Phish 10/7/00

 

[Prologue]

 

In early 2000, Phish seemed to be at the apex of their career. We don’t need to say anything further other than Big Cypress and we can move on. This achievement seemed to leave the band with a sense they had nothing else to prove. Intentionally or not, their ascent during the course of the 1990s seemed to peak here, as 12/31/99 changed into 1/1/00. Though the band would release a new studio album and embark on a few successful-as-ever tours during the new year, something put it in Phish’s heads that it was time to take a break. No, a hiatus—don’t worry, they weren’t breaking up!

Or maybe they were?

Maybe they should have been. Seeing the zombie-like way the band looks in the Live In Vegas DVD (filmed 9/30/00) it makes a lot of sense when you learn the band said for the last week or so of the Fall 2000 tour leading to the hiatus they weren’t sleeping much and (likely, but speculation) doing a lot of drugs to help them through. Not every show on this Fall tour is as bad as you might expect from that, though overall this tour is generally mixed. Even given that standard, picking night one of their Vegas shows from this tour was an odd choice; outside of playing some rarities and the narration explaining the hiatus during Colonel Forbin’s Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird, there isn’t much compelling unless you really like mid-tier versions of ‘Timber’ and ‘Twist.’ I guess I’d rather have it than the other Vegas show, which has the loathsome Kid Rock taking up a chunk of the second set and encore. But really any other show on the Fall ’00 looks more appetizing on paper, including the show preceding the one we’re about to get to—10/6/00 saw Bob Weir sitting in on the encore, which is inarguably a better idea than Kid Rock. Anyway!

Looking at the setlist for 10/7/00, it’s striking how there’s no show notes whatsoever beyond “this was Phish’s last show until 12/31/02.” For what could possibly have been their last show, it’s almost admirable they just went out there and played the best show they could as if it was any other night on any other tour. Nothing on the setlist has an air of special-ness to it, and there’s no mention of the hiatus (though there was some non-verbal acknowledgement: the pre-show music concluded with the Rolling Stones song ‘The Last Time’ and the post-show music started with ‘Let It Be’ by the Beatles). While the setlist does have a bit of a “greatest hits” feel to it, at the same time it isn’t so out-of-place for the shows they had been playing for the past couple years. Hell, nothing screams ‘99/’00 era Phish so much as having ‘First Tube’ as show opener and ‘Meatstick’ deep in set two!

But still! Look at the big picture. Were one to attempt a list of most iconic Phish songs, you’d absolutely have to include things like Mike’s Groove, ‘You Enjoy Myself’, ‘Tweezer’, ‘Bathtub Gin’, ‘David Bowie’, and ‘2001.’ Naturally no Phish show could include every fan favorite/staple song, unless you want a show with two sets that have no jams at all. But I digress. There had to be some palpable sense within the band that, like the Stones song says, “this could be our last time.” Why else would they save ‘You Enjoy Myself’ for the encore here? It’s such an obvious choice that, like when they returned in ’09 with ‘Fluffhead’, it feels downright mandatory.

 

[Digression/Prologue Continued]

I find myself thinking of Freaks & Geeks and Firefly when I think of 10/7/00. And I find myself thinking of ‘what if?’ timelines. In some alternate timeline Phish did permanently end in 2000, just as in our timeline both of those beloved shows ended after one season. Now, obviously Phish weren’t only around for one season, errr year, so there’s no question of their musical legacy even if they had ended in 2000. Yet like those TV shows I think fans would have continued to beg for a reunion. In some sense Firefly fans got a taste of this with the Serenity movie but it can’t help but feel like a tease with the way it abruptly had to provide both a further story for the characters and bring the story threads introduced in the sole season to a conclusion. Also, Joss Whedon will always be a fucker for killing off Wash, but that’s neither here nor there.

Freaks & Geeks and Firefly will always have the feeling of unfinished journeys, and similarly I suppose Phish would have if they ended in 2000. 2.0 may be the most controversial era in Phish’s history but in terms of the finances, they were as successful as ever—the hunger for more Phish was still there. In terms of the music, some would argue the legacy was a bit tarnished by the way the band came to an end, so keep that in mind next time you wonder what season two of either of those shows would’ve been—who knows, they may have been terrible or a mixed bag that made you wish the shows had ended after one near-perfect season. So, anyhow, I find myself thinking about those TV shows when I listen to this show, because while the episodes of those shows we did get were anywhere from good to great, you had to believe they had so many more, and possibly better, episodes in them. Had Phish ended in 2000, you wouldn’t see anyone doubting their legacy, true—but you also know they had, and would continue to have, better shows in them.

