This show is a jamfest. You can tell the band is having a good time and well connected. Incredible, fun Wolfman. Spacey, exploratory Chalkdust. Must hear. Joy is a lovely song with great placement. Blaze on> No Man is a blast. Twist>Caspian>Twist is quite the ride. Bouncy, playful, easing going Hood. This must have been such a fun show to be in person for.

Going to be listening to all of Fall 98 in order - will be reviewing each show. Not much of a creative writer and these are mostly for me anyways. Set1: Pretty standard first set, not really anything special for the first half or so. Decent playing by Trey on Llama but then they slow it down into LXL, Driver, Sleep, Frankie Says....super weird song placement as another reviewer said. Standard BoaF which leads us to the best part of set 1. Super solid version of McGrupp that starts to get pretty creative towards the end jam. Zero closer to bring us into setbreak. Set2/encore: Starts off with a pretty standard Possum with some solid playing from Trey but next is where the magic starts to happen. Moma is awesome, super bouncy with Mike leading the charge. One of the better versions in my opinion from 98 (Gorge and Deer Creek better though IMO). Reba > Walk Away > Simple the highlight of the show - Reba starts with some ambient space and continues to build then finally releases towards the end. Super creative interplay from the whole band on this one then into a rockin Walk Away. Rest of the show is pretty standard IMO with a Beatles tune taboot for the encore (im a sucker for the fab 4). 3.5/5 for me

For as long as I’ve ever known anything about Phish, I’ve known that they have a tradition of donning a musical costume when they gig on Hallowe’en, which means they reserve the middle of three sets on the special night to perform an entire album by another artist. In the past they have done albums by The Beatles, The Talking Heads, The Velvet Underground, and several others. I had experienced this wonder once before, when Phish covered Exile On Main Street by The Rolling Stones at a blazing weekend retreat in Indio, California, and on October 31st, 2014 I had the great joy to do it again, this time in Las Vegas. As the calendar would have it, the Hallowe’en show was the first of Phish’s three-night Vegas run, and when the lights went down in the MGM Grand arena on that Friday evening the energy in the room was crispy. The room was littered with remarkable costumes - of course Phish fans do it up right for Hallowe’en - including m’lady and I who were a bona fide hit in our googly-eye covered formal wear. Our eyes certainly turned a lot of heads and it’s a good thing too; m’lady and I had spent countless hours sitting at our kitchen table glueing even more countless googly eyes of all sizes to pants, shirts, skirts, shoes, hats, and so much more. I mean we beat a path to Michael’s craft store and bought them clean out every time they received another shipment. In the end we looked spectacular, and every move we made sounded like the waves of the ocean. We posed for many pictures and didn’t even have to wear makeup or masks (always my primary goal in choosing a costume). I guess I should back up a little. Part of Phish’s Hallowe’en tradition is the Phishbill, a mockup of a Broadway handbill that is given out to fans when they enter the venue. The Phishbill is always full of weird inside jokes and funny oddities, but it’s main purpose is to tell everyone what album will be covered that evening, a secret that the band always manages to keep well under wraps until the doors open on the 31st. Now, these Hallowe’en shows are very, very special events for die-hard fans, each of whom spends months hoping and dreaming that their favourite band will cover an album by their other favourite band, (whomever that may be). And then there was this one time (in 2013, the year before this story) when Phish had either the clever idea or the unholy audacity to use their musical costume as an opportunity to debut their very own new and at-the-time still unreleased album, Wingsuit. And while some people liked the idea many others were downright pissed. I mean, you never saw people so angry at something they love so much. It was like watching your two year old spit up all over your favourite Pollock print. Anyway, the handout we had all been handed as we entered the MGM arena on this evening was pushing the idea that Phish would be covering something called The Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House, inciting much speculation amongst the pre-show crowd. I had never heard of this Chilling, Thrilling thing but by the time the band started their first set I had overheard and butted in to enough conversations to learn that it was a Walt Disney release from the ’60’s and it was a spoken word album meant to spook out children, if only a little. But from what I understood there was no actual music on the record… The band loaded the first set with Hallowe’en-y songs, starting with [i]Buried Alive[/i] into [i]Ghost[/i],[i] Big Black Furry Creatures From Mars[/i], [i]Lawn Boy[/i], and [i]Wolfman’s Brother[/i], though I suppose if it wasn’t Hallowe’en these rather standard plays wouldn’t have seemed particularly Hallowe’en-y at all. Regardless, during the setbreak the speculation over the pending set picked up where it had left off, amplified by the stage crew who busily cleared the band’s gear and set up an epic haunted stage complete with tombstones, crypts, and a haunted house. And it was from atop this haunted house (and while made up as well-dressed zombies) that Phish would deliver what would come to be one of their most-loved Hallowe’en sets of all, which was indeed a series of jams played along to keyboard-triggered samples of the Chilling, Thrilling Disney album, a soliloquative narrative delivered by a female voice reciting nearly-creepy monologues following such themes as [i]Your Pet Cat[/i], [i]Martian Monsters[/i], and[i] The Birds (They Attack!)[/i]. It’s odd that the band got so many cosmic high-fives for jamming grooves along to a record while getting dissed so hard the year before for presenting an entire album of original songs with well thought out arrangements, but really, the proof is in the puddin’: The Chilling Thrilling set truly is exponentially better than the Wingsuit set, and I ain’t no Wingsuit hater*. After all that it’s easy to forget (unless you were there) that there was an excellent third set taboot, one that was bursting with ragers, but the biggest joke of the whole affair actually came in the form of the first half of the two-song encore: Phish’s only time ever covering Leonard Cohen’s[i] Is This What You Wanted[/i], a song/question clearly aimed at all the Wingsuit critics from last year. And the other song of the encore? [i] Frankenstein[/i], obviously**. With keyboardist Page McConnell playing the keytar, obviously. What a cool band. Obviously. *Never mind that when they actually released the album they had changed the title to Fuego, and no, they weren’t fooling anybody. **Yet another hint of Hallowe’ening that doesn’t smell a whiff like Hallowe’en when it’s played on any other night. https://toddmanout.com/

Pretty straight forward first set where the CDT and Gin shine here. Felt like they had something decent going in SOAM but cut it short. The real highlight here though for S1 is the Gin. Major key jam into about the 10m mark where it really starts to pick up and catch some steam. As another reviewer mentioned, it reminds them of an early 3.0 Gin and I 100% share that sentiment. Last 5m or so has Trey leading the charge with some solid interplay between him and Page for the peak then fade out into S1 end. Not as killer as some of the Gins that came a month later, but 100% a solid version! S2 starts with Bouncing with a space like ending directly going into Bowie which is a pretty standard version IMO. Next up is Sand which is a pretty standard spacy version for this era. Mango Song sets the tone for the rest of the show, really awesome extended jam (something they started doing more this year I guess for this one) but next up is the meat of the show. Probably one of the best Ghosts ever performed and we luckily have an awesome SBD copy of it. Starts off with some spacy groove with Mike/Page taking the lead then at the 10m mark or so Trey finds the groove adding another layer onto the jam. Jam continues in an awesome groove and starts the switch into the peak around 18m. Super different Ghost and top 5 version for me, not a lot like the ones from 97/98, super different. Set end with a pretty standard RnR and standard encore as well. 4/5 show for me and one of my favorites from this year just from the Gin, Mango Song, and Ghost.

