Date: Wed, 01 Jan 1997 19:26:44 -0800 From: Martin Goldstein Subject: 12/31 rev. 12/31/96 Fleetcenter, Boston, MA Absolutely incredible stuff. Scene outside of the Fleet left a lot to be desired. The Fleet is smack in the middle of a grungy area of Boston surrounded by fast food, and a busy street runs right next to the entrance. It was incredibly cold, and the limited amount of space left a lot of cramped Phisheads. Thousands of miracle seekers as usual..some were original, some insisted on "cash or trade or nugs for your extra!" Fortunately, inside, the FLeet is a nice, modern venue. Very bright, easy to get in and out of, good acoustics, and especially nice if mail order gave you "prefered seating" (12/30, fresh fruit frozen yogurt during setbreak with clean bathrooms and leather seats on your floor!). Anyway..... Pre show tunes: Los Lobos: Kiko Set I: Axilla >Peaches, PYITE, Cars Trucks Buses, Stash, Horse/SITM, Divided, Sample>Tweezer Rep. Axilla: The Axilla I opener came as a surprise to me, but it was a hell of a choice because the boys came onto the stage breathing fire. A great, headbanging, drum pounding way to kick off a set. AX-ILL-A!!!! I saw an Axilla opener on 6/28/95, and it worked then..it works now. Peaches: Nice to have this one back in the rotation. Beautiful Zappa tune. Can't complain PYITE: Excellent set placement, keeps the show momentum going at breakneck pace. The opening was much longer than usual..a lot more Trey wah-wah going on. Landlady jams decent as well. Cars T&B: Pretty standard, but different from '95 versions because Trey actually has a little more guitar work to do than usual. Some nice Page improvising on the B3 that also wasn't there in '95. I had binoculars, and for some reason, Mike sure looks bored during this one! Stash: Pretty textbook stuff here. Not too long, maybe about ten minutes or so, nice melodic jam that ended before it got too monotonous or too spacey. Horse/SITM: Standard, but always fun to hear on NYE because the "just last year" line always gets a response. Chris does some nice things with the lights on the heavy downbeats in the middle of the tune..spotlighting each band member. Divided Sky: Called this one. Always a joy to hear. Why the hell doesn't anybody sit down during the silent part? Jam was pretty standard..no apparent flaws, but no incredible soloing either. Mike and Trey's jumping sequence during the composed part is cool. Sample: I thought for sure this would close the set, and wasn't too dissappointed because the rest of the set rocked, and Trey did have a rock and roll field day with the ending solos on this one. Kind of gets a bad rap, and I was hoping something else would close, but Trey does milk the ending for all it's worth. Tweezer Rep.: Definition of a bonus..hearing Tweezer Reprise close the set after Sample when no Tweezer is played that evening. Believe me..I was not the only person in the crowd momentarily shocked by this. Tweezer Rep. is standard, but who cares? It ROCKS! Overall, a fantastic, take no prisoners set that was played well, and set a precedent for the rest of the evening. II: Chalkdust, Wilson, Sparkle>Simple>Swept Away>Steep>Harry Hood>Caspian, Character 0. Setbreak tunes: MMW's Friday Afternoon..... Chalkdust: I called Tube to open, but Chalkdust was welcome. Great set opener as always...rocks along like the Allmans on an amphetimine jag. Wilson: I was the only person within a nine seat radius doing the chant. Come on guys! Standard Wilson, but rocks as hard as the Chalkdust before it. Sparkle: I had used the bathroom during setbreak, so I couldn't now. Standard....... Simple: Begins standard, and lasts about 10 minutes or so. Trey creates a very melodic, flowing jam similar to something in Reba. Very mellow way to wind things down and quite effective. Due to Simple's ability to segue into other tunes, and judging from the three previous days, it doesn't take a genius to know what's coming next... Swept Away/Steep: Phish as Pink Floyd wannabees. Don't dig it on CD, but it makes for a pretty trippy groove when done live with dark, swirling lights and such. Try singing Floyd's Us and Them at the beginning of Steep and you'll see the Floyd comparisons...At the end of Steep, white lights come on...and the band SCREAMS!!! Cool. Harry Hood: Good choice. Solid Harry with a fantastic, textural jam that was built up very well. Some people yelled HOOD! after HARRY!, but most didn't...not quite finished and we were led into... Prince Caspian: Used to hate this one, but now that they've added improvised jam segments, it's gotten much better. Can't help but sing along with this one. Character Zero: Easily my highlight of the set. When you have the band screaming the chorus, Kuroda's lights blaring, and Trey going absolutely nuts at the end, you can't help but feel elevated. Fishman was also going crazy with the fills. At any rate, this one rocked extremely hard...almost as hard as GTBT from the night before. Great closer. Overall, very good second set that benefitted from all of the powerful singalongs (i.e. Caspian, Simple, Wilson etc.) that were placed in it. As a matter of fact, with the exception of SweptAway/Steep, there really wasn't one song in the set that couldn't be considered an "anthem". Break music: M'shell N'degeocello-Peace beyond Passion (odd choice) Set III: 2001>Auld Lang Syne>Down W/Disease, Suzy, Antelope, Bohemian Rhapsody, Julius This set was absolutely incredilbe 2001: Began with an extremely long spacey feedback portion. Almost too long as my ears really began to hurt from it...must have been trying to kill time. Extremely funky 2001. Anticipation was HIGH. Auld Lang Syne. When the clock strikes 12, thousands, upon thousands of balloons drop from suspended nets along with tons of paper and confetti. Thought there was some water too...but that was just some guy dumping a beer on my head...sooo many balloons. Right into Down W/ Disease: The perfect complement to the balloon ectasy. Very upbeat, 15 minute version with some really fun-keh wah-wah stuff towards the end. The scene was total anarchy. Phish playing an incredible Disease with a huge festival of balloons being thrown everywhere thorughout the Fleet. Incredible. Suzy: Trey spins around, grins, and counts off this well-placed anthem. Extremely powerful as the balloons kept coming and everyone was still feeding off the energy from Auld>Disease. Gotta scream along I guess! Antelope: This just keeps getting more intense. Actually, a pretty standard Antelope which got crazy as usual, but nothing mind-blowing..but who needs mind blowing when.. Bohemian Rhapsody: "Is this the real life?" I was wondering the same thing myself. Page took Freddy Mercury's vocals on this one and the band brought out a huge gospel choir to assist with the "I see a little silhoute of a man..." part. Trey played the solos note for note. Impressive! Julius: A