← The Year of 2000

The Yamaha AN1x synthesizer system — added to the rig in spring 1999 — continued into 2000. The setup remained self-contained: its own Boomerang Phrase Sampler and dedicated volume pedal, completely independent from the guitar signal path. The stereo AN1x output ran direct to the front-of-house board with the Gallien-Krueger bass combo as the stage monitor.

The three-loop architecture that defined 1999 — the guitar Boomerang, the DM2000 delay loop, and the AN1x Boomerang — was nominally still available in 2000. The extent to which the AN1x was deployed at the same density as the late 1999 and Big Cypress period is less well-documented for the 2000 touring season specifically.

The core rack — carried over from 1998 and 1999 — continued into 2000 with no confirmed changes to its contents. The Kriz-Kraft 17U road case remained the housing for all rack effects and switching gear.

2000 was not a year of rig reinvention — it was a year of consolidation and, ultimately, suspension. The architecture that had taken shape across six years of active touring arrived at October 7, 2000 essentially intact: the same Fender Deluxe Reverbs that had replaced the Mesa Boogie preamp chain in 1997, the same Goff Leslie 925 that had debuted in June of that year, the same Koa #1 Languedoc that had been the primary guitar since the Halloween 1996 show.

The Farmhouse album added new material to the setlists — "Sand," "Gotta Jibboo," "Heavy Things," and others — and the summer 2000 shows were by most accounts a high point in terms of the band's playing. But from a rig perspective, the story of 2000 is largely a continuation of 1999.

There was one meaningful development late in the year: in September 2000, the Goff-modified Leslie 925 that had been part of the rig since June 1997 was replaced by a full-size Leslie 122 cabinet. The 122 is the canonical dual-rotor Leslie — the instrument that defined the rotating speaker sound on Hammond organs and on classic recordings. Moving to the 122 on the final tour was Trey arriving at the most traditionally "correct" version of the Leslie tone he'd been working toward for three years. The 122 was in use at the Shoreline final show and went into storage with everything else when the hiatus began.

What makes 2000 significant in the arc of this documentation is the finality of it. The hiatus meant the rig that had been evolving organically since the 1994 Bradshaw rebuild went into storage. When Trey came back — first with TAB in 2002 and then with Phish's reunion in 2002–03 — the configuration had changed. The 2000 rig, as documented here, represents the end of the line for this particular chapter.

2000 is well-represented on LivePhish. The summer amphitheater run and the fall closing shows capture the full pre-hiatus configuration. The Alpine Valley shows from August are among the most celebrated of the year. The final Shoreline show on October 7 is historically significant as the last night of this rig era.