ATTENDANCE BIAS PODCAST REVISITS PHIL LESH AND PHRIENDS AT THE WARFIELD, APRIL 15-16-17, 1999
IT has been twenty-five years since April 1999, a musically awe-inspiring month for Bay Area fans of improvisational rock. Those who loved the Grateful Dead, Phish, Steve Kimock (and Zero and KVHW, among the greatest improvisational rock bands in history imnsfho), and Carlos Santana couldn’t be happier. That's because in addition to the three Warfield PhilSH shows mid-month---which you can (re)listen to here or on Archive.Org or even watch video of on YouTube---April 1999 began with two legendary KVHW shows at the Great American Music Hall. The month also featured two Zero shows at the Maritime Hall the weekend of April 9; three Santana Fillmore shows, the third of which on April 18 featured Trey and Page on a few tunes (my review of it on this site is at phish.net/review-archive/shows/4-18-99.html; a stealth-taped fob-daud of this show used to circulate on DAT, CDR and cassette but I can't find it online today); two Jazz Is Dead shows at the Maritime Hall with Kimock on April 23 and 24; and then a Kimock, Vega, Hertz and (Jimmy) Herring (“KVHH”) show on April 30 up 101 north in Petaluma! This was certainly among the greatest months of music in my life and the lives of many others.
The magnificent, transcendent music of the April 1999 Phil Lesh and Friends Warfield shows, featuring Phil on bass, Steve Kimock and Trey on rhythm and lead guitars, Page McConnell on keyboards, and John Molo on drums, has been exhaustively discussed by many, including in detailed reviews posted in the glow of the events 25 years ago. The shows continue to be among the greatest improvisational musical performances I have ever seen, and you'll hear more from me about that than you ever needed or wanted to know if you listen to the Attendance Bias podcast episode about these shows with host Brian Weinstein; you can listen to it wherever you listen to your podcasts.
You can also read reviews of the shows by many folks by going to the legacy reviews page on this site, clicking on 1999 on the left side of the page under Show Reviews, and then selecting April 15, 16 or 17, 1999. I posted recaps of each of the shows hours after they occurred both on Rec.Music.Phish and/or RecGdead, see April 15 recap, April 16 recap, and April 17 recap.
Thank you, Phil, Steve, Trey, Page and John!
Did you attend any of these shows? What did they mean to you 25 years ago? What do they mean to you today, whether you saw them or not?
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Phish.net
The Mockingbird Foundation
TLDR; start here and prepare for your mind to be blown:
I'm not really a Dead guy, I haven't listened to literally any other Phil shows, I haven't heard any other Kimock since like KVHW days.. but I'd take these shows over Big Cypress any day. The level of improv is too strong for words. Pure wizardry.
I think the person who blessed you with all those tickets was likely Kathy Sunderland. She was on the UBCF board and very close to Phil as I remember. I got totally denied at the Sunday morning on sale at my go to super lurky lightly traveled south bay BASS outlet, and posted my melt on dead.net. She contacted me by email and said she could get me a pair to each night. I was skeptical that she was for real, and to assuage my fears, she actually invited me to her house in SF to pick up the tickets. Unreal.
As a deadhead, kimock freak, and phish fan, this was harmonic Shangri-La. Can't quite believe it actually happened.
That week still feels like a dream to me. At the time, we felt so lucky to be witnessing such a momentous occasion in music history as if we understood it's timeless significance even in the midst of the experience. And one that sonically (and now visually thanks to the remastered videos!) has stood the test of time.
Luckily, Phil was standing between the two, holding court like the master he is.
The energy in that room won't soon be repeated, it was the union of 2 families and aside from the Terrapin a few tours earlier, marked the first time Trey was able to openly show his respect for the Dead in over a decade.
A fun story (I wasn't there but it's been confirmed by a few people). Phil had a BBQ at his house during rehearsals and he has one of Jerry's guitars on his wall. Trey looked at it and said to Phil "can I?" Phil said yes. Trey picked it up, tuned it, and put it back. He just wanted it to be right. Such a class act.
The Alligator is the highlight of my musical journeys. Everything I had been searching for was delivered on a psychedelic platter and that version of the song is the epitome of the weekend. Trey must have said "I'd like to Phish-ify one Dead song, and that was the one.
Have so much more to say about this run, but the tension between the 2 guitars and the magic of the unity are the most important.
During the Uncle John's, and older Deadhead family member came up to us, in tears. Saying she had been watching us rock out (we had drink rail in front of Trey, same spot all 3 nights) and was so happy to see Phish heads in action. We made her happy seeing "the torch" being passed on.
One last story - before the Wolfman's, Fish was standing behind the drums sidestage and Molo turned around and offered his sticks to Fish. He turned it down. Another class act. What a run, thanks for rekindling fantastic memories!
Yeah, 200 people and his ego filled the place.
Dude is going to have that Jerry quote about how significant he was on his tombstone. He does nothing for me and his inability to share a stage and communicate as is needed for this kind of music drives me nuts.