After the Chula Vista show we drove to some point north of L.A. and holed up in a motel. We made the long drive to Shoreline the following day. Got to love driving by Gilroy, CA - garlic capital of the world. We checked into our hotel in Mountain View, hit a liquor store and rolled into the lot around 5:30.

Cops were being complete pricks making people pour out coolers of beer. That's how it was on 10/6/00 but they got more mellow for the next day and the same held true for this two-day Shoreline run. So we are sitting there drinking beer when a ticket broker tells us he has 3rd row tickets. Malcolm and I talk him down to $90 for the pair. So I take off to sell my sec 201 or 202 (whatever it was it was in the 200's: not a bad seat). The extra situation was unreal, so many people had them, and lawns were being miracle left and right. After 45 minutes I found some dude that gave me $25 bucks for it. I lost $20 bucks on the whole thing but as this night turned out, I could care less.

I ambled in and found my seat. So the Ticket Broker guy was incorrect in saying we were 3rd row; we in fact were 7th row, just a couple of rows in front of junkbondking. Great seats, better than the 8th row seats I had for Phoenix and Chula; the Shoreline seats were much more centered. Malcolm walks in and sits down next to me, and a few minutes later out walks the band. Shit eating grins all around us not to mention on stage.

SET 1: You Enjoy Myself: Jesus, you've got to be kidding?! Is this a dream? You have to love a band that does this kind of stuff: 10/7/00 last show before hiatus at Shoreline and they encore w/ YEM. First time back at Shoreline and what do they open w/? That's right folks, freakin' YEM! Damn I love this band! This was a smoking YEM, Cactus dropping bombs all over the damn place - woo hoo, 17 minutes of bliss for this guy! There were a couple of Simple teases in there somewhere, no vocal jam and segue into ->

Simple: We indeed have it Simple! Pretty good version - not too long clocking in at 10+ minutes >

Mountains in the Mist: After the blistering start to this show, I was pleased w/ this selection. Trey's vocals sound great.

Chalk Dust Torture: I kid you not when I say this Chalkdust is fire. Machine Gun Trey at his finest here. Awesome.

Bathtub Gin: The band really means business tonight as was made apparent here. Holy cow, this Gin is just insane. This was my 63rd show and I love the fact that twice in this almost 27-minute song that I had to look at my setlist notes to realize "Oh yeah, this is still Gin!" No other band has ever been able to take me on such a roller coaster ride w/ songs of this nature; and alas they are still doing it to me! Love it! The whole band was such an intense groove machine throughout this monster, always listening to one another while maintaining their own distinct playing.

SET 2: Boogie On Reggae Woman: Standard as they get but still a great tone setter coming out of set break. >

AC/DC Bag: Completely smoked, hot fire through and through. >

Piper: >

Twist: Some excellent jamming here and no wasted space and an extremely cool segue into… ->

Scents and Subtle Sounds: I was excited to hear this after seeing the Phoenix debut a couple of nights ago. After reading a review on Phish.net I have realized what that middle jam in this song sounds like to me: Sparks. It is very similar. I know very little when it comes to the technical side of music. All I know is that the middle jam does have a similar sound to Sparks and the end jam is similar to a Hood or a Slave. It matters little to me. What mattered to me this night was the way this song MOVED ME. The lyrics are beautiful number one. But during the jam I found myself getting very verklempt. I was so touched during this tune and couldn't help but feel that this song says a lot about the upside of Phish's future – looking back on this review 20 years after having written it – I couldn’t have been more wrong. Definitely a classic in the making.

Mike's Song: My buddy Malcolm called this one! I didn't think the night could possibly get any better and then they drop this atomic bomb on us! The place just erupts as the opening notes ring out. YEEEEEEEESSS! This Mike's would be relatively standard but very well played at the same time. Just the fact that they were playing Mike's this deep in the set, I was at a loss for words. 10-minute Mike's w/ a segue into >

I Am Hydrogen: Thank you, thank you, thank you Phish. So classic, so old school. Pretty well played and a segue into >

Weekapaug Groove: Mike just brings the house down as usual. Again pretty standard Mike's Groove as a whole but very solid too. A ten-minute Weekapaug ends the set. Page has a nice funky breakdown with Mike adding some nice accents. The band says nothing after first set and after second set, they didn't need to. They looked pretty pleased, we sure were!

ENCORE: Loving Cup: A more appropriate song could not have been played in this spot. Yeah, it's played a lot maybe overplayed. Didn't matter tonight one bit. "What a beautiful buzz" indeed. After my disappoint w/ the Phoenix and Chula shows, I felt like this show completely validated just why I was on tour -> you never know when the band is going to sneak up and grab you. Well they did tonight, and this guy was back on the train (yes, I am a dork).

Replay Value/Summary: Would highly recommend Bathtub Gin and Piper. Then I would say it wouldn’t hurt to listen to YEM, Simple, and Weekapaug.

Malcolm, I am really glad I was able to share this show w/ you bro - I will never forget it. People, haggle w/ ticket brokers - trust me on this one, it just might be worth your time like it was for us tonight. The energy of the band just rolling off the stage was incredible. It was like a heatwave coming off the band and enveloping the whole amphitheater, the boys were FEELING it tonight! Back to our sweet hotel (good work on that one Malcolm) for some late-night partying. Ah, the best of times this night folks; the best!

Score: 4.2 out of 5