This show wasn't the train wreck the previous reviewer claims it was. Well, the second set did get real silly. I enjoyed the first set a lot, specifically Birds through Loving Cup. As we know, Jibboo can really go to fantastic places, but in 99-00, they were beating us over the head with it on a near nightly basis. This one is weak. The Bowie was pretty nice, but before long, "Bob Weaver" was actin a serious fool on stage. It is fun, but will not translate all these years later into anything worth listening to. I look at it like I got to see a vacuum solo live and it would actually be the only time (I think). So for that I look back at this show feeling ok about it. Twist-Waste is slow, dark, and typical of a somewhat lazy jam by the band from this period and their insistence on trying to close out a set with a mellow tune. Especially in Philly, that doesn't go over so well (see 7/3/00 and 7/30/03 encore). Ride Captain Ride was really cool, actually, and well-received. All in all, this was a pretty typical show from this period. High expectations, that were not totally met, but everyone still had a good time. It also showed that when they play Philly, one night usually kicks the other night's ass on the run...for example...11/24/09 over 11/25/09, 7/31/03 over 7/30/03 and imo 7/3/00 over 7/4/00.. This is the show that got its ass kicked by 12/11/99.

My first time in Philly except for hitting the airport back in the early 90's. The venue is huge IMO, seems like a MSG the way the seats and the crowd responds to Phish in a bigger arena scene. SET ONE- Tweezer, continues to have no boundaries and continues to keep the energy alive like they did in the early 90's. Bouncing was next, a rather nice tune and always allowing a good early break for the band to save energy for whats to come, Horn > Heavy Things and Dog Stole Things, eh, Three songs which IMO are just average, not to much coming from these Three. My Minds got a Mind of it's own, My first time hearing this somewhat blue grass, ditty. Roggae > Birds, Guyute, Loving Cup. Good way to end the First Set, I really enjoy Roggae it trances the masses and seems like Phish is continuing to pump out Story of the Ghost as they did for a majority of songs in Albany about a few months ago.
SET TWO- I'm Calling Bowie, Jibboo, nice tune nothing to fancy just average Studio Farmhouse here, Wedge, love the intro with fish on the drums keeping the echoing rhythm, always enjoyable, then my Bowie, This David Bowie was special, continued into a Phish 2.0 Jam. Have Mercy > HYHU > ROsie, Wow! Fishman on Vocals, Fishman going nuts, this is classic Phish. Twist held energy what was not lacking, to close the show, Waste. Not a bad song, just took away the pumping energy of Phila. Encore- Ride Captain Ride, The energy was restored. Good solid Phish 99 show, Keep em coming and ask yourself what will be played next.

The Tweezer opener is worth a listen just to note the similarities to the Cypress version. The band seems to hit the snooze button for the rest of the 1st set.

Jibboo 2nd set opener is OK but nothing special.
Bowie has a nice segue into Have Mercy but outside of that it lacks fire.
Rosie was a treat with Fish running laps around the stage and if you listen really closely you can make that out from the AUD.
I think the band finally woke up for Twist because it seems like the only song for which they are all synced up.

The Ride Captain Ride encore really got the crowd back into it after the Waste lullaby S2 closer.

On a positive note, the band played better than I could have and without a doubt this is the best show they have ever played on 12/10/99.

12/10/1999 was a very interesting night. I scored two tickets from my sister who was going to the next night but couldn't make it out to the first show in Philly. I ended up going with my friend Mike from Rutgers because he had a car and had never seen Phish before.

We sat on the second level right behind the stage and it was pretty amazing to watch a show from that perspective for the first time. I couldn't believe how big some of Kuroda's lights were. Tweezer opener- HELL yeah! Uncle Ebeneezer meandered to a standard but good Bouncing Around the Room. I'm a big fan of the Horn guitar outro and this one suited me just fine. Heavy Things, Dogs Stole Things, and MMGAMOIO pushed through the first quarter into the second quarter. Roggae was psychedelic and serene. Birds of a Feather brought the pace back to the set, Guyute has always been welcomed, and Loving Cup brought the set to a close.

Gotta Jibboo opened the second set for the first fifteen minutes with a type-1 jam. When Jibboo concluded the rolling toms signaled the beginning of The Wedge, which I was very happy to hear. The pace of the second set was building as the striking hi-hat indicated David Bowie had arrived. The Bowie took a strange type-2 turn in the outro jam and suddenly became reggae. I did not see this coming at all. Have Mercy slowed down the momentum that the Bowie had built but it was played well. At this point Phish decided to take a turn to the ridiculous as the HYHU emerged and Trey jumped on the drums. Fishman did his best impersonation of Neil Diamond during Cracklin' Rosie as he ran laps around the stage clashing the BAH cymbals over his head. Twist followed up after all the theatrics were over. It was a slow groove and did not really "bring it" like the end of a second set should be brought. The same could be said about the Waste closer. I was a little disappointed with the way the end of the third quarter and fourth quarter went down but the Ride Captain Ride encore is what stands out the most to me about this show. I loved hearing that song and this version remains the only one that I have seen.

Leaving the show is what also stands out to me about this particular night. Anyone who has ever been to a Phish show in Philly or Camden should expect to find a fair amount of balloons in the parking lot afterwards because that's just how it is. Anyway, this night was a wet, cold December night. It wasn't raining when Mike and I were in the car line leaving the lot, but everything was wet and damp. We stopped in front of these two dudes standing on the hood of their car, both with a bottle of beer in one hand and a balloon in the other. The one guy was dancing but he slipped and amazingly fell off of his car. The first thing that hit the ground of the parking lot was the bottle and it shattered. The next thing that hit was the dude's arm as it slammed into the broken glass. His balloon sputtered around in the air above his head and deflated. I was shocked at the scene of this and I was suddenly driving away. My buddy had not seen any of this happen and made a right out of the lot. I saw other people coming to his aid from my window so I didn't feel too bad for not directly helping the situation.

About a week later I ran into a friend from my hometown that was at the show. He told me that he had a great time except that one of the guys that he knew at the show fell off of his car and cut his wrist. He had to get stitches. I couldn't believe it! I told him that I saw it happen as I was leaving the lot. The guy turned out to be alright when it was all said and done. The moral of the story is don't stand on the hoods of wet cars with beer and balloons because it leads to no good.

after portland i wasnt expecting much ...i had a feeling this stand would open up w/Tweezer since Tweeprise closed out the CCCC ..besides this Tweezer this set isnt a keeper..
2nd set was a struggle as well,trey kept stopping to wipe his nose every 20 seconds,the Bowie->Mercy->Fish antics were fun...and closing w/Twist,Waste..worst show of tour!

Ok, so I'm jaded rating this show so high... because it was my first show. Prior to this I had declined a ticket to see them in Albany; the 20 minute blocks of noise my college roommate played just didn't make sense to me yet. It sounded more like the blurry gray haze of old analog channel 3, then of musical magic. But a road trip to Philly? Sure, I was down to give them a shot... and I never looked back.

I've never successfully found a copy of this show, so I'm yet to relive and digest the performance, but from what I remember it was the atmosphere that changed me and my music interests forever.

The lot scene. Wooks. Shakedown. Everyone cheering, dancing, before the lights even went down. The vibe was amazing. The playfulness of the band during Fishman's vac solo with the BAH cymbals, sprinting in circles around the stage.

The funk. The soaring jams. It all finally made sense.