One of the more interesting selections of the official LivePhish catalog, not necessarily because it's an all-time great show, but because apparently no audience tape exists and Shapiro decided to release it (in the pandemic year of 2020, no less) to plug that gap and make available one of the few shows nobody outside the venue that night had heard. And it's not bad, all told - it's not quite at the level of the best of May or August 1993, but it's a charming good time in the way 1993 Phish tends to be a charming good time, I greatly enjoyed the lunar eclipse talk -> How High The Moon -> Mockingbird narration in Set 1, Bowie and Stash bring that skin-crawling early-90s tension you just don't get from modern-day Phish, and MFMF -> Kung > YEM offers up a nice slice of The Weirdness that early Phish trucked in. If you haven't heard 1993 Phish before, I'd direct you to 8/13 and 5/8 first, but this should absolutely be a stop on your adventure into early-90s Phish, and the sound quality is fabulous. My kingdom for an It's Ice like this one in 2024!

June 19th, 2010 was the first of a pair of Phish concerts at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, also known as SPAC. (By some sort of force of habit my finger typed an “e” at the end of that last little transmission and I must say it had never occurred to me until now that SPAC was the word “space” without an “e”. How is it that nobody has taken advantage of this yet? To my knowledge the town does not have a drinking establishment called the SPAC Bar, the area surrounding Saratoga Springs is somehow not known as “outer SPAC”, no business called no Storage SPAC…I think we can all be thankful that I missed my calling.) I just asked m’lady where we had stayed for this run and she wasn’t sure either. Funny, this was coming off of a pair of shows in Hartford that we both remember quite well so you’d think our memories would come a little easier but alas, I guess I’ve been to SPAC too many times to keep it all straight. A guy could have worse problems. We stayed at one of two places for certain, either the cheap little strip motel just steps outside of Saratoga State Park (which holds the venue) and right next to a delicious barbecue joint or in the…one of those generic but nice places halfway between the town and the park…maybe the Hilton Garden Inn? Anyway, the sketchy cheap motel is generally my favourite place to stay in town (the house/hotel with the big social front porch runs a close second), so for the sake of pleasant nostalgia let’s say we stayed at the cheap strip motel this time. Let’s even go further and say that this was the time that I’d brought along my mandolin and I spent most of my spare time sitting in a half-round plastic chair in front of my room strumming and making friends with all the other people who spent most of their spare time sitting in half-round plastic chairs in front of their rooms, which was basically everyone. And all the while the aroma of delicious barbecue wafted through the air. I tell you, it was just this side of heaven. But let’s get to the show, shall we? It was definitely one for the ages. Get this: the band opened(!) the first set with [i]Tweezer Reprise[/i], completing a mini-gag that had begun at the previous show, which they had ended by playing [i]Reprise[/i] twice in-a-row. They’d played it twice to make up for not playing it at the concert the night before that (when they play [i]Tweezer[/i] in a show – as they did then – they pretty much always play [i]Tweezer Reprise[/i] later in the same show, naturally). It had been an inside joke in Hartford and it was an even bigger inside joke here at SPAC but with Phish the whole crowd is generally on the inside. It was genuinely pretty funny – I was laughing out loud – not to mention a downright raging way to open a show. And a raging show it remained, picking up from [i]Reprise[/i] with the ever-rockin’ [i]Chalkdust Torture[/i]. There was also a [i]Suzy Greenberg[/i] in there somewhere, and a [i]Sample[/i], a[i] Bowie[/i], and a [i]Fluffhead[/i] too. When the second song of the encore came I was pretty sure that [i]Character Zero[/i] was going to be the final air-guitaring of the night but no, Trey had one more rock and roll chuckle waiting. [i]Tweezer Reprise [/i]closer. Hilarious, and truly awesome; I’m talking 20,000 people screaming and jumping up and down with both fists in the air. I wonder if Trey thought up such a funny little joke right on the spot? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a “SPAC…the final frontier” t-shirt to design. http://www.toddmanout.com

This was my first show, pretty much all I remember is Phish was supposed to play Sutters Mill in Syracuse, I was an SU student, but the bar canceled the show to do a party for the basketball team. Needless to say we were pissed and piled in a car and drove through the snow to Ithaca. The Haunt was small and pretty cool I knew nothing about the band at the time. They did swear never to play Syracuse again at this show but obviously relented eventually.

This was my first time seeing Trey solo acoustically. Though it would prove to be the case that we weren't totally out of the woods yet, this was my first concert in over a year and a half due to COVID. When Trey sang "I feel the feeling I forgot," it felt like the entire theatre was on one wavelength: we [i]all[/i] felt that. Incredibly powerful "re-entry" to live music.

Really poor recording for this show due to multiple cassette generations. Also, the pitch is a hair sharp. Things open with a fiery Buried Alive. Foam has an atypical opening. Well played Sky. Solid YEM. Bryant Smith adds his talents on trombone to a decent Magilla . Trey takes a nice solo in Llama to close out set 1. Not much to review for set 2 as the tape cuts out a minute or so into Landlady. Jim is the highlight of the partial second set.

Pretty good audience recording for night 2. Unfortunately, there is some tape warble in spots but all in all a decent recording. Big thanks to Todd and Arty for getting this one out there. Hopefully the Master DAT’s see the light of day at some point. They open the show with another good Chalk Dust but fairly tame compared to last nights version. They follow this up with a Bouncin’>DaaM switcharoonie. A fantastic Stash with Grippo segues out of DaaM. Grippo comes back out for impressive versions of Destiny Unbound and Llama. After Foam, Page mentions that the show is a benefit for the Abenaki Camp. Set 2 kicks off with a smokin’ Bowie with some DEG teasing. A well played Gin follows. Grippo comes back out for Magilla. They bring in The Dude for an interesting Mike’s Song. Killer little jam with Grippo fitting in perfectly. Page uses a Casio synthesizer for the start of Hydrogen. Really nice Groove with Trey laying it down per usual. Bag, Rocky Top and Antelope featuring Grippo are all must hear versions. What a way to wrap up the final night at The Front! It’s too bad Shawn and Peter never reopened another location. :(

