Subject: HALLOWEEN 1996!!!!!
From: darkstar@cc.gatech.edu (Aaron M. Tyrrell)

HALLOWEEN 1996!!!!!!!!!!  

What else can I say?  I want to give all those who may have missed it 
or who may have just seen it a *brief* description of what I thought I
saw (from the second row!!!!!!)

I still can't believe I was a witness to what went down in Atlanta 
tonight.  I'm sitting here with my color-cycling fractal background
and it's really tripping me out.  I will try to keep to keep to the 
Halloween show but please don't blame me if I get sidetracked; for 
that was what this show was all about.

Phish orchestrated the most mind-blowing experience of 20,000 people's
lives last night.  I can't confuse myself by worrying about how to 
tell the story so I must just go ahead and tell it because this is a 
story about tripping and tripping very very hard and having the most
psychedelic musical accompaniment ever seen upon this earth.  There
have been Phish jams before but never never never have I ever seen
a time where the band has been on such a mission to fuck with people's
minds and people's minds have been so in tune with the band's fucking
with them before.  I couldn't believe it when I got my second row
tickets in the mail last month and have been planning for this day
ever since and to have it finally come to this spectacle that has
turned out to be the greatest psychedelic experience of my life (and
that is saying a lot!!!!)

Here's how the band orchestrated our doom on Halloween 1996.

1st set!
The first set was EVIL!!!!!! Nasty, disgusting, ugly, confused, insane
and bad to the bone.  I was caught unexpectedly in the john as Phish
opened up with a very indescribable sanity.  Indescribable in as much
as I was in the bathroom at the time.  However, as I descended the 
portal into the land of music and dancing I was greeted with a Highway
to Hell......  Sanity -> Highway to Hell?  Do I sense a theme?  Then
comes Down with Disease and YEM which are taken to an extreme!  But 
all of the jams have a dark side to them.  It's like the band was 
pulling you down into a transe without your knowing it (whereas in 
the second & third sets it was plainly obvious they were just 
fucking with us).  Reba is Reba and Reba went into a very, very strange 
Prince Caspian.  And Prince Caspian is usually such a nice tune but it
was played with such *sarcasm*.  Colonel Forbin -> Mockingbird!!!  
Mockingbird isn't the real mockingbird but is instead the EVIL HALLOWEEN 
MOCKINGBIRD that PECKS THE EYES OUT OF COLONEL FORBIN'S SKULL!!!!!!  
A frightening image.  Character Zero.  This is a great tune.  But when
the band left us off with the Star Spangled Banner (again with much
*sarcasm*) everybody (and I speak for myself) was really, really 
confused.  The first set was done in such a way that the band was
able to trick the audience into thinking that they were hearing 
"normal" jams and that any wierdness was a result of their own 
heads.  Since it really wasn't all in my mind it only served to make 
me think that what was on my mind was that much more on my mind than
what I thought it was going to be.

What I'm trying to say here is that in the 1st set, Phish Phucked with
us in a way that planted evil thoughts and images in our minds and we
are cast, much without our knowing, into the depths of confusion.  I
mean, I was SCARED OUT OF MY PANTS by that first set!!!  Which was 
exactly what was intended.

Second set!
For this I took a seat in the stands (gladly giving away my 2nd row
seat to get away from the security guards that plagued that area... 
By that time I just wanted to sit back, smoke a joint and try to 
collect my thoughts.)  And was I ever glad I did that because I totally
stoked my friend with the front and I got to see the second set in
a place where I was able to sit back, smoke that joint and melt into 
the floor!!!

And that was about all anyone could do for that rendition of "Remain
in Light" by the Talking Heads.  I unfortunately don't have names of
these songs written down but basically the second set started out with
some JAMMIN' stuff!  With the 2 drums going, the horns and then
the rest of the guys, they cranked some really tight, tight jams 
that just made you want to get up off your silly scared ass and DANCE!!

Up until that "behind the wheel of a large automobile" tune (man and
I have this written down in the pocket of some dude's pants who is
now asleep!) the jams were tight and dancin' but from that point on 
it was strictly strange!!!  (that is not to imply that there was
no strangeness prior to this song).  Mike came out and sat down in 
this recliner and chanted these lyrics while everyone played God knows
what in the background!  The things I saw during Fishman's vaccum 
cleaner solo gave new meaning to the lyrics of "Jesus Left Chicago" in
the third set!  Then they acted out some scene on stage (I didn't 
really look) but the acting was purely silly.  The whole second set 
was silly.  Whereas the first set was crazy and mixed up and hectic
the second set was flowing in and out of space and jams that make
you just want to GET DOWN!!!  Once it was obvious that we were just
getting phucked with there was no other choice than to surrender to
the phlow!!

The second set ended with all these televisions set up on stage in
the positions of the band members after they have already left and 
all playing these wild patterns and whatnot on the screens!  That is
when I remembered that I had a camera in my pocket!  I got a couple
of shots of the television setup as the swirling sound effects tapered
off slowly towards the second intermission.

The whole time I could see my boy down front with the big fluffy 
fluffhead hat that I gave him with my ticket.  We met up and traded
back for the third set.

During the second intermission, there was a noted ease of tension in
the air.  Whereas the first intermission the theme seemed to be 
"what the hell is going on here?!?!", the second seemed more like
"WHOA!  That was pretty phuckin' cool!"  I believe that this was all
part of their master plan....

THIRD SET!!!!!!!!
Back in the second row for the third set!  Everyone was talking in
bewildered amazement about the spectacle that was the second set.   
This dude next to me said that he was in the back and could see me 
in my giant cotton afro dancin' my ass off for the whole second set.

Before the band came on, an ominous warning came over the PA warning
that MARTA's last train leaves at 1:15... 

The third started with BROTHER!! with Mikes wacky, wacky bass 
easing off in and out of the background coupled with a lot of crazy
tempo changes and lots of stuff that might have only been in my head
but it smoked!!  2001 was awesome with the lights coming on on the
high notes and everyone going crazy in appreciation for what was
done to them in the second set.

Next was a bunch of spacey shit -> maze!  Throughout this set they 
kept twisting the beats on all these songs.  It seemed like a lot of
times the drums would be playing one temp with Trey and/or Page playing
at another and both coming together on like every fourth beat or 
something like that.  I'm not a musician nor am I in my right mind
to judge such things precisely but that's what it sounded like they
were doing to me.

During this maze, I had once again realized that I had my camera 
stashed away in my pocket.  I promptly started taking some choice
photos from about 10 feet away!!  And after snapping a very, very 
good shot of Trey finishing out Maze, he looked right down at me and
said into the mike "yeah!", breaking up the jam momentarily to do 
so.  I took this as a sign and emptied the roll right then and there!
I can't wait to get these back from the developer!!!

Next came a simple that was so stupendous that the only way to sum
it all up was that the jam was so phat, that everyone seemed to 
expect Dave "The Truth" Grippo to come out on his sax during the
"We've got a saxophone" line.  It seems that this was the only thing
the band *DIDN'T* think of that night, and we would have to make due
with him coming out on stage holding his sax high, being unable to
come up with a phatty sax solo on such short notice.

Next we have Swept Away -> Steep!!  And when steep ended with the
crazy BAAAAAAHH!!! I was scared out of my wits!  

Then we ease into a smooth Jesus Left Chicago.  Incredible work on
the horns in this song.  A line about seeing Jesus in person was
spoken with extra clarity and I was reminded of the second set.

The set ended with Suzy Greenberg.  Trey looked so happy!!!  It seemed
like it was all he could do not to burst out laughing at the mess
he had made of the audience's minds and keep singing the lyrics!

Absolute craziness while we awaited the encore.  I couldn't stop 
screaming!!!  Then they busted out a Frankenstein that was, in keeping
with the set precedent, insane.  

I can't believe that I was there!! If you weren't there, I would 
suggest getting tapes, eating a couple of doses and listening to 
all three in order with headphones on.  You will not be sorry you
did.

I would like to take this time at the end of my Halloween story to
make a grovel.  Please, oh please what I wouldn't give for a copy
of all three sets!!  I have about 100 hrs to trade and all I can say
is wouldn't you want a tape of the show that you ate 11 doses for 
only to have it turn into a stupendous freak out session!?  That's
what I thought.

For anyone who may wonder what the difference is between eating 11
and eating, say 3 or 4, I have only this to say.  It's only that 
much better!!

Phish was on fire last night and they knew it.  I dare say that 
there has never before been an occasion where the band and the 
audience were so in tune.  The music carried me away, smacked me 
in the face, threw me down, laughed at me, picked me up and started
spinning me really really fast.  This was a ride to remember!!!



-- 

*--------------------------------------------------------------------------*
| "Shall we go--You and I while we can            | Aaron Tyrrell
|
|  Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds"  | darkstar@cc.gatech.edu
|
*--------------------------------------------------------------------------*
-----------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Halloween MiniReview
From: whix@clemson.edu (Wes Hix)

It's 4:38am and i just got back from atlanta. The show was GREAT!!!! I
dressed up like Mr. Palmer :) Here's a blurb or two about it.

** security wasn't too tight, lot's of dancing, no cops to be seen (at
least in section 225.)

** Cool costume : Some guy had a bunch of chains around him and and a
traffic light coming over his head in front of him.

** At the end of "Stop Making Sense" Fishman played the vaccum while the
other members of the band messed with different tools (was that a
jackhammer?)They brought out two tv's and were flashing different images.
Hard to describe. Very weird.

** During the "Stop Making Sense" set a recliner was brought out and mike
sat in it and sang (or said) one of the songs.

** Reba.Whistling. Need I say more :)

** Trey messed up at the beginning of YEM. He was having trouble with the 
first few arpeggios, but redemmed himself at the end.

** During Forbin, trey did a gamehendge narrattive about forbin climbing
the mountain, but this time he said the "evil halloween mockingbird"
swooped down and ate his eyeballs out. He did this, he said, "because it's
halloween." :)

**  The giant country horns dudes played some killer solos. Trey was going 
nuts and jumping up and down cause he was so excited about them.

** They gave out little booklets at the concert telling about the show. If 
anyone can get a hold of this, you have to see the picture of Fishman on
the back. He's without a shirt and has his belly sticking way out. It's
supposed to be a fake ad for a cologue (sp?) called "Scent of a Fool."
Hopefully someone will scan it in.

Show Rating : 7.2 (not a perfect show, but it had lot's of energy.)

Well, i'll post more later if i get a chance. I'm going to bed. Hope this 
helps! 

Wes Hix
whix@clemson.edu
--------------------------------------------------------
Subject: **SETLIST** 10/31/96
From: lerdawg@aol.com (Lerdawg)

Here is the Halloween Setlist...

