2000-09-27 Englewood, CO

 Good, relaxed driving route in the truck again today so that means its 1.0 AUD listening time!

Today's pick is 9/27/00 Englewood
Aka the "Piper>Gumbo>Ghost>Mango" show

Ive played that INSANE 2nd set sequence many times since discovering it years ago but never the full show.

Solid A- AUD on this one. EQ it to remove the "dullness" and it sounds much better.

Set 1 feels like something from mid 90s Phish. Strong but inessential versions of Sample and MyFe open the show. Both are BLAZING hot!

Beauty into My Soul into Limb recalls Europe 1997 big time! Limb By Limb is ESSENTIAL listening! They fully tap into that x factor vein and deliver one of the finest versions I have ever heard. This needs to be known by everyone!!! 10/10 Limb!

Dirt is a nice cooldown before Melt gets us nice and grimy for a bit. Another highlight, maybe not essential, but Id say its strong for sure.

Horn is butchered unfortunately but thankfully Taste comes in with the other must hear piece of the set, almost nearing the exuberance of that Limb. Terrific reading!

Standard rocking Cavern to close.

All in all, I dig the variety of the set and the energy. I dont think they sound tired! Limb By Limb is a legitimate ALL TIMER and Taste is just terrific. Melt worth a listen to. Cherry pick the highlights but its a fine set. 

Set 2

Opening with a 17 minute shredfest Piper is always a good thing! The initial section is your typically amazing "how much hotter can this get?!?!" round of face melting. Delightful!

After another turn through the verses, Trey sets a repeating loop and the jam dies down into a jazzy kind of outer space, rapidfire space funk. Or something like that.

The transition from facemelting to this new section is so choice. Trey vamps it up good and hard, everyone just making this one massive groove fest. You WILL be bopping your head, trust me!

Soon enough, Trey steps on the wah pedal and we get some sick textural stuff complemented by Page using his wah as well (I think). I call this Squiggle Jazz Funk. Or something like that! Trey settles on a neat repeating descending motif and everyone latches on. They stay in this Space Funk area for a good long while, everyone playing around and controbuting their fair share.

Eventually Trey begins soloing more conventionally and the jam starts to lift off a little bit more. He is playing that motif still but there is suddenly intent behind it, as if you can tell they are now going to rock this sucker to a peak.

Instead, they switch it up and Fishman begins to play around with the beat, slowing it down then speeding it up again. The jam somehow magically winds its way to a sudden conclusion and they segue into a 14 minute Gumbo....

This Piper is SO GOOD. Its just ridiculous how they could pull music like this outta nowhere. I love my modern Phish, but "1.0" (and 2.0) Phish was truly a damn sight to behold. Just incredible. 

.... and so the beastly Space Funk Piper concludes and Gumbo begins. Excellent song choice, the funkiness really fitting big time! Really excellent reading of the song itself, Trey absolutely lets it rip, just tearing a new one on the guitar.

The jam begins with everyone suddenly dropping down quickly to a more quiet zone, jamming out the Gumbo motif down low.

This goes for a while until they go even quieter! Page moves to the organ and they bring this sucker right into Soul Town, USA. Groove it up, baby! This is SICK!

Eventually, it begins to build back to normal volume, intensity increasing slowly. Gordo trigger some bass fx and the whole band start to rock this sucker good and hard! Still groovier than a MF, but they are LAYING INTO it full throttle!!

Finally, they just full bore go for it, abandoning any pretense of subtlety, rocking hard until it slowly winds itself down to a conclusion like its being faded out.....  

With the Gumbo fully consumed, Trey signals that familiar opening loop and we move into a 13 minute Ghost.

Starting exceptionally chill, it quickly builds a head of steam, turning into a rocking version by the time of the first round of solos.

Fishman eventually takes charging, really upping the energy and forcing everyone to follow suit.

Trey begins this melodic motif that he latches on to for several minutes and the jam kinda starts to feel like its beginning to soar! Picture flying through the sky...thats what it sounds like to me. Or something. Its anything but serene - indeed it is raging hot. But its just got this fluidity about it all.

It just keeps building and getting hotter with each passing minute! Its like the slowest building peak-in-progress imaginable, if that makes any sense.

RAGE-TASTIC. PURE FIRE.

And then it just suddenly....stops! On a dime! Huh.

Hard to explain but this is a friggin excellent little Ghost. I wont call it an all timer but definitely put it in the underrated category!!! Wowzers. 

Out of Ghost and into the famed Mango Song. Nearly 10 minutes on this sucker! For such a rarity, it sure sounds great! Rehearsed?? Fantastic version that is just 10 minutes of pure exuberant joy!?? Excellent version!

After a very well played Heavy Things, we get the 2-year bustout of Brother!!! Sounds fine at first, then it kinda struggles in the middle. Eventually it "clicks" and they BURN THAT SUCKER TO THE GROUND. Another essential piece!

Excellent, uber funky YEM to close the set.

Loving Cup is the excellent, celebratory encore this show deserved and it delivers as ever. Great stuff.

All in all, set 1 is enjoyable but nothing to write home about, save for that Limb (you MUST hear that LxL!!!), while set 2 is basically all killer no filler for the most part (the "filler" is played excellently, thank you). The Piper>Gumbo>Ghost>Mango is an all time classic sequence that is essential listening for all Phans. Please listen to that (and Limb!!!!) if you have not!

I thoroughly enjoyed this show. Can you tell?