PHISH, MONDAY 06/26/1995 SARATOGA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Saratoga Springs, NY Soundcheck: Time Loves A Hero > Dog Log/Time Loves A Hero mashup, Nellie Kane, Santana Instrumental, Rocky Mountain Way SET 1: My Friend, My Friend: I like the creepy loops at the end. Don't You Want To Go? Standard. Bathtub Gin: Standard. NICU: Standard. > The Sloth: Standard. My Mind's Got a Mind of its Own: Standard. Standard. It's Ice: Standard. > Dog Faced Boy: Standard. > Tela: Standard. > Possum: Smoker! Would recommend. Many a melted face when the lights went up for set break. SET 2: Down with Disease[1] Some of it is just noise but plenty of it is engaging and upbeat with intense sections. It’s not for the faint of heart and those that grew up on 3.0 Phish will likely not enjoy this. Exquisite segue into Free. Would recommend. -> Free: First jammed version! It has some filler but most of it is awesome especially the last 6 minutes! Would recommend. > Poor Heart: Sick little interlude before Page’s solo makes this one a bit unique. Super high energy. > You Enjoy Myself: Dialed in from beginning to end. Trey is on fire. Crushes both Notes and his solo is a screaming shred fest. Would recommend! Strange Design: Standard. > Run Like an Antelope: Barnburner for sure. Beautiful sustained note by Trey in the midst of the chaos adds to the intensity. ENCORE: Sleeping Monkey: Standard. > Rocky Top: Standard. Summary: First set is kind of first setty but the Possum smokes. The entire second set is awesome. Really strong show overall, 4.2/5. Replay Value: Possum, Down with Disease, Free, You Enjoy Myself, Run Like an Antelope [1] Unfinished. My Friend started with a Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 tease from Trey. Trey teased and quoted Long Tall Glasses in Bathtub Gin. Possum contained a Heartbreaker tease and YEM contained Immigrant Song teases from Trey. Down with Disease was unfinished. This show is available as an archival release on LivePhish.com. JAM CHART VERSIONS Possum, Down with Disease, Free, You Enjoy Myself, Run Like an Antelope TEASES Heartbreaker tease in Possum, Immigrant Song tease in You Enjoy Myself, Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 tease in My Friend, My Friend, Long Tall Glasses tease & quote in Bathtub Gin

PHISH, SUNDAY 06/25/1995 THE MANN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Philadelphia, PA SET 1: Ya Mar: Standard. > AC/DC Bag: Smokes big time! > Taste: Very solid. > Theme From the Bottom: Standard. If I Could: 3:09 to 3:12, tell me that is not Page playing Eminence Front for a couple bars??? Coincidence? Maybe. Coo? Very! Great version here. > Sparkle: Standard. > Divided Sky: Standard. I Didn't Know: Standard. Split Open and Melt: Standard. SET 2: Maze: Smokes – great opener! > Sample in a Jar: Kind of negates the momentum that Maze created. Scent of a Mule: Standard and rather straightforward. Mike's Song: This jam is hard driving and intense. Super metal! By the late 12’s this has largely settled and gets spacy for the next few minutes. Crazy intense ramp up around 15:20 and things are spinning out of control in a good way. This would have been A LOT to handle on a headful, wow! Would recommend! -> Why Don't We Do It in the Road? This was the first time this was played out of Mike’s and the second and last time it happened was 2.23.97. > Hold Your Head Up: Standard. > Jam: Some cool effects in here, revisiting some of that wild psychedelic soup they created in Mike’s – kind of sounds like the end of Day in the Life -> Weekapaug Groove: Mainstreet by Bob Seger at 2:12 and Dreaming by Blondie at 4:24. The first part of this jam is led by Trey soloing passionately, it’s fantastic. From there, things get very funky led primarily by Page. When they are satisfied with this section, Trey comes in over the top and lays waste to the Mann. He is in all his glory during this stretch, blistering guitar work. Would recommend! Amazing Grace: Standard. Cavern: Standard. ENCORE: Bouncing Around the Room: Standard. Slave to the Traffic Light: Feels a little rushed and it’s definitely shorter than most from this era. Must have been up against the curfew. Summary: Very good show. 3.8/5 Replay Value: Mike’s Song, Weekapaug Groove During I Didn’t Know, Trey introduced Fish as “Cedric Harris.” The Maze intro included Taps teases from Trey and Weekapaug contained teases of Mainstreet and Dreaming (Blondie). JAM CHART VERSIONS AC/DC Bag, Maze, Mike's Song, Jam, Weekapaug Groove TEASES Taps tease in Maze, Mainstreet and Dreaming teases in Weekapaug Groove

December 31st, 2014 was my first New Years Eve in warm climes – Miami in this case – and I hope it won’t be my last. I’ve spent one Christmas in warm weather, again in Florida, and while that was a great holiday I wouldn’t want to do it that way every year. Christmas just screams silent, snowy nights with Jack Frost nipping at noses but New Years Eve? Not so much. Of course m’lady and I were in town for Phish. We were staying at the ultra-high class Intercontinental Hotel just a short walk from the venue. We went to Versailles for lunch (though Versailles is pretty much the most famous Cuban restaurant outside of Cuba it’s still Cuban food, which just isn’t overly flavourful) and brought some treats from their adjoining bakery/sweet shop back to the hotel. We made the rounds meeting up with friends as they landed in town and checked into their own rooms. This was a bit of an odd run, in that NYE was the first of the four-night run instead of the last but everyone was pretty much in agreement that it could only be a good thing: with the big show coming up first at least everyone would be well-rested for it. We had arrived in Miami without tickets to any of the shows. It’s not that tickets had been hard to come by, just the opposite. There were so many signs pointing to soft ticket sales we decided to take our chances on finding cheap tickets in the lot, and we were right. In shorts and a t-shirt and with a can of beer in my hand I scored a pair of NYE Phish tickets (well, two singles) out front of the venue for $10 each in no time flat. I feel I overpaid, but was still quite pleased with my purchase. Inside we were treated to three great sets of music. I think anyone who was in the room specifically to witness one of the band’s famous NYE gags in person might have been disappointed. Instead of Cirque du Soleil-like acrobats descending from the ceiling or driving onstage in golf carts and pelting balls into the audience we got an inflatable Fishman flying from the stage to the ceiling. The gag had the drummer playing a vacuum solo when the switch on the vacuum cleaner accidentally gets flicked from “suck” to “blow”. Though the plastic inflatable was probably forty feet tall it looked pretty underwhelming floating through the cavernous room. As uninspired as the schtick was the music was great, and every great song that the band didn’t play just meant it was still on the table for one of the coming three shows. That’s one of the great things about seeing one of these no-repeat bands on a multi-night run. Every song is an event that won’t come again and is generally appreciated as such, and there’s no disappointment if you didn’t hear your favourite song. It’s becomes a delayed-gratification thing. After the show it was such a great feeling to walk out of the venue in shorts and a t-shirt and continue the New Years Eve celebration outside on a lovely warm evening. That is something I could get used to in a hurry. Take that Jack Frost. http://www.toddmanout.com