rocking closer as always, but Trey's solos took a back seat to the female vocalists in the choir, which is kind of too bad because they were buried in the mix. A good way to cap off the set, and a nice novelty, but clearly not the best Julius I've ever heard. The 2001>Auld>Down W/ was absolutely astonishing as was the rest of the set! Plus sets 1 and 2 kicked ass! An Amazing Grace encore by the choir was appropriate, beautiful, and sent us home on a good note. Unbelievable I tell 'ya. -DAVID GOLDSTEIN -------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 00:39:49 -0500 From: [email protected] Subject: Re: review Sure, here goes...please fix my typographical mistakes though. Phish took the stage around 8:30 to a thunderous applause. They waited for a second and busted out a very tight Axilla. Peaches just king of mushed between Axillia and PYITE. When the first chord of PYITE sounded I cheerd and started to sing along. A ver good version with some nice jamming. CTB fit in great after PYITE and kept the momentum going. Stash was a welcome addition to the show as the crowd clapped their hands and sang along. The Horse and SITM were nice surprises although the crowd really didn't get into it until the band unleashed a beautiful divided sky. They paused in the middle only to hear the loudest app;ause I had ever heard in the fleet center. Sample in a Jar really got everyone dancing and the tweezer reprise was great, considering I had missed tweezer the previous night. Set two opened up with chalkdust and the crowd joind in with "Can I live while I' m young." Wilson was great with the crowd chanting "Wilson". It seemed like trey flubbed the vocals on the first line though. Sparkle is sparkle. Simple was great especially segging into swept away and steep. I forgot about the scream at the end of steep, and I was scared. I just laughed it off though. Harry made everyone feel good about hood and Caspian was nice. Character Zero was excellent. Greatjamming and a nice little bom bom baaam bo bom bom vocal jam by trey at the end. During the set break a hot air ballooon floated arpound the arena. It had no pint, but it was trippy. The boys came back out with 8 minutes to go before midnight. After a trippy into they broke out 2001, around 11:55 the first of the 60,000 baloons started to fall from the frafters. Old lang syne was sung, but ths Down with disease made the band immortal. All of the ballons had fallen and the crowd was coverd. Many of them made their way up onto the stageand the band was covered, but they kept jamming. trey even head butted the ballons that cam his way. They shows that in chaos their concentration is unbreakable. Excellent jamming throguht the song. It was probably 15 minute long and after an extensive jam they camr back into it and closed it off. Suzy was unexpected by me and I loved it. Everyone that new the words sang along. But everyone danced no matter what. A nice antelope preluded the highlight of the night. After antelope the stage darkened. Then Trey and Mikes heads appeared and the sang out" Is this the real life?" to a thundering crowd. BOHEMIAN RAPSODY!!!!!! Page handled the vocals of the little boy and the Boston Community choir handled the backup. I think Fishman said the mama mia line and it was Hilarious. Great deep annyoing voice. Kinda like fred flintstone. The jam in the song, you know the one, was very tight. It was better then the queen version of the song. Wayne and Garth would be proud. Julius was sung very phat, in gospel church style, with some solos by the choir. The Amazing grace encore was not what I wanted but very nice indeed. the BCC sang it great and the band accomwith the muscic. On a side note. The whole fleet center was fishbowled all the way up to the championship banners and beyond. A great show!!! JB Morris ----------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Jan 97 10:46:32 EST From: Brian Cohen Newsgroups: rec.music.phish Subject: 12/31/96 review (long) Wow, I jsut read thru 270+ articles, and no in-depth reviews yet.. let me give it a shot..... Set I Axilla -- opening riff I thought it was obviously going to be Axilla part II, but was pleasantly surprised with part I. Turned out to be a very good openner, very upbeat, tons of energy. On my FM's, it took Paul a second or too to get the vocal mix up to par, but he came thru as usually...anyway good ending..and almost a segue but not quite into.... Peaches -- ALRIGHTLY!!!!!! It's definitely NYE!!!! Big crowd cheer from the openning drum beat....done perfectly. Trey, nailed the guitar, I don't think I heard one flub...excellent got me extremely excited..and then.... PYITE -- Here we go!!!!!!! I just LOVE the opening segment of this song. I was immediately taked back to last year's NYE's PYITE opener, although this one was not as long and I think the tempo was maybe a half beat faster or so....But talk about getting things going!!!! Trey did the vocals perfect this time (you try singing this song, it's hard!!!!). Page started to really shine here, the "mamba" Trey & Mike dance was entertaining (Trey actually can cut'little'rug if he wants too!!). when they came in with the profound first "HEY!!!!" The crowd went berserk (myself included)...then.... Stash -- ther is a god!!!! This was a great Stash. I would give a note-by-note review if I could, but 1) I'm at work, and don't have the tapes with me, 2) can't type as fast as Charlie. Anyway, I don't know the time off hand but it was quite long...great jam...Some of tension'n'release stuff going on, but also quite meledious in a 'Stash' like way. I was already flipping out...then the ending "maybe so.." came in perfect. Overall, EXCELLENT (I CAPATILIZE for a reason here...) Stash, one of the best I've heard. I have to re-listen to others to get a feel of a comparision rating though... Divided Sky -- Your kidding me right??!!!.. What more do I have to say, Great Divided, no flubs to speak of. The "silent" part wasn't to long, they looked funny, like frozen statues...Trey might have come back in from the silent part just a little of key (actually, I'm being kind here.. whatever), but after that, wonderful. Mike by the way was sick, as was Fishman, who was extremely jovial the whole nite. Wonderful Divided, great usual Phish-playing on the composed part, needless to say I was very happy now... Sample -- OK, whatever, Sample, it was actually very fun, and if there is that small window of possibility to jam, or extend this tune, it was done so, best Sample I have ever heard. Really, it had tons of energy, and I figured, OK, decent first set closeer...but.....oh boy, but.....what do I know. Tweezer Reprise -- No, not a mistype. I was so shocked and blown away, I 1) Thought I had literally lost my mind, it was now the third set, and had missed (mentally missed) a Tweezer somewhere in there, 2) was again so shocked, I spilled half of my