I think many people may have a different opinion of this show than me.

Set 1 is absolutely rock solid from front to back It sounds like they really want it. Carini is short and sweet, Trey nails it! Gibbo takes a dip into some serene waters. BOTT is also flawlessly played IMO. Taste has a nice little extra stretch with some nice tension throughout, which is the point of Taste right? Bug is also extremely solid as the last ones had been. Tube is also great and cohesive. Twist is in a weird slot, end of first set? It likely had to to with them messing with it a little bit. Regardless the jam kicks in quick and into some mellow waters as it builds and builds.

Mikes starts set two. It's pretty straight forward but still good. The segue into Meatstick is also pretty neat and long. Meatstick get's stretched out it's longest up to that point and gets really weird, great version. Weekapaug is absolute fire as usual. Maze is a pretty standard version, but stretched out so who's going to complain about that? Fluffhead is well...Fluffhead. And that's great! CDT is very fast and very high energy. And the usual suspect Frankenstein closes the set.

Another usual suspect Zero is the encore along with some cool A Capella which had slightly died out at this time and must have been fun.

Another note I get from the recording is that this crowd seems very obnoxious all kinds of whistles and I remember hearing what sounds like a powerdrill at one point. What the hell is up with that?

I think this show is super underrated. Yes no big jams that 99' has almost every show but set 1 slays and set 2 isn't to shabby itself.

First I will say the police in downtown Rochester were like Night and Day. They were so chill before the show and transformed into maniac arresting machines after the show emptied. It was a strange thing to observe. It was a cold December day. ....the nights before Christmas and all through the house. SET ONE- Carini, wow. Sick sick sick energy from the fab 4. Next came-Jibboo > Train, good energy and it is not letting up anytime soon. Taste > Bug, Sparkle > Tube, Lawnboy, Sullivan > Twist, it continued to rain to the tunes of The PHISH. Some may say this show is a filler show and a one stop in Rochester just to put out music that were mere leftovers from Saturday's show. I disagree, a different energy was in place, it was like a hew haw in the Blue Cross Arena, people were dancing and grooving it out something fierce and continued to do so. I enjoyed the First Set it was unusual and as strange as the band playing.
SET TWO- Calling Chalkdust, Wrong again, Mikes > Meatstick > Hydrogen what the hell is going on here? Love it, this set two is becoming something of a monster, good version of Mikes as well. Meatstick was a nice treat sandwiched in between the Mikes and the Hydrogen groove. Weekapaug and Brian and Robert, another does of energy and calmness. I enjoyed the switch of emotional playing its what makes this band unique and something special. Jen Dances, one and done and thank God for that. Maze> Chalkdust > Fluff > Frankenstein. The best of the best, this was an awesome cluster of 4 songs i love. What a way to close the show. The encore was weak imo. Hello My Baby > Character Zero seemed to take away the energy of the prior two sets but it was still an experience that i will never forget, loved the second set in this one. Thanks Ra- chest- er.

My first show. I wonder if I thought every show got a new song. I'm glad I kept going despite what it sounded like. Definitely thought Meatstick was Fire on the Mountain. But is there a better first song to hear live than Carini? That should be how they open every show. I also kind of miss the Twist arrangement from this show, but that may be more sentimental value than anything.

Jennifer Dances!!! I remember my friend and I looking at each other and saying that this song was quite possible the worst we ever heard. Its the beast that I can love a band SO much but they can still play some of the worst music ever. Don't remember much else about the show other than the peppermint lights during Mike's.

Went to this show on a whim after scoring a ticket through a group of friends at UVM. About twenty of us jumped into 2 school vans and made the 7 hour trek to Rochester from Burlington.

1st Set: Seemed like it was loaded with many "newer" tunes (Jibboo, GBOTT, Bug, Twist), but these came off more polished sounding, including a new intro to Twist. Really enjoyed these, along with a great Tube. Definitely a solidly-played first set.

2nd Set: Very interesting Mike's Groove (w/Meatstick) to open the second set. Trey was having some serious gear issues during Mike's, but he soon used these to his advantage---somehow blending these awful distortion/feedback sounds into the groove's buildup. This set saw the debut of Jennifer Dances...I do not believe this was well-received at the time, but I think a few phans have grown to appreciate it since. An excellent Maze followed. I was excited to hear the opening notes to Fluffhead, as this was my first time seeing it live. Albeit a fun song to see live, this version had a few flubs, with a few sections of the Travels being left out. CDT>Frankenstein definitely closed out the set on a rocking note.