This was my 6th show, and I had been absolutely buzzing with anticipation for it. I couldn’t get my whole Phish crew to come with me, but I managed to drag along my friend for his first rodeo, which required pulling some teeth. This was the first of 9 shows I was going to this summer, and I had just quit my job a few days earlier(for unrelated reasons). Friday morning we packed everything into my dad’s Toyota Sienna and started the 2 ½ hour drive to Noblesville from my small town in Ohio. The journey was smooth sailing until we hit the Indiana border, where I quickly learned that the Indiana cops do not fuck around. I got pulled over for going a bit faster than the speed limit. I’ve always found that as long as you’re (mostly) honest with cops, they will let you off the hook more often than not. He asked us where we were headed, and I told him that we were headed to Phish. “Is there anything illegal in the car?” The cop asked me. “I know what happens at Phish concerts.” I laughed and said no, the cop told me to watch my speed and let us go. Phew. After that I rode the speed limit with cruise control the whole rest of the drive. I wasn’t gonna take any more chances, and we were in no hurry. Once we finally got to our campsite, about a mile and a half away from the venue, we set up camp and relaxed before the show. Around 4 o’clock we decided to head to the lot, aka the most magical place on earth. I was very excited to have my buddy experience shakedown for the first time, He could not believe his eyes. He’d never experienced anything like it, and he did something we all have done. Went absolutely off the rails on his first time. Before we went into the venue, he had drunk half a case of beer and a double vodka cran. I had to practically drag him into the venue proper, where we met up with a mutual friend and his mom, and settled into our spot for the show on the lawn. I decided I had a little time to go meet with one of my friends from a previous show. Shortly after the band finally came on. [b]PYITE[/b] lit me and the rest of the crowd up, I quite literally jumped up and down with excitement, high fived my friend, wished him a good show, and sprinted back to the spot where the rest of my crew was. The first set was fun, if not incredibly notable. [b]Heavy Things[/b] was cool to get, as it is rarer than I thought it was, and one I always liked. [b]LSG[/b] is one of my favorites of the new tracks, and we got a solid rendition here. [b]SOAMule[/b] was something I didn’t think I would ever catch, so that was a fun one. [b]Pillow Jets[/b] is a song I have a special connection to, as I caught the debut and the spectacular version at Dayton ‘23. This one always goes hard, and goes deep, and this version didn’t disappoint. After Pillow Jets we got [b]Jim[/b], and the first 4.0 [b]A Day in the Life[/b]. I’ve never been a huge Beatles fan, to be completely honest, so the covers don’t particularly excite me, but this was an exception. This version was well executed and dipped into Evil Phish territory, which I can never get enough of. Great way to end the set, and left everyone wanting more. After setbreak we get into the real meat of this show. Diseasefest. [b]Oh Kee Pah[/b] was incredibly fun for me, as I grew up listening to Lawn Boy in the car with my Dad. After the first ever Oh Kee Pah>[b]Axilla[/b], we are treated to a monster [b]Disease>Scents and Subtle Sounds[/b]. S&SS is one of my favorite Phish tracks, and I had only gotten a sample version at the previous year’s Star Lake. The first outing of this track at Deer Creek absolutely ripped, and ended up being the longest jam of the night. Then the Diseasefest began. Trey drops back into the Disease solo, and the crowd absolutely erupts with excitement. We are treated to an ethereal [b]What’s The Use?[/b] [b]I Always Wanted It This Way[/b] was a song I wasn’t familiar with, but provided a dance party nonetheless. Towards the end, Trey once again drops into the Disease solo, to everyone’s surprise, and we all erupt again. The band walks offstage, and we are all left asking each other: “What could they possibly encore with after that?” Of course, there was only one answer. [b]YEM[/b]. My first YEM, at that. And it did not disappoint. I was ecstatic that my friend got one on his first show as well. After the Sphere, the image of the dog licking the camera will forever be burned into my mind for YEM. The vocal jam descended back into the Disease solo one last time, and we all looked around thinking “There’s no way they’re gonna do it again…. Right?” And in classic Phish fashion, they did it again. Disease one final time. Shows like this are why I see this band. We all left satisfied. My friend was a little too drunk, but you gotta go hard on your first show. We headed back to the lot, but we stayed for a little too long, as the shuttle for our campsite had stopped running at midnight. (An oversight, if you ask me) We waited for 45 minutes before we finally got picked up, headed back to our tents, and got some rest for the shows ahead.

Awesome and straight forward first set, specifically high energy First Tube and Character Zero. Second set started off with a standard Jiboo which did pick up towards the end. DWD the high note of the show, really awesome jam starting around the 10m mark with some light funk around the 16/17m mark. Tasteful playing in Hood into Wading then a fun Guyute to round out the second set. 3/5 for me, nothing to write home about but will revisit the DwD more often.