beer, 3) said, "what the f$%&*@king..." about 20 times, and 4) jumped so high I almost fell down the aisle bad caused much massed hysteria in Section 304. Some guy, said behind at setbreak, "..man, they just finnsihed taken care of business form last nite..man thats all..." OK buddy, if that's what you say. Whether this was the tail end of the 12/30 Tweezer I don't know, but I had never been so shooked at a show (besides the 7/8/94 Wilson, when I came to the realization that I was going to be present, not astral form, but really present, for a complete Gamehenge). Besides that moment and what was to come in the third set, this was the most shocked I had been. I know of the Tweezer Rep. Opener in Lincoln last year, but 1st set closer, ZZYZX??? Could it be unprecedented?? What a way to close the first... ...pizza and spirng water at setbreak.... Set II Chalkdust Torture -- YIPPPEEEE!!!!! Anotehr one I never get tired of. This was, bar none, the best Chalkdust I ever ever heard...my tapes re-confirm this, too. Trey went OFF at the end!!! Seriously, his 'doc was smokin'...... WIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLSSSONNNNNN!! BaadHah..Baadhah... WIIILLSSSSONNNNNN! Never get tired of this one live. Nice job FleetCenter audience, right on que, Trey seemed happy about it. As always, a great tune to hear live any set, 1st, 2nd, 4th, whatever!! Done perfectly, again... Sparkle -- OK, whatever, Sparkle.....tehy could have played a Mariah Carey song at this point and I would have been happy (strike that reverse...I would have been extremely upset and peturbed). It was fun, I think I have seen Sparkle at 95% of the shows I have seen 20+, but agian, it was very fun, and very fast at the end. The singing was kind of mindblowing, actually, in the ending segment, I do sing that fast and still sound like you singing in English????? Simple -- My girlfriend was very happy to here this..as was I. I have heard of monterous Simple's this fall, but I had no idea!!! the vocal section is so much fun live, one of those you're always humming to yourself in the car or something...But the real joy of this was the jam. Very meledious here, no extraordinarily (is that a word) meledious here. A beautiful jam...pretty long too. The hose was really starting to be unwound now...at least for me...I had already forgotten they just played Sparkle.......The jam gets mellower and mellower into until.... Swept Away -- very nice segue. It fit in perfectly to that mellow ending Simple jam ... "WAAAAAAAYYYYYY" Beautiful harmonizing......then space... space...space... Steep -- Done perfectly (I've been using perfect a lot in my review, I know). The scream at the end was frightening and funny at the same time..weird... I was then saying, oh great and powerful band, now I shalt hereth the openning riff of Prince Caspian...oh no you won't ,but ... Harry Hood -- Please, somebody give these guys a hannd with this 300 ft. HOSE they are unravelling tonite.. This was HOSE. This Hood was UNREAL!!! I was floating like a buterfly (no not stinging like a bee) Openning standard, with some interesting noodling from Trey and Page...." thank you mr. minorrrrrrrr" One of the most meledious, gorgeous, Hood jams of all time, right up there, IMHO, with 12/31/93, 12/30/95, 7/1/95, 10/7/95 (I need to here Kent State I know ). But really, it was pretty much in mental, physcical, and emotional Utopia at this point. I was being completely hosed down, no point in trying to explain in words. There was indeed a closing Hood segment, but instead of ending it completely...a wonderous segue into... Prince Caspian -- It was alomsot as if they said, OK, a Swept Away-> Steep-> Caspian, and ohhh, what the hell, we'll throw in a Hood taboot. Great ending jam to Caspian...Trey was very excited to be playing this..then... Character Zero -- Yes yes 4 BB songs, who gives a flying f$%*##@ck!!!! This was really amazing. They completely tour the roof off of the end of this song!!! Oh man!!!! Yeah it's always a rocker but, as good if not better then the rip-roaring Chalkdust openner. Set over...whew. The giant radio-controlled ballon whipped out from behind the stage, and they jammied to its movements for some grief moments..I think it had a camera on it too, boy, that would be interesting to see on video someday..... ..setbreak...more pizza, watching the balloon and twice as much spring water...dehydration was beginning to set in :-D.... Set III A spacey intro into.... 2001 -- OHHHHH BOYYYYYY!!! Here we go. The Clifford Ball 2001 was longer and FUNKYier, but this one was fantastic!!! Man, was I grooving, and watching the Countdown taboot They timed it perfectly when the NYE struck, tehn... Auld Lang Syne (w/60,000+ balloons) -- Balloons all over the place!!!!! Auld Lang Syne!!!! There was nowhere else in the known (or unknown) universe I wanted to be then in the FleeCenter at that moment. Immediately following...... Down with Disease -- TAKE OFF!!!!! Bring in the New Year!!!! Get down with your Disease man!!!!! Trey was laughing and kicking and having so much fun, he could barely sing the lyrics he was laughing so hard!! It sounded funny as hell on 'BCN yesterday, it was sloppy in a funny ,hilarious way. But hten a MONSTER of a jam segment. Completely GOLDEN HOSE now, there was no tunring back. No I LOVE the Clifford Ball DwD, but this was compelely and utterly mind-blowing!!!! Parts of the jam were very 12/31/95 Weekapaug'ian like, but not exactly. Page was going nuts, as were the rest of them. Stage crew were constantly moving, pushing and popping balloons from the equipment, but the jam didn't suffer one bit...again, I can't really describe in words. A-MAIZING. Suzy Greenberg -- At this point I could sww the mini-stand thingee' behind Trey's rig, and when I heard Suzy, I thought for sure we were in for some horns...but no, oh well. Great upbeat Suzy, with Page doing some crazy stuff on the ivories while Trey was pounding away on his drum kit. How can anyone not completely groove to this song. There should be a global law of no sitting during a Suzy Greenberg, although not many in Boston were that nite, so I can't complain. Oh fun, Oh joy, Oh HOSE to come in... Antelope -- I almost passed out, seriously. I will let Victor give this a fair and caring review in his AIR, but there like 50 gears in this one. MORE HOSE was being unwound, at this point, it built and built and built until......dodododododo...Marco, where are you mister!!! Fun ending no special lyric changes here, but Trey screamed the Gearshift part!!!! And then.... BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY -- WHAT!!!!????!!??!!! I really thought I shit my pants....I definitely had to check myself. Needless no sa a very interesting cover, joined on stage by the Boston Community Choir. Very fun. Page as incredible range!!!! Say waht you want about Freddy from Queen, but that guy had an