Decent audience recording for set 1. Set 2 is an ok SBD recording. The pitch is a hair slow. The text file says Cass/2, but it sounds more like Cass 3/4. Pretty standard first set for this tour. Highlights come in Sky and Tweezer. Second set opens with an impressive early Chalk Dust. Afterwards Trey thanks Sean and Peter and the rest of the staff at The Front for many great nights. The intro to YEM is horribly botched by Trey but they pull it together for a really strong version. Tom Baggott takes a nice harp solo during the jam. Poor Heart see’s Fish do his call outs in between verses for the first time. They have some fun with Reba. Silly version of Suzy. They wrap up set 2 with a spirited Tweezer Reprise. The encore features a very silly (explicit)BBFCFM. Fish yells out “Who’s smoking pot!?!?” lol For whatever reason the Terrapin is cut from Relisten.

PHISH, SUNDAY 03/02/1997 PUMPEHUSET Copenhagen, Denmark SET 1: Johnny B. Goode: Standard. Uncle Pen: A bit sloppy. Sample in a Jar: LOL at Trey’s Creep quote right before his solo. Guyute: Standard. > My Soul: Standard. > Runaway Jim -> Gypsy Queen -> Runaway Jim: Very cool! Unlike Red Rocks, they almost immediately go to Gypsy Queen once the jam in Runaway Jim starts. At Red Rocks, they were much more patient with it as they didn’t get to the GQ until 8:30. 6.24.97 was the last time they did this combo and they waited until about 9:15 into that Jim jam before they got into the GQ jam. So, while 3.2.97 was cool – 8.7.96 and 6.24.97 were better. Run Like an Antelope[1] Short and blue balls into Catapult with no climax in Antelope -> Catapult: They take this one into outer space and the audience is super respectful and you can hear a pin drop before they magically go into Life on Mars? > Life on Mars? Standard > Chalk Dust Torture: Standard. Hello My Baby: Standard. SET 2: Also Sprach Zarathustra: Super Bad by James Brown at 6:10. Fun version for sure, great opener. > Maze: Standard. Swept Away > Steep: Standard. > Punch You in the Eye: Standard. > Waste: Standard. Character Zero: Standard. > Slave to the Traffic Light: Standard. > Tweezer Reprise: Standard. ENCORE: You Enjoy Myself: Standard. Very bland. Summary: Total throwaway show. Odd for a tour closer. Replay Value: Absolutely none. Will never listen to this one again. [1] Unfinished. Sample contained a Creep (Radiohead) quote from Trey. Antelope was unfinished. Trey teased Super Bad in 2001. JAM CHART VERSIONS You Enjoy Myself TEASES Creep quote in Sample in a Jar, Super Bad tease in Also Sprach Zarathustra

We're approaching the 30th Anniversary of the beginning of the 2nd leg of the Spring/Summer 1994 tour. This is the band's second of seven total shows played in the state of Utah after debuting there on 8/21/93, and their only show at the Triad Ampitheater. Everything in the first set is played with precision, without any flubs that caught my ear. The It's Ice jam briefly touches on the rave-up riff from "I Can't Turn You Loose", aka The Blues Brothers Theme. As the noise intro to DWD starts, Fishman seems to say "write it down" twice in a somewhat menacing voice, possibly as a jesting command to those keeping track of the setlist on the rail at the show? One reason I enjoy 1994 shows as much as I do is Trey's guitar tone. In 1994 he was still using the same guitar, amp head, and speaker cabinet he introduced back in 1989, but by this point he had his sound dialed in and then some, both for the stage and the PA. He was also getting a fair amount of use from his wah-wah pedal, and having fun with the pitch-shifter. But all the sound effects can't help you if it ain't in your fingers, and Trey's fingers and hands were always playing the right note at the right time in the Summer of '94. I consider Maze to be a highlight from this show; the whole band plays well, but Trey's Jedi credentials are on full display. Fishman's whoops and screams push Trey toward the raging peak. And the second set is the same, but slightly less so. The crowd noise on the AUD during the unamplified Ginseng Sullivan is cute, but the recording level is painfully overdriven to catch the music. Mike's Song is great and jam chart-worthy, despite Hydrogen being cut on the SBD. A quick Highway to Hell encore makes this a short, professional rock show by our favorite Vermont quartet. So with very little to complain about, why would this show's rating be as low as it is? Because this show's highlights are relatively sparse compared to what was to come later in the year (or month). There just aren't enough performances in the "excellent" category to compare to the majority of Phish shows from 1994. I certainly don't mean to say that this show isn't worth your time; but if you are picking a new show from Summer '94 to spin, you'd be forgiven for looking elsewhere. Not that Phish ever cared about any of that. Like @Life_Boy said above in his show review: "But as Phish was prone to do in the mid-90s, they were just plugging along playing great shows, creating new fans, giving great experiences to those who showed up wherever they played, even a small venue like this".

