Tag: canon

And They Just Couldn’t Wait — Atlanta, GA 02.21.1993

Phish — The Roxy Theatre — Atlanta, GA 02.21.1993

I  Suzy>Buried Alive, PYITE, Uncle Pen, Horn>CDT, Esther>DaaM>Bouncin>Antelope

II  Axilla, Curtain>Stash->Manteca->Stash->Lizards, Gin->HYHU>Rosie>HYHU, Coil, BBFCFM

E  Adeline, GTBT->Paul and Silas->Pig in a Pen

How do you follow up one of the better nights (up to that point) in your live musical career? Do you try to top it? Do you just say ‘screw it’ and go out there knowing you cannot live up to the previous show? Or do you do what you do which is to treat each night on stage as the special snowflake that it is with the understanding that the people who came out tonight are not the same crowd as the night prior and it is your job — nay your duty — to do whatever you can to try to melt their faces with the music you play on this night? Rhetorical questions, obviously, but this show points out the challenge of being a touring musician, playing your fifth show in as many nights (not to mention knowing they had to hit the road to make it to Gainesville, FL for the next night) and working as hard as you can to achieve that connection you know is out there just waiting to be found and fostered so that the fans that came to this show get as much out of it as you can give them. On this night, planted firmly in the shadow of the one that preceded it we get a little bit of all of the above as the band brings as much energy and musicality as they can to the proceedings while also clearly fighting the fatigue and ‘hangover’ from the prior few nights’ shows. This is not to say that the show suffers but in reality it is not quite to the level of the two nights that preceded it, hetty jams therein notwithstanding. But let’s get into things to see what went down, shall we?

The first set kicks off with a somewhat rare different intro to Suzy as they harmonize a line a cappella before diving into the song proper. This isn’t the first time (or last) that this would occur (summer 1992 has a few, for example). Trey slips in a Tweezer tease along the way, perhaps reflecting back to the previous night’s epic second set but also hinting they are raring to get after it again. They take this into a quick Buried Alive and then run through a still-pretty-rough-around-the-edges PYITE. Uncle Pen and Horn bring us then to CDT which rages in that way it did in the compact form it maintained in this era and then we are on to Esther. Page toys around with the intro here, adding some ‘reggae’ flavoring while the band banters about him ‘moving his organ’ so that everyone can see what he is doing. After Esther (which includes a Simpsons SL) they roll right into the tour debut of Dinner and a Movie before hitting Bouncin’ on their way to the big Antelope closer. This Lope has a Woody Woodpecker tease and some Secret Language (Random Note) but the real reason to spin it is the push towards taking this one outside the lines with Page adding to the dissonance and everything leading to a well executed peak. Now we are at setbreak and when not comparing this set to the show the night before people were probably starting to realize they should just go ahead and call out from work the next, oh, week or so and go ahead and follow the band down to Florida since the music was so hot. I know I would have had that conversation… at least with myself.