incredible voice, and Page did a more then fine job on the vocals. The Choir was great. Everyone in the building was floored!!!! To say I was shocked would be the understatment of the year!!! There have been few times when I laughed that much. Julius -- Very fun, this was definitely for the choir. Trey kept walking in circles encouraging the choir to do more, it ws very fun, and Chris did a very cool job of the lights on them with there red robes.....a great closer... Encore -- Amazing Grace.... This ws all choir very pretty. I was hoping for some great Phish rockin' closer after, or better yet, a Bold As Love, but that was it. Overall -- Whether it was better then the now legendary 12/31/95, I don't know, it was different and to me just as good. Sick HOSING of Stash, Hood, Simpel, DwD, Antelope. Compeletely rocked out Chalkdust, Character Zero, Tweezer Rep, Suzy. I was completely satisfied and it, as it always is with Phish, worth every penny I paid. If you came this far, thanks for reading this whole thing. I refuse to apologize for it's length, I could have written 10 more pages. Happy New Year to everyone. Thanks again Phish, you impress, shock, and blow me away everytime....and more cudoooos to Shelly for a getting information out to all of us. Have a good one. -- Brian Cohen | Progress Software Co. [email protected] | 14 Oak Park | Bedford, MA 01730 ---------------------------------------------------------------- From: Darren FitzpatrickSubject: NYE Review Date: Thu, 02 Jan 1997 12:02:38 -0500 Well, I know this can stir up bad blood being that so many people didn't get tickets and whatnot, but I have to say I was disappointed by the NYE show. Typically with the NYE run, the shows build in quality and intensity until NYE which away blows any conception you might of had as far as anticipation for the show. This didn't happen this year (to me). Although the playing was great, which at times is a variable in itself (sometimes its there and sometimes it isn't-not really an element that the band members fully control. I did listen to the radio rebroadcast up until Simple, at which point the signal faded, which gives me the opportunity to give a fair review.) Well, to my point, my main grip about NYE was the lack of jamming relating to song choice. The songs that were "left over" and you knew they'd play, didn't have much room for improvisation-look at the list: I: Axilla I, Peaches, PYITE, Cars Trucks and Buses, Stash, Horse>SITM, Divided, Sample>Tweezer Reprise Now the Axilla I opener KICKED-ASS(!) and was perfect. On the whole, I like Axilla I better. Peaches was another nice treat...although I'm really glad they brought it back and I've heard it alive, I could have gone without seeing it-it sounds the same everytime. Cars Trucks and Buses gave us a sample of the Page funk, which was great...I love this tune, it doesn't tranfer well to tape imho. Stash was superb. Probably the best I've heard. Horse>Silent was standard as always, Divided was your typically great/never sucks Divided Sky and the Sample>Tweezer Reprise was again apporpriate although little to no jammming. My point: A well played set, with a lack of jamming II: Chalkdust. Wilson, Sparkle, Simple, Swept Away>Steep>Harry Hood, Caspian, Character Zero Chalkdust, like Divided Sky, is never sucks and this one was WAY above average. Wilson and Sparkle were in typical standard fashion. Simple was great, I wish it was longer and had Trey one drums with Page and Mike controlling the direction of the jam, but oh well. Swept Away>Steep>Harry Hood was a good as it gets...after that scream in Steep (which was accompanied with lots of loud, dissonant space) the band looked at Fishman, who then gave the gentle drum-roll to Harry Hood. Harry was in superb form. Although the jam built momentum slowly it had a great climax before the "You can feel good..." line which was almost an afterthought to an outstanding jam. Caspian was an appropraite follow up and was perfectly executed. Character 0 was INSANE!! In Short: First half of the set was weak (except for Chalkdust) and then proceeded to gain momentum which was thrust into the best Character Zero ever. (In its short history as a Phish song.) III: 2001>Auld Lang Syne>DWD, Suzy G., Antelope, Bohemian Rhapsody*, Julius* E: Amazing Grace* * w/ choir 2001 was timed perfectly and showed Phish funk at its best. DWD was barely audible due to the incredible audience noise. I barely made out the spacey bass intro, and I think the jam was great, although not as good as the C.B. version. I'll have to here it again. Suzy G. got the crowd pumped but was standard. Antelope was the epitome of musical intensity. I was jumping up and down like a madman. Bohemian Rhapsody was great with the choir, although I though Julius sucked. We all know Phish can wail on the this tune and I think the choir took that opportunity away. Although a great Phish show, I think the show to see on the Holiday Tour '96 was 12-29 (damn...) Imho this is NYE didn't have the great jamming or raw intensity that NYE '95 had. Feel free to comment or falme Fitz ============================== ------------------------------ From: Allan Abrams Subject: BLINDED by Balloons Date: 2 Jan 1997 20:20:46 GMT The balloon drop at midnight was one of the most unique and strangest things I have ever experienced. I was sitting on the floor, about 15 rows back. When the balloons came down, I couldn't see a thing. Nothing. I was BLIND. It was a very surreal moment. I could hear Phish raging and ripping through an energetic Disease jam but I couldn't Phish at all. All I saw were millions and millions of different colors. The only people I could see were those in the few rows all around me. This "blindness" lasted for many, many minutes. It seemed like an eternity. Although it was amazingly cool at first, it did start to get annoying after awhile. I wanted to see the band, but could not. I don't think I was able to actually see the band until the end of Suzy and the beginning of Antelope. And that Antelope RAGED didn't it. WOW was that one very intense version. One of my favorite moments of Antelope was during the very quiet part in the beginning. As the band slowly started Antelope with the slow, quiet, mellow beginning you could hear the gentle, soft sounds of all of the balloons breaking. Soft, serene sounds of "poof" were heard around the floor. It made a nice addition to the beginning of Antelope. I will never forget my 15 minutes of swimming in a sea of balloons. It must have been one hell of a sight from the upper levels. see ya later, ....AJ.... ---------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: NYE review Date: 2 Jan 1997 15:56:16 GMT From: Uncle Sig Yes, its uncle sig's first review since halloween 94 (when we speeded back to syracuse so that I could get the word to everyone about the insanity) so without further ado... Set I: Axilla I: What