I.      Sanity, Highway to Hell, Down With Disease, Y.E.M.> Vocal Jam,
Prince Caspian, Reba, Col. Forbin's Ascent> Narrative#> Famous
Mockingbird, Character Zero, Star Spangled Banner*

II.   Talking Heads "Remain in Light" ## ** +
Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On), Crosseyed and Painless, Great
Curve, Once in a Lifetime, Houses in Motion, Seen and Not Seen, Listening
Wind, Overload

III.  Brother, 2001> Maze, Simple > Jam > Swept Away, Jesus Left Chicago
**, Suzy Greenberg **

E.    Frankenstein **

+Entire second and third sets (and first??) with Santana Percussionist
Karl Perazzo
* acapella
** With Dave Grippo on alto sax, Gary Gazaway on trumpet (played
originally on Remain in Light)
# Col. Forbin did a dance like Trey described and while doing this funky
dance he smacked David Byrne up in the sky!  The Famous Mockingbird, on
Halloween, gashes its claws into Col. Forbin, flying away with Col.
Forbin's eyeball in its grasp!!
## At the end of the album, they set up televisions on the stage,
broadcasting different pictures, Trey was handling a drill machine, Mike
was working with a jackhammer, and Dom, a Phish bus driver, was pointing
at them all and bossing thm around


What a super night, in Hot'lanta!  The list sums up the intensity, the
selections, and the guests, but the Talking Heads and David Byrne were the
stars really.  The "phishbill" handed out when you entered the show are
worth seeing, the Fishman and Mike Gordon ads are tremendous - great also
are the profiles ("Who's Who in the cast") like bad Trader "Paul
Languedoc, who built his first guitar for David Byrne, but it didn't have
quite the calypso vibe David was looking for, so he gave it to Trey" and
Trey "Leadership Qualities" Anastasio, who "to get acquainted with Talking
Heads Music...lived with David Byrne for over three years, sharing a
toothbrush and breakfast cereals."

The first set's Down With Disease soared, the Y.E.M. that followed was
flawless, and of cours Col. Forbin was a treat, especially with the gory
and spooky story from Trey.  The on stage antics by Mike Gordon were
really funky,and when Trey played on his percussion kit during the Down
With Disease Jam the bass sounded great, good solos during the Y.E.M. too

Set three's Brother kept things exciting, after Talking heads dancing
madness, but it was the Simple and the funky, Page filled jam out of
Simple into Swept Away that made my night.  I loved the Simple jam at Lake
Placid, and tonight was better.  J.L.C. and Suzy with horns, and the
Frankenstein encore had the crowd drooling!

Sleep now :)
Lerdawg
--------------------------------------------------------
========
Subject: pHiL's Halloween Review
From: prbyers@ix.netcom.com (pHiL)

well folks, i just got home. here's my thoughts:

10/31/96

The Omni, Atlanta GA

I:    Sanity, Highway to Hell, Down With Disease > You Enjoy Myself >
      Prince Caspian, Reba, Col Forbin's Ascent > narration* >
      Famous Mockingbird, Caracter Zero, The Star Spangled Banner**

II:   The Talking Heads:  Remain In Light
      Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On), Crosseyed and Painless,
      Great Curve, Once in a Lifetime, Houses in Motion,
      Seen and Not Seen, Listening Wind, Overload

III:  Brother, Also Sprach Zarathustra > Maze, Simple > Jam > Steep >
      Swept Away, Jesus Just Left Chicago***, Suzie Greenberg***

E:    Frankenstein

THE SCENE: although i don't really acknowledge a "scene" anymore
(simply because its ridiculous) i DID have a good time hanging in the
lot. my friends (justus and goerz) and i had a blast talking with
people, bullshitting, eating yummy food and drinking yummy beer
(anyone ever had that pumpkin beer? mmmmmmmmm...) one thing that i DID
see in the lot that made me (once again) laugh at how pathetic the
so-called "scene" is was a guy chasing another guy so that he could
beat the shit out of him. rumor was that the guy that was going ot get
his ass kicked had tried to snatch some kid's ticket. not very nice.
it put everyone in a bad mood REAL quick. we bounced back though.

THE WEATHER: doesn't really matter, but it was nice for hanging in the
lot.

THE STUFF FOR SALE: standard phish stuff. the only thing "special" for
the halloween show was a tshirt with a small pumpkin on the front. it
was an evil pumpkin and it was cool. not cool enough to buy though :-)

THE MUSIC: well kids, lately i've been a little bitter about all the
bitching and whining about phish _____insert stupid phrase here______.

tonight, these four musicians proved to me (once again) that they are
the greatest rock and roll band to ever grace the planet earth.

upon entering the venue, you are handed what looks like a "playbill."
it is the "phishbill." inside is a schedule of the festivities,
including what album will be played. we quickly learn that it will be
the talking heads "remain in light." i didn't hear a lot of people
jumping for joy, but i think the warning was a good idea. that gave me
the chance to gear myself up and give myself a peptalk about how i
need to listen, enjoy, and learn... (i'd never heard this album
before).

also inside the playbill are two HILARIOUS mock ads. one of them is
for a liqueur called: "gordeaux". there's a picture of mike all
dressed up looking distiguished. i'll put the ads on my web page.
check them out there. they're hilarious though... besides the ads,
there is a whole little article about the talking heads, how the band
came to choose this album etc... it was COOL. the final two pages are
"meet the cast" pages. everyone involved with the phish production had
a brief history and some ridiculous random notes. very funny. mike
wrote the whole thing.

anyway, we sit down and the show starts...

SANITY: phish was not fucking around. this was a great opener. i
didn't like it as much as the MSG NYE sanity, but it was sanity and it
rocked.

HIGHWAY TO HELL: how do you get 20,000 people to get even MORE excited
about phish playing halloween in atlanta? simple. you play this song.
this was probably the loudest crowd i've ever heard.

DOWN WITH DISEASE: not the best i've ever heard (buffalo from this
tour was.) it rocked, but it wasn't especially long or crazy. i
enjoyed it though.

YOU ENJOY MYSELF: 1st set??? ok. it was perfect. i loved it. the
trampoline jam was EXCELLENT. they were WAY WAY WAY into it. i
listened VERY closely to trey during the yem jam and he was on. yem
really impressed me... the vocal jam was excellent as well (and i
usually don't really care about vocal jams.)

CASPIAN: throw it out. it wasn't a very good version. now i love
caspian, but it just doesn't seem appropriate for a halloween show.
too happy. i wasn't into this song.

REBA: short. didn't really like it (compared to other rebas). the
climax was a little flubbed too. they couldn't really nail the peaks
of the song...

FORBIN>MOCKINGBIRD: excellent. the best mockingbird i've heard (out of
4). the narration was cool too because trey was talking about david
byrne and "that little dance he does." trey was practically making fun
of david byrne. it was cool. forbin was inspired and all in all the
halloween '96 narrative was excellent.

CHARACTER ZERO: whoa! finally i get to hear it. how do you get 20,000
phish fans going nuts (again)? play this song. this "vocal jam" that
everyone has been talking about... hmmmm... thats a little exagerrated
(calling it a "jam"). they just do a quick little vocal diddy at the
end. i wouldn't note it.

STAR SPANGLED BANNER: i know, i know, its been over-played this tour,
but i haven't heard it. its great to know that when phish was singing
the banner that i was getting geared up for an amazing 2nd set instead
of some stupid football game  :-)

THE TALKING HEADS - REMAIN IN LIGHT
wow. i've NEVER EVER heard this album until last night and i (as a
veteran phish fan) maintain that this was the most enjoyable set of
the evening. that's right, this set kicked the SHIT out of the other
two. the boys rocked out as hard as they could on EVERY song.

once in a lifetime got the crowd going CRAZY too. mike sat in a
lazyboy during one song and chanted (like david byrne) the lyrics to
one of the songs. 

what was REALLY fuckin crazy though was the last song. fishman walks
slowly from his kit, picks up the vacuum and stands at the front of
the stage (very very calm-like) and begins a vacuum solo. now this
vacuum solo had weird shit going on. it became WICKED. distortion was
flying around like a tornado and weird shit started happening. trey
(if i remember right) continued to play with his pedals and shit.
then, some guy comes on stage and picks up trey's megaphone. he starts
yelling all this shit and causing a crapload of feedback with it. some
other (REALLY BIG) guy comes on stage too and starts pointing around
and (what looks like) giving orders. meanwhile, fish is still playing
vacuum.

then, someone pops these HUGE televisions on top of the equiptment
behind mike and trey. the tvs have all this weird shit on them (mostly
static if i remember). mike is crouched down by carl perazzos setup
and he keeps running out, doing something and running back to crouch
down (i was WAY up in the second deck, i couldn't see everything).
finally, trey puts the guitar down and starts working on this mockup
drill press looking thing. it made sparks every time he pressed it
down. oh yeah- someone else was on the floor of the stage (by page)
pounding the shit out of some wood. why? i don't know. all this crazy
shit was gonig on though. 

finally, i turned to my friend todd and he was just standing there
with his mouth opened with this "what the fuck?" look on his face. it
was MIND-BLOWING (the stuff on stage.) finally (must like the clifford
ball), the band slowly leaves the stage with all this distortion still
swirling around. the tvs still on and everything. the crowd was going
INSANE. for me, it was the whole show. with that final song (the
overload) i got my money's worth.

BROTHER: i was excited. it rocked.

2001> MAZE: great. probably the best maze i've ever heard (probably
because i payed close attention.)

SIMPLE> SWEPT AWAY> STEEP: ok, the simple was the best i've ever
heard. the jam was huge (for simple) and they were on fire up there.
swept away> steep was not as good as the buffalo version. 

JESUS LEFT CHICAGO: hmmmm... seems redundant doesn't it? well, it was.
the only really cool part was the trumpet solo by (?). i enjoyed that
VERY much, but rest of it was just... you know... jesus left chicago.

SUZIE GREENBERG: i called this. it was standard. not as exciting (or
as well recieved) as the red rocks version. by now EVERYONE was tired.
personally, i was dead.

FRANKENSTEIN: good solid encore. justus, goerz and i were praying for
"burning down the house" but you can't have everything (even with
phish.)

this show was about a 9 for me on the scale. i think i can say with
confidence that it was BETTER than last year. 

i will say this- the boys were INTO it. trey was ON FIRE ladies and
gentlemen. he was kicking his legs up and pumping his fists and
jumping up and down when he got excited and everything. i've never
seen him like that. mike was bobbing his head harder and faster than
usual. fish was fucking crazy on the vacuum and page was all over the
keys for the second set.

the guests were a treat. at one point i turned to my friends and said
(in a little kids voice): "i want all those guys to be in phish
forever." the ensemble could have ruled the world last night. each one
of those musicians had their moment and when you put all the pieces
together, the result was an orchestra of brilliance...

for everyone that didn't go, i have ONE piece of bad news- you'll
never be able to appreciate what happened at the end of set two. that
scene on stage with the music and everything was one of the most
intense musical moments i've ever had. it was the highlight of the
show.

final ratings (scale of one to ten):
set one:        8
set two:        12
set three:      7
final score:    9

peace-
pHiL

A WEEN STORY

The big day was finally here, my phriend Mike and I rented a '96 Grand Am
to drive up to Atlanta
in. We left Warner Robins at about 10am and made it to Little Five Points
by noon. We ate lunch at
this great little pizza place called Fellini's. While there we ran into a
group that had driven down from
Detroit hoping to score some tix, lucky for them we just happened to have
a couple. We sold them
for what we had paid at ticketbastard (good karma is better than cash
anyday :) 

About 2pm we headed to Stone Mountain campground to look for some phriends
and check out
the vending scene. Quite a few phellow phishsters around but not a lot of
vendors:( After about an
hour we ran into Mick and Toodle, a couple of phriends from Macon (yes,
the same Mick and
Toodle that got married at Clifford Ball and was on the cover of the
Schvice.) We hung out while
they set up camp and then got in the car to follow them to the Omni lot.
It was around 4:30 when we
left Stone Mountain, we somehow managed to lose track of Mick's car in all
the traffic. And
because of all the people we never saw them again :( 

By 6pm we had found a parking space that only cost $10!! and were checking
out the so-called
scene. There were way too many people without tix, and no scalpers that I
saw. Didn't see much
vending except for beer and hand-blown glass pipes (lotsa pipes!)
Centennial Olympic Park had a
distinctly different crowd than it has ever seen before (and no bombs:) 

We stopped by Jocks and Jills, a sports bar next to the Omni, for a few
beers. There was this one
guy that came in and sat next to us at the bar. He looked amazingly like
Jon Fishman, the fact that he
was wearing the famous polka dot dress and goggles did not hurt, one
person even came up and
begged him for backstage passes.:) 

About 7 we headed into the show. The Phishbill (or playbill) they gave us
when we went in was a
nice touch. It revealed the identity of the musical costume (The Talking
Heads' "Remain In
Light") and provided ideal pre-show laughs. I was especially happy to see
that half of the horn
section was Gary Gazaway who I saw play with Col. Bruce and Aquarium
Rescue Unit back in
1991 at the Cotton Club. 