SET 1: Sample in a Jar: nice, loose and anthemic. Page’s vocals are very high in the mix. Free: not crazy about this placement, but it gets a somewhat extended guitar-led jam with plenty of crazed runs – Trey sounds super pumped for these shows and you can hear it in his playing. Not quite a top-tier Free – I prefer it when they take this song to slightly odder places – but it’s a good one and sounds very old-school. Simple: once again a pretty unusual placement, but despite being short this one has the same swagger as the last two. Loose, jazzy and confident from all four members. Nice! With around 6 minutes to go it dives into some lovely space and it’s clear Trey is gearing up for a segue… > Back on the Train: exactly what the doctor ordered at this point in the show. Fourth song in a row that’s done very well, especially from our resident redhead. Guitar theatrics for days in a tight 7 minute package. Waiting All Night: love this song. So beautiful. This one is a little bit rough around the edges though. 555: the crowd noise dying off instantly when this starts up is very funny. Standard. Roggae: pretty mellow jam with a few odd moments from Trey. The Dogs: great way to get the energy up! Well done. 46 Days: raging end to a mostly raging set. Trey decides to go absolutely ham in the outro – awesome. SET 2: Chalk Dust Torture: slooooooow tempo at the beginning, Trey sounds great vocally though. Initial jam is pretty standard and tense. Then after the return to the head, something interesting happens – Trey unilaterally decides on a second jam which leaves the rest of the band (Fish especially) high and dry. After a minute they course correct and we’re into an awesome warbling krautrock-style jam. Love Mike and Trey settling on a theme around 9:30, leaving Page to solo on clav. From there on the rest is just utterly fascinating – psychedelic, drippy, Miles Davis-like one chord bliss that isn’t particularly smooth in how it transitions between sections and thus wouldn’t be considered one of my favourite 3.0 jams but it’s definitely a unique and awesome moment in their modern history. Weird, adventurous, experimental Phish. 10:00-15:00 is spine-tinglingly good especially, as is the mini After Midnight jam that starts at around 16 minutes in. Outro melts away into some crazy effects that remind me strongly of a Radiohead song I can’t place. Impeccable transition into… -> Ghost: another great choice. Long and patient intro. Seems like it’s just gearing up to get going and then… -> Can’t Always Listen: never heard this one before – sounds very 70s Lynyrd Skynyrd or Allman’s-like, almost to the point where I could be convinced it were a cover. Not a bad song but odd placement and amusing hearing the crowd perk up when they start this, thinking that the band just started up some crazy type 2 Ghost jam. > Ghost: comes back from the dead at the end of Can’t Always Listen and we get some ominous effects-driven band interplay that I’m a big fan of. Page high up on the keys adding washes of notes is just great. Pretty eh ripcord into > Waves: mostly standard but check out the droney outro! Reminds me of portions of the Chalk Dust jam and continues the experimentation of this set. > Bathtub Gin: woah, interesting placement. Fun mini vocal jam at the end of the verse going into the solo. Jam is very mellow until the last few minutes, not quite hose-y bliss jamming but pretty pleasant overall. Then Trey just fires out a ton of arpeggios reminiscent of the end of Bouncing and we get a big 2015-style uplifting peak. Doesn’t really do it for me as much as I expected but a very good Gin all told. Mike’s Song: awesome way to keep up the momentum. There’s a very nice, albeit short, funky jam in this one. Would recommend. > Bouncing Around the Room: cool choice for the meat of a Mike’s Groove! Trey obviously got the idea to play this from the Gin jam, funny. Not big on this placement though. Trey’s arpeggios are weirdly shaky here which is odd because he was playing them so well in Gin. > Weekapaug Groove: chugging along nicely, then all of a sudden Trey teases a familiar lick, and then… -> What’s the Use?: Wow, can’t imagine how much of a shock this was live! Literally just slams into this more or less out of nowhere. People seem to love this particular WTU? but it’s not especially standout to me outside of its placement – Trey attempts to give it a huge shreddy peak which to me feels a touch forced. Prefer my WTU?s mellow and contemplative. -> Weekapaug Groove: straight back into it. LOVE the Auld Lang Syne tease right at the beginning of the jam. They get down and dirty with the funk for a little bit and then return to the refrain to close out the set. ENCORE: Character Zero: standard with great Trey moments. — OVERALL: a weird show that feels a little bit to me like less than the sum of its parts. Looking at the above review it looks like the recipe for an all-timer but something about the show’s flow and smoothness is a bit lacking to me. I think Set 1 is actually a little underrated here and the loose playing helps there rather than detracts, but Set 2, while super interesting, is a bit all over the place. Similar story with Trey tonight. Many songs here have about 30 seconds to a minute of absolute masterclass playing from him surrounded by other parts that feel disjointed. The middle 5 minutes of CDT is one of my favourite bits of Phish in their entire history, though. Let’s say around 3.7 stars.

This was one of my favorite shows recently. It was dark in places, it was funky in places and the band was absolutely on fire with all members having some form of standout portion. The other major giveaway that this show was a banger were the vibes inside the venue. You could feel the energy and see the crowd absolutely rocking. There are too many call outs to pick from here but the surprise of my night was Most Events Aren't Planned. I've never really enjoyed this song previously but on this night, that song slapped! What a way to end the second set!

This one has a slightly odd looking setlist, it wasn't a four-on-the-floor dance party and there's no mind-blowing jam I would point to and say "you gotta hear this one" ... and yet this show [i]really[/i] cooked. Strong versions of a few songs, some fun mini-bustouts — never thought I'd get an "Access Me" on the heels of a "Nothing" — but to me the big takeaway was just how locked in the band sounded. They played cohesive and clean all weekend, but especially tonight. They were firing on all cylinders. The only downside to this one is that it closed out a three-show run instead of being a Fall Tour lead-up to Halloween. But when the band sounds this good, I truly have no complaints.

On August 2nd, 2015 I was in the middle of a little Phish run in the south. I had flown in for the shows and didn’t have a car to traverse between cities so I found myself a ride with a friend called Shark, who reminds me every bit of a young Hunter S. Thompson, but without the gunplay. This made for a lively drive along the southern Interstates and in short order we crossed into Alabama and found our way to the hotel in Tuscaloosa. We were staying at the brand new Embassy Hotel in Tuscaloosa and quickly found our way to the complimentary happy hour to fill up on libation. When it came time to go to the show we simply walked out the back door of the hotel, strolled down the graded back lawn and found ourselves in the lot. I bought a couple of drinks and some lot food for dinner and picked up a Frank Zappa poster that will never see the wall. The venue itself was a small bowl surrounded by bleachers – I don’t recall the place having a lawn section. I was high up in the bleachers close to dead centre. I ended up staying in my proper seat the whole night making friends with the neighbours and pounding back lime-a-ritas from the vendor just behind me. The show was a lot of fun if a bit standard, but there were plenty of my faves in there. [i]Sample[/i] opener is always good, it gives me a chance to wheel around and meet the people behind me, if ever so briefly. The first set also included [i]Maze[/i] and[i] My Friend, My Friend[/i], which makes for a good first set to me. The highlight of the second set was when all the vendors stopped selling alcohol en masse nice and early without any warning – something to do with dry counties, religion, and a No-Fun squad that was as effective as it was invisible. I suppose it could have been considered a lowlight, but it stands out as the most memorable event of the set. There was also a [i]Harry Hood [/i]in there somewhere. The band encored with [i]A Day in the Life[/i], proving they knew I was out there somewhere, and after a slow romp through the pop-up night market that is the post-show lot I climbed the lawn and went to bed. https://toddmanout.com/

Hard to quite put your finger on what made this show special. It was a home game, from my vantage point. Big celebratory energy inside this cramped, funny old venue. Ghosts of old show dozin in the rafters. Great, offbeat setlists. Little treats everywhere (Access Me(!)). Terrific, superlative jamming. They keep having their opportunity to phone one in this year. To play a ho-hum Sunday night on a strange, one-off “fall tour”. Not this year, apparently! 2024 still hasn’t something left to prove! Bravo.