an energy blast! Trey sounded very evil when he sung the lyrics, like he was telling a story that was sure to give you nightmares. Peaches: I was hoping for this for the entire run... I yelped as soon as I heard fishman hit those first notes. So glad to have zappa back. PYITE: There was no usual "trey-scratching" before this one, peaches went directly into it. SO HOT! The end build-up was spectacular. Cars trucks Buses: By this time I had lost my mind. Another of my favorites, and once again no break between songs to catch your breath. Page was amazing (as usual) Stash: after finally giving me a few seconds to get my brain off of the fleet center roof, they play stash. Absolutely mind-melting Horse>SIlent: you should have heard the crowd when page sang "I think that this exact thing happened to me just last year!" Divided Sky: I was also waiting the whole week for this one- My #1 phish song, along with hood, a spiritual experience, an epiphany. Sample: Very energetic, trey's guitar screamed during the end ascending jam. Tweezer Reprise: They could not have ended the set any better. Seriously. This tweezer reprise made me feel the earth hurtling through space at thousands of miles an hour. No matter what you think of the setlist, this first set had as much energy as ANY phish set I've seen (and this was my 50th show). A must, must,must get tape. Set II: Chalkdust: Extended, spacy middle ascending jam. ONe of the best CT's ever. Wilson: AN average wilson, which is of course insane. Sparkle: Evil debauchery. I lit a sparkler for this one. (see 8/7 red rocks) Simple: much like the simple of halloween 94 triumphant, then melting into a beautiful trey country like guitar into: Swept Away/Steep: I like this song. The scream was exhilirating, much like part of a horror movie where you cover your eyes but peek between your fingers. Harry Hood: Fishman started the beginning during the end of Steep. What a eruption from the crowd. Absolutely Exquisite. Prince Caspian: Getting to be that I like this one- if they expand on the end jam a bit, will become a heavyweight. Character Zero: One of my favorite, IMHO as good as anything else on BIlly Breathes (which i think is as good as any album phish has done) The end was a blast of energy, truly a hose to the nth degree (in dirksenese). I love to hear this song, and I love the lyrics. Quickly becoming a song I want to hear every show. Set III: After having a 10' or so hot air balloon floating on fans cruise around the crowd, we were to be barraged by 60,000 balloons. 2001: The perfect song to countdown to NYE - just like in 94 Boston unveiling of the hot dog! Trey quickly made it so that one of the duh- dah- DAH - DAH! DAH!!'s happened a one minute. Auld LAng SYne: TIngles. happy new year. tHe future has arrived. Down with Disease; incredible jam, too bad I was distracted by the balloons attacking the stage and trey bopping a big purple one up in the air while playing. at least 15 minutes. Incredible, ridiculous jam. Get it. Suzi G: PAge's secong solo was as good as any Suzi G (see 12/28/94 II) Antelope: Insanity. Short but hot hot hot. Then the choir came out. Then BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: OH MY GOD! THIS WAS A-MAZING. I don't care what you think of this song, but trust me, it put me in a state of utter disbelief. Page belted the lyrics. The choir was wonderful. My friend told me that Queen never performed it in its entirety. I feel so lucky to have seen this. Triumphant. Words can not describe this. Julius: as it was meant to be played, with the choir. They were jamming. I love gospel choirs, and this one did not let me down. Encore: Amazing GRace: another spiritual experience. GET THIS SHOW (and the other three - especially 12/29 set II- as hilarious as set as I've seen.) What a run! Thanks so much to the band for some memories that will last forever. Love, uncle sig It's never too late to have a happy childhood. ------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Boston Date: Wed, 01 Jan 1997 00:15:07 -0800 From: Laura Wasserman I would like to say that the scene in Boston was far from wonderful. There was a great aura about the crowd on the first night, but the cops were so awful that it deteriorated on the second. Boston is just too big, and full of too many money loving yuppies. I do realize that there are quite a few phans in the city too, but I am just stereotyping to make a point. The rotaries make driving confusing as hell. I got stuck in one for about 15 minutes. The prices are exorbatant. It cost us $50 a night for a disgusting hotel that was an hour away from the city without even a phonebook or a working toilet. The drivers there seem to take my life into there hands and descided that since I am from the south I should die. The cops seemed to be throwing people out left and right from the show. It was horrible. Can you imagine being completely trasshed and having the cops walk you down all of the passages and act like you are crazy(even if you are) and harass you for having a cigarette, before desciding to throw you out? Talk about a buzz kill. Boston is not exactly the safest city in the world, and if I had not had bare feet, they would have thrown me out without letting me tell my friends what had happened to me. I would have problably ended up in a mental institution if they had done that. Did anybody else have problems like this? Pleas Phish, move your New Years show to somewhere without evil cops. Laura ----------------------------------------------------- Subject: A New Years Story From: [email protected] (GRMLN) Ok, first lemme just say NYE fucking rocked. I feel bad for all those who remained ticketless. Truely an amazing show. Anyway, before the show i struck up a conversation with this little 11 year old kid behind me. Check this out. Turns out that Trey used to babysit for the kid when he was younger. I have a tape of the kid playing with phish when he was about 3 years old. His name is Cameron. Anyway, he told me all these stories about Trey and the band. Some facts from Cameron: -there were 75,000 balloons last night -when trey comes home from tour, Marley (his dog) gets so excited that he roles onto his back and pees on himself -Prince Caspain is Trey's favorite song they play -Cameron used to get a bunch of autographs from trey and sell them for $10- pocket $5 and give trey $5 -Trey usually leaves right after shows -Cameron wrote the setlist for the Spokane show this year -1 out of every 9 tickets sold is for someone affiliated somehow with the band Anyhoo, there was more but i've forgotten them. If you see Cameron at a show, be sure to say hi. He's a cool little kid. peace out .g. ------------------------------------------------------- Subject: NEW YEAR'S LIST AND REVIEW From: Jared Hirsch I: Axilla I Peaches en Regalia PYITE CTB Stash Horse -> Silent in the Morning Divided Sky Sample Tweezer Reprise II:Chalkdust Torture Wilson Sparkle Simple-> Swept Away-> Steep-> Harry Hood-> Caspian Character Zero III: 2001-> NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!