Phish - Hampton Comes Alive December 10, 1999 - House of Blues by Shane Tobin Album Review - Hampton Comes Alive Phish has been one of the most successful touring bands of the late 90's, so it's no surprise that their biggest release of music to date is a six CD set that covers two full shows from the Hampton Coliseum in Virginia. While Phish fans are known for their extensive tape trading (a la The Grateful Dead), they will be very excited to have a mountain of music available to them at this level of quality. Hampton Comes Alive does not have any Peter Frampton covers on it, but it does have plenty of other cover songs that you will have to hear to believe. Take Jon Fishman's rendition of Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It." This version makes a strong case for keeping all white people out of the rap genre, but you can hear the band laughing all the way through it. Other covers include a beautiful version of The Beatles' "Cry Baby Cry," a rocking "Roses Are Free" by Ween, and another campy cover to close out the last disc of Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping." As for Phish's music, there are many tunes that have been a part of their live repertoire but have not made their way on to previous releases. Songs like "NICU," "Farmhouse", "Dogs Stole Things" and "Tube" are tightly orchestrated and work perfectly in the live setting. The recordings as a whole feel very much like most of Phish's studio albums in the sense that most of the songs are concise versions. There are a few times where the band adventures into the great unknown, like in "Bathtub Gin," "Split Open and Melt" and "Simple." But the searching and reinvention that came across on their previous live release, Slip Stich and Pass seems to be missing here. Phish fans are sure to enjoy this release and will most likely play it at full volume out of their VWs on the Winter Tour. As for the rest of the country, they will probably remain oblivious to Phish and continue to rock out to the Backstreet Boys until radio tells them what the next cool thing is.