7-23-99 -- Polaris Amp, Columbus, OH

Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2000 13:55:38 PST
From: Brent A. Batzer 
To: dws@archive.phish.net
Subject: 7.23.99 Polaris show
 
I won't bother with a setlist since this review is ridiculously late.  My
apologies for living in a hole in the ground at school...
 
As others have said, traffic was unreal.  We left Cincinnati around 3 and
yet still did not arrive at the show on time, or even close.  Some amusement
on the ride up though, as among the sights seen was a guy in a Cabrio with
the top down enjoying some choice buds from his tobacco water pipe, as well
as a guy who looked to be about 16 driving (well, actually sitting on I-71
at a dead stop) and taking a big swig of Beam as we went by.  Van doors were
open and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves despite the aggravation
of hearing the music starting while stuck on the highway.
 
We parked in a dirt area as the lot had overflowed and could hear the chords
of David Bowie as we walked up.  Rock!  What we heard of the 1st set was
pretty solid.  I'll agree with just about everything everyone else has said
about the 2nd set, except that an awful lot of people had some confused
looks on their faces during the second section of the Birds jam...
 
And then comes the rain...  Bolt lightning had been occuring in the distance
for quite some time, and as the band returned for the encore, we of the lawn
were drenched with a downpour of which the likes I have never experienced.
Sure got a reaction out of the crowd though.  Crowd went nuts for the entire
encore, with nasty bolt lightning firing around everywhere.  Smiles all
around leaving the joint.
 
And on a final note, I'd like to give mad props to whoever those guys were
who stopped their van in the aisle of the mud lot to help us push our van
out of the mud and give us the space to back out.  We love you forever!

Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1999 23:53:58 EDT
From: Weekapaug4@aol.com
To: dws@archive.phish.net
Subject: 7/23/99 Polaris review

7/23/99 Polaris Amphitheater; Columbus, OH

*Setlist*

I: Ya Mar, NICU, Back at the Chicken Shack, Punch You in the Eye, Fast
Enough for You, Get Back on the Train, David Bowie, Strange Design, Possum

II: Ghost > Free, Birds of a Feather > jam > Meatstick, Fire

E: Bouncin' Around the Room, Rocky Top

*Preface*

Traffic was ludicrous before the show, however I managed to enjoy myself.
$10 for parking didn't seem fair, either. I knew that the traffic would be
unbearable after the show, too, due to the poor setup of the parking lot.
We made it into the show about 6 p.m. to stake out a nice spot in the
center of the lawn. I hadn't sat in the lawn for a Phish show in probably
three years, so this was a little different for me. Regardless, I could
see everything and had no complaints.

*First set*

Ya Mar: Now, I've seen Ya Mar open quite a few shows. I like it, but was
expecting something else to open tonight's show -- Wilson. Regardless, Ya
Mar was played well, but Mike's vocals didn't seem incredibly certain.
Albeit, a good opener. We got Trey's first "Play it, Leo" call of the
night...but it wasn't his last.

NICU: Now we're talking. My first NICU, and a nice version at that. Trey
screamed, "Play it again, Leo!" This set the stage for...         

Back at the Chicken Shack: I must admit, I did not know exactly what this
song was at first, however I figured it was Chicken Shack. This was
confirmed at setbreak. I liked the blues progressions the tune featured,
as it was my first time hearing it. I like a nice instrumental blues
piece, and that's exactly what this was.

Punch You in the Eye: Ah, another favorite of mine. I've seen plenty of
PYITEs, and this one was seemingly no different. It reminded me of the
great double encore Phish played at Polaris last summer, which featured
both PYITE and Slave. I enjoyed this version.

Fast Enough for You: A beautiful song, but not in a great place in the
set. After a raging PYITE, I thought they'd pull out something a bit more
upbeat, but FEFY proved a nice ballad as usual. It gave me time to sit
down for a bit.

Get Back on the Train: This song led me to the bathroom for a quick break
and water bottle fill-up. It's not a bad tune, but it doesn't do a whole
lot for me. I was summoned back to my space in the lawn by...

