12-30-99 -- Seminole Indian Reservation, Big Cypress, Florida

Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 18:43:07 PST
From: Andrew Rose [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 12/30/99 Review
 
12/30/99 Big Cypress, FLA
 
After hearing this show's highlights for second third and seventh times, I
figured it was time I gave this show some attention in light of all the
(merited) emphasis being put on 12/31. Now, I'll be the first to say 12/31
is my number one show of all time, and you can read my review as to why ...
gotta love the Love Supreme SOAM ... and that's only in the 1st set ... but
to the task at hand:
 
Overall, 12/30 contained some absolutely amazing moments. It had its softer
spots, but I definetly classify it as one of the best shows of 99.
 
First off, Light Up or Leave me Alone had a fabulous jam. Its not incredibly
long, but its sweet. Its takes off pretty quickly, and part way into it,
Mike hits the Jiboo bass line. Could've segued quite easily but instead Trey
took the jam for a bit more of a ride and then ended it. Very nice.
 
The Ghost was terrific as always. Tasty space rock. Not as good as that
Portland, OR version (holy shit that's a monster...) but very good.
 
Ya Mar was neat too. It seemed like they tried to bring around the techno
jamming at the end, but it didn't quite materialize. Still great, and better
than your typical Ya Mar, but nothing compared to the 12/8 version. I'm
still trying to find those amazing Portland shows on mp3 ... anyone got an
FTP site for me?
 
Set two was a bit of a marathon. A sign of things to come. Wilson open
things up in fine fashion. The boys were extremely tight through this
version. Again, it didn't go on too long, but this Wilson had a nice
original sound to it. I'm not much of a Wilson fan, but this version was
nice.
 
Oh, how I love Curtain. Can't complain, and what's more, it was followed by
Tweezer. This Tweezer may have the tightest, intricate and uplifiting
composed section I've ever heard. I remember being at the show and thinking
they could just play the verse this way ovwer and over and I'd be happy. The
only let down of the jam was that it ended. Absolutely fantastic Tweezer. I
only wish they streched out the end part of the jam more and brought out the
techno sound. Instead that Taste segue can be spotted a mile away and boom,
Taste. One of the only times I was sorry to here the song, and the version
was average.
 
I thought the set was over with the Wolfman's ... a version similar to the
12/7 one if I recall correctly. Much potential, but nothing mind blowing.
Then came a boring Jiboo. Yup, boring. Trey's solo was VERY predictable. No
matter. The Hood was beautiful and unexpected - the way I like 'em. And Good
Times Bad Times was the perfect closer, and a kick-ass version. All in all,
the set had some excellent moments, but Trey seemed a little lost in places
with a few predictable solos. He redeemed himself in set 3.
 
A typically rocking Chalkdust opened. The groove to the Moma to start off
was SO mellow, so thick, so danceable. "They could play this all night" a
friend said, and he was right ... but of course they didn't. I only wish
Trey wouldn't go back to that same riff when they move out of the funk - it
kills jam potential.
 
AH the Antechnolope. My new favorite, taking over from the 12/29/97 version.
A tight intro, a sick raging jam and some of the coolest sounding keyboard
work I've ever heard from Page AND Trey at the breakdown part. They traded
lines like it was an 8 bit Nintendo game gone mad. Must hear.
 
Can you believe they busted out a Mike's Groove too? Okay, so they did the
Simple thing, which I'm not a big fan of, but this Mike's opened up some
crazy fucking Vortex. The lights and smoke during the jam were fucking
insane, but the noises coming from the stage were even crazier. I can't
describe it, here it for yourself. The interesting thing is that the
composed section was extremely mellow, tight and optimistic. This jam was
chaotic, dark and mysterious, and I LOVED IT.
 
Boogie On>Tweeprise made a nice encore, although I don't know if I can here
the Stevie song anymore after discovering the 9/18 version. It's 20 minutes
long and has some of the best jamming Phish has done in 99. Right up there
with the Boise Bag and those monsters from 12/31. Page smokes on the clav.
But that's an entirely different show ...
 
Andrew

Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 17:07:51 EST
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 12/30/99 review
 
Okay, I only have little notes that I jotted down and a heaping brainload of
memories so I might flake on descriptions here and there...when I get the
tapes I can give a much more detailed review, but here goes anyway:
 
12/30/99-I
Water In The Sky-I called this song as my twisted little vision of a sunrise
song for the overnight set, instead they open the whole shebang with it!  I
have to admit, it was very surreal to be at a huge Phish concert in this
strange tropical swamp with the sun blaring in your face before it sets and
helicopters flying around the stage.  It was even more surreal to the happy
electric bluegrass soundtrack that Phish provided, but people went nuts on
the "Filter out the Evergaldes" line.  An appropriate opener, but for the
first part of this set, we were in a terrible spot and could hardly hear the
music, deep drunken conversations in front of us didn't help much...time to
scope out a new spot.
Light Up and Leave Me Alone-As soon as they started this up I looked around a
bit puzzled...I know this song, but from where?  It's an old song...what is
it?  Then to find out they hadn't played it since '88?  They were pulling out
some cool stuff already.  However, midway through this song I had the
uncontrollable urge to go to the bathroom which is usually this Pavlovian
ritual I go through upon hearing Farmhouse...go figure.
Suzy Greenburg-I'm in line at the bathroom now, can hardly hear the music and
it's my first Suzy!  I was psyched to be present for it, but I was a little
bummed that I couldn't enjoy it under the speakers in all its glory.  Page's
solo was great though.
Corrina, Corrina-Still in line for the bathroom when this familiar ditty hit
my ears.  They hadn't played this since '89...perhaps some more old old stuff
will be in the works tonight?  Great soloing by Trey, but as the sound wasn't
that great where I was it wasn't on my mind too much.
Limb By Limb-Still in line for the bathroom, and I hear there's vacant ones
on the other side of the venue...doh!  I miss another great jam, but I could
hear enough of it to know it was the first big-ish jam of the evening.
Che Hun Ta Mo/Gator Song-Couldn't hear much of the onstage banter while in
the eternal bathroom line, but I did hear Chief Jim Billie welcome us.  This
was a very cool moment, and I was digging the Chief's tunes, it seemed the
crowd was too as he was a fun prescence onstage and probably a trip for him
to be playing in front of 80,000 people.  Got back to our spot at the end of
this tune and managed to move to some speakers.
Possum-If people were thinking the show hadn't picked up yet (I thought the
more casual beginning was most welcome), it had by now.  While not the
longest, jammiest or insane Possum, it definitely picked up the pace and got
everyone moving again.
Farmhouse-Well, I heard it and I didn't go to the bathroom...am I cured?  I
like this song, but it doesn't get me excited like the others.  Hell, the
band was sounding great, this song was no exception.
Ghost-My first big highlight of the evening.  Some chatters had moved away
from us, and the sound had really cleared up.   I was really able to groove
and listen.  This Ghost was very colorful and went through some very well
strung together changes.  It really did that in my ears, they would be
jamming on a color and just like the spectrum, would fade into the next
color...the transition smooth but the color very different.  Mike was really
on, they all were, but he really stood out.  Trey didn't fly off on solos,
but added very spacey melodies to the canvas.  Jon was solid as always,
changing up the groove and resolving back.  Page seemed to be laying the down
the canvas itself, combining to make a new hue with each idea.  It ended very
suddenly, not dying out at all but concluding itself well.  A good long
exploratory jam...things were only getting better.
Ya Mar-Everyone was pretty psyched to hear this, it fit the climate well.
Usual Ya Mar fun, some great soloing by Page.
Character Zero-While I really love this song, I usually expect the jam to be
a Trey solo.  This usually holds true except in cases like Vancouver and
here.  The jam shimmered with sonic diamonds, Trey steered you through an
asteroid field, all the while Page, Mike and Jon splitting the atoms to power
the reactor.  A great closer in all cases, but a hint that we were really in
for it if we were unprepared for the rest of what was to come.
 
12/30/99-II
Wilson-At this point my theory about them touching on some older stuff seems
to be coming true.  A wall of sound, people in my section were chanting
"Wiiiiiiilsooooon...." as if the tyrant were there himself.  A rocking
version, but it did seem a bit short.
The Curtain-Wow!  Busting out the Curtain.  This song has so many cool twists
and turns, it reminds me of Yes in many ways.  They pulled it off flawlessly
and it sounded great!  Everyone was psyched to hear it.
Tweezer->-Apparently, Curtain segued into Tweezer, but I don't remember a
segue.  A lot of folks bitch about Tweezer, then bitch about the band not
jamming enough.  Tweezer is a vehicle for anything-goes type jamming IMO.
This Tweezer was shining, sparkling.  Arena rock in the middle of a
cowpasture.  While not a particularly mellow Tweezer, it was not over the top
either.  Very tasteful and melodic jamming and a terrific segue into Taste.
Taste-I heard the arpeggiated D chord bubbling out of Tweezer.  Not only was
I impressed by the way Tweezer oozed into Taste, but I love this song too!
The "psyche-gospel" groove of this song always gets me going, and the soloing
here was beautiful.  A tough song to pull off.
Meat-I'm not the biggest fan of the song itself, it's a bit sparse, but it
grooves nicely and is fun to hear live.  Last time I heard it was in Vegas
when it was still relatively new.  The constant start and stops were
hilarious and you could see Trey cracking up on the video screens when they'd
start it up again with that awkward drumfill.  They started it up 5 times I
think, I thought they were going to keep that up all night.  I often read
people's feelings of Phish not having fun on stage anymore...it seemed to me
they were very obviously having a blast throughout this WHOLE festival.
Golgi Apparatus-A tight version and a new experience to hear 80,000 people
screaming "I saw you with a ticket stub in your hand!"  The light show was
dead on.  A fun version.
Wolfman's Brother-I was there, I was listening...they played this?  A
standard version, a little slow, even a little short.  Not much was memorable
from this version...it was good, but '99 doesn't seem to be the year of the
Wolfman.
Gotta Jiboo-Heard Trey's funky little riff, knew that one of my new faves was
starting up.  Everyone seems to be into this song, rightfully so.  It grooved
nicely, and the jam went out into a very danceable space.  Mike even let go
of the bassline a little, leading them into some interesting territory, but
it was shortlived.  This song is too short, even if it goes on for ten
minutes.
Harry Hood-This song came earlier than I thought it would, but looking back I
guess it was good placement.  A beautiful jam, not the best I've ever heard.
I guess there was a glowstick war, but I didn't notice at all...seems I was
more into this Harry than I thought.
Good Times Bad Times-An excellent set closer...and they were going to do more
after this!  Trey was on fire, the whole band surged with an urgency and pure
nasty rock and roll loudness that would have made Led Zeppelin start reading
Family Circus.  If there ever was a roof over Big Cypress, there was no hope
of it ever returning to Earth now.
 
