R3/W01: 09-12-1999 Portland Meadows, Portland, OR

[August]

Very underrated show.
Gets lost in the shuffle of Fall '99 for some reason.

1st Tube - 3rd time played. I like it as an opener. Fish is on fire!

Heart - F'd up intro but contains an extended Page solo.

Mozambique - 2nd time played. Fish, again, is on FIYA!

Gin - Here comes the H33T! Some 2001 teases by Fish in the composed section. Mike takes charge of the jam and gets THICK. Really just an effortless and flowing groove going on for most of the jam. NIce little peaks throughout. Perfect version.

GBOTT/My Mind - Pee Pee Time.

Frankie - Spacy Page during the ending.

Birds - Short, yet solid.

Lawn - Mr. Mike Gordon!

Possum - Solid version with some nice peaks.

Ghost - Straight Ghost ragin' for the first half of the jam. More Page weirdness at around 18 in. Gets verry psychedelic...Like Jedi noted, there are many similar themes in this and the Boise Bag from 2 nights later. Without this Ghost, there would have been no Boise Bag.
I like how all the madness resolves on an uplifting major key.

Jim - NIce placement. Short and sweet.

Roggae - NIce placement, as well.

2001 - Sweet! I like a late set 2001. Short, yet serves it's purpose.

YEM - BAM! NIce composed section. Meaty jam with a very short vocal jam.

Theme - Rare as an encore and a very solid version.

To me, this is what I like in a show.
Underrated, solid playing and a few monsters.
I give it a solid A.
a

[Hicks]

P-Town in the hizzy, pretty nice sounding recording a bit Mike heavy but I like it that way.  September in Portland is absolutely beautiful and I'm sure this show was a great way to spend a late summer day at the horse track!

First Tube:  A little shaky to start but a solid rager by the end.  This made for an extremely triumphant encore at the Gorge '03 and works well as an opener too. 

Poor Heart: sure

Free Thought/Mozambique: Very cool tune, in the slot where Sparkle would have been played at an earlier show, nice first set change up.  Solid Page action throughout.

Gin:  Suuuuper slow composed section, shades of '80s Jerry?   :|  Thankfully Fish speeds the tempo up for the jam, and everyone is nice and locked in by the eight minute mark.  Trey comes up with a nice major circular pattern not long after and this remains the theme of the soaring jam for the duration, really nice peak at 12 minutes that is brought back around for additional peaks at 13:30 and again around the 15 minute mark.  At points it reminded me of the Camden Chalkdust.  Nice return to the chorus at the end with Trey using that high pitched effect.  Hmmm, it's definitely a good version, but it wouldn have been better IMO if they had ended it after the initial peak at 12 minutes, after that it got a bit redundant for me.  Don't get me wrong, it was very enjoyable but it doesn't stand up to a version like 7-29-98, 7-25-97 or 7-9-03, IMO. 

GBOTT: Another slower than normal version.  I actually really dig this tune, but it seems like Trey was having some trouble with the end and then it just petered out, oh well.  It's a shame that this was only jammed out a couple of times.

MMGAMOIO: Another bluegrass tune?   :|

Frankie Says: The set is kinda starting to lose steam for me at this point, but I enjoy this odd but pretty tune.  Slightly extended as well. 

Birds: there's a very short list of versions of Birds that I can really get into and this one ain't on it.

Lawn Boy: cool

Possum: took Trey a while to get going during his solo, a standard/good version.

Kind of an up and down set for me, it started strong and then lost me somewhere in the middle.  The highlight Gin isn't enough for me to rate this one above a standard B.  However a five song set II bodes well for a turnaround. . .

Ghost: I've had this on a disc I burned from the OG DD a couple years back and have always been a big fan of it.  Trey dominates the beginning with excellent use of feedback, and then gets for FILTHY around the 14 minute mark, things get so whigy that they have to pull it back to straight ahead chording for a bit.  Nothing really happens except for some cool cowbell fills by Fish until Page and Trey start laying down the effects at 19 minutes or so.  Things just get weirder from here on out with Fish kinda tossing the beat out of the window as the jam gets further out there and then comes back for some clean breaks with a momentary return to the Trey chords.  Nice little bonus noise jam at the end.  All in all an epically sweet version, big fan of these textural jams and this is a great example of one.  Top ten Ghost material. 

Jim: Been giving it more of a chance lately, this version was aight. 

Roggae:  weird placement and not the best execution, I dunno maybe Trey needed it to get his head together, it is fairly easy to cop the brown in P-Town.

2001:  niiice long intro and outro, solid version and crucial placement, things are back on track.

YEM: the intro isn't perfect but the fact that it's above passable is pretty incredible, pretty long and spacey hi-hat section, which should come as no surprise.  Super hott organ work by Page during the tramps section, yeah!  The jam is the funk throwdown, with everyone firing on all cylinders.  Vocal jam is the more mellow kind that surfaced frequently in later years, these guys are actually an easier listen on tape for me as they are more melodic, yet they are strangely sad too.  Top notch latter day YEM here. 