David Bowie: Another great choice. I thought this would definitely
complete the first set, but the boys had different plans. This was a
short-and-sweet version, but it undoubtedly did the job.

Strange Design: I read after the show that this was the first version
since Lemonwheel last summer. It was nice to hear.

Possum: I called this before the show, but I figured it would make a
second set appearance. This was a very exhilirating set closer, and raged
from start to finish.

*Second Set*

Ghost: I was hoping for a 2001 opener, however we were treated to a very
funky Ghost. Personally, I am partial to the Summer/Fall '97 versions of
this tune, but this one is growing on me. It featured a Glowstick War in
the lawn, which was more low-key than usual, but still made for a unique
visual effect as the band jammed unmercifully on-stage.

Free: This came right out of Ghost, and was quite pleasing to the ear.
Trey got really pumped up during the jam, jumping all over the stage. He
sustained high notes and created some random chaos on both guitar and his
keyboard. This got a bit ambient, then lead into...

Birds of a Feather: Damn. When I heard the first notes of this, I said to
myself, "There goes this set." Boy, was I wrong. This version was
incomplete, and a boisterous jam ensued after Trey flubbed numerous
lyrical verses. This jam took place for about 25 minutes, traversing some
various musical territories I've not heard Phish explore in the past.
Others may disagree, but I really enjoyed this jam, mainly because it was
something different, and the band (read: Trey) seemed to enjoy themselves.

Meatstick: My first live taste of Meatstick, although I'd heard it before
on the "Ghost" outtakes tape. I enjoyed it, as well as the dance the band
(along with the help of two girls in the front row) taught the crowd. Trey
announced that they did not break they Guinness Book of World Records'
record for most people partaking in a synchronized dance. They had 54,000,
whereas a group from another country had over 70,000 doing the Chicken
dance. What a shame. He then enouraged the crowd to teach everyone the
dance, so that they can break the record at the New Year's shows in
*Florida*. Trey confirmed it right there. As if the crowd wasn't
exhilirated enough, the band ripped into...

Fire: This, as well as Possum, raged to close the set. It was a treat to
see this one, and I figured they had something special for an encore...I
was wrong.

*Encore*

Bouncing Around the Room: My favorite Phish song! Actually, no. I was
afraid they'd play it this night, but not as an encore. Oh well. At this
point, the rain came down like nobody's business, and got us soaked. Up
next was...

Rocky Top: Another standard tune I'd heard a million times. This was fun,
though, dancing in the rain. I was disappointed with the encore, however
the show, as a whole, was very pleasing and fun. I'll look forward to Deer
Creek tomorrow and Monday.

Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1999 14:06:07 -0700
From: TOLGA SEVDIK TOLGASEVDIK@email.msn.com
To: dws@gadiel.com
Subject: Columbus Review

This review should be short, but I have to tell everybody about this
night.

First of all, let me start by saying that Polaris is set up in a way that
traffic is an absolute nightmare.  We arrived on Polaris Highway at around
7:45 hoping to make it in and maybe miss the first two songs.  Boy, we
were dead wrong.  A three lane highway was turned into four and five with
people driving on the burm and in the grass.  The far right lane and the
burm were bumper to bumper for miles.  My friends and I wondered why we
saw no heads in our entire three hour drive and I now know why.  They were
all sitting in Columbus' stupid traffic.  The backup did allow for us to
score the four tickets we needed to get into the show though.  Thank you
to whoever you are.

As we were approaching Polaris, we knew the show had already started.  We
could hear faintly out the window some of Trey's riffs.  I was driving in
my altered state because our driver had gotten out of the car to take a
piss and ended up getting into a car two back from us and hanging out with
some girl who was by herself and seemed lonely.  Anyway, as we pulled into
the ridiculously set up lots, we could finally make out the sounds: Bowie.
What a disappointment.  We parked as fast as we could and began our long
run to the amphitheatre.  During the trek, Bowie ended and a kickass
Possum began, which hit us even harder.  We got to our spot in the lawn to
dance for about five minutes before Possum ended along with the set.  
What a drag.  But, we hung out for awhile.

