As mentioned earlier in this blog, the summer of ’92 was a little bit of an exercise in patience as the majority of shows played that summer were short (45 minute) sets opening up for Santana (besides HORDE and 3 or 4 headlining shows). While I saw just a handful of these Santana shows, there were only a few standout moments for me as the short Phish sets didn’t allow for a lot of improv or stretching out beyond an 8-10 minute Tweezer or YEM set closer. Stowe is obviously a highlight with Carlos sitting in and there is that cool Oye Como Va with Fish on vacuum (Hoffman Estates?), but I didn’t attend either of those. There might be other cool stuff but since most of the Santana sets don’t circulate (they were strictly anti-taping), I’m not familiar with everything that went down on the tour. So for me, easily the two highlights of the 7 or 8 Santana shows I saw were my first birthday show (8/15/92, Greek LA) and the Finger Lakes show which was a hometown show for me.
I don’t remember a lot about the Finger Lakes show, probably because I drank two 40’s of Crazy Horse malt liquor before the show (remember that stuff?!) In fact, I remember almost nothing of the Phish set besides the idiot rednecks sitting behind us who kept telling me to “make my ‘girlfriend’ sit down and stop dancing” in reference to my friend Dave (The Duck) who had a pony tail. Anyway, what I do remember was an unforgettable sequence of the Santana set where Trey, Fish and Page came out for a killer sequence of “Exodus”>”Elmore’s Boogie”(Elmore James)>”The Healer” (John Lee Hooker). By that point we had moved up 10 rows from the ass hats and were now dead center on the floor. The whole place came alive during Exodus and both the crowd and the band(s) on stage were just feeling it. I looked and looked for a copy of this show for over 20 years without luck until about 6 months ago I found a source (two actually!) on dimeadozen. I was almost in shock when I came across it as I had given up searching so long ago. Does the tape live up to my memory? Well, it’s obviously not as sick as watching Trey and Carlos trade licks on a Bob Marley track right in front of you (on Crazy Horse), but it is still super solid and worth a listen in my opinion. Check it out:
backinmydaydotnet 