Tag Archive: Buried Alive


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 — 6 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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2/9/91 Smith College, Northhampton, MA.

Filed under: 1991 — 3 Comments
June 20, 2011

Ahhhh…Smith College.  An unforgettable show to attend.  John Greene Hall itself was an amazing venue: Built in 1910 with giant sandstone pillars and ornate fixtures inside and out, we soon learned that the venue sounded as good as it looked.  Unfortunately, the surviving (circulating) sources leave a little bit to be desired.  Still, the energy shines through on the sources we do have and any loss of fidelity is easily made up for by great playing and a solid setlist:

Set 1:The Mango Song, The Sloth, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, Runaway Jim, Foam, Guelah Papyrus, My Sweet One, Tweezer > Reba, Chalk Dust Torture

Set 2: Golgi Apparatus, Buried Alive > Fluffhead,The Landlady, Bouncing Around the Room,Harry Hood, Cavern, Let’s Go > Love You[1] > Let’s Go, The Squirming Coil, Llama

Encore: Lawn Boy, Suzy Greenberg

Encore 2: Contact, Rocky Top

When the band comes back for a second double encore, you know they’re feeling it.  The crowd was feeling it too and can be heard bouncing off the walls for nearly every track, even the new ones.  The place was rocking big time.  Northampton has always been a Phish stronghold since the very early days, so this show was bigger than most– this was one of the earliest hall shows as the band was only then just starting to move out of the bars and into bigger venues.  Capacity is listed at 2000 people, but while the show seemed packed to the gills, I can’t imagine there were that many.  The night before in Portsmouth was a lot smaller.  I had a hard time picking out tracks from this show-  while there are no out of the ordinary versions, the whole show is just jammed with energy and showcases an intimate and old school New England vibe that was harder and harder to come by as the years went on.  This show was down home for sure. The Harry Hood in particular is worth the price of admission.  The band was definitely making progress, and we drove the 5 hours back to Ithaca happy campers.

Check out this killer Buried Alive->Fluffhead from the second set.  Buried Alive was still fairly new and Fluffhead had not been played in a fairly long for the time gap of 18 shows.  You can tell people are stoked.  The strobes during Clod were insane (IMO, only 3/20/92 had sicker strobes).  Later on in the tour, the strobes would get crushed and not make another appearance until Spring 92……..anyway, I think this one of the best Fluffheads out there (and the Buried Alive is dope too):

The best sounding source I have heard is this one: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=522286 but currently there are no seeders.

The mp3 of the entire show can be found here: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=e64969679d601a07ab1eab3e9fa335ca4a4b86629cfbad20

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