And in that regard, 10/7/00 feels like the last episodes of both those TV shows: enjoyable but far from the best, leaving you wanting more.

 

[Set One]

 

First Tube- Certain songs just sound right to me from certain eras, and ‘First Tube’ will always be associated with the loop heavy ‘99/’00 era of the band. Much like spiritual predecessor ‘Buried Alive’, it’s a great set opener every time out—unlike that song, it’s also great as a set closer or encore song. Trey in particular seems to love playing this song these days, and it’s kind of fun that one of the songs I really liked from the Austin City Limits performance opens their last show before hiatus. Not much else to say here—this song always kills it.

Mike’s Song- Breaking out the heavy artillery early. One of those “yeah I guess so” > style segues in from First Tube. Immediate Trey loops during the early Mike-led jam. I’ve definitely heard some great Mike’s but for some reason I always associate this song with having good type I jams but never close to being the jam of the night let alone the tour/year. I’d for sure be more hyped in person than I am when it comes up in shows listening at home. Around 7:45 it goes into a rocking Trey-led jam with Page going bonkers on organ to back him up. Nothing else to note. Again, like normal with Mike’s for me—it’s not a bad jam but it doesn’t really go anywhere. We head into space after another run-through of the main riff and almost immediately go into I Am Hydrogen.

I Am Hydrogen- I do like the standard Mike’s Groove, always kind of felt like an inverted Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower with the middle song being chill and gentle instead of chaotic and intense like Slipknot!. Very standard version of this song.

Weekapaug Groove- How can you really go wrong with this song? Page gets active around the 3:00 mark on piano leading into a quieted down, more rhythmic jam section. Mike starts throwing around some bass bombs as Trey sounds a bit like he’s whipping the band along. I don’t know what it is with Weekapaug’s from the late 90s era but they always seem to go back into the main riff part of the song just as they’re threatening to go out there into type II territory. Even by the standards of other sub ten minute Weekapaug’s this one is satisfying but forgettable, lacking any meat on its bones.

Lots of crowd chatter between songs here on the official release. Fishman hits a couple things as the band seem to chat for a minute or two.

Fee- Hey, it’s Fee! Always a fun song. I think I prefer the ones where Trey uses the megaphone but it’s not a deal breaker. This song will always make me think of my very first girlfriend, who wasn’t a huge fan but had dated a guy who was and had a left-behind copy of Junta as a result. I think this and ‘Contact’ were the only songs she liked outside of the funky ones. But I digress. The end of this one is jammed out a bit, kind of reminds me of the Flatbed Jam from the Clifford Ball or the amazing, underrated ‘Round Room’ from 2/16/03. Like a lot of jams over the course of the show, I wish it had gone on longer and continued to go deeper out there though it is definitely up there for jam of the night as it stands.

Bathtub Gin- Another classic banger. Page always wakes me up with his entrance when I’m listening on headphones stoned and starting to drift off to sleep. Standard until the jam segment—Mike seems to be leading melodically, and man I always forget how perfected his bass tone was at this time. It’s so buoyant and loud/centered in the mix, I love it. (I got some new headphones to help me properly appreciate the music for this series and this jam is making me so glad I upgraded beyond cheap earbuds) Page and Mike start listening to each other as Trey mainly stays in the background playing simple accompaniment. Around 6:20 Page hits upon a cool melody that drives the jam forward with Fishman getting harder on his cymbals. Trey soon starts to work his way toward playing some responses/leads, getting us into a classic spiraling, arpeggio-ish line from him. Man, has there ever been a bad Gin? The band continues to coalesce around a typical but enjoyable bright/melodic jam led by Trey. Around 10:20 Trey plays a few bits that combined with the overall feel of the jam almost sound like he’s searching for a way back into Weekapaug. Things start to quiet down and the band just kind of peter off and I’m left with that “satisfied but not necessarily impressed” feeling of a jam that never fully achieves liftoff. Like Weekapaug somewhat of a safe, short version.

