We stashed our stashes in a locker at the greyhound bus station in Buffalo. We headed to the venue empty. My friend managed to find a sack after much searching.

Sloth was a rare, nice treat.

This was a good show, but after the AWESOMENESS of Oswego, any show would have seemed lackluster. I cannot comprehend, for the life of me, why I read so many negative reviews of Oswego. 7-17-99 might be one of the best 2-set shows Phish has ever played (for setlist awesomeness and jamming!!! It really all came together).

We crossed back into Buffalo to get our supplies. I tried my key in the locker, but it wouldn't open. A police officer came up to me and asked if I needed help. I told him I think I owed money on the locker. He walked me down a narrow hallway to a tiny room with a desk and a man behind it. I gave the man two dollars, and the police officer escorted me back to the locker. Needless to say, I'm a bit nervous about the whole goddamn thing at this point. The officer opened up the locker, and I grabed a cooler. I could HEAR glass clinking together inside the cooler, but it must not have aroused any suspicion in the mind of the law. I walked out quickly, got in the car where my buds were waiting, and we got the phuck out of Buffalo!

I miss touring.
I miss the funk.
It's still good to be alive though.

The boys sure put on strong shows in Toronto, huh? The show highlight might be the jumbo Ghost in the first set, which wades patiently through standard low-key Phish funk (maybe a little more fleet than usual?) before building up a head of steam and topping out in a roaring late-century Phish climax that's no less affecting for being familiar to every Phish fan. The YEM jam is mostly three-way porno-funk, with Trey hanging out in relaxed fashion atop the wah pedal. When Page hops from the clav/Rhodes to the acoustic piano Trey starts to get freaky and his bandmates are happy to join him; the result is standard-wonderful YEM material, even if it ends without any old-school 'hose' (or a bass/drums jam!). The nightly setlist oddity is the Zep cover: exhilarating, but (to be mercilessly frank) you can safely bypass it in favour of Phish's thematically-similar 11/27/09 cover of Golden Age (by Brooklyn style-nerds TV on the Radio). The rest of the second set is tremendously engaging (and engaged) stuff though, particularly the multifaceted Twist > Moma pairing. Check out Trey's gleeful impatience at the opening of 2001 too!

What I've heard of Oswego doesn't flip my lid, but there's some phenomenal Summer '99 stuff out there - start with the next night's Simple > Toe > Caspian if you need convincing. On the other hand, why would you need convincing?

WE... THE NORTH
After a blistering hot weekend at Camp Oswego, the band came Up North to cool off and get back on point.
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Set 1
The band started with a tight set of fun fan favs. Saving the jams for the back half, Trey stayed in type 1 mode until they hit Ghost. Clearly the pent up energy and funk inside their soul needed to be released, and Ghost was the perfect platform. Trey laid down the loops and then laid back the gas pedal on the guitar, while Mike Gordon stepped up and took over. Thumping his way to a groove built around Fishman's driving beat, Mike was all over this jam early and often. Louder than Trey in the mix, Mike was able to carve and craft a punchy line that at times sounded like Crosseyed and Painless and at other times was just straight funk. Mike's tone is gorgeous. Full and punchy without a treble edge. Round but not flat. This was Mike's house. Mike never let's go and finally Page realizes this is the new normal. Page starts flicking and stabbing notes and chords over top of Mike's unstoppable groove. Trey builds some feedback swells reminiscent of the intro to 2001, but Mike ain't buying it. He wants this Ghost to go the distance. He squashes Trey like a bug on his windshield and sets up the next part of the jam while Page acquiesces with some wobbly chords held out longform-style using the wah pedal. That's when Trey flips the switch. Fuck this. I want in. He cranks both tube screamers, dials up the Leslie amp, and unleashes notes in a fit of fury unheard of up to this point in the show. He goes machine gun Trey. Aiming right at Mike. Mike responds by thumping harder...but this can only last so long. Exhausted, both men fall back on Fishman who swings it back into the original Ghost beat and then end the song on a whimper. Clearly Trey was fired up as he tries to back into the Ghost riff while starting Wilson, but quickly slides down to the solitary ba-Bump, ba-bump notes and then off they go.

Set 2
They don't make 6 song sets like this any more. Twist is always a good sign. This Twist goes chilled out Santana style early, and drops into ambient goodness late. Trey works in some oddly shaped loops and feedback swells as the band drifts into the ether (for a short time). They return to the main theme of Twist and move right along into a funky Moma Dance. The band is listening. Having fun. Loose but focused. This Moma comes to it's traditional close as Trey gets "What's The Use?" dialed up. Another great version of this Siket Disc tune, during the only tour full of these ambient adventures. This take is slow and methodical, gorgeous and encompassing. Patient. Otherworldly. This is a prime example of a band at it's most powerful. Filling a summer shed with textures and delicate notes while capturing the attention and imagination of everyone in attendance. You cannot tell if you are going to be abducted by aliens or infused with some super human power. A flash of light to your soul lasting almost 9 minutes.

