10-5-00 -- Irvine Meadows, Irvine, California

...another great show!!! hell of a good time...dan

Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 14:28:00 -0700
From: John Erganian jkerganian@earthlink.net
Reply-To: John Erganian jkerganian@pickboydston.com
To: dws@gadiel.com, Justin Mandelbaum justin@garageband.com
Subject: 10/5
 
Although it's been 3 weeks, the impact of this show has not diminished for
me.
 
First, let me say that L.A. heads (and that includes me) do go crazy for
Phish.  There was last year's stage dive and the large, nekked, ranting,
sweating crazy guy.  This year, Trey was hugged on stage, and I saw the guy
in front of me lose it and pass out during Guyute--the second song, for
Pete's sake!  Anybody have any guesses why this is?
 
Anyway, on to the show:
 
Tight, but unspectactular versions of CDT, Guyute, Wolfman's, with a
noticeable increase in tightness during Sneaking Sally.  Limb By had a
loose-but-tight (if that makes any sense) jam that my friend, a seasoned
Deadhead, said reminded him in a good way of Crazy Fingers.  That is an
astute description of this jam.  New cover Let's Go Downtown was fun, and the
crowd certainly enjoyed the cops shining lights in your eyes, etc lyrics.
Beauty was uneventful, but sung well by Trey.  Axilla was slow, but fast (if
that makes any sense).  I guess restrained is a better word.  I always love
Horn, and I always think Trey's guitar is out of tune and he spends the whole
song futzing with his sound.  This one was no exception, and I loved it just
the same.  Possum rocked, in a more straight ahead fashion than did, say, the
encore at the Greek Theater in '98, which was funkier and had stop-start
jamming.  All told, a solid, workmanlike first set which gave little if no
indication of what was to come.
 
Second Set:  Do What You Can To Get Tapes Of This
 
I saw both Vegas and both Shoreline shows, and I think this is the best set,
due to inspired song selection combined with the leadership of one Mike
Gordon, who got the rest of the boys to rise to the occasion with him.  Even
though I've been listening to and following Phish since 1993, my love affair
with Mike really began in Vancouver last year and exploded the following show
at the Gorge, as I listened to my dream that he could achieve a full, driving
sound at all times come true.
 
Drowned to open!  This version easily topped the Big Cypress one, as it raged
out of control, led by Mike's devastating bass.  My friend and I found
ourselves staring at each other in disbelief as the jam spiraled further and
further out of control while still being anchored by Mike and Fish.  Mike was
John Entwistle's most talented apostle this night.  Although I go on and on
about Mike, the entire band was tight beyond belief, achieving a unified
sound that I can't describe with words.  They weren't four, they were one.
And yes, I was sober.
 
As Drowned wound down, I eagerly anticipated a segue that would maintain the
awesome, set-making energy just displayed, and there it was, NICU, which both
cooled things down and showed that the boys were really going for it song
selection-wise.  This was a strong version, benefitting from the momentum of
Drowned as Mike and Fish kept thumping, Trey drew out the signature notes,
and even exhorted Page to "Play it, Leo," which he certainly did.
 
What next?  Would they go big? Some sonic grumbling and rumbling and then the
high hat--Bowie.  Believe the hype friends, this was the best these ears have
heard, slightly edging the one two nights later in Shoreline, as I prefer
over-the- top peaks to a perfectly executed arranged section (but that's just
me).  They drove the peaks so high, the tension was unbelievable.  The band
was tight and the sound was dense, overwhelming.   And by sound, I mean the
music.  Again, disbelief.  How can they play this hard, this fast, and this
in sync with each other?
 
Now, I love 12/28/94, and I love the Bowie/ Halley's combo so much I
sometimes just naturally associate the two.  Well, Mike was feelin' it too,
and they dropped a funky, unhurried Comet on us.  From what I could see, Mike
relished his goofy scat counterpoint to the singing of the lyrics.  When the
Trey solo finally came, Trey delivered, and the band built a jam that rode on
the set's momentum, and seemed effortless.  You could see that the band
enjoyed the jam and didn't mind not knowing where it would go until it
morphed into Walk Away, another reminder of a '94 jam, the extraordinary Bomb
Factory set 2.  Seems to me, this song pops up when they are jamming hard and
having fun.  Page songs are a rare commodity these days, and Page delivered
like he knows this, too.  Well done, boys.
 
This Piper was red hot and it let Trey take center stage, as he led the jam
into crazy places.  I've noticed that Phish, especially during Piper, but in
other songs as well, can begin a jam that has the crowd grooving with them,
and then take the jam into places so intense that the audience just stands
still and has to withstand the onslaught, as the beat gets lost but the jam
gets no less intense.  Is this Type II jamming?  Anyway, this Piper was one
of those.  In short, the crowd got its ass kicked.  And we loved it.
 
Character Zero closes sets, and so did this one.  Usually, the high points in
this one are Trey's solos, but Mike was Trey's equal here, and the jam turned
into Trey staring at Mike, admiring the smooth, hard sound Mike had been
working on all night as it came to fruition right in front of him.  This
prompted Trey to start breaking the song down and chanting, not really
singing, "Fast enough for you" (sounding nothing like the song of the same
name).  Also, let me say that Fish was right with Mike every step of the way,
and it was actually the two of them that drove this set to success.
 
A very weird ending, but it was indicative of the out-of the ordinary nature
of this set.
 
Encore:  WMGGW.  Average, at best, but then I've never heard one that stood
out.  I just don't think Phish does anything special with this song.  Maybe
Trey felt he didn't solo enough in the second set, which is fair enough.
I'll soften my criticism of this song by saying that I think Phish often has
a tough time with encores after hot sets, as the momentum that is so
important is often lost.
 
