Not something that has been discussed too much on this board. I’m listening to 4/29/87 at the moment, downloaded from nugs, it’s pretty good, they were quite tight back in those days!
80s brought a very jazzy feel to Phish in my ears. The LPhish release from Tinley Park in '89 I believe is a GREAT show. You can tell they are just having fun.
It’s fucking sweet to hear how they evolved, init?
Yeah, it’s amazing how tight they were even then, but what’s really great is to hear how they got better at playing with eachother over the years…
oh and grateful dead covers! 
I like the “intimate bar” sound. Reminds me more of playing with the friends in the basement sort of thing. Hearing the songs I loved being played while @ the show from such an early period is really cool to me. Makes me wonder how it inspired others?? I enjoy the raw sound that came out of their 80’s stuff. The way Phish evolved from there is even more simply amazing.
I love the energy and the looseness of some shows I have listened to from back then. they really do sound like they are having a good time…I also love the recordings that let you hear them talk in between songs if you turn it up loud enough
I have a friend who really only “likes” the '80’s phish I have played for him and more particularly he thinks the best show the played is the first one with Page sitting in…I love '80’s phish and would love to see them release more shows from that period.
They played SONGS back then. They covered The Dead, The Allman’s, Pat Metheny Group, XTC, and jazz standards. They rarely noodled. And they were fucking TIGHT!
Any of the Goddard shows are worth owning. I can’t believe any TRUE Phish fan would deny themselves the pleasures of 80’s Phish! It’s pretty closed minded not to experience your favorite band during their germination period and not enjoy it…
Live Phish 09 I believe, great show, never get tired of that one.
-Daniel
I am a little skeptical about 1980’s Phish. As listed above, I also enjoy the high energy and compact nature of their jamming, but I also miss the long form experimentation. I also think that Page’s fake piano sounds terrible.
It is great to see their evolution, and there are some undeniably great moments (like the townsand park show, or the Ians farm shows) But I’d rather save my hard drive space for some of their more evolved and challenging work.
/\ I agree. 80s Phish is almost a novelty to me. They were a completely different band back then.
They were completely young back then!!! I can’t believe that Trey wrote all that stuff at such an early age. Blows my mind. Who would have thought that what they wrote back then, they would have 50,000 people screaming for it 10-15 years later.
Is that not maybe because you haven’t heard much of it? I mean phish in general was a novelty to me until I started listening to them a lot…I agree it is novel, but I hardly see how that takes away from its value as truly great music…I mean at the time there was nothing else like it, by '97 it had become a bit more like other stuff out there, (ie. moe., WSP, SCI, etc.) so it wasn’t really as novel any more, but I don’t think that makes it better or worse, just different. I think they can play like mad in those early days, and for those who think it isn’t experimental enough, I will just point you in the direction of the White Tape which is maybe slightly less experimental than the Siket Disc…so yeah, I don’t get why more people don’t listen to '80’s phish…I’m sure it has a ton to do with the lack of good recordings from then…I love it, and I am going to listen to some '80’s phish when I get home, out of spite.
I dunno. eh.
I just dunno. I’ve got 1 disc of the 8.26.89 show, and it’s got good early versions of “Fluffhead” and “Hood” on them. They sound so different! But tight. I, too, find the groove-oriented jams of 96 and 97 to be my cup of tea
That was at Townshend Family Park. But yes, it’s good. Can’t stand the fake piano though.
I agree totally. NOVELTY??? That statement is just pathetic.
I love listening to 80s phish, because when I play out, I know I’m not going to sound like anything you would hear at a concert. It’s going to sound bad to tell you the truth, but to me, I love that bar sound and it sounds great to me!
Sounds GREAT to me, too. But the younger generation of Phish fans seem to think that everthing is better after 1994. It makes me sick…
i don’t know about the “younger generation”… but i’d say its fairly accurate to say that 92 onward is a level up. trey used to get all sorts of shit for being a noodler… and i think it comes from the 80’s gigs… while entertaining to listen to… they are primarily playing around the notes of the central theme of each song. they started to push those boundaries further and further as time went on…
i still love the old party gigs where you can hear fishman offering to do a keg run or marley howling through the show - its a great scene to listen to but musically i don’t see how you could say those days even come close to the mid 90’s.
I agree…before HIATUS 90’s was the BEST Phish ever. But i just get sick of later fans going offf and critisizing pre-1994 Phish as “boring”. But then again…post HIATUS nooodling and long spaced out jams are pretty fucking boring to me…
To each his own.
I agree about the super long spacey jams being boring. I don’t think 1980’s phish is all that, but I wouldn’t call it boring. I just am used to a higher standard of playing and a more pleasing evolved tone from all four instruments. The old jams don’t meander like the post '98 stuff. But they certainly aren’t perfect either. I like the energy though!