-> Auld Lang Sine-> Down with Disease-> Suzy Greenberg Antelope Bohemian Rapsody Julius E: Amazing Grace OH FUCK!! OH SHIT!! What a show! The simple -> caspian part of the second set was brilliant. Can't explain. The power of 2001 timed to the end of '96. At midnight, it was nothing but BALLOONS!!!! BALLOONS!!!! BALLOONS!!!! SO MANY FUCKIN BALLOONS IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!! There was a gospel choir for Bohemian Rapsody, Julius, and Amazing Grace. What a show!!!!!!!!!!! ------------------------------------------------- Subject: NYE SETLIST From: [email protected](mark hodgman ) The Fleet Center, Boston, MA Set I:Axilla II, Peaches(?), PYITE, Cars, Trucks and Buses, Stash, The Horse>Silent, Divided Sky, Sample in a Jar, Tweezer Reprise Set II: Chalkdust, Wilson, Sparkle, Simple, Swept Away, Steep, Hood, Prince Caspian, Character 0 In between the second and third sets, a giant remote controlled balloon floated through the arena. At 11:55, they started up 2001 which led to Auld Lang Syne at midnight,(balloons and confetti from roof) and then through a 15 min DWD...a pumped up Suzie Greenberg...Antelope!!...BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY!!(Page's vocals were awesome!!) Julius closed the third set and then an Amazing Grace encore...A gospel choir joined Phish for the last three songs. Excuse the sloppy setlist, I just got back from an amazing show. Happy New Year, Tom ------------------------------------------------- From: eggman <[email protected]> Subject: trey's neck Date: 2 Jan 1997 18:04:00 GMT does anyone else think that one of these days trey is going to have severe neck problems? If he (god forbid) ever got whip lash and could not move his head and neck, his playing would suffer dramatically. He's like a pez dispenser with that thing. Just comic observance. ============================== From: Andrew Gadiel Subject: A Toast to New Year's Eve (long) Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 12:25:22 -0500 Hey all, I've wanted to write about my New Year's exeperience for quite a while, and now seems like the perfect time. My New Year's - 96/97, was quite an incredible experience as I got to spend it with my girlfriend, my roomate, his brother, Corey, and 50,000 other people in Boston. Along with four other guys who I've spend more time with than my parents recently. We had been on the New Year's run and so far had pretty much been blown away by the first three shows. 12/29 especially, second set really took me by suprise. (Fish on guitar just had to make you smile). So here we are, entering the Fleet Center for what promises to be a stunning display of music completeness. After dealing with ticket exchanges and pick-ups, etc, (Thanks Mike!) we found our seats. My girlfriend and I were directly behind the stage and my roomate and his brother were on the complete opposite sides of the stage, upper balcony, with the balloons. Anyways, that's not the point, the point was the music. This was New Year's eve and Phish was on, and I mean on. They played their hearts out that night. Axilla opener was a little unexpected. Peaches made me sooo happy. Punch reminisced for last year's NYE. Cars Trucks & Busses - I just love this tune for some amazing reason. Stash - which I hadn't seen in umpteen shows, I danced my heart out. Silent > Horse. It was kind of cool to be behind the stage as you could see what the band sees. I always thought they were blind, but they can pretty much see the entire arena when the lights don't shine directly on the stage all the time. Very cool. The Divided Sky - Probably the most appreciated song out there as it just exemplifies composed amazement. You think it's almost over, and they just keep it going and going and jamming and jamming over and under and swirling. It makes you want to cry. Then came Sample, which made me think of the 12/30 last year when they played Divided , Sample to end the set. But something was different about this sample. Trey, the rockstar, was pushing it to the limits. They really jammed this one out hard. Then came something completely out of the blue. A mini-hose, mind you. They finished out the Tweezer from the night before with a Tweezer Reprise. This was New Year's Eve, dammit! Anything was possible and wanted you to feel like you were a part of something special. As the lights came up I turned to Emily and said, "That was one hell of a first set." We were breathless, and after a couple sips of water and a break, we decided that we wanted to ring in the New Year with our friends. So we packed up our gear and trecked out across the Fleet Center in search of my roomate and his brother. We knew where they were going to be, so it wasn't too difficult finding them. We did find some low key passageways on the outside of the Fleet's main audience chamber. That place is enourmous. Anyways, as we emerged from the stairway, there was my roomate, going to the bathroom. "Wooohoo!!! Tweezer reprise!" We shared our joy for what was a pnemonimal 1st set and what promised to be a continuing night of undulating joy. We made our way to where they were sitting, up in the clouds, but with a frontal view of the stage. As it turned out, there were two seats directly in front of their seats that noone was using. We were siked. The waiting for the second set was torture, but I didn't care, I was become the happiest person in the world at that moment. As the silli began to set in, my mind began to wander to thoughts of songs and dancing and wonderful joy with Phish. The lights went down, it was on. Chalkdust to open the second set, couldn't be more perfect. I just wanted to keep on dancing. "Can I live while I'm young?" Seemed to be my theme at the moment. Wilson...da da...da da.....Wilson...has really become one of my favorites as I've heard such great versions on tape - Full Moon @ the Zoo - '88 something...anyways, I love wilson. Sparkle - The goodness continues. Simple. We're we going to get another stellar simple jam ala 11/8/96 Champaign? It wasn't the most extended, but they knew what was up. I didn't mind Swept Away > Steep as much as the next guy, cause when I heard this at the Palace, they went right into Harry Hood. So I sounded out my favorite Fishman drum beats (The hood opener) in my head as steep was ending, and sure enough, they went right into it. Don't you love it when that happens. Now I'll just come out and admit it. Harry Hood is my favorite Phish song. I've heard it live a number of times and everytime you feel like you're watching the best one. I've seen some great ones, too. 12/17/95 was amazing, to say the least. 