Theme: interesting song choice, kind of a uhh, dark undercurrent throughout this show.  Definitely very well played, way above average encore fare, this one was actually one of my favorite Phish studio selections back when I used to listen to BB semi-frequently.  Although a copy showed up in the soundroom at work a few weeks back and I've listened to a couple cuts to test out new speakers.   8-)

Throw in the encore and you have some pretty epic shiz, sure the second set sagged a bit in the middle but the last three songs are a huge compliment to the towering Ghost that started things off.  Definitely a solid A/A+ set, strong enough actually for me to give the whole show an A- even, but I could take or leave the first set for the most part.  Nice pick Aug, I'll keep the theme of newer shows going this week so we can get some more rotation going with song choices. . .

[Caravan2001]

nice pick.  This is an underrated show.  Case in point, my wife went to this show and told me it bit, so I never even bothered to check it out.  Boy was she wrong.  Maybe because she went to the show with her parents?  I dunno....anyway,

First Tube- rocking version...great start, I liked it.
Poor Heart- botched beginning kicks them into high gear...Mike picks up the slack and the rest follow...nice Page solo
Mozambique- another cool song....they should have played this more.  Again, Page shines. Rocking ending.
Gin-  Wow....a little rough during the composed part, but the jam? Wow...They are SO locked in.....freakin jizz fest...I'd rank it slightly behind Riverport and Clifford Ball, but sick as hell....
GBOTT- ok
MMGAMOIO- ok.....starting to see my wife's point to some degree.....
Frankie Says- Good version, and well played, but I am starting to look for a little pick me up   here's around now...
Birds-  This was a decent but not standout version for me....
Lawn Boy- To be honest, I skipped to Possum
Possum- Decent version.....I wouldn't compare it to last week's Bangor Possum but a solid '99 effort.

Solid first set that rocked from the start, but kinda lost me after the gin.  Still, an amazing Gin, and everything was played well, except for the beginning of Poor Heart.

Ghost-  Good Ghost.  Got kind of repetitive for me at one point toward the middle (10 min?) mark, but has a great far put ending.  Reminded me of the Lemonwheel Ambient set and the IT soundcheck jam for some reason.  A little disjointed, but had some great parts.
Runaway Jim- love transistion into this, and Ghost->Jim is a sweet pairing.  Nice placement too.  This Jim is anything but disjointed, and tightly executed.  Just like I like them.  I prefer a clean and concise Jim to the Walnut Creek variety, but the long ones are good too.  This is a good one that never drops in energy.
Roggae- doesn't work for me in the second set, and not always in the first either.  It can be a good song, but the platform of Ghost->Jim could have been a launching pad for, say, the Bag that happened the next night. Instead, its Roggae.
2001- great version, again, short and sweet.  Nice drawn out intro, and good tempo....I dug this.
YEM- nothing stood out to me about the comp part, but the jam was the shizz.  Really great, and the highlight of the set for me.  They finally reach the 1st set Gin level here.....they fucking bring it hard, and I like the vocl jam too.  I like how the vocal jam ends the set....cool
Theme-  I get the same feeling as Hicks that this is a sort of dark version.  It's a little slower, and I think that has a lot to do with it.  Maybe the placement too.  I like the placement, and this is a good, not amazing version.

Overall, this is a really good show, and I'd rank it up there with the other heavy hitters from this week (Gorge, Boise, Chula Vista).....It's a very typical show for the time, and I think they were playing really well in '99.  The highlights, in  order, are the incredible Gin, the YEM jam, and the Jim.  The Ghost is hot too, but I need to give it another listen.  It lost me for a while.   B+, nice pick...

[pnchundi]

ok, heres my review, better late than never.  we have been involved in some pretty heavy "trey tour 99 killed phish" discussion recently on phook.   While I do agree with that sentiment, the problem is more that Trey tried to bring back that 3 piece sound, as well as a lot of those songs, and you went from stellar shows to shows with great moments.  To me, this show has more great moments, but the pacing is off...

First Tube-a sure fire way to get people up and moving
Poor Heart-ok, keeping things old school, Page sound snice
Mozambique- I like this song!
Gin-yeah this what its about.  99 combines the cow funk of 97 and the ambient jams of 98 to arrive at place of dance groove
Get Back on the Train- just a little too overplayed for me.  I like this song, but since it rarely changes, it never really goes anywhere
MyMindsGotaMindofitsOwn-we dont really need a slow after GBOTT, but phish and bluegrass are usually ok
Frankie Says-wow. we are slowing way too down.  Major piss break here. 
Birds of a feather- fairly standard in rotation, trey wanks a little near the end
LawnBoy-???
Possum-Finally some heat, but not enough to save the set

Ghost- nice and funky, very danceable
Runaway Ghost-sounds great.  Good combo
Roggae- more meh from the most set
2001- long drawn out intro, but it sounds good.  most of the 99 shows i saw had great light shows during 2001
YEM-ok this show is weird. Lots of meh in the first set, but lots of heat the second.  YEM is not stellar, but its still good

Theme-really well placed.  Lots of heat. We could have used this in the first set!