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4/22/91 University of Vermont, Burlington, VT

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April 21, 2012


To wrap up their mammoth Spring ’91 tour, Phish played one final show on the UVM campus at Billings Student Center in the tiny Cooks Commons cafeteria.  This was billed as an Earth Day show (as was the previous day’s show at Potsdam).  My friend Brooke was organizing the show so we arrived in Burlington early in the afternoon and started helping her set up.  My job was to go get the hummus and bagels for the band room.  This was possibly the smallest show I have ever seen.  The place was PACKED but there could not have been more than 200 people there.  The place was a tiny cafeteria.  It was surrounded by windows but they had covered them all up so people couldn’t see in, I guess.  We set up our taping gear in front of the soundboard which was about 25′ back from the stage.  I think there was only one other tape rig there. As with the previous nights at the end of this tour, the band was primed from two and a half months on the road.  That said, I think everyone was a little tired from the long tour.  Still, you could tell the band was stoked to be home and the show was a good one:

Set 1: The Curtain > Runaway Jim, The Sloth, Reba, Poor Heart, Llama, Guelah Papyrus, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg,  Tweezer, Tweezer Reprise

Set 2: Chalk Dust Torture, Bathtub Gin, Uncle Pen, The Landlady > Destiny Unbound,The Squirming Coil, Stash, My Sweet One > The Lizards, Highway to Hell

Encore: Lawn Boy > Rocky Top

Phish.Net lists Tweezer and Tweezer Reprise as Encore 2′s, but that’s incorrect.  Tweezer was played after Suzy and then they brought the whole crew up to the stage and presented them with personalized bowling balls to thank them for a successfully completed tour.  Apparently, there were some heated bowling matches that occurred throughout the tour.  It was a pretty sweet gesture and once the crew had left the stage, the band closed the first set with a very early version of Tweezer Reprise.  This was a really fun show to attend and a great way to cap off a monster tour.  Of note is the first ever Poor Heart and a great Gin.  After the show, I went back to the band room to clean up the hummus and Mike was there macking on it.  There was pair of Fish’s drum sticks on the table but Mike seemed to be the last guy there.  I asked him if I could grab the sticks since everyone else had cleared out and he just kind of shrugged, so I have the sticks used to play this show in my closet.  The sources of this show that circulate leave a bit to be desired.  The source in the link below has a slightly too slow first set and a slightly sped up second set….I’ll have to grab the masters AUD’s from the Duck and transfer them.  I could not find a lossless source online.

Even with the lacking sources, this Chalkdust sounds good and was a hot way to open the second set:

And this Lizards remains in top 3 of versions I have seen.  It was amazing on this night and possibly the set highlight (which is rare for Lizards!):

Here’s a link to the MP3 source but it’s got some pitch issues.  Still, it’s worth a listen until the better source gets posted: http://www.mediafire.com/?buze652m2s6us


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6/17/90 Wendell Studios Part Deux (or not?)- Not!

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March 27, 2012

**Edit to Add:  See the comments  from a reader, the first track may not be from Wendell session.  I am looking into it.  Anyway, I’ll leave the post up so the tracks can be heard, but I might be fully wrong on the source.  Stay tuned!**

**Edit to Add Part Deux:  Please disregard original post.  The first track, now amended to read 1995, was recorded sometime in early 1995, not 1990 as originally posted below.  Thanks to Kevin Hollo for bringing my lack of fact checking to the forefront!  Either way, I think both versions are worth a listen or two.**

Here’s another quickie post from the Wendell Studios session….This is the Strange Design from that session, 5 years before it made it’s debut on stage.  I never realized it was such an old song.  While we’re on it, I’ve included the studio version of Strange Design that was recorded for the Billy Breathes album but was cut from the LP and only made it onto the “Free” CD single… This song really hit home for me on New Years ’95…Other times, not so much, but depending on your mood it can be great (kinda like Waste)…I think the studio versions are pretty interesting (I especially like the ’96 version) and it’s cool to hear the progression…

Studio Version 1995:

Studio Version 1996:

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3/20/92 Broome County Forum, Binghamton, NY

Filed under: 1992 — 2 Comments
March 19, 2012

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20 years later, I’m still upside down….Boom! Time to break out the big guns.  This show  takes no prisoners.   A complete and total onslaught straight to the dome.  A psychedelic hoedown of astronomical proportions.  There are certain shows that demand inclusion in anyone’s Top-5 Attended list: New Years ’95, Amy’s Farm, Big Cypress, Binghamton ’92 (or ’95), Halloween ’94, the list goes on.  There are about 10 shows that make the rotation in my Top 5 attended list, but this show is never, ever, excluded.  Can’t believe it has been twenty years.  I am being 100% truthful when I say that this show, particularly what I experienced during the strobe lights of Mike’s Song, changed my life forever. Mike’s Sanity Sloth Mango?  Are you kidding?  It’s a miracle I made it out of the show alive.  It sounds like I am joking, but I’m not.  The Forum was a pretty nondescript venue but intimate and the sound was incredible.  We were in the 11th or 12th row, dead center, and it was just a sheer wall of deafening sound.  This show was loud as fuck. This show happened to take place on the Vernal Equinox (which today is too).

