From: "Lenny Stubbe Jr." 
Subject: 10/7/94 Review

10/7/94 Stabler Arena, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa.

From: Lenny Stubbe Jr. lstubbe@buffnet.net

     My anticipation for the show was high as I made the trek to Eastern 
Pennsylvania for the opening night of Phish's 1994 Fall Tour.  I had just 
come off seeing the Dead at the Spectrum, and to see Phish the next night 
made for a memorable weekend.  I always tend to be highly critical of 
crowds at show's, wheather there were alot of people there to see Phish or 
 just local college kid's looking to get wasted.  Even though this show 
was on a college campus, this had to be one of the more better crowds I've 
seen, just about everybody was into the music, and the few college kid's I 
saw were totally there for Phish.  The show opened with a crisp My Friend, 
just the tickling of Trey's guitar to start the show let me know that this 
was the only place in the world I wanted to be at that moment.  Julius and 
Glide that followed also made for some real memorable moments.  A standard 
Poor Heart followed and then came my first prediction of the night, 
Divided Sky.  This song is always a real treat, just the pure energy that 
is consitently pumped out during this song is amazing.  I almost wish they 
would make this song more of a treat instead of playing as often as they 
do.  Stash rocked, this one really peaked towards the end as so many do.  
A nice Guelah followed and then came our first surprise of the night, the 
very fist a Guyute.  All I kept doing was thinking "This song doesen't 
sound familiar", and I asked people around me if they knew what it was and 
nobody knew.  Right after the song though, Trey announced that we were the 
first people to ever hear that song, little did I know that a legend was 
born.  Golgi closed the set in style.

     My cousin hoped they would do Maze only because it was a Maze for us 
to find the place, sure enough Maze opened the second set and didn't 
dissipoint anyone.  Another intense Horse->Silent in the Morning came next 
 followed by an always beautiful Reba.  The jam is this song is really 
something that makes the live experience, so great, especially indoor's 
with the more compact sound and the gorgeous light show.  An 
unexpected Wilson turned Stabler Arena into a complete uproar with just 
about everybody in attendance participating.  Trey and Page had an 
hilarious duel during the mid jam in Scent of a Mule, with Trey (to the 
best of my memory) saluting Page for losing the battle.  A great combo of 
Tweezer and a sweet Lifeboy followed, with a rare My Sweet One and Tweezer 
reprise ending the second set.

     By now I knew this was by far the best show I'd ever attended, by any 
band, so what could they possibly come up with as a cap to this evening.  
Well, something I'd never seen done before.  They came out acoustic, Page 
on a jumbo stand up bass, Trey on acoustic guitar, Mike on banjo, and Fish 
on the washboard.  I didn't know at the time the names of the songs, I 
just knew they were jamming a Boston tune that I heard on the radio so 
many times but never knew what it was called.  The acoustic jam went 
Foreplay->Longtime (the later being the Boston tune).  And a perfect 
encore selection of Cavern ended the show.  I much prefer hearing Phish 
tunes as encores opposed to covers, simply because I think they should 
leave us walking out of the building with one of their songs, not someone 
else's.   

     Final thoughts:  When I walked out of Stabler Arena that night all I 
could do was smile.  the only word I can think of was *INTENSE*.   This is 
one of those shows were tapes don't always do it justice, the whole 
experience of being at this show was incredible, tapes don't pick up on 
the intesity of what's happening with the band and the audience.  This is 
a tough experience to put into words, but I'm sure lot's of you know 
exactly what I'm talkin about.  I always seem to run out of words when 
describing these guy's, I guess it's all very simple: "There's quite 
simply no band like Phish" ;-)