Glide- It’s Glide! A song that is perfectly mid-tier; I neither love nor hate it. Always felt like a half-measure between the heavily composed/musically complex songs and simpler/wackier songs like ‘Contact’ or ‘Wilson.’ A little bit of fumbly-bumbly playing from Trey in the intro, a sad portent of things to come in a couple years.

My Soul- This for me is one of those songs that gets you hyped as fuck when you are there in person yet I have to confess I find it boring and rote when heard multiple times on the same tour when listening through at home. It’s not the song’s fault it’s basically the same thing every time out; I simply can’t get too jazzed about it on tape.

Set One as a whole was good. A solid first set by the standards of its era, some jams and stacked with classics but nothing that I’ll remember a week from now other than the short jam at the end of ‘Fee.’ At just over an hour I’ll say it felt longer than it actually was.

 

[Setbreak]

For this section I’m going to very briefly write about something else I’ve been enjoying outside of Phish, and not necessarily just music outside of Phish. However this time I am going to go with music! After Thanksgiving weekend at my in-laws I was driving home Saturday night and felt like listening to some dark, atmospheric music and after a revisit of Interpol’s Turn On The Bright Lights I was struck with a taste for Disintegration. True it’s perhaps better as a headphones album but I’ll be damned if it didn’t hold up in the car, too. A perfect combination of emotive, gothic post-punk and dreamy psychedelic effects. Trey Parker and Matt Stone said it best: Disintegration is the best album ever! (Not really but it’s fantastic)

The Cure- Disintegration (1989)

 

[Set Two]

 

Twist- After hearing the recent archival release of 11/14/97, it’s hard not to compare this version to that unsung gem. In general I’m most familiar with 2.0 and later versions of this song, so hearing these more languid jammy/bluesy intros to the song is still fresh to me. (Sidenote: bring back the long ‘Piper’ intros!) Anyway, the jam never really goes anywhere beyond a typical type I, kind of like the equally “meh” version from 9/30/00. As the song ends we go into some 2000-era Phish spaciness, with cool reverb effects on Mike’s bass. Just as I’m starting to think we might be going into a 6/4/00 lengthy ambient ‘Twist’ jam with plenty of meat on it they > into 2001.

2001- As with the ‘Bathtub Gin’ from the first set, this version is satisfying but unimpressive. It doesn’t do anything more or less than the standard late 90s style 2001’s. I’m not really feeling the set placement either—usually this song is better as an opener or a closer. Otherwise it can kind of act like a mood on-ramp or off-ramp, allowing the flow of a set to pick up steam and get more fiery or to gearshift down into something more slow, funky, and potentially spacey/jammy. Again, this one isn’t bad, it’s simply nothing interesting: like usual for this time, Trey uses lots of little keyboard and guitar loops throughout that are easier to pick out on headphones, and Mike sort of leads the jam section around the 7:30 to 8:00 mark. There’s some nice band interplay for a minute or two but again…nothing special. Loopy, somewhat clunky > into ‘Tweezer.’

Tweezer- There seems to be this perception among certain fans that, after a stellar run from 1994 to 1998, ‘Tweezer’ could be a bit more spotty as a top jam vehicle in 1999-2000. I can’t speak with total authority on this so I’ll instead speculate that I wonder if it’s more that people don’t always like the jam style of this era. With my limited authority I will say the two Tweezer’s I’m familiar with from this era—this show’s and 7/10/99—lead me to agree with this assessment, however. When things really get cooking you got incredible type II jams on other songs like the 9/14/99 ‘AC/DC Bag’ or the 9/14/00 ‘Drowned.’ Other times you got the “we did a lot of jams like this during this time” jams that straddle the line between type I and II like this ‘Tweezer’ that occasionally have great moments but are mostly non-starters. For myself, though, I enjoy the sound of even some of the more aimless jams from ‘99/’00 so I generally like this ‘Tweezer.’ The jam starts with a very typical type I jam on the ‘Tweezer’ melody and feel, a funk-rock solo fest from Trey with booming bass slaps from Mike. Page steps up around 8:30 and spurs Trey onward with his accompaniment. At 9:40 Trey plays a repetitive train-chug like part that quiets the band down, Fishman adding some great drum fills as Page continues to play something, anything, on his piano a bit aimlessly. Loops from Trey around 11:10 signal we might actually be taking this jam out for a proper adventure. Mike and Page soon join in on the abstract improvisation, with gooey synth-bass and strange, eerie synthesizer/keyboard sounds. Page or Trey starts playing something that sounds like a plane coming in for a crash landing and we’ve entered true type II territory. Something about this last part of the jam, between Trey’s grinding, slightly dissonant guitar chording and Fishman’s “trying to play a sensible rhythm to something abstract” drumming makes me think of ’94 Tweezer’s as well as being a bit of a prototype for 2.0 jams. It’s just too bad that right as things get into a darker, textural direction the band just sort of…slows to a stop. A bummer of an ending to what could’ve been a noteworthy jam if they had pushed.

