Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 00:51:22 +0000
From: Ethan White
Subject: 3/5/97 review
Character Zero....who didn't call THAT one? (See Andy Gadiel's
Letterman poll). They MUST have been under serious time constraints,
because this was undoubtedly the shortest version ever. (Shorter than
the album!). First of all, the opening lyrics were cut by a verse.
Then, the jam lasted a good THREE CHORUSES before Mike and Page started
singing the refrain to end the song, and no, there was no vocal outro,
just a halt to the "jam."
Lamest Character Zero I've heared, but I can understand that they
were
probably told, "Three minutes, tops." By the way, lots of shots of all
the guys, not just of Trey like the last time they played Letterman.
Trey's looking pretty shaggy these days, as is Fish. Dave didn't seem
too thrilled to have them on his show, and I wondered why they did this
gig. No one's watching at 12:30 on a Wednesday night except the
die-hard Phish fans, and they are only going to be dissapointed by the
lack of time given to them. Oh well.....
Lokking forward to the summer tour!!!!
Ethan
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Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 00:51:51 -0500
From: Michael Osiecki
Subject: letterman
review of The Late Show with David Letterman:
Phish played the Late Show tonight for the third time and they
performed one song Character Zero.
The song seemed to be a little muffled due to the Late Show's sound
equipment and Mike's voice sounded strange. I don't know maybe it was
just me but the song didn't come off to hot. But who cares, really.
After the song Dave came over and shook all their hands and the boys
seemed to be in really relaxed good mood. It was nice to see them after
their trip to Europe (Trey looked a little scruffy in cool funny way).
Anyway that's the review. Character Zero, not the best ever but at
least it was Phish.
Mike Osiecki
----------------------------------------------------
From: hsyoung@aol.com (HSYOUNG)
Subject: Letterman Notes
Date: 6 Mar 1997 06:16:22 GMT
The band seemed like they were freezing - like the audience. Way to cold
in there to play with loose hands so they all kicked ass, considering.
Anyhow, they seemed to be in good spirits - perhaps a tad nervous. Kuroda
said they were absolutely exhausted and that he had just gotten off a
plane from Copenhagen. Also added that he doubted a Wednesday night
appearance would occur. Marshall was there.
Trey arrived holding Eliza and it was damn cute. Two limos spat out the
four members into a fan-lined side-entrance. On the way out, Mike's bass
was put into the trunk after the show.
On stage, it looked like Trey was wearing a black suit possibly with a
white t-shirt underneath, though it could have just been a crafty
windbreaker moonlighting as a suit coat. I was surprised that Dave barely
watched the band play. Didn't move a muscle. Sort of stared of into space
watched the band play. Didn't move a muscle. Sort of stared of into space
waiting for the commercial break. Meanwhile, they jammed.
Some of us in the few front rows were really getting expressive and
probably a bit unruly for the likes of what seemed to be a VERY tame
environment. Sterile even. Dave's presence was not very large, though how
could I be objective when the musical guest was Ghoti?
I have heard that Letterman supposedly likes Phish or something? Whoever
said that should have seen Dave snoozing during the, actually,
slightly-flubbed but rockin' tune!
Probably more to say but too tired from work.
(though you already know: character zero)
'Night
Spencer
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From: Paul Sheridan
Subject: Letterman story
Date: Wed, 05 Mar 1997 19:44:37 -0500
Allright, here's the deal:
Letterman give out standby audience tickets to folks on the day of the
show, so, obviously, pretty much the whole standby audience today was
made up of Phish fans. I myself got there at six this morning, and was
16th in line. The Ed Sullivan theatre holds 461 people, and they mail
out the tickets months in advance, when people don't know if they're
going to be in NYC, who the guests are, or whatever. So they need the
standby audience to fill in the no-shows. Except tonight. Tonight they
didn't let in anyone from the standby audience. Not one. There were a
good 200 Phish fans with long faces outside the Ed Sullivan Theatre at
5:20 today. Anyway, I grabbed something to eat at Ranch 1, at the
suggestion of someone on rmp, and, let me say, the fries sucked, even
with barbeque sauce.
My friend and I then wandered to the side of the theatre, where the
guests come out. At 6:10, Chevy Chase came out. About 5 people cared.
5 minutes later, the actress (I can't remember her name) who played
Howard Stern's wife in his movie came out. About 2 people cared. At
6:25, Page came out. By this time, the 200 or so fans that had been
outside the theatre at 5:25 were crowding the police barricades. The
security was pretty tight, they were pushing people back who wandered to
the street sight of limos and stuff. Anyway, Page came out, waved to
the crowd, got in a limo, and left. 5 or 10 minutes later, Fishman came
out, threw up his hands, smiled, and got into a limo, then Gordon came
out, didn't gesture to the crowd at all, and got in the same limo as
Fishman. I didn't actually see Trey, but from what people told me, he
came out, holding Eliza, and went straight for the limo.
I realize the guys were tired from the tour, but I'd be lying if I said
that I hadn't hoped for a bit more interaction with a crowd that had
been there all day in the hopes of seeing Phish perform one song (Still
no clue what it was), and hadn't even gotten that. Please don't flame
me for ragging on the band, because that's not what I'm doing. All I'm
saying is that I wish it had gone differently. Somebody in the crowd
asked one of the roadies where the guys were headed, and he said,
tiredly, "A Place called home".
Hopefully, we'll all watch the show tonight, and they'll bust out with a
killer jam, but so far my day hasn't been too fruitful. Peace, everone.
Paul Sheridan
pts1@columbia.edu
http://www.columbia.edu/~pts1
---------------------------------------------
From: Ed Jurken III <4lg6jurkene@vmsb.csd.mu.edu>
Subject: Phish on Letterman
Date: 6 Mar 1997 05:51:09 GMT
Hey now everybody--
A few thoughts on the Letterman show with Phish...
1. Is it just me, or did Trey gain a lot of weight
2. As professional as Fish looks in the pants and shirt, the dress is
sooo much cooler.
3. When they started up "zero," I thought I was going to be dissapointed.
Although they didn't do anything special, and they played for 3 minutes,
I could not help but smile. They are truly a special band.
4. What was up with the many one second shots of Mike??
Anyways, just thought I'd share...don't be too bitter about the song
choice and time played. If only there were more of these television
appearances!!!
Have phun,
eddie j
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From: Ron Broman
Subject: tonight on Letterman...
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 05:45:14 GMT
Well, they played Character Zero, which wasn't too much of a surprise. I
was guessing either that, Free, or Taste. Anyhow, some thoughts:
Phish really aren't cut out for TV, at least in terms of talk show
appearances. For one, regardless of song selection, they didn't sound
too spectacular. Maybe it's the room acoustics (though it was the Ed
Sullivan *Theater*) and maybe it's the difference in Paul mixing for the
room, and not the TV audio transmission ... I don't know. It just seemed
that Page and Mike's vocals were both rather high, almost to the point
of being annoying. Trey's vocals did sound great, probably the best
sound (vocal or instrument) of the performance. Despite the fact that
the Billy Breathes version of Character Zero was distilled to a very
brief (relatively) rendition, I just can't get used to a 3-5 Phish song,
especially one that does tend to be extended and jammed out when played
live.
As an aside - what did people think of Trey's shaggy look? It's not
totally new for him, but different in comparison to him on fall tour. In
all honesty, he kinda looked like Jerry Garcia, in a weird sort of way.
At least I saw some resemblance...
laytah,
Ron
| --
****
Ron Broman
VP: GSFC
Postmaster: JTFC
broman@virginia.edu
http://broman.home.ml.org
http://faraday.clas.virginia.edu/~rcb4d