PHISH, SATURDAY 06/24/1995 THE MANN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Philadelphia, PA SET 1: Fee[1] Standard > Rift: Standard. Spock's Brain: Standard. Julius: Smokes! Glide: Standard. Mound: Standard. Stash: Do you like tension and release Stash jams? This one has that in spades. A huge amount of tension is built in this one. Good first release. The second build up is even more impressive. Hold on to your hats, this Stash is intense! Would recommend! The Horse > Silent in the Morning: Standard. The Squirming Coil: Very nice Page solo. SET 2: Also Sprach Zarathustra: Standard. > Halley's Comet: Standard. > David Bowie: Sounds like a brief Bathtub Gin tease around 11:50 from Trey. During this time, things are very dissonant. Evil and uncomfortable just listening at home on tape. Towards the late 18’s they are finally making efforts to drag this one out of the murky depths. By the twenty-minute mark this one is raging! This version isn’t for everyone. I would be willing to wager those folks that prefer 3.0 (lol) would not love this Bowie. I personally would recommend. It’s a monster and it’s evil. Lifeboy: This was a welcome breather! Suzy Greenberg: Very cool how Trey plays Lifeboy licks right before the first Suzy refrain. Harry Hood: You can feel good about this one, Trey really leans into that Leslie. Would recommend! Acoustic Army: For an amphitheater crowd on a Saturday night, this one is very quiet and respectful. Trey takes note and thanks the audience. Sweet Adeline: Standard. Golgi Apparatus: Standard. ENCORE: Bold As Love: Trey gushes about how great the audience was again. Summary: Very good show. 4/5. Replay Value: Stash, David Bowie, Harry Hood [1] Trey sang verses through megaphone. Trey sang the verses of Fee through a megaphone. Suzy contained a Lifeboy tease from Trey. After Acoustic Army, Trey thanked the crowd for being so quiet. The band then proceeded to don surgical masks for Adeline. The masks were provided by a fan in the front – Trey thanked him for the “hats.” The encore was preceded by Random Note and Simpsons signals. JAM CHART VERSIONS Julius, Stash, David Bowie, Harry Hood TEASES

I've listened to a tape of this show, so its out there somewhere. I was sent the recording of Trey's sit-in with Santana, and uploaded it to Soundcloud here: [url=https://soundcloud.com/user-210420987/sets/trey-with-santana-72292-nashua-nh?si=2f6144b1f5e84be7b742763c90bab251&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing]Trey and Santana[/url]

Decent SBD recording available for this show. There’s some cassette hiss but overall the sound is pretty good. I’d guess this is a Cass 3/4. Things start off with a solid Bowie intro. The jam is pretty straightforward but very enjoyable. Well played Ya Mar Nice Brazil tease from Trey in his solo. Gin has a cool little jam. Possible tape flip after Gin. Standard but good Possum set closer. The Golgi opener is from an audience source tape. I’d love to see someone put a matrix together for this show. Solid Hood. Wilson has the callout in the intro. Fish actually starts it. Long pause before the blat, boom section. Nice work from Trey in Foam. The second McGrupp of the tour is well played and has Fish on vac during Page’s solo. Chalk Dust segues out of McGrupp. Strong early version. Henrietta introduces each band member by their first name in Love You. Amusing vac solo. They jam out the HYHU outro! Almost sounds like the end of Harpua? Afterwards Trey says “I’ve got a bucket of lard!” They continue to say this in the beginning of Mike’s as well. Rippin’ Groove to close out set 2. Mike’s bass solo to start sounds like a rubber-band. lol Well played A-Train in the encore slot. Very enjoyable second set overall.

Beautiful audience recording available for this show! The only thing that could make it better would be it was recorded to Dat. The acoustics of the venue and well behaved audience make this a home run recording! Big thanks to Zeke Vaughn for pulling this one down and sharing it with the community! The first set starts off with Page doing the dirty work of informing the audience that no smoking, food or drink is permitted in the theater. He also sends a shout out to John Paluska’s parents who were in attendance that night. The set opens with a well played Sky. Afterwards, Trey chats about discussions the band has been having about sitting vs. standing/dancing at shows. A solid Foam follows. Decent Reba. Llama rages per usual. Magilla makes an appearance after sitting on the bench for almost a month. A little rust at the start. They close out set 1 again with no amplification for Sweet Adeline. Set 2 starts off with Fish asking for Peter Paluska to come to the stage to claim his lost wallet. They hand him the mic and he requests that Phish play Moby Dick backwards. Curtain>Fluffhead pair nicely together. Atypical Arrival section. Enjoyable versions of Stash and Melt. Chalk Dust wraps up the evening on a high note.

PHISH, SATURDAY 03/01/1997 MARKTHALLE Hamburg, Germany Soundcheck: Attack on the Bass SET 1: Cities: Standard. > The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony: A little sloppy. Down with Disease: Short barn burner. Weigh: Seemed like they really enjoyed playing this. Beauty of My Dreams: Standard. Wolfman's Brother: Great staccato playing from Trey in the early going, dude is definitely picking and grinning! Things get 97 funky from there and then they slow it way down and perfectly segue into Jesus. Would recommend! -> Jesus Just Left Chicago: Seems like a normal version to me. Reba[1] -- Very strong playing – energetic and bouncy throughout but doesn’t quite have a signature moment. Hello My Baby: Standard. Possum[2] - Strong, very strong and coupled with two heavy metal segments, pushes this one over the top. Would recommend. SET 2: Carini: Standard. Dinner and a Movie: Standard. > Mike's Song: Inspired first jam. On point and played with clear intent, to destroy minds. The second jam is creepy and spacy. With all the eventual The End and Careful with that Axe stuff and the screaming – it’s a lot to handle. All timer and highly recommended. -> Lawn Boy: Standard. > Weekapaug Groove[3] - The Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ stuff is a hoot and a half. Very fun version. The Mango Song: A bit sloppy. > Billy Breathes: Standard. Theme From the Bottom: Interesting set closer. ENCORE: Taste: Standard. Sweet Adeline: Standard. Summary: Great show and the release certainly has helped it’s popularity over the years. 4/5. Replay Value: Wolfman’s Brother, Possum, Mike’s Song [1] No whistling. [2] All Fall Down signal and heavy metal-style intro. [3] Unfinished. The week-long trend of breaking out songs continued with the show-opening Cities, which was the first since July 5, 1994 (223 shows). Trey teased Under Pressure in DWD. Wolfman’s included a Dave’s Energy Guide tease. Reba did not have the whistling ending. Possum included an All Fall Down signal and a heavy metal-style intro. The jam out of Mike’s featured teases and vocal quotes of The End (The Doors), and Careful with That Axe, Eugene as well as the Jim Morrison poem "Dawn's Highway." The End (The Doors) was subsequently quoted in Lawn Boy and Weekapaug. Weekapaug was unfinished and ended in a Can't You Hear Me Knocking jam. Portions of this show were made available via the Slip, Stitch and Pass release. JAM CHART VERSIONS Wolfman's Brother, Jesus Just Left Chicago, Possum, Mike's Song, Weekapaug Groove TEASES Dave's Energy Guide tease in Wolfman's Brother, The End (The Doors) and Careful with That Axe, Eugene tease & quotes in Mike's Song, The End (The Doors) quote in Lawn Boy, The End (The Doors) and Can't You Hear Me Knocking quotes in Weekapaug Groove, Under Pressure tease in Down with Disease

