11-06-96 Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN
1: Split Open and Melt, Cars Trucks Buses, Fast Enough for You, Taste, Train Song, Poor Heart, Punch You in the Eye, Billy Breathes, David Bowie
2: Wilson, The Curtain-> Mike’s Song-> Swept Away-> Steep-> Weekapaug Groove, Scent of a Mule, Sample in a Jar, Funky Bitch
E: Rocky Top
I figured since Will was going to review every show from the start, I’d accelerate this board as well by reviewing the best show from today’s date.
Today we have the third show from November '96. A week earlier Phish had played their famous “Remain in Light” costume down in Atlanta. Karl Perazzo had stayed on percussion with Phish as they resumed their fall tour on November 2nd. This would be the first show of November without Mr. Perazzo, as Phish would continue to develop the “one-unit” style of grooving that they had started a week earlier during Halloween.
So now here we are in Knoxville, where Phish has played some great shows, for a November '96 throwdown. Lets get to it…
The show opens with Split Open and Melt, and that is one HELL of a way to start off a show! Only the 7th time (to this point) that Split has opened a show, Phish is ready to get this thing going not later, but NOW! The jam starts a slow descent into the abyss, with Trey doing some nice howls as Page holds up the top end. They then catch on this nice theme, with some really emotional Page chords coming from the background. It sounds serious and desperate all at the same time. Trey then morphs this theme into an In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida tease, but only briefly as they fall back into the previous theme. The jam keeps getting deeper and deeper as Mike and Page take it deeper into the thickness. Trey then emerges from the psychedelia to reprise the main Split theme. Page hops on the organ for an extra creepier vibe to the Split as the climax begins to build. The Split builds into a raging finish as Trey is just killing it with Page’s organ and Fishman crashing about, bringing a great Split to a close. A must listen Split if you haven’t heard this one.
Cars Trucks and Buses has a more darker feels coming off of that Split. With the usual fluffier Page licks traded in for more grittier chords. Trey adds in some wah-pedal over the jam to keep the dark vibe going. A very interesting CTB i must say.
The darkness it seems finds a nice break as Fast Enough for You starts up. Very good flow going on with this set so far. FEFY ends with a beautiful Trey solo, with Fishman throwing some cymbal splashes over the top.
Taste is next, as the flow continues to be strong, with the building intro of Taste a great way to end a beautiful FEFY. Fishman really brings some heat during the Page solo as it blends perfectly into the Trey section of the jam. The final section ends in another strong climax. Great show so far!
Train Song is straight-foward. Not much to say here, just a nice Train Song.
Poor Heart then fires up as we go back-to-back Cactus songs. Trey plays a ripping solo, giving way to an equal as ripping Page solo. Really great energy throughout this Poor Heart, as the calming middle ground of a mid-set seems to of ended.
PYITE starts up rather quickly next as Trey doesn’t really give a much of a chance to guess whether its going to be PYITE or Tube. Intro is pretty straight-forward, not too jammed out. Not enough Page electric piano for me ;). Landlady section is played very nicely. Just a good, solid Landlady portion. After Page’s breakdown, Trey holds a long sustain on his final solo, ending a great PYITE.
Billy Breathes is a very nice breather after PYITE. Just a beautiful song IMO, really tight playing throughout and an amazing peak.
Billy seems to fade into the darkness as Trey starts a loop on his guitar, the psychedelia starts as the Bowie signal comes in, prompting hi-hat from Fish. Bowie intro gets dark, but not too deep before the main section kicks in. Jam goes into the typical Bowie darkness at first. The jam is a pretty straight-foward Bowie jam, no unusual themes to mention really. The jam climax back into the Bowie theme though is phenomenal. The energy really kicks in once the enter back into the Bowie realms. Fishman and Trey are really bringing some heat here. The Bowie ending is a complete rager, as the energy of the set finally spills over. After what seemed to be a slow starting Bowie, this one really was capped off amazingly. Really great first set!
Wilson starts set two, as the band hasn’t seemed to want to slow down yet. The “Blatt Boom” solo either seems to be shredding extremely hard, or is slightly out of key. Either way it blew my mind.
