If your parents are anything like mine, they are usually pretty interested in meeting the "significant others" in your life. Fairly often, upon meeting them, our parents do not completely approve of the people we are seeing. It was therefore, with some trepidation that they might not get along, that I took my parents to see Phish. Musically, I assumed they would be fairly compatible. My mom considers Queen her favorite band and Paul her favorite Beatle; my dad in his day was a "teddy-boy" and subsequently a "rocker" (see Quadrophenia) whose vinyl collection included the works of Bill Haley, Pink Floyd, the Who, the Kinks, and Elvis. Perhaps more of a concern to me was how they would view the "scene" at a Phish show. Long gone for my parents was the hazy daze of early 1970's Amsterdam.

Arriving fairly early, we settled into our seats toward the front of the pavilion and took in the sights as we awaited the first set. My mom noticed a couple of kids bumping rails of white powder off the back of their hands and pointed them out to me. I chuckled as I pondered whether they would have shared the love or brushed my mom off as a narc if she had asked them for drugs. During the first set I was more interested in gauging my parents' reaction to the show than actually listening to it. As a consequence, the most musically intriguing part of this set for me was the cover of Little Feat's "On Your Way Down."

My mom, on the other hand, loved every note. She had at one time been a physical education teacher and to my great joy declared during "Limb by Limb" that she felt inspired by the music to resume teaching interpretive dance. Dad's reaction was not quite as good. Over the years his tastes had migrated towards the works of Willie Nelson and talk radio. He thought that Phish was good, but that everything was "a little too loud and flashy." In an effort to modulate the volume and minimize the visual overload of the light show, he spent the bulk of the second set in the concession area. This was a minor disappointment to me, but I understood that Phish just isn't for everybody, and he seemed to have enjoyed himself.

The second set was pretty damn good, with the "Also Sprach Zarathustra" being the high point. It went places I had never heard it go before. Mr. Kuroda set an incredibly thick ultraviolet tone to the whole thing that just spun me for a loop. As hard as I tried to resist it, I could not fight the power this trance-house groove-laden jam had over me, and I completely forgot my mom was there. In that moment, as she watched my unique version of interpretive dance, I believe she grasped why the band is such an important component of my life; it is both a source of and an outlet for completely unconditional love.

Just wanted to point out that this was Harris Wittels' first show...His remarks about it: "My first show was September 25, ‘99 in at the Woodlands in Houston. I was literally a fan since that night. It was the most amazing concert experience of my life. It wasn’t even that great of a show but even a regular Phish show especially pre-hiatus is gonna be better than anything else you see. I revisit it pretty frequently, less frequently now especially since Live Phish is available, now so I just listen to shows from the current tour, when I have time to listen to whole shows. But it was great, I remember the moment “Bowie” reshaped my opinion on what music could be"

RIP HARRIS!

I was at this show, on my birthday, in the town where I was born. I attended the night before in Austin as well. I really enjoyed myself at this show. As far as the recording, it's a good one to throw in that won't require a lot of attention. It will perk your ears at various times and force you to listen but, in all honesty, the night before was a lot better. The 2001 is spectacular though. I'm kind of surprised that it does not get a "highly recommended" stamp. I guess there is a personal bias I'm experiencing. Perhaps it isn't long enough to make the cut. Check it out though, you won't be disappointed. I wish there were clearer copies of this show available out there. Unfortunately, I don't see it being one that gets released from the archives.

This is a show to to leads. Mike and Trey seem to trade off throughout this entire show being the dominant player,

Tube gives the show a quick injection with Mike laying down the funk hard. On your way down shows up again and does it's thing as a bluesy little song somewhat in the middle. LXL is basically the same one you have gotten all year. All around average first set but high energy none the less.

The second set is where things get interesting. Mike absolutely owns Bowie and he drives the whole thing rather well. Nothing new or too exciting but they do play Bowie as it should be played. Coil > Caspian is where Trey steps in front. A slow couple of songs but Caspian has some nice peaks and valleys on Trey's part, you can tell he's really having fun with it. R&R continues Trey's reign in the front and is pure Trey Shreddery at the end. Things go back to Mike in 2001 as he lays down a nice smooth groove that to me may be the highlight of the whole show, it flows very well.

