Onwards to Live Phish Vol. 8!
7/10/99 Camden, NJ
I've heard this a few times before casually, but the only thing I really know well is the incredible Chalkdust. Definitely excited to pay close attention to this show! 
7/10/99
Set 1
Wilson - Nice to have as opener for a change!!! Nicely weird "heavy
metal" version!!! Trey is doing some Iommi-esque riffing and the other
three guys keep the "pulsing" beat going in a very metallic manner. This
doesn't last too long and the song ends in the manner you expect from
all Wilsons. Really, this isn't THAT special, but it is pretty nice on
the whole. Good opener!
>Chalkdust Torture - And here we go!!! This has long been one of my favorite versions/jams of all time. I listen to it and ALWAYS end up going "how the hell did we get from there to HERE?!" The
jamming begins around 3 minutes in as usual. Around 3:30 Trey stumbles
onto a brief sustained note that foreshadows the soaring peaks he will
reach later (but enough teasing for now!). Page is on the keys and the
jam is rocking out, but it also has a slightly chill kinda vibe as well.
Hard to explain. Almost like relaxed feeling about it. OOH! OOH! OOH!! Right at 5:20 things take a SUDDEN sharp turn!!! The
guys have one of those moments where they "stumble" into a new area by
accident. Things get dark for about 20 seconds before they quickly
change course into a much more blissful direction. Page is on piano and
this is sounding like some 2011 version of Light or something. All
smiles and good vibes! Trey is just noodling around melodically, and
Fishman is constantly playing with the drum pattern. It sounds
like they are on the verge of returning to Chalkdust Torture proper for a
while. They are walking that "take the plunge/don't take the plunge"
tightrope for a while! Hell, at 7:25 it straight up sounds like we are back in CDT again. BUT NOT FOR LONG!! About
15 seconds later Trey and Page "sync up", playing with each other. Page
is doing double duty, rocking the piano and the organ at the same time.
Fishman is keeping the CDT beat going and Mike is just doing his best
"I don't know what to play so I'll play everything I can to try to fit
in" stuff. 
At 8:58 Trey returns "accidentally" to the bliss from earlier!!! But this time they are CLEARLY going SKYWARDS!!!!!!!!! Everyone else follows Trey to Heaven. Trey is doing the upper-neck, bendy sustains that are the hallmark of this jam. Remember
how I've said I can't usually remember most jams particularly? This is
one that I will NEVER forget what it sounds like!!! SO UNIQUE! This sends chills down my spine and arms!!! Trey
is just at the very top of Mount Everest or something, playing the
highest notes he can, so melodically and methodically!!! This is like
Bird Song plus Adderall on steroids or something. Just PEAK PEAK PEAK
PEAK PEAK!!!! How in the F did we go from Chalkdust
Torture to the most uplifting, spine-tingling, smile-inducing musical
peak this side of 3.0??!!! I don't know how to really describe
this jam, but once you have heard it, you will likely have the same
"what the hell was that?!" reaction!!!! By 12 minutes, Trey steps down
from the mountain and the guys all sync up together, bringing the volume
down a bit (though keeping the rhythm spastic!). Some cool stop-start
jamming begins around 13 minutes, initiated by Fishman and cemented by
Mike. Page is on the wah pedal with his Clavinet (?) and Trey is just
spacing the hell out. Mike and Fish are totally the focal point here, holding down the fort like a great version of Sand or something. And then very slowly Trey perfectly introduces the Roggae motif and we make the turn.....
>Roggae - Holy crap, I didn't realize I needed a breather so
soon but I'm glad we got it! Nice call, Trey!! After that "heavy metal"
Wilson, the light/dark dichotomy of this Roggae actually, thematically,
feels like it belongs extra well. If that makes any sense. How do they transition from light to dark like this and make it so seamless?! The
heavy parts make me headbang and the soloing from Trey in the back half
is just gorgeous like a soothing I Am Hydrogen or something. Really
love Mike being so high in the mix yet again (a constant with this LP
series - what's the deal here???). Ya know what? This Roggae
actually gives me strong Neil Young vibes. I could totally hear him
doing this in the 70s with Crazy Horse, ala Danger Bird or something.