Of course the show was excellent, but I'm not gonna waste your time by
giving a blow-by-blow
account here. I was surprised when they played "Frankenstein" for the
encore, my first show was at
Lakewood in Atl. last spring and they did it there too! Let's just say it
was even better than I
imagined. Which comes to the part where I grovel for tapes :) I was
sitting just to the right of the
tapers section and noticed at least two video cameras up by the
soundboard, I'd love to get a copy
of one of those videos, if you can help please let me know. 

If you'd like to read a great review/setlist of the show that was posted
to the usenet, you can see a
text version here. thanks pHiL! 
--------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 10/31 - thoughts
From: Matthew F Ellis 


        Having just gotten home from Atlanta, I figured I'd share my
opinion of the show.  Sanity was a good choice for the opener -
considering how insane things would get.  The first set was fairly normal,
for Phish, with a few crazy exceptions.  The little story for between
forbin and mockingbird was pretty short.  Don't remember all the details,
but
Trey talked about Icculus' face forming on the mountain, ect.  The
mockingbird turned out to be the "evil famous mockingbird" or somthing.
The craziest part of set I though was the YEM vocal jam.  Remember "I want
to fuck you in the ass" from last year.  Well, I'm pretty sure they were
saying "I want to suck your dick" among other crazy things.  Can anybody
confirm this?
        The second set was, IMHO, amazing.  I had never heard the album
though, so I cannot really say too much about it.  The horns and Perazzo's
drums were really exciting.  One weird thing was they handed out a program
with what the title of the costume.  I figured they'd make it a suprise!
Also, if anybody who was close to the stage could tell me what was going
on during the very end of the set, I'd like to know!  I liked the last set
a lot as well.  Brother was a great start,  and simple just kept on going.
I cannot help but put a grovel for these tapes.  If someone has the time
to do it within the next few weeks, please let me know!

Just some thoughts,
Matt 
mellis@mailhost.tcs.tulane.com

-------------------------------------------------------- 
Subject: Halloween Review
       From: James Gray 
-- 
        (WARNING: the following is an honest, critical evaluation of the
Halloween performance.  If anything but praise for Phish offends you,
move on...)

        Just back from the long drive home.  18 hours there, 21 back, rain
both
ways.  I picked up _Remain In Light_ along with Van Halen's Greatest
volume I on the way and listened to them on the way.  I could easily
picture Phish performing RIL and recognized the appeal of it, but it
just didn't seem like a "fun" album for their costume.  Definitely
ambitious... I hoped all the hints pointing in the RIL direction were
designed to mislead us.

        Phish printed a humorous program dubbed Phishbill which had some
info
on the second set album: Remain In Light.  So much for the suspense.  We
contemplated which Talking Heads song they'd encore.  We were convinced
it'd be Burning Down the House.

        First set was very strong.  The first few notes of Forbin killed
all
chances of a Harpua.  shucks.  The story was fun; Icculus was David
Byrne.  Had a good laugh watching Trey do the little dance.  I liked
Character Zero as a closer.  It fits well and doesn't seem THAT forced
as a 'closer song' though the impression is there.  The Banner was nice
to hear - my first time.

        No tease opening second set.  BIG let down, especially after
denying
Harpua and the tease enclosed.  That was always half the fun.  Shucks. 
Page's vocals during Once in a Lifetime sounded very strange from my
seat (sec207) and many parts of many of the songs were shrill to the
point of physical wince.  Trey looked like he was having a lot of fun. 
Lots of affirming 'right on!' fists to the horns and whatnot.  They
ended the second set with some very strange behavior - I won't bother to
describe it.  I'm sure they meant something by it, but it was beyond me
totally.

        Third set...  Carl Perrazo(sp) was terrible!  Trey was visibly
upset
with him and I was a bit annoyed myself.  The jam during Simple was so
god-awful (thanks chiefly to Carl) Trey just abruptly killed it.  I'd
never seen him do that before.  I knew it sounded bad but why not go out
with a bit of dignity, you know?  Salvage what's there and bring it back
around...  It makes a good case for extending the Viet Nam conflict. :)

        The whole third set was just crushed by Mr. Perrazo.  I had no
idea
what he was doing there and I think he felt the same way so he decided
to just 'do his job' and be done with it.  Fish completely ignored him
even while Perrazo was frantically looking to him for the changes and
signals.  He wasn't picking up on ANY of Trey's signals, which must have
been frustrating for Trey.

        The horns hammed it up for Suzy and Jesus; Grippo kicked ass, as
usual.  I could FEEL why the third set was so short.  Maybe it was the
fact they wanted to end the show before that last Marta train left. 
Maybe they were a little peeved at how things just FLEW downhill after
Remain In Light.  I don't know.  I felt for them.  I really did.  Of all
nights, you know?  

        I'll say one thing, though: Page is a true professional.  Even
while
all this shit was going down he was right there, above it all, working
hard and playing strong.  If any of this bothered him he didn't let it
affect him or his performance as it clearly did Trey.  I was impressed
with Page more than anyone else that night.

        Ok, ENCORE!  Ya!  This should be pretty cool.  Frankenstein?
Shucks. 
Let's go back to the hotel, I need a drink.

        Well, that's that.  I had a great time and I'm glad I made the
trip. 
This was the only show I'll see this tour and it was pretty solid in
terms of a Phish show - just not quite the 'event' I'd anticipated and
come to expect.

James "see ya at NYE!"
- -- - - -- - -- --  -- - --- -- -- --- - ----- --- -- ---
Operation EveryShow http://top.monad.net/~fierce/index.html
---------------------------------------------------
Subject: Halloween Review LONG
From: Mark Keller 

Hey.  What an awesome show.  I was gonna do this after the show, but I
was exhausted.  There were alot of people outside.  I saw one ticket for
sale for about 60 bucks.  Nothing else for sale, but cheesy T-shirts
and  food..Lotsa grilled cheese. When I went in the door, I was haned a
'phishbill'--with a picture of the talking heads album (four shaded
faces), but with Phish's faces.  It surprised me.  I thought it was a
joke. It was almost time, so I ran to my seat.  I was sitting straight
back from the stage in the last row of the lower section.  Straight
across from the speakers.  Sounded great.  The boys came out about 8:00
and started Sanity.  It was great.  I had never heard it before. 
Highway to Hell really surprised me (the placement at least).  It rocked
out pretty hard.  Trey seemed like he was already having lots of fun.  I
had never heard Down w/ Disease either, so I was really happy.  It
sounded alot like the Clifford version.  After the jam though they went
back into the song and finished it.  Oh, Paige took a really funky solo
during the jam that was unbelievable.  YEM was pretty good. Trampolines
and all.  I was looking forward to the vocal jam and wow was it great. 
I heard a couple seconds of low rider, then I swear they went through
some old sixtys or fifties songs (2-3).  I recognized what the were
singing, but couldn't place it.  Wicked though.  Caspian was pretty much
taken from the CD.  Not that I am complaining, I really love that song. 
Reba was good.  Col forbins really rocked.  It surprised me too (another
I hadn't heard)  Between it and Mockingbird Trey began telling the story
behind the song.  It went something like this...'Col Forbin was climbing
up the mountain, and rocks began to fall down on him and the mountain
became a face, the face of Icculus, the face of David Byrne.  He started
doing the dance from the video (arm moving same as it ever eas...)as his
arm moved he hit Col. Forbin and sent him hurling out to space.  Col
Forbin was floating out there, but knew he would be ok because he could
see the Mockingbird flying towards him-he would grab onto the birds back
and fly safely down.  but no it was a different famous mockingbird it
was the evil Halloween Famous mockingbird.  And it came up and pecked
out Col Forbins eyes and sent him flying off into space...and it didn't
even mess with the HPB.  '  something like that----get the tapes it is
great.  The opening to character zero sounded pretty sloppy, but then it
jammed.  Sounded alot like the CD, but with a longer jam.  The set ended
with the star spangled banner.  The harmonies in it were great.  They
sounded really good.  

The second set.  Pretty wild.  I would like to hear the original cd of
this to check it out.  Everyone took turns singing.  Fishman sang two,
one out front and one while playing his set.  Mike sang one song and sat
out at the front of the stage and a big recliner.  I am not going to go
into any detail on this set.  If you wanna know more then email me I
guess.  

Third set.  Started around midnite.  Brother.  Great song.  another
first for me.  2001 was long and jammed out.  Paige really got down. 
Sounded real funky.  Got everyone up and dancing.  The lights were cool
too.  this segued into maze.  It was long with Trey taking a pretty long
solo.  It didnt seem to go anywhere at first, but then he kept building
and building.  Ended great.  After maze was Simple.  I LOVE this song. 
It was a lot longer than I have ever seen it.  They put a long jam on
the end.  Sorta like the DwD jam.  After this was Swept away into
Steep.  I like these (actually I like just about everything.)  Steep
went into Jesus Left Chicago.  This was incredible!!  The horn players
came back out and really jammed.  They both took solos.  Paige sounded
great.  Suzy was also really good.  Paige didn't jam out on his piano in
the jam places, he was using an organ type sound.  The trumpet player
took a loooong solo towards the end of the song and danced out all over
the stage.  Really brought the show to a hight point IMO.  Frankenstein
was Frankenstein.  But even better with the horns.  Sounded like on the
'91 tour with the Giant Country Horns.  All in all, I think it was a
sweet show.  I had lots of fun.  

Well Thanks for sitting through all this.  Peace..

