We have one final installment of content for quarantine weekend: a ranking of my five favorite Philadelphia shows from all eras. This ranking is, of course, purely subjective, and I've done my best to point out the highlights of each show
The first set really gets going with the spectacular version of Save the Robots. The first jam is fiery and explosive, and the second is a restrained groove into Rockafella. The second set is consistently strong from the jam out of Caves, with the massive Dribble > Shem-Rah Boo > Dribble standing out as the main highlight. The third set, like the first set, is centered around one particularly strong segment, Spraypaint > Cyclone > Spraypaint, which features some of the era’s best “machine-gun Barber.”
Another three set show (at least in theory) making up for cancelled sets, the Electric Factory show begins where the previous night’s Jam on the River set prematurely ended. The show opens with the Munchkin Invasion that was rained out at the previous night’s show, and the music doesn’t let up for the rest of the set. The second set is the longest and most interesting, featuring an electrifying O Fortuna and an excellent version of Spacebird, one of the few inverted versions. The third set is basically a long encore, but it’s enjoyable as well.
2001 was the first year that the New Year’s Eve show was played at this iconic venue, but it’s the night before that is the most interesting to me. Choosing between the first and second sets is very difficult, and while most people seem to favor the second, I’m inclined to choose the first. The entire segment is great, but the Floes > Sound 1 > Floes that is at the center is another level of spectacular. The show is most well known for the Triumph > King of the World jam, a masterpiece in its own right, but I think the first set is overall just a hair stronger.
The penultimate show of 1999 is flawless front to back. The first set is the stronger here; I don’t know anyone who would dispute that. The Vassilios jam is some of the best music the band has ever created, and the rest of the sandwich maintains at least close to that level of excellence all the way through. The second set is remarkably consistent, containing best ever contenders for Down to the Bottom and Mindless Dribble, as well as an explosive Shem-Rah Boo and a surprisingly exploratory Pygmy Twylyte. Even the encore, The Thieving Magpie > Plan B > The Thieving Magpie, manages to cover some impressive improvisational ground.
This show is so fat that it seems almost unfair to let other shows compete against it. I debated excluding it from the list, but I decided that there might be some out there who have not recognized its greatness. To get the obvious out of the way first: yes, on its own, the Akira jam in set three is probably enough to put this show towards the top of the list. However, there is nearly an hour of fantastic music in both set one (Morph, Svenghali > Boop (><) > Svenghali) and set two (Helicopters, Very Moon, Spaga). With all of that, the fourth set is really just gravy (and true, it doesn’t add much, but it doesn’t dip in quality much either). This is easily the greatest show the band has played in Philadelphia, maybe anywhere.
—Andy
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