Set 1: Wilson > Reba, Brother, Glide > Rift, Fluffhead > Maze, The Lizards, Mound >Run Like an Antelope

Set 2: Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Sanity, The Sloth,The Mango Song > Cavern, Uncle Pen, Harry Hood, Cold as Ice > Terrapin > Cold as Ice, Possum > Secret Language Instructions > Possum

Encore: Lawn Boy, Fire

Out of the gate, the Wilson is highly psychedelic.  Next the band slams into a tight Reba, playing like they’re out to prove something. The Reba jam is to put it mildly, glorious, albeit short.  The perfect blend of that early discordant funk, with drive and melody.  So tits.  Every song in the first set offers more of the same.  Highly charged playing that left everyone short of breath.  The “alligator pit” Brother is probably my favorite all-time version and was the real start of the the brain bludgeoning.  In my opinion, the song really came into it’s own in on the Spring ’92 tour.  Glide and Rift are both spot on, really well played.  The Fluffhead is letter perfect.  Fishman shines throughout this whole show, and I really love his playing on this Fluffhead.  The Fluff jam pwns.  The segue into Maze is glass and gravy.  Maze continued the slaughter and enters Brother-type jam territory  and I think everyone was happy to get a breather with Lizards and the fourth ever version of Mound.  A lot of people consider the set closing Antelope to be the crown jewel of this set and I won’t argue with them.  Unbelievable.  All I could see in front of my face during the set break was a bunch of pimento olives dancing with hot pink mexican sombreros. It ruled.

So they come out for the second set and Trey wishes a happy birthday to “Mike”.  Everyone screams because they think it is Gordo’s birthday.  Trey then goofs on a fan’s t-shirt before starting the Roundabout tease that leads into possibly the heaviest Mike’s I have ever seen. I know that is a bold statement, but this is a bold Mike’s and in my opinion, there are only a handful that approach the intensity of the 3/20 Mike’s.  Keep in mind also that this was back  in the day when they still used the tramps on Mike’s Song.  The combination of ferocious jam, blinding strobe lights and Trey and Mike bouncing up and down like their lives depended on it is something I will never forget.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  I think I was seeing spots for like a week after this show.  The way the snap out of it is so tight it needs to be heard to be believed (although I can’t believe anyone reading this has not heard it at least 500 times).  They melt into Hydrogen with Trey doing that sweet volume knob swell thing and Page and Trey link up for a beautiful version.  Weekapaug…again, another top-5 version for me, attended or not.  Mike’s distortion for the opening bass solo is nasty as hell.  I was still trying to get myself together from the Mike’s but there was no time for that.  I had to go with it and worry about finding my brain after the show.  The vocal interplay in this ‘paug and throughout the show just gets to me.  This track is about as hooked up as you will ever hear any band get. Sanity was a welcome surprise and pretty fitting considering I  really was losing my mind.  I don’t think I really started to pull it together until somewhere around Cavern or Hood. Once again, the vocal jams and shout outs to band and crew make this version an all-time great.  The vocal segue into Sloth, and Sloth itself only made things worse (or better depending on how you look at it).  Mango probably helped smooth things out but I don’t really remember.  It is great version.  The rest of the show is solid, with a great version of Hood.  The Possum gets a little drawn out with explanation of the Secret Language, but it was cool to hear it.  The Fire is super solid too, but the set really peaked with the opening barrage of Mike’s through Mango.  It was all good though, nobody was complaining by a long shot.  A sick, sick, sick show to attend.

There is one main source of the show that circulates, and there has been lots of discussion over whether or not the source is a soundboard or a really great audience source.  I think it is just a really great AUD as the venue/room sound is really apparent.  As well, the person I went to the show with, The Duck, taped the show and his pull came out decent too.  The links below though are of the usual source that gets passed around.  It sounds great, regardless of whether it is a board or audience.  We were in the 11th or 12th row and were sitting right behind B*g Ph*l (name changed to protect the innocent) who videotaped the whole show.  He gave the Duck a copy a few weeks later and told him not to trade it so I am not sure if it ever really circulated widely.  It is a great vid though and I would love to get my hands on it again.

For sample tracks, it was impossible to really single anything out from this show, and most people have probably heard it a zillion times anyway, but here is the Antelope and the Sanity.  Enjoy!

Antelope: 

Sanity: 

Full show MP3 here: http://www.mediafire.com/?5v3sxystwifo8

Full show lossless here: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=543399

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8/17/92 The Coach House, San Juan Capistrano, CA.

Filed under: 1992 — 2 Comments
March 1, 2012

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The summer of 1992 was kind of a dry one for the fans.  The band made their first foray into Europe opening a host of festival dates for the Violent Femmes and then came back to the US as the support act for Santana on their national tour (after some HORDE dates).  Besides three headline shows in VA, the Coach House was the only other full, two set Phish shows we got to see.  The Santana tour was decent and had some good/great moments (Stowe rules as does the Exodus from Finger Lakes), but for the most part the Phish sets were way too short and the 30-40 minute sets left little time for exploration.  I saw a bunch of the Santana shows and while I fully appreciate Carlos and company, I think I saw enough Santana to last me a lifetime.  No doubt that the guy is the man though.