12/30/99-III
Chalkdust Torture-Proof that there would be no lull in this set.  Chalkdust
raged as always, at times you could hear the uncertainty where they might
have thought of bringing the song to a close but just said "to hell with
it...my fingers are on fire!" and carried it on, much to our delight.
MOMA Dance-I knew it would be coming, but when?  The thickest MOMA I have
ever heard is still 7/19/98 at Shoreline, but this one had a nice lengthy
intro and great Clav work by Page.  People were groovin hard to this as it is
a great vehicle for thick gooey sounds and all those other great sounds that
only Phish seem able to make.
Antelope-I turned to my gal at the first notes of this and merely said
"uh-oh".  They simply were not going to let up.  After the usual craziness
they slipped into some really cool space.  Trey hopped on his keys and was
making some whacked out sounds with Page, weaving in between the beats and
creating this groove that almost put you into convulsions riding it.
The Sloth-Another old rarity, and another nod to the obviously anticipated
Gamehendge set.  A cool one to be around for, never one of my faves on tape
but it is way cooler live.  Not the easiest song to dance to, and a lot of
people looked confused.
When the Circus Comes-We heard this song a lot on Fall tour, but Trey really
loves to sing it.  That was made apparent to me as I watched him on the giant
video screens.  The look on his face when he sang it, it was like he had
lived the song itself, perhaps that's what draws him to it.
Mike's->-Okay, this is where things got really weird.  Not only did the crowd
go nuts to be treated to this the night before New Years, but we got the most
evil version.  While Mike is singing, Page is providing the backbone instead
of Treys riff.  Instead of the riff, Trey takes the most delicate,
understated solos to compliment the general feel of the verse.  But after the
song part of Mike's is over, "delicate" no longer exists.  As happy and good
as Phish is, this Mike's is pure evil.  The jam would just build and build,
but instead of going to the chord changes that signify the end or at least a
new direction, they brought Lucifer himself on stage to jam.  I don't know
what or who it could have been making whichever sound, but this nasty evil
chord just rang, Mike was dirge city, Jon was pounding away, Trey was playing
these evil chords and I guess it was Page who was making these messed up
keyboard sounds that twisted our reality into this dark mass of brimstone
crashing into the Earth.  I could have sworn I heard someone (possibly
Fishman) growling "Hell..." in a death metal voice while the cameras zoomed
in on the candles onstage.  It was funny, disturbing and beautiful all at the
same time, and definitely the most intense Mike's I've ever heard.  But they
let up after a while and shifted gears into...
Simple->Everyone was eager to see what song they'd jump into and Simple did
not disappoint.  They were able to keep up the driving groove that Mike's had
put them in.  It wasn't a particularly long Simple as they slowed it down,
made it gooey and oozed into...
I Am Hydrogen->This song is beautiful.  Trey hit each note with precision and
soul.  Page was the real highlight of this version.  He was present in the
mix from the 1st song of the day and really stood out with delicate melodies
and trickling complements to Trey.  Of course, the serene landscapes
envisioned to this song are quickly torn away.
Weekapaug-Besides the Auld Lang Syne tease thrown into Weekapaug, this one
was thick with funk.  The gooeyness was played in a way new to my
ears...thick but remarkably fast.  I could really feel Fish's kick drum and
Mike was just adding more visceral tone to the mix.  The lights throughout
this were spectacular.  Just the nature of Weekapaug is pure joy to me.  I
knew it was a set closer though...not so much joy there but hell, they played
their asses off!
 
12/30/99-Encore
Boogie On-I was so stoked to hear this again, they really make this song
their own.  I was at Chula Vista (7/18/99) where Boogie On almost neared 25
minutes, but alas...this one would not be nearly as long or jammed.  Still
put a smile on my face though.
Tweezer Rep.-Something about this was just an omen for what was to come.  As
much as Tweezer Reprise always sounds the same, however you are feeling can
determine the intensity of the song on your brain.  The lights, the crowd,
the intensity that Phish showed us so far made the Reprise seem like it was
the loudest thing I had ever heard...but not piercing loud.  It's the kind of
loudness that makes you forget where you are, or even what your name is.  It
leaves your head covered in soot, with smoke coming out of your ears.  This
set had assured me that Phish wasn't going to skimp on the energy during the
overnight set.
-John Pett

Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2000 15:19:25 -0500
From: Nina Weiss [email protected]
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Che Hun Tah Mo

just found this, thought it was a cool side note to the song the chief
played while on stage.  still trying to confirm if that was billie's
producer, john mccuen, who joined them on guitar, being he produced the
chief's latest album... (note: mccuen also joined phish on stage in
sacramento in 1996).

sho naa bish -
- nina

Che Hun Tah Mo
In the Miccosukee tongue, the phrase means 'welcome.' The Seminoles'
friendliness is described here in a Latino/blues style. It is also known
as the 'welcome song' inviting all peoples to the swamps for a good time
'down where the trade winds play.'


Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 17:36:44 EST
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 12-30-99
 
Well, this could prove to be the most difficult account I have ever taken
upon myself, but here goes...Just day 1 for now, because i don't have time to
put everything down for both nights:)
We all showed up in a 6-car train, and I'd first like to thank everyone who
let us through in that incredible mess of people and let us stay together!
The drive from good old Rochester, Ny was surprisingly pleasant, although
tedious at times (thank you South Carolina...), and to have it finish with
such friendly people was a nice preview of what was to come. The Traffic Jam
was hard to take, of course, but I agree with what I've been reading...it was
fun if you made it fun. I had a blast just talking with people in other cars,
taking pictures, playing football, etc. Of course, the whole procession was
overshadowed...
I'd like to stop here and offer my condolences to the phriends of the person
that lost his life on the way in. I was saddened to hear of the occurence,
and I am glad to see the outpouring of support. Consider my support added.
And now to the main event...after a night of little sleep due to excitement,
we all made our way to the concert venue, which was very well set up! The ice
sculpture was a nice touch, although dangerous for people like me...The
atmosphere inside, too, was filled with excitement and friendliness. Very
nice! The boys came out with a great air of determination--I could tell they
were ready to rock. I couldn't even believe that after all the traveling, I
was seeing phish!!
Set 1:
Water in the Sky: Couldn't say I was that surprised. I love this tune, and
although many around me seemed disappointed, it made me smile silently and
enjoy it. There was so much anticipation...and they played it cleanly. Great
way to start things off.
LUOL: I was kind of confused--I wasn't familiar with this one. They rocked
it, though. I had fun!
Suzie: Yes!! Finally....this was a first for me, and I loved it. Page was On
Fire for this one. They let him go, and he created so much energy through his
music. There was a smile on my face for a long time.
Corrina: Another tune I wasn't that familiar with. I couldn't really tell
where the boys were going with the energy--mixing up fast and slow, and I
didnt' know what to expect from the rest of the set. I loved this song,
though, and wow, are they tight tonight!!!
Limb by Limb: This one follows me around. And i can't say i'm disappointed
with it! I loved this version. Trey's noodling and Fishman's difficult
rhythms melded so well, and I was loving life. This song just took the beauty
of the whole scene and put it into music. What a night already!!
Next, the Indian chief was announced and I was psyched! I thought this was a
great idea, and i was really interested in what they would play. I couldn't
really hear what was going on, for some reason, and my view was partially
blocked, so any of the translations they had for it were lost to me. The
second song made me smile; they were having fun on the stage, and the
alligator floating around made everyone laugh. I especially loved Fishman in
the background, looking over at Page and effectively saying, "what the hell
is going on??" We had a good laugh at that one.
Possum: Yeeeeahhh!!! If there's a better way to get the place rockin, i would
love to know what it is! This tune brought everyone back to reality. The
sound was tight, and although Trey's soloing was not spectacular, this was
another really well-performed tune.
Farmhouse: I was hoping for another high-energy tune here, perhaps Funky
Bitch. The placement was not great, but I enjoyed this version. Trey was on,
that's for sure, and Page added some great harmonies.
Ghost: All right!! I was hoping for a long, high-powered jam, and I got it!
They got rid of some of the funk after the singing finished and just went
with all power. I loved this one. Trey was really into this one, too, and
that got me going even more. Mike was really rocking by now, too, and I
didn't hesitate to point that out about a hundred times to my friends near
me...sorry guys! And quickly after this jam was done, here came...
Yamar: Nice! A first for me, believe it or not. This song has avoided me, and
i was getting frustrated, so i was really psyched. The energy wasn't quite
what i pictured, and the crowd seemed tired, but i enjoyed Page's incredible
soloing on this one.
Character: I can't remember if this one came right out of Yamar. But talk
about energy!!! Trey was reeeeeally rockin here. He loves this one, and
although this song is a bit overplayed, I love hearing it, especially a
version like this! This one pretty much left me buzzin.
Overall, the first set was solid. The band was very tight, and i loved it.
Highlights for me were the Ghost jam, Page's soloing, Character Zero, and
Possum. Overall for this set, about a 7.
 
And now, the real fun began, after a rather short break to get warm clothes.
We got considerably closer for the night sets, this time on Trey side, and
the sound was perfect here. On the way in, i saw the Naked Dude just chillin
near the gate, and we gave him a nice little round of applause for being
entertaining. When he started screaming obscenities, though, we figured it
was time to head in a little bit quicker:)
So we waited and waited...it was almost unbearable because I was so excited.
When the lights went down, everyone was so ready. And wow, was the band ever
ready too!!!!
The opener, Wilson: Unreal!! I didn't expect this, really...I guess i was
expecting a more "untraditional" opener, but right away, i knew this was the
best way to start things off. Very well-played, Trey was in control and no
one had a problem with that.
Curtain: My friends were going insane. This one was great, a first for me,
and i loved  it. We were all jumping around. Talk about a tightly-played
tune, too! They'd obviously been practicing up. This one segued into....
Tweezer: Yes!!! Another unexpected twist, although someone around me somehow
called this one. This jam was one of the highlights of the entire two days
for me. There was always a direction for this song, and the lights were
unbelievable. Fishman really led this jam, and they were all together. Page's
sounds were unbelievably pretty, and added so much.
Taste: The segue from Tweezer was amazing. It came from nowhere but still
seemed so natural. Nothing was forced. This version of Taste rivaled
Rochester. It was done in the same style, although I thought a bit shorter.
The middle part here had so much energy to it, and I saw a lot of smiles.
Meat: Great placement. They were having so much fun up there at this point.
Trey was loving just playing around with the crowd, making people guess how
many times they would stop and start. The crowd didn't seem that into this
song, and it wasn't as tight as i've seen it, but it was fun anyway--more
smiles!
Golgi: I was hoping for Ginseng here, but no complaints from me! I was about
5 feet in the air when i heard the opening for this one. Could the lights
have been any better? I was mesmerized. CK5 was on, that's for sure. This
Golgi was one for the record books.
Wolfman's Brother: After giving the crowd a little while to mellow, they
launched into Wolfman's. There were no complaints from me--I was looking
forward to some nice clean funk after meat.  This version was pretty slow,
and Mike was on top of his game. Unfortunately, the jam was rather short and
didn't go anywhere, but I enjoyed listening to Mike go crazy.
Jiboo: FINALLY! After a blatant tease in the afternoon (during Ghost?), I was
ready for this one. In fact, I had been the whole time. I can't get enough of
this one. The crowd was ready too, and there was about as much groovin as I
saw the whole time. As an added bonus, a kind phan behind us came up and
threw some jibook stickers in the air, and one of my friends was lucky enough
to grab one. The song was clean, but Mike has to let go of the baseline if
they're ever going to go anywhere with this jam. After a bit of a jam, they
took it right into...
Hood!: Nice! Perfect timing. Pretty standard Hood, nice lights, and the
interaction between the band members was amazing toward the end especially.
The last part of this song really did a lot for me--gorgeous work by Page.
And then without warning: Good Times Bad Times!! It had been a year, and wow
was i ready! For the song, anyway--I couldn't have been ready for this
particular version! I haven't seen the boys rock like this in a while. It
blew me off my feet--Trey was amazing.
This set let me know just how tight the band was, how ready they were, and
just how much this experience was going to rock. Talk about getting people
pumped! And a special shout out to CK5: amazing lights! They added so much.
 