[b]The Use of Keys to Every Door[/b] Once upon a time some late October shows in upstate New York might have meant Fall Tour, or, maybe if you were lucky going back thirty years, a Halloween Run. There was plenty of precedent leading up to this single three-night run to inform what to expect, though maybe the most relevant is the more recent duo of benefit shows at SPAC last summer following the devastating floods in the region. In this case the ‘hometown’ shows were in support of the Divided Sky Foundation, the residential recovery center in Vermont founded by Trey to help support others struggling with addiction. And before I go any further, let me first encourage anyone reading this recap to make a donation to the foundation if you haven’t already. Maybe more importantly, if you or anyone you love is struggling with addiction, please know that help is out there. “All you have to do,” Trey offers, “is walk in the door.” Whatever familiar precedent was hanging over these shows was completely thrown out the window yesterday afternoon when the news broke that Phil Lesh had passed away. Early in the day I had posted some ‘outrageous Albany asks’ on the Forum, enjoying some silly speculation and wishful thinking about what we might hear at these shows, including old Halloween throwbacks, Siket Disk rarities, and—the most outrageous of all—a version of the Dead’s “Wharf Rat” as a nod to the Divided Sky benefit. Mostly in jest. That is of course until the Phil news broke, and it became increasingly inconceivable that the band would open the run with anything other than “Box of Rain.” (For those that aren’t aware, “Box of Rain” was written by Phil with Robert Hunter at a time when his father was dying of cancer.) I had only planned to attend Saturday, a one-off coda to the Bethel run I had done with my friend in August—only this time we’d be bringing our teenaged sons along. I briefly entertained finding a ticket and white knuckling it down from Montreal in the four hours I had before showtime on Friday, but it was not in the cards—or the stars—so I was shedding my tears watching the webcast while our community did our part to see Phil through, thinking not just of him, but also my friend, Dead scholar, and notable long time Phish fan in his own right, Steve Silberman, who also passed away this year, at the end of August. But by the time we had settled into our seats on Saturday there was a sense of Phishy familiarity and equilibrium in the air, in contrast to the heavy anticipation the night previous. I hadn’t been to Albany in fifteen years, when I caught the first show of a two night run in late November (if you’re keeping score, yeah, I missed the wrong night). My only other occasion at the venue was during the 20th anniversary mini-tour in 2003. My show buddy had a more impressive track record (of which he was only too happy to remind me), with the October 99 shows twenty-five years back his last visit, and the 12/9/95 classic, where he lucked into first-row mail order tickets, back when they still put seats on the floor. Things certainly kicked off with an old school flavour, with a welcome and playful “Possum” warming up the room. “Sigma Oasis” and its “echo of home” followed and didn’t take long to offer the first exploration and highlight of the evening, settling effortlessly into a spacious and soulful interplay that felt like it could have really taken off and taken up some serious space in the set. Alas Trey and the band seemed content to tie a bow on it and bring it back to the “Sigma Oasis” theme just after 10 minutes, maybe not quite ready for take-off. Still, it’s worth checking out, especially for signs of a new sound possibly emerging as 2025 approaches. Instead the bluesy dance theme initiated with the “Possum” came back through the station with “Back on the Train,” a first set staple in the abbreviated songbook that the band has been playing from for most of the year. Indeed If I had any complaints about this otherwise strong year, it would be the dominance in setlists of a smaller rotation of songs, which can sometimes rob them of their immediate emotional impact. Tonight was as good (or as bad, depending on your point of view) an example as any of this trend. Still, that also means the band continues to sound tight and well rehearsed, Trey especially showing a kind of poise in composed classics that he hasn’t displayed with so much consistency in a very long time. This sixty-year-old guy is clearly still practicing a ton. The “Back on the Train” was easily an above-average version, with some variations on a theme at one point that the official setlist currently has tagged as a “Rainy Day Women #12 and 25” tease. I’m not convinced that what we heard here is anything other than basic and similar sounding riff—and not just because it might have been an odd choice to suggest “everybody must get stoned” at the recovery benefit show (whatever Dylan’s original intent of the lyric). As if to undermine my short songlist point, the Undermind rarity “Nothing” appeared for only the ninth time, the last performance having sprung from a five-year void in Charleston in June 2022. There’s something about this Anastasio/Marshall Amfibian original lyrically that captures the broader spirit of this show to me. The suggestion that “nothing’s ensconced, nothing’s entrenched,” is an interesting frame for the dark, deconstructed jamming that would highlight about half the night’s jams. The contrast of being in “one instance not quite alone,” but in the next left behind, with “you like my thoughts .. borne off by the wind” brings impermanence to the fore. Impermanence is hard, it asks us to look at loss as the companion of love and attachment. ‘Nothing’ doesn’t mean nihilism, though. Impermanence is also the seat of possibility and recovery, and the promise, that if we’re able to face it with courage, that change is possible. Indeed, change is inevitable. Might as well lean in. “When I die,” Steve Silberman said, “please don’t say that I’ve crossed over into the spirit realm, gone to the Other Side, moved on to a better place, rejoined my ancestors, or any other of those comforting fables. Just selfishly or selflessly use my own impermanence to [i]wake up[/i] to your own.” So “Stash” gave the band an opportunity to embrace it all and lean back into darker tones. We had revisited the excellent, unique version from 10/10/99 in Albany on the way down in the car, and while this one didn’t come close to that kind of exploration, it had some fiery bite and precision to it following a brief ‘woo!’-filled breakdown. “Bouncing Around the Room” followed in a decidedly 1.0 fashion, now countering darkness with light. Trey looked particularly happy as he effortlessly nailed the song’s signature trills in a more than satisfying fashion. Speaking of which, don’t skip this “Tube.” The stupendous service to science was even funkier and more satisfying than usual, concocting a chemical reaction that effectively blew the top off the experiment in the room in short order. The crowd was loud and appreciative all night, and I had a great view of the energy on the floor from the first couple rows in Section 119 right next to Mike (where some band family members were also in attendance). Mike led the way in this jam, dropping some unique and dare I say Phil-inspired bombs and melodic lines. My only complaint about the room unfortunately had to do with the sound in that particular spot, which was a little muddy and suffered from sound bouncing off the back of the venue. This made it harder to fully parse and appreciate some of the gnarlier dissonant explorations of the night. Case in point was the “Bathtub Gin” that followed, which seemed to want to make the case that it can just as easily play the role of noisy deconstructed evil set closer as its Lawn Boy studio companion “Split Open and Melt.” This was an aggressive and strange “Gin.” Not all of it was to my taste—certainly not up to the vintage recently imbibed on 8/11/24 at Bethel, but worth a listen all the same for the change brewing therein. It also wasn’t the actual set closer. “More” sprinkled a little love and light (and a more than fine Trey solo) back in for good measure, promising another set to come. “Prince Caspian” opened the second frame on a similar, if slightly more melancholic tone; six minutes of another Trey favourite with the opportunity for a soulful solo, before Mike laid down the familiar gurgle of a “Down with Disease” that I had a feeling was coming. Trey seemed to be struggling a bit with his rig at the start of the song, and while there were some interesting moments of patience and space, the band never seemed to really lock in in a meaningful way. Trey looked over at Mike a few times suggesting a quick transition, without getting much of an acknowledgment. So they lingered a little longer in somewhat awkward fashion, flirting ever so briefly with some ‘Can’t Turn You Loose’-esque notes before making their way into the recovery of “Ruby Waves.” I was a bit concerned about the show’s trajectory at this point, as if they had inadvertently taken a wrong turn and couldn’t figure out how to regroup, and that we would be treated with some more formulaic crowd-pleasing up and down play. I can’t say that the rest of the show was knocked out of the park with highlights to rival some of this year’s high-water marks (the 2/22 “A Wave of Hope” and 8/11 “AC DC Bag” come to mind). But whereas the setlist stayed a familiar course for the rest of the night, the jamming style and exploration that began to emerge in “Ruby Waves” was decidedly experimental, unafraid to get weird and try the handles on a myriad of doors, like so many stars in the song. If the “Ruby Waves” bravely navigated the darkness between those celestial bodies, the “Fuego” did it one better, drilling (in Mike’s case at one point literally) to the depths of the planet’s fiery core. Indeed if you’re looking for the show’s centerpiece, look no further. As much as I have to admit I’ve tired a little by how much “Fuego” seems to follow me around (maybe it’s because this Dad keeps taking his son to shows?), I can’t find fault with anything that emerged here, even if it might not have been the most accessible stuff for a couple of teens. At some point the molten dissonance of the jam melted everything in its wake and Mike was dropping Fikus-infused sonic bombs again, the rest of the band swirling and piercing the threat of nothingness with meaning and delicious, horrible purpose. There’s a point in this jam at which it’s hard to tell who, other than Fish, is responsible for what gnarly sound. It only made sense then that “What’s the Use?” would emerge from this space, coming up explicitly against the threat of nihilism with that familiar, mournful wail. I’ve often wondered— especially in these years that we’ve been blessed with as a result of Trey’s recovery, in the company of so many songs of hope and redemption—what use “What’s the Use?” serves. As the song progressed beautifully and slowed to a long and fully silent halt, the lights on stage and in the room completely darkened, and the cheers too yielded to silence, it began to dawn on me. It’s precisely the ability to come up against the whole spectrum of darkness and face it, fully, without resistance, that makes the long hard climb to redemption possible. And boy is there some powerful redemption on display here in the final string of notes Trey pulls out of the darkness. A box of rain to ease the pain straight from the heart. The “Golden Age” (which happened to debut in Albany on 11/27/09) that followed makes even more sense here in that context, as a celebration of having made it through the wringer, a promise of better days ahead, and an encouragement not to falter. Lest you get too comfortable and assume smooth sailing from here out though, the jam goes from in-the-box positivity right back into deconstructed absurdity before drifting into the uncertain waters of “Lonely Trip,” echoing the themes visited in the first set’s “Nothing.” Some very nice work by Page on this one as we’re again presented with impermanence “when water turns to sand,” and the alternating paradox of sailing alone, with “doors closed tightly” and of chance encounters with other vessels along the way, and words as keys. “Sink like a stone, or float like feather.” “Thank you Mr. Miner. Thank you Mr. Hood.” “Harry Hood” took us home fittingly then—washing the dissonance and darkness of the show in a shower of praise, and the conviction that yes, you can feel good about what’s behind all these doors. It was a very strong version of the peak-laden classic that would foreshadow an even stronger “Slave to the Traffic Light” in the encore, following everyone’s favourite song by a bunch of 8th graders, “Golgi Apparatus.” Yes, it was maybe a little odd to get a “Hood” and a “Slave” in such proximity, but such is the state of a Phish setlist in 2024. Hardly something to resist, especially with performances as strong as these. And it’s that resistance to reality, isn’t it, that ultimately does harm? That withdrawal into ourselves to not face whatever might come, whether it be light or dark. Not every show is going to offer a masterpiece jam, rarities, or a cathartic rope to passing generational ships. But if you’ve brave enough to go deep, and weather the tides of impermanence and change, and November and more, you might find that there’s an anchor there, at the end of an unbroken chain, holding it all down. It doesn’t promise safe shores anymore than it promises stormy seas. Just the ongoing secret of searching for sound, and maybe, if you’re lucky, direction around some corner, where it’s been waiting to meet you. All you have to do is walk in the door…