I flew out to California to see my first Phish birthday show at the LA Greek Theatre and was then planning on heading to the Dead shows in Eugene.  I hopped onto the plane, opened my USA Today and saw that Jerry Garcia was sick and the shows were canceled.  Major bummer.  At this point, I did not know the Coach House show was going on.  I hit the Greek Theatre show with my friend Cliff and it ended up being pretty solid.  Phish (who NONE of the California Santana fans knew) played a good set and I particularly remember jamming out to the Tweezer.  I think I was the only one in the venue dancing.  All the Latinos were looking at me like I had three heads.  Between the Santana and Phish sets I ran into Kuroda on the way to the bathroom and he told me about the Coach House show that was happening two days later– I was stoked!  The Santana set ended up being decent too– John Lee Hooker came out to play  “The Healer” with Santana and it was pretty epic.  I was hoping at some point Trey would come out and wail with Carlos and John Lee but no such luck.  It was still a great birthday show.  Better than Coventry but not as good as The Lemonwheel…..

Two days later, Cliff and I drove down to the Coach House from his place in Santa Barbara.  On the way there I totally  hit this old man with the car and knocked him down in the crosswalk, but that’s a whole other story.  His wife was screaming but I think he was OK.  Sorry.  We got to the Coach House around two in the afternoon and there was already a pretty good crowd of California heads.  Talked to the folks from the venue and they told me the shown was fully sold out.  I begged and pleaded and pulled the “I came all the way from New York” bit, but they didn’t go for it.  I ran into Andrew the tour manager and gave him the whole sad sack bit and I was in +1.  Thanks Andrew!  We milled about the parking lot a bit and I ran into Trey and started talking to him about the Santana tour and stuff….Interesting fact (to guitar players, I guess) was that we were talking about Carlos and his tone (he used a Boogie too, just like Trey at the time).  Trey told me that Carlos had turned him onto some Russian amp tubes (Sovtek) and he was trying them out for the first time at this show.  I like to think I can hear a slight difference in Trey’s tone but can’t be sure.  I am pretty sure he went back to his old tubes shortly thereafter though, but who knows.  It was still about two hours from showtime and Cliff and I needed to find some supplies.  We met the scuzziest looking guy in the lot and he hooked us up with some sperms.  Cliff was a little wary of the scuzzy guy so we met up with some preppy kid who gave him some recycle symbols.  Surprise, surprise, the sperm knocked me on my ass.  The recycles from the preppy kid were fake.  Yeah scuzzy guy!

The Coach House was a pretty small place that hosted a lot of dinner theater but they moved all the tables out for the Phish show.  The place was packed and I would guess there were maybe 400 people or so there.  Ninja Custodian opened up with their fun brand of rock.  I had seen them in Burlington and did not know they had recently moved to LA.  Ninja Mike is a funny dude, so I always liked seeing them.  Their set was decent and not too long.  Phish came out with both guns blazing and you could tell they were psyched to finally play a headline show.  The setlist sounds as good as it looks:

Set 1: Buried Alive > Poor Heart, The Landlady, Reba, Rift, Wilson> All Things Reconsidered, Foam, My Friend, My Friend, Bouncing Around the Room, David Bowie

Set 2: Suzy Greenberg > It’s Ice > Tweezer > Esther > Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Horn > Hold Your Head Up > Terrapin> Hold Your Head Up, Take the ‘A’ Train > Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Cavern

Encore: The Squirming Coil

The show itself has a lot of nice little twists and turns.  Just about everything is really well played and has a little something extra.  The Buried Alive opener was hot, natch, and the Poor Heart has some really cool stuff inside of it too actually.  Landlady is “for Carlos” and the Reba jam is a must hear.  Rift is also one of my favorite all-time versions and the Wilson is also a unique version.  Really, the whole first set is dope, ending with a solid Bowie.  A lot of the California crowd were pretty new to Phish at this time and were just sort of finding their groove with the band.  I think nearly everyone was a convert by the end of the first set.  The second set is solid too with Tweezer and Mike’s leading the charge.  Ninja Mike sits in for Terrapin, prompting some good banter and although everyone was yelling “Flintstones” for some reason, a short Somewhere Over The Rainbow gets dropped on the crowd.  The previously mentioned sperm had me bugging the whole show but one thing I remember being so funny was when they played the All Fall Down Signal.  Just as Phish had originally planned it, when they played it, I dropped to the ground.  All of the people around me started crowding around me, asking me if I was alright and someone went to go get security to help me.  It was pretty classic.  Not a very under the radar show, but a classic nonetheless and worth revisiting if you have not heard it in a while.  The drive home was very amusing and we made it back to Santa Barbara in one piece.  Since the GD shows were cancelled we hiked into the Los Padres for an awesome camping trip and ate the rest of the sperm.  It was a great time for sure.

The All Things Reconsidered is dead nuts on:

 

The first set closing Bowie is the goods too:

That is just a small taste though.  If you have never heard this show, check it out for sure, it’s a worthy listen.