Short break and i was pumped for set 3...
Chalkdust: Great opening song. This being one of my favorite phish songs, i
was pretty psyched. This was not a great chalkdust, despite a good tempo and
great lights. Trey's solo was not quite there, and the crowd was tired. That
didn't stop me from moving, though! Right at the end, I turned around to a
friend and said "they're going to play moma." Guess what?....
MOMA: One of my only calls for the whole shebang. And a FANTASTIC moma. I
could not have been happier with this one. They went everywhere with this
groove, and everyone was loving life. Great segue....
Antelope!: One  of the best songs I have ever seen performed. Great jam in
the middle. Page and Trey's dual on keys was a huge plus and made me laugh.
Page just kind of went along with it for a while, and then pretty much said
"i am so much better than you" and kicked Trey's ass. So much fun. The lights
were again great, and the ending had an incredible amount of power. Definite
high point--people were talking about this one all weekend.
Sloth: My call for the opener. I was psyched, but no one around us was, it
seemed! Great version--I love this song. Kudos for the band for breaking it
out. Well-timed.
Circus: Pure beauty. Trey was on for this one, and he communicated such a
sense of happiness. I love this song, and so far I was loving this set.
Mike's: WHAT?! I had guaranteed this would not be until the 31st, and i was
shocked. I could not believe what i was hearing in this set. This Mike's was
interesting. Very loud, lots of energy, and a peculiar light display. Midway
through, they let out a huge cloud of gas from the side of the stage,
completely enveloping the band. What an effect! This jam didn't go very far;
they just held a loud, piercing chord for a long time, but everyone kept
dancing because Fishman kept it going. It was a very cool effect. I was
hoping for a segue into Hydrogen, but there came Simple. They dropped right
off of this one, hitting their usual gorgeous jam immediately. Hydrogen soon
followed (wow, such a short Simple!), and this one was magical. Unbelievable
version. Maybe it was the crowd...who knows? Page's work in this one was
unreal. Weekapaug came right out, and everyone was ready. This one had a
blatant Aud Lang Syne tease by Trey, and that got everyone going. They jammed
for a while, and Trey thanked the crowd and said how much fun they wre
having. What an ending! I cheered until I was hoarse.
Encore: BORW, Tweezer Reprise: Good lord. The Boogie On was pure fun for the
guys on stage, and we were loving it, singing along and dancing like fools.
But the reprise was intense. I dno't know if i have ever seen such energy.
Everyone was grooving hard and smiling uncontrollably. They rocked this
version. Every one of them was on. I wasn't sleeping for a while, that's for
sure! :)
This third set will never be forgotten. The setlist is intense, but it
doesn't even come close to doing it justice. I was blown away, especially by
the Moma, Antelope, Circus, encore, and Mike's groove. Being there with some
of the best people ever made it that much more special. I couldn't even
imagine what was going to happen the next day! Phish sent a statement today.
They said about this--"We haven't lost a bit. We are ready to rock, we are
better than ever, and we want to make this the best experience of everyone's
lives!" It made the trip down worth it, that's for sure!!!
More to come....
karl


Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2000 02:49:40 GMT
From: peter sammartino [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Big Cypress Show.Dec.30

Dec. 30 1999, Big Cypress Seminole Indian Rersv.

Well, I am writing this review for the people who were unable to attend
the millenium concert in Fl. What a show! I don't know how Phish can play
so hard and for so long, but they did it. Let me first tell you that that
this concert was the biggest show I have ever been to. The count was about
85,000 people on the first day and I 'm not sure about the second day, but
I know it was alot more. Anyway, i was lucky enough to be twenty feet from
stage throughout the whole show and met a lot of cool poeple.  i lost my
friends in the crowd and it was fucking impossible to find anyone,
especially when it got dark.

Well, the guys came on stage a little after 5 pm and behind them was the
most beatiful sunset. TREy was dressed in a what seemed like a crazy
designed shirt becasue when the lights hit him, he looked like a piece of
Art. The energy was intense as they came on stage and the vibe was truly
amazing.

* First song: Water in the sky- Perfect opener with the lyrics that
pretained to the area they were playing "filter out the everglades". I was
nuts about this song and so was the crowd.

*Lite up or leave me alone- First time hearing this song and they played
it very well and the crowd loved it

* Suzie Greenberg- Hell yeah, thats what I said when they played this
song. First time hearing this song live and it was awesome. There was a
sound glitch right on the first note, which will probably sound like
skipping on a cd, but they played on. Great version, I heard everyone
screaming Suzie so i figured evryone was hyped and excited about the song
as I was.

*Corrina- Again a first time for me, but I think this song was great and
lighthearted, It had a really cool beat to it and seemed like everyone was
enjoying it.

*Limb- this was an awesome version and they jammed the hell out of it
returning to the rhythm in the end. a pretty long standard Limb.

* Native Greeting-w/Chief Wille. They had a Banjo player and another
guitar player with a cowboy hat on stage.The song was in Native
tongue(Seminole) so I could not understand it,but there was a part in the
song when Willie translated one of the chorus lyrics which was
"Bullshit,Bullshit, Bullshit" funny uh? Chief talked alot, even during the
song.He talked about how quite we were in coming here that his people who
live like a mile away did not know all these people were here. anyways he
talked a lot, alittle to much. He thanked the crowd for coming.

*Gator Song- another Chief Willie and the band song. It was pretty cool. I
saw a big inflated Green Gator making its way to the front and I'm sure
chief saw it.Thanks

*Possum- one of my favs, It was great. I danced my ass off within the
little confined space I had. I could not even sit down when I was tired
becasue there simply was no room.

*Farmhouse-I knew it was this song as soon as i heard the guitar hit the
first note. I like when they start with the guitar instead of them all
staring at once like in Hampton 98'. It sounded muck like the Lakewood
show Farmhouse. Solo was great. Trey played with effects first and then
finished it off without the effects.

*Ghost- time to bring out the funk. I love this song and they funked it
hardcore. It had me groovin.

*YA MAR-another great cover and it was time to puff on a nug or tw0.

*Character 0- A great set closer and they jammed it way out. CK was
amazing with the lights during this beacause it was dark out now. What a
set I thought to myself. the temp. was dropping and it started to get
cold, so I put a long sleeve.The temp reached into the 40's during the
night. Phish finished around 7 pm to conclude their afternoon slash
Sunset.. I think they played for nearly an hour and 40 minutes. I could be
off by ten minutes.

After about an 1:20 minute break. THe fab. Four came back on stage aroung
8:15. and started with Wilson.It had the crowd going. I know I screamed
out Wilson to add to the noise.... The Curtain, -my first live curtain, I
realized it by the guitar sound.I was really glad they playe dthis tune. I
love it. It segued right into Tweezer which was amzing. The lights were
crazy during this song and it looked like the band was in the mindset for
a phat Teweezer Jam.The ambiance was set on stage by smoke and the
lights.(thanks Chris).It was pretty long, longer the 15 minutes. it could
have lasted all night though. 

* Taste- i like this tune and stood and watched trey as he noodled around.

*Meat-another funk song.it did not have me going though. It was standard
meat, noting to much. The lakefront arna in New Orleans' Meat was a
helluva lot better. They only breaked four or five times during the song
as opposed to the N.O about seven times. it was still good.

*Golgi- another old song done very well and standard. Everyone seemed to
be screaming "I saw you with a a ticket stub in your hand"

*Wolfman's- I love this song, almost as good as the MANSfield 7/13/99'.
They jammed it out really well. 

*Gotta Jibbo- another first live Jibbo and let me tell you it was probably
one of my fav songs of the night.

*Hood-What can I say exacept it was the fattest Hood I have seen. The
light show was incredible and the glowstick war was the biggest i had ever
seen. 80,000 people glowstick war. I was up front and as far as I could
see there were glowsticks flying around. I got hit with one in the face.I
was really into this hood and enjoyed it immensley.

*Good times Bad times- another first live one for me. I have tapes with
it, but never heard it live. I really like this cover it has nice jamming
quality to it.This eneded the second set with a blast.

The Third set was by far the best set of the night(my opinion only)

*Chalkdust Torture: An amazing display of talent during this song.It takes
great syncroinzed action from the band to create this distinct song
because of how fast the song is being plyed by,especially for Page.It
takes a lot practice. Great Version 

*Moma Dance--another one of my phunk
favs. It lead the crowd into a giant Phunk Jam for a real long time. It
was definitly funk. A nice long intro before the lyrics. I was
FukenMOmaDAnce. 

*Antelope--I really want to hear this song on tape. It was great,probably
one of the best Antelopes I heard.

*Harry the SLOTH, Italian Spagetti--I have not heard this tune in a while
and enjoyed it. A real old school tune from the Gamehendge story.

*WTCCTC-Alright,this song was done perfectly. I love this tune out of all
the slow Phish tunes, especially becasue its all Trey. I thought the best
version I heard was 97' New Years, but better then Lakewood version, this
time Trey played it flawlessly. A real treat fro me. I had to indulge
myself to a nodule of dank during this song, as always when this song is
played.Can't real dance to it, at least I can't.I just move my head and
legs a little.

*Mikes Song-->Simple-->I am Hydrogen->Weekapaug(with Auld LAng Syne
tease): This was the best part of this night. Even though this resembles
recent Hampton how setlist except for I am Hydrogen, which was my fav.
parts of this long ass song segues. What can I say but Phish jammed really
hard made everyone really happy during these songs. I thought the overall
sound was great, even though I was twenty feet from the band, but with the
constand pouring of smoke and the lights completly covered the band and
about 100 feet of the crowd. At pts i could not see the band playing for
several minutes. I though tonight was fucking awesome, couldn't be much
better. A real treat for me to see this show.

Encore- Boggie on Reggae Women-->Tweezer Rep. I really like this tune and
hyped that they were playing, but I really hoped for something else like a
Harpua or a Divided Sky, but its alright the show was great.The night
ended shorly after Midnight.

Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 09:01:25 PST
From: heath anderson [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: nye 2000

a review for thursday's show:

I WOULDN'T FUCKING KNOW.

i drove over 30 hours from boulder, co with tickets in hand that i mail
ordered the very first day we were allowed.  we got past the toll booth on
i-75 and then hit the stand still trafic at 11pm wednesday night.  we
moved exactly 6.8 miles over the next 12 hours and finally said fuck it.  
we were 20 miles from exit 14, snake road when we quit.

my review for the whole spectacle is that phish and greatnortheast
productions took my money and my new years and fucked me and the thousands
of others that were stranded behind us.  they left us on the interstate
with no communication, no restrooms, NOTHING.  there lack of preparation
fucked so many out of money, time and most importantly the shows.

phish should be ashamed.  this isn't the same band i used to see 7 years
ago.  over the last 7 years i've watched phish become a money grubbing
shame that deserves the little shits that now come to their shows.

heath anderson

Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000 02:35:48 EST
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: (no subject)

Just got in from Big Cypress. So many stories to this crazy adventure that it
hurts my head trying to recall everything, so here's a short summary
before I
pass out:

Not sure who messed up on this one, but did someone forget to tell this town
how many pholks to expect or what? Gates to this one should have probably
started on Monday due to everybody stuck on the highway 8-12 hrs,which from
what I heard caused a very tragic accident as well as cars running out of gas
& overheating. Security was Excellent! Loved seeing everyone pull together
with all the delays. It seemed as though everyone was helping out with
picking up the trash as well as recycling.

My buddy & I were extremely exhausted upon making it to the Campgrounds
(11:15am Thursday);however, seeing this Beautiful place & So many smiling
faces quickly brought some life back.
We tried getting some sleep since we still had 5 hours before the 1st
afternoon set started....no luck. Somehow managed to stay up for all of
Thursday's sets

THURSDAY (Afternoon Set)
 This set started out sounding like they were holding back a little, but
still very solid
Trey brought out Chief Jim Billy who sang\played guitar for a couple of
songs. To me, it meant more seeing Phish really connect with the people who
were nice enough to let us all come out here.
 Highlights:
-Lite Up (Water Opener was tight, but this old Traffic cover seemed to set
the tone for the night)
-Corrina (Never thought I'd hear this one live. Seemed a lot slower &
bluesier than earlier versions I've heard. Love this song!)
-LimbxLimb (This was really hot & seemed to strike some life into the tired
phans, which soon faded a bit when the Chief sang. Things picked back up
midway thru:
-Possum (which is always fun to hear. It would have been nice to hear Chris
sing....wellllll not that nice)
-Farmhouse (Seemed to get more of an understanding for this song out there.
Just a perfect spot in the set for this song)
-Ya Mar (Play it Leo!)

(2nd Set)
With the exception of Meat & maybe Wolfman's, this set SMOKED! Getting a
Curtain out of Wilson left me sure that Mike's would follow, but Phish
slapped you back in time with a Tweezer (ala 4/25/93). Very nice Taste!
GOLGI!!! Jiboo, Hood, Good Times? GOOD TIMES?!!! SICK!