Wading In The Velvet Sea- You have to love a Page ballad. A nicely done version, and though I feel like some people would say it’s a bit of a bummer comedown after the underwhelming ‘Tweezer’ but oddly I think it helps reset my emotions and prepare me for the left-turn of ‘Meatstick’ next.

Meatstick- Controversial opinion time: I’ve never liked this song. I think you had to be a certain kind of fan who was on tour during its peak era to really love it. I will say it’s the exemplar of a song I’d love to see live as a rare treat to awkwardly dance along with the crowd, but on tape it’s usually a skip for me unless I’m really in the mood or it’s supposed to be an especially good version (there’s probably a jammed out version, right?). I’ll be generous and say they do a full -> segue into the spacey opening of ‘David Bowie’; I certainly wasn’t expecting it the first time I listened to this show.

David Bowie- Another classic Phish song addition to the setlist. With this song it’s all about the execution of the composed section, and since I’ve heard too much 2.0 in my time, I was actually prepared for the couple of flubs from Trey here or there. Somehow I always enjoy this song even though with rare exceptions it’s the same god damn jam every time. They gradually build and build and get intense and do the usual tension/release Antelope-style jam and then jump headlong into the ending segment. A good but inessential version.

Tweezer Reprise- It’s Tweeprise. Pronounce it however you want and enjoy. I’m personally of the opinion that they should only play this song when either the Tweezer jam or the show as a whole warrants celebrating like this, and in this case I think it’s a bit obligatory. I’m glad it wasn’t the encore, sort of an oddly fast ending to the set.

You Enjoy Myself- Of course they had to encore with this. I don’t think it’s just the context of it being the last song they’d play together for awhile but this version feels a little off at the beginning, like someone is quieter than they should be or maybe Trey isn’t playing some of the notes, perhaps the momentousness of the song hitting. The ambient/pause section weighs heavy in the air and lasts, or seems to last, longer than usual. For a moment or two around the 4:00 mark I almost wondered if they were going to go into a slow build ‘99/’00 Piper. Anyway, the rest of the composed section proceeds as normal. As we get to the post-lyrics section Mike begins to really lay it on with bass bombs, and as a whole the jam gets off to a very funky start, to the point you could almost mistake this for a ’97 version. Thick, gooey Mike bass for the trampolines. Page is comping along rhythmically on organs and then piano as Trey begins a quiet, mellow solo climb around 12:00. This YEM takes on a bit of a dance party vibe from here, Fishman adding some cowbell hits every few beats to spur the band on towards a stronger groove. Trey starts to add some choppy playing as Mike continues to lead the jam, Page sort of directionless in the background. While Trey seems determined to lower the energy and peter out, Mike fights for the life of the jam. Around 15:42 we out of the blue end up with a weird reggae, slow motion funk jam for a few measures until the jam heats up again. So far this YEM has been enjoyable if a little unfocused. Mike takes a solo around 16:35 and absolutely crushes it; he’s largely to thank for this version being anything other than average. Fishman solo at 17:25; we really are going for an “end of tour” feel, all we need are band and crew introductions. But, eh, nope, vocal jam. I think I’m more generally positive on vocal jams than even most other fans are, they’re definitely better than vacuum solos at any rate, right? This YEM vocal jam is sadly a disappointment, though; mostly a lot of vocal drones that don’t feel neither joyful nor melancholic enough to match the feel of the moment.

