Wow this show was truly a major scene...the entire campus was dosed. The rolling slopping fields were iced over with snow and then frozen rain and it was an icey frigid phish fest once agin in New England. Literally everyone was super out there...hot chicks in nice sweaters and it was fun...no beer sold however. We came up from CT for this show as the living room in RI was a couple nights earlier. Gene mathews was interesting...basically some large black dude playing base by himself then joined by widespread for a while then Phish came out. I thought this was the first 'bouncin' but I guess not...small place, and what was funny was a friend of mine who did not even go to school here, took off with some dudes he just met and went to some republican kegger scene at the young republicans club and was stuck with oddball tightwads who did not go to the show and they were like "your friend is acting funny'...well he was out there ya know...college what a fun scene with phish in the early nineties!

Fun show and again a freezing cold phish event. I stayed at my cousins in Kingston RI as she was at URI with all her grlfriends. I came up with some of my buddies and we lit the place up and partied hard this night. It was a decent ride to the show and amazingly-it was sold out! I was like wtf?...sold out? The tour manager had us all show an ID and then we were let in the back way...place was packed and the heat was blasting as it was hot inside. Winter coats and hats everywhere and the bar was slammed. I sort of had abad trip actually and wandered around most of the show but really enjoyed it. widespread was cool and then Phish tore it up. I recall parking the car and then leaving but not much else...highway to hell to close was sort of eire and dark and frankly I was ready to leave

This was a very fun show. It was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that I cut myself shaving and missed most of set one holding a towel to my nose. I had decided to shave just before the show becuase my scruff was annoying my turtleneck ( and I was very out there) and wanted a clean shave...well I had shaving cream between the bottom of my nose and upper lip and went to flick it off with the razor and it sliced under my nose ( there area where youbleed almost profusely)...so second set came around and I was boogying around having a blast. This was the cafeteria and the next day it was so weird to eat breakfast in the same place where it all went down the night before. Fluffhead was my first and really impressive. This was a very small venue and I think the draw the band had caugth soem by surprise...man did we have fun this night. It was frigid and oh, by the way, when I was in my dorm stopping my razor bleed, I could totally hear the first set from the bathroom! certifiable!

Well this was my good buddies college dorm show basically. The next night we went to Huden dinning hall in the cafateria for Adams hall and a few other dorms at castleton. My friend Grady and I along with some random folks in the dorm and my brother who was at Johnson State were all partying before hand and then went downstairs to check out the venue. Who did we see but Fishman lugging his drums and trey grabbing a few amps and stufff...so we gave them a hand and chatted them up about how tight the band was...we loved helping out and made 3 trips back to their truck to grab stuff. It was fun. The place had a black and white checkered hallway and like real nice valour furniture of reds and dark greens and the place was sort of like a medievil looking dungeon...or so at the time it seemed like it. There was no stage they were floor level. I recall fire being really crazy at the end of the show. The next night was at my school in castleton...fun time!

This was an interesting show...I kept thinking about the dead playing here just 6 years earlier doing that famous scarlet>fire. I was looking forward to Max Creek which was big when I was in high school. I had seen my initiation to phish just 2 weeks earlier at Goddard so I was gamne for a drive to burlington. Phish blew away Max creek and third world. I had some friends at Castleton and lake bomezeen and we all road up together. It was freezing that night. It was memorable but odd to have phish share a stage in hindsight.

This was my first show...I was a freshman at Castleton State and went with a bunch of people who were Vermonters and begged me to go...well I got a costume together and went dressed up as Jesus...I actually had a real crown of thorns and had paper stuck under my long hair to hold it in place...

The show was a lot fo fun I recall Trey handing my brother a sack full of macaroni and we all were shaking these boxes during possum...Antelope stands out in my head as I recalled Treys face contorted and stressed screamming "set the gear shift to the hi gear of your soul....run like an antelope, out of control" I was sold right then and there. The head space provided to me also was unforgetable. I was thinking, just who the hell are these guys?..well I saw 3 more shows in 1989 then about 60 more until 1994.

(This is a review of Light only)

2010-08-18, Hartford CT

Light, Number 18*

Placement: 3rd song, 2nd Set
Preceded by: Light

After sloppy versions of both Axilla and Timber, the band launches into Light. Jam begins at 3:24. Trey quickly begins to flutter around while left-turn Mike just plays something completely unique.

