by Jeff Waful

The mighty Hampton Coliseum emerged out of the trees as we made our way off of Route 64. The building looked magical. The ancient arena looks nothing like any other venue in the country. As I write this, Jambands.com Venue of the Month Editor, Dave Saslavsky is yelling at me, "Hampton Coliseum is the best venue in rock 'n roll!" (He's also trying to convince me to go eat breakfast at the infamous "Waffle House" next door. What kind of a name is that?). There is definitely a festive vibe down here. Phish fans have invaded this town and it seems that the locals have welcomed us with open arms. In addition to the cozy confines of the intimate 13,500 coliseum, the neighboring plethora of hotels makes for a carnival-like atmosphere. There is a complete lack of police-presence, once again proving that Phish fans are best behaved when left alone to do their thing.

The band played a very solid show last night. Gone were the sloppy notes and botched lyrics that have been common place on this tour. The energy level was at a fever pitch reminiscent of a New Year's Eve or Halloween show. When Trey started strumming the opening notes to "Piper," the crowd erupted while Kuroda flooded the stage with an extremely dark shade of royal blue. After the short build up to the first chorus, Trey started wailing and Chris unleashed an arsenal of red and white "striped" tubes of light. They looked like dancing candy canes, hovering above the stage. After the initial jam, the band settled into an ambient groove and Trey's familiar poly-rhythmic looping effect wove it's way into Page's off-kilter comping. Mike and Trey then vamped, while Page and Fishman filled in the space. Just as it sounded like the jam would dissolve into nothing, Trey busted back into the meaty chords of "Piper" and the band reprised the original progression, sending the crowd into a frenzy. An uplifting opener to say the least.

"Meat" has never been a favorite of mine, although this version capitalized on the energy in the room. The three-part, syncopated harmonies of Trey, Fish and Mike were very tight, but Fishman's rapping was a bit repulsive. Towards the end of the song, Trey moved to his keyboard for a couple of extended breaks. "Sparkle" was actually quite enjoyable. Now that the song is no longer played to death, it makes for a nice transition song. Plus, it was perfect for the amount of energy that was in the air. "Gotta Jibbo" represented the thickest pocket of the night. Fishman layed down the funk and allowed my body to coast along on autopilot. Trey damped the strings of his guitar and caressed them in a way that created a percussive counterpart to Fish's groove. "Punch You in the Eye" was next and featured a longer intro than usual. It was a bit of a surprise at this point in the set, only because of its stylistic similarities to "Jiboo." The build up section offered another funk groove and more rhythmic picking from Trey, only this time he subdivided the beat to create a poly-rhythmic audio illusion. What he was actually doing was playing different time signatures over the straight-ahead 4/4 groove that the rest of the band was holding down. Mike played some weird notes during a few of the verses. It was hard to tell if he was having trouble remembering the progression or if he was just re-harmonizing it. Mike's weird like that. This was a much stronger version than the "PYITE" from Philly.

Los Lobos' "When the Circus Comes" provided a much-needed breather. The crowd erupted at the chorus and rightfully so, as it certainly feels like a three ring circus has invaded Hampton for the weekend. Believe it or not, "Water in the Sky" was one of the highlights of the show. That's the thing about last night's concert. It was the antithesis of the Rochester show that I so despised. On paper, it doesn't look like anything to write home about, but the band really excelled. It certainly wasn't a dream setlist, but the playing was tight and inspired. The line, "Close the shutters draw the shades, filter out the everglades," received one of the loudest crowd responses of the night as everyone realized the significance of the mentioned location and the correlation to the upcoming New Year's show. The band was all smiles after the reaction. Trey's solo was one of his strongest of the tour simply because he was articulating his ideas and executing them flawlessly. It sounded like Trey in his prime. It was the fluid, machine gun style of '93. The absence of the botched notes was very refreshing. "Twist" ended the set and Fishman really shined. During the jam, he was playing his kit linearly while maintaining the 16th note pulse. Trey, meanwhile was going crazy with his octave pedal, creating a tone very similar to his sound from the summer of '97.

Overall, the set was a bit on the short side, clocking in at an hour and eight minutes. The band was listening to each other very well and obviously feeding off the crowd's energy. During the set break, Paul played Peter Frampton's Frampton Comes Alive over the PA. I was speculating that the band might actually open the show with a Frampton cover and Fishman would even replicate the famed "talk box" effect with a vacuum solo, but to no avail. At least Paul made the nod to the famous album in which Phish's latest box set cleverly references. During the break, bags of balloons were passed around the crowd with a note asking everyone to take part in "the largest audience participation balloon drop."