Set two and the encore I unfortunately have to say were a bit underwhelming given my expectations of the setlist, especially as it developed when I did my initial listen without looking at the setlist. Going by the timings it looks like the set has some meat on it but it kept feeling like the jams either didn’t fully takeoff or they were standard and enjoyable but nothing all that special. The ‘Tweezer’ and ‘YEM’ are the clear highlights and even they weren’t consistently great. The segue between ‘Meatstick’ and ‘David Bowie’ was well done, too.

 

[Final Verdict]

I really struggled with rating this show. Off the bat we can eliminate the top and bottom scores since it’s neither of those. After my first listen I was almost leaning towards giving it a 2 since I never felt anything was wholly mind blowing or noteworthy, but I think upon a couple more listens it’s improved to a solid 3. Set one was well played and paced though other than the interesting short post-‘Fee’ jam nothing rises above average. Set two is the sort of set that on paper looks like it may have some jammy goodness, and I’m sure was enjoyable in person, but ultimately never quite gels into either a coherent set of segues or a couple deep excellent jams. The ‘You Enjoy Myself’ encore, though obvious, is mostly average but Mike’s playing makes it worth hearing.

So, overall, this show is a decent one. It’s a historical show with a setlist that looks better than it actually is, yet that’s not the full story, either. I simply can’t bring myself to give it anything above a 3 since I think I finally found the answer to one of my questions about this show going into it; namely, why don’t you really hear anything about this show? Well, the answer turned out to be, it’s an enjoyable tour closer with a great-looking setlist but nothing unique or above average. When the best jam of the night turned out to be a short one post-‘Fee’, you know you aren’t dealing with a 4. As an era closing show it’s surprisingly subdued and forgettable.

[Highlights]

Set One: Post-‘Fee’ jam, average but enjoyable ‘Bathtub Gin’

Set Two/Encore: Solid ‘99/’00-style ‘Tweezer’, Mike-dominated ‘You Enjoy Myself’

The Phish Project Preamble

Having finally seen Phish live, the experience caused me to reflect on a lot of things in my life, both musically and otherwise. In some meta-ouroboros-like way, it’s had me reflecting on the history of my Phish fandom over the years—from the early days only really listening to a couple studio albums; to (kind of almost) seeing them live in 2004; to the depths of my obsession (2006 to 2009) when I was posting on a message board I came across devoted to Phish (the Oh Kee Pa) during which I did reviews of every show on the Fall ’97 and Summer ’98 tours; to the period after they reunited in 2009 when I finally moved out of my parents’ house and began a deep dive into all kinds of other music and didn’t even think about Phish and sold all my formerly-treasured Phish books and LivePhish CDs (oh the regrets!); to a period circa 2012 when I fell in love with the Grateful Dead and thought maybe I had lost interest in Phish for good (no idea why I thought this in retrospect); to the modern era where they’ve become one of my all-time favorite bands but not one I feel I’m “obsessed” with.

In spite of feeling I’m not obsessed like I was circa 2006 to 2009, I can’t shake the spark of an idea to do some kind of writing project about them again. Having finished a deep dive into the discography of Oh Sees in 2022, this must be a sickness of mine.

“Inspiration you mean?”—nah, sickness.

So what better idea to do than listening to every show available on their LivePhish app?!

…Well, actually, a better idea is to only do all of the shows from the birth of my interest in the band at the turn of the millennium through the end of the tour I finally saw them live on (Fall ’23). Otherwise, I’ll never get caught up and I’ll be doing this in perpetuity.

So, in order to do so, we’d have to establish the beginning of my interest. I first intentionally listened to Phish when coming across them on the Austin City Limits TV show sometime in 2000 or possibly 2001. I was a huge fan of this show at the time and discovered some great bands through it, including Wilco and Pat Metheny (both of whom I’d heard of but hadn’t heard). I really can’t recall if I knew much about them beyond the usual “they’re like the Grateful Dead!” comparison.

In a somewhat concurrent thread, it was likely around this time of my life I admitted to myself I really enjoyed the Dave Matthews Band but publicly bashed them to keep the peace with my music snob friends. It was one of these friends who told me Phish “has some OK songs” so maybe this was what got me to give them a chance. I didn’t know the songs at the time but something about the ones I made note of, ‘The Inlaw Josie Wales’ and ‘First Tube’, stuck in my head and soon saw me borrowing Farmhouse from the library the next time I went.