This second set has a lot of abstract, challenging jams. One of the spacey jams melted into What’s the Use? which Trey sadly starts in the wrong key, but then proceeds to play the most patient, melodic and beautiful version I have heard in a long time. The following Golden Age gets spacey again, but then climaxes with an exciting ascending motif by Trey that then dissipates to thin air. Not for everyone, but worth checking out if you are the type of person who reads phish show reviews. Don’t bring these jams home to mama

First and foremost, Rest in Peace Phil Lesh! We love you and you’ve had a profound impact on many of us in the Phish community. Set 1 highlights: Box of Rain, Free, Sand. Box of Rain is a beautiful tribute to Phil, you don’t get to see phish play the dead too often! Moma > Free seems like usual first set fare but Free really gets there. Dirt is a favorite of mine, but Wolfman’s through Steam lulls a little for me. Listen yourself, good jams but nothing out of the ordinary. Sand delivers an atmospheric, funky jam that builds to a great peak. Trey, thanks for bringing back the DM2000! Set 2 highlights: Piper, Light > Tweezer, Carini. Set 2 opens with an unusually chill Blaze On jam that transitions perfectly into a monster Piper. Trey picks up a melody from Mike and watches Fishman closely as they navigate their way through the coolest jam of the night. They land on Light seamlessly on the back end of a blistering peak. Light finds some dark atmosphere in its short run time before a whimsical > Tweezer. Tweezer does its usual 2024 thing (funk, bliss, transition) but it seems like the band is content with not challenging Piper as the centerpiece of tonight’s second set. The Wedge and the Howling sounded out of sync to me [shrug] see for yourself. Monsters gives us a little more guitar hero Trey. Tonight was the perfect night for Numberline, which made me tear up as I thought about Trey’s relationship with Phil. The set closes with a rager of a Carini, it just keeps on building! So good! I love Sleeping Monkey in the encore slot, I’ll just have to keep chasing it! I want to address another review and say maybe Trey mouthed “Ghost” to Mike before they played it? Either way, it hit just right for me. They tried Ghost -> Tweeprise in Bethel and didn’t quite nail it, I love that they tried it again in Albany and totally nailed it this time. Conclusion: This is a pretty good show with a couple great moments sprinkled in. I don’t think it quite reaches the highs of summer tour but it bodes well for the rest of the weekend. 4/5

This was a really solid show, especially for N1 Friday standards. Box of Rain opener for Phil set the tone. Simply beautiful. All of the songs in set 1 had a little extra mustard on them. This version of Free was definitely more notable than the usual run of the mill Frees we get as of late. Excellent placement for NMINML, Theme had a good jam, and Sand rocked on the way out. Piper in Set 2 was spectacular. On stage, we could see Mike pushing back against Trey when they started to jam, which is probably why we got such a standout version here. Tweezer was an interesting choice, I’m never upset to hear it, however after that Piper, there’s just no way any other song was going to jam harder tonight… still a good version. Trey shut down Mike trying to jam Shakedown in The Howling. Monsters is a spectacular song. And Carini didn’t have to go as hard as it did. Ghost was a little unnecessary in the encore slot, I could see Trey mouth “no” to Mike right before the started it up. Monkey > Tweeprise would’ve been cleaner but I’ll never complain about more Phish. Great show. Looking forward to seeing where they go from here with N2!

I think this might be my new favorite show. I didn't think it could get better than San Francisco, but I was slapped across the face. I say hot damn! Everything here is just immaculate. Maybe my new favorite tour. Listen to it, please. 4.0 is the greatest Phish I've heard, and I'm not just saying that. Swim with the cactus, baby!