(Note: Someday I'm gonna compare all of the bass lines Mike uses once Trey starts the solo. I'm betting very few are similar)

At 5:30 Trey unleashes the first lick that really begins to change the dynamic. 6:15 the evolving jam is very Timber-esque, they could probably go back into it if they wanted. 6:50 Trey drives further downward until Mike begins what I'm going to start referring to as "the deathmarch". An ominous alternating between notes that sounds like a belltower before something bad happens. We're all the way up to 8:00 minutes now and Trey has completely shifted tone into a beeping/synthesized sound. (It should be noted that I haven;t listened to or heard Page at all thus far.) All Mike and Trey.

9:30 Trey pulls a little loop and takes a break, the sound quiets and I can finally hear Page. 10:15 Mike comes back in with another groove - man can he play. 11:15 is DEG-esque from Mike if not an actual quote, it's similar and Trey follows it up with a pattern of his own. This is great stuff. Page fills behind with more of the Pink Floyd echoes treatment that he has been playing with. At 12:00 the best part of the song happens when Fish begins playing the opening drum part to Seven Below. Very cool, he hangs with it for almost a minute as the other three play around with their version of synthnoise . It really would have been a cool segue, but I guess Trey wasn't listening or didn't feel it. Instead at 13:35, he comes in over the top of everyone and starts 46 days. I like the transition but Fish dropping Seven Below underneath everyone gets more cred.

The 46 Days that follows is energy packed. Stick around for this one.

Above average. Maybe the best of the second leg.

* was in attendance

the one thing that prevented this show from becoming epic was the bouncin & character to end set II and the ginseng, sample encore.

this show smokes from start to finish. a raging burried alive>DWD>makisupa>chalk dust is the way to start a show. the ghost>divided was great. no one ever saw divided coming out of that ghost and the two worked together beautifully.

but the second set. the second set is where it is. a standardly stellar mikes starts things off. like all fall '97 mikes this is funky and rocking at the same time. very patient. simple is great and goes off on this funky groove into dog faced boy. yamar brings the set back into focus and with silky-smooth precision the segue into weekapaug is a thing of beauty. i would put this segue up there with any other segue phish has done. totally sick. and the weekapaug rages too.

do yourself a favor. listen to this show. a true gem from fall '97 that does not get its due.

(Commentary on DWD > What's The Use only)

The first half of this version can;t be characterized as anything special. It lacks the power and pure energy of many other 3.0 versions. In my mind, it's kind of a snoozer. BUT, 12:00 in this jam goes to a whole other level. Beginning with the Sparks-esque break down in tempo, Trey starts one of the little riffs that I think define his sound mid-jam. When you hear that noise, something good is about to happen. Page, Trey and Mike are all run through patterns that build and then fade. Crazy stuff. At 14:20 Mike starts a new pattern that progressively goes lower and lower and the little solo Trey has over-top is so in sync. Loving it. The jam gets sloppy as Mike and Fish move into a darkened march, but Trey tries to maintain what everyone else has moved on from. Somehow he manages to find everyone else and comes through with a pretty little interlude that actually contrasts the previous minute quite well. At 18:18 Trey shifts towards What's the Use and Mike picks right up on it (Page had teased his part even earlier). Pretty tight.

The What's the Use also lacks the energy in other 3.0 versions, but the segue is really cool. All in all 6+ minutes of some very high level improv.

(This is a review of Light only)

2009-11-27, Albany NY

Light, Number 6*

Placement: Closer, 1st Set
Preceded by: Cavern

Anytime a set continues beyond a version of Cavern is a good thing. After the band hits the stinger, everyone was ready to head for the aisles. Trey had other plans and quickly shifted into the opening chords for Light before the notes of Cavern faded. A real nice treat.

Jam begins at 3:10. Trey lingers with the rest of the band in the structure of the opening solo for the next minute or so. Between 4:30 and 5:00 Mike and Trey begin to increase the pace of the notes and while still in the main jam Trey and Mike have some nice interplay, but nothing that shifts direction.

At 5:50 Trey heads directly back into the chorus. At 6:20 Page moves down the scale into the beginnings of some dissonant notes and Trey follows suit building echoes and feedback for a wall of sound. Fish lightly taps the cymbals and around 7:00 Trey adds a screeching echo as Page moves onto the organ until there's nothing left but noise. At 8:20 Fish pick backs up the main drum beat under everything for a very cool effect. At 9:04 the band fades to only a single loop to be cut off before the band leaves the stage.