Looking up the episode now, it looks like it was taped just after the band’s Summer ’00 tour had ended and was first broadcast on October 14^th, 2000, which was exactly a week after the band had played the last show on their Fall ’00 tour, October 7^th. As this was the last show before the hiatus that lasted a bit over two years, it’s odd how my two previous dives into the band happened when they were pseudo-broken up and then “no for reals this time” broken up. Maybe I was destined to be an archaeologist or paleontologist since I want to examine things only once they’re frozen in time, as it were.

Anyway.

While I am effectively going to focus on Phish from 2.0 aka post-hiatus through the as-of-this-writing-just-concluded Fall ’23 tour, I actually do want to start my journey with this Fall ’00 tour-concluding show. Mostly because thanks to the October broadcast date of the Austin City Limits episode, it’s close to the start of me being a Phish fan. Partly it’s because for whatever reason I’ve never gotten around to listening to it and it’s a historic show. Partly, too, it’s because the setlist has always looked like a bit of a dream “final” Phish show to me, and also also partly because I’m curious why you never really see anybody talk about this show outside of its historical importance and as an inflection point of their career. With the changes in some of their instruments and gear with the 2.0/post-hiatus era, Phish would never sound like this again.

It's for all these reasons I’m curious to listen to this show and sort of swish it around in my mouth, considering it from two different angles.

The first angle: the band reportedly didn’t say much of anything before, during, or after the show to indicate it could’ve been a last show ever, so other than the “greatest hits” vibe of the show setlist, it was sort of played and intended as “just another tour ender on a mostly well-regarded tour.” So I’ll examine it from this perspective and not weigh it down with the lofty expectations of “if this was the last show Phish ever played, would it be satisfying as such?”

The second angle: “Weigh it down, weigh it down I say! Weigh it the fuck down with the lofty expectations of it being the last show Phish ever played!” A bit of a thought experiment; expect possible digressions into topics like “the difference between a TV show knowing its last episode ever will be its last episode ever versus a show not knowing that” and “can one concert or episode truly encapsulate something with a long history?” More appropriately I’ll be tackling things like “if known ahead of time, what would/could/should the last Phish show ever be?” and “what would I/other people think of this show if it had been their last ever.”

But!

Before I get into any of all THAT, let’s talk about a Phish show.

Outside of special occasions (festivals, Halloween shows, New Year’s Eve shows, performances on TV/radio/at other festivals) and unfortunate rare shows that had to be called off before or during due to weather, you’ve usually got two sets and an encore to work with. With this framework in mind, let’s try to establish some kind of vague guidelines for doing the swishing around in the mouth I talked about earlier to determine the relative merits of each show. What makes a good Phish show? A bad? For that matter, an average? Because let’s not kid ourselves, despite what Internet hyperbolics would have you believe, there’s a lot of average Phish shows—and just to clarify this immediately, average does not mean bad or nothing of note was played or happened during it! It simply means average in the mathematical sense of the word, if you want to think of it that way—a 3 out of 5 doesn’t mean a bad grade as it would in American schools 70% terms, it just means it sits comfortably in the middle between bad and good.

A bit more preamble and then we can get to the actual reviews!

I haven’t used a grade or scoring system for reviews in years but I want to bring it back for this series, so for now let’s take a look at the things that can be a factor in determining the grade, and then we can get into the grading system itself.

Yay? Yay!

At the highest possible meta-level of talking about Phish shows, the simplest essence I can boil my feeling down to is, “do I want to listen to this show again?” This immediately starts to put me on the path to some conclusion, since if my feeling is “eh, maybe” instead of “yeah! That [insert song here] jam was amazing, and the first set was arguably better than the second, etc.”, then it’s already falling toward one of the end points on the scale. So, speaking somewhat subjectively based on the things I love about some of my current favorite Phish shows, and somewhat objectively based on what other fans have said/written about their favorite shows, here are the factors:

--The jams. I mean, they’re called a jam band for a reason. It may not be the primary attraction for everyone but I think the people like me who feel the need to listen to as much as possible and geek out over lists of overrated/underrated versions of songs and best jams of the tour and so forth are into Phish for this reason above all others. As I’ll say often, though, just because a show has jams doesn’t mean it’s automatically great, or even good. We’ve all seen those setlists that look mouthwatering on paper yet turn to ash in the mouth, with sets anchored by 20 minute versions of ‘Seven Below’ or ‘Weekapaug Groove’ that feel sluggish and uninspired. On the flipside, there’s shows with what seem like very song-heavy sets and shorter jams that have two to four minutes of greatness that I want to spotlight.

