That Julius was ripppppping. Hits some nice peaks and then Trey builds up that tension with some bends and releases it into a wonderful scream. Sometimes I’m just in the mood for some straight forward blues raging and this Julius hit the spot. Stash was good, although ended weird, and the contrast of that Stash to a traditional bluegrass tune is so so Phishy, along with the great segues into Cavern and Divided Sky to keep the energy high. Digging into the second set later…
Was this the show that Trey has “No idea what the fuck you’re talking about?”
Listen and you tell me.
No I mean the BSM scene with the golf cart and nutty chick.
^i think so. but suzy -> crossroads is one of my favorite short segments. pure fire. love the mike’s groove on this one too.
The best way I could describe the first half of the set is disjointed. Opener Possum has an interesting intro, but the way Mike jammed the lyrics in wasn’t the smoothest. That said, it was a quite ripping Possum with a good move into Bathtub Gin. The jam in this Gin is another one off the rails a bit. I feel like Trey is letting the band lead, and they may not have expected that. Once Trey takes the jam over again he is really impressive.
Fishmans drumming in Mound fits in perfectly with this “disjointed” idea I have stuck in my mind. And the Mikes is when this set really takes off. Really strong Mikes, slightly awkward turn into a beautiful McGrupp. And then Mike shining during Weekapaug. This Groove is very high energy, even after Trey first teases the intro to Llama that switches up the jam on a dime. Llama continues the energy even higher than I thought it could go.
Then Suzy keeps the pace, the Sunshine of Your Love/Crossroads/Sunshine teases are excellent. Once Trey kicks into Crossroads completely, the audience erupts. One fella is very audibly pleased by that one.
Hello My Baby is a decent cool down, and ADITL is fine period on this set. Chalkdust is a fun encore that has a nice driven jam to it.
Overall set two is the keeper to me.
Stash, Divided Sky, and Julius are first set highlights. While the Mikes Groove->Llama, and the Suzy->Crossroads are easy highlights of the second set and show in general.
It had been a while since I listened to this one, and it was very enjoyable overall.
Strictly as a paper setlist the first set does nothing for me. Stash is good opener but the flow just looks too up and down with too many slower songs mixed in throughout. For what was likely a nice fall night in October, not a surprise to see this was a Wednesday night show (I would have guessed Sunday).
The Stash jam starts out normal but around the 7:30 mark Trey slowly starts the final build up and the jam takes on a whole new feel. The ending seemed a bit abrupt but the second jam was solid and probably one of the better ones from 1995.
The Old Home Place has always been a favorite of mine. It’s a fun, happy song that is welcome in almost any first set slot.
There is an even longer than normal pause in Divided Sky. I know at some point Trey decided to wait for the third roar from the crowd to continue on with the last progression. Always thought this was kind of a waste of time and killed the momentum built up from the first half of the song. Anyways, they nail the ending regardless.
As mentioned, Fog That Surrounds is superior to Taste. The intro vocals are more playful and it creates a nice build up to the traditional Taste first verses. Even the chorus with the different harmonies has a brighter feel to it.
An energetic Julius and Sample close out the set. Those songs were likely in heavy rotation at the time. You can tell they all feel comfortable playing them and they even give them more of a rock/blues feel back then than they have for the last ~10 years.
Second set is up this afternoon.
No.
Bittersweet Motel was filmed during the summer and fall of 1997.
With some filming during the Europe tour of 1998 as well.
Yes, and I was under the impression that the girl was referring to a past show - Compton Terrace 1995.
Her name was Suzy Greenberg and Trey showed her the Sunshine of His Love.
… at the Crossroads.
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love the section that starts at about 7:30 of Stash… Trey keeps playing like this weird ascension of notes, love how tense it feels
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crowd sounds small, but sometimes open outdoor venues sound that way on AUDs
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this Stash really gets kinda wild… really peaking hard at 12:00, Page is hammering the piano. sick psychedelic swirly shit at 12:30
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Old Home Place is sounding tight as fuck… Page misses a note on piano but the harmonies are fantastic
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Cavern was weird for me… but i really enjoyed the transition into Divided Sky, now that feels good
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Ooooh, a weird note in Divided Sky! Trippy!
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wow, excellent If I Could… what a peaking jam. Page is on fire in this set so far, to me
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ok this is weird… i guess i’m listening to Fog for the first time, because nothing about Trey’s vocal lines are familiar. i’m gonna have to listen again for the lyrics, see how they change the song
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the kinda weirdly percussive part of the Fog jam is really cool… well worth the listen
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overall the band sounds loud and rocking so far this show… not sure if its just the recording but yeah there’s an energy vibe burning for sure
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is it ok to say Acoustic Army seems out of place here? its such a rare treat, i guess i’m kinda a bastard to say that. i just kinda wish they’d keep rockin
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Julius is shredding. i haven’t even heard Sample yet but i’m pretty sure they shoulda just stretched this one out and called it a set
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oh, cool… they’ll be back in 15, so will i
Page actually messes up the end of Stash - he hits an extra couple chords when the rest of the band stops. I kind of can’t believe it. Page rarely messes up in general, so it was surprising. Otherwise it’s solid though, the composed section is nailed well, and the jam is sweet.