Two side notes: I know that Ya Mar is a cover they do by the Mustangs, but
I also read that it is sung with Trey's dog Marley in mind.  I had a dog
that looked a lot like Marley that was put to sleep on Tuesday.  (Love ya,
Alex). I thought to myself as I went to Star Lake and Polaris that a cool
personal tribute for me would be to hear Ya Mar.  After the set, I
wandered around a bit to find out what they played, I talked to a cool
girl getting her face glittered, who with her eyes closed rattled off the
first set for me.  Ya Mar opener.  Even though I wasn't there and the band
has no idea about my dog, I felt pleased.  Thanks guys.

Secondly, during set break one of my friends commented to me how they
don't play Ghost that often anymore and that we don't see it in setlists.  
Then, the band came out.  Trey in his long sleeve black and Mike wearing
his kick ass sleeveless fluorescent green.  The show started.  Page's
spacey keyboarding leads into none other than.............

Ghost - Long!!!!  I love this song.  The band jammed it out very well.
When it seemed like the jam was wrapping up, a mini glowstick war ensued
in the lawn and the band seemed to continue only to provide a cool
soundtrack for the war.  Excellent.  It was also about this time that I
started to see minor lightning on the horizon.

Free - After the journey of Ghost, another fierce jam song came: Free.  I
knew it was going to be nuts and it was.  I'm not sure if they snuck a
Siket Disc song in here anywhere, because I'm not familiar with any of
them and I now My Left Toe was at Star Lake and I didn't know I was
hearing it.  The lightning was also beginning to increase.

BOAF - I'll admit I like this song a lot, but when the opening riff
started I thought it was Carini at first and got really psyched but it
wasn't. I'll take it though.  Musically, it was nuts.  Lyrically, it
seemed Trey learned the song at set break.  It was hilarious to see him
flubbing the words. It didn't matter though, the music was on, the lyrics
almost didn't need to be. During the long jam that came, Trey was having a
blast on stage.  He was jumping up and down, making his cool faces, and
running all over the place. I love to see the band having that much fun.  
Also about this time, it was a full scale lightning storm.  The bolts were
everywhere, but they were awesome.  The crowd cheered with every one.  It
also started to rain a little, but the night was still young.

Meatstick - First time hearing this song for me.  I liked it alot.  
Jammy, sort of a nice Reggae sound.  I had heard so much about it was nice
to finally hear it.  At the end of it, Trey explains how they attempted to
break the Macarena record in Oswego with the Meatstick dance and did only
to find out that the real record is held by the Chicken.  He claims they
are now in second place.  He also makes the announcement everyone has been
waiting for: NEW YEARS EVE IN FLORIDA.  Trey says the band plans to break
the record then but that the key to breaking the record is teaching the
dance to the world.  So he pulls two girls from the crowd and Mike, Trey,
and the two girls do the Meatstick dance for everyone.  It kicked ass.

Fire - Another first timer for me, and they ripped it a new asshole. Very
nice, great set closer, high energy.


HOW ABOUT THAT RAIN?????

As the band began to walk on stage for the encore, the rain began.  Not
rain, though.  Buckets of rain.  The hardest rain storm I have ever been a
part of.  Just as the drums began for Bouncin, a full scale Typhoon was
under way.  It rained so hard you couldn't see five feet in front of you.
The drops stung when they hit you.  But it was incredible.  The muddy lawn
went crazy.  People were taking their shirts off and everyone was dancing.
It was beautiful.  When Rocky Top came, the crowd went even more insane.
Everywhere people were dancing despite the hardest storm I have ever seen.
After the show, I was in disbelief.  Everybody was drenched but everybody
was smiling.  As we walked off, I said to my friend that was the worst
thunderstorm I've ever been in, and he said "No it wasn't, it was the
best".
Very true.

Have fun in Alpine Valley, Maz have a blast in Deer Creek, wish I could be
there but work sucks ass.

