Phish ~ 10/3/99 @ Allstate Center - Rosemont, IL
Review by Jerry Iannucci
Rosemont was a 5 hour drive in the rain. Seems like it always rains when I drive. When I finally got there, the exit for the arena was closed so I had to go the opposite direction and double back and then got on the wrong highway somehow and had to drive around town for awhile. I finally found the place and then set out looking for a hotel. Everything around the venue was booked but I managed to find a Super 8 Motel that was pretty close for only $70 (bleh!)
Rosemont was the only show I didn't have a floor seat to, until the day before the show. I gave ticketmaster a try for the hell of it and somehow got a floor seat. Yay! That left me with two extras.
The lot kinda sucked. It was really cold and raining. I had a hard time getting rid of my tickets because the show wasn't sold out. There was a giant line to get in (no seperate floor line) and I really wanted to get inside. Sold a shitty seat for $13 and a good one for $20. Not terrible.
The arena was kinda cold and the floor was real dirty. I think there was ice under the floor. The sound wasn't that great either so it left me with a pretty weird vibe.
I tried something new. I decided to be one of those guys with the notepad who writes down the setlists as they happen. I even kept some notes because I usually find myself forgetting everthing as soon as it happens. It makes you really popular between sets too with people who want to know what songs were what.
Set I:
First Tube - This got the place moving. I think a lot of people that were hearing it for the first time were pretty blown away. It wasn't as crazy as the Trey solo one I saw, but I really liked it with Phish.
Farmhouse - Eh. Getting kinda tired of this one.
Dogs Stole Things - Eh. Good song. Ok.
Divided Sky - Finally! Been needing to see this one for awhile. I had a hard time getting into it though. It took awhile for it to get going and there were too many balloons bouncing around to focus on the music. I remember the ending was interesting though.
Heavy Things - Seemed appropriate for all the balloons. Was ok.
Horn - Eh.
Carini - Yeah! Great choice for a set that wasn't really going anywhere. Highlight of the show for me. It was good and thick. Near the end they would play something really low and let it rise (with the lights following) until it crashed back into the head banging theme. They did this a few times. Very nice.
Ginseng Sullivan - Eh.
Get Back on the Train - Not bad.
Maze - Mmmmm. Maze never seems to do anything for me on tape, but I love it live. Like Free at Memphis, Maze was the other good song at Kansas. Very good.
Bouncing Around the Room - Bouncin.
Guyute - Cool. Been needing to see one of these. There were a few flubs, but it was generally as good as always.
I talked with my friends and we were all pretty much in agreement that it was a pretty weak set (not counting the Carini)
Set II:
Twist Around - Ah. Trey is a wise man. What better way to twist around a mediocre show than with a Twist Around. It was pretty sweet but I like it better when they use it as a vehicle to other things.
Possum - Nice long inro. Fun!
TMWSIY>Avenu Malkenu - Woah. Wasn't expecting that. I love TMWSIY, but it kinda brought the energy down. After Avenu we naturally expected it to go back into TMWSIY, but instead we were suprised to hear..
BBFCFM - Yeah! It wasn't too crazy, but it was pretty long. Near the end Trey played some of the crazy stuff with the guitar behind his head. Then, by himself, he spent a little while waving the guitar around his head picking up feedback from his microphone. It was almost like he was blessing the crowd with his guitar. It was kinda goofy. He ended it by bringing the guitar very slowly towards the microphone and it created a sound just like the THX logo effect. Very cool. Then back into BBFCFM one more time.
David Bowie - I was hoping for a Bowie. Nice long intro. The setlists dont show it, but I think you could call a "vibration of life" for a little while at the beginning. Mike had a bass sending waves of bassness through us as Chris flooded the stage with blue lights. A glowstick war broke out once they got back into the song which was pretty distracting on the floor. The rest of the song was pretty standard.
Wading in the Velvet Sea - Ok.
Harry Hood - Yay. Finally got my Hood too! Pretty standard.
Second set was better than the first, but definately not as good as Memphis.
E: Funky Bitch**, Messin' with the Kid**
Sorry, I didn't know who Sugar Blue and Sun Seals were. Was cool to have guests though and I enjoyed Sun Seals a lot. He was the perfect traditional old school blues man. I really dug watching him play and so did Trey. However, the harmonica guy was terrible. He couldn't get his amp to work right. A couple of times we got blasted by feedback from his mic because he had it set too high. When he did play, it was really loud and painful. He's probably awesome without the amp, but it was still entertaining.
Post show:
Not much happening in the lots. Thankfully the rain stopped. There was no shakedown street that I could see. I did manged to find the best one dollar grilled cheese in the world. Mmmm. That ranked up there with the Carini.
Show Rating: 
concert list