9-29-99 -- Pyramid Arena, Memphis, Tennessee

Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 14:38:00 EDT
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: PYramid!
 
OK.....First i have to give a shout to my hometown show at Oak Mountain in
Birmingham. There are alot of reviews of this show already so all i'll say is
that it was phantastic!!!!
Now! the Pyramid was jumping, smoking, raging and ohh yeah, trey's birthday!
well almost but we celebrated it last night. when they first walked out on
stage, everbody sang Happy birthday and Trey looked astonished and humble.
THE SHOW!
 
JIM~ Great opener, Trey smiling looking alll around at the amazing pyramid. I
was on the floor about 10 feet back with tons of room to boogie. There was no
way to get to the floor unless you had a floor ticket which gave everyone
lots of room!! This was a standered version about 8 minutes.
FREE~ As good as I remembered it. Mike was turned way up! Funk rained down on
us along with a light show to end all!! Trey noodled on his mini-keyboard.
DRIVER~ Catch your breath!
TASTE~ Much better version than i heard in atlanta. This one had a build up
that phlowed really well with Trey matching Paiges keys!! ( Paige is still on
crutches by the way! ) Blew me away. Again chris with the lights.
DIRT~ Beautiful! nice whistling...just a damn good tune!
Nelli Cane~ My first time to hear this. Mike took center stage.
STASH~ Great crowd interaction, very tight, no loose notes. This one got
nutty in the jam so much that they just ended it instead of coming back in
with the vocals. Lots of talk on stage between the phab phour. Whike they
were talking, we started to sing happy birthday again and Trey got a real
kick out of it, Paige played a little birthday jingle, Trey very humbly
bowed! Then said they were having a contest for backstage passes to any show.
You had to name what the common thread between each song they had played was
( awnser was it was all in the Key of "D") Then they were gonna play 2 more
songs that also had a common thread.
THEME~ AWESOME, first time to see this tune inside. This song just seems to sum
up phish for me.
TWEEPRISE~ I love it for its crazyness, nobody was expecting it and thats
when it works the best! A loooong tweeprise too, great build-up and
intensity!
                               SET 2  "the goods"
JIBOO~ yes yes yes yes yes yes, I love all the new stuff! this one is a
rocker! move ya butt shake ya ass kinda funk! ( First Tube still gets my vote
for the best, the one from B'ham was sick!) Great transition into>
2001~ I have been waiting a long 3 years to catch this one live again and
boy, man , god this was it! about a 9 minute intro with the sickest light
show and the music to match. Simply put,  it was phish at there best! Trey on
mini-keys again!
DWD~ I have been seeing this one alot lately. it was good but got a little
wacky. it was a free for all jam where anything goes and no rules with trey
absolutely letting himself go. What you get is some loud jumbled mess but i
love the fact they he will let go just to see what happens.
B. Breathes~ The best one i have heard. The solo on the end was perfect. The
closest i have ever heard to recreating whats on the studio track. nuff said.
Back on the Train~ saw this in TN this summer. fun funky trey special.
MIKES!!!!!!~ What can be said about this one, I have seen my share of mikes
grooves, this one goes right to the top. Nice funk flavor that they stop on a
dime and bring it back, then they Stop again>
CATAPULT~ The best. I love the playfullness that was going on. after they
finish it drops right back into the>
MIKES~ mooore funk, not missing a beat! trey whispers over to fishman, they
stop into>
KUNG~ AWESOME, stand up!! STAND UP!!! drop back into>
MIKES~moooore funk!! I felt like i was back in 1994 with all the segways!! uh
oh, another >
I Didn't Know~ everyone was so locked into the show. it was like what can
they possibly do next. A short vacumme solo by fishman...more mikes???nope
Weekapaug~ well what a trip to weekapaug....this one was awesome as usual
with a great funk solo by Gordon. Ended the second set in fine fashion.
Encore
CITIES~ What else, it had to be done! It was as good as everone was hoping
for! The Birmingham and Memphis lines got huge cheers and trey changed the
words to Home of Elvis and some kinda of Barbacue joint. It was awesome.
           The lots were awesome! no security hassling. I have never seen so
much nitrious at one show.(this is a bad thing) but still good vibes. Lots of
money was made in memphis in the lot.
More tidbits about the birmingham show. After Hood trey acknolowdge the fact
the last time they had played there in 1994, it was one of their favorite
shows and that it was great to be back and not to do anything that they
wouldn't do. Security was letting people Puff down( Makisupa!) Trey also
called Micheal Gordon "JOrdon" at the end of the show!
Finally, I taped Memphis. Came out great! will trade for any Fall Tour!
thanks kidz for a great time!
        peace,
            Tim <>
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 14:26:38 EDT
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Memphis Review...
 
