Phish Announces Auburn Hills 1999 Live Archival Release

Phish will release an official recording of their December 2, 1999 concert at The Palace Of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan this Friday via LivePhish.com. Kevin Shapiro, the band’s archivist, is currently spinning highlights from the show on SiriusXM’s Phish Radio for the latest installment of From The Archives. Look for replays to air leading up to the release on Friday.

The concert opened the second leg of Phish Fall Tour 1999, or Winter Tour 1999, depending on your preferred nomenclature. Phish had been off since October 10, 1999 and would follow the stop in Auburn Hills with visits to Cincinnati, Rochester, Portland (Maine), Philadelphia, Hartford, Providence, Washington D.C., Raleigh and Hampton.

Highlights are numerous with five songs deemed jam chart-worthy by the Phish.net team. All five took place in the six-song second set, which ended with an otherworldly “You Enjoy Myself” that saw the band connect on an ethereal chord progression unlike any other in Phish history. A vocal jam followed that wound its way into “The Little Drummer Day” and eventually saw drummer Jon Fishman left alone onstage.

Earlier in the night, Phish opened with “Runaway Jim” and then presented an arrangement of “Farmhouse” that included an extra chorus tacked on. The rest of the frame went heavy on staples including “Heavy Things,” “Run Like An Antelope,” “Sample In A Jar” and “The Squirming Coil.” A slightly extended cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie On Reggae Woman” kicked off the second set ahead of “Gotta Jibboo” and an adventurous 20-minute “Bathtub Gin.” An exploratory “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (“2001”) led into the aforementioned “YEM” with a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Bold As Love” serving as the evening’s encore.