“That last song was live, in concert. Thank you. And we’d like to play this next song live, in concert.”
Pretty cool recording; a little bassy. I have my eq all eq’d. But it’s real clear.
I’m just getting into it though, so that’s all I got so far.
^that’s funny. i didn’t even notice the first time, that extra chord or whatever… and now that i knew to listen for it, i actually like it there because its different 
besides, who am i to argue that Page was raging that Stash so hard he couldn’t stop? 
… love the If I Could ending vocals, I really can’t imagine why they’ve stopped doing that. The harmonies are tight in general so far in this whole show. Just got thru Fog That Surrounds; what a quirky and steccatto jam that was. I’ve never been that big of a fan of either version of that song, but I guess I do like Taste better. Not trying to be contrarian. Just got thru Taste. That Divided Sky was really nice … it was similar to the Stash jam somehow, maybe he used the Leslie in both jams? Nice sounding stuff.
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apparently, that was a terrible chess move.
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interesting Possum… like the weird intro, the mellow early part of the jam loses me, then i’m fully in before Trey holds that gnarly note, but then DEG has a way of doing that
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wild little Bathtub Gin… really weird ideas, so unlike what its become since the Went Gin! i love at one point you can hear someone say “wow” in the audience
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ok i ran out of energy a little but basically the whole rest of the 2nd set is must hear. the change into McGrupp is kinda jagged, but i like the fit conceptually. the change into Weekapaug is nice, the segue into Llama is A++
First set is an enjoyable listen (except for Fog That Surrounds, I like Taste much much more!), with the highlight being the show opening Stash. Overall, I’ve found myself mostly listening to 3.0 stuff, and the raw energy they brought back in 1.0 is just nice to hear.
Second set has some highlights, and is definitely an above average show, but I don’t think it’s out of this world or anything. Starts off nicely with the creative Possum intro, definitely having some fun with it. As for the actual Possum jam I found it listless, as it didn’t get off the ground much. Gin is fun, but also nothing out of this world. Mike’s is excellent, with some real deep exploration. McGrupp also goes off the deep end for a little bit. 'Paug is short and sweet, with a nice -> into a high energy Llama. Suzy -> Crossroads is also fun, probably even more mind blowing in person.
All in all, a great show, but not the best imo.
I’m in the second set now, and I generally agree that it’s kind of a regular good Phish show from 95. But the Gin is weird in the main instrumental theme that follows the verses; Trey’s playing it all wacky, out of time. Then the jam gets pretty wild, I think.
I thought the Mike’s jam was really great, specifically Trey’s playing. It reminded me of how much I really dig Trey’s guitar playing in the early nineties. Just amazingly innovative and creative, I’d hold those years’ playing up against anyone of the legendary greats of the world, yer Claptons, Gilmours, Hendrixes, fuckin’ Eddie Van Halens.
Thought the Mound was achingly solid, just so beautifully rendered.
McGrupp obviously needed a rehearsal, lol. I’ve found myself thinking they don’t like that song that much because of some of its quirks in the early part of the tune. Frankly I feel the same way about a couple of its moments. And I wonder if that’s behind why it got messed up at this show. There’s one part where Page and Trey just abandon Mike to the chord changes (assumedly in order to concentrate on the singing), and Mike barely hangs in there. They play the instrumental part quite right, once them pesky verses are out of the way.
Okay they just broke into Weekapaug with bass thumping steady 1.0 authority, as I been typin this. Later!
The thing I think most while listening to this show is Tempo.
It is amazing how much the feel and sound of songs can change just by speeding up or slowing down the tempo. As you listen to some of the songs in this show that they still play today it’s amazing how much different they sound. Take these for instance: Stash, Julius, Sample, Possum & Chalkdust - all these songs when played today are all slowed way the hell down, and while we still enjoy them they just don’t have the kick or excitement factor they once had.
I’m a big hater on today’s Possums, ask any of my friends. But this one, even though it’s pretty middle of the road, proves that doing something just a little different can change everything. The one thing that stood out on this Possum was the weird little jazzy outro Trey plays.
Page is really hammering the keys at the beginning of Gin 
It seems like they used to be able to throw in teases mid-song with seamless transition more so than they do now. The whole Sunshine, Crossroads thing was fun and fit right in. Some Johnny B. Goode teases thrown in there.
Good solid show.
Completely agree. Being used to a recent Sample, and then coming back to hear this one… or even better a version from '94… and it is like a completely different song.
Love the energy.