--The segues. This is another big attraction for fans, though shows with more than a couple good >s or ->s are much rarer than a lot of people realize, especially when you actually listen to a lot of shows and realize many people are a lot more generous with segue notes on setlists than they should be. Anyhow, segues can be good, and sometimes they can be clumsy.

--The setlist, in terms of “feel” and “flow.” I should establish now that I’m going to use “setlist” as a term to mean the song selection for the show as a whole, as well as talking about one specific set. Anyway, I’m not as obsessive with this topic as some fans yet even I have to admit there are just some shows where the setlist really does tell the tale. Examples of poor setlists include sets or even whole shows where there seems to be too many slow/low energy songs in a row, or the band frontloaded a show with the great jams and moments, or the end of the second set and the encore left a bad taste in your mouth. For a great example of a setlist “feeling” great and “flowing” extraordinarily well, see the 12/31/95 show which showcases this throughout the three sets and encore.

--The setlist, in terms of song selection. This is something that varies a lot for me. Sometimes I really care about things like rarities, bustouts after lengthy gaps, first time Phish originals are played, how frequently a song has been played on this tour/previous tours, etc. Sometimes I don’t really care, especially if the playing is good enough. But I know from getting a couple dream songs at my very first show how great it must feel to have seen them dozens of times and finally get that ‘McGrupp’ or ‘Meat.’ Song selection is an aspect of Phish shows I tend to notice more in the negative sense because when listening to whole tours linear-fashion instead of isolated shows here or there, the band sometimes plays the same songs multiple times a tour, often with the same results, and it gets kind of boring. I know in the past ‘Prince Caspian’ was this way.

--The overall playing outside of jams. This one is maybe a bit vague so I’ll explain by using the era I’m most familiar with, ’94 to ’04, and those years as the bookends. I haven’t heard a lot of earlier Phish but all of the 1994 I’ve heard has been a combination of the band being incredibly high energy and on-their-shit, nailing even the more complex composed songs and with every performance of every song it feels like the band is “giving it socks” as the Irish say. Pick out any random ’94 show and Trey and the other members seem to give a shit about every solo and every go-through of the same song they’ve played five times already on the tour. By comparison, while I do love my 2.0 Phish jams, the parts of shows that weren’t jams could sometimes kindly be said to have shaky vocals and muddled band interplay. In listening to 2.0 Phish I often have the feeling of, if Trey doesn’t give enough of a shit to practice and put energy into anything before the jamming starts, why not just jam the entire show? But I digress. When you listen to enough shows, you can start to practically feel when the band is in a good mood and ‘came to play’ that night. This isn’t always about the jams, naturally, so I’d call attention to something like 10/29/94 which has fun inspired playing throughout even if it’s not a show known for big jams.

--The X factors. This is the catchall for anything else that can factor into a show’s rating. I’ll provide some examples. Were the band especially chatty at that show? Were there things about the show that felt like they were from a different era in terms of the setlist or jams? Did the show somehow have great versions of a number of your favorites? Did the show have vocal/audio problems for the band or audience? Was there something happening outside of the Phish world that was referenced at the show, i.e. the 6/22/94 show having sports score updates and OJ Simpson Bronco chase references?

Ok then. Now that we’ve established some guidelines for judging shows, the why’s and how’s if you will, it only makes sense to conclude with the what: what is the grading scale?

As this is all my opinion and inherently subjective, please understand this whole thing is just for the fun of it. If I piss all over a show you love, hey, I’m glad you see something in it I can’t enjoy! I’ll also say that I’m not going to put any limits on my grades, so every tour in theory will look different in how many of each rating it gets. In other words, some tours may get a lot of 4s and 5s, others may get a lot of 2s and 3s. As well, keep in mind that attendance bias is indeed a thing, and as I’ve only been to one Phish show as of this writing, I’ll be going purely on what’s recorded rather than my memories.

It’s my firm belief that the five star rating system is the only one that makes sense because ones and fives should be exceedingly rare, and thus a majority of threes and fours will be seen and hopefully draw people away from debating the scores and focus on the text that accompanies and explains them.