           Mark Keller
  http://www.ilinks.net/~mkell200    Lets trade tapes. (I want any of
this tour.

     mkell200@ilinks.net
-----------------------------------------------------
Subject: Halloween Review (long!)
From: golgi@email.unc.edu (Matthew Hoffman)

set 1:
sanity
highway to hell
Down With Disease
You Enjoy Myself-->
Burning Down the House Vocal Jam
Prince Caspian
Reba*
Colonel Forbin's Ascent-->
Fly Famous Mockingbird**
Character Zero
Star Spangled Banner

Set II:
"Remain In Light" by the Talking Heads (lead singers are in parenthesis)
The whole set featured Dave Grippo on saxophone (what kind i dont know but
i'm guessing alto) Gary Gazaway on trumpet (he played with the Talking
Heads before i think...and he seems to be very louie armstrong-esque in
his playing)...and Karl Perazza on percussion

Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) (Trey)
Crosseyed and Painless (Fishman)
The Great Curve (Page)
Once In A Lifetime (Trey)
Houses In Motion (Page)
Seen and Not Seen (Mike in a big chair, Trey played bass i think)
Listening Wind (Page)
Overload (Fishman w/ Vacuum and all kinds of crazy shit, read review)

Set III:(all of set three was w/ Carl Perazzo)
Brother
2001-->
Maze!
Simple-->
Swept Away-->
Steep
Jesus Left Chicago***
Suzie Greenberg***

E:Frankenstein***

*Ultra fast reba w/whistling
**w/ narration about Col. Forbin seeing David Byrnes face in the sky,
doing this david byrne type dance and hitting david byrne in the
face...because of this, the mockingbird flys down and pokes col. forbin's
eyes out...the mockingbird then flys away with col. forbin's eyes and the
helping friendly book!
***W/ Carl Perazzo, Dave Grippo and Gary Gazaway


Pre-Show:The omni has no real parking lot, so parking for the show was
interesting to say the least.  We ended up parking in a parking deck right
next to the omni for 10$!?!  It was nice being on a non-venue parking lot
tho, because after the show there were no cops, security etc. to deal
with...i think that we could of stayed there all night doing whatever and
nobody would have bothered us...definately worth the extra $ for parking
imho.  there was a kewl fountain outside the venue that you could walk
thro and that was very foggy (from the marta?) and very very trippy:) i
noticed way too much scalping...and i hope that noone ended up getting
ripped off...vending was nice...t-shirts were the cheapest of the tour
(10$) and people seemed to be having a good time...there were way too many
people for me however.

as soon as i walked in, i noticed how LAX security was...no pocket
searches...no BACKPACK searches!!!! you could of brought anything you
wanted to inside! very very nice! i was also handed a play bill which told
us that they were going to be playing remain in light...i thought that
tthat was our fakeout (ala thriller and darkside of the moon)...everything
in the playbill looked like a joke...and the fishman ad on the back for
scent of a fool cologne said "Keep them Guessing" which i took to mean
that we definately werent getting the talking heads...but which i realised
later fits right in with the talking heads theme...if you didnt go..and
havent seen a play bill...i'd definately try to find one..they are very
humorous...
        we were sitting on the second level on fishman's sid near the rear
of the omni...our seats werent excellent...but i could see the band...and
i enjoyed myself...the sound was the worst ive heard of the tour (hampton
and charlotte being the other two...) But after sanity and highway to hell
i did not notice at all, nor did i care:) oh yah i found the paul
languedoc blurb very funny in the playbill...it says that he used to get
mad at concerts because of the bad sound and used to think things such as
"there's not enough bass in the mix" and that he did sound for the talking
heads because he put "way too much bass in the mix" i thought that that
was sooo funny considering how much we've complained about mike's
bass...mikes bass problems seem to be solved forever imho.

the show:
they opened with sanity.  i thought that this was poor placement for a
sanity...i liked the placement of the 12/31/95 sanity a lot better (after
the amazing weekapaug-->sea and sand and the amazing yem) i was extremely
happy to hear this...there seemed to be a volume problem with the
sound...and the band seemed to struggle with it...i thought that this was
a lackluster sanity imho...didnt seem like the band was totally into it...

next highway to hell started up...didnt know what it was for a few
bars...but when it started rocking i just smiled, smiled, smiled. the
whole place was rocking...i loved hearing it...i dont know how this one
compared to other ones but i thought that it was very impressive, and the
band should have opened with it instead of trying to please the crowd with
an oldie (sanity)...my anticipation for the show was rising...

after highway to hell...the band got real spacy real quick, i was thinking
bowie, maze, or dwd...i was very impressed when mike pounded out the
opening notes to down with disease...this dwd i think started out
slow..but the jam was very very nice...i liked this dwd much better than
the charlotte one...not the best i heard, but it definately got the band
in the jamming mood...i dont remember specifics except i remember this as
the first "musical" standout of the set.

next they played yem and i was really surprised because of the dwd yem
combination in charlotte...i remember trey flubbing the opening arpeggios
a little but what followed was simply beautiful.  this yem blew the
charlotte one out of the water... the tramps jam was beautiful and very
drawn out, not simple and short like in charlotte....the oye como va jam
was very nice and awe inspiring too...the vocal jam was simply nuts...they
started out normally but moved quickly into a burning down tthe house
vocal jam...the band may have said more in it..but i dont remember nor did
i pick up on it...everyone was using their voices very well..like
instruments...this maybe the best vocal jam that ive heard in a long
time...i cant wait to hear it on tape...

next came prince caspian...i heard "the new" prince caspian in hampton and
this one was very similar...i liked the placement because i needed a break
after that amazing y.e.m...very pretty...

after the caspian came reba...this reba was very very fast tempo...they
have sped this one up soo soo much ala the slowing down of poor heart from
last year...i really liked the jam in this reba but i dont think that this
reba was nearly intense as the one in charlotte...they whistled but it was
weird...i think trey? started playing befor e they actually whistled...i
dont quite remember but i do remember somebodys instrument playing before
the actuall whistling...very weird...i liked this reba..but i dont think
that it will come out well on tapes...expect some kind of neat changes for
reba in the future...ala the tempo changes....

when reba finished i remember thinking that i hoped that they were going
to play something that i hadnt heard before...especially something that i
hadnt heard on this tour...i was pleasantly surprised to hear the opening
to forbin's.  i was expecting to hear this tune tonight instead of
harpua...because harpua would get boring to play every year...and the band
is probably scared to "mess it up " again imho...this forbin's was very
very nice...the narration was very funny...it was about col. forbin seeing
david byrne's face in the sky, and then doing this david byrnesque dance
and punching? or hitting? david byrne...because of this, the evil
halloween mockingbird flies down and instead of bringing forbin the
h.f.b., pokes forbin's eyes out and flies away with it...very trippy
narration, and very funny...because trey seemed to have fun fucking with
trippers:) the mockingbird was standard and tight...but still very nice to
hear...i was very impressed with my first forbin's-->mockingbird.

character zero followed this up..and what a rockin way too! i absolutely
go crazy for this song...and i think that this version was slighly btter
than the charlotte version...very very nice song that drives the crowds
and me into a frenzy!!!!rock at its best imho.

they ended the set with the star spangled banner...and i was kind of
dissapointed because i saw it in hampton and i was expecting something
more special and neater such as a freebird...nice song...to hear once:)

Set II:
The band came out for the second set...and trey seemed to be holding
everyone back...reveling in the anticipation for this set...they openend
up with born under punches and everyone went into a frenzy...
this stuff was soooooo goood!!!!this set is probably the freeist set of
music that i've ever seen in my life...everythng eemed to flow perctly in
this set...i would really love to hear somebody who is very familiar with
the album review this set...it was great...during seen and not seen, brad
brought out this chair, and mike came out and sat in it to sing/chant...i
think trey played bass during this but i'm unsure...i remember thinking
that mike looked very mikish/cute sitting in the chair...very neat...

overload is the masterpiece of the set in my opinion...there was so much
going on that i dont think words can describe it...fish came out with his
vaccuum and i thought kewl...were getting a vaccuum solo...what we got was
much more spectacular.. the crew brought out tv's that were playing
random? clips and static, and they brought out various tools, and building
supplies...the sound was very industrial, and it looked to me like they
were building something....trey was sawing wood and there was somebody
leading everybody around on the megaphone...i remember thinking that they
were going to build a house to burn it down (a la burning down the house:)
but what happened next was much more awe inspiring imho...everyone...in
the midst of building just stopped and left the stage...the music was
still going so at least part of it was pre-taped...i dont know if it was
the talking heads on tape or phish but i know for a fat that some of it
was a tape loop (unless they had another band playing backstage:) because
when the lights came on the tape was still going...my interpretation of
the end was two-fold...there was a definate information overload (i.e.
noise pollution, tv's etc.) and the band seemed to be building something
(imho a house) this information overload seemed to paralyze the band and
divert their attention from building whatever it was they were building so
that eventually they just did not care about building whatever it was they
were building..this was very scary to me...it seemed like the band just
gave up...it was intense and emotional imho and i cant fully grasp the
concept...i'll definately have to listen to tapes...i hope that someone
video taped this show because it was definately an audio/visual thing as
opposed to just an audio thing...i was very very impressed, confused,
overwellmed, etc.  the ending was definately an overload:)i do think that
the lights did come on a wee bit early tho because the music was still
going...i think that this may have been intentional tho...going on the
band "just giving up" thread....

this set was about the most perfect set of music ive ever seen...the music
was intentional while at the same time neat and jammy...i danced my ass
off the whole time (except for overload where i stood with my mouth
agape)...this set will definately stand up on tape imho. i think that it
will cause me to run out and buy "remain in light"...last wek i listened
to "stop making sense" because i figured that it would help to be prepared
and i thought "the talking heads and phish are a lot more similar then i
had previously thought..." and that "it would be amazing to hear them play
this live" oh yah...i have a setlist correction for 11/21/95
winston-salem, nc.. the second set is listed as david bowie-->take me to
the river-->david bowie...take me to the river is left unfinished and the
first verse and first and second choruses are all that are played...i
think that it would help if people made a note of that...back to the
set...i was very impressed with it and would rate it _At Least_ a ten out
of ten and i'm not joking...very very nice...the best musical cover imho
out of the three years...they have a lot to do to "outdo" this for next
year....

set iii:
the second set left a lot of anticipation for the third set...and i was
pleasantly surprised to hear brother...i had high high hopes for this
brother...and saddly it did not live up to those hopes...this brother did
not get as crazy as the only other brother ive heard on tape (3-20-92 in
binghamton)...but i was very impressed to see it...imho, this was the
"letdown" of the set!!!and it still rocked...i would be interested in
hearing the hartford brother to see if it was the same way...if both of
them are lackluster...i'd either expect to hear a really really kickass
brother sometime in the future...or the disappearance of brother
forever...i think that there was a reason they retired brother and it
shows, it was very enjoyable to hear however....

2001 came next...and it wa very very nice to hear...my first 2001 live,
and i can definately appreciate it more now...very very funky version
imho...chris' lighting was on as im sure it always is during 2001...i
loved the "search light" feel to the lighting that goes along perfectly
with the lighting...the percussionist (karl perazzo) added so much to
phish's music imo...this 2001 gave me high hopes for what was coming
next...and i was knew that i was in for a treat when i heard the opening
to....