After the break the band comes out firing, ripping through Axilla and The Curtain before kicking off a Stash that will eventually become one of those Stashtecas the kids are always on about. This one is not as fully developed as the one from 11.14.1995 (part of that amazing set) or the one from 10.30.1998 (with the masterful transition both to Manteca and eventually to Tweezer and beyond) but it has its value. You get the typical Stash fare of ’93 in the first half and then they take it down quite low before making the move to Manteca (107 show bustout!) and then eventually bringing it back home for the release from Stash. They then go directly into Lizards after another fine segue and this one is about what you expect out of the Gamehendge tune. Next up is a somewhat rare for the time (heck it is rare now too!) second set Bathtub Gin that actually stretches a bit more than what is typical for the song in this era (remember, this song did not really take off as a potential jam vehicle until August ’93 with the Tampa and the probably-doesn’t-need-to-be-mentioned-because-you-should-already-know-it-by-heart Murat version) before heading directly into HYHU for Fish Fun Time. I’ll stop here for a second to point out that they were definitely trying to replicate something of the previous night with all of the seguery here but it doesn’t pop quite as much as that set perhaps due to the songs involved or the way it is handled, which is not to say it is ‘forced’ but that there is something just missing in the execution (even though the segues themselves are quite good here). Perhaps it was the total reckless abandon with which they attacked those songs the night before, throwing in teases and callbacks to prior songs while also layering them seemingly on top of each other. Really, it is just a matter of trying to compare one subjective thing to another. So we will move on with that. After HYHU we have some typical Fish banter, the second Rosie of the tour, and (after Rosie) Trey mentioning how they don’t want to leave the Roxy to head forward on tour. Aaaawww. Anyway, next is a fine Squirming Coil with Page doing his thing and then a typically fun BBFCFM closer to wrap up the set. After that you’d think we were about headed to the exists with a quick encore but they still have some tricks up their collective sleeves (and mumus) as after the standard a cappella number (Adeline tonight) they bring out another guest, the Reverend Jeff Mosier, who like Mr. Herring was also a member of the ARU family tree with their roots here in Atlanta. This is very notable sit-in as it is the first [known] example of him bringing his bluegrass stylings to the Phish stage but it most certainly would not be the last as we would all grow to know him quite well over the Fall 1994 Tour, specifically the Midwest section where he hopped on the bus and sat in for several tunes in several shows (aside: this is another tour I plan on eventually covering. but we will get to all of that eventually…). The first song they tackled was GTBT, putting a grassy spin on the typically raging rock classic before heading straight into the only repeat song of the three show run, Paul and Silas. This gives way to a direct transition to the Phish debut of Pig in a Pen which caps the night off and sends everyone home to check those finance boxes about that notion they had over setbreak.

As I said, this show is not the one from the previous night but it does have its highlights and takeaways. For respins, I’d recommend the Antelope, Stashteca, Gin->Lizards, and the encores if you are into the grassy side of the band. And with that in mind, if you have never taken the time to check it out, I highly recommend devoting the hour and twenty minutes required to watch the Phish Bluegrass Sessions video which was filmed along the path of the Fall 1994 tour, mostly by Rev. Jeff Mosier himself. Realistically, the biggest takeaway from this show is the introduction is allowed for that to happen at all considering his sit-in here and the background story which places he, Trey, and Mike playing bluegrass tunes backstage after this show for more than an hour to the crew, family members, and other hangers on before they hit the road and followed the lines headed south to Gainesville, FL. This summary isn’t the place to get into the full dissection of how that impacted the band but knowing that this is the probable starting point for it is important. So chalk another one up to the band finding the connection they can on the back end of a big run. And next we will dive into the band’s first ever shows in Florida which include some things that set the stage for the rest of the tour as it progresses further west.

The Resounding Echoes Grow — Atlanta, GA 02.20.1993

Phish — The Roxy Theatre — Atlanta, GA 02.20.1993

I  Golgi, Foam, Sloth, Possum?Weigh>ATR, Divided, Horse>Silent>Fluffhead, Cavern

II  Wilson>Reba>Tweezer->Walk Away->Tweezer>Glide>Mike’s->MMGAMOIO->Mike’s>H2->VoL->Kung->H2>Weekapaug->Have Mercy->Weekapaug->Rock and Roll All Night Jam->Weekapaug, FEFY>BBJ>HYHU>Terrapin>HYHU->Hood, Reprise

