http://www.sendspace.com/file/zbzgb8
11-21-95 Lawrence Joel Coliseum, Winston Salem, NC
1: Fee, Chalk Dust Torture, Prince Caspian, The Divided Sky, Long Journey Home*, I’m Blue I’m Lonesome*, Guyute, My Friend My Friend, Dog Faced Boy, Runaway Jim
2: Simple, David Bowie-> Take Me to the River**-> David Bowie, Glide, Ya Mar, Mike’s Song-> Keyboard Army-> HYHU, Suspicious Minds, HYHU, Carolina, A Day in the Life
E: Good Times Bad Times
*Acoustic. **First time played.
Setlist taken from Phish.net
Sorry for the long Greg post, but you don’t have to read it.
I really had a tough time deciding whether to upload this show or 11/22. The next night features a crazy FREE. Weighing in at 30 minutes…it almost epitomizes '95 jamming IMO. It’s not like they are my two favorite shows or anything…I just think that not many people have them and also this show that I did pick was played 11 years ago today.
When it came down to it though, this show (11/21/95) is much more what '95 is all about. VERY diverse song selection, some old, some new, some covers, some heavily compositional stuff, some of the simplest stuff, some obscur stuff and some very typical stuff for '95. It also features a Keyboard Kavalry, which was a staple of Autumn '95 performances, as well as some top notch jamming, which is also a staple of '95 Phish.
With all that out of the way, I would like to start this thread with my review.
SET 1
Fee - Ba boom…you know this show is off to a good start with that intro. No flubs, no jamming, just Fee. Listen to Page twinkle around the 2:00 minute mark. Gets a little spacey towards the ends with a nice little, nothing special, but still a ->
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Chalkdust! - Great combo intro. Fee -> Chalkdust. Isn’t this what Phish is all about? Yes yes, this rocks…however…this is still just Chalkdust. Some nice soloing from Trey around the 3:30 mark. I actually like this a lot. It really sounds like they are trying to take it somewhere around that point, but they abandon it to keep it rocking. No need to get that spacey…yet.
Prince Caspian - This is where I want a Caspain to be placed in a show. A little 1-2 combo off the bat, then slow things down…it’s gonna be a long night. I do like Caspian, in fact it is one of the first Phish songs that I liked, but I liked it better as it got a bit older. A bit of space at the end, and I thought I heard Page trying to pull out a “Theme”, but Trey said “Fuck that, this is what these kids are here for”
Divided Sky - Composed Beginning Section : Perfect. Lots of energy. As he tends to, Fish is just tearing it up. I guess if I have one complaint about this recording it would be how quiet Mike is, but maybe it’s not the recording. Really tight Divided anyway…I probably didn’t pay as much attention as I could have. It was a pretty long version, which lends nice to a couple of shorter numbers.
Long Journey Home - I love the little acoustic set’s they would always do in '95. And when I say acoustic, I mean un-mic’d. This was the last year that they would be able to pull something like this off. It still comes across quite well on the tape. Obviously the stage mic’s are picking this up. Great version, but not my favorite of the real Phish-grass songs…that honor goes to…
I’m Blue I’m Lonesome - They played this song SOOOOO much in '95, and I’m sure I’ve heard every one of them, but I never get sick of it. I’m a really big Country/Bluegrass fan, and when Phish does it, I think they can hold up to any other band out there. Not a lot to say about this version in particular…a bit of Trey banter at the beginning, that again doesn’t come across so well on tape.
Guyute - Love it or hate it, Guyute is very quintessentially phish. Trey introduces it to the crowd as many of these people haven’t heard it a lot. Especially not in this form. I love the mellow section after the first part…you know what I’m talking about…nice Page…I don’t get what’s not to like about this song. Listen to Jonny Fishman finish that off…
My Friend My Friend - I know Guyute stopped, but somehow this almost comes across as a segue. I’ve never noticed how remarkably similar this song sounds to Guyute…the intro at least…Did they play these two songs together a lot? Awesome MFMF…Sounds very passionate…Awesomeness around 4:30 before it goes back into the vocals…Listen to that energy…this show is just pure Fish. Great spacieness around the 6:20 mark…Trey on the minikit for sure…maybe not…
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Dog Faced Boy - I don’t know why the setlist doesn’t show a hard “->” into Dog Faced Boy, but it is a definate segue. Back into that bluegrass thing. I think a huge part of what I love about Phish is these huge dynamic shifts…from just pure rockin craziness to this kind of somberness…I can see why they didn’t play this song a lot, but if properly placed (like this show), I think it really adds a lot to the show.
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Runaway Jim - Again…maybe not “->”, but at least “>”…maybe there was just a tapeflip. Great setcloser. Standard opening. Oh I get it, Dog Faced Boy - > Runaway Jim (a song about a dog)…so kind of an animal theme to the latter part of the show. About 6:00 into the song the jam starts taking off, but it still isn’t deviating at all from the basic rhythym. Trey’s kind of playing some weird stuff, but Page is still on the piano. Page is going off a little at the 7:40 mark. Oh here we go…Epic Trey at 7:53…Fish takes his turn…Bringing it back home at 8:40…
Nice set 1. Nothing too wild happened, but it’s pretty good little first set.
SET 2
Simple - Sounds like now something wild is going to happen. This is actually the last time it was ever played as a set opener. I guess it lends itself well to another song jamming into it, that song being Mikes Song. Very high energy. The jam takes off somewhere around 4:30. Some repetitive funky Trey chords, but it hasn’t expanded that much in the first minute of the jam. Page starts really letting loose around 5:30. Trey loops are on, and he is off to the mini-kit. An oft-debated feature of the '95 setup, but it really does give Page a chance to open up. That’s exactly what I’m hearing right now. Trey never goes too wild on the mini-kit, but that’s not why he’s playing it. Fishman’s the drummer, but he has to do this for Page’s sake. Page just takes this jam right over. He hops over to the organ around 8:00. There are still a ton of crazy noises coming out of Trey’s guitar, but he’s not playing it, how is this possible? Mike and Fish really do keep it Simple, but Page is just letting loose. He’s brining a bit of soul to the music around 9:15, this will come in handy in another 10 minutes or so.