Frankenstein, Julius, Zero are well.....What they are to close a show they don't really add or take anything away.

Overall a pretty average show with some interesting trade offs in dominance throughout.

**Harris Wittel’s first show**
Been listening to phish podcasts lately. Particularly Attendance Bias(great job Dave Weinstein), and the HF pod’s 40 for 40. I overlooked Analyze Phish at first because even though it’s Harris and Aukerman and most likely hilarious, I assumed because it’s a decade old now that all the phish they’re talking about would be outdated. However, it dawned on me that as a nerdy stats fan, I sit around literally in my daily life talking about phish that is outdated. At times,forty years overcooked in fact. So I’m diving in this morning and this is the first piece of noteworthy information Harris gives us. His first show. Doesn’t look like anything spectacular. I will listen later. That being said, a “non-spectacular” phish show is still light years better than anything mainstream going on out there. In fact, it was a bunch of non-spectacular shows during 2.0 that got me hooked too. RIP Harris. Looking forward to hearing your first show and to hearing your podcast.

SET 1: Tube: couldn't pick a better opener than this tune right here. Short and sweet. >

Runaway Jim: Nice little jam here this early in the set and the show has tons of energy.

Ya Mar: Nice little jam.

Horn:Standard.

Limb By Limb:at 8:20 Trey hits a subtle loop and the jam takes a cool direction. However this only last for about a minute or so and then they cruise back into familiar territory for this song with high energy jamming. Salad jammin one that I would likely revisit.

On Your Way Down: This tune was made for Page's vocal range, just perfect.

Sleeping Monkey: awesome dedication, does anybody know this young woman? >

Wilson:Rages!

First set summary: not a lot to revisit here outside of the Limb by Limb. The Relisten app source of the AKG480's sounds GREAT.

SET 2: NICU: Only opened set two three times before, 11.30.97, 12.13.97 and 12.31.98. Trey is having a blast with many Leo callouts. ->

David Bowie:Huge loops in the intro. Sinister and evil. The loops that kick off the jam are SICK. Oddly enough this one goes major key for a couple of minutes in the midst of the jam. Pretty odd for a 1.0 Bowie. Not a huge fan of the ending coda in this one, feels rushed. I will say I am a huge fan of this one being in the two hole in the second set, great placement.

The Squirming Coil I love the placement of this coming up off of that strong version of David Bowie. there's actually a very cool little jam in this version definitely has replay value! >

Prince Caspian trey's vocals are very shaky coming out of the gate here. This is an incredible version, absolutely soaring! trey just rips this one to shreds. >

Rock and Roll: Standard, huge loops >

Also Sprach Zarathustra Absolutely brilliant. Outer space and beyond. Has the DIE DIE DIE effect. >

Frankenstein: standard >

Julius: Standard

ENCORE: Character Zero: Standard

Second set summary: there are some really high points in the second set such as David Bowie and 2001 and I really liked squirming coil but they just failed to take this to the next level and had ample opportunity to do so. As such I would rate this show as a 3.75 out of five.

Before Monkey, Trey and Mike pulled a woman out of the crowd who had been calling for Sleeping Monkey; the band then played the song for her.

As the godfather always says…”it ain’t about the ones ur not at. “ Well here we are! My dear friend and in the fam longer than we both new, was front row mikes side. He’s feelin it… u know… off in space for a quick second and turns towards the stage with Trey staring directly at him with the shit eatin grin and laugh! If it didn’t get better I wouldn’t be writing all this shit out. Soooo homegirl behind him keeps saying, loud enough for them to hear, “sleeping monkey!” “Sleeping monkey!!!” When they get her to come up and sit on Fish’s riser, my boy has a huge assist to get her up there! Held her hand, got her safely to security, u know…. Fam shit. So MY question is where is she now? And how the fuck is she doin? Dm if need be????????????