Maze...maze started up and i thought to myself that this was going to be a
great maze...it was very tight, very subdued...karl perazzo seemed to be
leading the jam at times...very nice, and tight maze...so far this was the
highlight of the set for me...until...

simple...this is the best simple that i have seen or heard...during the
saxophones part...me, and i imagine everybody in the crowd ws expecting
dave grippo to come out and give us an amazing solo...he did walk out..and
he did have his saxophone :) but he did not play one note:( i still smiled
and thought that that was the most vicious visual tease that ive ever
seen:) nice job, whoever thought of it...this simple jam was drawn out
like the other ones of the tour, but not page and mike dominated!
everybody seemed to click together during this jam, and it seemed to go
lots of places, at one point the doppler effect started, and the free-ish
light patterns started on the stage and i excpected them to go into
free...they then drifted away from this, and went into what i think was a
cavern-ish type of jam (although i may be wrong about this)...after this,
the jam drifted into mike's song territory, even though they never
actually teased mike's song, i kind of expected them to go into mike's
song ala the mikes-->simple-->mikes of old...this jam was so nice! the jam
then slowed down in intensity and tempo and segued (i think) into swept
away and into steep...i thought it was nice to hear these songs...but
there was nothing out of the ordinary about them...except for the addition
of carl perazzo on percussion...after steep.. it was so nice to hear...

Jesus Left Chicago!!!!i thought that nothing could over come the simple
after thinking that nothing could over come the maze and jesus left
chicago blew both of these out of the water imho....dave grippo and gary
gazaway came out on their respective horns...this song is sooooo good...i
think at one poing gazaway had this phat trumpet solo, and came up front
near trey...this whole song rocked and words cannot describe it...very
nice jam...everything clicked hear, as it had clicked the whole set...very
very cool, thanks guys!

Suzie Followed this up with horns...and it was very nice to hear, not the
best ive heard (everybody in the place was very very very very tired....)
but it rocked nonetheless...i was very impressed with my first suzie
eventhough it didnt have the intensity of other suzie's or the intensity
of the rest of the set...then the set ended...

i was expecting to hear a gumbo for the encore...a gumbo would have been
so nice...i was dissapointed when i heard the opening to
frankenstein...however, i was very impressed to actually hear this
frankenstein...this frankenstein is the best version that i think that i
have _ever_ heard...horns add so much to the song, and karl perazzo adds
soooo much to the song...the drums part was soo good...very drawn out with
maybe even trey on his kit?...i remember the drums being soooo good
tho...then the rest of it was definately very good...this is my personal
favorite frankenstein...has there ever been another frankenstein with
horns???? i thought that the horns were soooo good...and so neat to hear
on this one...i think that this frank will definately stand up on
tapes...

all in all, this show rocked, and this being my first "special show" (i.e.
new years, clifford ball, or halloween) i was very impressed...the band
seemed to all love playing together...and dave grippo, karl perazzo, and
gary gazaway all seemed to enjoy themselves as well...thanks goes out to
the band, the special guests, all of the crew, and the fans for making
this show one of the best of my life...i give it a 9 out of ten with
sanity, brother, swept away and steep being the only dissapointments for
me of the whole show...thank you everyone...

shameless grovel:if anybody out there would be willing to trade with me i
would be definately appreciative...if you have the show but arent ready to
spin it, i'm sorry if i annoy you, but i would like you to keep me in mind
when you are ready to spin it...thanks very much


over and out,
matt   

oh yah, if anybody knows where i can get a video of this show, i would be
very appreciative as well...thanks again and have a nice weekend
---------------------------------------------------
Subject: Halloween review: a CA phreak in Dixie (long)
From: tedandmiap@aol.com (Tedandmiap)

Got back from Atlanta at 4:00 this morning, 5 hours of sleep later... What
a phenomenal experience!  I flew solo to Atlanta from the Bay Area,
California and back again in 49 hours for this one concert...can anybody
relate?  This review covers more than just the show, this was a whole
pilgrimage experience for me and I just gotta write it down...

[For perspective, I'm 29, married, this was my 16th show, starting 8/28/93
in Berkeley, then mostly west coast shows, and all of  95 and  96 Red
Rocks.  I have about 300 hours on tape, yada yada yada...]

My flight was from San Francisco to Vegas, then on to Atlanta, leaving
Wednesday night at 9:00 and landing at 6:20 a.m. local Halloween morning. 
I'm bursting with adrenaline as I enter the terminal, weeks of preparation
have come together and I'm on my way.  Good omen on the way to the gate--a
photo exhibit by Jim Marshall called "See the Music," 14 candid photos of
some of music's giants: Dylan  63, Beatles  66 at last show, Moby Grape 
68 (cool photo!), Carlos  88 playing in the street of S.F.'s Mission
District for Cinco de Mayo, Coltrane  60, Miles D.  71(sitting on a corner
stool in a boxing ring with no shirt and gloves on), Kris Kristofferson 
71 (seemingly strange inclusion, but great character in the face [p.s. go
see the movie Lone Star]), Stones  72 recording Exile, Janis  68 backstage
at Winterland drinking Southern Comfort, Creedence  70, Joni  69, Jerry 
69, Airplane  67 and Jimi  67 soundchecking at Monterey Pop...got a few
funny looks studying the photos in this bleak terminal hallway taking
notes :)

then a strange omen: "Joe Tobacco to the white courtesy phone..."   What
the hell was that?

maybe a few fans around in S.F., but at least 15 of us on the same flight
to Atlanta...18 hours to showtime, and we're all in Vegas with this
shit-eating grin on...hey Mick and Jessica if you're out there!

Then the plane is piloted by none other than "Captain Dave Donahue", my
parent on the 12/31/95 video tree!

Atlanta hotel by 7:30 a.m., the Comfort Inn about a 3 minute walk from the
Omni across Centennial Olympic Park...great spot! a few heads already
around in the lobby checking in...my check-in is 3:00 p.m., but I'm hoping
for a mid-day early room...bingo! got a room on the spot!  Quick nap, then
a biscuits  n' gravy breakfast at the local Jerry's Luckie St. Grill
(kinda harsh on the stomach, but when in Dixie...)

Now the area is starting to steadily fill up...I walk by the Omni entrance
at about 10:00 a.m., already some ticketless lining up in hopes of a
last-minute ticket release.

As I'm cleaning up I catch a clutch TNT rerun of a CHiPs Halloween
episode...it seems Ponch is superstitious and has 13 black cats run in
front of him, then walks under a ladder and breaks his locker mirror. 
Hilarity ensues.

By 4:00 Olympic Park is filling up, drums start to fill the air, beer in
cups is tolerated (yes!), nice game of Hack with a couple guys from
Asheville, N.C. (thanks, guys!).  I randomly ask around for about an hour
what people think the album will be, and 1 group out of about 30 has any
clue about the Phish "hints" about  80's American album...      
Apparently r.m.p. isn't as wide-spread as I tend to think it is...

Some great costumes around.  A full body   gallon of Hood Milk with all
packaging details...3 guys as the Hanson Brothers from Slapshot, several
good Fish w/dress/vacuum etc.  Best I see is Marcie Derman, who recognizes
me rather fortuitously after I was e-talking on 10/29 with Charlie
Dirksen, who tried to hook me up with her, then just described my costume
to her on 10/30 (yes, he's even in this post).  Hi Marcie, pleasure to
meet you!  BTW, I was dressed as Mike in the Tombstone Blues Band...

On to the show, this is it!  My seat is behind the stage, straight back
from Fishman, in the 5th row.  (Thank you ever so much Bob Weston!!!!!)   
I see a percussion set just behind Fishman...cool!  I'm not great with
distances, maybe about 30 feet from Fish's drums, let's say close enough
to hit Fishman with a ball 4 out of 5 times with a gentle, underhand
toss...F**kin' close!

I look at the glossy program thing they handed me on the way in...and it's
got the Costume Album on it?!?!  What the....???  Whoa, the surprise is
over...or are they joking?  No, there's too much detail here...well, I
guess its "Remain In Light!"  I read the thing front to back...HILARIOUS! 
I don't know if anyone's posted about this yet, but it is 8 pages, cover
reads PHISHBILL, under that is the album cover for Remain in Light, with
HALLOWEEN  96 at the bottom with the A upside down...inside it reads like
a playbill at the symphony or opera, a synopsis of Remain in Light and
Phish's decision to play it, some very phishy "player" profiles, and 2
phishy advertisements that you will just have to see to
believe...someone'll post  em on a website, right?  I won't spoil
anything, but they're just some of the funniest, trippiest, phishiest
things I've seen, right from the core of their phishy sense of humor...

The Omni is selling beer (yes!) and mixed drinks (wow!).  MMW's new CD is
playing over the p.a.

"Finally, this idiot is ready to talk about the show!":

I thought the show, considering all the circumstances, the costumes, the
energy, everything, was a 9.5.

SET I:

SANITY: Logical opener, nothing out of the ordinary...and I'm SO close! 
Great view of Fish drumming, I can see everything but the snare drum to
his left...man, he's good!

HIGHWAY TO HELL: Nice choice....sounds a little muddy back here, I hope
this isn't a problem being behind the stage...Mike's doing this trippy
side-to-side lunge tai chi-lookin' dance/move while he's playing...has he
done this before?

DOWN WITH DISEASE: Sweet!  Last time for me was 8/5/96 Red Rocks, and this
one did not disappoint...extended jam section, figuring they're going to
segue somewhere, but no, "Waiting for the time that I can finally say..."
comes back big ending, Trey's beaming, jumping up and down counting off
the start to...

YEM: Oh yeah!  Anyone else notice a missed change, and then Trey's guitar
was not amplified for a few seconds?...but then everything kicks in...nice
work through the composed section, I noted that it sounded a little
different than usual, like 4 distinct instruments, somehow not as blended
as usual, kinda like an  80s SBD version of YEM, can't describe it any
better...the energy is AMAZING building up to the Boy! explosion! 
Woo-hoooooooooooooooooo!  Great look at Brad bringing out the
tramps...[then I see my favorite costume of the night, right in front of
Fishman, in the 2nd row, is some guy in a sweet Sideshow Mel
costume...Blue hair, bone, green/brown garland thing around neck, no shirt
-- yeah!  Thanks, dude, whoever you are!]...then I just got lost during
the jam, very "hosy", I must say, the reason I'll fly across the country
to see these guys...and a fantastic voice jam, I'm a sucker for them
anyway but this one was exquisite...much discussion and looking around on
stage after the voices end--ooh, what will it be...

PRINCE CASPIAN: Doh!  I really wanted to like Caspian, I totally support
them playing it, I like it on the album, but for me *personally* it was a
let-down...I had a lot of momentum coming out of DWD--YEM, and it drained
a bit...anyone else hear the Dream On opening guitar riff tease deep in
the solo?  I swear I did, but it went away fast, and....    Caspian proved
to be a good chance to rest for...

REBA!!!!!!!!!!:    Zoinks!  This song for me is the most consistently
mind-blowing song phish does, and this one did not disappoint!  Fastest
opening section I've ever heard ("...rebatieacabletoatree...").  At this
point either my buzz crystallized or Paul found the right mix, but from
Reba on the sound was perrrrrrrrrrrrrrfect behind the stage.  Long, long
jam section building and building and floating higher and higher and
soaring and zzzzhhhhhhhhhhhhhtttttt.        Whistling.   :)       
OK, this set could be over...no, there's Trey jumping around and beaming
and counting off...

COL. FORBIN'S ASCENT:     Oh, sweet.  I was hoping for my first Harpua, as
I was at Red Rocks this summer, but Forbin once again stole the limelight.
 No problem.  Sound still amazing, the music and the light show and its
Halloween and a 1000 birds were headed for the sky.  Then that unnecessary
crowd scream when he says "Icculus", a la "NICU", why does that happen? 
No matter...