Again, I'm so exhausted so I'm keeping the best part of the night very
simple. It was WONDERFUL! Chalkdust - I wanted,left me wanting a little more
Antelope,in my mind, was a Spliff. With Trey & Page dualing on keys. This
Crosseyed-esque jam provided perfect forshadowing for things to come the next
day & inspired my friend Luke & I to deem it Antelope2000. Sloth - Loved it.
Circus - Really payed attention to how the screens appeared much clearer than
a typical Ampitheatre. Trey gave me goose-bumps. Even after resting thru
Circus, I was drained @ this point & had also forgotten about getting pumped
up for a Mike's in the 1st set. Then it came  - Mike's>Simple>Hyd.>Week.-
danced on will alone through the groove, except for dozing off during Simple.
Rested for Boogie On into a predictable Tweezer Rep.
Then -  Off to bed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2000 15:29:10 -0500
From: Jon Labahn [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 12/30/99 Review

    Since no one has, I'll share the little I saw.  I got in to the lot
around 1:00 PM-ish after discovering my name not on the employee list as
expected!  They directed me down Snake Road past the ticketing area (aptly
enough named...) to what I figured would be near my employer's tent.
[Note: one of the flagperspersons had a snakeskin which she indicated upon
my arrival, twitting me concerning my (justifiably!) ticketless status...
(nice touch, though!)] I parked, got my bearings and searched in vain for
_hours_ to find my temp company's tent.  Getting closer to showtime (as
backup planned) I began to pick up garbage as payment for "scene
privileges." Eventually, the show started and was easily audible outside
the gates. (Also, to my pleasant suprise, _really_ well equalized for
diffusing over that kind of distance!)  Still, I felt the tangible yet
slight lightness to my wrist where the ID bracelet should've been.  So, in
my guilt (despite more than 2 hours of steady, beer soaking work!) I left
midway through the first set.  I thought it strange to see there were two
more unscheduled sets.  The set I heard had ended before I pulled out,
while many people were heading back to their tents!
    All in all, what I saw was pretty low-mid grade.  In a word, it seemed
the sort of
off-tempo-wanna-be-slow-groove-even-of-such-high-energy-songs-as-Possum-and-
Suzie-yet-no-real-soul-funk-synergy kind of thing I'd come to grin, bear
and play along with recently.  [(Up note... for the blues number I was on
bottle slide!  (Uh, sliding... into the trashcan...)] A real highlight was
the wholehearted laugh regarding Fishman's take on what we should "Just
Say..." to neurologists.
    Not the greatest, yet, the next two sets seemed to have picked up,
after, rightly... I picked up 'n' left.


Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 21:11:29 EST
From: phorbin 420 [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Review (kinda) 12/30/99

Well everyone happy new year, I hope that even though we are all feeling
the pain of not being able to filter out the everglades that you all find
something great to do. Well I have been getting calls from the show during
setbreak so I am kinda speaking for someone else which I hate because I am
hoping for just to catch a few minutes of them on the news tonight and she
is partying her ass off at the show. Anyway from what I gather (and I am
not going into detail because I didn't experience it first hand) that
quote "the show was just absolutely sick there was so much energy in the
crowd peaople were going freaking nuts, Water In the Sky was a weird
opener" the filter out the everglades lyric for those who didn't catch in
the beginning of this post. "the vendors have sold out of everything with
the exception of food, you cannot by anything here" by now she got cut off
I mean from Florida to Maine is pretty far for a cell phone, Anyway I just
found out they closed the first set of 12/31/99 with After Midnight (Eric
Clapton) so right now I am crying for not being there. Everyone be safe
and if she calls again with any detail from the long set I will post it.

Be safe everybody and have a great new year.

Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2000 02:45:24 GMT
From: peter sammartino [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Big Cypress Show.Dec.30

Dec. 30 1999, Big Cypress Seminole Indian Rersv.
Well, I am writing this review for the people who were unable to attend the
millenium concert in Fl. What a show! I don't know how Phish can play so
hard and for so long, but they did it. Let me first tell you that that this
concert was the biggest show I have ever been to. The count was about 85,000
people on the first day and I 'm not sure about the second day, but I know
it was alot more. Anyway, i was lucky enough to be twenty feet from stage
throughout the whole show and met a lot  of cool poeple.  i lost my friends
in the crowd and it was fucking impossible to find anyone, especially when
it got dark.

Well, the guys came on stage a little after 5 pm and behind them was the
most beatiful sunset. TREy was dressed in a what seemed like a crazy
designed shirt becasue when the lights hit him, he looked like a piece of
Art. The energy was intense as they came on stage and the vibe was truly
amazing.

* First song: Water in the sky- Perfect opener with the lyrics that
pretained to the area they were playing "filter out the everglades". I was
nuts about this song and so was the crowd.
*Lite up or leave me alone- First time hearing this song and they played it
very well and the crowd loved it
* Suzie Greenberg- Hell yeah, thats what I said when they played this song.
First time hearing this song live and it was awesome. There was a sound
glitch right on the first note, which will probably sound like  skipping on
a cd, but they played on. Great version, I  heard everyone screaming Suzie
so i figured evryone was hyped and excited about the song as I was.
*Corrina- Again a first time for me, but I think this song was great and
lighthearted, It had a really cool beat to it and seemed like everyone was
enjoying it.
*Limb- this was an awesome version and they jammed the hell out of it
 returning to the rhythm in the end. a pretty long standard Limb.
* Native Greeting-w/Chief Wille. They had a Banjo player and another guitar
player with a cowboy hat on stage.The song was in Native tongue(Seminole) so
I could not understand it,but there was a part in the song when Willie
translated one of the chorus lyrics which was "Bullshit,Bullshit, Bullshit"
funny uh? Chief talked alot, even during the song.He talked about how quite
we were in coming here that his people who live like a mile away did not
know all these people were here. anyways he talked a lot, alittle to much.
He thanked the crowd for coming.
*Gator Song- another Chief Willie and the band song. It was pretty cool. I
saw a big inflated Green Gator making its way to the front and I'm sure
chief saw it.Thanks
*Possum- one of my favs, It was great. I danced my ass off within the little
confined space I had. I could not even sit down when I was tired becasue
there simply was no room.
*Farmhouse-I knew it was this song as soon as i heard the guitar hit the
first note. I like when they start with the guitar instead of them all
staring at once like in Hampton 98'. It sounded muck like the Lakewood show
Farmhouse. Solo was great. Trey played with effects first and then finished
it off without the effects.
*Ghost- time to bring out the funk. I love this song and they funked it
hardcore. It had me groovin.
*YA MAR-another great cover and it was time to puff on a nug or tw0.
*Character 0- A great set closer and they jammed it way out. CK was amazing
with the lights during this beacause it was dark out now. What a set I
thought to myself. the temp. was dropping and it started to get cold, so I
put a long sleeve.The temp reached into the 40's during the night. Phish
finished around 7 pm to conclude their afternoon slash Sunset.. I think they
played for nearly an hour and 40 minutes. I could be off by ten minutes.

After about an 1:20 minute break. THe fab. Four came back on stage aroung
8:15. and started with Wilson.It had the crowd going. I know I screamed out
Wilson to add to the noise.... The Curtain, -my first live curtain, I
realized it by the guitar sound.I was really glad they playe dthis tune. I
love it. It segued right into Tweezer which was amzing. The lights were
crazy during this song and it looked like the band was in the mindset for a
phat Teweezer Jam.The ambiance was set on stage by smoke and the
lights.(thanks Chris).It was pretty long, longer the 15 minutes. it could
have lasted all night though.
* Taste- i like this tune and stood and watched trey as he noodled around.
*Meat-another funk song.it did not have me going though. It was standard
meat, noting to much. The lakefront arna in New Orleans' Meat was a helluva
lot better. They only breaked four or five times during the song as opposed
to the N.O about seven times. it was still good.
*Golgi- another old song done very well and standard. Everyone seemed to be
screaming "I saw you with a a ticket stub in your hand"
*Wolfman's- I love this song, almost as good as the MANSfield 7/13/99'. They
jammed it out really well.
*Gotta Jibbo- another first live Jibbo and let me tell you it was probably
one of my fav songs of the night.
*Hood-What can I say exacept it was the fattest Hood I have seen. The light
show was incredible and the glowstick war was the biggest i had ever seen.
80,000 people glowstick war. I was up front and as far as I could see there
were glowsticks flying around. I got hit with one in the face.I was really
into this hood and enjoyed it immensley.
*Good times Bad times- another first live one for me. I have tapes with it,
but never heard it live. I really like this cover it has nice jamming
quality to it.This eneded the second set with a blast.

The Third set was by far the best set of the night(my opinion only)

*Chalkdust Torture: An amazing display of talent during this song.It takes
great syncroinzed action from the band to create this distinct song because
of how fast the song is being plyed by,especially for Page.It takes a lot
practice. Great Version
*Moma Dance--another one of my phunk favs. It lead the crowd into a giant
Phunk Jam  for a real long time. It was definitly funk. A nice long intro
before the lyrics. I was FukenMOmaDAnce.
*Antelope--I really want to hear this song on tape. It was great,probably
one of the best Antelopes I heard.
*Harry the SLOTH, Italian Spagetti--I have not heard this tune in a while
and enjoyed it. A real old school tune from the Gamehendge story.
*WTCCTC-Alright,this song was done perfectly. I love this tune out of all
the slow Phish tunes, especially becasue its all Trey. I thought the best
version I heard was 97' New Years, but better then Lakewood version, this
time Trey played it flawlessly. A real treat fro me. I had to indulge myself
to a nodule of dank during this song, as always when this song is
played.Can't real dance to it, at least I can't.I just move my head and legs
a little.
*Mikes Song-->Simple-->I am Hydrogen->Weekapaug(with Auld LAng Syne
tease):
This was the best part of this night. Even though this resembles recent
Hampton how setlist except for I am Hydrogen, which was my fav. parts of
this long ass song segues. What can I say but Phish jammed really hard made
everyone really happy during these songs. I thought the overall sound was
great, even though I was twenty feet from the band, but with the constand
pouring of smoke and the lights completly covered the band and about 100
feet of the crowd. At pts i could not see the band playing for several
minutes. I though tonight was fucking awesome, couldn't be much better. A
real treat for me to see this show.

Encore- Boggie on Reggae Women-->Tweezer Rep. I really like this tune and
hyped that they were playing, but I really hoped for something else like a
Harpua or a Divided Sky, but its alright the show was great.The night
ended shorly after Midnight.

Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2000 04:20:05 EST
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 12/30/99
 
i had a good ime at the show!  my favorite song was the curtain

Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000 12:45:24 EST
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: BC....and all its' glory
 
    rollin' towards BC from naples is usually not a long drive....around 45
minutes......this time it took nearly twelve hours.....traffic was
intense.......still we made  it late wed night early thurs mornin.  The place
was partying like crazy......i went to sleep..  Thurs was a beautiful day and
i couldn't wait to see the music....to kill time we walked the monsterous lot
for a few hours shopping for treats and what not........the field opened
around 2 but the band didn't come on till a bit after five...Water in the Sky
opened which was nice as the crowd seemed to dig the everglades
reference......I don't think anyone knew Lite up or leave me alone;  which i
figured was a real old tune.....still interesting.......Suzy got things movin
w/ a page tearing it up.  Corrina was phat as hell.......again this tune had
some scratching their heads....but what a song it was beautifully played and
i can't wait to hear it again... limb by limb was great.......and by now the
place was packed .....Dank was being passed..and i felt  joy like i only do
at a great show.....Next......the chief of the seminole tribe came out to
welcome everyone and do the native greeting song.....and one about
alligators.....it was cool that phish had him on stage and even cooler that
he welcomed us to thier property........well......when that was over came a
possum that was movin the crowd and had some nice pickin from
trey...farmhouse followed......and it was well recieved......then came the
GHOST which kicked the space funk into drive and man did it........the ending
got all whacked out w/ trey soloing fast as hell real wierd sounding then it
was over....kind off a bizarre ending.  YAMAR came up next and had everyone
forget the spooky vibe ghost left.....yamar was well played and it seemed as
i looked behind me past the tapers section, the crowd looked like a sea of
bodies......Character zero was pretty much stock version...
    SET II.....the boys took a while for break...probably around a couple of
hours......Wilson began this set and the crowd was amped......The
curtatin>tweezer was one of my highlights for the show.......rockin.....Taste
was next and pretty good change from the space funk........Golgi followed and
was a nice dose of the old school.......Wolfman's brother.........this song
i'm sick of and even the jam at the end sounds tired and
overworked.........wolfman's needs to be shelved for a while.......Jiboo came
next and was just what i wanted....it wasn't as good as Hampton's first night
version but was still tight and got the crowd dancin..... Harry hood came
after jiboo and seemed to be what the crowd wanted....they closed with good
times bad times........which i hadn't seen since 94 or 95 so i gotta kick out
of hearin that one........all in all this set was pretty smokin......better
than the first in that the band was warmin up and startin to stretch the
material...........
    SETIII: This set was phuckin bad to the bone.  Chalk dust opened.....it
was tight  and the crowd was caught up in the vibes  as if they would fall
off the earth if they didn't move their asses.  MOMA DANCE........all i can
say about this is that it is the FUNK.....funk so thick words cannot do it
justice.....the intro is just to much for this head........so sick.......and
just when i thought it couldn't possibly get any
better.....ANTELOPE.........again.....this left me speechless.....so well
played w/ a nice ambient soundin jam somewhwere in the middle.......Antelope
blew me away.......Sloth followed and was just what i wanted.......these guys
must be reading my mind......i thought......Next Circus comes to
town.......put the breaks on the funk train......still it was well played and
gave everyone a breather for what came next:MIKES>SIMPLE>HYDROGEN>WEEKAPAUGH.
This was to be the end of the third set and was absolutly amazing...the mikes
song was at least 15 minutes long...and sooooooo phaaaaat.......the
combination of the these songs was mind blowing hydrogen weekapaugh eneded
the set w/ some serious dancin.....so well played.......after this all i
could do is stand their w/ the biggest grin on face.....oh......and the
encore......Boogie on reggae woman and tweeprize......
the reggae woman was funky as hell and had some great work by trey and
page....tweeprize was well...........tweeprize the obligatory ending aftera
tweezer.........
    Man words cannot do this day justice....it was simply amazing.......the
third set is one of my all time favs now.......kudos to  chris' light show
and that phat sound........GORDON'S bass was felt through my
body.........unreal.......there is so much more i could say but.........i'll
save that for my review of friday night......


Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2000 15:27:33 -0500
From: Austin Brownfield [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Review of New Years! : )
 
The land was lovely, my heart was filled with joy, and I was ready for a
nice spiritual break from some of my problems in life, the release I
received during this magical weekend began on the 29th...
 
Sound Check:
 
Jam:  Interesting noodling and warming up from the band, everyone was
having an absolute blast because the phans who weren't caught in traffic
still, got this opportunity to hear a wonderful sound check prelude to
the wonder shows to follow...
 
What's the Use:  Sweet tune, standard, but always cool
 
Ginseng Sullivan:  Very nice, the boys were sounding very well, the
sound check was sounding very promising...
 
Curtis Loew!!!  Woohoo!!  Sweet sweet sweet!!!
 
Mighty Quinn!!!  Always lovely!!
 
Timber Ho!   YES!!!!  awesome jam out of this one, you could tell the
boys were pumped to be putting on this wonderful fest...
 
Jam:  very ambient for a while, then it started to rage, great way to
serve some lucky phans a little taste of what was to come!!
 
Set I:
 
Water in the Sky:  My friend kept telling me that this was going to be
the opener, I kept thinking Timber Ho!, but since they sound checked
that, well, it was a wonderful and very pleasing opener!!
 
Lite Up of Leave Me Alone:  Never heard the tune, friend told me what it
was, very nice, sweet jam, could tell early that magic was bubbling...
 
Suzie Greenberg:  Well played suzie, nothing amazing, but strong..
 
Corrina:  Another new one for me, liked it a lot, very wonderful that
they had already busted out two oldies!!
 
Limb By Limb:  Woohoo!!!  This song is great, very nice jam out of it,
nothing too crazy, but very nice..
 
Native Greeting and Gator Song...  Pretty neat, we were informed of how
lucky we were to be apart of this lovely land, and atmosphere...Gator
Song...Chord progression sounded very familiar....but a good time
none the less..
 
Possum:  Nice to hear, very slow, and funking style, got the crowd into
it some more..
 
Farmhouse:  I really don't like this song, but many others do, so what
the hey, I just swayed back and forth, and didn't get bitter!! : )
 
Ghost:  Woohoo!!!  Nothing wild and crazy here, but it was tight, and
Mike was the man, just like he always is...
 
Ya Mar:  Good Yamar, very well played, enjoying my new years travel
decision very much at the moment...
 
Character Zero:  Not a big big fan, but rocked very hard, and left a
smile on my face for what was to come...
 
Set II:
 
Wilson:  Standard wilson, always nice to hear though...
 
Curtain!!!  Yes yes yes!!...then I looked at my friend and said
tweezer...
 
Tweezer!!!!  OH GOD YES!!!  Very nice tweezer, the jam moved many
places, extremely nice to hear, this went into...
 
Taste:  Solid taste, didn't hear much because I was in the line for the
ferris wheel!!
 
Meat:  Standard Meat, nice though..
 
Golgi:  Great energy, loving it!!
 
Wolfman's Brother:  Short jam here, nothing too crazy, just a nice
little funk..
 
Gotta Jiboo!!!  Very nice, this song just kicks ass!!
 
Harry Hood!!!  OH MY, well, I had been complaining lately that the hoods
haven't sounded like they were being played with too much emotion like
in the older days, but oh my, I had a little bit of tears in my eyes
during this hood, very sweet and powerful!!
 
Good Times Bad Times:  Sweet and tasty, finger lickin good!!
 
Set III:
 
Chalkdust:  Nice energy to open up the set, well played
 
Moma Dance:  Nice tight and solid funk, then came a big highlight...
 
Antelope!!!!  Oh my goodness, sweet ass antelope jam, cool trey effects
on the keyboard, just plain out nasty, loved it, and it was early in the
set yet as well!!
 
Sloth:  Minor flubs, but super awesome to see!!
 
Circus:  Beautifully played, no complaints
 
Mike's Song--> Simple--> Hydrogen--> Weekapaug!!!!!!HOLYSHIT!!!!!!!
Wowsers, the mike's went into this crazy ass intense, and what sounded
very planned...JAM!!, Chris busted out the fog, and the place was going
absolutely nuts!!!  Very smoothly into Simple, simple was beautiful,
they brought it down perfectly into hydrogen, I was floating by this
point...then came a ripping weekapaug, Mike, oh Mike!!!...Auld Lang Syne
tease!!!!  HELL YEAH!!!!!!   Definitely the highlight of the weekend for
many thus far!!
 
Boogie:  Always a super fun toon to get down too!!
 
Tweezer Reprise:  Fucking mad cakes powerful!!!!  Everyone was smiling,
and ready to party until the next afternoon!!!
 
Austin Brownfield


Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000 17:58:57 EST
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 12/30/99 review
 
wow, just got back from the show and it was just amazing.  Im not gonna preach
on to long but just the love for the music and each other that everyone was
showing was great, probably the best crowd ive ever seen, or at least around
where i was.  anyways, on to the review.

after hearing a great soundcheck that included curtis lowe, quinn, and a
really longtimber ho, i wasnt sure what to expect from the boys except one
thing

h2o in the sky- called it, simply because of the "everglades line which the
crowd ERRUPTED on.  besides thatstandard h20

Light up...- didnt know this one but someone near me said they hadnt played it
since late 80s, well it was phat to say the least.  When i looked up later
that it hadnt been played for 900+ shows and that it was a new record for a
hiatus it just made me more excited.

suzy- this has been on my "to hear" list since i first became a phan. wasnt
anything stunning musically but any appearance is welcome.

corrina- recognized it by the chorus, another cool song that phish hadnt
played for a while.  was feeling like i was at my first show, only knew two of
the songs really well...

Limb by Limb- DANK version. i think this is where phish shook of the rust that
had been accumulating since hampton.  Pretty jammed out and nothing too crazy,
but something in me told me that this was gonna be a VERY cool show

Native american greeting song- very strange idea indeed, esp with cheif jim
billy...felt more like at a campfire then a phish show, but it was still
pretty cool

Gator song- Liked this a little bit more than the last song, again phish
really didnt jam but two guys on stage that i guess were friends of jim billy
soloed.  I LOVED the inflatable gator going through the crowd towards the
stage.

Possum- This is where chris turned on the lights and i think the jams
definately got better, perhaps because of the "fifth member" above average
possum, which is still excellent in my books

farmhouse- seems like theyve been playing it a lot...i love the song but i
hope it doesnt end up like sample

Ghost- figured this would be long and close out the set but they cut it short.
still pretty good jamming though

Ya Mar- always dig this, nice tight version. 

Character zero- phat version, not a huge phan of this but this one had me
rocking.  Definately the highlight of the first set.

i was EXTREMELY pleased by the length of the first set; 100 minutes of phish,
i was really happy but had no idea what was coming.

Set II Wilson- great opener, definately set the stage for a fabulous second
set

curtain- another great tune, phat jam at the end and a PERFECT segue into

Tweezer- lots of nice jamming here.  Perhaps a forshadow of the epic jams on
new years, really excellent tweezer

Taste- nice and tranquil, i loved the feel of this song around the cool breeze
of the everglades

Meat- maybe not the best of versions, but the band had fun playing it. anytime
trey gets that really big smile on his face and starts jumping up and down its
gonna be a pretty great song.  love that groove

golgi- simple all out classic...this set was turning out to be a keeper and i
think the crowd was definately pumping up the band

Wolfmans- like ghost, it was also kinda short but involved grade a jamming

jiboo- phat song but not to much going into the works here

hood- not expecting this here- def the best hood i have seen.  lots of great
improv parts and the glo-sticks were absolutley AMAZING.  i thought this would
close out the set, i was wrong

gtbt- the crowd was super into this, probably cause the band had just played
an ultra cool hood.  tied with hood and tweezer as the set highlights...
overall this was probably one of the best sets i have seen phish do, if not
the best.  there was lots of tight jams and spacey jams, and the list was
pretty phat too

Set three- chalkdust- out of control, simply raging and the energy went
through the roof

Moma dance- the funk was almost too deep at this point as trey would put it.
simply all out amazing version

antelope- this almost shouldnt be called antelope it was so good this and
mikes were the highlights of the show...so much jamming involved here, def nye
forshadowing in terms of jam quality

sloth- i was really glad they whipped this out here, brought us down from the
space of the antelope and snapped us out of the surreal world, just in time
for a circus

wtcctt- man this was sweet, maybe it was just the fact that it was close to
new years or something, but i could definately hear the emotion coming through
in treys voice...ive never really been a fan of slow songs in the middle of
really jammed out sets, but this was just a really beautiful version...hope it
comes out as good on the tapes

Mikes->simple->h20->weekapaug- absolute insanity.  mikes pushed the 25-30
minute envelope.  it was the best mikes i have ever heard, beit tape or live.  
simply unbleleivable.  simple was well, simple, and h20 was as usual also.  
weekapaug was phat, but i dont think anything could really touch the mikes
they played...flat out unbeleivable

E: boogie on->tweezer reprise- phat boogie into a machine built tweezer rep.
disappointed at the lack of a second encore, but im not complaining, they
treated us to the best show (the 31st was more then a show) ever, and i went
to bed a happy man

Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2000 22:18:48 EST
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: reviewoftheshow

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwww!!!!! What a show! I've seen around 18 shows
since 1994 redrocks, and i must say that this was one of the tightest 3
sets ever. All of the songs were well played in the older school style of
phish, less phunk(though there was still some thick swamp funk) and more
tension and release. What i'm trying to get at is this: Trey flat out
fuckin rocked this shit. He was all over every song and definetly on top
of his game. Set 2 and 3 blew me away, the Mikes got super spookey and
loud while the boys disapeared into a huuuuuuuuuge cloud of smoke. At one
point thought they were going to do a disapearing act but to no avail, and
The antelope was sick at the end with Trey and page taking turns soloing
on their keyboard. I thought this was the definetly the better night
thanks to trey. TRey is God.


