the summer 99 tour was coming to a close, and everyone had some pretty lofty hopes for this tour closing run at deer creek. this night prooved, in my opionion, to be the far superior of the two. the next night seemed to be filled with flubs, band tension, and the first set was a sleeper except for a solid bt gin and decent gumbo>nicu combo. this night benefitted from solid playing and a very inspired set list.

meat: well, i don't think anyone saw this coming as the opener. good choice that fit well

my friend my friend: this was played really well, and it really got everyone grooving in the right direction. then phish took a very unexpected turn....

my left toe: i wasn't so familiar with the siket disc, so i didnt spot this one right away, but it sure sounded interesting. right when i was wondering where they werer going to take this one trey started strumming something familiar. i looked at my buddy jeb and yelled....

whipping post!!!: having had grown up on the allman brothers, i loved this tune. i always thought, from the latest 80's versions, that treys vocals were a litttle too "white" on this deep bluesy number. his vocals were still a little too "white," but by damn, he ripped this one on ye 'ol guitar. very inspired playing by all.

makisupa: this was the perfect cool down spot after a very hot start. this is a must hear, with all the gooball, brownies, kief, etc talk plus ck's b day shout out. sure, the light solo does not carry over to cd, but it's still funny. granted, the pre sunset light solo was not so awe inspiring as much as it was simply hilarious.

i saw it again: this one was a nice treat. it was one of the first of the bunch of '97 songs to start being played less frequently. solid version. trey's playing twinged on the dark side here a bit.

boogie on reggae woman: this one was still a bit of treat even in '99. it was well received, and for the time, there was a little bit of exploration in this one. the boys sounded good here before closing down the set with...

cavern: good straight forward version

set 2:

boaf: after seeing a massive version of this tune at polaris, i was surprised to hear it again 2 shows later. while still be well jammed, they took a very different approach to this song than they did 2 nights before. the polaris version was more of a sunra'esque blow out. this was more of a tight/layered/textured jam. right when they started to loosen up a bit they sharply turned the corner into...

walk away!: hell yeah, let's belt it out page 'ol boy! this got the crowd gassed and ready to rock. really good version catching many off guard.

run like an antelope: this was a very intense antelope. this is easily my favorite of both '99 and '00. ck was really killing the lights on this one, but trey really hammered home the tension and release on this one.

suzy greenberg: this was the blow out song tonight. not to compare it to the boaf from columbus, but it served the same purpose. after some very focused and tight jamming, they used this one to really cut loose. page had some firey playing in this one.

hyhu/purlple rain/hyhu: oh fishman. it's almost better when he doesnt know the words. he had some good ad libs about "how prince would want it to be" and what not. good stuff.

yem: good yem. after the tramps they jumped right into a boogie on jam. this was not a tease, this is more of an instrumental boogie reprise. novel, but fun none the less. musically, this is nothing outrageous, but it is worth listening to.

enc:

loving cup: good 'ol predictabel loving cup....

overall:
this show benefitted greatly from inspired song selection, but the muscianship was there on this night. like deer creek 96, i thought this was simply a precursor to a monster night ahead. unfortunately, this was the night in '99.

highlights:
set 1
meat-whipping post, makisupa policeman
set 2
boaf>walk away, antelope, suzy