Props, though, to Trey, for taking a moment to give props to L.A.. and the
L.A. fans That was special, as we here feel like the red-headed step-child in
the Phish universe sometimes (we show the least amount of interest which
results in them playing the smallest venues[which is a bonus!], we're tagged
as the opposite of both the East Coast and of hippie values).  Extra special
was Trey's name-check of three L.A. rock titans, behind whom Phish placed
themselves:  Tenacious D, Frank Zappa, and Van Halen.
 
Hell Yeah.
 
I'm out.

Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 13:48:09 -0500
From: Justin Metz jusitnm@mem.net
Reply-To: justinm@mem.net
To: dws@archive.phish.net
Subject: 10.5.00 review
 
10/5/00 Irvine Meadows, Irvine, CA
 
 I want to preface this review by saying that this was my first and only
show in the beautiful state of California, and I feel extremely lucky to
have been there.  I hadn^Òt ever even been west of Texas before 10/4/00
(though i had been to most of the midwest, the east coast, mexico and
europe).  Also very important to me is the fact that I have just
welcomed my second son, Taylor, to the world in late April.  Because of
this I  had not planned on seeing any shows on this fall 2000 tour.  I
had seen 4 on the summer 2000, and have planned a break from touring to
be with my family (phish^Òs break comes at the right time for me :).
There was also only one show within reaching distance of memphis (my
home), without missing work, and that was  second night chicago - a big
drive for just one show.  I Did that drive for Alpine only 2 months
prior and the Alpine show, while good, didn^Òt live up to Alpine
standards.  Plus having the new baby, I just didn^Òt want to go to
Chicago.  However, I jumped at the oppurtunity when  my business offered
to fly my wife and I out to Palm Springs, CA.  My stay was the evening
of the 4th through the 8th, and this was business.   My Company kicked
down close to 3 grand to get me out there and for me to learn while I
was there.  I was tied up all week and was unable to attend any other
show than 10/5, which was a mere 2 hours drive from my hotel (peanuts to
this kid from memphish who is used to at least 6 or 8 hours minimum).
 So I got my tickets, flew to the Desert on 10/4 , and was smiling when
I got off the plane.  Part of my smile was from seeing Phish do Twist on
Leno the night before, which, imo, was the sickest TV appearance since
Farmhouse on 11/7/97 Conan (which remains the best TV appearance, imo).
It was also quite pleasing to visit the west coast for the first time in
my life.  And knowing I would see Phish the next night really put me in
high spirits for this trip.
 I had one wish at this show: Sneakin Sally Through The Alley.  I wanted
some funkdown!!  I was waiting for it for 31 shows (this was my 32nd),
but it had always remained ellusive.  In 3 cases I missed it by just ONE
show (most recent being when they played it in Bama 99, I saw New
Orleans and Memphis - The shows before and after that.  That really
Hurts...)
 
Onto the show...
 
ChalkDust Torture - Tight!!  TIGHT!!! TIGHT!!!!!! (did i mention this is
TIGHT)!!  Very tight opener, contained some familiar CDT riffs from Trey
and great interaction from everyone.  Great Lift off for this crowd and
this show!!
 
Guyute - Frankly, I^Òm sick of this song.  Don^Òt get me wrong, this is
still a great song, I still get into it at shows (this was no
exception), and I like it even more on tape.  But this was the 11th
Guyute for me in my last 22 shows.  For you non-math people that^Òs EVERY
OTHER SHOW.  Enough is enough.  This Version did however feature and
extremely dark and evil part (more so than most) in the first 4 lines of
the second verse.  I was disappointed however, when Trey copped out and
took the short ending (the ending on ^Óghost^Ô) b/c his solo at the end is
one of the few moments of this song that I still LOVE to hear at a show.
 
Wolfman^Òs Brother - Yet another song I hear frequently as I^Òm sure you
all do.  I^Òve seen some exceptional versions of this song and to tell
you the truth, the last few have disappointed me some.  The reason for
my dissapointment is b/c they go into some good territory, then just end
it.   They still jam it, but to me, this is a SEGUE song.  The funk is
so conducive to launching into just about anything that I get
disappointed when it lacks a segue.  THIS JAM WAS FIERCE AND FUNKY!!
Trey was rippin^Ò, steppin back and funkin^Ò, and getting very spacy at
points.  MIKE JUST FUNKED IT OUT!  After a nice funky/space mix (not
exceptionally long, but exceptionally tight), Trey walked over to Mike
and said something.  I said out Loud ^ÓPlease segue into something.^Ô
There is no way I could^Òve called
 
Sneakin Sally Through They Alley - Holy SHIT!   The only fucking song I
wanted to see at Irvine!!  I wasn^Òt even expecting it and told myself
not to, because it has been SO ELLUSIVE FOR ME!!  MY FIRST!!  This was
only the second Sally  in 2000.  Very funky.  Not jammed out, but I
didn^Òt Care.  Wolfman^Òs>>Sally is a jam IN and OF ITSELF!   And I
Finally Got my Sally!!
 
Limb by Limb - Good, Great Mid-Section.  Very nice work from Trey and
MIke.  The most memorable point was near the end where Trey really
starts to rip.  Some chic ran up onstage and Kissed Trey on the mouth.
He leaned over, Kissed her, and continued to rip (not missing a note)
while she kissed him.  They finally pulled her off him and he was still
Jamming!!!  Very Cool/Funny!!
 
Come On Baby Let^Òs Go Downtown - No different than Trey Tour.  I find it
funny that most of Trey tour has come out in Phish.  I saw the St. Louis
Trey show and it was incredible.  This version was no different than any
Trey Version.  And by that I mean, I couldn^Òt really hear what Page was
doing.  Still a good song.  Second Ever by Phish.
 
Beauty of my Dreams - I^Òm Getting tired of this tune also (poor heart is
better!), but CACTUS took a solo, as he did at Antioch earlier this
year.  It Made it good!
 