E  Sleeping Monkey

You see that setlist up there? That right there is Phish in a nutshell, particularly the Phish that existed in the early to mid 90s traversing the country time and again building the fanbase we have today one show at a time. By this time they were not quite well known but regarded highly enough in certain regions of the country that they could play a three night run more than 1,000 miles from their home base in Vermont to a sold out crowd and drop that show seemingly without any notice that something like this was coming. Sure, the signs are there if you listen closely enough to the earlier shows on the tour as they warmed up and reconnected after the short break between the 1992 New Year’s Run shows and the Spring 1993 Tour that began about a month later. But up to this point in the year they had not broken out this brand of Phish yet, choosing instead to focus on more straight forward shows that highlighted the songs on the recently released Rift album while interspersing older songs and some new music in as well. Maybe this was the “make up” show for the one at the Variety Playhouse from just under a year prior that got abandoned only a few a cappella numbers into the second set when a flood in the venue caused officials to not allow the band to plug in and play. Trey had hinted at that flood during the previous show’s Colonel Forbin’s Ascent narration but here, seemingly, was the payoff since that night was more about celebrating Fish’s birthday and inviting Jimmy Herring to join in for the back half of the second set than it was about making any kind of larger musical statement. So here it would be, the show that would eventually make this three night run legendary and part of the lasting canon of the band’s legacy, a show that was at least partially nodded to as recently as 07.27.2014 at Merriweather Post Pavilion what with that show’s twists, turns, and returns to the overarching theme of Tweezer while also stringing the majority of the music together without much of a break to to speak of once they took the stage for the second set. Rather than effervesce here about what this night means in the larger scheme let’s dive in and take a look at what really makes this show stand the test of time: the music. Because if nothing else it is the music that tells the story and everything else is simply statistical detail.

First set starts off innocently enough with a few warm up numbers in Golgi, Foam, Sloth before Trey seems to wake up a bit for Possum (this is not to say the playing is off before this just that they really get going as of the Possum). This is your typical straight forward rocking Possum and by now four rocking songs into the set the crowd is fully warmed up as is the band. This brings us to the always fun Weigh and a fine ATR before a Divided that is clean, powerful and pretty… like my wife! Horse>Silent gets us to a perfectly serviceable Fluff and Cavern ends the set which all feels like table setting. There’s nothing bad in this set but nothing great either. You just aren’t going to have a legendary set on your hands when Divided and Fluffhead ‘carry’ the weight of the set. But it is a first set which is meant to focus more on songs than jams anyway so there is nothing wrong with calling the set what it is and realizing that it is all done simply to set the stage for what they get into after the break. It feels like they are just getting ready to drop IT all on us and holy shit are they ever.

Strap in, this second set summary may take a while…

So the second set starts off with one of those slow-ish Wilsons where they drop some secret language (Simpsons here) and a tease (Iron Man – this is just the start of much much much more to come in this set) before ratcheting things up to the peak before working towards Reba and this is a keeper version to be sure. The pace is quick, the playing is tight, and Trey slips in some Woody Woodpecker teasing which works perfectly in this jam that also has some inklings of Stash and Lizards mixed in before they go into Tweezer. From here things start to really get nutty as this one has not only a Low Rider jam but some Das EFX teases (seriously. go spin this and then the Tweezer and you will hear it) before going into Walk Away (tour debut and 159 show bustout!) and then back to Tweezer. Then they segue into Glide which has an undercurrent of Tweezer from Trey as they move through Glide before they go into Mike’s Song (while stretching the Gliiiiiiiiiiide out into the Mike’s intro which is nice). At this point I should probably just start another paragraph because shit gets real.

Mike’s starts up and they are having fun with the lyrics, changing it up a bit and then the next thing you know Trey is playing Reba, then they are playing Tweezer, then Lizards, the Wilson “blap boom”, then a bit of Stash, then back to Mike’s before ho hum I guess we’ll just do MMGAMOIO before going back to Mike’s and then why don’t we just move over into H2 now?Oh and by the way we’re going to do the Vibe of Life with some N2O undercurrents and add in Kung too while we are at it, tease Entrance of the Gladiators and NO2 and then maybe we’ll finish up and head to Paug, ok? Oh, you thought we were done having fun here? Now let’s just go ahead and rip into that Paug before executing a great segue into Have Mercy over the Paug groove (ho hum, only 669 shows between appearances there), working back to Paug, getting into a Rock and Roll All Nite jam (complete with a fan on vocals – in costume as Gene Simmons no less), and then returning to Paug to cap that off. Yeah. So let’s just take a little breather here and reflect on what just happened.