I: Water in the Sky, Lite Up or Leave Me Alone^, Suzie Greenberg, Corrina?^^,
Limb By Limb, Native Greeting*, Gator Song*, Possum, Farm House, Ghost, Ya
Mar, Character Zero
II: Wilson, The Curtain -> Tweezer, Taste, Meat, Golgi Apparatus, Wolfman's
Brother, Jiboo, Harry Hood, Good Times Bad Times
III: Chalk Dust Torture, Moma Dance, Antelope, The Sloth, When The Circus
Comes, Mike's Song -> Simple -> I am Hydrogen -> Weekapaug Groove+
E: Boogie On Reggae Woman > Tweezer Reprise
* - With Seminole Chief Jim Billie
^ - Last time played 8/13/88, 943 shows according to ZZYZX Phish Stats
^^ - Possible old Phish tune last played 2/18/89, 926 shows according to
ZZYZX Phish Stats?
+ - With Auld Lang Syne tease at midnight!

   Thanks to CK5 for the calls!

Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000 17:38:47 EST
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 12/30 review
 
NYE 2000 Overview:  Yes, the traffic sucked, but when it sucks that bad you
can just leave the car, wander about drink, smoke, and shoot the shit with
your phriends.  In case you didn't notice, that's what you did anyway when you
weren't in your car!  With the exception of the few that actually missed show
time---get over it, it's a party!  Another downside is the crowd control
exiting the concert field after the evenings are over.  Why not open the
entrance at this point?  It's almost as if security is saying: "screw you
fun-lovers---we have to work, so we're gonna watch you squirm like the
sardines you are and like it!"  My biggest beef with a crowd this size is
something nobody can really control, though, and that's loser that can't time
their buzz properly and sleep in the venue.  It's very difficult to get any
kind of "Hampton-like" vibe going when you're separated from other people
rocking out by a group of sloths laying around taking up prime boogie space.
This isn't brain surgery folks: pace yourself so you can be in it for the long
haul or get the hell out of the way.  Special mention, btw, to the idiot woman
with the infant laying in front of her on her blanket to the left of the
soundboard around "Piper" time Saturday morning.  This child was basically
right next to the walkway amidst the sea of slugs that people were tripping
over and I nearly stepped on her.  After the fact, I noticed that Mom had
thoughtfully set down several glow rings outlining this beleaguered baby's
head.  This is perhaps to help the stumbling-drunk sixteen year-old to make
sure not to fall there when he drops into the picture?  But I digress.
Overall, it was a great time and we were blessed with perfect weather,
although the tents did heat up quickly in the morning due to the intense sun.
 By the way, how in the hell did everybody avoid getting impaled by a stump
in the red forest anyway?  Anyway, on with the review^�
 
12/30 Review
 
How can a show this great pale in comparison to the one that followed it?  I
intended to write only a 12/31 review until the few remaining brain cells
functioned well enough to go ahead and give much-deserved props to the gem
that was 12/30.
 
Set I:
This was something other than spectacular and was thus keeping with an
apparent pattern of  festival-opening sets that merely get the ball rolling.
Given the fact that most in attendance had been subjected to traffic of
sadistic proportions hours earlier, it may be a miracle that there was any
energy at all for this set.  "Water in the Sky" was a great opener for the
obvious reason and was followed by "Lite Up^�", a song  precious few,
including me, knew, but was excellent nevertheless.  "Suzie" was standard and
I, at least, felt that it was a failed attempt to rally these troops, but I
could be wrong.  I love "Suzie", and haven't had one in a long time, but I
must say I was under-whelmed by this one.  "Corrina" was another one I didn't
know and was apparently a cue for everyone to talk and that probably
contributed to this set's lack of fire, but I'm only guessing.  "Limb" was
spirited, but nothing out of the ordinary followed by^�The Seminole Indian
Chief breaking off a couple of tunes with an unidentified guitar player, as
far as I could tell.  This was very cool, as this guy was clearly having the
time of his life playing for a crowd of such massive proportions.  He made an
abysmal effort to get the 70,000+ very stoned people to repeat words in a
foreign tongue, but at least he quit while he wasn't too far behind.  The
songs, however, were great.  Dude had this rich baritone that made me think
of what Johnny Cash would sound like if he could actually sing.  I half
expected Bob Weaver to swing out for a quick duet of "Feelings" or something!
 In any event, this part of the set was tight.  "Possum", possibly the most
over-played old song, followed in what probably was an effort to get the ball
rolling again, even though the sphere was never really dislodged in the first
place.  "Farmhouse" was nice as usual, and benefited from a beautiful sunset
to the right as one looked at the stage.  "Ghost" continued the mellowness
but it was done well and was followed by^� "Ya Mar", the very happy, airy
number that we know and love, but it was yet another mellow song, all the
better to set up a searing^� "Character Zero".  Whoever knocks this song is,
IMHO, simply not paying attention.  In the spirit of variety, this would be
the heavy-metal, rock balls song that any well-rounded set list needs.
Although it didn't rock hard enough to make this setlist round, it did
absolutely smoke, and leave the minions salivating about what was to come
later in the evening.  An average set at best, but it may be that the boys
purposely laid low, pacing everyone, (including themselves),  to start out
the long, long weekend
 
Set II:
Good God, man!  This set was not unlike the soon-to-be-legendary 12/18 bomb
that followed the pretty-much throw-away show that was 12/17, (excepting the
Coil>Lovin' Cup encore, of course).  Rip it right away with a "Wilson" and
then my 2nd "The Curtain" in 39 shows.  "The Curtain' raged into an always
sweet "Tweezer", which reminded me that even though I may be sick of a song,
Phish still deliver new twists every time they play one of their many epic
numbers.  This was no exception as Mike was dropping bombs like mad.  I was
thrilled to hear "Taste", a song I love, and it really kicked after what I
thought was an uneven start.  "Meat" bores me to tears, but I must say it fit
pretty well into this set because a little mellow silliness was OK given what
tore out of those speakers for the next forty or so minutes.  We get a truly
inspired "Golgi", which got the crowd really going, which was nice.  I say
that because if the crowd wasn't already going, they would've been
steam-rolled by the PHATTY "Wolfman's" that followed.  I'm not a big fan of
this song, but the phunk was getting serious now and I gladly gave in well
before^�"Gotta Jiboo", one of the new gems that you can't believe people could
ever not move to.  (there was a chick near me that basically, remarkably,
never moved the whole set, but I digress.)  This song is so cool and such a
sign of still further progression for the band that I'm even more sorry that
I'm getting old.  "Harry Hood", speaking of old, followed, making for a good
'ol two-epics-in-one-set kind of early evening.  I can't believe I'd ever say
I dread the opening notes to this, but, like I said earlier, the
ever-changing avenues the boys take throughout this song is always
fascinating even though the skeleton of the song is beat.  A fine, fine set
closer indeed, but then in your face is: "Bah-Dump!", "Bah-Dump!"  Holy shit,
what a spot for this!  At 6'6", I can tell you when a festival crowd is
rocking.  I've never seen one rock harder than this!  Maybe "Sabotage" at the
'Wheel, but I digress again.  Suffice it to say, this set is a must and
started: "How can they top that?" questions all around.
 
Set III:
After a seemingly short set-break, it's like OK, keep things up with one for
the kids: "Chalkdust".  As sick as you may be of it, you gotta admit, it's a
great song, especially as a vehicle to keep the growing, (people are still
just arriving, thanks to the traffic "plan"), crowd cranked up.  Soon enough
comes the ever-funky "Moma Dance", which kicked ass right into an "Antelope"
that again showcased the seemingly endless improv skills of these amazing
dudes.  It's the same song, but an entirely different one at the same
time---go figure!  "The Sloth" pops up, (again, my 2nd in 39 shows),  and
I'll be honest, I don't remember this song or profess to know much of
anything about it, either.  What I do know is that I was glad to hear
"Circus", a very well-written song that gave me something other than
mind-blowing jams as food for thought.  As you know, this was a brief break,
as I was once again hit with a "Mike's>Simple>I am Hydrogen>Weekapaug".
Excepting "Simple", this was as good as I've ever seen, with Mr. Gordon to
thank especially.  I used to love "Simple", but then I grew up and realized
that it pretty much sucks and, amazingly enough, seems to be getting worse.
(Note to the band: shelve the shit---u don't need it!)  Thank God it's
wrapped around such phat jams!  A welcome encore of "Boogie On" marked my
first ever and I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed, (unlike the 12/31 Rock
and Roll, but that review isn't written yet!).  The killer vibe has now
permeated the place and nobody is immune when the always smoking "Tweeprise"
closed out what may or may not have topped Set II, but who cares: I saw both,
and you can get both^�so do so!

Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 08:38:54 EST
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: (no subject)
 
Just got in from Big Cypress. So many stories to this crazy adventure that it
hurts my head trying to recall everything, so here's a short summary before I
pass out:
 
Not sure who messed up on this one, but did someone forget to tell this town
how many pholks to expect or what? Gates to this one should have probably
started on Monday due to everybody stuck on the highway 8-12 hrs,which from
what I heard caused a very tragic accident as well as cars running out of gas
& overheating. Security was Excellent! Loved seeing everyone pull together
with all the delays. It seemed as though everyone was helping out with
picking up the trash as well as recycling.
 
My buddy & I were extremely exhausted upon making it to the Campgrounds
(11:15am Thursday);however, seeing this Beautiful place & So many smiling
faces quickly brought some life back.
We tried getting some sleep since we still had 5 hours before the 1st
afternoon set started....no luck. Somehow managed to stay up for all of
Thursday's sets
 
THURSDAY (Afternoon Set)
 This set started out sounding like they were holding back a little, but
still very solid
Trey brought out Chief Jim Billy who sang\played guitar for a couple of
songs. To me, it meant more seeing Phish really connect with the people who
were nice enough to let us all come out here.
 Highlights:
-Lite Up (Water Opener was tight, but this old Traffic cover seemed to set
the tone for the
night)
-Corrina (Never thought I'd hear this one live. Seemed a lot slower &
bluesier than earlier versions I've heard. Love this song!)
-LimbxLimb (This was really hot & seemed to strike some life into the tired
phans, which soon faded a bit when the Chief sang. Things picked back up
midway thru:
-Possum (which is always fun to hear. It would have been nice to hear Chris
sing....wellllll not that nice)
-Farmhouse (Seemed to get more of an understanding for this song out there.
Just a perfect spot in the set for this song)
-Ya Mar (Play it Leo!)
 
(2nd Set)
With the exception of Meat & maybe Wolfman's, this set SMOKED! Getting a
Curtain out of Wilson left me sure that Mike's would follow, but Phish
slapped you back in time with a Tweezer (ala 4/25/93). Very nice Taste!
GOLGI!!! Jiboo, Hood, Good Times? GOOD TIMES?!!! SICK!
 
Again, I'm so exhausted so I'm keeping the best part of the night very
simple. It was WONDERFUL! Chalkdust - I wanted,left me wanting a little more
Antelope,in my mind, was a Spliff. With Trey & Page dualing on keys. This
Crosseyed-esque jam provided perfect forshadowing for things to come the next
day & inspired my friend Luke & I to deem it Antelope2000. Sloth - Loved it.
Circus - Really payed attention to how the screens appeared much clearer than
a typical Ampitheatre. Trey gave me goose-bumps. Even after resting thru
Circus, I was drained @ this point & had also forgotten about getting pumped
up for a Mike's in the 1st set. Then it came  - Mike's>Simple>Hyd.>Week.-
danced on will alone through the groove, except for dozing off during Simple.
Rested for Boogie On into a predictable Tweezer Rep.
Then -  Off to bed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 17:01:03 -0500
From: Don Ogle [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 12/30/99 - Sweet Show
 
This show was really tight and sweet.  My 28th show!  Definitely one of my
favs!
Before I go any further, I'd like to tell Heath Anderson (the writer of the
previous review below this one) that the show was completely awesome - you
missed a sweet weekend, and for a 7 year phan, you don't seem too loyal or
have your priorities in order when you call Phish "money grubbing" when they
put on a multi-million dollar millenium show for us for only $150, the shows
were worth every penny, camping was great, food was reasonably priced,
shitters were kept pretty clean, and an entire town (the Delta) was built for
us to enjoy!  Bummer for you, but don't pin the traffic problem on the band!
   Personal highlights for me included the tunes with the Seminole Chief Jim
Billie, tight Moma Dance, Taste, Golgi, Meat, and by far my favorite tune of
the night...
Gotta Jiboo (my 1st one).  Also the entire Mike's Groove was a pleasant
surprise and a sweet Reggae Woman/Tweeprise encore was a nice nightcap!
Sloth was nice too...  Peace.
 