12/30/95 wasn't too shabby either. My first was 11/19/95 which is so special to me (Anyone got this tape?) So here I am, listening to the beginning segment of Harry Hood. What will it have to offer me this evening. The key to Harry, obviously, is the post "Thank you Mr. hoooood" jam. And this one was just an example of how the band has matured and learned that patience pays. They took their time with it, and allowed the jam to sculp itself until it had built itself up into an array of cosmic dust circling the venue in a historic retrospective. Phish was playing, and noone was going to stop them. They jamming the hell out of Harry that night and I'll be ever thankful. I think I resolved a hell of a lot of conflicts in my mind during that jam. It really made me realize a lot about who I was, and that's what makes the music so special. As the jam came to it's penultimate peak and they let it all out and felt good about hood, which I did...I was hoping for a quick ending, a "we'll be back in 15 - 45" since i had no clue what time it was, anywhere...but that was not to be, they let the jam subside and segued into Prince Caspian, which you'll hear no regrets out of me.I love this peaceful tune. Now that I think about it, if they'd ended the set with the Hood, I don't think I would have made it through setbreak. Prince Caspian then moved into Character Zero, which really jammed out the end of the set, a cool vocal - ba ba booo.....ending which I love. After the second set ended clocks came on in the four corners of the arena saying "Countown to New Years" and they said something like 45 minutes the want left. The waiting begins. A small hot air remote controlled ballon began circling the arena during setbreak which kept my mind focussed. Along with thoughts of, how are they going to top this? Since setbreak seemed like an eternity, I'll skip the whole waiting scene and move onto to the third set. Although the guy next to me had a cool story of when he saw the originial Led Zepplin. That was cool to hear about. One thing I should mention now, so I don't spoil any suspense later, is that there were about 50,000 balloons strung from the ceiling by big nets. God only knew what was to come. So, with about 10 minutes left on the "Countdown to New Year's" clock, the band came back on. To say the least, I was intensified and highly expecting of what was to come. The buildup at this point could have been cut with a blade. As they took the stage, a familiar spacy jammy intro began to take form and as the smoke covered the stage, it looked like we were in for a 2001 jam session. This had to be one of the most perfectly planned/timed buildups to new years. I just looking at the clocks, which seemed to flow with the music and as the band jammed forth to the enevitible climax to the year 1997 I couldn't have imagined being in any other room that night. With 4:20 left on the clock, the crowd cheer. This made me smile. With a minute to go, the uproar began....Thousands of people all around the venue, celebrating Phish and the New Year together. It was the most pefect display of harmounous baalance I had ever seen. As the jam came to a close and they brought it back down with about 10 seconds left, the countown began. 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 -1...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! As the familar sound of Auld Lang Syne filled the house, the downpour began and all the balloons fell from the ceiling. Many of you may think, so what, balloons. But let me tell you, these were the happiest ballons I had ever seen in my entire life. There were big ones, small ones, one's with tails, and all had confetti mixed it. It was incredible chaos. And the balloons didn't go away, either, they bounced around the place like no balloons had ever done before. As The Auld Lang Syne jam ended, a mini-space intro began and then Mike spoke his words...the opening base chords to down with Disease. It was on again, they were going to jam this song to the ends of the earth. Mike didn't even play the second set of base chords, he let the balloon popping do that. For the record, in my opinion, this had to be one of the greatest Down with Dieases ever played in the history of Phish. I haven't heard them all, and god knows haven't seen them all, but the musical buildup and explosion which occured at midnight - combinded with the fact that I couldn't even see the stage because there were a thousand balloons ontop and all around it made me love everything there was to love about Phish. The Down with Disease jam kept going...and just took us out and back and out again. And then as the jam slowed a little, it built back up, and back until the familiar trey noodling of the down with disease jam....this has all been wonderful, and now I'm on my way.....Perfection I must tell you. They had rocked in the New Year. I was completely HOSED down at this moment, swiwing in Down w/ Disease glory. As the amazing song ended, which in my opinion has never ended, Trey quickly counted out and boom, into Suzy Greenberg....Wow...just keep the party rolling. No dissapointments tonight I must tell you, they just let it all hang out and saved the best for last. As Suzy came to a close, I heard the familiar noodling of the Antelope opener and I knew we were nowhere near done for the night. Was it me, or was this the longest opener you'd ever heard. As I heard the main jam begin I looked around, wondering where I had just been. The Antelope jam lost me completely. I had to refer to the tapes to understand it's glory. It just entereed my mind and I was living in another realm during this amazing jam. If you get this tape, listen to the Antelope, I don't think you'll hear many better. Maybe the 94 sugarbush, but this antelope was something special. It was a New Year's antelope, and it was rocking good. As the jam came to an abrupt halt, as it usually does, I once again looked around, wondering where I had just been. A lie lie lacoord, Marco Esquadolis, epinu to have any spike man....and now we're runnning like antelopes all the way home. I was completely satisfied at that moment. Ringing out my clothes from the hosed down exprience I couldn't have gusessed in a million year's what was to come next. As the silence after Antelope ended and they came up to the mikes and said, "Is this the real life?" I was overtaken by a intense force of historical perportions. Bohemian Rhapsody, on New Year's eve. So special. It sounded great too, and half way through, the Boston Community Choir came on stage to give them some help. I don't know about you, but I heard them alright, and they were great. The even jammed out the end segment, ala Wayne's World. Heads bopping everywhere...it was awesome. If anyone was dissapointed, then you need to reevaulate your value system, or something (sorry). As the Rhapsody ended they went right into Julius to jam the set away and as it closed down I felt a sense of completeness. The Amazing Grace