12-29-96 The Spectrum

Phish Live Shows
#1

12-29-96 Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA

1: Poor Heart, Caravan, Cavern, Taste, Guelah Papyrus, Train Song, Rift, Free, The Squirming Coil, La Grange

2: David Bowie, A Day in the Life, Bathtub Gin, Lizards, You Enjoy Myself*-> Sixteen Candles**-> Vocal Jam, Harpua***-> Champagne Supernova#-> Harpua (1:27)

E: Rocky Top (0:02)

*With rotation jam. (First: Trey on drums, Fish on piano, Page on bass, and Mike on guitar. Then Fish switched to bass, Mike to piano, Page to guitar, and Trey continued on drums.) **Mike solo on piano. ***Story about everybody in town. Jimmy, Poster Nutbag, Harpua, etc., go to hell, where they all see the “Uber-Demon” (Tom Marshall). # Oasis cover, sung by Tom Marshall, the “Uber-Demon”.

#2

Man oh man. The 29th was my favorite NYE show from '96-'98. Bowie, Gin, YEM, Harpua… epic

#3

I actually think this show comes off as being kind of lackluster. It has some highlights, no doubt about that, but every time I finish listening to this show I feel there’s something missing. I LOVE the Caravan early on (wish they still played this) and the LaGrange to close the first set. The rest of the first set doesn’t have much though IMO. Not even the Taste, which I’m a huge fan of…

The Bowie to open the second set is the heat…great way to open a 2nd set. But then idk…the Bathtub Gin is kind of stagnant, Lizards is great as always, but I don’t really like the YEM madness that ensues. The only rotation jam I enjoy listening to is the Deer Creek 97 one and I don’t “get” the Sixteen Candles cover. The Harpua is kind of cool, but there are a lot of missed changes so it loses a bit of its energy.