Steve



Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 00:10:33 -0400
From: Chris walstib@ntr.net
To: dws@archive.phish.net
Subject: review 7-23-99
 
Out of the 3 Phish shows I saw this summer (Polaris and both nights Deer
Creek) I enjoyed the song selection of first night Deer Creek best but
enjoyed the Polaris show the most. The energy was right on it that night.
Yes we were rollin hard and the weather finally cooled us down....what a
great breeze.......and the crowds reaction to the rain during the encore was
beautiful.....never seen people erupt with such crazy physical energy!!!
well hope to catch that ride again in Memphis....see you this fall.
chris

Date: Sat, 31 Jul 1999 14:54:32 -0400
From: James Hatley jimhatley@worldnet.att.net
To: dws@gadiel.com
Subject: review of 7/23/99
 
The only shows I could hit this summer were nashville, polaris, and both
deer creek.  I must say that this polaris show was better than all of
them on a quality of music basis.  Sure first night of deer creek had
breakouts but this show was amazing.  Yamar, NICU, and a good PYITE were
nice build ups for a relatively short and to the point Bowie.  Possum
was a very nice set closer.  I could tell trey would be on the entire
night by the way he ripped that song up.
 
SET TWO
This ghost was very very sweet.  It seemed to just flow....there was not
a note out of place.  It also seemed to have a harder edge torward the
end of the jam which led to about 30 secs of dun dun dun dun then a very
high energy Free.  The lyrical part seemed to be a little bit more sped
up than normal...almost like they just wanted to get back to jamming.
During the jam trey was jumping up and down, getting down on one knee,
making little charges torward the audience...he was going ape shit.
Usually i don't like it when he hits high notes and just sees how long
he can hold them but it seemed so pleasing in the Free jam.  then trey
went over and did the ol' 1,2 1,2,3,4  and boom BOAF  at first I thought
it will kill the setl, but then about 30secs-1min into the song i
realized this was going to be huge.  It was almost like just a big carry
over from the Free jam.  Trey didn't sing/forgot numerous lyrical parts
of this song but that didn't matter.  If you listen carefully Mr.
McConnell has some beautiful parts throughout this jam.
 
The meatstick was fun and the rain was more fun than the music during
the encore


Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 00:29:26 EDT
From: YodaDoe@aol.com
To: dws@archive.phish.net, jam-reviews@onelist.com
Subject: Columbus

7/23/99 Polaris; Columbus, OH

Note:  My reviews only mention unique or notable things.  Also, I figure
you all have the setlist, so I won't list that either....

Set 1: about 70 minutes
Set 2: about 75 minutes (w/o encore)

Ya Mar was one of the better ones I've seen (7 or 8 in my 37 shows). I
never like it when they go into the spacey stuff, like Atlanta was a few
weeks ago. This one was very playful and upbeat with some Fish woodblocks.
Nice. It was about 10 minutes. Back in the Chicken Shack was much slower
than the last time I saw it... almost too slow. It was quite a different
vibe that way, but still very fun.  Phish is no blues band, though they
made a valiant effort. Get Back on the Train was a new one for me.
(traffic in Charlotte and I missed it then.)  Very weird, since I've only
seen the Trey tour version. Bowie was... Bowie.  Nothing special. It had a
very short intro, unlike the delightfully long one I saw in Atlanta.  
Total about 13 minutes.