There are a lot of sources floating around for this show, including the soundboard.  I got an amazing Schoeps source after giving blanks to a guy after the show.  It was his first show and he taped over some GD masters (Vegas 92) to get the Phish pull.  I had forgotten all about it and they showed up at my door like 3 months later. Sounded killer, I should probably transfer them.  Anyway, this MP3 source sounds pretty good too though:

http://www.mediafire.com/?cr244hyyid6vq

This lossless source would sound decent but it is a hair too fast.. Only lossless source being seeded now though:

http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=547692

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2/14/91 The State Theatre, Ithaca, NY

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February 13, 2012

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Phish in Ithaca.  At the State Theatre.  On Valentine’s Day.  It almost sounded too good to be true.  Those of us who had caught the last show at Smith College knew the band was en fuego.  For the rest of the folks in town, the chance to see a local favorite go from playing our little town bar to our local movie theatre was a no-brainer.  We were stoked.  The State Theatre was a run down little movie theatre right downtown, and most of us had only been there for movies.  I don’t remember any gigs there before this one, but there were some good ones after this (Taj Mahal comes to mind.)  Phish played the State a second and final time on 9/26/91.   Ithaca’s State Theatre first opened its doors on the evening of December 6, 1928 . Originally not a theatre, the building had started out as a security garage and automobile showroom in 1915, but this business moved out in 1927.  You can find out more than you ever wanted to know about the State Theatre here: http://www.historicithaca.org/about/past-projects/state-theatre/ 

The show itself is pretty solid, check the setlist:

Set 1: My Sweet One, McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters > Buried Alive >Reba, Destiny Unbound, Cavern, The Mango Song, Stash, Lawn Boy, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony, Golgi Apparatus

Set 2: Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Foam, The Squirming Coil, Runaway Jim, Esther, Alumni Blues, Bouncing Around the Room, I Didn’t Know,The Landlady, Possum

Encore: Uncle Pen, La Grange

The song selection definitely delivers.  Opening up with the obligatory My Sweet One, McGrupp was an unexpected surprise in the two slot.  The show was packed (even the balcony was pretty full) and most people seemed to be digging it.  I did hear some grumbles from old school fans that were not happy with the move from frat parties and bars to a theatre, but you can never please everyone (nor can you stop progress).  We had met up with the band before the show and my friend Vinnie had given Mike one of those electric plants that dances to the music, except for he had put a fish on top of it.  Mike put it on top of his amp and we could see it jamming the whole show, it was funny as hell. This was the “original” Couch Tour show.  My friend Ben Weinstein, who was at Cornell, directed (live!) the show for Ithaca Public Access so the whole show was simulcast on regular TV for those that did not make it.  The video circulates widely now, but in pretty poor quality.  Even my low gen copies have degraded over time (VHS sucks it).  It’s still cool to have a multi-cam shoot available from this era and considering it was directed live and not edited in post, it came out pretty good.  While the show was not mind blowing, it was still a great time and a good launching pad for the nationwide tour.  After Destiny Unbound (which was a first for many of us), Trey announced that they would be giving away their old tour van to someone in the crowd as they had purchased a new one and had both vehicles at the show.  I, for one, had forgotten about the  giveaway, until during I Didn’t Know when they brought out Fish in a blindfold, turned him around a bunch of times and had him throw the keys into the audience.  I was way in the back, but I will never forget hearing my good friend Toast yell “Yes!” as the keys hit his hands.  You can even hear it on the tapes.  I reached out to  Toast (now a dad named “Eric”) last week and asked him to share his recollections of this all-time classic moment:

“I went to the show with Kellaine and my buddy Sean. I think I had eaten shrooms before the show, my recollection of the show is hazy. I was on the floor with Kellaine when Trey announced they were giving away their touring van. Fish turned his back to the stage and threw the keys in the crowd. I didn’t see them, I just put my hand up and the key fell right into my palm. It took a second to realize what happened, when I did I shoved the keys into my pocket. Then the spotlight found me, they pulled me up on stage, congratulated me, and told me to come see them after the show. The rest of the show is a haze, I was so freaking psyched! I pictured this school bus parked out front of the State that me and my friends could tour around in.

After the show I went backstage with the band. My buddy Adam Fells was working security at the show. Adam, Kellaine and I ended hanging out with the band for a while after the show. The band was really into the novelty of the giveaway or maybe they were just psyched to get rid of the van. They  told me it was the first vehicle they had and it had taken them to every show up until then. They gave me the other keys to the van. No paperwork, just the keys. They joked about returning anything that they left in the van, I promised I would. I had no idea what the van was.

About an hour after the show Kellaine, Sean and I walked out of the State Theater to see an old Dodge minivan parked right in front. The band took one more look through the van for anything they may have forgot, took the license plate off the van and walked off.

I didn’t try to start it, we all went to Micawbers Bar and celebrated with some beers.

After Micawbers we went back to the State to look over the van and get it home. The van had over 170K miles on it (the odometer stopped working at 170K), there were no seats in the back, just a queen mattress. It smelled really bad!

