I honestly like this show better than the previous night's show; that show has two monster jams, but the rest of the show ventures from unexceptional to pretty bad (coughjenniferdancescough), while this show is stronger front to back. Set One boasts a DWD that drops into a late night mellow groove, a Ya Mar with an adventurous, surprisingly dark jam that does indeed have some techno inflections, and a thrilling late-90s Antelope that starts relaxed before crescendoing in fine clanging time-honored Antelope fashion. Set 2 starts with a Sand that is catnip for lovers of the late-99 style, swirling and mesmerizing and perfect to lose yourself in (whether that's a good thing is entirely up to you), until Trey lets loose with some wild, effects heavy solos in the final few minutes. After Dirt cools things down, Piper immediately blasts off, the band tearing through the composed section, then slowing things down halfway through to enter a more relaxed groove, with Trey breaking off weird loops and Page offering some elvish keyboard playing. Fish then slows the tempo down even more, allowing Page to switch to more shimmering notes, Trey's guitar accompaniment fluid and Fukuoka-esque. Dog Faced Boy is an inspired way to let everyone catch their breath. The Lizards is next, then a funked out YEM that breaks no new ground (although Page driving the bus is always nice) but ends in glorious fashion with the vocal jam turning into a very well done Tweezer Reprise. The encore is standard, but throwing in a real Tweezer Reprise was a nice touch. Give this show a listen; it's a real hidden gem.

[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.]

A raging Limb By Limb starts things off, with a little feedback at the beginning that is quickly dealt with. BOTT kept the energy up. Things start to get interesting with DWD. Driving 10 minute jam with a big finale. FEFY is my all-time favorite Phish ballad, and this version was performed beautifully, with a very subdued and chill solo from Trey at the end that builds into a sweet little anthemic jam (not appreciably different from many other versions of this song, but great). Ya Mar gets folks dancing again. Horse>Silent is standard. A rocking Antelope closes out the set.

The deep driving bass of Mike in Sand starts off the second set. Trey hits the delay loops hard in the beginning of jam, then it goes into that textural realm with lots of layered sound from Trey with the rest of the band keeping it grounded in Sand territory. Jam builds in volume to a dramatic conclusion. This Sand could be looked at as foreshadowing for the epic Big Cypress version. After such an explosive jam, Dirt was a welcome respite. Piper has a great, long psychedelic jam that doesn't return to the melody, but kind of fades out until they start up Dog Faced Boy. The only 1999 appearance, Dog Faced Boy was a pretty cool bustout. Lizards was Lizards. YEM, great composed section, nice organ solo by Page and bass solo by Mike. Where this YEM really shines is the vocal jam, which contains an entire Tweeprise section. Cool stuff. Fun Golgi encore, and then of course the Tweeprise with a nod back to the vocal jam (and one of the few to be played without a Tweezer in the show) was great.

Highlights: DWD>FEFY, Sand, Piper, Tweeprise vocal jam in YEM

This is a very good show, and I say that as someone who's not the biggest fan of December '99. The setlist is nicely balanced between rockers, jams, and slower numbers and the jams that are present are all worth your time, something that I don't think can be said for others in this tour. 4/5 for sure.

A pretty solid show!

The first set is very dense and everything seems to have a lot of meat to it. Limb By Limb kicks the show off in a weird slot, however it does have great intensity. DWD kicks off the jams early with another stereotypical 99' hose jam. FEFY is very pretty as always. Ya Mar also has a bit of meat to it and drifts off into some nice drumming by Fish. Mike soon locks in with Fish to create a solid groove and stretch things out a little bit. Antelope has some great slow building intensity and is pretty great despite Trey messing up the lyrics and flow at the very end.

Set two kicks off with a Sand that flows so well, you can tell Trey is having a ton of fun with it. It morphs into a wall of Chaos. Piper goes quickly into lightspeed then cools down into a lush sea of Ambient, Lizards is solid. YEM is fairly standard but the vocal jam is pretty cool, especially the Tweeprise nod at the end.

The encore is a fairly generic Golgi> Tweeprise.

Overall a pretty strong show with a good deal of consistent jamming.

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

The first set from this show is one of my favorite first sets out there. It's one of those that looks decent on paper, but can't possibly be appreciated without being heard. I chose to grab some seats this night and ended up next to a bunch of folks who had brought tons of the those really big rubbery balloons. I think it was someone's birthday. At any rate, a whole bunch of us spent the pre-show blowing them up and writing songs names on them, the usual. But the CCCC is so intimate, and the energy was so high after the previous night's show, that when the band came on, and we launched the balloons, there was almost an New Year's Eve effect. Tons of them went flying towards the stage and you could feel that the band was touched and the energy was soaring.
"Limb by Limb" opened things up beautifully and was followed nicely by the first somewhat extended "Back on the Train" -  an incredibly danceable, funky, early version. And if there any of you who tire of the predictable "Disease"s that are straight-ahead Trey wailers, you'll want to hear this one to keep your faith. There's an absolutely beautiful ambient-like jam in here, with a theme that the band who pick up again in the Big Cypress version. A first set treat to be sure. It segues into one of the best "Fast Enough"s I think the band has ever played, and is then followed by a fifteen minute "Ya Mar" with techno-like jamming. You like your "Antelope" to rage? Find me a meaner one.
Oh yeah, and the second set was pretty damn good, too.