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David Bowie - Hardcore segue into bowie…Trey is even on the minikit still when Fish starts up the cymbal. Trey’s got make that guitar stop all those crazy noises. Nice intro. Fish lets the cymbal go for a minute and really shows what kinds of sounds he’s capable of producing in a good Bowie intro. Trey is still be on the mini-kit 2:00 into this Bowie. Long Bowie intro often makes for a long Bowie. Trey has his guitar again 3:00 into this jam, so that makes it about 10 minutes Trey was on the mini-kit so far in this second set. Something almost like “Set the Controls” by Floyd at 4:20 by Mike. It gets so quiet that I’m almost expecting some Secret language. But alas…
At almost 5:00 this Bowie has ignited. This is certainly the centerpiece to this magnificent set. This is such a great spot in a set for a Bowie. At 8:30 the jam starts and the music just completely drops away for a second, giving them the opportunity to do anything. A very slow jam to start out with, Mike is pretty much leading this jam, and I think he knows what they are going for. I find it hard to believe this segue is thought of on the spot because it is just so damn perfect. Right up there with Bag -> Psycho Killer from 12/7/97…
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Take Me To The River - Trey takes us there. Just out of the blue…who could have seen it coming? I think it gets pretty soulful, though Mike just plays that deep, almost menacing bassline. Some great Page organ flourishes, and we’re back…
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David Bowie - funny how just with that one chord you can tell you are back in Bowie land. At around 0:39-1:10 Trey does this jam, which I hear in a lot of Bowies. It sounds a lot like “Rock Lobster” by the B-52’s…tell me if I’m crazy, but I think it is really pronounced in this version. I definately think it’s a tease, but you can all judge for yourselves. It’s hard to really tell how far you are into this Bowie because of the Take Me to the River being on a different track. Huge build up of tension at 3:00. I think its a pretty fun, playful version. No mini-kit…just Trey rocking hard. It is still very spacey though and maybe not to everyone’s tastes. The energy is very palpable, however, especially in this recording. Hugeness at 7:30…whoa. It’s so fucking fast…trey is just smoking and hitting every note like a god…I don’t know if I’ve ever heard this rampant of an ending.
Glide - Nice.
Ya Mar - Upbeat. Trey’s back on the Mini-kit as he liked to do especially for this song. Not for long though. Nice Page. Not at all a very memorable version so far. Awesome funny Mike singing around the 9:00 mark…it sounds like he’s rapping, but Mike-Rap…Nice little Mike bass solo…it definately reminds me of something…
Mikes Song - I didn’t hear a segue, but I wasn’t paying nearly enough attention. Some really nice Trey licks during the singing part of the song. Really nice. Hardcore tramps segment. Did I say that Mike wasn’t loud enough? Now you can hear him pretty damn clear…A little Mission Impossible tease by Page…Pretty epic as usual. It starts going into some unusual territory around 8:30. Lots of jazzy piano from Page. Lot’s of spacey noise from Trey. It gets very quiet and almost turns into some chamber music of sorts. Makes me wanna slow dance…I thought I heard a tiny space where Purple Rain could have popped in. This is why I love Phish I think. At around 12:00 it is just beautifully melodic. It almost feels more like a Slave jam, but more sappy. Good sappy though, Phish sappy. Really beautiful. Okay, this is going in the snippets thread. I don’t really know how it got to this point. At around 13:35 Trey holds a note and they are off to the keyboards.
-> Keyboard Kavalry - Maybe the jam in that Mike’s song was sort of trying to replicate this melody. Regardless, it is beautiful, but the crowd is obviously anxious. Maybe they were a bit worried that this would signal the end of the show. The show isn’t over yet, but the Phish composition part of the show is.
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Suspicious Minds - This was his song for the tour. When I say he, I am of course referring to the star of the show, Henrietta. Unusual start, like they don’t know whether to go for the HYHU intro or just bust into the song. They chose they latter, but it still takes them a while to get started. A minute into the song and we’re off. Fishman had to go put on the jumpsuit. He gives her his best Elvis voice and it worked man…it worked for once. He doesn’t try for those notes he knows he can’t hit. The crowd loves him, he’s a hit!
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HYHU - Fish give’s a “Let’s hear it for the band”.
Carolina - Standard. At this point it must have been so hard for them to pull off these acapella tunes with no mics. I don’t mind the clapping, but I hate the yelling. Not such a common tune for this tour, but they nail it.
A Day in The Life - This year was the debut of this beauty. Some people might find it to be a bit of a letdown, but if you love the Beatles, and I do, (and you hadn’t seen every show of this tour and seen every version, of which there were many), you would probably really enjoy this. There’s nothing to really point out about this version.
ENCORE
Good Times Bad Times - I’m not a big Zeppelin fan, but Phish made me love this song. It rocks, it does, but it is what it is. If you like it, please enjoy, myself…I’m gonna go get something to eat. Peace.
I do hope you all enjoyed this show. I know the latter part of the 2nd set is kind of a letdown, with it being all covers and such. But the jamming in that Bowie and that Mikes is pretty damn good, but very distinctly '95. If you like '95 and the type of Page-bases jamming that they were going for, this show doesn’t really disappoint.
Sorry I didn’t get this up until so late, but this is like the slowest I’ve ever seen a computer upload a show.
I’m just out here sharing the love, so give me some back, tell me what you think of this show.