Decent audience recording for night 2. Unfortunately the levels run pretty hot for the first set. Luckily the levels are corrected for Set 2. Oh Kee Pa cuts in to open the show. Good yet straightforward Reba. Some nice start/stop jamming in Melt. Weekapaug shreds in typical fashion to close out the first half. A rare Dog Log opener starts off the second frame. The beginning is cropped a bit on Relisten. Nice solo from Trey in Llama. Forbin>Mockingbird does not have a guest horn player as stated in the text file. This must be in reference to Jamie Janover on didgeridoo as it also states Hood was dedicated to the Vermont Dairy Farmers. This is obviously in reference to the show at The Chance. Straightforward Mockingbird narration. Nice transitions between Mockingbird>Buried Alive>Hood. Very enjoyable Possum closer! The stage banter at the start of the encore is cut from Relisten for some reason? No HYHU intro/outro music surrounding Terrapin. Jim was the only repeat…so close! Another rippin’ version. The band comes back out for a well played Golgi.

PHISH, FRIDAY 06/23/1995 WATERLOO VILLAGE Stanhope, NJ Soundcheck: Blues Jam > Goin' Down Slow > Heartbreaker, Nellie Kane, My Sweet One > My Sweet One Refrain Medley > Ring of Fire, Acoustic Army SET 1: Simple: I love the little loop at the end that leads into CDT. > Chalk Dust Torture: Standard. Prince Caspian: Standard. Reba[1] Jamcharts version but seems like a fairly average version to me? Ginseng Sullivan: Standard. > Free: Standard. > Taste: Standard. You Enjoy Myself: Strong jam, but not sure it’s jamcharts worthy? SET 2: Runaway Jim: Very strong and engaging jam and I love the loops, psychedelia, and Page on the baby grand in the last minute that segues nicely into The Lizards. Would recommend. -> The Lizards: Trey a little sloppy in one spot, otherwise solid and entertaining. The Wedge: Not a fan of the placement, reminds me of 3.0. Run Like an Antelope: Great interplay between Trey and Fish on wood blocks in the intro. Two sections of intense tension building. Strong version, would recommend. Harpua[2] -> Jam[3] -> Good times, fun guest and narration Llama[3] Cool transition out of Harpua. Good Times Bad Times[3] Not sure who blew some cues (Page?) but this one is sloppy in parts I would assume Popper may have had something to do with that. ENCORE: A Day in the Life: Standard. Summary: Great setlist and well executed for the most part. Two highlights I would revisit, and they are surrounded by plenty of other fun tunes. I am rating this as a 4/5 even though for some reason that feels a tad too strong. Replay Value: Runaway Jim, Run Like an Antelope [1] No whistling. [2] Unfinished; with verse of Abba's Waterloo. [3] John Popper on harmonica. Reba did not have the whistling ending. Harpua was unfinished; Jimmy played an Abba record (which led to a verse of Abba’s Waterloo), decided that he hated Abba and thought that maybe a little rocking harmonica would tighten it up. John Popper then came out for to play harmonica on a jam that led into Llama. Llama and GTBT also featured John Popper on harmonica. It's Magic was part of the soundcheck's My Sweet One Refrain Medley. JAM CHART VERSIONS Reba, You Enjoy Myself, Runaway Jim, Run Like an Antelope, Jam TEASES Waterloo verse in Harpua

On August 4th, 2015 I ended my little southern Phish run in Nashville at the brand-spanking new Ascend Amphitheatre. The ride from Alabama had been fun and uneventful, starting with an excellent breakfast at a hipster place in Tuscaloosa before ending at the Comfort Inn in Nashville. There was a day off before the Nashville show and I spent it (and $1,600) at Gruhn’s Guitars. I picked up a barely-used Jerry Jones Supreme double-neck electric sitar and a t-shirt. That was one pricey t-shirt. On show day I walked to the venue and did a few rounds in the parking lot, picking up a Steal Your Boognish t-shirt that I had been coveting since I had seen one in Atlanta. At $20 it felt like a bargain. From the lot you could clearly see the stage with only an empty bridge in between. Un-kudos to the venue for purposely parking a fleet of tractor-trailers on the bridge before the show started specifically (or so it appeared) to block the view from outside. Inside, the venue still had that new-car smell; the place barely had the plastic off the seats it was so new. I was on the freshly sodded lawn under a sunny twilight from where I enjoyed the concert immensely. The show (and thus my mini-run) ended with [i]Slave To The Traffic Ligh[/i]t, a song I always enjoy hearing and one that is always a fitting drive-away song, though in this case it would be a fly-away song. The venue is just a short walk from the main strip in Nashville, another city-planning coup that follows in the footsteps of Nashville’s hockey arena that is on the strip itself. I did a little honky-tonkin’, dropping into a few bars for some great live music. We spent most of our night at one bar sitting at the front table, and we found out later that a half-hour after we left Trey and Mike popped in for an hour. Too bad we missed them but whatever. In the morning it was off to the airport to close off my four-show Phish run, my new (to me) guitar in tow. It was fun flying in and out of the shows and letting someone else take care of the driving in between. Not as fun as actually driving it all myself, mind you, but fun nonetheless. http://www.toddmanout.com

