RIDESHARE - Phish 2000.05.23

I can't seem to get enough Phish lately, and the Phish shows indulge me by continually being awesome.  It's a vicious cycle.

I'm digging through a lot of solid '92-'93 stuff right now, but about a week ago I tumbled to a great '02 show and this amazing '00 one.

Phish 2000 shows, when they're good, hit that spot where it's almost like a 90s-era Phish live mixtape: you get some early 90s shredding, some mid-90s technique, some late-90s funk, and a few Farmhouse tracks jammed out in jaw-dropping ways that only seemed to happen before the hiatus.  This show is one of those.

"AC/DC Bag" sounds like it could have come straight from a '92 show, and it moves right into "Wilson", and then, just when you're settling into the groove, out comes "First Tube" to surprise and otherwise stimulate you.

Take, for instance, the "Weekapaug"-less "Mike's" that comes out of "Ya Mar" and goes into "Simple", then "It's Ice" before finishing up the run with "When the Circus Comes".  Not only are these segues effective, that combination of songs is just bizarre.  Just reading it makes me want to listen again.

Pretty much the entire second set is this way too...and the band jams throughout in a way that's fitting to the setlist...oftentimes you can almost hear them reaching to figure out a way to connect such interestingly disparate material.  And that's a good thing.  This weird mix doesn't work 100% of the time, but I'd rather listen to a show like this than a perfectly played but paint-by-numbers show any day.  I should eat this show.

RIDESHARE - Wilco 2004.11.13

This review is mega-short because, honestly, I listened to this like 2 weeks ago and after everything that's happened since then, I barely remember it.

Here's the setlist.

Most of the main set was standard 2004-era Ghost tracks, until the end which was a particularly stellar "Poor Places" > "Spiders" match-up.

Also of mention was the first encore's rare "Another Man's Done Gone" and "Candyfloss".

High quality show, but nothing revolutionary if you've already heard some 2004 SBDs.