R3/W05: 08-01-1999 Fuji Rock Fest, Naeba, Niigata, Japan

[khalpin]

First time hearing this one. Fantastic sound quality. Japanese audiences are so quiet and attentive.

Cities: Slow, but not extremely funky. As a side note, I'd love for them to play the album version just once, as it's my favorite Heads tune. Pretty straightforward version.

Rift: Nice change of pace. Whoa. What's up with that vocal mix. Somebody (Trey?) is really low. A little hiccup around 3:50 but otherwise, a good version.

Wilson: Pretty cool middle section with Trey wailing away. Otherwise, pretty standard.

Moma Dance: Some Wilson teases in the beginning. Bring on the funk. Solid version.

Divided Sky: Good spot for this one.  Well played.

Horn: Love the solo. My favorite part of the song.  I don't really like the vocal parts, though.   

SOaM: Pretty cool jam.  Weird actually.  Didn't like it too much the first time, but revisited it a couple days later and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Nice spacey section in the middle.  Trey uses that effect that sounds like a tape played backwards of someone playing guitar, a la the Castles Made of Sand guitar solo.

Poor Heart: Your basic Poor Heart.

Bouncing: Your basic Bouncing.

Antelope: Wow!  I really enjoyed this one.  Very solid.

Strong first set.

Set Two:

Possum: Nice opener.  I'm not a huge fan of 12 bar blues, but pretty entertaining nonetheless.

Tweezer: Slower version.  Really great jam.  Aug described it well as a "majestic, uplifting jam"

Llama: This isn't a song that's easily segue'd into.  It just never seems to work.  Although, I'm sure someone could prove me wrong.  Pretty standard otherwise.

Mike's Groove: Good version, although nothing in particular stood out.  Nice section before H2.  Was wondering if they were going to even go into Hydrogen.  Nice payoff.  Good Weekapaug.  Interesting bass solo to kick it off.  I like the little reprise ~7:30 after the quiet section.  Leads to a nice climax, before settling down for the vocal return.

The Wedge: A little late in the show to be busting this one out, but I'll take it.  A nice treat.

Lizards: Rough solo by Trey there.  Ouch.

YEM: Jeez, is this set going to end?  Fishman stops playing for a bit during the composed section.  A little weird, but whatever.  Good, solid jam.  Nothing out of the ordinary, though.
 
Adeline:  Pretty weak, I thought. 

Tweezer Reprise: A fitting end.

All in all, a good show.  A couple gaffes here and there, but overall it was better than average and the setlist is to die for.  The highlight for me was the Tweezer, albeit short.  B+ show, almost an A- but not quite.  Good pick.

-Kevin

[blatboom]

Have they played a more "old school" show in the late 90s?  I love this one (recording is ridiculously good also)


Set I:

Cities -  Slow funky opener..Man they sound tight.  short little funky jam, right into the next number

Rift - Rift is yet another song I've had a love/hate relationship with over the years.  I love it now.  This one's rolling, everyone seems to be mostly hitting the marks with a few rough spots here and there.

Wilson - more energy.  they go with a sick metal jam

Moma Dance - Love this.  Mike's all over it like he usually is.  This one feels extra funky.

Divided Sky - this is already shaping up to an over-the-top setlist.  They do a great job getting through this...nice outro too.

Horn - great short tune.  Love how it starts.

Split - More goodness.  I'll never get tired of Split.  The rhythm section is really holding it down this gig...I love how everything sorta dies down and here comes the outro.  The Split outro is on a 'Feel good about Hood' level for me...

Poor Heart - you can hear this one coming a mile away.  nice one.

Bouncin - I like Bouncin.  nailed.  Bouncin works best when it sets the table for a big number

Antelope - love Mike here.  Maybe it's the recording that has him front and center.  Everything sounds so good here.  They're just locked in and playing so relaxed.  Rye Rye Rocco too short as usual.... "We'll be back in about 25 minutes. 20 minutes"


Not a hole to be found in that set.


Set II:

Possum - great build-up!  strange vocal section with Trey playing weird chords...nice jam.  love the stops/near silence on the last verse.

>Tweezer - sweet.  Slow paced like most of the show...More Mike killing it (Fish too).  jam starts off nice and spooky.  Trey's playing some lovely stuff over a sick beat.  segue alert

>Llama - they had that segue nailed then they lost it but they finally got it figured out.  Sick Llama though.

