10/19/12 - This show was replayed in thePhish room on Turntable.FM

The first big and very unique moment in this show comes with the Jam after MFMF. Very cool and spacey stuff here, a must listen! The space drops nicely in to Gumbo, which is standard, and then a well executed segue in to a raging Maze. Boogie and Roggae are both pretty nice, but don't go out there as much as one would like.

Set two isn't quite as good as one would hope, judging by the setlist. The Sand is a monster, but spends a lot of time meandering around, never truly finding its place until Michael Ray comes out. Still a great track, but nothing to write home about. Makisupa > CTB > Funky Bitch is definitely the highlight of this set. Not much can be said about a Hood encore with Ray on trumpet... just listen to it, immediately.

This recording has been remastered, download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?kagd2mez8fzrs

I was there. I have a different take on the Hood (h/t MZA):

Michael Ray comes out and tries to bug Trey before the vocal section. Trey tries to ignore him and then Michael Ray gets sad and walks over and sits on the drum riser.

...he's still sitting on the drum riser doing absolutely nothing.

Someone comes over and hands him his trumpet. "Oh yeah, I play trumpet!" But then he sets down said trumpet and continues to sit on the drum riser next to the trumpet. We later find out from Trey that Michael Ray couldn't find his trumpet. Which was the only reason he was on stage.

The jam is boring (well pretty standard quiet beginning of Hood jam). Michael Ray then decides to pull people on stage. The people literally just sit on the drum riser (surprise!) and awkwardly bop around, pat their legs, looking awkward and white. Someone nails them with a glowstick, of course. Michael Ray struts around a bit, then conducts them to sway their hands back and forth above their heads (not anywhere close to in time with the music of course). They can't (won't?) follow him. Then he tries getting the entire crowd involved by doing "pump it up!" moves. This is during the quiet section. At one point he dances (terribly) with a girl who I imagine is a sweetheart who just feels bad for Michael Ray and his unrequited antics. Trey eventually moves into shred mode, but the entire crowd is focused on Michael Ray and his dance partner. Getting no love, Trey ripcords into the closing descending pattern.

Michael Ray now unapologetically drops the b*tch "in the dung" when he hears the change (no blade is visible). Then he finally picks up his horn and asks Trey what to do. Trey points Michael Ray to the mic right in front of Michael Ray. Good idea! Michael Ra then squeaks and squeals a whole bunch of nonsense and crap, effectively ruining the peak of Hood. Then he stops before the song even ends and goes and sits on an amp.

The end.

Wow, 1 review so far. Loved this show. It was the better of the 2 at the Knick, Pepsi whatever. Enjoyed the scene before the show, the entire street turns into a flea market atmosphere.

SET 1- Possum ( who brings down the house better than the Phish from VT? No one).

My Friend My friend- (always welcoming, a great tune from rift that doesn't get enough play Imo, nice little jam to follow through the song extending it to longer per portion).

Gumbo- (nice, wanted to hear this tune all tour, glad to have gotten it).

Maze- (always keeps the phans moving, that thunderous slap on bass is earth shattering).

Boogie on ( Stevie Wonder would be pleased, Phish doing it justice).

Roggae ( my favorite phish tune from Ghost, mellow, jammy, spaced out and ambient).

Guyute- (can't be outdone from Roggae, got to follow up with the ugly pig).

Antelope- (Set closer. Good energy and solid playing. Nice to see TM on stage wit the old friends).

SET 2-

Jibboo- (1999 was the year of the Farmhouse and it seems to have spilled over into 2000, good tune, not my favorite).

Curtain- (Special song for a special crowd this evening)

Sand- (one of the best from farmhouse IMO, good energy and solid playing, I could hear this one at every show).

Makisupa- ( watch out for those men and women dressed in blue, this was a nice treat coming from a solid Sand. Band had some additional horns to make it sound even more unique).

CTB- ( love this groove)

Funky Bit

Night 2 starts us off with a classic Possum opener. Great way to begin the set. Trey starts up MFMF and the crowd goes absolutely nuts! The AUD really sells this total explosion. MFMF gets to it's standard build up ending but instead of dying down the band stretches out the climax, milking it for all it's worth. It's certainly an atypical ending but IMHO doesn't deserve the moniker of "Jam". Gumbo up next provides some great interplay between the band, weaving in and out, very good stuff! One -> into Maze later and the energy is through the roof! A huge improvement over last night's 1st set. Boogie next up and I'm honestly a little taken aback at how stellar these picks are. I had the impression by Fall 2000 Phish was tired and ready for a break and that came out in the music. But none of that is here. Moving on we finally get a cool down with Roggae but don't sleep on this beautiful rendition. Like Gumbo, interplay is the name of the game here. Guyute and Antelope close out a very good 1st.

Gotta Jibboo opens the 2nd set and once again full band interplay features heavily here. Don’t be fooled by the length, there’s some great stuff packed into 11 minutes.

I’m sure there were those in the audience expecting another The Curtain With after the monumental bust out earlier that summer but alas this will be the final Curtain sans With until Superball. I wish I could say this transition into Sand is good but... it’s not. Fish seems to misread his own count off and starts up the Sand beat way too quick and has to pause for Gordo to get him back on track. From there, Sand does it’s usual ‘99-‘00 space/noise jam. Unfortunately it’s not terribly interesting that is until Michael Ray comes onstage and starts blasting some big band style trumpet runs. It’s chaotic in a good way. Even reminding me of The National Anthem off Radiohead’s Kid A, although that album wouldn’t release for another month.

Makisupa gets some added flair from Ray’s trumpet stabs. Just an all around good time on this one. I’d have to assume CTB was a request from Ray as he nails all the chord changes more so than other sit ins tend to. Funky Bitch also gets some flair, but by this point the gimmick was losing me. Cavern caps off a set that had some good potential going in from the 1st but didn’t meet my expectations.

Hood encores are always appreciated. Bringing the night to a thrilling conclusion is one of my favorite things Phish can do and Hood will 9/10 times do it perfectly. This was... almost one of those times. Ok so the band is playing fine but Ray is out there with them doing next to nothing. The show notes seem to say he just sat on the drum riser and then pulled some fans onstage. He doesn’t even pick up his horn until 13 minutes into Hood; basically the very end. He blasts some chaotic trills while the rest of the band eschew the “you can feel good about hood” line in favor of continued peaking. I can tell they don’t really know what to do and just stick to playing the same chords again and again until Michael decides he’s done. Finally Trey decides to pull it in to somewhat of an ending. Trey thanks the audience and chastises Ray “we want to thank all the people who came up to sit with Michael so he wouldn’t have to sit alone when he couldn’t find his horn.”

This show is disappointing. The 1st set has so much promise that the 2nd set doesn’t really deliver on. Add the mostly one note sit in and a messy Hood ending and it feels like swing and a miss. Stick around for the first set and the Jibboo but the rest just isn’t worth your time.