, attached to 1999-12-18

Review by treybegood

treybegood This show was a blast! Because this concert was well over a decade ago, please excuse me in advance if any of the events are fuzzy in memory. It was either this or night or the following night, but I recall a wonderful wave going around the stadium bleachers prior to the show. It just kept going and going unlike one I had ever seen. Does anybody remember this.

The Harry Hood opener was very unexpected and I tend to like it more as a closer, but I'll take one when I can get one. The intro and instrumental section were played well, and the crowd really got into it once the post "where do you go when the lights go out?" instrumental began. The improv section was fairly solid with with a nice build-up, but the peak wasn't too overly climatic nor memorable.

Back at the Chicken Shack took me by surprise. I had been playing the song on guitar that year for Jazz combo at school, so I was stoked to hear the band pull it out, but it appeared many people in the audience were perhaps unfamiliar with the tune, as the audience was pretty quite during the song.

First Tube was charged, but nowhere close in the caliber to versions that I would hear many years down the number line (ie. check out Merriweather 2011, which murdered me!). It seemed as if at this point in time First Tube was a song which was still somewhat maturing solo-wise and still somewhat catching on with phans. Not as much of crowd favorite or as appreciated as it is today. Does this make any sense?

The Inlaw Josie Wales. A nice rarity and well played, but distracted somewhat by hollering fans. A lot of "shhhhhhhhhhhhhs" from the audience to quite the yellers, with the occasional "shut the %#@* up!"

No doubt, the pinnacle of the entire evening was the INCREDIBLE You Enjoy Myself. This is still, hands down, the best one I've seen live. Trey flubbed some of the intro arpeggio section, but everything else was totally solid. He totally let loose on "Boooooyyyyyyy!" From there on it was just off the Hook. Trey jumped off the trampoline and was immediately into a funky rhythmic groove...and he was totally into it. I vividly remember him swaying side-to-side in this repetitive groovy dance during his comping section of his solo. Just check out the youtube clip at about the 1hr & 15 minutes into the show and you'll see what I'm talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB8lfvRXIts />
Anyway, the comping groove build up and then Trey let loose on his single note soloing. He just took off, with peak, after peak, after peak. It was unreal totally solid, and the crowd went berserk! He pretty much raped my ears! What also really bowled me over was the perfect ending of the solo where Trey transitions back into the original thematic groove that he started with. Fishman kicks in after a few seconds with aloose-sand like drumming which synched perfectly with the comping (1 hr 21 minutes 50 seconds into the video). So tight! The Vocal jam was also great. Haunted, buddhist chant vocalizations with a brilliant crescendo. Such a fantastic version that should not be missed.

Other highlights of the show were the grooving 2001, complete with Frampton "Do You Feel Like I Do?" teases and a well played sand. I remember being towards the back of the auditorium floor during it in a sparsely populated area where I had room to spin and act like the dork that I am. Fun! Don't miss the YEM!


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