My first time seeing Phish I walked in knowing almost nothing about the band and was completely blown away by what I saw. If I was truly honest with myself I could probably say it was the greatest musical experience of my life at that point, but at the time I lumped it in with so many other great musical moments of my concert lifetime that had come courtesy of bands like Rush, The Grateful Dead, The Tragically Hip, Stevie Ray Vaughan and so many others. But really, going from hearing just two studio tracks ([i]Golgi Apparatus[/i] and [i]Contact[/i]) to standing right in front of Fishman and witnessing a shockingly entertaining night of music in Ottawa that included Trey and Mike bouncing on trampolines, two completely acoustic/unamplified numbers, barbershop quartet stuff, [i]The Great Gig In The Sky[/i], and a Led Zeppelin encore; they even played [i]Golgi[/i], so I knew one of the songs! If I take out a slide rule and make a few charts and graphs and carry the one in all the correct places there’s just no denying that it had to have been one of the best concerts I ever saw. Though the last time I saw SRV was pretty epic, not to mention the first time I saw the Stones… And there’s the rub. I went to an awful lot of concerts (still do) and I simply placed Phish on my large lists of bands that I should make an effort to see whenever I could. Then I met m’lady. Before I met m’lady I had seen Phish twenty times. Pretty cool huh? Mmmm-hmmm. She was somewhere around show number eighty when we met; including two European tours and every show Phish has ever played in Japan. She was/is a superfan. For her the band was simply unmissable at all costs, and when we first started going to shows together (starting with the band’s comeback shows at the Mothership in Hampton, Virginia in March of 2009) I realized that all of her friends were superfans too. At the time I was still very unclear on what the songs were called (still am), but sitting down with m’lady and her crew was like talking to a bunch of Phish encyclopedias. I thought I was a fan, but the truth was if Phish was playing in my hometown and on the same night The Stones, Roger Waters, Springsteen, or heck even The Beach Boys were playing somewhere else in town I would have a hard time picking my show. On the other hand, m’lady and her crew would have no problem making their choice. On August 5th, 2017 I finally joined their ranks (fan-wise, not encyclopedia-wise). It was the penultimate night of Phish’s stunning thirteen-show run at Madison Square Garden, a crazy little thing called The Baker’s Dozen. Like every other night in the series, specifically themed doughnuts had been handed out to the first few thousand people through the door. This time the flavour was Boston Cream, which roused much speculation amongst the pre-show crowd over what Boston or Cream-themed cover songs the band might play. Everyone was pulling for Boston’s [i]Foreplay/Longtime[/i], a song the band has pulled off several times before. My seats were in the Madison Club, a completely upscale first-class area directly behind the stage. I counted just 196 seats in the vast section, replete with fancy carpets, a private bar, bathrooms with attentive attendants, ultra wide, deep leather seats and each one was outfitted with its own very convenient marble table. And what a place to watch CK5’s light show from! No other light guy in the business spends as much time and effort lighting up the audience as Chris Kuroda; with him the band enjoys just as good of a light show as the crowd does. So I was super-comfortable, feeling great and loving the show when midway through the first set Phish started into Cream’s [i]Sunshine Of Your Love[/i]. I started jumping up and down. Then in the chorus they made a brilliant bounce to Boston’s [i]More Than A Feeling[/i]. Wow, that was awesome! Then they snap back to Cream…[i]Tales Of Brave Ulysses[/i], then back to [i]Sunshine Of Your Love[/i], then into the [i]Foreplay[/i] jam with [i]White Room[/i] lyrics sung overtop, oh it was very, very incredibly fun. They genuinely played Boston Cream on Boston Cream night. These geeks were cool, no doubt about that. And that was the last moment of my casual fandom of Phish. For it is what I heard next that pushed me over the edge into deep, deep Phish fandom. The next sound I heard would be my entrance into the world that I had been looking in on for all of these years. The phrase “M’lady loves Phish and I love m’lady so I see a lot of Phish concerts,” would no longer be my goto explanation as to why I go to the shows. All of that changed when Trey stepped up to the mic and said: “Tomorrow’s doughnut flavour will be ‘Kansas/Metallica’.” Oh my lord, I almost died laughing. Then Fishman explained that they had been waiting twenty years to deliver that joke: this entire record-setting historic run of concerts at Madison Square Garden that had brought tens of thousands of people to New York City from all over North America and beyond for the trip of a lifetime all sprung from the idea of playing the Boston/Cream medley and following it up with the Kansas/Metallica joke. That is just so very, very cool. Greatest. Band. Ever. It took a hundred-and-one Phish shows for me to find my jam but now I get it. I won’t be missing these guys much anytime soon. https://toddmanout.com/

Trey was rather impressively given the closer (pre-ensemble) slot (Mavis was the only performer to debut after him, leading The Weight with some added vocalists). Admirally chose deep cuts over bangers, leading heartfelt versions of Unfaithful Servant and Look Out Cleveland. Unfaithful was -yes - performed quite faithfully, tho the solo is worth checking out when they release this show next year.. Some Broadway in there. Look its almost impossible to out-melancholy Rick Danko. Look Out Cleveland (a pretty mid Band song IMHO, i guess Goose has covered) was loose, solid enough, well played with no major jams but lots of joy, which was a proppo given that it was nearing midnight on a weeknight, the audience had plenty of AARP members, and the show started not long after 7. So - massive novelty points, and hit the mood of the many hardcore Band heads in the room perfectly. Bravo that. Trey also figured heavily in the 2 finale songs. The most priceless moment of a night full of moments (Clapton absolutely crushed it, coolest thing he's done in ages) was the look on Trey's face playing face to face with the (86?) year old Mavis Staples - i'm sure there is YT footage taken off the venue feed. Other ensemble singers - Margo, Rateleff, Allison Russell . . .Ryan Bingham on vocals and acoustic (also backed Trey). Weir - who seemed kinda out of it on these, tho. I think Lucinda. Can't remember if Don Was and Mike Campbell also backed Trey and didn't clock his drummer. BTW the venue camerawork was shite - particularly by LA standards - Scorsese hogged up the steadicams.

I can't really say much more than people have already said. 2004 is an extremely mixed bag, but as someone who never experienced it in person, I think it's the shit, and this show is easily the best of the year. I've listened to this Reba too many times. Mike fucking rules every second of this show. My only complaint is the Velvet Sea encore, what were they thinking?? It's such a bummer (but still badass). The Cavern is sloppy as hell, but still has some funky mustard in some places. My favorite show, would recommend to anyone who likes Phish. Ocean Piper '04

Another fantastic digital audience recording for this tour. Big thanks to the mystery taper and Arty for mastering this one. It sounds like he had his work cut out for him! Things start off with a pretty straightforward Chalk Dust. Reba soars! Solid Foam. TMWSIY pairs perfectly with the Buried Alive that follows. Train wreck nearly diverted in the Golgi set closer. Stash opens set 2 for the first time! Nice jam section in YEM. Solid B&D section with a little drum solo from Fish. Entertaining VJ with Manteca quotes throughout. Flat Fee offers a nice bridge to a fiery Bitch. Another fantastic Tweezer!! Tweezer fades out without returning to the Tweezer theme, instead they perform Sweet Adeline without mics. The band sings happy birthday to ck5 for his 26th bday and invites him to the stage to blowout the candles on his cake. Cool funky happy birthday groove with the horns! One of the highlights from this tour for sure! This transitions right into a fake out Tweezer->Tweezer Rep to wrap up the set. A nice Lawn Boy/Frankenstein for the first encore and a killer little Melt with a cool Munsters tease for good measure.

