This was an interesting day in the Windy City. I remember the show being very enjoyable. It was packed to the gills. More so than any other show I attended in '99. Also, earlier that day in downtown Chicago, I ran into Bill Walton? Talked to him for a bit about basketball, Jerry Garcia, and got a picture with him. I had an extra for that evening, so I invited him to the show. Unfortunately, he was fixing to beeline it to O'Hare and catch a flight. He was familiar with Phish, said he was not aware they were in town, and thanked me for the offer. As we were parting, with a chuckle, he claimed he was heading back to SoCal to fire his scheduler. It was pretty funny.

This was my first show. My friend Courtney had turned me on to Phish the day after we met in August of '98. I had heard a couple songs off of A Live One previously but knew very little of what Phish was all about. Courtney was a hard core Phan and over the next year took great pleasure in gradually introducing me to the band's studio albulms one at a time to ensure that I recieved a proper introduction. It wasn't long before i was hooked. We drove up from Normal the day of the show with two other friends and got stuck in a ridiculous traffic jam and didn't get to our seats until the ending jam of Divided Sky which was very disappointing but we soon got into the groove and had a great time.

This being my first show I had no idea what to expect. I knew thier studio albums well by this point but wasn't too familar with thier non-album regulars such as Carini and TMWSIY. Since it's been almost 15 years since this show I remeber very few details other than having the time of my life and vowing to see them as often as I could. The next day we drove back down to Normal and caught the next night at Redbird Arena. Still riding the wave of my first show the night before the 10/04/99 show was amazing!

First off, wasn't Page on crutches at this show? I have this memory but I have never seen anyone point this out when talking about this show.

This was my first show as well as an earlier reviewer. I remember asking my parents to check them out in 98 (for one of the UIC) shows but I was in 8th grade so they said no. For this show I was fully ready to be rejected know it was on a Sunday but was pleasantly surprised when they agreed.

At the time I was most familiar with A Live One and Picture of Nectar but I remember not know many of the songs. Stuff like Bouncing Around the Room and Harry Hood were familiar from A Live One but the one other track that burnt itself into my memory was BBFCFM! Years later, looking back on this setlist I realize there were some great songs that I wish I could have appreciated more such as my only Dogs Stole Things, my first Carini, TMWSIY, and such.

I also learned from a teacher that introduced us to Phish that this was the last time that Son Seals sat in with the band. I know this was after his leg amputation so he was on crutches but I still feel like Page had crutches too.

Great first show!

On the heels of some pure fire shows Phish plays a little more....Normal?

Farmhouse has a great guitar solo. Carini is a slaughterfest by Trey and Fish. Ginseng Sullivan is very very rough. This can be somewhat forgotten by a pretty awesome intro to Back On The Train which turns out to be another pretty standard version. Maze although nothing new is relatively strong.

Twist kicks off the second set and just barely dips into uncharted territory as it goes into a version of Possum that has a little extra mustard. This is proceeded by the "Fun" portion of the set inlcuding TMWSIY> Avenue> BBFCFM which I'm sure is a nice bustout patch in the set. This goes into the only real business the whole show. Which is a Bowie that simmers into a dark groove led by Mike, and then picks up slowly flying into the outro. Hood has a strong intro and mini drum solo by Fish, and is a strong version.

The Encore is a fun guest sit in with Son Seals.

Overall a very average show that is toned down quite a bit from the prior ones.

PHiSH managed to make this large LARGE room.. BOUNCE!!!

SET 1: First Tube, Farmhouse, Dogs Stole Things, Divided Sky, Heavy Things, Horn > Carini, Ginseng Sullivan, Back on the Train, Maze, Bouncing Around the Room > Guyute

First set summary: Long set – 88 minutes. Divided Sky is pretty good I thought. Really, everything is well played. Back on the Train seems to lack punch. There is just nothing here that I would ever want to revisit.

SET 2: Twist: Nice, tight, rager >

Possum: Not a fan of this in the two slot in the second set. >

The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday: Love this tune, who doesn’t? But in the middle of the second set? > Avenu Malkenu >

Big Black Furry Creature from Mars: Set is doomed.

David Bowie: Super creepy/dark/evil in the late 9’s. Crowd is quite amped. This jam goes 3.0/Major key jam starts around 11:20. Back into normal Bowie territory at 12:00. Serious Trey trilling in the early 15’s. Strong finish. Above average Bowie for the era for sure.

Wading in the Velvet Sea: Big fan of the placement knowing that there is a Hood that comes after this. Page sounds all emo at 1:53? Trey’s solo is exceptional >

Harry Hood: This Hood is incredible! I have no idea how this has not been on my radar all these years as I have listened to this show a couple times before now. But this sucker punches HARD with HUGE peaks. The fact that it is not a jamcharts version is criminal.

ENCORE: Funky Bitch, Messin' with The Kid: Good stuff!

Second set summary: Another very long set, 83 minutes and the encore is long too clocking in at just under 18 minutes. Bowie is solid, Wading is poignant, and Hood is exceptional. The set itself is choppy in the first half but does recover. This show is a far cry from how hot the band was through 10.2 – as such I would rate this as just a 3.5 out of 5.