HALLOWEEN NARRATION:    Forbin is climbing the mountain, it starts
crumbling around him and Icculus begins to take form, then changes into
the face of.........DAVID BYRNE!  And Byrne is doing that funky dance
where he slaps himself in the forehead and sorta stumbles backward, as
Trey demonstrates 2-3 times. :)     Then Forbin gets catapulted into
space, either Byrne flicks him off or the dance hits him or something,
can't remember, but Forbin is floating out into space, and it seems
hopeless, but then he remembers that the Famous Mockingbird is on the way,
and he sees the FM on the way, and plans to grab the FM's leg as it flies
by, but as it approaches Forbin sees that it's not the Famous Mockingbird
at all, its the horrible, mean, Halloween evil Mockingbird, which pecks
out Forbin's eyes..."and that's it because it's Halloween"....

FAMOUS MOCKINGBIRD: The sound was incredible and I became conscious of
something that I knew but had never specifically thought: Mockingbird is
an exquisite piece of music.  Flawlessly executed from my perspective, no
parts skipped a la Red Rocks this year.  Nice.

CHARACTER ZERO: Nice set closer (or is it?).  A good jam song a la
Chalkdust, takes a little more life in concert, especially when surrounded
by live jams instead of the delicate sounds of BB.

When CZ ends, they move to the front of the stage for an a capella number,
they huddle come out, are about to start and 1-2 guys stage left scream
"FREEEEEEE-BIRRRRRRRRD."   Bonk.   Re-huddle, back to the mikes for...

STAR SPANGLED BANNER: A typically killer phish barbershop, an extra smile
for this Laker fan, a little trippy hearing this patriotic number at a
phish show, though...but couldn't help but think that this was an aborted
Freebird.  Stop yelling it people!  Oh yeah, I already learned that 90%+
of concert goers think rmp is a misspelled skateboarding prop.  At least
I've seen a Freebird before (5/29/94).

SET 1 rating, for *music only* -- 8.5.  Lost points on Caspian let down,
but otherwise smoking and satisfying.

SET II:

Talking Heads' Remain in Light.  With Trey Anastasio, Jon Fishman, Mike
Gordon, Page McConnell, Karl Perazzo (Santana veteran) on percussion, Dave
"The Truth" Grippo on saxophone, Gary Gazaway on trumpet.

I had never heard this album before, except Once in a Lifetime many times
and Crosseyed and Painless a few times.  I heard the heavy rumors a few
days before the show and actually listened to a few minutes of a couple
songs on the 29th at a CD store, just in case....what do you know?

Now I was expecting to be disappointed, since no surprise at the start of
the set, music I haven't heard so nothing to compare phish's performance
to...ALL thrown out the window by the 2nd song.  The PHISHBILL was an
*excellent* idea (of course, never second guess these guys).  It gave just
enough info about the album and its concept and phish's reasons for and
difficulties in performing it...it made the performance that much better
for me.  Anyone else have a different take?

Brian Eno is given credit as the "fifth Talking Head" on this album, and
that fits with my semi-informed preconceptions about Eno.  Techno-ey,
produced, trippy.  It should be difficult for 7 guys to replicate live.

The observations from each song are pretty simple based on a first hear:

BORN UNDER PUNCHES (THE HEAT GOES ON):   A cool groove, medium speed,
pretty mesmerizing and hypnotic as advertised in the PHISHBILL...  Fish
handling vocals if I recall right...

CROSSEYED AND PAINLESS:   Wow! My notes read "awesome long ripper."  Can't
argue with that.  Fishman hysterical singing, long ripping groove, capped
by a lengthy percussion solo by Perazzo, who was about 20 feet from me and
angled perfectly for my viewing.  Thanks.  He finishes the blistering
percussion-fest with a segue into his start of...

GREAT CURVE: Another *very* up-tempo number, "ripping funk, sick vocals"
say my notes, I remember some well-executed difficult high end vocal work
by Page, then Trey just EXPLODED on a guitar solo, then triumphant full
band finish, horns blazing, done.  Trey turned and shook his fists in
excitement at Grippo and Gazaway, clearly thrilled that they had laid it
down so hard.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME: A verbatim rendition, Trey singing, Mike thumping out
the familiar bass line (buh-doo-doo-doo.............buh-doo-doo-doo).    
Page unleashes some pre-conceived synth fills, and sings the difficult
"into the blue again...after the money's gone" high harmony.

HOUSES IN MOTION: "Deep funk."  Page and Trey handle two-person singing
duties.  The feel of the song reminded me of a big lumbering creature, an
elephant or a sloth or something, slowly but rhythmically plodding across
a sandscape.  Gazaway walking around the back of the stage with trippy
fill sounds make with some whistles or something similar blown directly
into the remote mike clipped to the open end of his trumpet.

Then they bring out a huge barcalounger/recliner chair to front, center
stage. Trey takes off his guitar, Mike gives his bass to Trey, Mike sits
in the chair and delivers a long, trippy speech that I assume is part of
the album but have not confirmed.  Gazaway still going ape shit with the
sound effects.  Trey on bass.  I couldn't see Mike, but I'm told he just
sat and delivered the speech.  At some point the next song starts:

SEEN AND NOT SEEN: The trippy Mike chair reading section could have been
this song, or part of this song, sorry I don't know...

LISTENING WIND/OVERLOAD:       Not sure where one ended and the other
started.  The balance of the performance through these 2 songs was a
funky, chant driven, mesmerizing section with some kind Page vocals,
Gazaway still filling with effects, then Perazzo hopped on Fish's drum
set, Fish grabbed the vacuum (!) and headed center stage.  Several minute
trippy, droning Fish vocals, Perazzo on drums, ending with the lyric
"O-verrrrrrrrrrr-load..........."  (perhaps this is the start of
Overload?).  A cacophony of abrasive noise starts to build, weird horn
sounds, feedback, pounding, Fishman on vacuum.

8-12 crew people sneak up behind the instruments and quickly prop up about
a dozen TV sets, which I'm told blast different images, newscasts, static,
sports, commercials, whatever, at the audience.  A huge, bald guy with a
pot belly and a long black robe on comes out, maybe wearing menacing
looking glasses, and barks loud commands while pointing at cowering band
members.  My notes call him "big fascist guy."  Trey is doing something
that looks like riding an exercise bike from behind the stage, but I can't
see over the monitors.  Mike is down low doing something too.  Simulating
enslavement? Can someone help me out here?

They all walk off the stage while the overload of sound slowly fades out a
la Trey 12/31/95 at the end of Set II Mike's..................

All in all a phenomenal performance of a difficult album.  Watch for CD
sales to soar from probably a few hundred nationally in the past year to
20,000 plus by New Years.

SET BREAK: I see a great Lurleen Lumpkin costume in the hall.  I see a guy
that looks more like I think I look then anyone else I've seen in a long
time.  Tripped me out.  A guy comes on stage and says "the Omni would like
us to announce that the last MARTA train (main public transport in
Atlanta) is leaving at 1:15.  It's already almost midnight.  The break
seems to be pretty quick.

SET III:

BROTHER:    Thank you very much.  My first, always a favorite from tapes,
excellent.  Trey's voice cracks a little on the whoa-oo-whoa-oo-WHOA part,
but understandable after the Heads album.  Perazzo is out on percussion
and sickly filling in...ends and turns into about a minute of space, which
becomes...

2001/AZT: Whatever you call it, it rips live.  Great light show from
behind the stage, the floor section is lit up on the triumphant notes
(ba...ba...ba....BA-DA!!!!!!!!!) and the crowd is alive.  The Hood carton
seems to float across the top of the crowd 1/3 of the way back on Page's
side.  Great view of Fish/Perazzo interplay 20 feet in front of me.  Winds
down and evolves into...

MAZE: I always love this live and this is no exception.  "Blistering" says
my notes.  Long and sinister.

SIMPLE: First time I've heard this "new" extended version.  Like it a lot.
 On "saxophones are grand"  Grippo runs out and grabs his sax and whips it
around in the air.  Mike does a real thumpy bass section during "we've got
be-bop!"  Then Trey hops on percussion while running sustain on his guitar
(a la  95/96 Runaway Jims).  Then it evolves into a groove that is rooted
in Simple, but more not Simple than Simple, if that makes any sense -- I
could tell Simple was still guiding the overall structure and the rhythm,
but barely.  Now its just a Page synth/organ fest, with Trey still on
percussion.  Back to Trey for a funky groove that is more like Simple,
with some sort of slight teases noted in my book, but I can't read it!  It
looks like "SSB------".  I think SSB is the initials of the teased song,
but I don't know.  Someone help here?  Gazaway then came running out and
grabbed a cowbell and started playing it...kinda dorky.  Wait..got it! 
Star Spangled Banner tease...anyone else hear that?

SWEPT AWAY/STEEP: Sounded cool, I like them from the album, but just as it
started, my friend Dennis (hey Dennis) walked up and said, "come with me,
we've got a luxury box."  By the time I got up there, it was evolving to
Steep.  I was there for about 30 seconds when security kicked us out.  I
went back down to my seat behind Fishman during Steep.  Strange...I was
swept away to a luxury box, but my swift descent back to my seat was
steep.

JESUS JUST LEFT CHICAGO: Another first live for me, both horns out now,
just a long, bluesy jamming rendition, with a bitchin' Grippo solo.

SUZY GREENBERG: Another strong version, with a great view of Fishman's
"neurologist?!" antics.  Gazaway takes one of the fills between "Suzy"
chorus and Page piano and extends it out, boldly making his way to center
stage with his remote trumpet, but backing it up with some outstanding
playing.

End of set.  Seemed very quick, I think they got curfued by the Omni, and
they wanted to get everyone to the last train.

E: FRANKENSTEIN     Typically excellent version, with horns.  Hood milk
carton bobbing along in the crowd.  Horns make it extra good.  End of
show.

Set III musical rating: 7.5.  Great start, too abrupt finish, a closing
Harry away from a 9.0.

The last show notes I have say "They must be tired."  No shit.

As I walked out, exhausted but stoked, I somehow missed the main vending
scene, which would've been cool, but so was the sleep I settled into very
shortly after.  Did anyone else see the young (18?) muscular
african-american kid playing a full drum set across the street from
Centennial Olympic Park and singing "That's The Way (I Like It)" by KC and
the Sunshine Band?  Killer, phishies dancing around him, nice....  A quick
shower and a beer and the last 20 minutes of Poltergeist III, and this
California phreak is sleeping............................

Friday was a fun day, too, if you're ever in Atlanta go to the Little 5
Points area and eat at Baker's Cajun Cafe--get the Creole Eggplant, you
won't be sorry.  I won't waste anymore room with those adventures...

Overall, an incredible, unbelievable experience that I wouldn't trade for
anything.