Set Two was quite the monster. This one needs some explaining, that's for
sure -- mainly because the weather played a large role in the vibe of the
whole set, and especially the encore.  Lightning in the clouds started
right after they came out, and continued for the rest of the night,
growing more and more spectacular and close.
     Ghost was very good, yet again, and had a very moving, although not
especially novel, jam.  This one was so unique because of a really awesome
combination of things.  1.Chris's lights were just outstanding. 2.
Glowring war on the lawn. 3. Lightning in the clouds.  More than half the
people around me were facing the lawn, watching the lightning and
glowrings!  It was like Chris had something to compete with.  Anyway,
Ghost lasted for about 17 minutes before teases of Free began.  It took a
minute before Free prope hit, but when it did, there was a vibe bouncing
back and forth between band and crowd that couldn't be denied.  An aside:
I don't like Free. I can count the versions of Free that I like on one
hand, and that includes the Billy Breathes version.  This Free was by far
the best one I've ever seen OR heard. This was the highlight of the show.  
It clocked in at about 12 minutes. Throughout the jam, Trey grew more and
more excited, first smiling and bobbing, then shuffling about the stage,
and finally jumping up and down with mouth open, a few times pumping his
fist!  It's hard to explain the vibe, but if you just picture Trey this
excited, you'll know what it was like.  I don't even remember the
characteristic Free key changes. I just remember an excellent Phish
moment. Hose moment? God, I can't wait for the tapes!
     Birds came out of the last chords of Free, and with the same energy.
The setlist on the Phish.net failed to mention that this Birds was
TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES LONG!!!  I am guessing that they were trying to get
the energy and vibes they got out of Free to cross over into this BOAF
jam. So they just did the same "type 1" jamming that's characteristic of
BOAF... and kept going... and going!  It was really weird.  Personally, I
don't think it worked.  They kept jamming around the same BOAF "feel" for
a grand total of 22 minutes before they tried something new.  They dropped
into chaos a few times, but throughout the whole 22 minutes, you could
always hear the BOAF in the jam.  It was unique, but not necessarily
great. (quantity not quality...)
 This is my analytical side speaking.  Now I must mention this:  The
Polaris was hot and muggy up to this point.  Right when BOAF started, the
wind started to blow a wonderfully cool, wet breeze.  It also started
raining. I was right behind the taper section, so I missed the rain!  :)  
But the cooling wind and rain really had an effect on how the song was
accepted by the crowd.  The lightning also started to be more prominent.  
(I labeled this jam "lightning jam" on my setlist.)  Perhaps they were
jamming with the lightning?  Who knows.  Anyway, after that 22 minutes of
BOAF jam, Fish started playing something quite similar to the Llama
drumbeat. The jam finally departed from the BOAF theme, and I thought they
were going into Llama. Trey seemed to start playing in that direction, but
in never happened.
 Mike was the most prominent in this 3 minute end to a long BOAF.
    Meatstick -- same old thing. About 1/4th of the crowd was dancing the
dance when the chorus came around. Trey stopped and explained how 74,000
people doing "the Chicken" beat out Phish's attempt in Oswego, which was
only 54,000.  He expressed high hopes that New Year's Eve in Florida would
produce more than 74,000.  He then brought up two girls from front row,
and the three of them and Mike taught the crowd the dance.  Everyone
danced.  Fire was a nice, hot version.

Okay, the encore needs explaining.  Right when they came out and started
the encore, it began pouring down rain.  The tapers in front of me were
frantically covering up their equipment because rain was blowing all the
way into the taper section.  It was an absolute downpour.  It was the
weirdest thing:  Here you have one of the lamest encores possible, and
everyone is going NUTS!  I have never seen a lawn full of people going so
absolutely crazy before!  It was almost like everyone was going crazy for
the sole fact that they were standing in a deluvian flood to see nothing
but Bouncin and Rocky Top.  The encore got the loudest screaming, the
hardest dancing, and the most arms flailing of the entire show. It was the
final "hoorah!"  So when you hear the tapes, you won't wonder why everyone
was going nuts for Bouncin and Rocky Top.

So, first set was a classic 5.0 set (on a scale of ten). Everything was
well played, but nothing beyond average, except for a good Ya Mar, a slow
Chicken Shack, and a few semi-rarities (FEFY and Design). Set Two,
however, had a very good Ghost, an awesome Free, and a MONSTROUS Birds of
a Feather.  See y'all in Dur Crik... Peace,

Yoda    jhdavis@sc.edu

Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1999 20:29:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: Eric D Schwartz edsst21+@pitt.edu
To: dws@archive.phish.net
Subject: Columbus
 
 
hi! hope you all had as much phun as i did in columbus!
and now for the review:
 
 
we arrived at 3:00 sharp just in time for the lots to open, we unpacked,
set up shop and then decided to take a walk around find something to
drink. came back to the car, sat down, and the next thing we knew two cops
(captain bongo and detective zog) approached and asked if we were 21, we
both said we weren't, and they cuffed us!!!???? for drinking half a beer,
we didn't even have any beer with us (we were broke). i ended up getting
charged with having nuggets, and my new glass one hitter was taken(no
resin). that's not the worst of it though, there was a girl there with us
at the make shift prison who was arrested for drinking non-alcaholic
cider. another girl had her rent money (not the money she made selling
beer) taken because she was selling beer. So for ruining the lives of a
bunch of non-violent happy go lucky heads, i'd like to thank the lovely
Columbus Police!!! :) Thanks guys great job!
 