Adam Ogle - Indiana

Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 12:17:37 -0800 (PST)
From: Gregg K [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 1st Night~
 
came in all the way from LI, NY.....were making great time until we hit
alligator alley! Sat there for nearly 8 hours! ouch! finally got in! set up
tent and started partying.....Music was great! Get tapes!


Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 08:38:54 EST
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: (no subject)
 
Just got in from Big Cypress. So many stories to this crazy adventure that it
hurts my head trying to recall everything, so here's a short summary before I
pass out:
 
Not sure who messed up on this one, but did someone forget to tell this town
how many pholks to expect or what? Gates to this one should have probably
started on Monday due to everybody stuck on the highway 8-12 hrs,which from
what I heard caused a very tragic accident as well as cars running out of gas
& overheating. Security was Excellent! Loved seeing everyone pull together
with all the delays. It seemed as though everyone was helping out with
picking up the trash as well as recycling.
 
My buddy & I were extremely exhausted upon making it to the Campgrounds
(11:15am Thursday);however, seeing this Beautiful place & So many smiling
faces quickly brought some life back.
We tried getting some sleep since we still had 5 hours before the 1st
afternoon set started....no luck. Somehow managed to stay up for all of
Thursday's sets
 
THURSDAY (Afternoon Set)
 This set started out sounding like they were holding back a little, but
still very solid
Trey brought out Chief Jim Billy who sang\played guitar for a couple of
songs. To me, it meant more seeing Phish really connect with the people who
were nice enough to let us all come out here.
 Highlights:
-Lite Up (Water Opener was tight, but this old Traffic cover seemed to set
the tone for the
night)
-Corrina (Never thought I'd hear this one live. Seemed a lot slower &
bluesier than earlier versions I've heard. Love this song!)
-LimbxLimb (This was really hot & seemed to strike some life into the tired
phans, which soon faded a bit when the Chief sang. Things picked back up
midway thru:
-Possum (which is always fun to hear. It would have been nice to hear Chris
sing....wellllll not that nice)
-Farmhouse (Seemed to get more of an understanding for this song out there.
Just a perfect spot in the set for this song)
-Ya Mar (Play it Leo!)
 
(2nd Set)
With the exception of Meat & maybe Wolfman's, this set SMOKED! Getting a
Curtain out of Wilson left me sure that Mike's would follow, but Phish
slapped you back in time with a Tweezer (ala 4/25/93). Very nice Taste!
GOLGI!!! Jiboo, Hood, Good Times? GOOD TIMES?!!! SICK!
 
Again, I'm so exhausted so I'm keeping the best part of the night very
simple. It was WONDERFUL! Chalkdust - I wanted,left me wanting a little more
Antelope,in my mind, was a Spliff. With Trey & Page dualing on keys. This
Crosseyed-esque jam provided perfect forshadowing for things to come the next
day & inspired my friend Luke & I to deem it Antelope2000. Sloth - Loved it.
Circus - Really payed attention to how the screens appeared much clearer than
a typical Ampitheatre. Trey gave me goose-bumps. Even after resting thru
Circus, I was drained @ this point & had also forgotten about getting pumped
up for a Mike's in the 1st set. Then it came  - Mike's>Simple>Hyd.>Week.-
danced on will alone through the groove, except for dozing off during Simple.
Rested for Boogie On into a predictable Tweezer Rep.
Then -  Off to bed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2000 20:40:58 GMT
From: peter sammartino [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Big Cypress Show.Dec.30
 
Dec. 30 1999, Big Cypress Seminole Indian Rersv.
Well, I am writing this review for the people who were unable to attend the
millenium concert in Fl. What a show! I don't know how Phish can play so
hard and for so long, but they did it. Let me first tell you that that this
concert was the biggest show I have ever been to. The count was about 85,000
people on the first day and I 'm not sure about the second day, but I know
it was alot more. Anyway, i was lucky enough to be twenty feet from stage
throughout the whole show and met a lot  of cool poeple.  i lost my friends
in the crowd and it was fucking impossible to find anyone, especially when
it got dark.
 
Well, the guys came on stage a little after 5 pm and behind them was the
most beatiful sunset. TREy was dressed in a what seemed like a crazy
designed shirt becasue when the lights hit him, he looked like a piece of
Art. The energy was intense as they came on stage and the vibe was truly
amazing.
 
* First song: Water in the sky- Perfect opener with the lyrics that
pretained to the area they were playing "filter out the everglades". I was
nuts about this song and so was the crowd.
*Lite up or leave me alone- First time hearing this song and they played it
very well and the crowd loved it
* Suzie Greenberg- Hell yeah, thats what I said when they played this song.
First time hearing this song live and it was awesome. There was a sound
glitch right on the first note, which will probably sound like  skipping on
a cd, but they played on. Great version, I  heard everyone screaming Suzie
so i figured evryone was hyped and excited about the song as I was.
*Corrina- Again a first time for me, but I think this song was great and
lighthearted, It had a really cool beat to it and seemed like everyone was
enjoying it.
*Limb- this was an awesome version and they jammed the hell out of it
returning to the rhythm in the end. a pretty long standard Limb.
* Native Greeting-w/Chief Wille. They had a Banjo player and another guitar
player with a cowboy hat on stage.The song was in Native tongue(Seminole) so
I could not understand it,but there was a part in the song when Willie
translated one of the chorus lyrics which was "Bullshit,Bullshit, Bullshit"
funny uh? Chief talked alot, even during the song.He talked about how quite
we were in coming here that his people who live like a mile away did not
know all these people were here. anyways he talked a lot, alittle to much.
He thanked the crowd for coming.
*Gator Song- another Chief Willie and the band song. It was pretty cool. I
saw a big inflated Green Gator making its way to the front and I'm sure
chief saw it.Thanks
*Possum- one of my favs, It was great. I danced my ass off within the little
confined space I had. I could not even sit down when I was tired becasue
there simply was no room.
*Farmhouse-I knew it was this song as soon as i heard the guitar hit the
first note. I like when they start with the guitar instead of them all
staring at once like in Hampton 98'. It sounded muck like the Lakewood show
Farmhouse. Solo was great. Trey played with effects first and then finished
it off without the effects.
*Ghost- time to bring out the funk. I love this song and they funked it
hardcore. It had me groovin.
*YA MAR-another great cover and it was time to puff on a nug or tw0.
*Character 0- A great set closer and they jammed it way out. CK was amazing
with the lights during this beacause it was dark out now. What a set I
thought to myself. the temp. was dropping and it started to get cold, so I
put a long sleeve.The temp reached into the 40's during the night. Phish
finished around 7 pm to conclude their afternoon slash Sunset.. I think they
played for nearly an hour and 40 minutes. I could be off by ten minutes.
 
After about an 1:20 minute break. THe fab. Four came back on stage aroung
8:15. and started with Wilson.It had the crowd going. I know I screamed out
Wilson to add to the noise.... The Curtain, -my first live curtain, I
realized it by the guitar sound.I was really glad they playe dthis tune. I
love it. It segued right into Tweezer which was amzing. The lights were
crazy during this song and it looked like the band was in the mindset for a
phat Teweezer Jam.The ambiance was set on stage by smoke and the
lights.(thanks Chris).It was pretty long, longer the 15 minutes. it could
have lasted all night though.
* Taste- i like this tune and stood and watched trey as he noodled around.
*Meat-another funk song.it did not have me going though. It was standard
meat, noting to much. The lakefront arna in New Orleans' Meat was a helluva
lot better. They only breaked four or five times during the song as opposed
to the N.O about seven times. it was still good.
*Golgi- another old song done very well and standard. Everyone seemed to be
screaming "I saw you with a a ticket stub in your hand"
*Wolfman's- I love this song, almost as good as the MANSfield 7/13/99'. They
jammed it out really well.
*Gotta Jibbo- another first live Jibbo and let me tell you it was probably
one of my fav songs of the night.
*Hood-What can I say exacept it was the fattest Hood I have seen. The light
show was incredible and the glowstick war was the biggest i had ever seen.
80,000 people glowstick war. I was up front and as far as I could see there
were glowsticks flying around. I got hit with one in the face.I was really
into this hood and enjoyed it immensley.
*Good times Bad times- another first live one for me. I have tapes with it,
but never heard it live. I really like this cover it has nice jamming
quality to it.This eneded the second set with a blast.
 
The Third set was by far the best set of the night(my opinion only)
 
*Chalkdust Torture: An amazing display of talent during this song.It takes
great syncroinzed action from the band to create this distinct song because
of how fast the song is being plyed by,especially for Page.It takes a lot
practice. Great Version
*Moma Dance--another one of my phunk favs. It lead the crowd into a giant
Phunk Jam  for a real long time. It was definitly funk. A nice long intro
before the lyrics. I was FukenMOmaDAnce.
*Antelope--I really want to hear this song on tape. It was great,probably
one of the best Antelopes I heard.
*Harry the SLOTH, Italian Spagetti--I have not heard this tune in a while
and enjoyed it. A real old school tune from the Gamehendge story.
*WTCCTC-Alright,this song was done perfectly. I love this tune out of all
the slow Phish tunes, especially becasue its all Trey. I thought the best
version I heard was 97' New Years, but better then Lakewood version, this
time Trey played it flawlessly. A real treat fro me. I had to indulge myself
to a nodule of dank during this song, as always when this song is
played.Can't real dance to it, at least I can't.I just move my head and legs
a little.
*Mikes Song-->Simple-->I am Hydrogen->Weekapaug(with Auld LAng Syne tease):
This was the best part of this night. Even though this resembles recent
Hampton how setlist except for I am Hydrogen, which was my fav. parts of
this long ass song segues. What can I say but Phish jammed really hard made
everyone really happy during these songs. I thought the overall sound was
great, even though I was twenty feet from the band, but with the constand
pouring of smoke and the lights completly covered the band and about 100
feet of the crowd. At pts i could not see the band playing for several
minutes. I though tonight was fucking awesome, couldn't be much better. A
real treat for me to see this show.
 
Encore- Boggie on Reggae Women-->Tweezer Rep.
I really like this tune and hyped that they were playing, but I really hoped
for something else like a Harpua or a Divided Sky, but its alright the show
was great.The night ended shorly after Midnight.

Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000 09:36:16 -0500
From: Mark Dichter [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: NYE 2000

Dear M.I.A. Phans....