Thanks to everyone,

ted
Ted Pelletier

p.s.  If you got this far you're an idiot.  Or jonesing for Halloween
dirt.  Either way, e-mail me and I'll spread you a copy of the summer
London show I've been listening to (thanks Marie Anthony!)  as I wrote
this.  Bye.
----------------------------------------------------
Subject: Halloween review (long)
From: John Lannon 

You can check out a web version of this review if you'd like.
The url is http://www.aye.net/~lannon/antelope/
look under Halloween '96.
                                                     pre show 

The scene at The Omni was suprising laid back. I saw no confrontations
of any sort with Johnny Law. One unfortunate fellow did get kicked by a
bunch of 'pacifist' phish fans after attempting to steal a ticket from a
scalper. Aside from that the whole preshow 'scene' was standard. I did
see
many people pay upwards of $20 to park; for future reference - Go down
to the train tracks on International Blvd., turn left where the road
banks.
That road takes you to parking lots "underneath the tracks." One lot is
$5, another is free. Both have access, by stairway, to the front door of
The
Omni. No paying, no walking...sounds like a good deal to me. During
soundcheck I heard "Once in a Lifetime" and "Born Under Punches." This
confirmed the rumor that the band had hinted at: The Talking Heads
"Remain in Light" was to be the musical costume.
WARNING: As you read this, you should find this warning redundant, but
in case you don't pick up on it; All bitching, moaning, and apparent
sarcasm is supposed to be taken lightly. This review tends to get a bit
facetious. sorry... All comments marked with an *, refer you to this
disclaimer.

                                                       concert

At the door, ushers distributed Phisbills. In the tradition of
Broadway's Playbill, Phishbill profiled the cast and crew, listed the
events for the night,
and had an explanation of the bands choice of "Remain in Light." I'll
soon have a link to a scan of the Playbill, so everyone can read and
enjoy it.
There were two entertaining advertisements and many goofy blurbs by Mike
througout the whole program. I though the sound crew did a great
job, as usual, considering they had such a small amount of time to
assemble that massive sound system (Next time you're at a show, just
look at
all the loudspeakers, wiring, cables, monitors, etc... Someone has to do
that, and usually in under 12 hours. Seems people on the net love to
bitch about the sound. Try to take this into account before bitching).

Before the concert, MMW's Shack-man could be heard over the PA. This was
an enjoyable way to prepare for anything. The band took stage at
8:00 choosing to exercise their unusual ability to start late (they made
up for this by ending the show somewhat prematurely, around 1:00). The
opener was Sanity. Not a "great" Phish tune, but fun nonetheless. This
was acceptable because (1) it was Halloween and (2) Sanities are hard
to come by at Phish concerts. The next was an true crowd enzyme, AC/DC's
Highway to Hell put the whole place in an uproar. Hand flew up in
the air forming Heavy Metal's universal sign of affirmation, the...what
do you call it (step 1: put your hand in the air fingers pointing up.
step 2: fold
down your index and ring fingers and grasp them with your thumb, as if
Angus just hopped across the stage while playing that incessant solo
featured in every single AC/DC song, yet still totally breaks your balls
everytime you hear it). Down with Disease was good. Better than
average, but not as good as the ones from this summer. Mike was really
on, and Trey seemed very excited. Page displayed his usual poker
face. The man works to hard to enjoy himself, he is truly a proffesional
musician. Actually, I'm sure he enjoys himself as much as anyone else,
he
just seems to be working so hard. The DWD jam was great, an
tone-setterfor the rest of the set. You Enjoy Myself surprised me. I
think this
should have been save for set 3; this was very early in the show for a
YEM. I guess they wanted the 3rd set to be real rapid so they wouldn't
miss
the 1:15 MARTA (Money is hard to come by when you sell out The Omni in
under 15 minutes, get a 4 page spread in Entertainment Weekly
proclaiming your's the "Biggest Band in America," and are the subject of
a CNN brief covering your Halloween concert. Naturally one in this
situation could only afford public transportation). The song itself was
excellent - Mike took a great solo in the pre-tramps segment which
really
floored me. The tramps evoked a slew of wows and cheers from the crowd.
The Vocal Jam was GREAT. Vocal jams can really only be enjoyed
live, the light accompaniment was spectacular. Prince Caspian was okay,
but poorly placed. This version didn't compare to this summer's Deer
Creek version. I enjoyed it though. Reba. I can't make up my mind on
this one. The first few measure seemed as if someone (maybe Mike) was
really off. Trey seemed to rush through the vocal segment, but the
negativity ended there. The jam was wonderful. Trey really got into this
Reba.
Save the opening, I'd say this was one of the best Reba's I've ever
heard. I would like to hear what others thought. They brought back the
whistling, which was a pleasant treat. Forbin->Mockingbird. This was
what I wanted to hear at least once this tour. The opening note brought
tears to my eye. Mockingbird was arguably the best ever. As far as I
could tell, it was executed flawlessly. Trey's narration between songs
started
with Col. climbing the mountain. The mountain crumbles and is replaced
by the face of Icculus, only its not Icculus, its...David Byrne. Trey
starts
imitating Byrne's famous dance where he chops his arm then his head and
knocks himself backwards, like this... Then Trey tells of how David
Byrne kicks forbin and the HFP up into space. When Col is about to give
up hope, he remembers that goofy bird. The bird nears Forbin and with
the goofy winged-creature comes a new sense of hope for the colonel.
Only the bird, is the Evil Halloween Spirit Mockinbird who pecks out
Forbin's eyes. The HFP and Forbin go floating off into space and the
story ends there "Because its Halloween." said Trey. I can't emphasize
how beautiful and profound this Mockingbird was...breath-taking.
Character Zero was great. I think the band has uncovered a new rock
anthem,
not unlike AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long." Mike was really on.
Trey and Mike did some odd vocal tricks at the end of the song. The
song, and the set were full of energy. The crowd was in a frenzied fuss
throughout the whole set. Star Spangled Banner, a capella, closed the
set. I must admit, Phish singing this particular song, one oozing with
the chesse of sentimentality, is a bit perplexing. It brought to mind
Sam
Johnson's age old quote "Patriotism is the last refuge of the
scoundrel." I'd be willing to bet that the band is in agreement with
Johnson on this
one (Oddly enough, I nor anyone else in my view, removed headwear during
the song).The band singing the nation's anthem just seems a bit
odd to me; The context in which it is sung seem to almost defame the
tune (from a narrow-minded fool's standpoint), but I think I like it.
It's pretty
neat to see them sneak this in without any controvery considering the
song's importance to all fine, upstanding, patriots*.

Remain in Light
I was pretty sure, from the bands' comments and hints, that RIL was
going to be the costume for Halloween '96. I must honestly say that I
wanted
to hear something else (Maybe AC/DC's Back in Black). I have always
liked the Talking Heads, but never gave them a chance. I guess I
associated them with MTV (back in the early days of Music Television,
when I was young and watched MTV because it was so fun to see that
goofy guy hit his forehead and fall backwards) which is the apex of all
that is bad in today's society (do not refer to disclaimer here, I mean
this,
really). Remain in Light totally KICKED MY ASS. This was the highlight
of the night, and possibly one of my favorite phish experiences
(although
Mockingbird was my favorite phish covering phish experience). The band's
rendition of Remain in Light was excellent. It was very true to The
Talking Head's album, but also included that distinctive Phish sound.
These four guys amaze me - their work ethic and onstage chemisty/ability
is enought to merit the title of best band in America. 
Although I didn't think Remain in Light was the best choice for
Halloween, Phish changed my mind (in every sense of the phrase)...

Born Under Punches was a great, get-down boogie tune. When Trey first
said "Take a look at these hands," he seemed to be the most
exhilirated and fulfulled man on earth. I've never heard or seen so much
excitement in one guy's delivery. All throughout the set, Trey jumped,
kicked, smiled, laughed, and played/sung his heart out like never
before. I can definitely see why he picked this album... The song was
great, as
was the jam. The whole song singing "And the heat goes on" was really
funky. Crosseyed and Painless totally kicked ass. Another great
boogie tune. The rythm was and percussion was amazing. The whole band
was enthralled. I'd love to hear this (and the any other song from the
album) again this tour. So much energy. The Great Curve was probably one
of the high points of the set, as far as energy goes. When (I think it
was Page) started singing "The World Moves on a Woman's Hips." the crowd
went berserk. This is and the next song are the one's I'd most like
to hear again. Once in a Lifetime came next. I believe I experience
euphoria during this song, completely mind blowing rendition of an
already
great song. Houses in Motion began a trend towards more sinister, less
boogie-like music. Although was still excellent, the set was headed in
a different direction. During the end of the song, a few men came out on
stage and moved one of Trey's monitors around. They brought out a
blue plush barca-lounger and placed it in the middle of the stage. Mike
came out and sat in the chair to perform Seen and Not Seen an odd
monologue about keeping people faces in memory and slowly and subtly
changing to become those faces. A very odd sight, but not out of
character for Mike Gordon. Mike handed his bass to Trey for this song.
Trey played the bass line just as Tina Weymouth did on the album. This
was the first time I've ever seen anyone else play Mike's bass.
Listening Wind was enchanting and eerie. Gary Gazaway made some odd
sounds with some odd whistle type thing throughout the whole set and
especially this song. He walked around the stage making odd gestures
and acting quite goofy, I liked it. The refrain, sung by the whole band.
was awesome. Next, Fishman grabbed his 1967 model Electrolux and
proceeded to take the stage front and center. He began to sing the
monotone verse of The Overload. After this, absolute mayhem and chaos
broke out on the stage. Fishman stood on some sort of platform and
delivered a wonderful vacuum solo while 6 or 7 T.V.'s played random
videos and static. A large, bald man took the stage and commanded that
everyone get to work. Trey started playing some sort of saw, two men
off to Page's left played a jack-hammer, and mike seemed to be drilling
something on the ground. Page, in the meantime, was directing an
auditory trip with odd sounds and strange panning around the whole arena
(there were speakers placed all over the ceiling of the Omni, I guess
for this song). The whole set ended in a crazy slavery type scene. I'm
not sure what the implications and or significance of this was, but I
liked it a
lot. 

Brother, minus ice cream lords Ben and Jerry, opened the 3rd set. As
usual Brother rocked. I was really excited to hear this song, since the
band rarely plays it. I really had a feeling of euphoria from set 2, the
opener only served to prolong it. Then the fog began to form and out of
it
arose....Also Sprach Zarathustra, or 2001, or AC/DC's For Those About to
Rock. Whatever you'd like to call it, this was very good. Very
funky with Page pounding away on the clav. Probably my favorite 2001
because of Page's playing. Everyone elses was ordinary (excellent).
2001 gave way to none other than Maze. I'll have to hear the tapes, but
I'd venture to say that this maze was better than the excellent one at
Deer
Creek this summer. Trey took this Maze in a new direction, as did Karl
Perrazo's presence. I've heard some people say that Trey seemed upset
with Karl and that he even showed this through some sort of antics. I
think this may have been confused with Trey's antics during the
following...Simple. Something was obviously wrong with Trey's rig. He
wasn't getting the tone/effects he wanted so he kept fiddling with his
rig.
He actually stopped playing to kick it, then proceeded to shoot at it
with his imaginary pistol. This may have been percieved as a threat on
the
life of Karl Perrazo, but I believe it was an expression of Trey's anger
towards his equipment. In any event, the Simple turned out to be a
beautiful
version. Very spacey, yet coherent. During the saxophone bit, Dave
Grippo came out and waved his sax in the air for everyone to see. I took
this
as a horrible tease, expecting a horn solo. But his antics were still
appreciated. I swear Trey teased, at the beginning, the 4-18-92 Harry
Hood w/
Linus and Lucy. I'll have to hear the tapes to confirm though (It could
be I really just wanted to hear this, it seemed real brief and out of
place - he
didn't pursue it). This Simple was the best I've ever heard, and 96 has
been filled with AWESOME Simples (IMO, their most improved tune).
Swept Away->Steep followed. I commend them on actually reproducing the
album version in a live setting, but this didn't really fit. I can't say
as
if I'd change it if I could though. Next came what was to be the
highlight of the set as far as horn support goes....Jesus Left Chicago
contained
an amazing solo by "The Truth" and Gary Gazaway. This song really
rocked. Inspite of Page's extremely soulful singing, the horns just
stole the
show. Grippo's solo was numbing. I didn't think it would end, my
mandible hund wide open throughout the whole bit. Anyone there will know
what
I'm talking about. "The Truth" is the BOMB. Gary Gazaway's solo was
great too. Suzy Greenberg followed. The crowd loved it, but the band
rushed it. Page's solo was under a minute and on the Hammond, not the
piano. This Suzy never took off. Unfortunately, the band decided to
(take off). They ended the show after Suzy in order to catch the train.
At this point I was still expecting Frankenstein, and they did not
disappoint.
The encored with a scorching Frankentstein, with percussion and horns.
As good, if not better than any other Frankentstein (It's my favorite
right now). Honestly I was really hoping for a Psychokiller encore. Last
year they encored with My Generation, so I thought they might repeat
with
another single by the featured costume band. That would have been keen.
Oh well, maybe they'll play Psychokiller when I see them next.