Comparing this to today's 3.0 versions that last less than 5 minutes... literally, what is the use?

Summoning the voice of God to start the 2001.... Everyone in the band (aside from Fish) creates a golden glow in the key of C. Build, build, build until Fishman drops that signature beat and the crowd drops 4 on the floor. Ambient funk time. This is as good as any version in '99, albeit more concise (which plays to it's favor in this set). The tempo stays up and the intro doesn't last 10 minutes (ala Charlotte '99). Page drops some ethereal tones in the jam over Trey siren loops, while Mike summons the space funk gods with his tone for the jam (almost like LCD Soundsystem's 45:33 intro). Eventually cascading into a set closer version of Led Zeppelin's Misty Mountain Hop - which was the first and only performance of this Zep funk jam. The crowd goes insane. Literally singing every note with Trey and Page. The best band ever harnessing the energy of the greatest rock gods ever. Classic Phish.

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This show is what I would at this point call a "1999 Standard show" now while the word "Standard" may come off as boring or not at a high level of entertainment, this show still delivers goods.

Chalkdust does what it needs to when it opens, pumps energy into the audience like the energizer bunny. An interest note is the following Sample In The Jar. Do not sleep on this version because the solo will tear your face off, I love Sample Solo's and this one is up there for me. A S1 Ghost Jam is always welcome and although this one treads on familiar territory it concludes with a high peak. The YEM is slightly above average, but the vocal jam is very fun with a nice latin groove.

Twist kicks off S2 and veers off for just a little bit into some interesting experimentation. You get the typical Moma & WTU you would expect from this tour. Another interesting occurrence is Train Song mid 2nd set, it actually works. See? The guys know what they're doing!!! Misty Mountain hop debuts at the very end of the set and actually stretches out for a while. The boys give it the standared end of set treatment with a nice peak.

Encore? Well you get the same Guyute you've have gotten all tour and a bonus A Capella.

A middle of the road show. Will you hate it? No. Will you have it on repeat for years to come? Not likely.

On July 20th, 1999 Phish played Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre for the very first time. Phish playing in Canada is a rare event (and it gets more and more rare all the time) so of course I made the trek.

I drove down with my friend and university guitar instructor who was seeing Phish for the first time. We gave the lot a quick peek and headed in for the show. We were in the pavilion and though I kept running into people I knew we stuck to our actual, assigned seats for the whole show, another Phish rarity.

The show looks fairly standard in pixels but I remember it being a bit of a rager. Chalkdust Torture is a pretty standard opening song and I love it. Is there a greater two-chord guitar riff out there? EE-AA (little G pulloff riff then back to) EE-AA; it’s perfect. Trey must have asked himself where that one came from and why nobody else had thought of it, to which I would suggest that there’s no reason to question divine inspiration and/or intervention.

Yes, I think the Chalkdust riff is a gift from the god of rock, and only the most pagan of heathens would disagree.

Sample was next, which I always love because it gives me a chance to wheel around and see who is standing behind me. A few more songs in they hit us with Divided Sky, which probably is more impressive when you figure out that it’s not improvised – they play it that way every time (except at Coventry of course).

Waste was up next, which made for a good bathroom break, though unfortunately I didn’t realize at the time how good of a tune Ghost can be so I probably went to the bathroom again when it followed Waste. You can never be too sure.

Following along the lines of Chalkdust, the opening notes of Wilson (open E string, open E string, times two) are another stroke of brilliant simplicity. If you graphed out simple riffs versus audience reactions you would probably find that the Wilson riff rises to the top of said graph. It is hands down the simplest riff that generates the biggest crowd reaction in the world of rock and roll.

And then: YEM. The intro might as well have been written by Bach.

The second set opened with Twist, a very basic power chord progression that runs throughout the song punctuated by audience “woo”’s (long before Tahoe Tweezer reared its ugly head), then Moma Dance, What’s The Use?, and Train Song.

Back in the day I caught an unusual amount of 2001’s, so it became the one song I never wanted to hear. Luckily the law of averages eventually took over and the song got spaced out enough that I came to love it, especially as a canvas for CK5’s stellar work. But at this show I think I just rolled my eyes and waited it out. Ah well.

When the band launched into Misty Mountain Hop the crowd went nuts, including myself and my guitar teacher. Led Zeppelin is never, ever a disappointment. Ever.

Guyute encore and a little barbershop closed the show, in the form of Hello My Baby (which always makes me think of Michigan J. Frog). What a great time it was. My friend agreed, though I don’t think he’s seen the band since.

Ah well, some people only need to see things once. That’s something I don’t really get but no matter, to each their own.

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We found unbelievable Canadian dank in the lot for this one so what matters most is we saw a Jawa walking around the lawn in the 1st set, and during the 2nd there was a Konica rainbow (google it) neon sign out by the freeway you could see from the lawn and during 2001 the Kuroda lights were working all too perfect with it.

it may seem obvious but its worth saying the place went absolutely apeshit for Misty Mountain too!