Axilla 1 - PURE ONE! No Ending.  Great, NO flubs!!  ENERGY ENERGY
ENERGY!
 
Horn - Yet another song that has elluded me.  Another first for me.
Great!!  not much to this song though!!  still good to hear.  This was
turning into a fine show!
 
Possum - Good version.  Most of the work came from Page as Trey told
Page (via the green mug) to run with it.  Trey got in at the end, but
only for a short time.  Page really got down though.  It Didn^Òt peak as
high as I^Òm used to, but Page^Òs solo really made this stand out.
 
And that was set 1.  It was a Great set, but you could throw the whole
fucking thing away and leave Wolfman^Òs>>Sally and I^Òd still call this a
great set.  Overall, very solid playing from everybody.  They were tight
throughout the entire 70 minutes they were onstage.  And I didn^Òt notice
any of the ^Ótiredness^Ô that people have said they have been showing on
this tour.  However, if you want to talk about TRULY GREAT SETS, Those
sets that are just so fiery that your energy is spent from dancing  long
before the set closer LOOK NO FURTHER THAN 10/5/00 SET 2.
 
So the only song I wanted/needed to hear was Sneakin Sally Through The
Alley.  And four songs in, my need was fulfilled.  The rest of what they
played could^Òve been your average run-of-the-mill phish for all I cared,
because the only thing I could think about all setbreak was
Wolfmans>Sally... That was until they opened the second set with...
 
DROWNED-  HELL YES!   Another first for me!  I wasn^Òt really expecting a
Drowned at all b/c 2 had allready been played on the tour (Darien and
Cincinnatti), so this was a huge surprise!  Very Well Done!  This is
such a Raging Tune!!  This one had some great jamming from everyone,
especially Trey and Mike.  It lasted about 15 minutes before it segued
into the reggaeish chords of
 
NICU - Started out slower than most versions, with Trey almost speaking
the lyrics.  Page took an extra long solo.  Good Version.  When it ended
they immediately launched into an ambient jam, or at least what I
thought would be an ambient jam.  It lasted for about three minutes and
was dominated by light and airy playing from both Trey and MIke.  It was
absolutely beatiful, and I thought it would just unfold into a huge
ambient jam until I heard the Hi-Hat intro kick in...
 
David Bowie - THIS IS BY FAR THE SICKEST DAVID BOWIE I HAVE EVER SEEN!
And Bowie is the tune I^Òve seen more than any other phish song.  I could
probably write a review of this Bowie as long as this reviewt, that^Òs
how incredible it was, but I will keep this as short as I can.  As I
said this really began with an Ambient Jam that was about 3 minutes in
length.  At about the 3 minute mark Fishman came in with the Hi Hat
intro.  My response to this was ^ÓOh shit!^Ô  Partly b/c I was thinking
^Óanother Bowie^Ô and partly because I reallly expected the Ambience to
become a huge jam.  The Ambience continued throught the Hi Hat intro,
and Fishman only maintained the Hi-Hat for a few beats, mostly he was
giving really good fills with the drums.  Then BAM, Bowie kicked in.
The psyechedelic composed section of the song was pulled off well.  I
did notice Trey lose it for a few seconds after the ub40 verse, but he
quickly caught back up to the rest of the band and played it perfectly
into the jam.  The Jam was a work of art and a MUST HEAR!  Great Bowie
Licks pervaded this jam, and Trey was really dominating it.  Mike and
Page and Fish were all getting in great fills with, But this was mostly
Trey.  Then about 6 or 8  minutes into the jam, the entire band just
changed Key and took this jam off into completely NON-BOWIE territory.
This part of the jam was Truly Brilliant and Beautiful.  It was
completely different than the dark evil jam of Bowie.  They jammed this
out for at least 5 minutes and I thought we were leaving David Bowie
altogether.  They continued jamming and brought it slowly back around to
the original Bowie jam.  Then they proceded to just plain RAGE!  This
Peaked so fucking hard that I cannot describe it with words.  It was The
Highest peak I have ever heard in David Bowie, and perfectly segued into
the closing segment of the song.  All In All this Bowie was UNREAL, and
by far **THE PEAK MOMENT** of this show.
 
Halley^Òs Comet -  Yet another First For me.  I^Òve been waiting 32 shows
and 5 years for this tune.  I had to travel 3,000 miles to see it!  Well
Done.  It was a great way to follow up that insane Bowie. I was hoping
for a funk jam to develop out of it, but it was jammed in the original
style, which was fine with me.  Not a long jam, but that didn^Òt matter
because it segued perfectly into
 
Walk Away - Hell Yea!  3rd time I^Òve seen this in just 2 years.
Actually this makes 2 shows in a row that I^Òve seen this tune (alpine
00, Irvine 00).  This version was 10 times better than Alpine!  Probably
the best version I have ever heard them play.  It was just so Clean and
Page was so On Top of It!
 
Piper -  I saw this at Alpine this year as well (as well as every 3
shows i^Òve seen since 97). And I must say, this song gets better and
better every time they play it. The Alpine Version Raged, but this plain
blew it away.  It only had one Verse, as The Rage Section of the Tune
went on extra long, then just developed into a huge jam.  About half way
through the jam, Trey started in with Crosseyed and Painless chords.  I
was saying ^Óplease segue into this^Ô  as I have yet to hear Crosseyed.
That would have been Icing on the Cake for me, as this show was full of
tunes I was waiting to hear.  Alas, C+P never developed beyond those
chords, but this jam was VERY INTENSE!!  It finally wound down into
 
Character Zero - I won^Òt say this is the best version I have seen, but
it was by far the most different.  It never Truly peaked, and Trey^Òs
solo wasn^Òt as Rip-Roaring as most of the Zero^Òs I have seen.  After
only a few minutes, Trey and Mike just dropped into this slow, dark
little jam, and Trey started saying ^Ófast enough for you^Ô over the jam.
He said it maybe 6 or 8 times and then they just ended it.  It was kind
of odd, but for the sake of doing things differently it was good!!
 
