Tag: spring

Simple Smiles and Good Times – Providence, RI 02.04.1993

Phish – Providence Performing Arts Center – Providence, RI 02.04.1993

I  Axilla, Foam, Bouncin’, Maze, FEFY>ATR, Stash, Lizards, Sample*>Glide>Antelope

II  CDT, Wedge, Mike’s>TMWSIY>Avenu Malkenu>TMWSIY>Paug, Lawn Boy, Uncle Pen, BBJ>HYHU>Lengthwise>HYHU, Hood, Cavern

E  Grace, GTBT

*1st time played

For the second show of the Spring ’93 Tour Phish was in Providence, RI at the wonderfully ornate PPAC (Providence Performing Arts Center) which has been the home to a wide variety of shows, films, and other events since opening in 1928. This one would include another debut, some teases, and a bevy of jams worth your time. As the second show of the tour it is mostly made up with first time appearances from the majority of the songs played here but there are a couple of tunes that get repeated — and these are the ones you’ll hear quite frequently over the course of this tour. This is different from the band we know today considering that it is now highly rare for the band to play the same song(s) in consecutive shows (unless we are talking about the Reprise fun from Hartford/SPAC in 2010 or the Fuegoization of America over the course of the Summer 2014 tour).

So on this night the festivities would begin with a few warm up numbers, getting both the band and crowd loose with Axilla, a bouncy take on Foam, and Bouncin’. Then they fired up Maze for the Trey shred as well as some nice Page work on the organ. After this they brought it down a notch for FEFY>ATR and both of these are about what you’d expect. This three pack of Rift tunes takes the total count of tracks played up to ten (of the 14 unique songs on the album – the 15th tune being the second Lengthwise — a tune which would show up later in this show). The final few tracks would get sprinkled into the next few shows with Mound and Horn popping up in the 02.06.1993 show from The Roseland which we will cover shortly and Weigh waiting until 02.09.1993 in Rochester. But now back to this show… After this Rift material we have the first true highlight of the night as they would take Stash out for its first ride of the year. Trey catches on to a repetitive lick that he uses to drive the jam forward, building that wonderful tension along the way until they hit the release button at the peak to great effect. This song is going to be featured a lot by the band on this tour, particularly in carrying the jam load for many first sets, and as we go forward you will be able to note how they work to take this song deeper out seemingly every time they play it. Lizards provides the calm following this jam and this version is pretty okay. But hey, there’s a major super big time debut that follows it so perhaps they were just anticipating that one. And what was that epic debut? Only the second track from Hoist to hit the stage in as many days: Sample in a Jar! Yes, that’s right, everyone’s favorite attempt at making a marketable single was birthed this night in Providence and let’s just say it isn’t the most memorable version ever but that kind of goes without saying because we are talking about Sample here, aren’t we? After flooring the crowd with that amazing musical display they would end the set with Glide>Antelope which works quite well probably mostly due to the band taking Antelope out for what would be the second open jam of the set. There’s even the first example of Secret Language of the tour in this one, with the Simpsons signal showing up here post jam in the lead up to the ‘Rye Rye Rocco’ section. And with that we are off to setbreak to enjoy the fun visuals of this old theatre.

And after that break the band came out with energy, cranking through the first of many fiery versions of CDT that would grace this tour. There’s nothing overly special going on here, just the band crushing one of their classic barn burner numbers and hitting all the notes along the way. Second slot tonight is our new [slow] Wedge and this one is a tad cleaner than the debut from last night while still staying in that swinging, slower vibe. From this point the set would take a much darker turn as the band strung together a biggish Mike’s Groove that clocks in just under 27 minutes in toto. From the start of the Mike’s jam it is clear they are taking this one deep and even in being under eight minutes this version gets pretty grimy before coming back to the end and transition to TMWSIY>Avenu Malkenu>TMWSIY. At this stage NOT playing H2 immediately following Mike’s in the middle of the Groove was extremely rare, having occurred only 17 times up to this point — that we know of. Interestingly, before being a part of the Groove H2 was once paired with ‘Who Do? We do!’ (which would eventually become part of the Fluffhead suite) including a brief bridge jam not too dissimilar to ‘With’. Check out 08.29.1987 for what might be the most fully realized example (and one that also includes the long lost lyrics to H2). Geez, I gotta stop with the asides here. Anyway, after that Man Who sandwich they kick up for the Paug finale and this one is a keeper. First Trey throws in a little TMWSIY phrasing over the Paug groove and then for good measure they drop some of the then quite popular Ween tune ‘Push th Little Daisies’ into the brief vocal jamming that springs forth at the end of the song before the close. This is the only instance of this song being teased by the band that anyone has noticed so it is pretty fun to hear them throw that in there — and it is really just the start of the teasing that would be evident all tour long. After this long segment they cool things down with Lawn Boy and for this version Trey takes the solo. Uncle Pen comes in next for the requisite bluegrass number of the night before the inevitable BBJ shows up to lead us into Fish Funtime. Now we have that Lengthwise I mentioned earlier and Fish really draws this one out with a slower read on the pace in a version that is mostly a cappella before the end and return to HYHU. After Fish returns to the kit he strikes up the first Hood of the year for a straight forward yet engaging take on the well loved tune. There’s a Random Note SL in the intro section and then Trey teases Lengthwise at the start of the jam but otherwise this one is all good Hood. The second set closes with the first (of many) Caverns of the year and then we get our second Grace encore paired with a rocking GTBT to send everyone off into the night.