Crispy dSBD available for night 1. Bouncin’ and a strong Foam get things started. Foam slams into a lively Chalk Dust. Afterwards Trey dedicates Chalk Dust to Cam Neely, his hero. Damn near flawless rendition of TMWSIY. This pairs perfectly with a fantastic Sky. Fish dedicates Fee to Cam Neely, Trey’s hero. Another rock solid Tweezer. They close out set 1 again with an unmic’d Sweet Adeline. Set 2 kicks off with a sizzling Bag. Curtain is the perfect match. The transition into Sloth out of Curtain is awesome! I’m surprised they didn’t do it more often. Sloth slams right into a nice Landlady. The hits keep hittin’ with Runaway Jim>Tela. When’s the last time they played Tela back to back? Smokin’ YEM! Excellent jam, B&D and vocal jam. Harpua has more Cam Neely fun. Tweezer Reprise closes out set 1 complete with some early Mike bombs for good measure. Dream setlist! The encore is a bit of a cool down after all that, but you can’t go wrong with an A-Train>BBFCFM.

PHISH, FRIDAY 02/28/1997 HUXLEY’S NEUE WELT Berlin, Germany Soundcheck: Character Zero, Funky Bitch SET 1: Carini: Standard. Paul and Silas: Standard. > My Soul: Standard. Cars Trucks Buses: Standard. Peaches en Regalia: Standard. > Stash: Standard. Swept Away > Steep: Standard. > Ya Mar: Standard. Character Zero: Standard. SET 2: Taste: Standard. Drowned: Standard. -> Prince Caspian: > Frankenstein: > David Bowie: Short but cool! Super cool, brief sojourns into major mode territory in the late 11’s. They weave that bliss stuff in and out of the darkness. Very tastefully done. Would recommend! Love Me: Standard. Axilla[1] Standard. > Waste: Standard. > Julius: Smokes! ENCORE: A Day in the Life: The beginning is a trainwreck, Page lol. Summary: A very bland, below average show. 3/5. Replay Value: David Bowie [1] Contained Axilla II ending. This show included the first Paul and Silas since October 24, 1995 (120 shows).

PHISH, THURSDAY 06/22/1995 FINGER LAKES PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Canandaigua, NY Soundcheck: Funky Bitch, Ginseng Sullivan, Dog Log, Shaggy Dog > Jam, Acoustic Army SET 1: Sample in a Jar: Standard Scent of a Mule: Standard Ha Ha Ha: Standard > Divided Sky: Sloppy Guelah Papyrus: Standard It's Ice: Sloppy Strange Design: Standard Maze: Pretty meh version Cavern: Standard Sweet Adeline: Standard SET 2: Theme From the Bottom: Definitely not standard. They keep going and going and there are hints of what is to come, would recommend. -> Jam: Effects driven, psychedelic freak out. Fun! Would recommend. -> Tweezer[1] The first part of this jam is slow and funky – very nice! The My Generation thing falls pretty flat IMHO. Things pretty much go off the rails from there into a land of utter chaos and noise. Uncomfortable to listen to at home. Would have been a lot to have been there on a head full. I do enjoy Page’s solo towards the tail end. Nice and chill. -> Tweezer Reprise: Standard. Summary: Below average first set and a super wild second. The Tweezer doesn’t do it for me but the Theme and subsequent jam does. 3.5/5. Replay Value: Theme From the Bottom -> Jam ENCORE: Acoustic Army, While My Guitar Gently Weeps [1] Fish on vacuum. Maze included a brief Lazy tease. This 40-minute Tweezer, which is known as “The Fleezer,” contained a My Generation jam, Rift teases from Mike, and, at one point, a Fish vacuum accompaniment. In the soundcheck, Funky Bitch was performed as the blues version and Dog Log ended with the AC/DC Bag intro. JAM CHART VERSIONS Theme From the Bottom, Jam, Tweezer, Tweezer Reprise TEASES My Generation and Rift jams in Tweezer, Lazy tease in Maze

Not the best audience recording but an enjoyable listen nonetheless. Big thanks to Todd and Arty for getting this one out to the community! The first set cuts in with Fish drumming while Mike changes a broken bass string. This cuts and picks back up during Page’s solo in Foam. Unfortunately the Rocky Top opener is cut from the recording. Forbin>Mockingbird has Jamie Janover on didgeridoo for part of the narration. Llama rips. Bowie has a nice hi-hat hijinx section with Mockingbird teasing. Solid jam. For the first known time Phish performs with no amplification for Sweet Adeline. The crowd freaks during Fish’s part per usual. lol Chalk Dust opens the second half in fine fashion. Strong Sky. Melt>Tela make a good pairing. Really nice Melt! Zilch, Zero, Nobody delivers a fine bone solo for I Didn’t Know in his custom-made spandex red and blue superhero costume with a cape and hood! lol Sick Possum set closer!!Gorgeous Hood to wrap up the evening! Afterwards Trey dedicates that to all of the Vermont dairy farmers protesting Hood Inc. He says “it’s a little tongue and cheek, but it’s still a great song and we love playing it but we hope Hood changes their policies.” The PA outro music is Louis Armstrong’s “Duke’s Place”.

My first show! Stoke level was extreme. Trey was in a foot cast—fun watching him try to work his petals. I don’t think i stopped jumping up and down for a second during Jim. Just pogo-sticked the whole tune. Tweaked a hammy. Went on to see another 70 or so shows through ‘98. Tweaked my hammy several more times. *hail storm heading out of the lot into the show

