Phish ~ 7/26/99 @ Deer Creek - Noblesville, Indiana
Review by Jerry Iannucci
I: (~84 min.) Farmhouse, Get Back on the Train, Vultures, Sleep, Gumbo >
NICU, Beauty of My Dreams, Bathtub Gin, Mountains in the Mist, Axilla I, Stash
II: Wolfman's Brother, Piper, Theme from the Bottom > Down with Disease,
Feedback Jam* > Split Open and Melt
Enc: Woodstock?**, Julius
I knew I was going to be close to the stage by looking at my tickets, but I
thought i'd be way off to the right. Dude, I was 8th row right in front of
Page. Actually it was more like 6th row because of the way the sections
were set up. It was awesome. Someone passed out these glow in the dark
necklace, alien-head, springy things that were actually pens and bubble
blowers. The idea was to blow bubbles any time they played a song begining
with 'M'. Of course, they didn't play any.. but its a great keep sake.
Very cool scene. There were lots of balloon, beachballs, and giant
inflatable things bouncing around before the show. Right before the band
came out, a giant inflatable penis showed up in the crowd and got passed up
to Trey. He passed it over to Fishman who put it on his lap in front of
him. All you could see was a giant penis with two arms sticking out of the
sides. He did a little drum solo for us like this.
Maybe I was reading too much into the songs they played, but I kept
catching lots of "phamily" and "on the road" type references in the songs
as if they were acknowledging everyone on tour. It seemed really special
as a tour closer.
Again, nothing too crazy at the beginning of the set. Vultures, Gumbo, and
NICU were naturally great to hear. Then there was the Gin. This Gin was
intense! One of the best i've ever heard. They did this awesome vocal jam
over the music near the end that was really trippy. Mountains slowed
things down again until Axila rocked us back to the top. Then in addition
to the huge Gin we got a monster Stash! The ending went on and on with
dozens of peaks. Just monster!
The people sitting next to me went somewhere during the set break so the
heads in the aisles quickly snatched their seats. I ended up sitting next
to this cool little sister who hadn't seen a show in years. She had been
touring for awhile, but could never get in. Someone handed her a miracle
that night and she was so psyched to be so close. She got booted out of the seat during the
second set, but security was really cool and didn't kick anyone out of the
aisles.
The second set was just nonstop jamming. You know those one or two moments
in a show where the jams just peak and then they push it higher and higher?
I cant tell you how many of those moments there were. Every song just had
huge jam sections that seemed endless. Just awesome. Trey ended the set
by talking a awhile about how thankful he was for all the fans and how cool
we were. He talked a little about the events in new york, but since I
hadn't heard the Woodstock stories yet I didn't know what he was talking
about.
During the first setbreak, a note was passed around that roses would
secretly be distributed to us so that we could throw them at the band when
they came out for the encore. It was beautiful. Only the first couple of
rows got them but it was cool to see all these people holding up roses
waiting for the encore. The band seemed to appreciate it when everyone
tossed them to the stage.
The setlist says the "Woodstock" song is not the Crosby, Still, and Nash
song.. but it was. "By the time we got to Woodstock.." "... get ourselves
back to the garden". Again, real appropriate and cool to hear. They ended
with Julius, which isn't a favorite of mine, but like everything else that
night they jammed it out to the extreme. I couldn't be disappointed by that.
I was a little worried about driving out of there after I heard all the
horror stories about Indiana state troopers setting up road blocks and
searching hippies cars. When I got out of the lot, the police directed me
to go down a street leading the opposite direction of where i'd normally
go. The road took me out to the middle of nowhere and I was so sure I was
gonna get surrounded by cops. When I finally got back on the highway, a
cop pulled up behind me and flashed his high beams at me. I didn't know he
was a cop so I just wanted to get out of his way. I almost ran into
someone who was getting on the highway. Bastard tried to trick me. He
eventually left me alone.
And that's my story. Use the knowledge wisely. I think I have a cold now
and my feet hurt. I'm going to bed.
Show Rating: 
concert list