Overall, this is not a show you’ll probably spin again and again but it is one that has its highlights and points towards the band’s trajectory on this tour. You can hear in the Stash and Antelope that they are setting things up for bigger things, exploring the themes of these songs while also throwing in new ideas along the way. In some sense these early tour versions of the typical vehicles are the band getting comfortable again after the post-NYE layoff and they also are examples of the band members doing things to keep each other on their toes. As the tour progresses we will hear these songs blossom further.

The takeaways from this one are definitely Stash, Antelope, the Mike’s Groove (but at least the Paug if you are counting your phish calories), and Hood. Next stop, New York City!

What a Beautiful Buzz – Portland, ME 02.03.1993

Let’s get this 1993 review thing going, shall we?

Phish – Portland Expo – Portland, ME 02.03.1993

I  Cup*, Rift, Fee>Llama, Wedge*, Divided, IDK, MFMF, Poor Heart>Guelah, Bowie

II  Jim, Ice>Tweezer, Horse>Silent>Sparkle, YEM>Lifeboy, HYHU>Terrapin>BBJ>HYHU, Possum

E  Grace*, Reprise

*1st time played

For their first full concert of the year* Phish took the stage in Portland, ME at the Portland Exposition Building, a multi-use facility that is currently the home for the NBA D League “Maine Red Claws” who are affiliated with the Boston Celtics. This would be the first and only appearance by Phish in this venue as they would play the larger Cumberland County Civic Center (now called the Cross Insurance Arena) on subsequent visits to that fair coastal town. Along with being the tour opener, this show holds the distinction of being the first one where Page had the baby grand piano on stage and part of his rig for touring purposes. And with that addition the band wasted no time in letting Page show off his new toy, one that he would use to great success in several songs during this show.

The first set kicks off with Page tinkling around on the baby grand, throwing in a ‘Call to Post’ tease right before dropping the now-oh-so-familiar chords marking the debut of Loving Cup, a tune that has become a staple in the band’s repertoire. The band excitedly runs through this number in a straight to form take on the song that mainly serves to get the band and crowd warmed up and brush off the dust from the layoff. Next they dive into the first tune from the (then) recently released Rift album, playing the title track. Just a bit of forewarning here, the Rift tunes will be in heavy rotation for this Spring tour – as they should be considering this tour is supporting the release of the album… So after a crisp run through of Rift we have Fee>Llama which is an interesting pairing that has only occurred 10 times in the 275 times the band has played Fee. It isn’t uncommon for Fee to be a lead in for a shredder tune or at least something more up tempo. And because I do this sort of thing, here’s the breakdown for the most likely Fee segue partners over the course of phishtory: Maze (21), Rift (11), Divided (11), Llama (10), Antelope (10), ATR (9), Mike’s (9), Possum (8). Looking forward, almost half of those Llama ones happen in ’93 so there’s that to look ahead to here.

After some serious shreddery in that Llama Trey takes a little time to mention the Loving Cup debut and how the band has wanted to play the tune for several years but could (would?) not because Page would only do so if and when he got a real piano on which to play the tune. And then with little fanfare they kick off the next debut of this show and second rift tune played, The Wedge, which in this form is similar but not quite the same as the version we know and love today. Heck, it isn’t even the same as the version on the album! This song started more as a swinging lounge-y number that has a lot of Page to it (which works great with that new piano). A clean take on Divided fills the midset here and then we have Fish hopping out front for some trombone work on IDK. Trey then picks up the acoustic for the MFMF intro and after that quick dark interlude we have Poor Heart>Guelah, two tunes you are going to hear a lot during these shows. Nothing special to report on those except perhaps that the end solo section for Trey in Poor heart is a tad longer than modern versions, something that would also continue throughout this tour. The band then caps the set with the first Bowie of a year full of quality versions, opening up the jam a bit in a way that would grow more as they became more comfortable with stretching this one out to deeper waters. This version is almost foreshadowing in that respect, hinting more at what would become of the song than anything.