Mike's Song - no breaks.  yet again, a slower feel on this one.  The bass really kicks! :roll:  Maybe it's just cause I'm tired, but this is almost too slow of a pace...still great playing all around.

>I am Hydrogen - this fits perfectly with how they're playing this show..love the noise as it starts and it doesnt' sound much like hydrogen for the first 5 minutes.  crazy.

>Week4paug Groove - Mike shredding.  Great start to this one!  sweet break-down in the 5th minute.  They can go in so many different directions with this tune.  Trey is killing it.

The Wedge - perfect start to this.  Everyone's getting it right.  THey've been locked in this whole show.  This Wedge packs a punch.

Lizards - Why not?  they've just about nailed everything else.  This one's just OK to me.

YEM - sweeet.  Not too bad to start out.  Great stuff in that section that's probably got a name that I don't know (right before the Trey leads right before Ahhh Boy!)  Sick tramps section (I know that one)  Hopefully they rip it up out of this but it's probably not to be.  near silence before they start getting nasty in a very understated way.  Things start to pick up a bit as Trey starts his solo.  Vocal jam's cool, probably had any unknowing Japanese kids like  :-o

Encore:

Adeline - useless to me.

Tweezer Reprise - Great way to wrap a set/show/tour.  Such a pumping song.


I gotta say there's something weird about this show to me that I've never felt before.  I like everything about it but it all just seemed so sloow to me.  But the playing is so solid and the recording puts you right there, you can hear everything.  The setlist alone is like a dream come true.  I'll go with an A- (I guess it'll take an '03 to get me into the B's)

[Caravan2001]

I was a little late getting to the show, and came in during the middle of Cities.  I was running my ass off through the woods to get to the show because it was Jerry G's birthday and I had convinced myself they were going to open with  Shakedown Street, or something equally sick.  I busted my knee hard on a rock.  While not Shakers, the Cities was still pretty good. Like most of this show, a really slow tempo.  I think that the vibe of these Field Of Heaven shows was soooooo relaxed, that it just transferred to the playing.  Listening on tape, it almost sounds a little too slow at times, but we didn;t notice when we were there.

Rift- OK

Wilson- good version

Moma- this is a great version.  Typical '99 funk and a highlight of the set for me.

Horn- yep

Split- awesome jam here, really good stuff, and another show highlight.

Poor Heart- at this venue/show/ festival, we were loving every single second of every note of every song, and Poor Heart was no exception....
Bouncin- see the comment above
Antelope-  This is one of my fave trax from this show.  Total money here, this had all attendees locked and loaded.  A great version, possibly my favorite from this year.....

During the set break the band jumped in golf carts and us regular folk trucked it back through the woods in the dark to catch Rage Against The Machine on the big stage.  This was an amazing set break, and it was cool to see Phish on the side of the stage grooving to Rage.  They threw down, and we all hoped that the ferocity would follow Phish back to their show.

Possum is a cool warmup with some tasty stuff from Trey.

Tweezer is sick.  I am surprised that nobody mentioned that the whole jam (or the last 5 minutes at least) is basically the Meatstick melody, pre-Meatstick.  I wonder of they lifted the Meatstick from this Tweezer, or they had  the basic melody and were fucking around with it here.  Either way, it works in spades.  Great Tweebomb.
Llama- this is a hard song for them to segue into for some reason.  As mentioned, it almost never works, because Trey starts and they all try to come in and then they always just ened up having Fish start fromt he beginning with the drum beat instead of just going with it.  They nail it at Vegas 96 though....Rough segue aside, this is an awesome Llama....
Mike's Song- good version, a little slow, but the ending jam or lead in to Hydrogen is superb.  It was great to see it live.
Hydrogen- love the intro and they play it to near perfection here.  Killer
Weekapaug- good, not insane version.  Still, very solid.
The Wedge- a fave song of mine, but this is a little bit of a strange place for it.  Still, I'll take it anywhere in any show.
Lizards- OK...continues with the old skewl vibe....The Japanese fans were stoked to see it for sure....
YEM-  Killer Yem here, great jam, awesome set closer, as always.

Adeline- it's aww-ite....I like it because it is my daughter's name  :-)
Tweeprise- Sent us home satisifed.....still I kept holding out for a GD tune   :-P

This was a great show to attend, and very well played.  Not insane or one of the all time greats, but killer for '99....playing wise I give it a B+, venue-wise and for total show experience, I give it an A+++

I know most of you have seen my video of the Fuji Rock Fest, but if not, check it: