PHISH, WEDNESDAY 09/20/2000
RIVERBEND MUSIC CENTERRIVERBEND MUSIC CENTER
SET 1: Cars Trucks Buses, Wolfman's Brother, Gotta Jibboo > Mike's Song > Simple -> The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu > Weekapaug Groove, While My Guitar Gently Weeps
SET 2: First Tube > Limb By Limb, Dirt, It's Ice[1] > Wading in the Velvet Sea > Sand, Guyute > Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, Drowned
ENCORE: Cavern
[1] Unfinished; included long, atypical jam.
It's Ice was unfinished and included a long, atypical jam.
Wolfman's Brother, Gotta Jibboo, It's Ice
Sep 20, 2019: Vida Blue - Philadelphia, PA
Sep 20, 2005: Trey Anastasio Band - New York, NY
Sep 20, 1999: Leftover Salmon - Tuscon, AZ
Sep 20, 1997: Gordon Stone Band - Burlington, VT
Sep 20, 1990: Phish - Somerville, MA
This show was part of the "2000 Fall Tour"
Review by MiguelSanchez
this was a pretty solid show. i thought the 98 show in this venue was pretty solid, but compared to some of the other shows they had been playing, see uic and michigan, it was unspectacular. the 99 shows were less than stellar. they had their moments, but trey seemed a little zonked out for a good chunk of that run. he was in better shape in 2000, and while this won't be remembered as one of the best of the year, it's still pretty darn solid.
they start things off nice and funky with a little run through ctb-wolfman's-jibboo. none of these tunes are taken too far out there, but wolfman's in particular, sound really good. a rare first set mike's song gets the house jumping. this one is solid but it does nothing too spectacular on the way to simple. simple is nice and it slowly flows into tmwsiy/avenu. this one is always a pleaser. i have yet to seem them finish this sandwich in ohio. they shot into twist around out of avenu 2 years before in columbus, and now, gordon leads the charge into a firey weekapaugh's groove.... no complaints here. gordon really blazes all the way through this tune, while trey sprinkles some nice licks here and there. finally, they smoke through wmmggw, closing down a very fine first set. the set list on this one almost reads like a 2nd set, so its tough to go into set break with any complaints. sure, mike's didnt soar like it used to, but it still rocked. better than seeing gbott for the 30th time in 2 years.
first tube gets the crowd honed back in, and it spaces out a bit before finding a really nice limb by limb. they jammed this one out nicely without straying too far from the limb theme. dirt is played well, but i did not really like it in this slot. i don't think anyone really needed a "breather" song here, but it's all good when they follow it with a nice deep it's ice. then they do it again, with velvet sea this time. searching for some flow, they delve into a good funky sand. i'm not a fan of the mini key board, but i still like these sand jams. not the best, not the worst. at least trey stayed awake for all of this one; i am quite certain he nodded off for a minute or so during sand in cincy in 99. fishman and gordon really shine on this sand. guyute was well-executed. as it was played so frequently at this time, it was one of the few "composition heavy" pieces they were consistentley nailing in 99-00. bbfcfm almost comes out of nowhere on the back section of this guyute. personally, i kind of like this song, as long as it is kept to about once a tour, but this is a fun version. then they fire up a rare set closing drowned, just to remind everyone that yes, it is raining pretty damn hard. trey takes a nice solo, but this is not a world changing drowned here. it's the thought that counts sometimes. cavern sends the fans home happy.
this is one of those very rare shows that i think the first set was a little better than the 2nd. the setlist was stacked in the first set, and the quality of play was about equal. plus, the second set seemed to lack direction and flow. after sand, they found a bit of a groove, but the first half of the set, it seemed a little up and down.
wolfman's brother, mike's groove
it's ice, sand, guyute>bbfcfm
Review by DeerCreek_Lightning
My wife hates BBFCFM (which I really love) funny thing about that is this was her first show ... so I must say thank you boys... lol
Side note the weather was crazy all day long starting even in the lot... luckly we had pavs ... but you could tell they where having a blast on the lawn especially when the sickness off drowned closed the show ... good times back in 2000
Review by paulj
Just listened to this on Phish Tracks...for the first time since the actual show. Wow. I remember this show as being pretty good, but really could only recall the fact that It's Ice was great and unfinished. The huge roar just before Mike's was in reaction to the sheets of rain that began pouring down. The Timber Ho and I were under the pavilion but it was obvious that the lawn was getting drenched.