 
   Long story short, i thought this show had nuthin' on Oak Mountain.
by the way, whoever coined the phrase "red neck red rocks" was right
on the f---k'n money.  I saw those idots do some crazy, embarassing things.
Kudos to the phans who tried to keep things in order.  But the show raged.
both sets were outstanding, and i would have a hard time saying one was
better than the other.   the set lists alone do the show justice.  and man, i
thought the rain was perfect, sloooowly increasing untill the end of the show.
it was cool...and i always thought phish sounded aquatic.
anyway... Memphis.
 
   First set was nice.  in fact, i'll say very nice.  JIM > FREE was strong,
but here comes the Memphis thing; DRIVER.  this show went back and forth
a few too many times for me.   I think TASTE is a damn impressive song; dare
i say masterpiece (in the realm of popular music).  So this get me going for
DIRT?  i like it... but ya see the problem here?  THEME , REPRISE was, of
course
an enjoyable curveball.
 
   JIBOO!!!!   best tune of the night.  period.  new stuff is just awesome.
  2001 - as weird as any i have ever heard.  out there.  loved it, but
            it was way out there.
  DISEASE - i thought it was, well....bad.  sorry, but i thought Trey killed
it.
   the highlight of MIKES> etc.  was certainly the ferocity  with which they
    jumped back into the MIKES funk from CATAPULT et al.  each time it just
    about blew the roof off the place, and my section was shaking, i swear it.
 
  CITIES, they saved for the very last song (of two nights), cool.  cause i
had
to drive through many a city to get home from these two.  they were strong,
but Oak Mountain takes my blue ribbon.
see you folks for the last 4-show home stretch before new year!!
Reynolds is gonna be the bomb.  i'll bet $ on it.
 
 
wilson

Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1999 00:48:43 PDT
From: nigel lewis [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: review 9/29/99
 
Entering the show many had great expectations but I don't truly most fans
had the gist of what was going to go down. I hadn't realized that it was the
day before Trey's birthday until maybe a week prior because a friend
enlightened me. Jim was nice always a good opener to work the crowd into a
frenzy. Free was nice pretty standard and to form. Driver hadn't been played
since the last time I saw it in Colombia, but non the less a ballad. Taste
was rockin, go back and listen to taste from 96. I saw the first U.S.
reworked Fog that Surrounds in Park City. Taste was full on, so much
interplay between Trey and Paige with Trey as usual getting the last word,
very nice. Dirt always nice but a ballad .Nellie Cane "the token bluegrass
tune of the night, but to all there it was evident that Trey wanted to get
everyone involved. Stash was very nice. Theme my first since the very
themefull summer of 97 I was lucky,never falling out of love because of the
reworked version that summer. I had seen them 27 times since 97, but I
always missed it. Man am I happy I missed it,Trey was extraordinary jamming
Theme to its extreme. He was releasing so much energy in Theme that I was
overwhelmed. 2001 was momentous they raised the bar substantially. The jam
leading up to it was a song in itself just pure funk. Down was jammed
similar to this summer. Billy was very tight and slow it was barely moving
and Trey just jammed to self set pace. Get back was nice. The start stop
jamming threw everyone in the joint off. Because everyone had a predominated
notion of a simple maybe wedge in other words everything and anything but
the start stop jamming of Catopolt and Kung. Weekapaug was short but ripped.
Cities Memphis home of the rendezvous barbeque (actually this place is not
great at all) Cities was expected but not as an encore nice surprise. but
not like the great went funk down of cities but similar to New Years this
year,  but they are reaching for 97 and are very close . Bama was nice
Sneaken and heavy things were great highlights. Anytime you hear heavy
things shut up and dance you will never see trey jam out more freely.

Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 04:08:30 EDT
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Badass Phish show

There was also a contest that was not mentioned. The contest entailed the
similarities between the first four songs that were played.... and then
Trey asked us to listen to the following two songs to see if we knew what
it was. Everyone was baffled and gathering thoughts quickly (the grand
prize would be to get four free tickets to any event next tour, free
backstage passes, and a date with Jon Fishman (LOL)). Anyway, the answer
was that the were all played in the key of D (damn, wish I would have
thought of that). It was really awesome, on top of it being Trey's
birthday and all, and then of couse a badass show altogether. Peace.

Cinthya }i{

 
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 14:19:54 -0500
From: "Gunter, Robert" [email protected]
To: "'[email protected]'" [email protected]
Subject: memphis 9-29-99
 
first time i've seen the boy's since dallas 98'.  great show. lively first set
with the audience really getting involved with stash and theme from the
bottom. second set was awesome.  2001 was the best i've heard (at live shows
or on tape). the setlist mentions also sprach zarathustra as song #2 in set 2.  
this should be 2001. also, a great blues brothers riff was played, yet got no
mention. just wanted to send these tidbits.


Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 18:53:07 -0600
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 9/29/99 Pyramid Review
 
Sick show!  My 25th, my hometown show.  I won't get into everything, but
there were some incredible Highlights.  SICK FREE!  MIKE all the way on
it with Trey Smokin' at the end.  Stash had a sick twisted staccato
progression that ended in the Blues Brother Theme (last played in the
12/29/97 possum).  After Stash Trey said that every song in the first
set except Driver had something in common, and if you could figure that
out, write it down on a piece of paper and hand it to Henry at the
Waterwheel table, you could win Free Tickets and 4 Backstage Passes to
any show of your choice.  They finished up with Theme and Tweeprise
which also had to do with the contest.  They announced the winners at
Set Break "Doug Nug" and somebody else.  The answer was all of the songs
were in the Key of D.
How hard is that?
too hard for me.
Jiboo was tight, short, but sweet.  2001 was one of the best i've ever
seen.  The space was incredibly sick and loud and really trippy flipped
out.  The first half was long and Really jammin' but spacy at the same
time.  The second half had a sick jam in it.
DWD was longer than New Orleans, but not better.  The Mike's Song was
one of the sickest ones i've seen.  They kicked into it around 11:05 and
after a short jam landed in the land of Stop/Start Funk.  Except when
they stop and Start, they toss in Catapult, Then bring it back to funk,
then stop to KUNG, then break it back to the funk, then I SWEAR I SAW
Mike Say Have Mercy, but i must have been hallucinating because they
stopped and dropped in I Didn't Know.
No segue into Weekapaug, which was tight, but not the best i've ever
seen it.
Cities had virtually no jam out of it because they came back for the
Encore at 11:35 (left for set 2 at 11:30!), but still It's Memphis! You
gotta play Cities!
peace
justin

 
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 20:08:08 -0500
From: Jason Smith [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 9-29-99
 
This was my 21st phish show since 10-13-95 in ft. worth. i have been at
many of the best shows since then, though no holiday shows yet . Of them
all, last night at the Pyramid has to be the best. Mike's bass was up in
my ass all night long...Thump!Thump!Thump! I have never heard Mike so
sound bold and beautiful. Very emotional heart wrenching melodies within
tight funk grooves. Flawless. Check Out, specifically Free, from the 1st
set, and Gotta Jiboo, 2001, and  throughout the amazing Mike's Song and
Weekapaug Groove. Trey was displaying his mastery of musical expression
and psychic conversation. He was very intuitive and versatile all night
long, conducting the changing energies of the audience like a true
shaman, or a brilliant rock n' roll guru. The way he and Page interacted
during the first set was incredible. Page was all over the place during
Free, Stash, And Theme. Taking many more chances than usual and hitting
the mark each time. As for Fishman, this show proved to me there has
never been a better rock n' roll drummer. He was solid and carefree,
like he always is at his best, seeming to push the band into overdrive
all night.
Thank You Phish for a truly religious experience of pure joy! Keep It Up
Guy's!!! See ya in Florida, the magic of the universe is on our side, so
smile!

Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 08:40:41 -0500
From: jana and thomas upshaw [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 9-29-99
 
this show was special in many ways.  the band showed that they can and will
open up any song at any time and go as far as they dare to push the limits
of sonic and mental stability.  there were times during the psychotic intro
to 2001 that i thought i was going to have a seizure.  we were 5th row
jamming and dancing right in front of mike, and the "music" noise at that
point was so loud, but chris's lights were absolutely awesome.  free was
the most perfect jam for that song in a long time.  and of course, the
ending, after all that energy, the boys actually mellowed out if that is
possible and played an incredibly tight, slow Mike's song.  it was so
mellow and slow, but was interrupted by incredible spaces of silence for
about 2 seconds, then right back into i am hydrogen, this incredible funky
blues jam, then interrupted with catapult, then back into the jam, then
stop again for (what this time!!!???) KUNG!  absolutely incredible!  then
back to the jam and stop again... i didn't know and fishman swing ing his
hose like an elephant.  it has to rank as one of the top ten mike's grooves
ever.  and finally, the band crowd interaction was definitely on.  we were
able to sing the birthday song to trey, he was laughing and gratefully
surprised.  also in betweeen stash and theme is not a > but a trey
monologue where he explained "we're going to initiate a little contest
here" the contest being who can tell me what those first six songs (except
driver) have in common.  the first person to bring the correct answer to
the green peace booth won 4 tix with back stage passes to any show in the
next year!  it was an awesome show.  i would place it in the top 20 all
time.
 
thos

 
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 12:25:16 EDT
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 9-29-99
 
every song in the 1st set (except Driver) is in the key of D.  Stash is
actually in D minor, but nonetheless they are all in the same key. I wasn't
at this show, but I want 4 backstage passes anyway!
 
Peace,
Sean

Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 15:48:25 -0700
From: Richard O. Webb [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: memphis review
 
the question was what do these 6 songs have in common. maybe there in d
expect for driver, but thats not the correct answer.  the answer is
driver is about jon fishman and the rest are about jimmy. 2001

click here to return to the 1999 reviews page


hits (many)