After the setbreak the band came back with a fiery Jim that allows Trey to show off a bit in the later half. This song is still a bit away from fully opening up as a jam vehicle (which would begin in earnest later in this tour) but the marks are all there and this one shows a good example of the type of musical density they had in their arsenal back then. Next we have Ice>Tweezer and the segue is really more just coincidental placement than full transition. Ice is pretty standard here but the Tweezer does go off the reservation for a bit with Trey intoning some “water your team, I’m a beehive” over the jam, hinting at more to come in the YEM later in the set. Form here they then play a three song segment of tunes, all from Rift and all pretty straight to the album versions, with the sequence going Horse>Silent>Sparkle. The Horse here (as with pretty well all of the versions in this time frame) has Trey on acoustic, something he will toy with over the course of the tour. Following this we get the second jam vehicle of the set with YEM and for this one they simply do not mess around, getting right to the jam and playing around with some ‘My Girl’ teases and Trey replacing the “wash Uffizi…” line with the aforementioned “beehive” lyrics. I must note though that the crowd gets a little excited and there’s some coordinated clapping happening here so, you know, take that for what it is but understand that back then people didn’t have stuff like “wooing” and “Hood” chants to profess their love back to the band yet. They elevate the jam to great heights before dropping into the B&D section for a bit and adding on a vocal jam that again has the “beehive” from Trey before they eventually get to the “choir” ending that was typical of this time period. This heads almost directly into another debut for Lifeboy – which is notable considering this is the first Hoist tune to hit the stage for the band. This version is a bit loose compared to later versions but still evokes that emotional response you expect from the song. From here we have the standard late second set Fish Fun Time which gets the HYHU brackets (just a note, I won’t typically mention HYHU unless there is something unusual about it) and includes Terrapin (including band/crew intros), the crooning ballad from Syd Barrett that Fish appropriated as far back as 1987, along with BBJ (with Trey telling the crowd what to do and Fish on vac) that includes elements of Terrapin before they head into a HYHU jam to finish it all off. After this interlude we get a quite engaging Possum closer that strays into ‘You Don’t Love Me’ territory before Trey takes over to destroy the end solo as Page adds a new variety of color with the baby grand. And so as to not be seen as an afterthought, the encore includes the debut of Amazing Grace before the expected Reprise sends everyone off into the night.

This is a classic tour opening show complete with a varied setlist, several debuts, an energetic atmosphere from band and crowd alike, and some solid playing out of each player. In a way, this show is a lot of table setting as we are introduced to Page’s new toy and a snapshot of many of the tunes that would become staples for the band on this tour and many that would follow. This show is probably not going to end up on anyone’s “best of” lists but it is a worthwhile listen to get a baseline for where this tour would lead the band musically.

Your takeaways from this show if you are looking to skim the highlights are Loving Cup (hey, it’s the debut!), Wedge (gotta check out the first slow wedge), Bowie, Jim, Tweezer, YEM, and Possum. Not too bad for a tour opener!

—

*I say full concert because they had an album release party at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston on 01.28.1993 where they performed Amazing Grace and Fish donated a vac that still hangs on the walls there. 

Spring 1993 – A Primer

Over the years Phish has put together more than their fair share of lengthy, progressive, crowd-pleasing tours. There’s Fall ’97 (aka Phish Destroys America), Fall/Winter ’95 (a new exploration in mind-bending psychedelia every night!), Europe ’97 (the birth of cowfunk), Summer ’94 (marking the move to bigger sheds and bigger crowds), and of course August ’93 (when the shred-jazz-adelia took root), amongst many others. But along with these well known and oft-discussed tours there are the ones that primed the band for bigger things and where they truly cut their teeth in exploring new ideas, new material, and new paths for elevating the music and the crowd towards achieving those collective moments of communal joy that are so much a part of why we as fans continue to return again and again.

The 71 shows that the band played in the 94 days between February 2nd, 1993 and May 8th, 1993 make up one of these “formative” tours. This nation-spanning tour started in the Northeast before following the lines headed south to a legendary run in Atlanta before the first shows in Florida and then out West with a 10-show run in California along the way before making its way across the Midwest and eventually back to their home base in New England (by way of Canada). Highlighting the songs that made up the then recently released Rift album (the album release party was a few nights before the tour began at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston), this tour is a bridge between two versions of the band. They had ended 1992 on a creative upswing with the tight, structured style of the past ever so slightly beginning to give way to more exploration in the live setting but were still working towards what would eventually become the next step in their musical evolution with the move towards more open waters that really came to the forefront in the aforementioned August portion of the Summer ’93 tour. Rift was their third album released in just over three years and they now had a palette of more than three hundred songs from which to choose in crafting each night’s setlist, along with all of the other tricks in their bag including Secret Language, references and teases of songs that ranged across all genres of music and the ability to play any style of music that suited their fancy, a lead singer who loved to tell stories, and probably most important of all a fanbase that was growing both in size and in terms of dedication to seeing what these guys would do next.