THIS WAS SUCH AN INSANE SET!!  IT WAS FUCKING UNBELIEVABLE!! FROM
DROWNED THROUGH ZERO, THIS SET IS A MUST HEAR!
 
Encore: While My Guitar Gently Weeps -  I was  hoping for A Cities or a
Boogie on Encore, but this was good, as I had never seen it before.
Trey took an exceptionally long and beatiful solo, longer than any I
have ever heard.  I^Òm not really sure if it was after this song or after
Zero, but he did his Jedi Tricks with his guitar, then raised it up in
the air like a light saber as the lights turned extremely bright.  He
seems to do this alot now, but I don^Òt mind, It Kicks ass when he does
that!
 
Overall, this was an INCREDIBLE SHOW!  The best I have seen out of the 5
I^Òve seen this year, and the best I^Òve seen since 7/25/99.  It was
especially nice to see all those songs for the first time.  After 30
shows, I^Òm used to 1 or 2 (if any) new songs per show, but I got 6 which
blew me away!!  Highlights were Wolfman^Òs Funkdown>>Sally,
Drowned>>NICU, DAVID FUCKING BOWIE, Halley^Òs>>Walk Away and Piper.  If
anything, do your best to hear the Bowie from this show.  It^Òll make you
crave to see Bowie at every show.
 
peace out kids
 
justin from memphish.
justinm@mem.net

Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 16:59:12 -0400
From: Larry Mecca LMecca@mathematica-mpr.com
Subject: Review - 10/5/2000 - Irvine
 
Review - 10/5/2000 - Irvine:
L.A. Traffic sucked coming from Simi Valley so we got there, parked, and
went in.  Made that cruel climb up to the lawn and carved out a spot.  I
usually like the lawn better than seats because there is more room to groove
but this lawn was pretty bad with a huge slant and the sound wasn't so hot.
Of course none of it mattered once our boys came on to play.
 
Chalkdust opener, got things going and everyone dancing, livin' while we're
young.  Guyute, very nice, this is a great tune and I always enjoy hearing
it and this one had an extremely creepy "new born elf" section.  Wolfman's >
Sally was a show highlight, they really got down and grooved with these two
and I was wearing a big ass grin and dancin' away.  Limb by Limb was as
wonderful as ever and I really caught a groove and got out there on this
one.  Didn't see Let's Go Downtown coming at all and it was kinda cool but
there is not much they can do with it.  Beauty, normally a "take a leak"
song but I was sweating so much from dancing that I didn't have to go, it
was standard fare.  Axilla!, nice and rockin' and always too short.  Horn, I
always like this tune and it's classic rock feel but if I didn't get a jam
soon I was gonna explode after four shorties in a row.   oooohhh Possum your
the end of the set!  Nicely done and always a good closer, I thought I heard
the fall down signal but I coulda been flashing back to 12/11/99.
 
Hung out talking to my friend Dawn and her new boyfriend Hugh, catching up
with her and getting to know him made the break go quickly.
 
Drowned! great way to open the second set, jammed to within and inch of it's
life and it got us all groovin' with a seamless segue into NICU.  Huh?!?!
NICU?, yup you heard me right.  Very unexpected and good to hear although it
was a standard rendition.  I started talkin' to a girl trough it about the
Vegas shows and Kid Rock but she really had to go to the bathroom and I
never saw her again and never caught her name.  If you see this e-mail me.
Bowie! made me forget about her for awhile :)  This Bowie is a must hear at
all costs and may be one of the all time greats.  They ate my mind on this
one, it was like I was standing on a mountain, so high it was in the first
reaches of space and there were stars swirling all around me.  And standing
around me were the boys larger than life, three times my size, and Trey
reaches down with a silly (puny human) grin on his face and flips the top of
my head open and they all reach in and grab an handful and start munching
and laughing.  Totally blown away by this Bowie and my soul felt cleansed
afterwards.  I love meatballs so you better get ready for Halley's Comet.  I
wasn't sure any tune could follow the Bowie mindfuck but Halley's seemed to
fit the bill and it was happy and nonsensical and flowed in to Walk Away.  I
knew this was coming a few minutes before the opening cords and kinda said
so a little too loudly, it was like they left a little note in my empty
skull after they sucked out my mind saying "We're gonna play "Walk Away"
after Halley's.  -Phish".  It was rockin' and very cool, I guess you could
say I called it but it was more of one of those phreaky moments of
clairvoyance with the band.  Piper!, this built up to it's normal hectic
pace and never quit and dancing on the slant was killing my calves but I
couldn't stop.  It didn't have it's normal release ending but rather went in
to this odd little jam that was pretty good.  Closing the set was Character
Zero which I think everyone in the joint knew was coming.  It seemed to
follow along normally but towards the end ... what the hell is Trey
chanting? ... mumble, mumble ... Fast Enough for You, over and over about
half a dozen times or so.  It was a droning chant over the ending jam of
Zero, nothing like they sing it in the song.  They break off the jam and
Trey thanx the L.A. crowd and makes a mention of them being the 4th greatest
rock bad or something like that then they drop right back in where they left
off the ending crescendo and Trey starts a loop and starts waving his guitar
around like at Vegas and I thought him and Mike were going to do a guitar
duel again but no deals.
 
Wow! what a set, I had know idea what to expect for an encore after that
show.  I couldn't even begin to hazard a guess and I'm not sure they knew
until they came out and started playing.  But they played the sweetest While
My Guitar Gently Weeps I've ever heard and the guitar solo was full of
Trey's soul, pouring out on to us in wails and moans.  Fabulous!  .. and
then it was over and I was full of happiness, I may not have been going to
Shoreline but it was alright by me.
 