Seriously, think about it!
Water In the Sky - On paper, this first set looks a little...aloof
for my taste. But when listening, man it flows great!!!! Water is a
great pickup after the cool-down of Roggae!!!! Mentally, I've just got a stupid grin on my face. So great. Great soloing from all involved. AN ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING VERSION!!!!! A+ WATER!!!! WOW!!!!
Back At the Chicken Shack - I don't care for the blues usually and this is one of my least favorite covers, so.....let's get this over with! Great
stuff though, Page slays as expected, laying waste to his arsenal of
keys. Very nice solo from Trey too. On the whole, a great version but
not a favorite so.....look, do you want me to just highlight everything or try to remain judicial about this? 
Sparkle - Is Sparkle. Is great but sounds like every other version ever played.
>Bathtub Gin - I'm calling that a segue. Come at me. Good
version of the song as usual. Jamming begins around 5 minutes in and
returns to the "chill" vibe the first section of Chalkdust had. Very
"active" playing from Mike, while Trey is taking his time just picking
out the occasional note to sustain. Around 6 minutes, things start to
get quiet! Fishman starts riding those cymbals, giving us a late-night
Gin kinda vibe. But while the rest of the band is keeping it low, Trey
is slowly amping up his energy bit by bit. But the band latches on and
they all start to jam together around 7 minutes. You can hear and feel the intensity slowly building, like watching a loaf of broad slowly rise. Page
is pounding the piano, Fishman is crashing those cymbals and Trey is
doing sweetly melodic playing. By 8:30 we are rocking out! No more
late-night Gin! Trey is starting to rip it up more and more and the rest
of the band is doing that "play everything as hard as you can all at
once" thing that they do so well.
Things rock on in typical "Type I Gin" fashion for a good while now.
Around 10 minutes, Page starts inserting the occasional keyboard
alongside his piano. The guys all "sync" up and hit upon a slightly metallic groove. At
11 minutes we are full steam ahead, Trey tearing it up, playing with
his Whammy pedal, while the rest of the band holds down the fort and
lets him start to experiment. By 11:30 we are firmly in Type II finally.
Mike has a nice jungle groove happenning. Trey sets a looper and begins to vamp over his loop while Page tries to figure out how to insert his keys. Some very "Metroid" - sounding keyboard insertions here and there. Also, TREY STARTS A FRIGGIN' "I'm A Man" JAM. DUDE. NICE!!! So
by 12:50 we get Phish jamming out the main motif of "I'm a Man".
Wonderful, lol. Best part is when Page jumps on the organ, just
cementing this into reality. CHECK OUT PAGE'S PIANO AT 13:50!!!!!!!! This
jam continues for a long while and it's absolutely awesome. I mean,
it's long enough that they could've separated this into it's own track
and I wouldn't complain!!!! THIS IS FREAKING SICK!!!! Around
15:30 we finally leave the jam behind a bit. Looper still going, Trey
transitions to doing "porno wah scratching" instead, letting Mike rip it
up and Page sprinkle in keys here and there. The jam reaches a natural
conclusion around 16 minutes and dies it's death.......
Golgi Apparatus - PARTY TIME!!! After that deep-in-thought Gin journey, this Golgi was a perfect choice to bring us back to reality! Now,
now, children. We can't be getting too "out there" just yet! And ya
know what?! THIS GOLGI IS FANTASTIC!!! Seriously, a Golgi that is THIS
good in 1999?!?!?! Trey is playing with his phrasing in a very
nice way, "pushing and pulling" his parts and giving this Golgi some
added spunk. This sounds like they rehearsed the song for a month just
to bust it out and have it be this good, seriously. Wow, I haven't been THAT impressed by friggin' GOLGI APPARATUS in, like, maybe ever....DANG!!!!
And with that, set 1 comes to a close......
Wowzers!!! That was an awesome set all around! Way better than I
"expected" it to be!!! I mean, I knew it'd be good, but for some reason I
had "doubts" when looking at the setlist and knowing the 1999 "vibe",
if you will. Well hot damn if that wasn't absolutely terrific on the
whole. Hell, the opening Wilson was probably the "worst" thing about the
set!!