PHISH, WEDNESDAY 02/26/1997 LONGHORN Stuttgart, Germany SET 1: Camel Walk: Huge bustout. Awesome way to start this show. Llama: Standard. My Friend, My Friend: Standard. Harry Hood: Cool placement but average version. > My Soul: Standard. > Tube: Standard. > Carini: Standard. Rock A William: Standard, brief explanation of who Rock A William is/was. Dog Log: Another big bust out. Not played since the famous version from 12.11.95, 90 show gap. While My Guitar Gently Weeps: Standard. SET 2: Buried Alive: Standard. > Poor Heart: Standard. > Ha Ha Ha[1] - Heavy metal outro jam is sick, would recommend! > You Enjoy Myself: Trey rips the solo, nicely done! -> Kung: Standard. Standard. -> Theme From the Bottom: Standard. > Scent of a Mule > Jam -> Magilla > Scent of a Mule: I typically am a hater of Mule. But this whole segment was a ton of fun! Would recommend. Slave to the Traffic Light: Very strong and soulful version. Great Trey. Would recommend! ENCORE: Highway to Hell: Standard. Summary: Bust out city = instant classic plus this SBD tape being widely circulated did not hurt it’s popularity. Really fun show. 4/5. Replay Value: Ha Ha Ha, Scent of a Mule > Jam -> Magilla > Scent of a Mule , Slave to the Traffic Light [1] Heavy metal outro. This show featured the first Camel Walk since July 2, 1995 (140 shows) and first Magilla since May 4, 1994 (261 shows). Ha Ha Ha was notable for the heavy metal jam outro. YEM included Super Bad teases. Trey teased Dave's Energy Guide in Theme. The jazz jam in the Mule Duel included an ‘A’ Train tease from Mike. JAM CHART VERSIONS Ha Ha Ha, You Enjoy Myself, Scent of a Mule, Jam, Magilla, Scent of a Mule TEASES Super Bad tease in You Enjoy Myself, Take the 'A' Train tease in Jam, Dave's Energy Guide tease in Theme From the Bottom

PHISH, SUNDAY 04/21/2024 SPHERE Las Vegas, NV SET 1: Plasma: Cool way to open the show. Evolve: Standard. Ghost: Brief sojourn into major mode territory in the early going. But after that, things get pretty interesting quickly. Love this segment that ends at about 9:30. Back into celebratory mode for a bit in the 14 minute range. After that, they play around with some effects and then it quietly peters out and ends. Solid enough Ghost, especially this early in the show. Divided Sky: Standard. Shade[1] - Standard. hey stranger: Good jam, fairly compact. They could do a lot more with this tune. Character Zero: Standard. SET 2: Oblivion: Standard. > Down with Disease: Wow, this one will go down in the history books. Anyone here something similar to My Woman From Tokyo stuff in the late 22’s? Awesome DWD, really have enjoyed my handful of listens to this one. Easy all timer and highly recommended. Beneath a Sea of Stars Part 1: Standard. -> Also Sprach Zarathustra: Standard. > Light: Standard. > Ether Edge: Standard. > Piper: Standard. First Tube: Standard. ENCORE: More: They should stop playing this in the encore slot and while they are at it stop playing it all together. > Slave to the Traffic Light: Put it on the shelf guys until you are ready to give this tune the attention it deserves. Slow down. Have patience. Let it breathe. Stop rushing Slave! Summary: Review is purely based on the music, not on the visuals. One huge highlight in the all timer DWD. Other than that, nothing really grabbed my attention. With Mexico and Vegas in the books, this year is off to a good start. They have moved off of the bliss crutch and are generally more interesting thus far. I like the direction of the band and think it’s the best they have played since Fall 2021. This doesn’t feel like a 3.5 but not quite a 4 either. So, I guess 3.75/5 feels appropriate. Replay Value: Down with Disease. [1] Began with Trey on acoustic guitar. The band took the stage while pre-recorded music similar to Plasma played, before beginning the song. During Ghost, the neon-colored outlines of three giant robots appeared to tower over the band, with their facial expressions varying and their arms and bodies swaying slowly. The three robots were then replaced by one massive robot, with spotlights utilized to make it appear as if beams of light were coming from the robot's eyes, before the original three robots returned for the remainder of the jam. During Divided Sky, the dome became a view of a sea of clouds, with patches of blue sky above. As the clouds moved, their appearance varied from purple sunset hues to dark and stormy, with the movement stopping and all of the color fading during the pause before returning for the rest of the song. Page teased Linus and Lucy at the end of Divided Sky. Trey began Shade on acoustic guitar. During Shade, an eclipsed star was shown behind the band, with its corona of changing colors visible and a silhouette of the band in the center. During Sea of Stars, the dome became filled with a curtain of gold-colored four-point stars, which twinkled and waved in front of roiling clouds. During 2001, the dome became a starfield before being illuminated by replicated images of the stage lights. Mike teased Plasma during Light. During Ether Edge, a string of umbrellas with colored drops trailing beneath were raised to either side of the stage. The umbrellas were lowered again during Piper. During First Tube, the dome again became a starfield, this time with a ring of stars centered above the stage slowly swirling. As the second "verse" of First Tube began, a white vortex appeared in this area. As the stars in its orbit began to become multicolored, the vortex pulled in their light and created flowing, rainbow-hued ribbons that grew as the jam progressed. Prior to More, Trey thanked the production team behind the Sphere shows, and said that he thinks the band will return to the venue. After Slave, the band gathered at the front of the stage to take bows and have a picture taken in front of the crowd. This show was connected to the other three with each night's setlist tied into a state of matter. This performance's matter type was plasma. JAM CHART VERSIONS Plasma, Ghost, Down with Disease, Light TEASES Linus and Lucy tease in Divided Sky, Plasma tease in Light

Crispy dSBD available for this show. Sweet Adeline opens once again. Afterwards, you can hear Fish say “you want me to start?” before launching into the first Asse Festival of the year…kinda. It sounds more upbeat than what they’ve been playing in Guelah this tour. A well played Jim follows. Solid Reba. Inspired standalone Suzy. Stash smokes! I had this second set in my first batch of tapes back in the day. It’s been at least 30 years since I listened to it last. Hearing it all again brought back so many memories! Set 2 starts off with a well played Curtain into a fantastic Possum. TMWSIY>Avenu was up next. Both Curtain and TMWSIY have shown up a bunch on the second half of this tour. Nice Mike’s Groove. Groove straight shreds. This inspired Fluffhead is played flawlessly! A monster little Tweezer with Dr. Q on bass comes in next. Tweezer doesn’t have it’s usual reprisal ending. Instead they transition right into Coil. Page takes a nice solo that segues into another Wipeout jam, this time with Fish providing a vac solo over top! This in turn segues into the set closing Tweezer Reprise. When the band comes back out for the encore Trey dedicates Bouncin’ to Susan Gutkowski and says the next song (GXBX) is “taking care of some old unfinished business”.

