Six Disc Set Captures Phish At Its Best December 10, 1999 - Winston-Salem Journal By Ed Bumgardner Album Review - Hampton Comes Alive It's hardly hush-hush that Phish, one of rock's most intelligent jam bands, is best appreciated in concert. Thus, a new six-disc live set, Hampton Comes Alive, is perfect - for those who feel that the band's previous concert disc, A Live One (1995), didn't quite snag the full Phish experience. Hampton embalms two entire Phish shows from last year at Hampton Coliseum in Virginia; three discs are given to each show, and there's no overlapping of material. The 45-song grab bag includes, in addition to embellished album cuts and concert staples, an odd array of well-lathed cover songs ("Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" is the extreme.) The band's versatility, virtuosity and eclecticism, so often a source of strain in the studio, translates onstage into applaudable spates of tricky improvisation and technique. Compact songs with cogent lyrics, never the band's strength, remain few: There's more noodling here than in a pasta factory. Lack of Phish hooks aside, there's no discounting the band's ingenuity and musicianship. All told, Hampton preaches best and loudest to the converted, who already own bootlegs of the shows. So what's the point? Review © 1999 Winston-Salem Journal