Today in Phistory: 10.10.99
10.10.99 Pepsi Arena, Albany, NYThis was the last show on Phish's fall tour. I caught 19 of the 24 shows on that tour. Angela (the girl I was dating at the time) and I started out with the first show in Vancouver in early September. We left all our contraband in Bellingham and drove over the border. Luckily, we hooked up with some local product before the show.
Set I: Farmhouse, Gotta Jibboo, Heavy Things, First Tube, Dirt, Vultures, Stash
Set II: You Enjoy Myself, Prince Caspian, Train Song, Bathtub Gin, Character Zero
Encore: Contact, Misty Mountain Hop
We caught both shows at the Gorge and camped out there. Then the caravan moved onto Portland, Boise (where she locked her keys in her trunk), two shows at Shoreline, and an amazing night in Chula Vista. We skipped the Irvine show and drove to Mexico instead. Then we moved onto Tuscon, Las Cruces, and drove back in her home state of Texas for two shows. Next up was New Orleans and we were supposed to end it there and drive back to Dallas, but ended up seeing the shows in Alabama and Memphis. She stopped touring and went home to recover. We skipped the four midwest shows and I flew home to NYC where I saw two amazing nights in Long Island and two more shows in Albany to end their tour.
I caught the 10.10.99 show with my buddy Bruce. That was his second Phish show. I had to roll joints because a cop took away my piece the night before. We didn't have floor seats, but they were not bad. The sound was good from our spot.
Farmhouse had been released that year and they played a lot of songs from that album. The first four songs were in heavy rotation that tour. The versions were solid, but I had been spoiled and wanted to hear something else. Dirt and Vultures was a nice change up and the Stash to close the first set was very dark, creepy, and kicked my ass.
The boys threw us a nice curveball with YEM to kick off the second set. Gin was funkified and Trey ripped the shit out of Zero. The encore was a nice and fluffy Contact and then they dropped the hammer with Misty Mountain Hop. They first played in during the 7.20.99 Toronto show that summer. They played two other times on the fall tour. Once with Warren Haynes during the first Shoreline show and another time in Austin. Bruce was excited to hear it and gave the boys his stamp of approval.
It was a very long drive back to New York City after the show ended. I was exhausted after four straight nights of Phish and also beat up from a month long stint of being on the road. It was one of the best adventures of my life and aside from Japan in 2000, it was my favorite leg of Phish tour that I ever embarked upon.
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