Cold Rain and Snow

• Performances
• History
• Lyrics
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  • Phish
  • Fish
  • Mike
  • Page
  • Trey
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History

When Phish breezed into the Bay Area for a two-night run at Shoreline in fall 1999, fans were abuzz with speculation about special guests. Shoreline was the Dead’s home shed, and the memory of Trey and Page’s stint with Phil Lesh & Friends was sweet and fresh enough to taste. The first gig found Warren Haynes game to the task, but though his contributions to the “Misty Mountain Hop” encore were well appreciated, he wasn’t the hometown hero and liver recipient the locals were openly pining for.

The following night, Phil finally made a triumphant and eminently Phishy entrance on trampoline. After a ferocious bass duel with Gordon on “YEM” and an unremarkable amble through “Wolfman’s,” Lesh led the charge into a passionate and cathartic “Cold Rain.”

Phish 9/17/99 Set 2 (Partial) "YEM" through the encore. Video by The Pharcive

The blues-inflected traditional, which commonly served as an opener at Dead shows, ended Phish’s set. Warren Haynes then made his second appearance in as many nights to join Phil and Phish for a cooking “Viola Lee Blues” encore.

Trey has since revisited the song with Lesh, most notably an instrumental rendition played at Manhattan's Beacon Theatre on 2/12/06 as a blizzard raged appropriately outside.

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