Mini Episode #2: We're Not Gonna Take It, 10/8/99, Uniondale, NY

Attendance Bias

Welcome to the second mini-episode of Attendance Bias! These mini-episodes will feature a breakdown of a single song or jam from a show that I’ve attended. I’ll pick a song or jam for any given reason—it was the highlight of the show, it meant something special to me, it's widely renown, who knows?

These mini-episodes will be posted on a bi-weekly basis in between full episodes of Attendance Bias, when a guest and I go over a full Phish show.
Today's episode focuses on Phish's rendition of The Who's "We're Not Gonna Take It," played on 10/8/99 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY. This show, and the one the night prior, acted as a sort of "passing the torch" for me. The Who had always been my utmost obsession. The Who was the greatest, and every other band was second-best. When I discovered Phish in the mid-90s, they were the upstart; the neophytes; the undiscovered country. I was deeply into them but they were still relatively new to me.
Then, when Phish played the Nassau Coliseum, my home venue, in 1999, my friends and I rode the rail for both nights. At the end of night two, 10/8, they did the unthinkable: they brought on Tom Marshall for a wholly unexpected, one-time, cover of "We're Not Gonna Take It;" a relatively lesser-known Who song. I absolutely freaked out and the rest of history.
I break it down piece by piece in today's episode. Enjoy!
AUD recording for this episode: "We're Not Gonna Take It"