Overall a version that is finished but feels totally unfinished in a completely odd way. Setbreak killed this one and ultimately I wish they had saved the song for second set. The dissonance at the end is a very cool moment once Fish picks back up the beat.

Average, considering the timing.

* was in attendance

Great show up and down besides the doldroms of the TTE, Lawn Boy, Water segment where it seemed people started to get kinda worried about the direction this show would take. Luckily for them, it was but a feint.

The most 'important' part of this show is clearly the first Fluffhead jam since Alpine in 99, which as far as I know was the first "real" Fluffhead jam ever.

In typical Phish fan response, people got more excited about conceivably being able to pad their stats with a DEG than how lucky they were to see improvsation arising from the ultimate Phish fan favorite for a change. I guess there isnt a place for "Once a Decade Fluffhead Jam" on the stats page?

This is an absolutely sick Disease in Set II.

High energy the entire way. The final peak has as much force on tape as it did live. That level of energy wasn't gonna last for another 40 minutes so the band had to make a turn to something slower. The final minute of DWD segueing into Sand features some nice noodling between Trey and Page.

During Sand Mike plays through several variations on the primary bass line. Very thick groove with just enough change to make it unique. Around 9:00 Trey breaks into a very dance-y riff that surely got everyone moving. After about a minute he slows back down into a deep funk that echoes his sound from the first half of the jam. Page begins to come to the front on the piano as he and Trey are either going against one another or are becoming in sync. At 13:15 Trey finally washes out what is going on and breaks into The Horse.

Now this transition is much maligned, but I'm not seeing the problem. For about a minute and a half Sand is really sick, but after that it just struggles. If you like listening to a disjointed jam, then by all means let's have them play on. The fact that Mike doesn't immediately find a way to move between two distinctly varied styles shouldn't indicate that it's a bad idea.

That being said, the Tweezer > Horse transition 2010-08-18 is much much slicker.

Additional show stats:

Squirming Coil opener. First time since Gorge '98 and only the 5th time ever (as a show opener), I believe.

8th ever Let Me Lie and first of 2010

4th Walk Away since 2000 (at the time it was played)

3rd Roses are Free of Phish 3.0, 4th since 2000 and 16th ever

6th ever Party Time

14th ever Crosseyed and Painless and 4th of 3.0

5th Destiny Unbound since 1991 (at the time it was played)

6th ever Shine a Light

cubsfantrey- I don't have a problem with heavy songs (big sabbath, primus fan)... just shitty ones, and "killin' in the name" is awful piece of music any way you slice it, and I'm still convinced it was played more in gest than out of any reverence or respect for it.

It just suprised me that people who follow such elaboratety crafted and complicated music would just as easily get off to a three minute MTV friendly screamathon stuffed at a would-be pivotal spot in a thoroughly mind bending set. To each his/her own and yadayadayada...


... a hogchoker is an flounder-like North American fresh water fish, mostly found in rivers and streams. It's flesh is generally too tough and rubbery to be chewed, thus the name.

(This is a review of Light only)

Light, Number 12*

Placement: 2nd song, 2nd Set
Preceded by: Halley's Comet

An abrupt end to Halley's Comet and the opening chords to Light begin. Jam begins at 2:53. Trey is heavy on the pitch shift for the first minute, alternating between firing and pitching. Around 4:30 Fish seems to signal the opportunity to slow the jam. Mike slowly follows down pace as Trey lingers in the murky tone established in the earlier portion. Page provides a deeper layer using the piano and a synthesizer together (see 6:50) to provide a contrast to Trey's general noodling. At 7:30 Trey goes through some quick progressions and settles in on a riff as Page moves completely to the synthesizer providing the beginnings of a wash. By 8:30 Fish and Mike have slowed considerably. At 9:00 Fish has faded into almost nothing and Page is into the heavy synthesizer wash, bending the notes up and down until they begin to spin. At 9:30 Trey has faded and only Page and Mike remain. At 9:52 the opening notes of Billy Breathes are heard in a beautiful transition.

Overall, a messy jam that has no focal point. Trey seems to play with his 2010 style throughout and never finds a riff or a groove to progress on. Page provides nice layering in the background.

Below average.

* was in attendance