Now for the concert:
 
First Set: Awesome as per usual!! Great jammed out version of Bowie!!
loved it!! Strange Design was great too(from what i hear it hasn't been
played in a while either) ! ended with Possum, at this point the set was
around 80 min. and closing it with Possum just left me wanting more!
 
Second Set: I'm personally not that big of a fan of Ghost, but wow did
they play it great! a small glowstick war broke out with lightning in the
background, it was beautiful! i dunno if the guys were doing it on purpose
but they we jammin' along with the storm! Ghost went into an awesome
version of Free(rocked).  Birds of a Feather really jammed out too, at
this point they really seemed to be enjoying themselves, Trey was jumpin'
all over the place and lovin' it! Birds of a Feather turned into Meatstick
and Trey set down his guitar and told everybody about the meatstick dance,
and how the record for most people dancing at once was almost broken at
Oswego, and then he anounced that we're going to try and break it in
FLORIDA ON NEW YEARS EVE(two lucky phans got to dance with Trey and Mike
on stage when they taught everyone the dance) and then they closed with a
very spirited version of Hendrix's fire!
 
Encore: right as they came back out for the encore a typhoon started and
everyone just went nuts, they played BRTR and everyone kept on dancing
despite the torrential downpour! and then closed with Rocky Top!!
 
GREAT SHOW OVERALL, despite the cops.
 
peace,
 
eric
 
p.s.-the cop told me the reason they were being ridiculous is because they
didn't want this kind of thing in their city, and we could take it
somewhere else.
 
p.p.s.-see everyone new years!

Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1999 16:13:12 EDT
From: Darb61376@aol.com
To: dws@gadiel.com
Subject: polaris thoughts
 
let me start off by saying that i had a really good time at this
show.....what i got to see of it anyway.  first i want to preface this
review by saying this is the first review that i have ever submitted but
thoroughly enjoy reading everyone else's so i thought i might give it a try.  
i'm not even going to go into how many phish shows i have seen because in my
opinion that is irrelevant if you like this band then you should be able to
express your opinion if it is your first, tenth, or one hundredth.  i will
get on to the review here in a little bit, but first i have to vent a little
frustration.  i went to polaris last summer and had a real good time.  the
show isn't one of my favorites but they did play slave (as an encore no
less) and a real good free.  last year, me and my roommate (who i have seen
about 90% of my phish shows with) arrived in columbus at about the same time
we did this year and maybe waited about an hour, maybe a little more to get
in and park.  we arrived a little late so we were sort of close to the gates
of the venue.  we hung out for about an hour walking around and what not and
then we went into the show, which actually started relatively close to the
time it was supposed to.  i saw the entire show last year.  this
year....well that is a little different.  traffic was all sorts of screwed
up out side.  i stopped looking at my clock to keep the frustration at a low
boil, but i think it took us about three hours to move a mile and a half
(something like that anyway....and i would like to thank all the people who
decided that driving on the shoulder of the road was the best solution
because the only thing that did was fark everything up even more). one more
thing to vent and then on to the review (i'm sorry but i think something
needs to be done.  i was so mad i decided to give my alpine ticket to my
roommate to trade or something because traffic can be just as bad up there.)  
people who made it to lot on time i commend you for your foresight, but if
you didn't have a ticket, and i saw many as i was walking up in the middle
of bowie including these two girls who were video taping how "trashed" they
were, why did you come to the show?  i missed the entire first set expect
strange design and possum because you were in my parking spot.  i'm sorry
that sounded really pretentious, but that is my opinion and i am holding to
it.
 