This Spring ’93 tour sits at an interesting point in the band’s history and is therefore quite interesting to look at in depth since it provides a great opportunity to witness the band as they grew into a new version of themselves. With that in mind, over the course of a series of posts (okay, a LOT of posts) I will be chronicling each show and trying to give some information that I have been able to gather about the set and setting in order to hopefully provide some context about how this tour progressed and led us more to the band that we know and love today. My focus is on the music first but whenever possible I will add color regarding the venues, crowd, and other factors that may have influenced what occurred on each night the band took the stage. And in doing that I think we will be able to see not only the patterns that formed but also the path that this tour forged in setting the stage for some of the much bigger things to come.

As a means of forecast, here are the tour dates of the tour. I invite you to add your own thoughts and memories to help shape the story because one man’s point of view on it is not enough when discussing such things…

PHISH – SPRING 1993 – TOURDATES*

2/3/93 Portland Expo, Portland, ME

2/4/93 Providence Performing Arts Center, Providence, RI

2/5/93 Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY

2/6/93 Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY

2/7/93 Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University, Washington, DC

2/9/93 Auditorium Theatre, Rochester, NY

2/10/93 Smith Opera House, Geneva, NY

2/11/93 Haas Center for the Arts, Bloomsburg, PA

2/12/93 Mid-Hudson Civic Center, Poughkeepsie, NY

2/13/93 Bob Carpenter Center, University of Delaware, Newark, DE

2/15/93 Memorial Hall, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

2/17/93 Benton Convention Center, Winston-Salem, NC

2/18/93 Electric Ballroom, Knoxville, TN

2/19/93 Roxy Theatre, Atlanta, GA

2/20/93 Roxy Theatre, Atlanta, GA

2/21/93 Roxy Theatre, Atlanta, GA

2/22/93 The Moon, Tallahassee, FL

2/23/93 The Edge Night Club, Orlando, FL

2/25/93 The Cameo Theatre, Miami Beach, FL

2/26/93 Ritz Theatre, Tampa, FL

2/27/93 Florida Theatre, Gainesville, FL

3/2/93 Tipitina’s, New Orleans, LA

3/3/93 Tipitina’s, New Orleans, LA

3/5/93 Deep Ellum Live, Dallas, TX

3/6/93 Liberty Lunch, Austin, TX

3/8/93 Sweeney Center, Santa Fe, NM

3/9/93 Pike’s Peak Center, Colorado Springs, CO

3/12/93 Dobson Arena, Vail, CO

3/13/93 Balch Fieldhouse, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO

3/14/93 Paul Wright Gym, Western State College, Gunnison, CO

3/16/93 Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix, AZ

3/17/93 The Palace, Hollywood, CA

3/18/93 The Palace, Hollywood, CA

3/19/93 The Greek Theatre, Redlands, CA

3/21/93 Ventura Theatre, Ventura, CA

3/22/93 Crest Theatre, Sacramento, CA

3/24/93 Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa, CA

3/25/93 Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, Santa Cruz, CA

3/26/93 Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA

3/27/93 Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA

3/28/93 East Gym, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA

3/30/93 Hilton Ballroom, Eugene, OR

3/31/93 Roseland Theater, Portland, OR

4/1/93 Roseland Theater, Portland, OR

4/2/93 Mt. Baker Theatre, Bellingham, WA

4/3/93 86th Street Music Hall, Vancouver, BC, Canada

4/5/93 HUB Ballroom, Seattle, WA

4/9/93 State Theatre, Minneapolis, MN

4/10/93 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL

4/12/93 IMU Ballroom, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

4/13/93 Memorial Hall, Kansas City, KS

4/14/93 American Theater, St. Louis, MO

4/16/93 The Macauley Theater, Louisville, KY

4/17/93 Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI

4/18/93 Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI

4/20/93 Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH

4/21/93 Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH

4/22/93 The Agora Theatre, Cleveland, OH

4/23/93 Cotterell Court, Reid Athletic Center, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY

4/24/93 Cheel Arena, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY

4/25/93 Kuhl Gym, SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, NY

4/27/93 Concert Hall, Toronto, ON, Canada

4/29/93 Le Spectrum, Montréal, Québec, Canada

4/30/93 Sports Center, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT

5/1/93 Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA

5/2/93 Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA

5/3/93 State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ

5/5/93 Palace Theatre, Albany, NY

5/6/93 Palace Theatre, Albany, NY

5/7/93 Bangor Auditorium, Bangor, ME

5/8/93 Field House, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH

*Please note that these tourdates do not include other appearances by the band in this time frame that are not considered concert performances, for example the band’s supposed appearance at The Boston Music Awards on April 7th and their two song performance at the Ancient Forests Benefit on April 1st in Portland, OR.