Set 2
Tweezer - An ultra-funky, 20 minute Tweezer to kick off the proceedings? Nice.... And golly, this one GROOVES.
Slower than usual, it trudges across the tundra like a behemoth. And at
4 minutes, the jam absolutely launches out of the gate from the word
GO! Trey sets a feedback loop then proceeds to quietly jam the Tweezer
lick for a bit, letting the guys follow suit before seamlessly returning to the song again like we didn't just have a perfect jam beginning....And the next verse is just CHAOS. Loopers going, everyone crashing about.....Definitely the most "chaotic" version of the SONG portion, yo. Then
at 5:50 we return to the jam with Trey kicking things off with some
very nice sustained holds. Everyone is clearly still playing around with
the Tweezer theme and things are not getting too introspective yet.
Everyone is just rocking out slow and hard, Trey doing melodic leads
while Fish and Mike play around with the rhythm a bit. Some very nicely
timed "crashes" and other things. Then at 7 minutes Trey lays back as
Page begins to make his entrance on the piano and keys with his wah
pedal. Keep in mind the "screaming seagull" feedback loop is still going strong. At
8:30, Page is carefully placing nice keyboard notes while Trey has
turned on his octave-up effect on the Whammy, doing those ultra-high,
chirpy-sounding leads. By 9:45, Trey has returned to "porno wah
scratching" and lets Page take the lead. But nobody is really claiming
the front and center spot...Everyone seems content to be laying back,
just building this Tweezer slow and thick. And good golly is it THICK!!! Thicker than THICK WATER!!!! By 13 minutes, everyone is still "vamping" together gloriously. This is one of those sit back and let the groove take over
kind of jams. Everyone is really contributing equally, building this
"house" of music higher and higher with each passing moment. Each player
laying down bricks as a team. This sounds like what you imagine
people THINK Phish sounds like when you hear them snobbily go "oh, you
like Phish??????" (You know what I mean). At 14 minutes the jam takes a dark turn, and we return to late-night vibes. Everyone is getting quiet and it's a dark and starry night, rather than a sunny, bright afternoon, ya dig? By
15:30 there are hints of ambience creeping in but everyone is still
playing together!!!! Fishman is riding the cymbals but also focusing
more on tribal tom-tom hits instead of the snare. Page and Trey seem to
be locked in together pretty well. Very "aquatic" sound to this
jam now. It's like we are underwater, looking through the blurry mass of
ocean, into the depths below....Not a black hole affair by any
means, but we have left Partyville far behind, so to speak. Page reverts
to piano while Trey is placing notes hear and there, slowly dissolving
the jam into some watery blissfulness.....By 18:30, if you told me I was listening to a 2012 jam you could have had me fooled! Yea, we are in Type II blissful ambience...beautiful and stirring. Just launch into What's The Use? already, dammit!
>Mountains In the Mist - WTU would've been PERFECT out of
that, but ya know what the second most perfect choice is? This guy right
here. And good lord the "resolve" of that jam turning into this song
was so perfect.....Like a slow exhale after a panic attack or something.
I mean, "Mountains" is "Mountains", but the placement of this
version out of that aquatic soundscape...that's like 90% of what makes
this awesome. It's all about the SET UP! Ugh, this was so nice....