This almost sounds like it could be a Matrix recording but given the fact Phish Inc doesn’t have this show in their personal archive it’s most likely a beautiful FOB or an On Stage recording. I’d venture to guess the latter given the up front sound of the recording. There’s some weird hissing that pops up throughout the show here and there but is really only noticeable during Groove and Melt. A high energy MSO opener gets the show underway. Sloth and a nice Foam follow before the GCH enter for Suzy. Another fantastic version of Sky. Nice Bag jam that fades out into Adeline performed with no amplification. A fiery Antelope closes out set 1. Landlady starts off set 2 for the first time this tour which is kind of surprising given how well the horns work with this song. Rippin’ Llama. Poor Heart > Jesus Left makes for an interesting pairing. The Gumbo>Touch Me pairing is beyond predictable at this point. HYHU cuts and heads right into the midway point of Magilla. Not sure what happened there as this appears to be a digital source. Rock solid Mike’s Groove closer. Before the encore a fan can be heard saying “that was the best band I’ve ever seen!” ;) Despite the cries for Fee the band ends the evening with a raging Melt.

Back On the Train is a song I feel is criminally overlooked. Unless it's a MONSTER version (Japan in 2000, Nassau in 2003) it's just one people hardly ever talk about. To my ear, Fishman just always, always sounds so damn good on this tune, propelling the song along with such an infectious rhythm. And Trey's tone when playing this is spectacular. This version is no slouch. No, it's not a 20-minute rager, but not everything has to be; sometimes it's just perfectly good enough to be THIS band playing songs from all throughout their catalogue, and with aplomb. That's the case here. And then it's followed by Taste - the song that I feel showcases the 4-headed monster firing on all cylinders better than almost any other. Again, a "standard" version. But I think we've all been so spoiled that we forget that a "standard" version of a Phish song is still like 3000X better than most others. Enjoy this. Enjoy it in the moment, and listen & relive the splendor that is this band, because this sort of thing doesn't happen all the time. We're incredibly lucky to be sharing space with these guys. Appreciating the "standard" versions just makes those EPIC moments all that much better!

Another fantastic digital audience recording for this tour. Golgi closed out last nights show accompanied by the GCH and opened tonight’s show with Golgi sans the GCH. The start of Golgi is clipped on this recording. They follow this up with a standard Chalk Dust. Buried Alive transitions nicely out of Page’s Coil solo. The GCH join in for Buried Alive. Split Open was pretty straightforward for this tour but has an odd pause in the ‘Steam Dream’ section. The first Tela of the tour makes an appearance. Some noticeable rust present in sections. A solid YEM closes out the first half. Set 2 opens with a fiery Possum. Cool opening segment to Bowie with some teasing of The Asse Festival and the GCH teasing a number of songs. Killer little jam segment. The first Jesus Left of the tour provided a nice cool down. MSO seemed more up tempo than usual. First Funky Bitch of the tour rips with the GCH! Trey doesn’t introduce Fish for his vac solo in I Didn’t Know. After Fish’s solo Trey announces “Carl Gerhard on the vacuum cleaner ladies and gentlemen!” Inspired Suzy set closer with Trey saying “Have you seen juniors grades?” once again. At the start of the encore Fish asks the audience if they want some rock and roll. He says this once again during the opening to Contact. The audience gets some rock and roll during this super silly BBFCFM to end the show!

The source used on Relisten is incorrectly labeled as a SBD recording. This is in fact another fantastic digital audience recording from this tour. Things open up with a spunky Chalk Dust. A well played Foam follows. Trey says “Have you seen juniors grades?” during Suzy again. Solid Stash. Flat Fee was such a treat this tour! Spectacular Mike’s Groove to close set 1! A rippin’ Llama kicks off set 2. Well Reba. Nice work from Trey on the intro to Cavern. Another smokin’ version of Tweezer! Nice transition from DaaM to Gumbo. They seem to like pairing Touch Me up with Gumbo as this was the third time this tour. Atypical opening to a very fun Caravan to start off the encore. Golgi closes out the evening.

Crispy dSBD recording for this show. Things open up with a spunky Cavern. A flawless Divided Sky follows. Nice transition into Guelah. There’s a long pause after The Asse Festival. Caused from some technical difficulties. Fish says “anyone wanna buy some used equipment?” “We gotta fine boogie mason amplifier here!” This set was one of my first boots back in the day and I always got a kick out of that comment in the middle of Guelah! Afterwards Trey says “the extended dance version there!” Chunky Mike’s Groove to wrap up set 1! A gorgeous Tweezer kicks off the second half. The “Sultan of Swat”delivers a fun vac solo for I Didn’t Know. Solid Jim. I just love Lawn Boy with the trumpet! Sloth and Esther are played flawlessly. Bag has a fiery little jam that segues nicely into Contact. A high energy Tweezer Reprise closes out set 2. David Graham gets the crowd pumped up for more Phish before the encore. Trey takes a moment to plug the Trans Continental Bike Tour in support the Children’s Wish Foundation. He also invites everyone out to Amy’s Farm. “255 acres, swimming!” Gumbo features Steve-O on whatever you call that thing. Great version! Touch Me works great as a follow up. The Suzy to end the show is fantastic! Trey says “have you seen juniors grades?” again.

Holy smokes. Blistering 1st set. Awesome Divided Sky. Fun Harpua. Interesting early version of the Wedge, played differently then subsequent years. Antelope does not disappoint. Maybe my favorite slave ever? If you want to know what having a fever feels like listen to Slave into SOAM. SOAM is so demented and syncopated. Squirming coil has kind of a honkytonk yet psychedelic feel to it. Rest of set is shenanigans of course! Definitely a show worth hearing.