Got your wits about you now? Okay, let’s keep going… FEFY>BBJ>Fish Fun for Terrapin ought to do it. Heck they even throw a tease in there as HYHU gets teased in Terrapin (which also includes a lengthy series of band and crew introductions). 20 minutes later give or take and we are on to a wonderfully open Hood that provides a nice punctuation mark on a fantastic set of phish. This one goes to eleven. Then the Reprise closer really seals the deal and Monkey provides the denouement it typically does for such things in the encore.

So I’m going to tell you straight up that if you are not familiar with this show you really need to just go ahead and spin it straight through. I get if the ’93 sound isn’t your thing and you like the big open jams of later years or cowfunk or ambient washes or whale’d out jams or songs about doing lines with basketball players (that’s what that song’s about, right?) but this? This is canonical phish.This is a brand of phish that many of us cut our teeth on. I have joked in the past that this set is what the 07.27.2014 set II wants to be when it grows up and honestly there’s some truth in it. Sure, they were harkening back to this sort of set with that show but this is what that came from and what people talk about when they refer to ‘turn on a dime’ mastery phish. It is tough to say now how much of this set was planned ahead of time and how much happened in the moment but considering the setting and time period my money is on it all being a spontaneous outpouring of everything up to that point from the band. This is a touchpoint show that can be pointed to as one of those moments when it all came together. The wonderful thing is that for some bands this would be their peak, the thing to which they aspire and a show that they would talk about longingly in the future as ‘that time when it all made sense and just worked’ for them as musicians. But this is Phish we are talking about here and this show is exciting not only for the music it provided us but also that it is just one of many false peaks along the path as they continually challenge themselves and alter their course by pushing the boundaries of what their music can be.

I know I have already written a lot here and I don’t want to go on for too long (too late!) but this show epitomizes Phish in so many ways. Here we have evident the full gamut of Phish with their tight playing, high energy, playfulness, antics, mastery of varied forms of music, ability to alter the show based on the mood of the room, and their eagerness at pushing the envelope. This show not only culminates everything that came before it (recall that the better 1992 shows are high on energy, segues, teases, etc. but a bit light on open jamming) while also pointing openly to the future that lay ahead. It is the type of show you give to people who want to be introduced to the band just to show them the possibilities of what Phish can do. By this time I had enough of a baseline with Phish that when the tapes reached me (pretty quickly, I might add. this show hit heavy circulation very quickly) that I could hear what this show meant in the context of where they were as a band at that stage but if this was your first show or the first tape someone handed to you, honestly, how would you react to it? To my mind, this was the type of thing Trey was always referring to when he talked about people coming to their shows and not being ‘in on the joke’. Just imagine having no baseline for this band and having something like this be your entry point. It would be totally polarizing but hopefully if you are in the right frame of mind could catapult you into the world we all inhabit. This is truly the type of tape I would give to a friend to see if they “get it” when they ask what phish is “really” about (back in the day – now that story is different).

And if this type of show isn’t your thing? That’s fine. We all came into the scene at different stages and for that reason perhaps appreciate different aspects of what make the band what they are to us. But even if this isn’t your favorite flavor of Phish you have to realize the significance not only of what this set means musically but also in the larger picture of where they were headed soon after this. The jams would only get bigger and more open from here but the spirit of this show shines forth in other classics that came after it such as 05.07.1994 (Bomb Factory, of course), 06.22.1994 (Columbus, OH), 07.13.1994 (Patterson, NY), 12.01.1994 (Salem, OR), 12.14.1995 (Binghamton, NY), 06.27.2010 (Merriweather Post Pavilion), and the aforementioned 07.27.2014 (also MPP). It would eventually pave the way for the four song set era where sets generally did not have much of a stop if at all in getting through those massive jam vehicles. Now it is yet another tool in the arsenal that they can call on or ‘get to’ when pushing the music forward. And having such a versatile band is one of the things that attracts us to following them, is it not? I mean, who would want to go see basically the same show time and again year after year? That’s just boring.