See y'all out there!
 
-Lazaryth

Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2000 19:48:14 MDT
From: Mike Fitzsimmons bucketofthoughts@hotmail.com
To: dws@gadiel.com
Cc: dws@archive.phish.net
Subject: Irvine Meadows Review
 
Gadiel-
  I only hit 5 shows this tour.  I hit Denver, and all of Cali.  Irvine was
clearly my favorite show.  Chula had to have been one of the weakest shows I
have seen in a while, but anyways.  On to the Irvine review.
 
Chalkdust: BAM!  Got us going right from the start.  An above average
Chalkdust.  It was nothing compared to  the Chalkdust with Bobby Weir :),
but what is?
 
Guyute:  Really stoked to hear this gem.  Trey had funkier than usuall vocal
effects going on.  Wish I  could offer more detail, but it was really a nice
just long enough Guyute.  Kept me smile'n.
 
Wolfman's:  Not a favorite of mine, but damn!   Kuroda was on, Trey was
again the star of this song.  Trey seemed to be making up for Chula during
Irvine.
 
Sneaking!!!!:  This came out of no where!!  So pumped to hear a Sneaking.
Trey had several bust out solos and again shinned bright.  At this point I
am rating the show one of the best performances I have seen out of Trey in
my last 20 or so shows.
 
LimbXLimb: Yet another repeat from Denver, but one of my favorite songs.
During this tune I was kind of focusing on the kid tripping WAY TOO hard
behind me, but it still held the show up.  Fishman was the standout as
usuall in LimbXLimb.
 
Come On Baby:  I called this!  SO I was fucking pumped!  Ok... I know this
review is a bit weak... it is just my personal experience... after 57 shows
I am writing my first review ever so bare with me.
 
Beauty Of My Dreams:  Yet another Denver tune... the boys have been all
about the repeats for this tour.  But... it was perfectly done and the show
kept getting better!
 
Axilla:  Haven't heard this in a while so I has stoked.  It was a highlight
of the first set.  Just in FIRE!  That is all I can say.
 
Horn:  Trey showing his skill like no other!  Probably the best Horn I have
seen, without a doubt.
 
Possum:  More energy than a lighting bolt! Great way to end the first set.
 
 
Set Break:  WAY too much odd shit to mention.  Kid behind me kept getting
worse. I won't bore you with the rest.
 
Drowned:  Easily best Drowned I have seen.  Extremely jammed out.  They took
this jam all over the place just in time to bring it into...
 
NICU:  Great place for a NICU.   After all that jamming it was good to get
some fast dancing in.  Great tune as usuall
 
Bowie:  Not the longest Bowie ever, but real tight.  REAL TIGHT!  The
jamming madness continued in Bowie and really worked well after NICU.
 
Halley's:  Good to calm us down... but not really!  We were flipping out
over Halley's.  We needed this sweet gem after our car trouble in Cali.
 
WALK AWAY:  This just oozed out of Halley's no one saw it coming.  Really
tight tune.  Again... not the longest ever, but it never is.  now.....
 
PIPER!!:  Sick Piper.  Yet another repeat from Denver.  Just when I thought
Denver had the best Piper... the boys came through with this masterpiece!!
 
Character 0:  Ok... so I am never really stoked for a Char0, but... DAMN!
This was a well down Char0.  It does belong as a set closer, but not every
damn show.   It did belong at this show!  Trey was chanting "fast enough for
you" during the song.  Guitar war after the song.  Trey thanking god and
everybody.  He was proclaiming Phish the 4th greatest band ever behind ?,
Frank Zappa, Van Halen.  This was a sick zero.
 
While My Guitar Gently Weeps:  Such a Sweet Trey song!!  This was Trey's
night.  This was a perfect encore...  not to mention that I called it!
 
 
This is up there on my list of favorite shows.  And to think that I almost
didn't go in so that I could get to Shoreline early.  Shoreline was dank...
but I choose to ad my two cents about this show because it really made my
week.  Thanks guys :)  Looking forward to the next Europe tour :)  I have
never been to Europe..  but I have done the US tour thing enough now.  Well
until next time.
 
Ride Those Donkies Safely- Mike
 
P.S. Hope to see more Bob Weir (but probably won't :( )

Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 08:53:23 PDT
From: Chuck Man ghostlymanik@hotmail.com
To: dws@netspace.org
Subject: Review:  Irvine 10/5/2000
 
I loved this show!  This was my first show in just over a year, so I was far
from jaded, and everything was fresh, new and exciting for me.
 
The weather in the afternoon was southern California warm and sunny
beautiful.  My seat (not that any sitting was done) was *perfect* ^Ö I was
dead center in the back of the orchestra section, smack in front of Chris
and the light board.  Paul and the soundboard were probably 20 feet straight
behind (in the very front of the Loge section).  The sound mix was perfect,
and the view of the lights was spectacular.
 
On to random thoughts about the music:
 
Chalkdust:  They walked out and ripped right into this one without any
hesitation or wasted time.  One of my favorite phish ^Órock^Ô
tunes.   ^ÓCan^Òt
this wait til I^Òm old^Ô indeed! Not sure this was anything above and beyond
any other version played lately, but it was enjoyable.
 
Guyute:  Never much liked this song ^Ö til last night!  I do wish the ending
bit was more engaging.  The jam was standard Guyute to my reckoning.  Early
in the first set is a good location for Guyute.
 
Wolfman^Òs:  My 4 year old son^Òs favorite song.  He has me play the SS&P
version regularly.  I like it too.  This was great, with our first taste of
a jam that was not ^Óby-the-book just like every other time^Ô.  Mike shined
here as expected. Segues into^Å
 
Sneakin Sally:  My first time live. You think Trey^Òs wife likes this song
(it^Òs got that lyric about marriage I never noticed until last night)?  I
enjoyed it.
 