Made the drive down to Lauderdale all the way from Toronto - YES that's
Toronto, Ont. (CANADA)......stayed down here for about five days before
the phestivities began, which was cool - much need R + R - anyway left on
the 30th at 4:30 AM thinking most were already at Big Cypress, or, if
not, middle of the night was the best time to go - WRONG, WRONG, WRONG -
8.5 HRS later, finally set up camp - Message to the Staff: Why did you
close the gates for a bit....you fuckers....you're worse than ticket
bastards (who themselves were stupid enough to be scammed by many).  More
like 100 000 people at the show (none of this 75K bullshit).....apologies
for the sermon.....
FIRST NIGHT - a.k.a the BOMB begins
Water in the Sky - Unexpected...thought they open with Cities, but it was
awesome....everyone was into it and you knew where the show was going
Lite Up, Or LEave Me ALone - didn't know this one 'till the chorus (and
help from others) - perfectly timed...as I was packing a bowl...nice
(couldn't believe...hasn't been played since '88........FUCK)  
Suzy Greenberg - awesome....everyone was singing and dancing, having a
whale of a time, and was in a good spot right after two songs that
weren't so well-known
Corrina - thought it was a new song...misinformed....groovy, slow and
chill and points but good solo by trey and page....definitely liked
it...not so happy about it's position...no worries the crazyness has yet
to begin...
Limb By Limb - SO HAPPy - second favourite off the new disc (behind
GHost) - and it was awesome....enough said
Native Greeting Song - song with Chief Jim Billie and some of his friends
(some dude named Johnny ? Olson on bass) - got us chanting some Seminole
song which means "HOw are you doing"...."Good How Are You" ? HU-HE-NE_NA?
Story of Alligator Wrestler - w/ the Chief....thought i'd heard it
before....sounded like a camp song...very fun...and everyone was into it
Possum - had it written down right off the first few riffs...despite the
denial from people around me....love Possum...MIke vocals were strong
(all the way through - he's so awesome and I thought he was really on for
the entire weekend...dropping huge bombs...particularly 1st night..later)
Farmhouse - very tight and awesome...solid Trey solo..good jam...fairly
standard...don't really remember anything else...O.K
Ghost - called it.....pretty solid....effects and beginning were not as
crazy as I thought they could have been....but phatty steam coming off
them at beginning and the Jams before "OH GOd ..never told him" were
pretty sick
Ya Mar - one of my girlfriend's (DANA) favs....we were jamming away
hard....lots of fun...Mike was getting a little tired and I knew the boys
would rap up soon...since we had passed the 90 mins mark....
Character Zero - despite the many that don't care for this song ...I have
always liked it....it was very tight..good jamming...what I classify as a
MINI Glowstick War....even though they often close sets witht the -0- it
was still good and we got so much shit to still look forward to
.......Set Start:5:05PM - Set END: 6:44PM

Email more later....getting tired..again

Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000 23:54:21 -0500 (EST)
From: Louis  Bixby [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Big Cypress
 
Hello, Just got back and i'm writing with no sleep..12/30/99
Water in the sky was nice with the everglades lyrics, But lite up and leave
me alone was great since i spent 13 hours in TRAFFIC on the Alley.. It wasa
Bruttle Suzie was fun, and then came Corrina, Corrina. I have only heard
them do it on tape and to see them pull it out was very nice. The rest of
the first set was really fun.. Actually the whole thing was one giant ball
of fun. The second and third sets were full throttle with a epic Antelope in
the third.  The afternoon set on the 31st started with Jim> I didn't know..
A great Tube.  They also played one of the most bazzare soam i 've heard.
They segued into Catapult, and then Trey announced that you can only get
away playing a song like catapult at the biggest concert in the world.  With
that said they played a fine version of Claptons After Midnight.The all
night set was crazy. The first few songs were alright, but there was alot of
activity after the hotdog ride. As a result the music was over looked and
drowned out at times. It was one of the greatest moments of my life though,
and everyone there. It was unbelieviable. They eventually settled into there
set and played long versions of everything.  Heavy things was great with the
cheesecake chant. Did anyone Catch this on ABC?? I have to run now and
sleep.. Bye

Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2000 23:55:03 EST
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: happy new year (review)
 
hi everybody and happy new year!  just got back from a 34 mile drive that
took over 6 hours and i must say i'm pretty miffed at how idiotically the
police handled the traffic problem.  instead of realizing, as limestone does,
that there are way more people than usual and messy traffic, and finds ways
to accommodate, the imbecilic police force at the reservation instead acted
in total denial, doing nothing to accomodate the tens of thousands of cars
forced to stop for periods of a half hour a piece or longer on the way in.
cars were stopped and people asleep as there was nowhere to go, but it was
not until i got to the exit that i discovered the problem- the exit ramp was
being fed directly into the shell station at the corner, so while the line
for gas got longer and longer as people had to sit in their cars all night,
all it would have taken to have made the experience reasonable would be to
put cones in the exit to separate the gasers from the final show traffic, and
allowed traffic to keep flowing with the aid of a crossing guard.  instead,
there was no one, and as soon as we passed the gas station it was literally
fifteen miles with no one else on the road.... did this not sit well with
anyone else? and then just one lane to filter 50,000 people out??? in my six
hour ride to the highway, we saw only one civilian car pas us in the opposite
direction- the rest were cops.  instead of acknowledging and assisting the
problem, they instead left 45000 people trapped in a campgrounds with no
water and hardly any food, like a bunch of caged animals... and when i
brought this to the attention of the moronic officers at the, you can only
imagine how much they cared... but enough venting, as this was the only sour
point to an otherwise mindblowing weekend.
 
12-30-99
 
I: after the reaction from the hampton crowd to the "filter out the
everglades" line from water in the sky, this seemed the obvious song to start
off this historic event.  then came an amusing mix of old and new, with chief
jim billie lending guitar and vocals to some amusingly phishy folk songs.
the rest of the set was good but not mindblowing, with a good ghost and yamar
and the ever lame character zero to close.  don't like this song almost ever,
enough said.
II:  now here's where it started getting good; i lagged on the set and missed
wilson (i was less than heart-broken) and made it into to say the monster
curtain> tweezer that i had called for the set.  long tweezer, a little
boring at the end but i love whatever comes out of tweezer, and then a strong
taste, phunky-phresh meat, followed by a slew of classics and the phat new
jiboo, and one of the greatest harry hood's and good times bad times ever!
you could feel them rolling, controlling every note to manipulate our bodies
and emotions, at the top of their game as these boys almost always are at
this time of year..
III: jesus christ, what to say about this monster set that would do it
justice... best set ever played??  the boys came onstage and opened up with
that familiar chalkdust rift, but this was no ordinary chalkdust- there is
just a different feeling at shows like this.  the boys were experimenting all
over the place, building and building every song in the set to its most
orgasmic climax.  antelope was probably the biggest and baddest one ever,
blending the three parts of the song more fluidly than usual, making it a
more cohesive flow (not that there's anything wrong with whatever they choose
to pull in antelope, but this one was OUT THERE.  never checked the time on
tany of the sets, but phish was so phucked for this set that clock time was
totally replaced by phish time.  this monster antelope was followed by a
sloth to take us into the depths of gamehendge, and then the most nauseating
song in the phish repertoire imo:  when the circus bores me to tears... but
this song put me straight to the ground, thankfully, for what was to come is
what has to be the hardest, heaviest and most utterly orgasmic mike's groove
ever.  they were playing with new themes, spinning off each other as only
phish can do, taking you from the immediately recognizable into the
nether-regions of the world's greatest rock band.  it probably won't
translate to tape, but mike's was just trippy as hell, with ample input form
all band members, working as a well oiled machine creating brilliant,
disco-tech psychedalia.  by the time weakapaug kicked in, the crowd, and by
that i mean phish heads who dance and not those other people who are there to
do god knows what, you could feel the amazing string that trey holds us to,
spinning and tearing and forcing the crowd into the woldest mike's frenzy i
have ever seen.  and then to top it off, i expected a quick fun bouncin' or
cavern to close, but know, ever daring and always ready to push the envelope,
they busted boogie on!! and phunked us all the way home to another amazing
tweezer reprise.  i don't know if this song is always played the same, but
this version had my whole section (middle page side speaker) jumping and
howling in utter delight at the greatest rock n' roll musicians on earth.  it
was so intense that i wanted to cry- overwhelmed at how these guys can make
us move wherever they want... just incredible, and of the 60 some shows i've
seen including most festivals and new years', this was the best show ever
played- long, strong, full of great songs and topped with (perhaps) the
ultimate phish expression of shear power- mike's groove!
well its time to rest, hope this wasn't too boring but i wanted to say my
peace, and to all those who really love these guys- lets stay with them...
but if you didn't think that this weekend was awesome, then you probably
don't like phish, so maybe you should try something else instead of just
going to do the "in" thing...
so happy new year everyone, especially my phamily and phriends who i missed
being with last year, the page side crew, nicole, poptart, melissa, and all
of the other nice people who remind me that life is as fun as you want to
make, and that the future is wide open.....
 
happy new year!
love, bryan ([email protected])

Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000 11:30:01 -0800
From: Andy Rothman [email protected]
To: [email protected]

im listenin to the mikes from the mp3 site its exactly as i heard
it:completely acid,exploration,awesome. we can all say easily "its all
good" but this "event"was all not good. the logistics of the site lent 
itself to an impossible situation.they had to know that the traffic would
be the worst in history and nothin!!!!!! was done to help or alleviate.
it was utter insanity. i left @4:00am from 40 miles away and got there @
2:00pm camped 1.2 miles away on 182nd and 4th. a little unreason
able and very exhausting. phishes set lists have become not only very
predictable but now veryyyyy repitituous.for the pinnacle concert of
their career i thought very few risks were taken setlist wise.there
playin is as good as ever.i think they must have a method to their style
now. it lends itself to tighter playin. it used to be that guyute when
played sparingly had mistakes often but now its played flawlessly due to
the repeated play. the lightup was a treat and had a spectacular out
jam.many of the jams were best ever or close .the midnite set would have
been great in madison square garden but here 75 percent of the crowd was
in a low level sound area and impossible to see position. it was almost
impossible to get into it unless you were within the first speaker
system. anyhow i should have expected most of this when i bought my
ticket. i thought i was going to a concer but instead it was just an
event. there still the greatest but lets see them in small arenas!!!!!
awaken  strong dreams reign here 
 
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 03:07:04 EST
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: (no subject)

I AM THE BREASTY CHEESE OF YOUR OVERTONED WART 


below are reviews of the above reviews, reviewers or the opinions
expressed by the authors

Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 20:47:17 -0500
From: The Gendells [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: review 12/30/99 Big Cypress
 
that pissed off guy heath anderson needs to go smoke a bowl and eat a phatty
cheesecake

Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 12:17:17 -0500
From: Dave Wolcott [email protected]
To: "'[email protected]'" [email protected]
Subject: response to heath anderson on 12.30.99 show
 
heath --
 
i see bitterness abounding.
 
did we drive halfway across the world to get to florida?  Yes
 
was the volume of traffic unexpected? Yes
 
was it phish and great northeastern production's responsibility to clear the
highways? No.
 
last time i checked, the state police -- not civilians -- have jurisdiction
over interstate highways.  so, write a letter to the state police noting how
poorly the traffic situation was handled.  but, don't bust phish and great
northeast.  what are they supposed to do -- build new roads?  the inside of
the venue and campgrounds was amazing -- phish and great northeast handled
the logistics superbly and everything was awesome.  however, the traffic
debacle belongs to the police.
 
dude, accept some blame for yourself.  if you were arriving on I-75
wednesday night, you had to have known that you would be stuck there for
some amount of time.  it took us 13 hours to get from the toll booth to our
campsite (at 2 AM Wednesday night).  our friends who arrived tuesday morning
took only 30 minutes to get in.  some of our friends didn't arrive until
just before the first set on thursday but they said things started to clear
out thursday afternoon.  why give up so easily when you came so far?  why
not at least keep on trucking to get to the NYE sets even if you missed the
thursday sets.  i see little devotion
 
secondly, why the hell would phish and great northeast provide anything on
the highway?  is that their job?  as far as communication goes, the police
should have been keeping people informed much better (i.e. telling us what
the hold-up was, etc.).  as far as restrooms, there was a 30 mile restroom
right on I-75 -- it's called the side of the road.  if you have a problem
pissing and shitting on the side of a highway full of people in the same
situation, than i can't imagine you would enjoy pissing and shitting in a
smelly, humid port-a-jon.  at least I-75 smells better.  we stopped before
naples and got gas, $300 worth of food, toilet paper, smokes and beer -- all
the essentials for an evening on I-75.  plan ahead and don't blame others
for your misfortunes.  if you had the tenacity, you would have made it to
the show (maybe a little late) but made it nonetheless.
 
all i can say is patience is a virtue and phish made sure the wait was well
worth it!!!!!!!!!!
 
David A. Wolcott


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