You have read more than enough on this topic so with that I will end this post. If you do not yet have this show memorized I strongly urge you to get on that homework. There are much worse things you could do with your time than to revel in the jaw-dropping greatness of what still stands as one of the top shows the band has ever played.

The Room Begins to Spin — Atlanta, GA 02.19.1993

Phish — The Roxy Theatre — Atlanta, GA 02.19.1993

I  Cup, Rift, Melt, Fee->Maze, Forbin’s>Mockingbird>Sparkle, MFMF, Poor Heart>Bowie->Moby Dick>Bowie

II  Jim, Ice, Paul & Silas, YEM>Ya Mar, BBJ, Lawn Boy, Funky Bitch, MSO, HYHU>Love You, HYHU, Llama, Grace

E  Bag

Ah, the last (of two) of Fish’s birthday shows… and the first of what would become quite a notable run in the band’s history — one that was eventually released as a high quality boxset for you to enjoy. Incidentally, this would be the first three show run at any single venue by the band since 1990 (not including the three shows at the Greek in August ’92 when they opened for Santana each night) when they did it twice: The Front in Burlington, VT (03.09-11.1990) and The Inferno in Steamboat Springs, CO (04.12-14.1990). Let me just start out by saying that the thirteen shows on the tour that lead up to this run all pretty much pale overall in comparison to what happens here. Sure, there are individual jams that might outpace some of the stuff here (and honestly this first night is probably the weakest in overall jamming considering it was the Fish birthday party and Herring sit-in night) but from the very start you can tell they mean business. Maybe they are finally warmed up, maybe it is the presence of other great musicians in the room, maybe it is Fish’s birthday, or maybe it is something else, but whatever it is they have IT here. So let’s get down to it, shall we?

The first set kicks off with Cup and this is definitely the best version of the song yet with Trey going big with his solo and Page really giving the baby grand the business. This carries over into Rift, the oft played number that hasn’t really clicked much this tour. This is definitely being used as a warm up tune here but Trey is already on fire, totally taking it where he wants without any inklings of borked notes or missed opportunity. Then we get a fast paced Melt that has a lot of Trey out in front, bending notes in ways that hint at where this song is destined to go in a few short months. But the real takeaway here is a lead line Trey adds on the journey back towards the main theme that takes this thing next level. There really is a lot packed into this relatively short version. Fee is next and while ‘normal’ has a nice segue into a positively smoking shredder Maze. Trey is hitting all the notes tonight and this Maze is Trza personified. Then we get a fantastic Forbin narration that starts as a callback to the last time they were in Atlanta and got flooded out of the Variety Playhouse (which may be another reason they are taking it up a notch) but then goes to something else entirely in the way the good Trey stories do before a beaut of a Mockingbird completes the tale (listen for a ‘Charge!’ tease in the Mockingbird). Sparkle and MFMF come in next and then there’s a Poor heart that again showcases just how on point Trey is this night. I can’t believe I’m even calling out Poor Heart but here we are. But now we get to the meat which is the set closing Bowie->Moby Dick>Bowie which starts out with some fun teases (Jingle Jangle Jingle, Happy Birthday, Moby Dick, Happy Trails), birthday shoutouts, and whatnot before heading into the debut of Moby Dick (with vacuum, natch) and then they get into the Bowie itself for a very nice jam and some more Moby Dickery in the wrap up of Bowie. Great capper to that set and we are left wanting more as we head to the setbreak to check out the Spanish Baroque architecture of this old venue.

