outstanding Foam ! and very nice collection in general..

This is a great selection! Really stoked about the Mike's> Twist> Weekapaug, and especially about the Tube> Slave from the Gorge. That whole weekend from the Gorge needs to be released on SBD.

This Live Bait is a connoisseur's choice... for real.

The Drew's Jam in Mike's is great proto-plinko. The Melt Kung Jam sequence I've not heard for years and I had forgotten how chaotic and creative it is.

[How often does that happen to you all? As much as it does to me? There are just too many titanic jams that have taken place in the context of not-so-notable shows, and I think it's just impossible for me to ever feel like I have a complete understanding of just how much awesome this band has pumped into the universe. I heard a serious head recently say that he had never heard the Chula Vista Boogie On, and I completely understand that.]

@bertoletdown. Exactly. It's overwhelming. I'm forcing myself to listen to something other than the "go-to" shows and it's like I'm rediscovering phish all over again. Stuff I haven't listened to in years is making me question my judgment in overlooking the gloriousness of certain jams. I haven't been this excited about phish since maybe 1998.

@bertoletdown said:

This Live Bait is a connoisseur's choice... for real.

The Drew's Jam in Mike's is great proto-plinko. The Melt Kung Jam sequence I've not heard for years and I had forgotten how chaotic and creative it is.

[How often does that happen to you all? As much as it does to me? There are just too many titanic jams that have taken place in the context of not-so-notable shows, and I think it's just impossible for me to ever feel like I have a complete understanding of just how much awesome this band has pumped into the universe. I heard a serious head recently say that he had never heard the Chula Vista Boogie On, and I completely understand that.]

On the one hand, yes. There are SO many good jams that its impossible to have gotten around to them all, even in 10, 15 years. On the other hand... The Chula Vista Boogie On? He should get on that. 99 rules.

@bertoletdown That's why I started a playlist on my computer/iWhatever-I'm-Using that is simply called Phish Highlights. Anything that I think belongs on there (started simply with the bold selections from the jam charts and then expanded on that with whatever else I wanted). I made anything with seques as 1 track just like they do with Live Bait. Even with it only consisting of parts of shows it's over 1 week's worth of music and when I play it randomly I always hear great stuff I might not have thought about it a while either.

@itorra said:

outstanding Foam ! and very nice collection in general..

This is what I came to say. One of my new favorite versions, from a year of stellar Foams. Great choice!

That ASIHTOS is from the What I Did on my Summer Vacation sampler handed out at the Coventry gate. After the "breakup" I would listen to this disk like it was my security blanket à la Linus Van Pelt.

Totally stoked and primed for tour by this release. This is the greatest band in the history of the world, and livephish is the best support organization in the business. Every selection is classic awesomeness. Wish I had the brains to go see them in the '90's. I was busy being a Deadhead snob and thought the boys were punks. Gah! Oh the bitter pill of poor judgement.

The Live Bait series makes me so happy. We are so spoiled to have an archivist who basically makes free mix tapes for us of the sickest shit he has access to. Thanks again to Kevin and Phish! Does anyone know if this is part one of two for the summer as in years past?

Just a phenominal ASIHTOS (which is an awful acronym, but whatever). Kind of gets overlooked given that maybe the second best Piper ever (after Viper) immediately follows it. I know a lot of Phans look back on 04 as kind of a shitty year, and from a standpoint of loving the exisitance of the band Phish, sure it was. But they played some amazing jams that year, right up to the very end with the Coventry Melt.

It's funny.. When it comes to "type II " type highlights, you can hit a wall where you suddenly realize that there's only a finite number of them. That from 89 to 96 and 3.0, the majority of shows have 1, maybe 2 instances where they reach orbital velocity.

I came to that realization while undertaking a massive Operation Skim Through Everyshow, on the hunt for things like the VA Beach 99 Fee (is that available in an sbd form yet?) and 7/26/97 Timber, 4/4/94 and 9/22/00 It's Ice.. Those rare times something unique got stretched out. After awhile it's like "Oh! There are maybe 50 instances of something like that happening tops".

And then all the "jam vehicles" that people get upset about not having jams anymore, the Halleys, Jim, Gumbo, Bag, Roses, 2001, Boogie, Sally, Chalkdust, Ya Mar, Tube, Timber, Twist, Simple, Birds, Cities, Free, Wolfmans, Suzy class of star destroyers really only had 5 to 15 blowout versions a piece.

Hell. Not to be a size queen, but that day you realize that there's only one 20 minute Antelope (not including when other songs are inside) is a weird one. Like really? Wha? Huh? One? From Phoenix "I can't believe they released that one Ventura show instead of this stellar 7/29 or the other Ventura show- bowie cities bowie sbd was already circulating for crying out loud!" 97?!

This isn't a gripe at all. Just thinking about Phish. I like that this set has some bombs from late 98, 99, July 00 and 04. Some stretches rightfully thought of as the least inspired in that Hamburg -> Coventry stretch. Just goes to show that they still produced absolute genius improv when their bigger concerns were dope or uhh, learning how to play Been Caught Stealing. And those highlights from those tours, while great, sound like a JV version of the interplay going on in that fabulous Undermind. A song that blessedly came into prominence after feeling forgotten for so long. I'm a big proponent of 2.0 trumping the post-Lenonwheel pre-Cypress age as far as improv goes, but in 2012 they're on a whole different plane when they want to be.

Here's to 30 more years! In an age when nothing falls through the cracks, when Phish is a song nailing jam blooming goof balling triple threat like they haven't been since the halcyon days of 95. Since Bethel (a weekend I seem to hold in significantly higher esteem than most. The first 2 nights anyway) it has felt like they were slowly ramping up a re-evolution of Total Package Phish. I don't have the slightest shadow of a doubt in my mind. If Phish chose to make 2013 as improvisationally inclined as 97, 93 or 04 they'd leave the year peppered with shows that rivaled the best they've ever played. I'm in a real happy place with this band, and Live Bait 9 brought me back into the fold after going on Phish listening hiatus since the winter.

Go Wizards. Go Phish. John Wałl for president.

Oh. And the 7/15/99 Melt feels weird without being bookended by the 20 minute Meatstick and most perfectly placed Bouncing ever, doesn't it? Those add so much perspective.

#freeMKDEVO