In summer of 95, if Tweezer was Phish's way of testing how far out they could take an audience before leaving them in the abyss, then David Bowie was their way of testing how many different directions they could take an audience before bringing them back home.

Starting with Atlanta's rendition, David Bowie gets more attention from the band each time it is played in the month of June.

Just a week earlier, I thought I saw the most impressive Bowie I would ever see at Jones Beach on 6/29. Little did I know that only a week later Phish would push the envelope even further with the complete mind fuck that was Bowie->JBG->Bowie.

To this day it will go down as one of my top 10 highlights. The section around the Bathtub Gin teases is some thick, dense powerful stuff.

This show isnt one that will blow you away from front to back, but this Bowie alone is well worth seeking out, geeking out about and putting in the pantheon of great Phish performances.

Honorable mention to Possum and antelope as well.

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

The second day we got up early again in hopes of scoring a spot in the North lot again. No such luck. We parked in the South lot beside a scalper who wasn't having much luck. Buses didn't seem to be running yet (at 11 AM), so we walked to the North lot. Nice walk. Took about an hour. The North lot looked like a refugee camp that had just gotten a donation from The North Face. We parked on the hillside close to the venue to eat lunch and read for the afternoon. Buses started running steadily between the lots by 1 PM. When the gates opened around five a lot of people were ready to go in. Contrary to rumors, they did check and rip tickets. More people crowded in long before the show started than the day before.
I don't know what was missing from the first set. There was lots of stuff from “Rift”. Even the songs that could have really taken off didn't entirely. I actually took out my contacts during “Antelope”, which would normally be physically impossible because I'd be involuntarily dancing so hard. There was a large inflatable moose being tossed around towards the front. During “If I Could” (after a toss perfectly synchronized with the "flipping backwards through the doors and through the windows" line), one last toss had it land in perfect sitting position, facing the audience, on Page's side of the stage. The feat got more applause from the audience than the music did. My significant other liked the “Maze” jam a lot, though he usually isn't into it. “Strange Design” can be amazing as a return to reality after a really crazy jam (see 6/26/95 SPAC and 7/1/95 Great Woods), but there was no energy in need of releasing this time. “Free” is still a great song, but again it didn't reach its full potential. All in all, an example of why one should not judge the quality of a set based on the number of songs played. (Eleven, by the way.)
I spent setbreak trying to convince people that there really wasn't more room somewhere up front.
I don't know what happened between sets, but somehow everything cut loose in the second set. It didn't hurt to start with “Timber Ho”. In all honesty, it wasn't the musical peak of the set, but I think it started a trend of risk-taking that paid off big in the later jams. “Timber Ho” was followed by the high-hat that signals “David Bowie”, with a long, spacey introduction. The jam headed out fast. Trey teased “Bathtub Gin”, and they played briefly with the theme before moving on to other unexplored themes. The jam had a lot of variety to it: different drum beats, different playing styles. It got far outside the “Bowie” theme without ever getting lost in itself (the hazard of spacey jams). It segued into a rocking “Johnny B. Goode”, which segued back into improvisational mystery land. There were a lot of teases in here, I think, but I didn't identify them. Then again, they may have been entirely new riffs. Eventually the jam returned to “David Bowie” and ended. The “AC/DC Bag” that followed picked up the jamming ball. It was a more experimental (for lack of a good word) “AC/DC Bag” than I've heard before. It segued into “Lizards”. Suddenly, at the beginning of one of the verses, only Page (and Mike?) are singing. Trey tried to pull it together, but the words just weren't there. Fishman cracked a joke, and Trey responded by starting “Big Black Furry Creature from Mars”. What a tension release! Instead of flinging his guitar around, Trey picked up a very large doll that someone had thrown on stage and flung it around, then grabbed a cup and threw some water out onto the audience (which looked wild with the strobes going), then threw some pasta (?) onto the audience as well. Phew. When “BBFCFM” ended, they started up “A Day in the Life”, which stop/start-fast-segued into “Possum”. “Possum” was again on fire, and contained another “Bathtub Gin” tease. “Squirming Coil” ended the set with more composing from Page. “Simple” was a perfect encore. This one was pure celebration: this is what we love to do and we're doing it! And to finish the tour, they came out front to sing us “Amazing Grace”. I'm surprised they didn't collapse into a group giggle fit before this started. The audience was rowdy. After several attempts on the pitch pipe, Page turned and threw it to the audience. Trey threw something small, as well. I thought Fishman was going to throw the crowd his dress. Trey mocked throwing Fishman to the crowd. Finally the crowd and the band started to settle down and they sang nicely, almost in tune most of the time.
“Waterloo” by ABBA was the immediate post-show music — a request to keep everyone's sense of humor while waiting for the buses? In the lot, the DJ kept the bus-waiting crowd calm and partying at the same time, or at least it sounded like he was trying. The disco bus provided a party lower in the lot. The stars were out and it was chilly, so we decided to walk back to the South lot. I think a lot of people who did the walk weren't too keen on it, but I preferred the stars and the exercise to the hour spent sitting in the Great Woods parking lot two nights before. We got home at 2 AM — only an hour later than we got in at Great Woods (and the post-lot drive was forty-five minutes longer).
Amazing four nights. I was struck by how consistently good these guys are. I mean, my mood creates much more variation in my show experience than the playing does. I have more off nights just listening than they do playing. I just hope that irresponsible fools don't destroy my chance to continue hearing this stuff. I don't think Phish should return to Sugarbush, not because it is a logistically hellish venue, but because security is impossible to enforce (without causing traffic jams or resorting to the kind of violent crowd control that many of us came to Vermont to avoid dealing with). I am very afraid of what rumors of mellow, successful gate crashing will lead to next time. Unfortunately, patience and a sense of humor can only go so far in keeping a crowd from getting out of hand.