The Phish show on October 10, 2010, at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, CO, was an incredible experience that I'll cherish forever. Attending with my best friend and his wife, we made the trip from Chicago to Denver for a much-needed break. The previous night, we had a blast at the Four Mile Canyon benefit, where Phish’s Trey and Mike played acoustic sets alongside some amazing acts like Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain String Band (with Fish), Big Head Todd and The Monsters, and String Cheese Incident (with Trey). It was heartwarming to see the music community come together to support those affected by the Fourmile Canyon Fire. This show was the opening night of their fall tour, and the excitement in the venue was palpable. The setlist was a perfect mix of fan favorites and deep cuts. Kicking things off with "Chalk Dust Torture," the band set a high energy level that continued throughout the night. "Ocelot" was a particular highlight for me, with its beautiful melodies and lyrics resonating deeply. The second set was just as electrifying, featuring "Mike's Song" followed by "Simple" and "Ghost," showcasing Phish's ability to weave intricate jams. One standout moment was during "Fee," where Trey sang the verses through a megaphone, adding a fun twist to the classic. The seamless transition into "Makisupa Policeman" was another highlight, especially with Mike’s playful lyrics referencing waking up with an alien on his face, which really brought the crowd together in laughter. As the night progressed, we found ourselves moving around the venue, soaking in the atmosphere from different perspectives. Eventually, we ended up behind the stage, which offered a stunning view of the band and their interactions with each other. Watching Phish from that angle was a unique experience that made the night even more special. The encore of "Loving Cup" was the perfect way to close out the night, with the crowd singing along and celebrating the shared joy of live music. This show stands out not just for the music, but for the incredible memories made with friends, the beautiful Colorado scenery, and the warmth of the Phish community. I can’t wait to share more about these experiences, so be sure to like and subscribe for more Phish reviews. And stay tuned for my upcoming podcast, "Grateful Soup," where I'll explore more of my musical adventures and the stories that shape them!

In response to The Lot above on the anniversary of this show. It was definitely at Copperfield's. The one and only time they played there. Coppefield's and The Orange Grove are definitely not two names for the same establishment. Copperfieild's was in the commercial area near South Campus. The Orange Grove was on Westcott. Totally different part of town. This show was at Copperfields. I know because I was there and it was my first show, it was sparsely attended. Phish did play at least one (maybe two) show(s) earlier in 5/89 at The Grove (as it was called) but I didn't go. It was after school was out and I had left town. Both bars do seem to be gone. Maybe someone who is stillin Syracuse can weigh in if they see this on whether they are gone or what they are called now. The next show that Phish played and Syracuse was at Clement's Brewpub (in 1990). I was at that one too. This is another huge source of confusion as Clement's Brewpub was briefly the name of a vintage long time Syracuse establishment called Hungry Charlie's and which everybody who went to Syracuse at the time simply called Chuck's. Yes Hungry Charlie's, Chuck's and Clement's Brewpub are all the same venue with different names. I have seen that 1990 show listed in databases under all 3 names. For people who care about the historical record it goes like this -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5/89 - Orange Grove 10/89 - Copperfield's 11/90 - Clement's Brewpub (more commonly known as Hungry Charlie's / Chuck's) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They didn't play again in Syracuse until 1992 at the Syracuse Armory by which time they were far to big to be playing in bars. Around 1990 Phish played Ithaca more frequently than Syracuse as they had a bigger fanbase there and its a short drive down from the 'Cuse. It has gottent o the point that the level of misinformation around these shows has become a source amusement for me. But I will say for the last time... I know this 10/13/89 show was at Copperfield's. It was my first Phish show. Sadly, I didn't know their music very well yet and certainly wasn't recording it so I have very little idea what they played. I mostly remember them practicing the whistling of Reba during soundcheck and Page telling Trey not to whistle directly into the mic to cut down on the unwanted blowing noise. There were just as many regulars around the bar as there were people there to see the show. It was a strange vibe.

Love is What We Are Summer of 89 Brian and Robert Come Together Back on the Train Strange Design Water in the Sky Everything's Right A Life Beyond the Dream More Amazing night w/ Trey playing an acoustic set and telling stories of hope and reccovery. Was a truly special evening ....................................................................................................................................................................................................

SET 1: Your Pet Cat: Fun show opener! Funky as ever, wish it were longer. AC/DC Bag: Very slow and a little uninspiring. Fun little loopy segue into… > NICU: standard but flubby towards the end. It’s Ice: nice, very old-school feel to the start of the show. Page’s voice is very coarse and aggressive during the verses, get the man a throat lozenge stat. There are worse renditions of the composed section out there but this one is not the greatest, especially at the end, though I appreciate the funky jam. Totally searing clav work. Horn: it’s like we’re at a ’93 show with this setlist. Better played than the last few but still not ideal. Needs some confidence. Divided Sky: that’s three pretty tough compositions in a row – appreciate the ambition for sure, but Trey really is missing the sauce so far. Rough until the solo section and then Trey comes into his own a little with some real nice licks. Good second half for sure. Axilla: Rough flub going into the verse riff but it’s corrected pretty quickly. Whole thing sounds a little dissonant somehow? Maze: old-school city! This is very strong actually. Page RIPS in his solo, and Trey does pretty well too (except for the end tag which he somehow plays in the wrong key.) Maze is one of those songs that almost always feels like it produces ‘above-average’ versions but I feel confident in saying this really is above average. Tight. Train Song: nice, love this one. Never not welcome. Band doesn’t sound very in sync though. Julius: once again I implore Page to take a throat lozenge or some tea. Surprisingly a really good Julius for the era though. I’m very protective of Julius performances because it was my first favourite Phish song and post-’94 performances feel like they’re missing the intensity that the song needs, but I’m a big fan of how they approach this rendition and would definitely recommend. Love that Fish briefly teases the La Grange beat in the jam. SET 2: Tweezer: funky from the very beginning though Trey still seems to be struggling a bit with articulating notes. These struggles vanish once the jam begins – this one is just awesome from the very beginning, with the full band riding a stormy funk groove that reminds me of real old Tweezers. Hard to give a play-by-play here because it runs through several tiny themes across its runtime but rest assured this is a Tweezer you HAVE to hear, a definite all-timer. Could it have used a slightly clearer peak? Sure. But the band falls back on very few crutches in this one. Just 22 minutes of mellow funk, sometimes happy, sometimes dark, almost always hose. WOW! Not many better jams from 2016. > Sand: awww hell yeah, funk city. This is another stellar version that gets as dirty as any other Sand they’ve played. Short but as sweet as wading through a sea of molasses. Fish is a total groove machine here and on Tweezer – in this whole set really. A+. > Limb By Limb: tasteful, well-placed and endearing. > Suzy Greenberg: bundles of fun. > Harry Hood: lmao @ Mike’s meatball tone in the intro. Composed section is very clean. Jam starts very mellow and even somewhat evil – funk central around 8 minutes in. Unfortunately doesn’t really transition convincingly into a peak and the outro sounds rushed. Would have been very relistenable if they had stuck the landing. > You Enjoy Myself: mostly strong composed section with a particularly nice pre-Nirvana. Jam section, like everything in this set, is largely funk-driven. Pretty great B&D too which benefits from the funk focus – WOW @ 15:25, Mike Gordon ladies and gents. ENCORE: The Lizards: now THAT’S an encore pick! No complaints here. Tweezer Reprise: standard, a little flubbed. —- OVERALL: not sure why some other reviews are touting this as a flub-free show because it most certainly is not, especially in the first set – great setlist but very hit-or-miss performances especially from Red. After setbreak they come out a transformed band, and Set 2 is pretty spotless to me outside of a weird Hood. Funk is everywhere here. Tweezer and Sand are both tremendous versions and deserve many relistens. However overall I do feel like this show doesn’t hold up too well as a complete product. Trey just sounds a little exhausted. 3.5 stars or maybe a bit above.