Jam Breakdown - 12/8/99 Piper
December 1999. A month known for its incredibly long trance-like jams and Jennifer Dances. Oh, also a New Year’s festival in Florida.
Among the many gems of 12/99 sits the Portland Piper – a near 20-minute monster nestled in the second set after a solid and loopy Sand > Dirt combination.
This jam covers the two main themes of December 1999 Phish – crazy, frantic shredding with lots of reverse delay and deep, groove-oriented soundscapes. All four band members are on incredible display here, with all leading the jam at different points. Hopefully we get this released on a future Live Bait or archival release to hear it in all its SBD glory! Listen to the AUD and follow along here.
Don’t forget to sign up for the mailing list so you don’t miss any of my breakdowns - follow me on Twitter @ry_storm for daily polls on what jams I should do next!
All timings per Relisten.
12/8/99 Piper
0:02: Trey gently strums opening chords
0:17 – People near taper are loud
0:34 – Very gentle build
0:55 – Dynamics stay at near silence
1:02 – Song begins to build up as Fish switches from cymbal textures to drums
1:23 – Relaxing build ensues
1:46 – Vocals
3:02 – Trey breaks away from Piper progression with high-intensity soloing
3:08 – Band gets a bit disjointed for a second
3:34 – Page copies Trey’s trilling
4:12 – Runaway freight train jam
4:25 – Almost a Crosseyed tease from Trey
4:50 – Jon Fishman is an animal
4:59 – Jam seems to be mellowing a bit
5:03 – Trey picks it right back up and continues shredding
5:17 – Trey employs signature ’99 reverse delay soloing
5:28 – Trey rips back into Piper progression at high speed and intensity
5:56 – Breakneck speed song reprise
6:15 – Reverse delay madness
6:51 – Mike is really nailing the low-note groove
7:09 – Trey switches to rhythm guitar briefly before setting up a dissonant loop
7:15 – More wild soloing
7:30 – Fish on steady eighth-note ride cymbal groove
7:49 – Explosive moment as Fish goes back to standard groove
8:00 – Jam begins to depart rage fest
8:12 – Page introduces ascending/descending riff
8:25 – Trey colours with steady sixteenth notes
8:55 – Jam is still very high-intensity
9:20 – Jam mellows finally, sparse and tight groove develops
9:35 – Trey playing quick rhythm guitar as Page textures on clav
9:52 – Fish switches up groove to match Trey
10:06 – Page goes back to piano
10:20 – Very classic 99-00 jam develops, reminiscent of 9/14/00 Drowned
10:49 – Fish and Mike still hammering away as Trey and Page play quietly
11:09 – Trey employs octave-up chirp effect
11:22 – Jam spaces out
11:34 – Page introduces quiet CS60 swells as Fish continues pushing quietly
11:57 – Synth swells pulsate
12:14 – Trey does some note bending to match Page
12:31 – Lush soundscape led by Page
12:41 – Fish and Mike push same high-intensity groove, just quieter
12:52 – Fish switches to half-time beat
13:03 – Trey on textural work instead of lead
13:13 – Fish increases intensity of groove, gets funkier
13:40 – Space noises
13:54 – Trey gently introduces major-key motif
14:09 – Page drifts onto Rhodes
14:22 – Almost a Reba-like vibe but with less form
14:33 – Synth swells return
14:47 – Mike playing repeating riff underneath wild synth
15:13 – calm and serene jam
15:21 – Page almost playing Coil outro on CS60
16:04 – Page continues to lead jam as Fish refuses to let up on groove
16:20 – Trey reappears on keyboard
16:35 – Trey introduces some haunting notes bent down
16:52 – Mike drops large bomb
17:06 – Jam increases in intensity a bit as Mike drops another bomb
17:20 – Fully spacing out now
17:29 – Much like the end of 9/14/99 Bag
17:44 – Dreamland
17:57 – Trey loops take on a dark sentiment
18:15 – Fish hits cowbell
18:20 – Droning Trey rises like a cloud on the horizon
18:41 – Cosmic soup whips up
19:02 – Trey strums a chord
19:20 – Jam fades into Dog Faced Boy