One of my first shows.. at this point I think any review would be over analyzing.. I do remember someone climbing up on the ski lift and when security arrived they jumped off ran through the crowd (which parted to let him through then closed to block security) as everyone cheered as said person got away...

i want to tack a little rider onto my previous review. let me emphasis how good this gin jamming is in the first segment of bowie. trey really gets in some fun, creative licks. now, i relistened the rest of the set while cleaning the house, and it is better than i remember. bag is straight forward. lizards starts off fine, but then trey forgets the lyrics. they kind of vamp on the lizards theme while trey tries to get it back together. finally, fish quips that he needs a teleprompter, and trey wails right into bbfcfm. good firey version too. aditl is solid, but the possum that follows is a rocker. trey rips some more gin teases in the intro. this is some good fun. this might be my favorite show of a very good summer tour. this two night run is the best of the summer. yes, even better than red rocks.

this first set is inconsistent, at best. my friend works to open and poor heart keeps the energy up. the typical winners, antelope, ice, maze, and free, just don't bring the thunder like they usually do. then comes, along with the mike's groove from red rocks, the musical highlight of the summer. this second set rages. first they pull out the first timber ho in 3 years. this leads nicely into bowie. trey throws some really nasty timber ho! teases all over the bowie intro. finally, they crack into bowie, which is just a barn burner. rolling through this nice bowie jam, they throw in some fun little bathtub gin tease, and even work in some big black furry creatures from mars "quasi tease." finally they land in familar territory. they burn through an impromptu john b good. they get back into a good 5-7 minutes of bowie jamming before shutting closign this bowie out and slamming into ac/dc bag. the rest of this set is pretty uneventful, depending on your views on big black furry creatures from mars, which i love! get this set for the bowie!!

PHISH, MONDAY 07/03/1995
SUMMERSTAGE AT SUGARBUSH NORTH
Fayston, VT

SET 1:

My Friend, My Friend[1] Intro is a bit sloppy (Trey) >

Poor Heart: Standard. >

Run Like an Antelope: Standard.

Loving Cup: Cool placement.

Sparkle: Standard. >

It's Ice: Standard.

If I Could,: While relistening I couldn’t figure out what the big cheer was for (right around the flipping backwards through the doors and through the windows line. Turns out, somebody through an inflatable moose on stage which elicited the loud reaction from those in attendance.

Maze: Standard.

Strange Design: Standard.

Free: Standard. >

Cavern: Standard.

SET 2:

Timber (Jerry the Mule) Huge bust out. What a way to set the stage for a great second set. >

David Bowie: There is some filler in this section before they get to the JBG stuff, just lots of herky jerky nonsense that is just not very pleasing to the ears. But around the late 13 minute mark, the Bathtub Gin tease that arises from this is exceptional and from there Phish achieves lift off and segues effortlessly into JBG. ->

Johnny B. Goode: They do not rip the solo like they usually do, instead they take it back into Bowie. ->

David Bowie: This leaves us with ten minutes left in this monster when they go back into Bowie. 95% of it is just wicked and extremely intense. It’s unbelievably good. The way Trey incorporates JBG into the composed finale is so sick. Easy all timer and would highly recommend!

AC/DC Bag: Nice jam to this one, out of the ordinary for this time frame. >

The Lizards[2] Trey can’t remember the lyrics, the teleprompter jab from Fish is epic. They abandon this, ha ha >

Big Black Furry Creature from Mars: Sounds crazy enough on tape. Based on the reviews I read of the antics on stage, sounds like it would have been quite a spectacle.

A Day in the Life: Standard. >

Possum: Standard.

The Squirming Coil: Perfect way to close the set.

ENCORE:

Simple: Could not have picked a better tune to close out the summer tour.

Amazing Grace: Awesome. Wonder who caught Page’s pitch pipe?

Summary: The playing in set one just seems tight, surprising because they are playing their backyard and it’s the last show of the tour. On paper, it looks great but it’s a paper tiger. Set two rips though even with the Lizards debacle! That Bowie is epic, an all timer for sure. 3.9/5.

Replay Value: David Bowie

[1] Trey using his microphone stand as a slide.
[2] Aborted.

My Friend featured Trey using his microphone stand as a slide. During If I Could, a large inflatable moose was tossed around the crowd. It landed in perfect sitting position, facing the audience, on Page’s side of the stage. The Bowie intro contained Timber teases and lyrics. Bowie later contained God of Thunder (Kiss) and Bathtub Gin teases before segueing into Johnny B. Goode and Johnny B. Goode teases from Trey at the end of Bowie. Possum also contained Bathtub Gin and Johnny B. Goode teases. Lizards was aborted after Trey lost track of the lyrics. Fish teased him about needing a teleprompter and Trey started up Big Black Furry Creature from Mars. Plenty of stage antics preceded Amazing Grace; Page threw the pitch pipe into the crowd and Trey pretended to throw Fish’s goggles and, eventually, Fish himself. Trey also picked up a Hacky Sack from the stage and impressed the crowd with his athleticism. Timber returned for its first performance since December 30, 1992 (260 shows) and it was the first complete version since December 1989.
JAM CHART VERSIONS
Run Like an Antelope, David Bowie, Johnny B. Goode, David Bowie, AC/DC Bag
TEASES
Timber (Jerry), God of Thunder, Bathtub Gin, and Johnny B. Goode teases (with lyrics) in David Bowie, Bathtub Gin and Johnny B. Goode teases in Possum