ok.  as for the show......strange design was normal but it was really good to
hear.  i really like the lyrics to this song.  i think that i have heard this
song almost every summer since 95.  then they went into nice possum, that was
fast and jazzy in certain parts and slow and bluessy in others.  end of set.
second set started off with digital delay loop and i knew what was coming. i
was never a real big fan of ghost but lately it has been growing on me and
this version was extra good.  mike was the highlight for me and then trey
started picking up the pace and all hell broke loose.  i  was grinning from
ear to ear.  a little bit of an ambient jam then they started free which
continued along the same lines as ghost, but in it's own free way if you know
what i mean.  birds of a feather was next and i didn't like this version at
all!  i am not a big fan of this one either but it still hasn't grown on me
so i usually just hope that it is over and done with quick.  meatstick came
along next and this was the first time i heard this version (i heard a half
version of what i called time in champaign 97 at the end of fee).  i liked
the feel to this song and the dance is a little bit comic relief in my
opinion.  if you get the chance to see mike and trey demonstrate the dance
watch mike, it is really funny.  fire came along next and it was done to a
tee.  trey was having a good time all night and this one let him rage a
little more.  the rain came and then bouncing came and then rocky top came
and i left.  i hate batr and i will not apologize.  i never like that song
even when i was first introducing myself to phish through their albums.
rocky top...i just knew that was it so i split.
all in all this was a fun show and i really enjoyed for the most part what i
was allowed to hear and see expect boaf.  i heading to deer creek tomorrow
because it is right down the road and i know a lot back ways into but as for
following phish to other remote destinations....i think those days are over
with.  i still love this band but i think the scene is getting a little too
congested.


Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1999 17:52:56 EDT
From: JBeard3691@aol.com
To: dws@archive.phish.net
Subject: Polaris
 
For those of you who have seen phish this summer tour, there have been many
ups and downs.  As I made my journy from Owego both night, to Starlake, then
out to Polaris, I can't help but htink of a roller coaster ride.  Polaris
had to have been the most insane Phish show I have been to in 50+ shows
other than Oswego just because there was so many people!  The set started
out nice with Ya mar as I recall was played last year at Polaris and from
that point on things started to blend together!1 As they busted into NICU my
jaw drops about three feet eye balls start shuttering and I think back to
before the show when I was hoping I would get an NICU!1 From there on out I
can't even describe the madness of last nights show as they played
incredibly....especially the songs I've rarely gotten to hear live including
Fast enought for you (only heard once in Dayton 95) and Get Back on Train
and Meatstick which I heard at Oswego1 Thats not even the half of it though
people!  Picture the second sight under a stary night, lights reallly
melting things under the Polaris amp and wicked lightning crackiling through
the sky as they play ghost into Free!!??? I was completely blown away to say
the least.  Then the Birds>Meatstick>Fire was absolutey sick all while the
storms continued, the lights were all peack colored and the white lightning
was crashing all around outside.  Everyone headed for the pavillion and the
band was just intensifying as they all saw what was going on.  The girls
working the pavillion let people in from out in the rain and the jam packed
crowd was now meatsicking it to the max as trey and Mike pull up two girls
from the audience one of which kisses Trey and he busts out a laugh ! The
band was enourmous last night and if you missed this show....get the Phuking
tapes! Enjoy ALpine and Deer Creek all I'm sure they are gonna bust out
again.....Peace
brian


Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1999 16:00:02 EDT
From: Toddmc420@aol.com
To: dws@archive.phish.net
Subject: Columbus
 
"if i could teach the world to do the meatstick, it would be a better
place!!!!!!" trey say's before pulling 2 sisters out of the crowd.....the
ensue to teach us the dance, and boy did it kick ass!!!!!!!! also ya mar,
PYITE, bowie and possum were very dank in the 1st set....whole 2nd set was
pure bliss....when i hear birds, im usually dissapointed, but this one
jammed....bouncing and rocky top were nice treats.....bring it on
rain!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Todd McCallister

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