Limb x Limb:  After hearing that the Denver version was a smoker, I was
pleased to hear this one start up in hopes they would continue to build this
song.  I love fishman on this tune, and he didn^Òt disappoint.  I don^Òt have
sufficient perspective to compare this to other versions, but from the
viewpoint of a big fan who doesn^Òt see many shows,^Ö it was a smoker.
Someone hopped up on stage during this song, and was promptly removed (by
Carini I presume).  This seemed to energize the crowd for some reason ^Ö I
missed most of it, since I had my eyes closed at the time ^Ö and prompted
Chris to light up the audience a bit (or does he always do that at that part
of the song?).
 
Come On Baby Let^Òs Go Downtown:  I know it^Òs a Crazy Horse tune, but I still
think of it as Neil^Òs for some reason.  Again, Chris would shine the lights
in everyone^Òs eyes during that main chorus to the effect of ^Óa cop shining
his light your eyes^Ô ^Ö a lyric which I never noticed until now.  First time
live for me, and I was really diggin^Ò this set.
 
Beauty of My Dreams:  Nice to get some bluegrass.  What attracted me to
phish originally (1992) was the strong diversity of styles ^Ö bluegrass,
jazz, barbershop quartet, psychedelia, rock&roll, world, etc.  I don^Òt
perceive that same diversity of style is presented at shows today to the
same degree.
 
Axilla:  Heavy metal rock & roll!
 
Horn:  A beautiful chill-out song that I enjoyed very much, and provided a
nice counter-point to the previous Axilla .
 
Possum:  One of my favorite Phish songs.  Not the best version I^Òve ever
heard, but I loved it.  You gotta love the intro build into this song, and
it was well done here!
 
On to Set 2, where I was really hoping for a Ghost!
 
Drowned:  I^Òve seen this three of my last six shows (7/20/98; 11/2/98, and
10/5/00).  This is the version that grabbed me most, although it may not be
the best of those three.  Atmosphere, state-of-mind, attitude, life events,
day of the week ^Ö so many things impact the enjoyment of a song beyond just
the performance of the song for me.   This version had a great jam which
segued into^Å
 
NICU:  don^Òt have much to say about this one for some reason, other than I
enjoyed it.
 
David Bowie:  Two major jam vehicles in the first three songs.  I love the
opening spacey intro to Bowie, although this one was not very long.  The jam
in the middle was great, and I love the closing section which builds and
builds, and then stops on a dime after those final four rapid beats.   This
was a beauty.
 
Halley^Òs Comet:  Another jam vehicle!  The last time I saw this was at
Ventura when Trey walked off mid-song.  This time, a jam that didn^Òt
disappoint.  Mike really holds together that bass vocal piece quite well.
Segues into^Å
 
Walk Away:  Again, Fishman shined (wearing the mumu).  Nice power chords
from Trey.  I am loving this set.
 
Piper:  Starts with very soft noodling, and builds and builds until the
vocal piece, where the words are basically unintelligible, unless you know
what they are,  such that the vocals are really just another instrument to
contribute to the chaos that is the peak of Piper, and this was no
exception.
 
Ambient Jam:  As labeled from the set list. I just remember segueing into
some beautiful jamming, although I didn^Òt think of it as Ambient jam at the
time that would get separate listing on a setlist.  I glance at my watch,
realizing it's approaching 11pm, and wondering how are they gonna rap this
baby up?
 
Character Zero:  This was to me a very bizarre Zero, with the jam section
played slowly.  I remember thinking of Trey^Òs solo as either ^Óchewy^Ô or
^Ólike walking through deep thick mud that sucks your feet up and doesn^Òt
want to let go.^Ô   There was this tension in Trey^Òs solo where you wanted
him to break free and shred guitar hero style, but it stayed slow and
restrained (and strangely quite appealing).  And then for he closing
section, they just kept slowing it down (hence Trey (and other band members)
repeating ^Ófast enough for you^Ô through the closing section), until it died.
 
Then Trey^Òs interesting ^Óthanks for coming we had a lot of fun^Ô statement,
including thanking L.A. for making phish its 4th favorite band.  I^Òll have
to hear this again to understand the sarcasm better.
 
Encore:  While My Guitar Gently Weeps:  It was less than five minutes to
curfew, so I expected some short rocking # (and was fearing ^Óhighway to
hell^Ô for some reason).  What we got was beautiful, and carried past 11pm by
several minutes, such that during Trey^Òs solo you could see the back curtain
being pulled open and shut a few times.  A very nice song with a beautiful
solo.
 
I loved this show.  I^Òm anxious to hear other^Òs comments (and to hear the
tapes), to see if my sentiments were purely based on the fact that I^Òve been
so deprived of live Phish for the past year, or if it^Òs because there was a
lot of quality jamming within the show.  Let^Òs recap:  Wolfman^Òs -> Sally;
Possum; Drowned; Bowie; Halley^Òs;  Piper; a strange Zero and WMGGW = awesome
show!
 