The Curtain is next as they seem to be setting up something big. It seems that from this era Curtain usually segued into something (usually Tweezer). The Curtain is played fluidly throughout, a solid Curtain indeed.
Mike’s Song is the landing point for this Curtain. The jam goes through a heavy Mike’s jam before landing in what sounds like a very Simple-esque jam. Page hops on the synth for some interesting textures while Mike is dropping some serious bombs. The jam is all about Cactus and Page on this one. The groove-centric playing that the band had been delving in finally shows up in this jam. Mike and Fish are keeping a very groovy beat going while Page splashes about on the electric piano, sounding almost 2001-ish. Trey adds into the groove with some funky guitar while Page takes a nice solo on the grand piano. Page hops on the clav creating a complete, unified groove which I could listen to for hours. The jam starts entering some funky realms towards the end, with Trey trading off with Cactus on some extra-squishy wah-pedal action. The funk then starts to slow and become more spacey as the Mike’s seems to be ready to transition.
Page and Mike start the transition into Swept Away > Steep, which is very deep and intense. Trey hops in as the crowd goes crazy over the Mike’s they just heard, bringing up a very serene and beautiful Swept Away. Great contrast to choose this piece over Hydrogen. Always loved these two songs.
Steep ends with Fishman screaming at the top of his lungs, bringing up a serious build into Weekapaug. Skipping the regular “snare hit > Cactus slap solo”, Page and Cactus build up a great tension before Cactus busts into his slap-intro. Very cool segue indeed, and unlike one I’ve heard before. Weekapaug jam has a great climax with Trey playing his ass off. A great Weekpaug to close out a killer Mike’s > Groove!
Scent of a Mule is next here, with the energy still clinging onto that high from the Weekapaug. Page plays an absolutley amazing Mule solo, worth a listen for the solo alone. Trey then does some vocal imitation with his guitar playing, which sounds very cool. The vocal jam actually goes on for awhile, creating something new and interesting I’ve never heard from a Mule. The Mule duel also is very solid, with Page just playing out of his mind. A really great Mule, definitely a must listen for Mule fans.
Sample in a Jar comes next. Never really been a huge Sample fan, but this one suffices.
Funky Bitch closes out this show in style! Trey just lets loose big time this version, capping off a set full of awesome playing.
Rocky Top encores this show, ending an awesome show in Knoxville.
Highlights for this show definitely include Split, Bowie, the whole Mike’s > Groove, and the Scent of a Mule. I’d have to say the Mike’s Song alone takes the cake, with prime example of '96 Phish and what they could do. Scent of a Mule is definitely a dark horse from this show.
I love this show. the Mikes groove is MADNESS. ^ Great review shill!
Great review S. Hill, not much I can add. The recording I have lists the second Mike’s jam (the segment that you said was “all Cactus and Page”) as Simple although they never sing the lyrics, they dance around the chords in the beginning. The Mike’s is 10:13, and Simple is 13:25. Listen for a Crosseyed and Painless tease during the normal Mike’s Song jam. Really. It’s there.
Cars Trucks Buses features some very Taste-y guitar. Rager of a SoaMelt, and unique SoaMule. The Steep>Weekapaug segue is also very cool!
All in all, I hear more introspective, emotional playing in this distinctly Billy-Breathes-feeling show. Probably because the album came out not even a month before they played in Knoxville. Listen to this show tomorrow, on it’s 14 year anniversary.
This show fucking rocks. The first set is book-ended by awesome versions of Melt (great opener) and a raging Bowie (as opposed to raging boner, though the two are definitely not mutually exclusive events). The Mike’s Song is awesome. I love the hardcore Mike’s jam that just drops into some pre-97 funk. Very nice transition and once again Trey sits back and lets Mike and Fish lock into each other and then Page takes the limelight in the jam. I LOVE Swept>Steep coming out of Mike’s. Take that as a curveball over Hydrogen any day. The Weekapaug is smoking and this is one of my favorite Mules.