When the lights went down for set two, hundreds of balloons were let go from several of the upper sections as the band erupted with "Birds of a Feather." A flock of balloons had congregated above the crowd at the front of the floor and Kuroda lit it up. The illuminated balloons looked like shimmering champagne bubbles, ascending in slow motion. Trey started soloing as he watched the dancing balloons and tore the roof off the building. Whatever Trey was lacking earlier in the tour, he had regained last night. His solo absolutely raged. It old school Trey at his best. Kuroda was right on top of this jam, showering the band in strobing ACLs during the tension-building sections and then exploding with huge scenes of blue and white for the release. It felt like 1993 all over again.

"Moma Dance" was mellow, yet funky. Fishman's unison singing during the beginning of Trey's solo, was a bit out of key, but other than that, this was a fine version. What came next was a bit of a mystery. I had it labeled as "My Left Toe," but there was no real consensus from anyone I talked to. Many people I asked, simply wrote "jam" on their setlists. Regardless, it was a short spacey instrumental that sounded a bit Floydish. Kuroda surrounded the stage with multi-colored shafts of light. The lighting design looked liked the ice walls of Superman's house (with the occasional stick of krptonite flying through the air). "Bug" was next. Arena rock. It doesn't matter. I've heard "Jennifer Dances" three times already this tour. I'm not really sure why this song was written. It's your basic three-chord pop song.

After a lengthy discussion on stage, the band pulled out one the absolute highlights of the tour. "Split Open and Melt" reaffirmed Phish's brilliance. The thing that makes the jam unique is the measure of 9/8 that follows the three measures of 4/4. At the beginning of the jam, Fishman and Kuroda really accented the hits on 9/8. After the band sunk into a groove, the hits became less and less obvious. After a few minutes, Fishman sounded like he was playing a standard 4/4 groove, however he was still sliding the measure of 9/8 in there. This created a very disorienting effect on the listener, who by now was probably focused in on Trey's solo. The measure of 9/8 became so subtle, that it was hard to determine where the "one" fell. The band sunk deeper and deeper into spiraling dissonance as Kuroda lit up the crowd behind the now silhouetted stage. This is where Phish was at the top of their game. They were all accenting different parts of the beat and were really tuned in to each other. The jam plunged plunged farther away from the original jam and sounded like it was segueing into something completely different. Kuroda was using very complex lighting programs usually reserved for the likes of "Also Sprach Zarathustra." However, that sneaky measure of 9/8 was still prevalent and sure enough, out of nowhere, the band turned on a dime right back into "Split Open and Melt." I nearly lost it. There was no obvious cue on stage, but all four members whipped right back into the big kicks that represent the "Split" theme. It was an absolute stellar version. "Character Zero" ended the set. It was far less cerebral than the preceding chaos, but that is not to say it was a let down. Ending the set with one of the big rockers just gets a little predictable and formulaic for my taste. There was no way they were going to top "Melt" in my book. Trey, to his credit, was going ballistic and this version was blistering.

The first song of the encore was "My Home Place." Once again, Trey played an extremely fluid solo in a place where I would not expect it. He was trying a lot of different ideas and his chops were very polished. This is rare for him this tour. It sounded as if he had actually been practicing his licks. "Squirming Coil" was well played. A glow stick war broke out and it seemed that there were more hard, plastic glow sticks rather than glow rings that have started to catch on in the Northeast. After a short Page solo, he segued into the opening chords to "Loving Cup" another arena rocker, but high energy nonetheless. Trey once again ripped a huge crowd-pleasing solo, but it sounded almost exactly the same as the one he had just played in "Character Zero." I'd rather see the band dabble in darker tension and release antics, than the feel good rock anthems.

Overall, this show was above average. Trey, in particular played very well, compared to his recent performances. The band as a whole, sounded very inspired and fresh. Unlike the latest album, Hampton definitely came alive last night. The "Split Open and Melt" alone made the trip worthwhile. It's a shame that the tour is coming to a close tonight. It seems as though Phish is just starting to hit their stride. Let's hope they can maintain the momentum into alligator land