Second set starts out with a fine example of where Jim is at this stage (which is still about a month from going ‘away from script’) but again Trey is exerting his clear influence on this night. Then we get the fourth Ice to follow Jim on this tour (and it won’t be the last) in a fairly standard version (another tune that didn’t get weird until a bit later). Quick dip in the bluegrass for Paul & Silas and then a midset YEM which is well played but without any major takeways other than “yeah, that was pretty nice”. A fun Ya Mar with Mike babble chanting and a ‘Happy Birthday’ tease is next followed by BBJ (Charge tease) and Lawn Boy with Page noting the presence of his parents in the crowd before we get to Jimmy Herring joining the fray for the remainder of the set. First up is Funky Bitch and Trey and Jimmy trade solos in a fiery version where they seem to be checking each other out a bit. MSO is up next and Jimmy gets a solo before they cut it to bring Fish out for Love You where, along with Fish beginning a joke of introducing Jimmy Herring repeatedly for the rest of the show and another ‘Happy Birthday’ tease, Jimmy gets a solo and Fish is presented with a Flavor Flav style neck clock to help him get to the bus on time as is part of the running bet thing this tour (there is no mention of what the bet is up to at this stage though). There’s also some fun in trying to get Col. Bruce Hampton up on stage but that doesn’t happen so we will just move on then. After all of this fun you get a seriously shredded Llama with Page, Jimmy, and Trey all taking solos before an a cappella Grace closer and then the bustout Bag (84 shows woo!) encore that was apparently a gift for someone else’s birthday who they may have met the night before or something. I don’t know. Go check the show notes on .net or .com for more on that ‘Hack’.

Overall this is clearly one of the better shows they have played on the ’93 tour so far and shows they are hitting stride in fine fashion. As said above, this is not the big jam show if you are looking for that but the playing is sharp, the band is clearly having a great time, the sit-in does not detract from the vibe of the show at all (in fact it probably adds to it), and you can tell they are settling in for bigger things to come from this weekend run. Interestingly enough, outside of YEM there really isn’t a big vehicle in the second set, something that will bear fruit for us in the next show, one that is really where the legend of this run grew and one of those shows that you can point to as a taking off moment for both the band and scene in general. The takeaways here are probably the Melt, Bowie->Moby Dick>Bowie and maybe Llama but this one is more than the sum of its parts. Go spin it for Fish’s sake as he hasn’t gotten a birthday show since this one.

We’d Be Remiss…

…if we didn’t at least mark the occasion of the anniversary today of one of the canonical shows in all of phishtory. Yes, I am stepping outside of the current project to do this but if you cut your teeth on mid-90s tapes then you definitely had this one in your collection. And really, I don’t need to provide much introduction to this one as it is known far and wide simply by the venue within which this one went down on that spring night in Texas. A show with more highlights than a middle aged housewife trying to hold on to her youth. A show that is a touchpoint for the transition from the speed jazz era that evolved in 1993 on to the bigger psych era that emerges in 1994 and extends through 1995 and into that un-loved but quite strong in retrospect transitional year of 1996. And definitely a show that holds up after twenty-one years as being one that you can give to even your most ardent non-Phish detractor “friends” as evidence in fighting the argument you know you have had more than a few times with the ininitiated.

In case you do not have the setlist memorized as I do, I [re]present to you (hopefully not for the first time because, seriously, how could you possibly have missed this one?) that show:

Phish – The Bomb Factory – Dallas, TX 05.07.1994

I  Llama, Horn>Divided, Mound, FEFY>Mule, Melt, If I Could, Suzy

II  Cup>Sparkle>Tweezer->Sparks->Makisupa->Digi Delay Loop Jam->Sweet Emotion Jam->Walk Away->Cannonball Jam->Purple Rain>HYHU Jam->Reprise

E  Grace, Sample

So go spin this classic today by whatever means suit your fancy as it can be found for streaming (most of the streaming sites lack the encores), for download, or get it in its full LivePhish glory (also available on Spotify). And if you choose either of those last options be sure to stick around for the ‘filler’ which includes the phenomenally abstract Funky Bitch->Jam, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav from 11.22.1994 as well as the extended, ‘reggae’ Dog Log from the soundcheck of 05.07.1994.

There’s really nothing more that needs to be said here. Why aren’t you listening already?!?