I^Òm gonna miss these guys.
Chuck

Date: Sat, 07 Oct 2000 14:12:12 EDT
From: Seth Eisenstein setheisenstein@hotmail.com
To: dws@gadiel.com
Subject: Verizon Wireless Review
 
Ok...to cut to the chase...my 26th show, 2nd West coast, and after the
somewhat lackluster short show last night night at Chula, I was counting on
the boys to raise the bar a little bit.  And they did NOT disappoint.
I met some fellas in the lot who were nice enough to get me down into the
loge (right behind the orchestra) and the seats were very nice.
Boys take the stage about 7:45ish and cut into
CHALKDUST: A nice kick in the ass and an excellent rockin dust.  I've
probably seen it 12-15 times but no problem with this!
GUYUTE: First for me since afternoon set on dec 31st.  Very well executed,
but I'm itching for some real jamming now.  and...
WOLFMANS:  Yes!! go mike, go mike, its ya birthday.  But then they drifted
into a nice funk jam, and then...was it???  --->
SNEAKIN SALLY: oh my god.  such a groovy segue and the funkalicious playing
continues. I'm really happy w/the song selection at this point.
Boys wait a moment and then Trey leads into
LIMB X LIMB: Very well played.  Trey caught some beautiful melodic lines
here and as he's really kicking the jam, a girlie runs on stage and gives
Trey a big hug.  How he managed to keep playing and stay focused at that
moment was pretty amazing.  naturally carini or someone dragged her off Trey
so they could finish up an amazing Limb.
I guess Trey liked what he saw cuz next up was
COME ON BABY LET"S GO DOWNTOWN:  I argue that he played this one for his new
"friend."  Short but nice.  then I heard the opening licks of
BEAUTY and ran for the pisser.  I got there as this song was ending (the
aisles were packed, security was nonexistent), then from the bathroom I
heard them start into
AXILLA 1: damn. oh well. It could have been AC/DC or something and then I
would have been really pissed. Managed to hustle back to my section just in
time for
CAR HORN: nice. felt like good timing to me.
they then closed it out nicely w/
POSSUM:  YEEEHAW!!! page takes a nice solo, followed by Trey absolutely
shredding the song.  it was nice to hear both piano and guitar solos on this
one, most of the possums i've heard are strictly Trey, but we get some
proper Leo tonight.
Good set, longer then either one last night and I enjoyed the thick funk of
wolfmans-->sneaking and limb by limb as the tops.
 
Set II began about 9:35 with
DROWNED:  awww yeah. unlike rock and roll last night, this got jammed out
extensively, I would say for 15 min or so and smoothed its way into
NICU: big surprise, it was quite an interesting segue, and once again PLAY
IT LEO!!!!
now we get da party started, folks.
DAVID BOWIE: pretty minimal on the intro space, but once they kicked into
the song, it was AWESOME. about maybe 8 min in, the jam turned gorgeous with
a key change a la, say, 12/3/97 bowie (great spectrum show, BTW). And the
glowsticks start a-flyin. Chris did an excellent job with the lights on this
song, really added to a tremendous buildup. I was happy to see that most
folks were NOT throwing sticks at the band.  It felt like they did the
ending Trey speed lick an extra couple times.  Sick sick bowie, hear it at
all costs.
HALLEY'S was a little slow tempo wise, but very funky and sung well...and
another stage jumper, then once again some dope jamming, into...uh uh, no
freaking way..
WALK AWAY!!!!  no comment needed. thanks boys.  My first live. Page's vocals
sounded great here and I loved it.
PIPER was terrific for about 90% of the song.  Trey kept rocking it and
rockin it and refused to let it die.  great lights again from CK5...towards
the end it got kinda odd, like it was fizzling to death, but I can't bitch
too much...and another segue (although pretty rough) into
CHARACTER 0:  plenty fun.  Trey started jamming it like normal, then he and
mike started crunching these low chords for like 2 min, and instead of the
"ahhhhh-ah" ending, Trey started singing, very low and freakily,
"ooo, fast enough for you."  very creative and for that purpose alone I make
it the best Character zero that I've heard.
 
ENC: Trey thanks the L.A. crowd (I would like to thank you guys too, it's a
very different scene from the tense feeling I encountered at Camden this
summer and I think the west coast phans are great) and goes into some
nonsense about how Phish is the 4th greatest band of all time behind
tenacious D, Frank Zappa, and Van Halen.  I don't know what he was smoking
tonight.
WMGGW was nice, a good encore on this night..the old fella next to seemed to
really enjoy it.  trey went zonko with the feedback after this song, waving
his Doc all around.
All in all a great show with some SERIOUS jamming in set II.  they took it
right up to 11 PM and just gave the crowd a whole lot more then last night.
Shoreline will be crazy, no doubt about it...
peace, Seth

Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2000 00:54:04 -0400
From: nikkiwagner ldjn100@impop.bellatlantic.net
Reply-To: nikkiwagner ldjn100@bellatlantic.net
 
i felt my bowels mone in between piper and and zero
other than that i felt like i was an ewok

Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 02:35:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: David W. Cooke dcooke@odin.ac.hmc.edu
Subject: Irvine Meadows (Verizon Amphitheater) review
 
No scene nonsense, just the facts...
 
First Set:
 
Chalkdust -- Very proud to say I called this.  Got fairly bluesy -- nice,
energetic opener.
 
Guyute -- Not a personal favorite by any means, but Kuroda definitely has
got the lights nailed down for this one.  Lots of space before final vocal
segment.
 
Wolfman's Brother -> My friend turned to me midway through this and said,
now this is why I come to see Phish -- I could not have agreed with him
more.  Extremely funky rendition with a VERY nice groove, felt it going
somewhere, and nowhere more perfect than...
 
Sneaking Sally -- Complemented Wolfman's funk with this super-sweet
down-and-dirty number.  Very deep, and kept the groove going well.
 
Limb by Limb -- I never noticed how incredible the work is between Mike
and Trey on this with the two of them in different time signatures, and
then there was Fishman, who managed to perfection to keep the inhuman beat
that is Limb by Limb.
 
Let's Go Downtown -- I had no idea what this song was until I heard the
lyrics.  I must say I was happy that this clocked in no more than 3.5
minutes.
 
Beauty -- Fun little number.  We had had some funk, some rock, now we get
our country.
 
Axilla -- Awww yeah.  A very energetic number, so it got the crowd
somewhat back into it.  Nothing good or bad with this one --  it's just
Axilla.  Unfortunately, it's quite short, which made three in a row.
 
