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