Highlights include the Wolfman's and a old-style dark and nasty Mike's, and Drowned.
To exit the pavilion we had to walk on the lawn...it had turned into the absolute definition of a "quagmire". Each footstep was sucked several inches into the muck, threatening to keep your shoe as you slurped it out for the next step.
Review by JonBaker
I remember a couple of things about this show. First was the set list, great Cars-Trucks-Buses, Gotta Jibbo, Mike's Song/Weekapaug Groove and While my Guitar Gently Weeps to end the first set. Second set was solid too. Very good First Tube, Dirt, Sand, Guyute, BBFCM (first time hearing it) and great ending with Drowned. Cavern is one of my favorite songs, so I was happy to hear them end the show with it. The other thing was the weather. I don't know if people remember, but a tornado also hit Xenia that night. During the first set, I remember the wind picking up and of course it started to rain. I saw the speakers on both sides of the stage starting to sway back and fourth from the wind. A roadie came out a looked up at the speakers, went off the side of the stage and came back out with a broom. He tryed to stop the speakers from moving back and fourth with the broom by sticking it to the bottem of the speakers. Needlist to say it didn't work to well, so he gave up. I didn't know how hard it was raining until I turned around to look out at the lawn and see the sky light up from the lighting. I kinda felt sorry for everyone out there. After the break, and they came back for the second set. It started (rain) again only worse. I was in the middle of the pavillion and I could feal the rain blowing on me from the wind. After the show, it had stopped, but from the looks of things, it was pretty bad. Besides puddles everywhere, the lawn area (where alot of people stand on a hill to watch) looked pretty bad. Some people looked like they had been sliding down the hill covered with mud from head to toe. Kinda looked like they were at Woodstock of 69. I'm glad I wasn't one of them.
There was this big thunderstorm that came through in the middle of Mike's song.
It felt like the band was playing to the storm. The sky turning black and the lights on the stage turned yellow and mean looking. I like everything about this show. I always like when they play First Tube and Sand in the same set. It just has a cool feel. Drowned was a great way to end the set because of the thunderstorm. I remember after the show getting lost in a amusement park that was closed. It was very surreal.
Review by Abe_Froman
I took a couple college friends with me to this one, we were freshmen at UK in Lexington. Our preshow consisted of eating peanuts, smoking a bowl, playing All-Star Baseball on Playstation, and hitting 75 north at 420.
Wolfman's Brother is a standard, excellent version (even a little Trey fiery?) and Mike's through Weekapaug is great. Guitar Gently Weeps was a nice touch.
The second set is "workmanlike", though the Ice>Velvet Sea has been a personal favorite since that night, and remains so now. Has Kevin Shaprio gotten that into Bunny radio or Live Bait? I'd love to hear a soundboard. Fish plays drums along to the rain that fell outside the pavilion, and the rest of the band takes it from there. It's lovely. BBFCFM is a fun tune.
It rained a ton that night. When we got back to Lexington, I set my shoes out to dry, but they were done. Waterlogged. Fun night, great friends, good memories, Ice>Velvet Sea is your jam takeaway.
Review by gigrant
I'm actually listening to this show right now, thought I'd toss in my 2 cents. I had fairly good seats for this one, which was a rarity for me. Glad I did, as I paid my dues during the Polaris rainstorm that summer (which was far worse in my opinion) and didn't need to get soaked again.
The setlist for this show is really nice. I don't remember anything epic about the performance this night, but there were no letdowns either until the encore. I remember Mike looking angry for most of the show - not sure why.
Highlights include Jibboo - Trey was dancing around the Jibboo jam-theme that became common that Summer but his notes were very tasteful - and a solid Mike's Song where Trey was holding notes for an entire minute (more than once) during the jam. Simple-> went into a quiet jam for 4 or 5 minutes which was a nice counter to the high energy Mike's that pre-ceeded it. The 2nd set It's Ice->Cinci Ice Jam->Velvet Sea was a treat. The Jam really went some interesting places. Started out with a drone-feel that turned into a funky, herky jerky march through the mucky-muck on the floor of the Ohio River. The march ended in a dreamy sound tapestry which was moving ever so slowly in the water until Page's piano started Velvet Sea. Sand & Drowned were also solid.
The Cavern encore was a total let down. I've heard enough Caverns, and when they hit the first notes I remember feeling like the air was let out of a balloon somewhere. All in all a good show.