LawnMemo

The Daily Ghost

The Daily Ghost #55 09/17/1999 Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA

(@KernelForbin Remaster)

Background (Ghost Position: Set 1 of 2 – Song 3 of 11-Show Gap: 3)

The third Ghost at Shoreline!  After the madness in Portland Meadows, Ghost takes on a much lighter tone.  Moving into the beginning of the first set this Ghost is not even half as long as Portland Meadows.  The segue into Lawn Boy is included.

1999-09-17mo4

Composed Section (0:00-4:48)

Hello Trey loops!  A good 25 seconds before the Mike/Fish brigade enters.  A touch more uptempo beat to this Ghost intro.  A cool groove takes place before the vocal begin.  Dug that big time.

A deep tone from Mike in the vocal jam is met with some twangy Trey.  Page provides some cool sounds as well.  A short solo section, but kind of cool.

An extremely short pause, is met with an acceptable drop in.  Not the best, not the worst.  The vocals from that point are quick, and we move into the jam.

California Groovin’ (4:49-8:03)

Some easy going sectioned off jamming to start.  You can tell right away this Ghost is going to be groove central.  Trey starts off with a murky tone and eases into the jam nicely.  Page is on piano and finds his voice right way.  Page gets into some beautiful melodies at the 5:45 mark.

Mike and Fish are taking the part of rhythm section to heart.  They are holding things down and giving a boatload of space for Trey and Page.  The result is a wonderful groove that is easy on the ears.  I am head-bobbing and bouncing up and down in my review chair.

Phish is moving well together.  Nothing crazy exploratory or ground breaking, but we are spoiled sometimes.  Not many bands finds groove space and work it so well.

Starting at 7:45 Trey begins to repeat a lick and build up this jam.

Time to Rock (8:04-11:30)

Fish comes in with a fill at 8:04, and Trey takes the signal and begins to shred.  Mike is moving his bass up, and playing a lot more notes.  Page also starts to pick things up and provides a great sound to build this jam stronger.

Trey is certainly in the lead here.  He starts to repeat a lick at 9:23, and Mike moves in wonderfully.  Mike becomes stronger and stronger from that point. A great tone from Trey and excellent balance between staying with the band and shredding.  At 10:30, Trey holds a note that allows Page to come in at 10:32 with one of those soul moving melodies.  Mmmm

Trey holds another note at 10:38 and Fish starts to change up the beat.  He continues to move the jam down with each measure.  Page plays some more awesome melodies, and Trey starts to repeat licks as Mike and Fish push on downward.

Evil Phish AGAIN! Nope>Lawn Boy (11:31-13:18)

The jam works downward and Trey adds a great lick to help the ride.  Mike drops off around the 12:05 mark, and we start to enter crazy territory.

At 12:10, a spaceship zips over our head, and then starts to hover.  By the 12:26 mark, you can hear much of the beat from Fish that was part of the evil jam at Portland Meadows.

At 12:48, an alien jumps out of the spaceship and starts moving toward the stage.  OK……I am seriously getting scared.  The alien is onstage!!! Wait…

At 13:18 the alien appears out from behind the keyboards.  The Alien is PAGE!  A crazy curve ball and cool segue in my opinion.  I always knew Page was from another planet.

Final Thoughts

Portland Meadows was certainly a tough act to follow.  I actually love the way Phish responds with this Ghost.  The jam leads in with a great groove (not really a part of Portland Meadows), then works a cool rocking section.  Then it moves into what seems like another trip to dark, insane, space Phish.  Instead, they throw a curve ball with Lawn Boy.  I love Phish.

Score: 8.3