Birds of a Feather - And it's off to the races! Another
perfect set call! The song portion again has the "chill" vibe, almost
like they are whispering the song to us or something. Very cool. But
then of course it's full steam ahead once the chorus hits! The jam
begins for a while as expected. Fire upon fire, yet you can hear Trey
slowly trying to "tug" the band unsuccessfully off the beaten path (or
maybe he was just high? ). This finally happens right at 5 minutes in another of those totally accidentally yet completely perfect moments
of band interplay! This lasts about 10 seconds where it sounds like
they are going to launch into a different area, but instead they resume
to Birds shred-fest. Page does the Trey thing and starts "hinting" with
his keys that they should go somewhere else too. This time it's Trey's
turn to say "not yet" and instead he forces his guitar destruction upon
us. At 6:30 the guys have ANOTHER one of these brief "moments" of "hinting" at other realms. C'MON BOYS, STOP TEASING US!!! Hard to explain what I am getting at, but if you listen you will clearly make out these spots. It
happens again - this time FOR REAL - at 7:20 with Trey doing a
full-tilt reprise of that soaring Chalkdust jam of the heavens!!!! Holy
mother of crap this is incredible. The whole band is playing together,
yet Trey is also climbing Everest again....It's like they didn't have
enough of the CDT jam and wanted to play it again!!!!! FINE BY ME! Incredibly uplifting, blissful, yet also shredding all at the same time!!! Just checked the .NET jam chart - Hah! I was right about the CDT "reprise". They hear it too. By 10 minutes this is like total rock and roll annihilation
on par with the Big Cypress Down With Disease or the 8/14/93
Antelope!!!!! Around 10 minutes we leave the CDT jam again and head for
darker pastures. Trey and Page both hit a sustained note, with Trey
opting to loop it for a never-ending feedback squeal. Fishman turns up
the HEAT and leads us into some breakneck funk jamming!! Basically, picture Birds of a Feather played at 2x speed!!!!! But
while the rhythm is lightspeed, the playing itself is VERY quiet and
delicate. Trey, Mike and Page all "vamping" it out quickly. Then at 12
minutes Fishman introduces the woodblock and Page jumps back onto HIS
wah pedal for some honky keyboard interjections. Page is "tickling" his
keys like a good Maze jam, Mike is popping his bass a bit, and Fishman is just going absolutely bonkers. I mean, it sounds like he's playing his entire kit at times.
Trey is still vamping away to his heart's content, and Page is the one
doing the closest thing to "soloing" of any of the 4 (but still, not
really). And then at 14 minutes it just DIES! Like, wtf, man, where did the jam go?!?!?!? They just ripcorded that sucker!! 
>When the Circus Comes to Town - Love the song, love Phish's
versions, but every one sounds the same and you know what you're gonna
get. Still very nice though and the set placement was tops like that
Mist out of the Tweezer! Great version!
Fluffhead - After a VERY lengthy 90 second pause (1976 Dead would
be proud!), Trey gives us a sloppy intro to Fluff and the crowd goes
nuts. The chill vibe of tonight's show is working in Fluff's favor. Very
nicely different, but only just so. To start, I can't remember the names of the various sections of Fluff so I'm not gonna go super in depth, but this Fluff is sloppy but right in the best way! Hard to describe! It's not REALLY sloppy, but it's very loose.
Almost as if they were busting it out after a long time, but still knew
it well enough to pull it off (if that makes any sense at all). Nice
build of energy towards the back end and it feels very triumphant as the
set closer tonight!!!! All is normal until 13:45 when they guys
latch onto one part of the structure and decide to ride it out
unexpectedly!!!! WOW!! Another one of those "accidental" moments I keep
going on about! But they then revert quickly back to Fluff
proper and Trey let's it rip as usual. Just heat and fire, this
Fluffhead feels like a steamroller, just mowing down everything in it's path! MOVE OVER PEOPLE, FLUFFHEAD IS HEAR TO CRUSH YOU! And then at 15:45 TREY HITS THAT FRIGGIN' CDT SUSTAINED NOTE AGAIN!!!! GOOD GOLLY LET'S HAVE A LITTLE MORE PEAK WITH OUR PEAK, EH?!?!?! Dang.....
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Not my favorite Beatles/George
song and not my favorite cover, but great choice to change it up this
night! Genuine rarity as well, so points of course for that! Big points for Trey, his soloing is great and totally makes this one. Good stuff!
Tweeprise - Is Tweeprise. Kills. Perfect end!
All in all....holy crap. The Tweezer>Mountains and Birds of a
Feather is absolutely must-hear. Terrific set all around. Not too much
to say - it's kind of a behemoth! Like, there isn't much to say because
it's already all been said, lol. On the whole, I think both sets were
about equal. You could get away with "cherry picking" this show if you
want, but the whole thing flowed together great so just play the whole
thing and shut up.
Dang.....
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