(Published on the legacy Phish.net site many years ago...)

I was at the show in Portchester this weekend, and it was excellent. The list has already been posted so I wont waste space. I was in the balcony which was shaking considerably, especially during Llama. This was the fourth time I've seen them here and the sound was much better than has been in recent Portchester shows. Still, I often have trouble hearing the vocals (especially Page's and Mike's). On my tapes from the Portchester show of April '91, it is really hard to hear the lyrics clearly. If anyone has good tapes of this show, please e-mail me. The show was sold out and before it began, people were trying to get in by rushing the side doors. It worked for a handful of people until they got a lot of security guards to prevent people from "illegally" entering. Other people, who were already in the show, were throwing their ticket stubs down from the windows. Unfortunately for a lot of people, the stubs didn't work. It was a "no readmittance show". I hate to gripe but it is this kind of behavior which prevents bands from playing certain venues again. I must admit that it was fun trying to get my ticketless friends in, but I hope that this kind of thing doesn't escalate to the point where Phish is ever restricted from playing anywhere. I love seeing Phish, especially in smaller places, and I hope that I can continue to see them in small places. However, it is inevitable and obvious that they are getting bigger. They do deserve it though as they are amazing musicians, songwriters, and all around entertainers. On a lighter note, as usual, they altered a lot of their songs (not entirely, but slight changes that make them unpredictable) The version of Golgi was awesome. They changed the orchestrated jam after the chorus -not the music itself but the dynamics of it. They alternated between loud and soft so that when you though it was going to peak, it mellowed. Apparently the band loves doing this. It seems that every show they pick a couple of songs and change them slightly. Being as good as they are, they can pull this off really well, and it must keep them interested. It amazes me that they can remember all of their crazy changes (both rhythmic and melodic). Unrelated point- One of the crew members last year told me that Trey thinks his best composition is Asse Festival. I definitely agree that it is musically unbelievable, but what compels Trey to write these bizarre songs???