkle, Horn and Gin. I gotta tell you all that you have no idea how great a job Paul L. does for us. Backstage is a wash. I could be wrong, because Trey was having issues with his rig for much of the first set, especially on Train, and I remained on his side of the stage for those songs. I felt like I was missing out, so I stayed FOH for the entire second set. All in all, a very lowkey first set, almost too mellow. But the integration of Radio City's house lights with the stage lights really set the tone for the mellow chilled-down vibe. Props to Trey for using his delay loop in reverse while the house lights were chaning from red to blue to green during SOAM. Gin was the highlight of the first set, even though all I heard from sidestage was Fish and Trey.

Second set was pretty much the same run of the mill jamming, with Mango as the stand out. But still very low key without much excitement whatsoever. Frankly the ferris wheel intro to Bowie made me queezy. Reminded me of them trying to make the riders at lemonwheel puke.

We waded through a sea of milling about on stage to finally get to a surreal and exploratory Ghost that rivals alot of the trippy ones that are spoken of and reviewed. Ghost during 2000 took on a life of its own. Almost swallowing up whole sets with disco funk that would just go on and on. This one is up there. I mean talk about night and day. Everything up to this point had nothing to do with this Ghost. It was almost like a completely different show. Page took centerstage for a good portion of the jam. Take a good listen after the last chorus up to 16min mark. Page is opening the doors of the hall out into dreamscape. Things get toned-down again until about 24 min when things start to throwback to the Cypress sound from NYE. Kind a mix between Midnite re-prise from NYE and Twist from Nassau 98. But it doesn't last long. So appreciate it for what it is.

RocknRoll was a welcome change from either mellowmood style or disco trippiness. The room needed a pick-me-up big time. I like Bug, but not for an encore. It tore down the energy that RocknRoll just gave us. I was ready to go to sleep at that point. Golgi is Golgi, and this is when Trey rolls out the feeback hands.

All in all I give the Ghost a 4.5, but the rest of the show gets a 3.0

Pretty straight forward first set where the CDT and Gin shine here. Felt like they had something decent going in SOAM but cut it short. The real highlight here though for S1 is the Gin. Major key jam into about the 10m mark where it really starts to pick up and catch some steam. As another reviewer mentioned, it reminds them of an early 3.0 Gin and I 100% share that sentiment. Last 5m or so has Trey leading the charge with some solid interplay between him and Page for the peak then fade out into S1 end. Not as killer as some of the Gins that came a month later, but 100% a solid version!

S2 starts with Bouncing with a space like ending directly going into Bowie which is a pretty standard version IMO. Next up is Sand which is a pretty standard spacy version for this era. Mango Song sets the tone for the rest of the show, really awesome extended jam (something they started doing more this year I guess for this one) but next up is the meat of the show. Probably one of the best Ghosts ever performed and we luckily have an awesome SBD copy of it. Starts off with some spacy groove with Mike/Page taking the lead then at the 10m mark or so Trey finds the groove adding another layer onto the jam. Jam continues in an awesome groove and starts the switch into the peak around 18m. Super different Ghost and top 5 version for me, not a lot like the ones from 97/98, super different. Set end with a pretty standard RnR and standard encore as well. 4/5 show for me and one of my favorites from this year just from the Gin, Mango Song, and Ghost.

PHISH, MONDAY 05/22/2000
RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL
New York, NY

SET 1:

My Soul: Standard.

Chalk Dust Torture: I like the subtle loops. Solid jam in this one.

Billy Breathes: Standard.

Heavy Things: Standard.

Back on the Train: Standard.

Split Open and Melt: Standard.

Sparkle: Standard. >

Horn: Standard.

Bathtub Gin: Killer, major mode jam – they waste no time in getting to it after the composed section. Kind of reminds me of some of those early 3.0 versions. Cool wind down to this one too. Would recommend.

SET 2:

Bouncing Around the Room: Standard. Yikes to this in the opening slot. >

David Bowie: Not too shabby here. Lengthy intro and jam. Solid Bowie!

Sand: Standard.

The Mango Song: Standard.

Ghost: I basically love this jam, most of it. They are assertive and jam with purpose up through the late 16 minute section. At that point Trey strums repetitively for about five minutes. Gets old. Very trancey. But from the mid 22’s through the end – this thing is just super nasty. Awesome spacy wind down too. Highly recommended. >

Rock and Roll: Standard.

ENCORE:

Bug: Standard. >

Golgi Apparatus: Standard.

Summary: A good Bowie and an all time Ghost. Outside of that, this show was disappointing. 3.75/5.

Replay Value: Ghost

David Bowie contained Bouncing Around the Room and San-Ho-Zay teases.

JAM CHART VERSIONS
The Mango Song, Ghost
TEASES
Bouncing Around the Room and San-Ho-Zay teases in David Bowie