The van had no plates, and I had no papers saying it was mine. It took a jump-start but the engine turned over and started. Driving from theater back to our house was a long winding uphill drive, almost immediately I knew there were major issues. The van wouldn’t shift out of first gear. Turning was as bad, and the van swayed back and forth as we climbed up Hudson St. I later found out both sway bars were broken, the transmission was shot and the engine was running on two cylinders.

Here’s a partial list of the items I found in the van:

Several books – Sean has them all, don’t remember what they were
half oz of leaf shake
lots of clothes
sage
picture of Fish from Senior Prom w/ date

The van sat for weeks at our house on Kendall. I couldn’t register it, it could barely drive and I wasn’t about to pay for insurance. Summer was coming, we would be moving out of the house and I need to find something to do with the van. If I had I the foresight to put the van in a storage unit, I would have done it. I’ve been told I should have done that a thousand times. But I didn’t. I sold the van to a farmer who was going to use it to carry hay on his farm so it didn’t need to be registered (yeah, kills me), but he had the cash, I needed to move the van, and I sold it. I got $600 and was happy. I could buy some weed, pay some bills and start packing up for summer tour with the Dead.

A few weeks later I received a hand-delivered summons to our house on Kendall Ave. I was being sued. I guess the farmer didn’t think the van was worth $600 and wanted his money back. The problem was, I had spent the money. I tried explaining to the farmer what had happened but he was pissed and wanted his money (understandably). The funny thing is I actually drew up a contract when I sold the van stating the van was of unknown origin and included a bunch of other declarations, and it held up in court!

For a while I had copy of the show from later that tour where my buddy Al told Trey I was being sued and he announced it at the show.  Trey said something to the extent, “remember that guy that won our van, he sold it, spent the money on weed and is being sued.” Pretty accurate.

For the next few years I would go to shows and tell the crew I had stuff from the van I needed to return to the band (like they said!) and I got in (and backstage) to many shows.

It’s been twenty years and I still regularly have people ask about the van. I guess it’s my 15 minutes of phame which I have always been grateful for having.”

I remember being out in front of the State when the band was getting the rest of their stuff out of the van and we were all out there congratulating Toast.  I remember them walking away and then Trey coming back and saying he forgot something and going under the dash and getting a bag of brown stems and seeds.  We were all like “homey, we’ll hook you with the good” but he just laughed and left with his schwag.  While the show is not one I go back to listen to, it conjures up a ton of great memories.  We skipped the next night in Keene (mistake) and headed straight to NYC for the 2/16 show which is deserving of it’s own post in the future….

I couldn’t find a copy of the audio being seeded on etree and there is not one on the google mp3 spreadsheet either sooooo……I am going to post a video.  Below is the Destiny Unbound, after which, Trey talks about the van giveaway:

The video of the whole show (at least what circulates) can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvhCw7LG-7E

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1/28/90 The Front, Burlington, VT.

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January 26, 2012

This isn’t a show I attended, but it was one of the earliest tapes I had.  This was one of the very first shows that both sets circulated widely as a soundboard.  Usually we had one set or the other, so it was great when the soundboard of the complete show came around shortly after the show.  Unfortunately, the analog tapes we got back then sounded better than the multi-gen source that ended up getting digitized years later.  Since it is coming up on the 22 year anniversary, I wanted to do a short post to highlight a track I wish they would bring back.  I will do a complete review of the Front when I showcase a show that I attended there, but here is the setlist from this night:

Set 1: Suzy Greenberg, Split Open and Melt, Tela > Fluffhead, La Grange, Carolina,Colonel Forbin’s Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird > Communication Breakdown

Set 2: Wilson[1], Run Like an Antelope, Bouncing Around the Room, Caravan, The Squirming Coil > You Enjoy Myself > Bathtub Gin, Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen >Weekapaug Groove

Encore: Lawn Boy > Big Black Furry Creature from Mars[2]

Obviously a hot setlist and this show is worth seeking out.  It was one of my favorites back in the day and showcases a band in transition (tons of youthful energy, not too much polish). Some good olden times banter too. Of note is the first ever “heavy metal” Wilson to open the second set and a very early (3rd ever version) of Bouncing Around the Room.  It is the first set closer that got me to put this show up, Communication Breakdown.  Only played four times (three of them in a row from this week) they tear through it.  While it is definitely a little sloptastic, they make up for it with raw energy.  You know the pit at The Front was popping off when they dropped into this one.  Check it out:

MP3 of the whole show can be found here: http://www.mediafire.com/?lcc0nv3p5dt5r

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2/6/93 Roseland Ballroom, NYC, NY

Filed under: 1993 — Leave a comment
January 16, 2012


I freaking love this show for some reason.  I think it is super solid throughout.  Third show at Roseland and the best of the four times they played there in my opinion.  Could have been the four-way  paper (well, you can’t just eat a part of a strawberry, right?), but the tapes support my claims.  In my opinion Roseland is a pretty meh venue with poor sightlines and a kind of generic feel but it is certainly a historic venue having hosted some of the greats back in the day (Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Glen Miller).  Found out while doing this blog entry that Roseland was originally opened in Philly in 1917, but relocated to NYC in 1919.  Huh.  My first time at Roseland was seeing The Kinks and Cyndi Lauper on 12/31/84 which was a pretty rad New Years show for the time (for a fifteen year old).  I had also been to the 3/14/92 show the year before.  The night before (2/5) was pretty good and featured the just brought back Punch You In The Eye.  I also caught my first Lovin’ Cup which had debuted earlier in the week.  The 2/6 show has some great stuff.  Somewhat pedestrian setlist, but lots of surprises and standout versions:

Set 1: Golgi Apparatus, Foam, Wilson, My Friend, My Friend, Maze, Horn,Divided Sky, Lawn Boy, The Wedge, Bouncing Around the Room > Run Like an Antelope

Set 2: Chalk Dust Torture, Mound, Stash, Sweet Adeline, All Things Reconsidered, Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Lifeboy, Uncle Pen, Big Ball Jam, Hold Your Head Up > Lengthwise > Buried Alive, Possum

Encore: Fire

First set started out innocently enough with Golgi, and was pretty well played.  Set highlights are Divided Sky and The Wedge (which was brand new and my first version), but it is not until the set-closing Antelope that we really got a hint of what was to come.  Antelope is sick.  I was basically worthless by the time they came out for the second set.  I planted myself on the edge of the tapers section and instead of my usual freaking out, I just stood there and stared at the stage drooling on myself. Really.  I distinctly remember wiping my own drool off of my chin and chest during Lifeboy.  Chalkdust gets things going and then we have one of my favorite versions of Mound.  It’s an excellent version.  By the time they all the surrounded the microphone for Adeline, it looked to me like their heads kept rolling off of their shoulders over and over.  It was pretty cool.  All Things Considered is very well played as well.  I love the Mike’s Song and the extra effort and alternate lyrics make this an all-time version.  The Hydrogen is great and features the “walking through the fog” bit that used to be so killer.  Weekapaug rips.  Possibly the set highlight.  Next up is the second Lifeboy and by this time I was on another planet.  As they kept saying the God never listens lyrics (which I was hearing for the first time), I kept seeing Trey as the devil, horns and all, coming out of his red hair.  It was unforgettable. Next up is a solid Uncle Pen with a great Mike solo and smooth playing throughout.  Gordo shines on this version.  When they started Lengthwise, the whole crowd held up lighters (prompting some funny banter from Fish) and it was very cool to see.  The whole place was a sea of flame.  Super dope.  As they wound down Lengthwise, they push this giant covered box out onto the stage.  Nobody knew what it was.  As they started Buried Alive, the box started to move around and as they enter into it full blast, it is uncovered and we see Popper in his wheelchair (from bike accident) and when he rises up from the wheelchair and starts to blow, the crowd went nuts!  Awesome song for Popper to play on and another set highlight. Possum with Popper was cool as well.  We got some more shenanigans during the encore with some “fake” flubs from Gordo who is promptly replaced by Noel Redding for Fire.  Sick!  This second set is monster and well worth seeking out if you have not heard it.  I listened to it for the first time in a long time while doing this review and it still delivers.  Big time.  This was a killer night.  After this show we went down to the Wetlands to see Shockra and Fish came out and made a surprise appearance on stage with the vacuum, which was cool.  Left there around 4AM and since the strawberries were still kicking, headed to an insane Lalalandia party in Brooklyn that was still going strong (really strong) when we left at 7AM….Epic night…..

Super hard to pick a track from this show, every track from the second set is worth showcasing.  Since I have yet to feature a Mike’s Song in this blog (!?!), I’m gonna go with the Mike’s>Hydrogen>Weekapaug, it’s an all-time favorite of mine.  Enjoy:

Also, check out this Buried Alive. It rules face:

There is a new source for this show that popped up recently, an Elliot Byron source no less.  If you are into having the lossless version, get it here: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=518582

For lossy/MP3 (not Elliot’s) go here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?87b87qfv1by9m

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12/31/90- World Trade Center, Boston, MA

Filed under: ., 1990 — 2 Comments
December 14, 2011



This show was kind  of a bust for a few reasons.  That said, it is a New Years show so it does have some historical significance.  That said, it kinda sucked.  The New Years run in ’90 consisted of the 12/28 show at the Marquee in NYC (which I saw), and a 12/29 show at the Campus Club in Providence (which I skipped).  Both shows are pretty hot by 1990 standards and I think each were longer than this one.  That is my main gripe with NYE 1990– it was disappointing to say the least that the ENTIRE show was 2 hours long.  Two sets, one hour each. Grrrrrr……I definitely blame Chucklehead, “the opening band that would not get off”.  A local Boston funk band, we knew them from the scene and they were known as a “decent” funk band, but their set went on and on and on.  And on.  It was almost comical.  I want to say they played for two hours, it was redic.  So that was strike number one.  The venue itself was a non-descript event hall (still is) and was just a big room, no seats, with some bars in the back.  I stayed at the bars for most of Chucklehead getting primed for teh Phishes.  The show itself was pretty crowded but it was barely sold out.  When we arrived an hour or so before doors, there were kids lined up waiting for the box office  to open so they could get “day of” tix…..I doubt that is happening this year (or has since).  This was also the site of the first “real” Phish NYE, the band having played here the year before on 12/31/89 (DJ Bagel Boy’s first show as a matter of fact.)  Also, the ticket called for “Creative Formal Wear Requested” but most people ignored that.  The band did get dressed up though and there are some good pics around of that, I think some are in The Phish Book.  So, non-descript venue, random crowd energy and an opening band that would not stop was not exactly setting the stage for a bomb drop. It’s kind of ironic that the actual poster for the gig is a picture of a trainwreck.  Still it was not all that bad.  At least there was a bar.  Still, I can’t fault the boys, they gave it their all (as usual).    The playing is actually pretty decent for the most part, it was the venue that blew.  Here’s the set:

Set 1: Suzy Greenberg, Divided Sky, I Didn’t Know, The Landlady, Bouncing Around the Room, My Sweet One, Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove -> Auld Lang Syne, Buried Alive > Possum
Set 2: Golgi Apparatus, Stash, The Squirming Coil, Runaway Jim, Magilla, You Enjoy Myself, Rocky Top, Hold Your Head Up > If I Only Had a Brain > Hold Your Head Up > Run Like an Antelope

What’s that you say?  I forgot to add the encore?  Ummmm, actually, management turned the lights on during the middle of Antelope and ended the show.  Yes, that’s right.  A two set New Year’s show with no encore.  The flyer says 2AM.  2AM my ass.  The first set clocks in at a cool 55 minutes. The second set tries to break the 1 hour mark and does so by about 30 seconds.  You could tell the band was pretty disappointed. I know I was.  Still, the playing contained in those two hours was good with some inspired parts and some of that special New Years energy sprinkled throughout.  For instances, the Runaway Jim was the best one to date in my opinion.  I’ll also take If I Had a Brain any time I can get it, and believe it or not, Magilla was a highlight.  I have a feeling they will be bringing that back soon.  At least they should if they know what’s good for them.  The YEM is mucho bueno too….

Unfortunately, the source that widely circulates is a little sped up.  I have normal speed tapes on analog, but this one is a tad fast.  Still, worth a listen for sure and sort of representative of the tapes we would get in olden times.  Sometimes too fast and sometimes too slow but we were happy to get what we could:

Here is the NYE Countdown->Auld Lang Syne (recorded version, only time they did that)->Buried Alive->Possum.  I think there is a tape flip between the ALS and Buried Alive because it is super abrupt, but the Possum is a ripping 9 minute version:

Here is the Magilla, I am hoping they dust it off soon:

And here is the Jim which reaches some lofty heights by the end:

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Thanksgiving At The Capitol Theatre- Portchester, NY 1990, 1991, 1992

Filed under: 1990, 1991, 1992 — 2 Comments
November 22, 2011

Gobble, Gobble motherfuckers…..Years before Worcester was the place to be on Thanksgiving, the Capitol Theatre in Portchester (or Port Chester) hosted  some great Turkey Day blowouts….This was perfect for me as my parents only lived 20 minutes from the theatre.  While we never got a 60 minute Runaway Jim or a Wipeout-laden slaughter fest like Worcester, the Thanksgiving shows at the Cap were always a killer time.  Following an opening stint for Blues Traveler on 10/6/90, Phish returned for their first headlining gig on 11/24/90.  This would be the first headlining show of 6 the band would play at this storied venue (plus the 10/6 opening slot show).  I was lucky enough to attend them all.  The Capitol Theatre was a historic venue, having hosted countless GD shows and others in the 60′s and early 70′s.  When I was growing up, it was mostly a movie theatre (I saw the AC/DC movie there.)  Situated right in the middle of downtown Portchester it was a snap to get to by car or train.  It bordered Connecticut so a lot of New England peeps would come, but it was also only a half hour train ride from NYC so there was a great mix of people.  I loved it because I could rock Las Brisas restaurant before the show, and still buy beer after the show (which was a no-go in Connecticut). There was always a pretty raging scene outside the venue and around the train station as well, which was pretty uncommon for the time.   It was fairly small and intimate by today’s standards, and the balcony and the lobby were both always rocking.

11/24/90 was pretty rad.  It was a huge place for Phish, the biggest I had seen them in up until that time, and I would be seeing them 2 days later on 11/26/90 in a venue a third of the size.  It was definitely a leap for them and signaled a change in venue size that would continue to grow for the next several years.  Listening back, the show itself is a bit uneven, but it still has some choice cuts:

Set 1: Buried Alive > Possum[1], Foam > Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen >Weekapaug Groove[2], The Squirming Coil > The Lizards, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony> Suzy Greenberg > David Bowie[3] Set 2: Llama, Bouncing Around the Room, Stash, Eliza > The Landlady > Runaway Jim, You Enjoy Myself > Hold Your Head Up > Love You > Hold Your Head Up, Good Times Bad Times[4], Big Black Furry Creature from Mars[2] Encore: Lawn Boy, Divided Sky

Buried Alive->Possum (with major Manteca teases) is a great opener and a mid first set Mike’s had the place rocking.   The first set closing Bowie is probably the set highlight.  Divided Sky in the E2 slot, also caught everyone by surprise.  Check out these cuts from the show:

A  burning early version of  Llama opens the second set and features a Buried Alive tease:


The Good Times Bad Times is way more bad than good and it’s pretty funny to hear the band abandon it and head for the BBFCM….flubs aren’t just for 3.0, kids….:


MP3 of entire show is here: http://www.mediafire.com/?uzgyon8sg5q86

After an awesome spring show at the Cap (4/27/91), the band headed back for what was now an annual Thanksgiving tradition and delivered this show on 11/30:

Set 1: Glide, Llama, Foam, Sparkle, Divided Sky, Cavern, The Squirming Coil >Brother, Paul and Silas > Guelah Papyrus, You Enjoy Myself Set 2: Chalk Dust Torture, Uncle Pen, Harry Hood[1], It’s Ice > Bouncing Around the Room, My Sweet One > Horn, I Didn’t Know[2] > Run Like an Antelope, Golgi Apparatus Encore: Contact > Rocky Top

Of all the shows at the Cap, this one might be my least favorite, but there is some very decent material including an almost 21 minute YEM to close the first set.

The Antelope from the second set kicks some major ass and contains a very early Simpsons tease:

MP3 of entire show here: http://www.mediafire.com/?cprgmbk1icjdc

I don’t have any ticket stubs from 11/24/90 or 11/30/91 because the Capitol Theatre was always a great place to pull the “I ordered my tickets from Ticketmaster and they never showed up in the mail…” deal….You would give them your order number or show them your credit card receipt and the nice little old lady would take out some blank Ticketmaster ticket stock and hand write the date and show for you and give you new “tickets”.  Then we’d go sell the real tickets or give them to our friends.  For some reason I didn’t end up with any of the handwritten ones in the long run, which is too bad because they were cool.  TM wised up after that, but I remember doing it for 6 tickets on 2/6/93 Roseland and that was the last time.  Anyway, I do have stubs for the next year’s two show Turkey Day blow out which were probably my two favorite shows at The Cap:


There is so much to like about both of these shows.  Almost everything is well played and both of these shows are definitely worth seeking out in their entirety.  The 27th was Jimi Hendrix’ 50th birthday and it was a hot show:

Set 1: Rift > Wilson > Divided Sky > Colonel Forbin’s Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird > Split Open and Melt, Lawn Boy, Reba, Llama > Mound, Memories,Runaway Jim Set 2: Axilla, Poor Heart > Possum, Glide > It’s Ice > McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters > I Walk the Line > David Bowie, The Horse > Silent in the Morning,Faht, Take the ‘A’ Train > Cavern Encore: Bold As Love

The first set starts out hot builds until a little rest with Lawn Boy.  Best ever Forbin’s>Mockingbird narration?  You be the judge:

Second set starts of with a new track Axilla and features semi-rarities I Walk The Line and Faht.  The Bowie is killer and has some McGrupp and Ring of Fire teases.

The Bold As Love encore was sick as hell.  In honor of Jimi’s birthday, Trey proceeded  to play between his legs, behind his back, behind his head and with his TEETH.  It was insane and unforgettable.   Check it out and imagine Trey playing this with his teeth:

The 28th brought the heat as well:

Set 1: My Sweet One, Foam, Stash, Esther> Chalk Dust Torture, Sparkle, Fast Enough for You > All Things Reconsidered, Mike’s Song> I Am Hydrogen >Weekapaug Groove Set 2: Suzy Greenberg > Paul and Silas > Tweezer > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu, Maze, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday Bouncing Around the Room, The Squirming Coil, Love You > Hold Your Head Up, Harpua,Golgi Apparatus Encore: Contact > Tweezer Reprise

My Sweet One starts things off but is interrupted quickly by equipment issues.  Fast Enough For You, in it’s fourth appearance, is well played as is All Things Reconsidered.  I love Mike’s Groove’s as a first set closer and this one is no exception.  Great way to wrap up the set and set the tone for Set 2.  The set two  Tweezer is awesome and the Harpua brings us back into Fish’s brain. My first Harpua since 5/9/92 and I was fired up.  Trey brought his Grandmother out on stage and danced with her during Contact, it was cool.  All in all, this was an amazing weekend at the Cap and the last time the band would play here.

Check out the Tweezer:


and this dope Harpua:


mp3 of the 27th here: http://www.mediafire.com/?c1xrs62d38wx2

mp3 of the 28th here: http://www.mediafire.com/?6oaua7pw3h2dm

Lossless:

There is a soundboard that circulates of both the 27th and the 28th, but for the 27th, the Neumann FOB is the one to grab: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=539209

There is a U87 pull from the 28th that rocks, but Elliot Byron’s Nak 30o source is also worth grabbing: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=523090

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2/9/91 Smith College, Part Deux

Filed under: ., 1991 — 5 Comments
November 8, 2011

Yeah, yeah, I know, recycling a show already.  Well, since I didn’t have time to do a full post, I figured I would post the glorious Harry Hood from Smith College.  It’s always bugged me that I didn’t include it in the original post, and besides, this Hood is so monster, it is more than deserving of it’s own post.  It’s just ridiculous…This Hood can go toe to toe with any Hood from any year and I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is the best Hood from ’91, even slightly besting Potsdam.  If you have never heard this, I just don’t know what else to say…..enjoy:

 

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