Berkeley night three punctuates the band’s first Greek appearance since 2010 and provided the band an opportunity to add an exclamation point to their much anticipated spring 2023 run. Night one’s massive Tweezer -> Simple jam set expectations sky high — a lofty bar to clear indeed. While night two’s sequence of Don’t Doubt Me through Fuego offered full-throttle jamming, Set II’s conclusion with the pairing of Farmhouse and Backwards Down the Numberline left a few phanners grumbling — or so I overheard while exiting the venue. I personally enjoy Numberline quite a lot, especially once Trey's solo kicks off. It nearly always delivers scalding guitar licks. For Night Three, the band wasted no time establishing a boisterous mood with a spirited version of I Never Needed You Like This Before. Aside from INNYLTB, the balance of Set I leaned heavily on evergreen favs, including a nicely jammed AC/DC Bag, a cleanly played Rift, and a Runaway Jim that featured some particularly sparkling piano work from Page. The band then walked Jim into a dark, brisk jam that blossomed triumphantly as it returned to the chorus. Lawn Boy followed and provided an opportunity to showcase the rich, organic texture of Mike’s new Serek bass. Fish drives a brief Halley’s that cruises until it pivots abruptly into Timber. At least in my experience (e.g., 12/07/97, 07/26/13) Timber is often a harbinger of a top shelf show. This Timber plies its typical interstellar territory before settling back to earth with Winterqueen, which provides the night’s first real cool down (no pun intended) before the band closed Set II with a soaring, bombastic 46 Days. Set II opens with Mike’s Song and then Beneath a Sea of Stars — the latter providing one of two jam highlights in the second set. The loping pace of BASOS has proven favorable for improvisation. The Berkeley BASOS is a meditative tiptoe through the cosmos that affords moments of introspection where music, fans, and venue felt untethered from time and space. Weekapaug Groove bookends Mike’s Song as expected. Weekapaug was the probably only moment of Greek run where I missed the assertive tone of Mike’s Modulus bass. Cool it Down was a welcomed surprise and inspired a rousing singalong at the top of the Greek’s steep lawn where I was perched. Next, Set Your Soul Free provided the second deep dive of Set II and it lurched and churned through a murky psychedelic haze. The jam collapses into an amorphous throb pierced by pitchy guitar stabs. The chaos surrenders to the glistening elegance of What’s the Use? leading to speculation about the pairing of these two song titles. Set II wraps up with a routine, if spirited, Loving Cup and a standard two-song encore of Waste and Tweeprise, the latter providing logical conclusion to arguably highlight of the Greek run — night one’s mammoth Tweezer. Night three has a lot of replay value, especially AC/DC Bag, Runaway Jim, Beneath a Sea of Stars, and Set Your Soul Free.

When Phish returned in 2009 I accompanied m’lady to a lot of shows, including Festival 8, the band’s eighth festival (hence the name) and the first one that they scheduled to coincide with their very exciting and sought-after Hallowe’en extravaganzas. It was also the first time they had held one of their festivals on the west coast, settling on the Empire Polo grounds in the Coachella Valley (yes, that Coachella) just outside of Palm Springs in Indio, California. So there was a bit of travel involved. To wit: With barely two hours of sleep to our name, m’lady and I arrived at the Ottawa airport on October 30th, 2009 at the ripe hour of 5:20am only to find that our departing flight had been delayed by enough hours to make catching our connecting flight impossible. The attendant told us the earliest they could get us to Palm Springs would be Saturday afternoon – midway through the weekend-long festival – so we took things into our own hands and made our own way, commando-style. We re-routed ourselves to arrive at LAX by mid-afternoon where we took advantage of the festival’s loosely-organized shuttle system and switched our shuttle booking with nothing more than a nod and a smile. This put us on an hours-long bus ride full of fellow fans that would’ve almost got us onsite in time for the start of the evening’s concert if only the driver hadn’t got lost. When he stopped at a gas station to ask directions the bus emptied and we all went in and bought all the beer we could carry. The next hour was spent binge-drinking on the bus with vacation elation, and when we finally arrived onsite the festival folks had a well-oiled group of greeters ready to make up our lost time. They helped us load our gear into a stretch golf cart and whisked us to an area where we could pitch our tents, then the same cart drove us to the gates of the concert field, and just like that we made it onsite in time for the final song of the first set, the rather appropriate [i]Time Turns Elastic[/i]. The second set was great (and much more relaxing), the crowd was pumped and the venue looked amazing. A canopy of stars told us that there was not a cloud in sight anywhere at any time, majestic mountains ringed the wide sky and the pancake-flat pitch that held the main stage area was littered with palm trees on every side. It was glorious; truly an oasis in the desert with plenty of space for revelling, and sight-lines galore. The stage featured a big-screen on either side and the video looked just fantastic (no wonder, the weekend’s footage was edited into a theatrical release called Phish 3D). It was total pro, with tons of angles and cameras, lots of boom stands including a huge one near the sound board, and all of it in HD. Lightman extraordinaire CK5 had a rainbow of illumination aimed at 100+ palm trees filing away from the stage in infinite perspective to the left and the right and it looked simply amazing. I often find myself in awe of what Kuroda brings to the band and he went all out again for F8, including the best Phish visual gimmick ever to close this first evening: a huge amorphous floating glowing golgi light-emitting apparatus that was utterly impossible to stop gaping at in wonder. Come to think of it, the eye candy was killer in all directions. Glancing away from the stage the eyes were blessed with wondrous works of art that decorated the back of the field. Fire-spewing towers of twigs formed a semi-circle outlining the main viewing area, and beyond that were a myriad of interesting art installations. Explorations had to wait for this old man though. After such an arduous day of sleepless travel and lacking in any serious nutrients I was on the verge of collapse when the concert ended, so with hardly a bit of muckimuck I went back to my tent and spent the night shivering myself awake again and again in the cold desert night, too tired and lazy to dig out my sweater. http://www.toddmanout.com