The cat is out of the bag. 1999, a year long ignored by LivePhish.com, is getting it's moment in the sun on this new Live Bait 9 release. Long time phans have been clamoring for professionally remastered soundboard releases of these '99 shows for over a decade.
"Why? Don't the tapes suffice?"
The short answer: "No."
The 1999 shows featured such a rich abundance of sounds, textures, depth, delicacy, rage, delicate rage, and sonic scapes not yet tested on stage by Phish. As the Summer 2000 tour came around, the band and sound techs had mastered the setup and monitors and PA levels for a better mix and thus tapers got better recordings. However, that meant that a full year of Phish was semi-sort-of missing in action. Some of the '99 recordings were fine, but many were washed out by the mid-level sounds and noises. Even the live shows were very hit or miss from a phan sitting in the pavs or lawn. It sounded like loud "droning" on specific notes. These were huge jams - 20+ minutes!
It was just raw. It was pure. It was uncut. It was amazing.
Some of the soundboard patches revealed hidden gems and textures not captured by tapers. The full extent of what Phish was doing on stage has been slowly leaking as archivist Kevin Shapiro features these songs and shows in his releases, and Live Bait 9 is a startling realization of what we have been missing.
Still not getting it? Check out these Live Bait 9 cuts:
Split Open and Melt > Kung > Jam – 7/15/1999 @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
Mike’s Song > Twist > Weekapaug – 7/9/1999 @ Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia MD
Download Live Bait 9 for FREE right here: http://www.livephish.com/music/0,788/Free-MP3-Download-Live-Bait-Vol-9.html
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