Horn -- What?!?  Four shorties in a row?  Wierd.  This is a song I could
take or leave, so I really can't comment on how good/bad it was.  Seemed
standard to me.
 
Possum -- Nice drawn out beginning, with a lot less country-rock sound and
more of the bluesy funk that had been prominent in the set.
 
Overall, the set clocked in at 68 minutes.  The Wolfman's -> Sally jam was
a definite highlight, with a really tight Limb by Limb and a nice phat
Possum closer coming up right behind.
 
Second Set
 
Drowned -> Was surprised to hear this after the Rock and Roll opener last
night -- it seems they alternate nights which ones get played.  I really
dug the jam that sprung out of this, but wasn't expecting at all what came
out of it which was...
 
NICU -- Like the Sample from last night, this was a really wierd segue,
but it flowed seamlessly and sounded so right at the time.  A standard
but it flowed seamlessly and sounded so right at the time.  A standard
NICU, the feedback led into...
 
David Bowie -- This Bowie was really bizarre in that it basically didn't
have a hi-hat section.  They played with the space that was NICU's
feedback for three minutes, with Fishman barely touching his set -- it was
mostly Mike and Trey at this point.  There were two very minor hi-hat
teases amongst this space, one smack in the middle and the other right at
three minutes which then popped into the vocal section.  After the UB40
vocals, this song really took off.  This was clearly the jam of the
night.  I can't explain at all the levels this jam had, but it flowed like
water, and I bathed in the madness.  It was fucking beautiful.  Definitely
get the tapes of this.
 
Halley's Comet -> I love the vocals in this, and overall the song is just
very bouncy.  But after the last section of lyrics, the song turned hard
rock and stayed in that jam for a few minutes, before it began to
evolve.  I had no idea where the jam was going, but it was quite clear it
was headed somewhere, which became...
 
Walkaway -- This was standard, but formed so well out of the Halley's, and
is just an exceptionally nice cover to play.  Very nice, boys.
 
Piper -- This was a very strange Piper.  They started a feedback jam out
of nowhere (it wasn't out of Walkaway), and then at about two or more
minutes I realized it was Piper, and then at three minutes the vocals
started.  There was extremely little build-up, and the way the jam
started, I thought it was going to peak extremely quickly.  Actually,
though, it did begin to peak right under 6 minutes, after which I had the
most happy moment at a Phish concert ever.  I had the hugest smile on my
face and was dancing like a madman, tingling with delight.  They peaked
this jam, and then brought it down a couple notches before trying to peak
in the same style again.  They didn't quite nail it as well this time, but
then it settled into this groove that I swore was going to be a segue
because it seemed to have some form, but it never did.  Out of this
groove, Trey said something to Mike, and they both stepped forward for
what looked like a serious groove session, but as Trey totally flubbed and
way overdid the feedback, the jam flopped on its face and died.  They
ended the song very shortly after that.
 
Character Zero -- There was basically no time between Piper and this, but
it certainly wasn't a segue.  I knew it was the set closer, so I was a
little disappointed.  Right where there would normally be a hard rock,
Hendrix-style Trey session, however, they took it to a very dark, funky
level (there's that theme again).  All of a sudden it totally lost the
Zero feel and then Trey said something barely audible (I later realized he
said "Fast Enough"), and then the song slowed down immensely and he and
Mike stood up to the mics while deep in this funky groove (~6 minutes
in) and began singing the words "Fast Enough for You" over the funk.  It
was very odd, and most enjoyable.  The boys get two thumbs up for whatever
they were trying to pull here -- it was very cool and brought a huge smile
to my face.  Shortly after this, the song came to a complete stop right
before there would be the feedback ending, but Trey held off to say a few
words, something close to this: "We've had a great time playing here for
you, in LA, a really great time, I mean it.  And we're very proud to be
the fourth greatest rock and roll band ever to play here behind Frank
Zappa, Tenacious D, and Van Halen."  This had me in hysterics.  I have no
idea where he pulled this from, but when I wake up tomorrow it'll be one
of the first things I find out.  Then they ended with feedback hysteria,

the set coming in at over 73 minutes.
 
Encore:
 
While My Guitar Gently Weeps -- I am definitely not a very big fan of
Phish doing this song.  In fact, I wish they wouldn't.  That said, it
sounded like it always does, a little bit off-something, but the crowd
seemed into it.  Trey and Mike both did some funky things at the end --
Mike was hitting some bell with his foot (this isn't the infamous fight
bell, is it?), and Trey was flailing his guitar around like he was an 80's
hairband guitarist, 'til finally he almost smashed it on the ground and
the song ended.
 
Overall, this show was tons better than last night.  The segues were
flawless, and the groove was heavy.  The entire second set is worth
hearing, but if you hear nothing else, listen to the 18-minute Bowie -- it
was magnificent.  The Piper was quite strong as well, and the Wolfman's ->
Sally I already said was a great funk jamfest.

Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 14:26:54 -0700
From: "Sarkin, Michael" MSARKIN@Orrick.com
Subject: More Info.
 
Dear Dan:
 
With respect to the Phish show last week at Verizon Amphitheater (formerly
Irvine Meadows), I though it would be worth noting on your phish.net tour
page that at the conclusion of "Charater Zero", Trey made a rather humorous
point to the affect that "Phish is honored to be considered the 4th greatest
band in the world, behind the likes of Tenacious D, Frank Zappa and Van
Halen."  This was really classic.
 
If you're not sure, Tenacious D is a "spinal tapish" group from LA, founded
by actor Jack Black (Enemy of the State, Hi Fidelity) and I am sure they
were hanging out with the boys of Phish backstage.
 
Thanks very much.  I hope this makes it onto your website.
 
Michael Sarkin
 
For confirmation of the above, you can email the following:
 
cliffsarkin@aol.com
msbowen@ucsd.edu
lappelba@uci.edu
deanl@quantumts.com

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