1 out of 5—The way I look at a show earning a 1 is that—well, quite honestly, I’ve yet to hear a 1 out of 5 Phish show. But! Earning a 1 star rating would in theory require a show that is not just average, not just boring, not just bad by Phish standards, but objectively bad—by any standard. The band would have to flub several songs, play absolutely no jams at all, possibly have some natural disaster occur...A Phish show with absolutely nothing going for it and multiple things against it. I’ve genuinely never in my years of being a fan heard a show that’s a 1. It may not even exist other than on personal levels—I firmly believe that no amount of great music could’ve made up for the nightmare some people endured at Coventry so I’m sure for some those shows are a 1 even with re-listens at home. I’ll have to see how I feel when I get there!

2 out of 5—This is the lowest I’ve ever actually felt with Phish shows. To me this is the level of a bad show by their standards. Whether memorably or forgettably bad, it’s a Phish show that has at most one or two bright spots, perhaps flirting with the level of “ok” or “meh” but not fully reaching three star status. With a three star show, it’s a good Phish show with a couple highs at most. With a two star show, it’s a bad Phish show with a couple highs—you hope. These are shows I’ll try to call out said highs because otherwise I emphatically think 2s are not worth listening to even for the hardcore.

3 out of 5—This tier is at once the easiest and most difficult to explain in any sort of objective way, because I feel out of them all it’s the one most caught up in being relative to the other ratings. A 3 is an average Phish show, and at least in theory, most of the shows I review should get this score unless a tour is particularly hot and we see a lot of 4s. A 3 can be a Phish show you attended and have a lot of fondness for but can admit wasn’t one of the best ever/on that tour/that year. A 3 can be a show that has at least two highlights, or at least no real lulls/downsides, but doesn’t make a lasting impression otherwise. The best comparison I can think of is when you really want to order from a specific restaurant while stoned on a Friday night, and it turns out your pick is closed for some reason. So you end up ordering from your second choice. It still tastes good and satisfies your hunger, sure…but it wasn’t quite what you had in mind.

And yes, now that I’ve seen them live after decades of seeing all kinds of other bands in concert as a basis for comparison, I can affirm the opinion that an average Phish show blows away any show by other bands. Let me put it this way: the difference between a Phish show and another band’s show is like the difference between really great weed and pretty good acid. If you know, you know.

4 out of 5—If I wanted to keep this simple for myself and kiss the band’s ass, I’d say this is the true average Phish show. Assuming the band is in good spirits and playing well, most of their shows should be a 4. No real slumps or downsides to be found. At least one truly great thing—a tour highlight if you will—and goodness throughout in terms of setlist, flow/feel, jams, segues, etc. Can be among the best shows of the tour; could be among the best of the year. To give a personal example, my first show, 10/11/23, would be one I’d rate a 4 currently. Attendance bias would tell me that I should feel this is a 5 but I know this is just that—attendance bias. The Down With Disease > Ruby Waves segment and the insane ‘I Am The Walrus’ set closer alone make this show a 4 for me, and I suspect that ‘Ruby Waves’ will be talked about for years in terms of best versions of that song. Yet compared to the other 3.0/4.0 shows I’ve sampled in the lead-up to my first show I don’t think it fully hits as a 5.

5 out of 5—Giving something a 5 means it has to be one of the best shows of year, certainly in the top two or three shows of that tour. These are the kind of shows when you see them in person it can be a life-changing experience. These are the kind of shows when you hear them at home you set them in your memory to blab about online when there’s questions of “best shows” (or even “underrated shows” if your feeling doesn’t seem to match the consensus). These shows in my estimation are the kind that have several of the best examples of what makes Phish show great from the guidelines above; shows with multiple discussion-worthy jams, multiple fluid/well-executed segues, multiple rarities and/or other of the X-factors. Some may argue a 5 out of 5 should be reserved for all-time shows, and in a sense that’s true, because for me 5 out of 5 shows are always in contention. In that spirit…

S out of 5: Will this be confusing since a capital S looks like a 5? Well, I wanted to have a top of the top rare tier for shows that to me are instant classics, those shows that have—even outside of my estimation—achieved legendary status. Not on the level of Big Cypress, because c’mon, but on the level of shows like 11/17/97 or 2/28/03 or 5/7/94, all-timers that in some cases even the band has acknowledged with official releases or discussion in interviews.