Overall: I'd say this was an average show, with a few highlights (Jibboo, Tube, Twist, Maze). Check out the Mike's Groove too. As any Phish show, it was a great adventure...just wish I hit a few more of the winter '99 shows surrounding it (Hartford's Drowned, etc).

This is going to be an easy one.

On December 5th, 1999 I drove to Rochester to see Phish with my good friend and fellow guitar teacher Doug, and a girl named Kyla who was taking the course I was teaching at the university.

We got pulled into the US border on the way and endured an hour-long useless hassle* before being released and sent forth, a common occurrence in the era before September 11th, 2001, a day when young, long-haired music lovers were suddenly no longer the droids they were looking for.

Anyway, we got down there and checked into some hotel and either by fluke or by design we ran into my Ottawa friend Jay and a couple of his buddies.

“Jay, this is Kyla,” I said, introducing the two.

They ran into one another again a week or so later at a bar back home in Ottawa, several years later I was honoured to attend their super-fun wedding, and here it is a decade or more on and they remain one of the nicest, best-paired couples I know.

And all because of me. And Phish. No wonder I keep going to see the band.

Anyway, getting to the show itself (which is an afterthought really, given the momentousness of my serendipitous introduction) there is really one major moment that stands out in my mind. It was late in the second set and Doug and I were on the floor together – Kyla was probably off getting acquainted with her new friend, I don’t know – when the band started into one of my favourites of their songs, Maze.

Now, this was back in the days when I had seen Phish only a handful of times, and I had seen them play Maze only once or twice before. In a word: I was very, very interested in the band at that precise, exact moment.

And that was precisely, exactly the moment that Doug turned to me and said, “The crowd is really getting to me man, I gotta get off the floor.”

Um…okay.

Taking a last glance at the band just as they launched into the first verse I absorbed a short, longing look before turning around to lead my friend off of the floor. I led him all the way up to the walkway that surrounded the upper bowl where we would have plenty of space; indeed, when we got there the only other people up there were the spinners. Remember spinners?

On our way up we stopped into the bathroom where Doug had an odd encounter with some guy who was probably just spun out, but it really freaked Doug out. So once we got upstairs he was suffering from both claustrophobia and weird-dude-itis and he was kind of raving. So there was the band down there going into their cool time-signature overlay bit that I so, so wanted to pay attention to, meanwhile there I was trying to appear like I was paying attention to my good friend as he narrowly avoided a mid-concert meltdown**.

Anyway, we paced back and forth up there for a while and just as the song ended Doug got himself collected and we found ourselves a pair of seats in the bowl for the last few songs (specifically: Fluffhead, Chalkdust Torture, Frankenstein, and a Character Zero/Hello My Baby encore), which were awesome.

But of course the main point here is that I am forever honoured to be the person who introduced one of the world’s great couples to one another and I did it at this show.

And Phish is a fantastic band.

*God, I love this story: During the rather extensive search one of the border cops had discovered a pack of rolling papers in the front pocket of Doug’s ubiquitous jean jacket. Though Doug never once took off his jacket, he somehow hadn’t noticed that the border cop had discovered his semi-contraband, nor was he even aware that he had papers in his pocket in the first place. Anyway, when they were finally done all their poking and prodding the one cop summed things up to the other. “That guy has a record but it ain’t him [there’s another me out there who is a scallywag in the eyes of the law] and the other guy has a pack of papers in his pocket but other than that they’re clean…”

“”Waitaminnit,” Doug says, “…I don’t have any papers in my pocket.”

“Yes, you do,” the officer said matter-of-factly. “No. No I don’t,” Doug replied adamantly. Of course I’m standing next to him going through every Three Stooges-like action you can imagine – zipping my lips and quickly drawing my finger across my throat and the like – trying not-so-subtly to get Doug to just shut his mouth before he got us held up for real.

“Look buddy,” the guy said with way more patience than I expected. “You have a pack of papers in your pocket but it’s not a big…”

“I’m telling you,” Doug said, interrupting the border cop. “I do not have rolling papers on me.”

With a sigh of exasperation the cop took two steps towards Doug, and to his utter amazement the cop reached into Doug’s breast pocket and pulled out a pack of Zig Zag whites. He displayed it to the room for all to see.

I would pay a lot of money to have a picture of Doug’s face at that moment. I would pay even more for a picture of my face looking at Doug’s face at that moment.

Without a word the cop tucked the papers back into Doug’s pocket and dismissed us with a wave. We were frozen in time for about two and-a-half seconds and then we bolted, trying our best not to actually break into a run.

**Of course he was a-okay during the debut of Jennifer Dances (the most reviled and mocked song in Phish’s entire catalog, and one they have sworn to never play again), so at least I was free to enjoy that one to the fullest.

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