This Halloween concert may not have been as long as 94's. It may not
have contained classic rock albums like Quadrophenia or The White
Album, this show displayed Phish at their energetic best. I really think
that Remain in Light was and is the best cover album they've ever done.
Their interpretation and arrangement was superb. I can't imagine how
they pulled it off, but they did and I boogied like freak with flaming
shoes.
Both Phish sets were spectacular as well. The show contained my favorite
Mockingbird, Maze, Simple, Jesus Left Chicago, and Frankentstein
ever (except for maybe the 7-8-94 YEM>Frankentstein>YEM, but that had
more to do with the context in which it was played than it did the
execution of the song itself). I'd suggest acquiring the tapes as soon
as possible. When I get them, I will put the whole show (or as much as I
can,
considering space) online using Internet Wave realtime audio.

 
sorry for the length

John
---------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date:    Thu, 22 Jan 1998 19:12:44 GMT
From:    Lmbxlmb 
Subject: Thoughts on 10.31.96 II

hey folks
       i wrote this for submission to the mockingbird foundation book (and only
for their book...get the picture?).  charlie suggested that i also post it
here.  comments are welcomed.

10.31.96 The Omni (R.I.P.) Atlanta, GA  set 2

        As I exited the Omni after the �96 Halloween show, the first thought that
entered my mind was, �What just happened in there?�  I went to Atlanta hoping
to witness a historical performance, as we all know that Halloween is likely to
produce something spectacular.  At the time, I could not have guessed how much
this evening would change things for me and for Phish.  I emerged from the show
with a fresh perspective on, and a deeper appreciation of, Talking Heads,
Phish, and music in general.  I must admit that when I saw the �Phishbill,� I
was more than a bit apprehensive concerning the band�s choice for the cover
album.  Remain in Light was an album with which I was not very familiar, and
one which didn�t hold much promise of any recognizable songs, except for �Once
in a Lifetime.�  Luckily, I opened my mind and let Phish take me on a musical
journey.  One that has not yet ended for any of us. And that means you, too.
        As the first set ended, and I began to think about the �musical costume,� I
found myself warming to the idea of a Talking Heads album.  When the boys and
guests took the stage, I was ready for anything.  From Fish counting it off,
the opening drum roll, and �Ha!� of �Born Under Punches,� I was hooked.  The
interwoven percussive lines played by each instrument produced a tapestry of
music that was nearly trance-inducing.  Gary Gazaway, Dave Grippo, and
especially Karl Perazzo, were brilliant.  Trey soloed in a style that I had
never heard from him, but found intriguing.  Page colored the music beautifully
with his incredible synth sounds, while Mike, as per usual, looked somewhat
bored.  Fortunately, his playing belied his countenance, as it was very focused
and inspired.  And Fish played the intricate rhythms as if they were the most
natural thing in the world to him.  I think having Karl Perazzo there was
really exciting for Fish and Mike (see Mike�s comments in his journal on the
official Phish homepage).  Talk about a dream of a rhythm section!  They all
were obviously having an incredible time, which usually translates into me
having an incredible time.  This night was no exception.  I was so engrossed in
the set, that when the boys (and other various people) walked off stage after
�The Overload,� I felt completely drained.  I wasn�t sure what I�d just seen.
I wasn�t even sure that it was over.  One thing I was sure of, was that I
wanted more of it.  Thankfully, the third set was not a letdown, and that was
that.  Of course, I couldn�t wait to get the tapes.
        Upon receiving the tapes, I began to wonder what David Byrne and company would
think about Phish�s interpretation of their master work.  As I pondered the
issue, I came to the realization that there was a means of getting a valid
critical review of the set.  If ten years from now, a band played a show before
20,000 screaming fans and devoted an entire set to covering Junta, to whom
could they go if they wanted an honest review of the performance?  As critical
as we are concerning Phish�s performances of their own material, I�m sure the
phish.net community would have a harshly discriminating opinion to offer
concerning someone else�s interpretation of Phish�s magnum opus.  The only
remaining question was whether or not Heads fans had as strong an online
presence as we do.  I performed a quick search of the web and found what I was
looking for: a Talking Heads fan site, very similar to our beloved gadiel.com.
I immediately posted the Parke Puterbaugh article from the �Phishbill� and an
offer for 10.31.96 II, explaining that there was no charge for the tapes. The
only payment I asked, in return for sending the set, was a review of Phish�s
performance.
        And review it they did.  I sent tapes to places far (Moscow, London,
Sydney...) and near (Dallas, Indianapolis...) and received reviews from each
recipient of the set.  There were lots of general comments on the performance.
Things like, �Phish has done an outstanding job. I�d love to see this live,�
and �every time I see David Byrne on tour and he does TH songs, I wish he�d
speed them up a bit. Phish has done this to perfection.�   The most intersting
comments, however, were found in the detailed reviews.  Some went so far as to
include a song-by-song critique.  Here�s a sampling:

�Born Under Punches� - �They captured the energy perfectly.�  �Trey sorta
botches the guitar solo. Great groove though.�

�Crosseyed and Painless� - �...the extension of the end adds a lot.�  �Fish�s
drumwork at the end and into �The Great Curve� is excellent.�

�The Great Curve� - �This song is so well done that I now listen to it with a
greater appreciation.�  �The singer (Page) hits �The world moves on a woman�s
hips� *perfectly.*�

�Once in a Lifetime� - �...is an absolute misser.�  �Hearing how good they can
be live, I think they could have done OiaL much much better, but TH�s live
version didn�t translate well, either.�

�Houses in Motion� - �This version is very well done... The guitar at the end
is fantastic and the lead into �Seen and Not Seen� is one of the highlights of
the show.�  �Phish�s bass player shines here.�

�Seen and Not Seen� - �Mike delivered it witht the right amount of detachment
and thoughtfulness.�  �I can�t believe that they pulled this off. I hear it was
performed from a La-Z-Boy? Great idea.�

�Listening Wind� - �... there are great places to add a solo to a song on RiL
(such as the one he puts at the end of TGC), but this is not one of them.�  �I
was impressed with their treatment of this...nice singing.�

�The Overload� - �I love the fact that they made this into a bit of
�performance art�...I hear it was truly bizarre in the best tradition of David
Byrne.�  �I think the singing is awful. Fortunately, they save the song by
going into what Phish does best - loopy art music.�

        All in all, Heads fans applauded Phish for their bravery in tackling such a
complex album.  There were naysayers (just like on rmp), but we should take
their comments with a huge grain of salt. As one fan intimated, �Remain in
Light is some sort of of holy icon to me.�  In corresponding with these fans,
who are every bit as rabid as we, I gained a new appreciation for Phish.
        You have to admire their moxie for choosing such a challenging album, and for
meeting the challenge to critical acclaim.  When Talking Heads toured in
support  of Remain in Light, they added five musicians to the lineup, still had
to rework the songs, and by all accounts did no justice to their own music.
The fact that Phish performed songs that even Talking Heads never attempted to
play live (�Seen and Not Seen,� �Listening Wind,� and �The Overload�), is
further testament to their abilities.  Also to their credit is that they made
the performance their own, not aping the Heads, but putting their own phishy
spin on it.  From the instrumentation itself, to  Mike delivering �Seen and Not
Seen� from a Barcalounger, to the unexplainable weirdness that accompanied �
The Overload,� there was no mistaking that Phish invested alot of themselves in
the performance.
        Prior to Halloween �96, I had heard lots of talk in the community about how
each Halloween, the choice of the cover album had tremendous influence on
Phish�s style thereafter, not only in subsequent setlists, but in the actual
manner in which they played.  If you listen to many shows from �95 and �96, you
can make a plausible case for this statement.  However, there is no arguing
that Remain in Light has been the most influencial of the three cover albums.
If you�ve wondered where the genesis of the funk that appeared in �97 can be
found, look no further than 10.31.96 II.  We witnessed the birth of the funk
that night in Atlanta.  If true group improvisation with a collective
consciousness and no single leader is the goal, then in Remain in Light, Phish
found the perfect vehicle for honing their skills.
        For all the reasons detailed in this piece, when the uninitiated ask me �Which
show is your favorite?� I�m not hesitant to point them toward Halloween �96.
The two Phish sets were truly outstanding. When you consider a rare Sanity
opener, an appropriate Highway to Hell followed by Down with Disease, a song
that grew by leaps and bounds in �96, you have a great start. Follow those with
a standardly sick You Enjoy Myself, Prince Caspian, a moving Reba, and Colonel
Forbin�s Ascent>Mockingbird with a crazy Halloween narration involving David
Byrne himself, and you�ve got a meaty middle to the set. Add in a raging
Character Zero, and the oddly juxtaposed a capella Star Spangled Banner, and
you have a great first set.  The third set was full of gems, including the
always welcome Brother, a funky Also Sprach, a nice Maze, your typical Fall �96
Simple, the always surreal Swept Away>Steep, Jesus Just Left Chicago with
horns, Suzie closer (with �Born Under Punches� teases from Page... listen
closely to his fills). The Frankenstein encore was perfect for Halloween.  I�m
not arguing that every song was an incredible version, but as far as song
selection goes, that�s a pretty potent lineup.  All that, plus what I consider
to be the most influential single set of music Phish has ever played, and it
adds up to be my personal favorite show.  I hope if you haven�t listened to it,
you will.  If you have listened to it, listen again.  It offers such great
insight toward understanding where Phish is taking their music.

okay, here's the standard "if you've made it this far and don't have 10.31.96,
i will spin it for b&p."  i'll keep spinning it until i get tired of doing so,
or until my other trading project gets underway.

still waiting,
trevor norris

btw, if anybody was similarly moved by halloween '94 or '95, why not offer
those sets to beatles and who fans?  i'd be interested to know their feelings
on the sets.