The Daily Ghost #60 12/30/1999 Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation, Big Cypress, FL
(@KernelForbin Remaster)
Background (Set: 1 of 3 – Song: 10 of 12 – Show Gap: 7)
The last Ghost in a great year takes place at the big show. After monster versions of Ghost to close out 1999, this version brings the fire to the first set at Cypress. No segues before or after. Hold on you to your hats!
Composed Section (0:00-4:14)
The last Ghost of 1999 and the millennium is greeted with the sweet sounds of Trey’s loops. The crowd gives a nice roar as they echo through the massive crowd. Mike and Fish enter at the 0:37 mark, and this Ghost has a bit more uptempo feel to it. Even the loops are moving quicker.
The solo section gets a heavy dose of Page and then some funky Mike. The pause is average length and Phish rocks a good drop in. It is Big Cypress, you can’t mess up the drop in!!!
Walking before Running (4:15-6:55)
The jam begins with sectioned off jamming and some great tones from Mike. Fish slows the pace down and Trey emerges in the lead, right after some deep sounding Mike at the 4:53 mark. Fish gives a cool fill at this point.
Trey leads out smoothly and controlled. He is given some great background from both Page and Mike. The jam hits a great groove right away.
At 6:05 the jam takes a 74 degree turn. Fishman moves into some cymbal work and Mike really finds his mark. Trey starts to play longer lasting notes giving the rest of the band freedom to play through them. The jam begins to slow way down. Mike sounds fantastic as he gives this section life, which Trey begins to feed off of.
Super Fast Build (6:55-8:33)
By around the 6:55 mark, Fishman has taken the pace up a notch. Page has moved to the piano and does some fantastic work building this jam. As Page holds each chord, Trey and Fish begin to get this sucker moving. Gordon is hitting each note perfectly. Every note from Mike is wonderfully placed and the tone is right on the money.
The pace of this jam amazes me at the 8:00 mark. The jam never feels like it is being pushed, yet this sucker is rocking! Phish covers a ton of ground super fast. They waste no time with this Ghost. Fish changes things up around the 8:11 mark to really give this jam some life. Check your dirty Ghosts at the door. Strap in!
BOOOOOOOOM (8:34-14:37)
Trey starts to slash some notes at the 8:34 mark. Machine gun Trey is 
sure to make an appearance before the year 2000. The jam is kicking ass before holding back just a tad. Phish gave you just the tip there.
At 9:07, Trey is shredding into another repeated series of notes. Fish is killing it in with one of the most unique beats you will here from him.
This is a pure heater. It gets hot in Florida. This peak is WAYYY hotter. This is the equator. Only if the equator was dipped in fire. Phish played Farmhouse before this. We are a lonnnnnnnnnnnnng way from Farmhouse!!!
At 9:47, Trey continues some repeating. You can tell he is just setting this up for complete and total destruction. He continues that all the way to about the 10:30 mark. I can’t stop being blown away by Fishman during that section. He and Mike really get this thing rocking even harder as Trey does his repeating. You know what is coming…The flame thrower is coming.
Starting at 10:29 there is one show in town. It is the Trey Anastasio show!!! Trey announces to the crowd he is the offspring of Hendrix, Page, Clapton, and Darth Vader. He grabs hold of this peak and DESTROYS it. At the 11:00 mark, I can’t even try and describe what is going on. Here is my best try. Trey just played a lot of notes….fast…..
Wait…
No….
The jam goes up a notch!!!! At 11:19, faces are disintegrated. Call the Red Cross, we have a problem. Was your millennium wish to have your face fall off? Going to be tough to kiss your wife or girlfriend on 12/31 after what Trey just did to your face.
Mike and Page are certainly contributing to this Florida inferno. I just can’t pull myself away from Trey and Fish. Fish drops a sweet fill at 11:45, and then Trey starts to build some more tension. Thanks Trey, like my heart wasn’t racing enough already.
When Trey comes away from the repeated lick at 12:30 he switches it up a bit. He switches tones and gives this raging Ghost a slight spacey feel to it. For about 30 seconds it sounds like this is going to go into outer space. One problem…Jon “Andretti” Fishman is in charge. He is “Andretti” because he is driving this one home.
At the 12:55 mark, Fish grabs this sucker by the BALLS. He picks up the pace and it is over from there. Trey somehow picks up a bigger flame thrower and just blows my mind. Trey just grabbed this…
The first thing that ever drew me to Phish was Trey, and when he plays like that, I still remember my first listen. He and Fish were not human during that. Wow!
The jam fades out at a pretty quick pace. Time to catch your breath.
Final Thoughts
What a year for Ghost! 1999 has some fantastic big massive Ghosts. They end the year on a high note with a pure fire scorcher. Put this one on and watch your adrenaline level skyrocket. Awesome stuff, from one of the signature moments in Phish history. Speaking of….Monday is Radio City…whoa….
Score: 9.0
Dude, this didn’t even get a fucking 9?!?!?! Wow, guy. Very interesting. I mean… what else does Ghost have to do, that would deliver more than this, to get over a 9? I was thinking as I was reading the review, “Maybe this is the first 10.0 Ghost?”
This is far and away my favorite Ghost. It has SO much cool playing. Immediately, Fishman changes things up in a BIG way by his subtle hi-hat syncopation early on in the jam, at 5:04. I fucking LOVE that move, and he reprises it in Radio City. I don’t think he’d ever done that kind of groove during Ghost before, otherwise I’d be all over it.
And then we have Trey…. he has so many stand out parts in here, pieces of actual MUSIC that stick out. That’s the thing about this Ghost, is that it’s composed. Its music. Its not jamming. The Big Cypress Ghost is a piece of music.
And how many ratchet-up moments are there? This thing just climbs and climbs; Fish’s drumbeat is instrumental in this; he’s not playing straight-ahead. I love how his snare hits are thrown on the off-beats at the end of the measure. I firmly believe it is this creativity which single-handedly allowed Trey to decimate the everglades with this version.
Also, what is quite possibly my favorite example of Phish’s “Group Maneuverability” occurs with brilliant Pay Jorgan fire at 12:44 when Page shifts his position on the organ to imply a major key cadence underneith Trey’s soaring rage-o-phonic shredlust.
This Ghost really has no equals. It’s groove, soaring, liquid, fire-breathing, transcendent, up-beat, unique, and MEMORABLE. I remember more shit from this Ghost than probably only the Radio City Ghost, simply because that one is so long, and has a ton of different parts.
Also, props to Fishman for wanting to keep this Ghost going. He’s the last to stop playing. Listen to how hard he’s slamming that kick drum!
This definitely is an ass kicker. I certainly love the straight up ragers I just like the Ghosts that find that great Type 2 space a bit better. This is no doubt another of a long list of standout Ghosts. Completely agree that Trey and Fish are destroying life in this Ghost. I was a bit tired after listening to TAB last night, I agree with you should be a 9 after playback today. 9.0’d