encore was all too perfect as it allowed us to catch our breathes, reflect, and enjoy what it was all about. I must say, this had to be my favorite evening with Phish to date. It was the last show I've seen (I didn't go to Europe or the Flynn) and it's really special. I saw the New Year's run last year, which was stellar, but there's something about a musical buildup to midnight and there was an overall feeling that night that Phish knew what was up, and that they were taking care of us. And that, my friends, is why they are currently the greatest band in america. Thanks for reading. Peace, Andrew Gadiel [email protected] http://www.cps.msu.edu/~gadielan/phish ============================== From: [email protected] (JOONG CHOH) Subject: Boston reviews (long) Date: 3 Jan 97 05:09:52 -0800 Here's my attempt at reviewing an amazing two nights. My story begins in Los Angeles where I was supposed to hop on a plane to Chicago at about 11:50 Western time and then catch a plane to Boston at 8:30 Central, bringing me into Bosotn at about midnight, thus missing the 12/30 show. However, I got on standby on a 10:00 flight to Chicago, and then a 4:30 flight to Boston, so I got to Boston around 7:30. Arriving at the Fleet Center at around 8:00, I figured I wouldn't get a ticket, but I would just walk around for awhile and then go to my friend's apartment. However, somehow, I scored a ticket (to a skybox, too!) , ran into the show, and caught the end of Gumbo. An amazing Reba followed, which was a weird sort of warmup for me, but it was cool anyway. Only one guy in the box I was in was really into it, everyone else was just sitting down. After Reba was Talk, which is not one of my favorites, but the Trey on the acoustic was pretty cool and it let me catch my breath after all the running. I was psyched to hear Funky Bitch, and was sort of surprised when the PA went out, although I could still hear the monitors. I'm sure you've all heard about the silent jam, but it was hilarious. Fishman had his whole solo, just going nuts, and Trey was going just as crazy, playing his guitar with his teeth and behind his neck, and then him and Mike started rubbing their guitars together. Pretty wacky stuff. Then the PA went back on, and Funky Bitch was excited to hear this as well. Then to top off a great set, they ended with GT,BT. As a major Zephead, I loved this one. Page was great screaming "I know what it means to be alone!" During setbreak, I found a few of my friends and my roommate and ditched the skybox to go sit with them at their seats, which were in front of the stage (my other seat was on the side). They told me about the night before and I was sort of disappointed that I missed such a great show and that we wouldn't be hearing Bowie or YEM or Harpua on NYE, but all's good anyways. Timber Ho was a pleasant surprise to start the second, I've been getting into this song a lot lately. Then Uncle Pen...when was the last time they played this? Then a killer Bag, I've seen it at my last three shows and I still love it every time. Not the best one i've heard but the next song more than made up for it. I was extremely psyched to hear Guyute (one of the songs I was hoping for)This is a beautiful song and is Phish's best song from the last two years. I'm not a big fan of Tweezers, but this one was great, although not as rocking as Hartford. Near the end the jam sort of spaced out, and I was thinking either Dog-faced Boy, Swept Away, or I even heard a Contact in there somewhere, but we got Lifeboy instead, which was a nice break from the five song madness that just ended. I was psyched to hear the opening to Scent. As the duel started Page was going nuts!! Then instead of Trey stepping up, Mike jumped forward and started soloing on the dragon bass. Very cool stuff, I'm surprised noone's mentioned Mike's solo yet. Then of course, Steven Wright was hilarious on his bell with the FOTM tease. After Scent ended, Trey started the opening to Slave, which was, as always, one of the best moments of the show. I was expecting them to go into Tweeprise, but they didn't, so I figured they'd do it after the encore, since I didn't think they gyp me two shows in a row (no Tweeprise at Hartford). Anyways, they came out and Trey started chording Possum, which was pretty surprising...never seen Possum as an encore before. I was also expecting a signal, at least a Simpsons theme, but none. The possum that followed, though, was the best I've heard. Overall, I'd give the show a 7 on that scale. Highlights were the F. Bitch silent jam, Theme, Guyute, Scent, and Possum. Of course, the next day is a completely different story. I was still hoping for the Tube opener when the band walked on stage, but I wasn't disappointed when they started Axilla, then Trey starting the lyrics to part one. The guys behind us were really annoying. (Some guy named Reegie who kept on screaming at everyone before and during the show)Anyways, after axilla was Peaches en Regalia, which I was extremely psyched to hear, and I was extremely psyched to see Phish was starting NYE in an amazing way. Then PYITE, and for some reason, this song gets better everytime I hear it. the intro was longer, although at a slightly faster tempo. The Landlady dance was cool in the middle, as was the jam at the end. CTB, came next, and it was during this song that Page began to shine (he amazed me the whole show...by far the most impressive member of the band that night). An amazing Stash was next, followed by SITM. The crowd went nuts after the "I think that this exact thing happened to me, just last year" line. A standard Divided Sky followed...I think this song is 10 times better outdoors, but still rocks indoors. Rocking sample followed. Then.....yes!!!!...Phish finally finishes the Tweezer from Hartford (or from last night, whichever suits you better) I love Tweeprise just as a huge tension builder and it was an amazing way to end us set...pure HOSE... After an amazing first set, I was expecting a rocking second set. They didn't let down...the Chalkdust Wilson opener was just as rocking as the WIlson Frankenstein at the Ball in August. I sort of missed Sparkle switching seats to get a better view of the stage, but the simple that followed was amazing. It has turned into one of Phish's better jam songs. The jam ended melodically and faded into Swept Away...I got goosebumps went they started the Harmony "awwwwwwaaaaaaaaay" part. Very cool..Steep was cool as well, a very interesting thing with the whole Blob idea. After the scream, Fish began the Hood beat, and if I remember (maybe I was dreaming), but Trey sort of gave a reggae-ish "heh" during the intro. Anyways, the Harry "HOOD!" crowd idea was still in force which was cool, and the crowd went nuts after "Thank you Mr. Minor" The jam was magical, similar to an amazing Slave (I think the two songs have a lot in common...opening reggae beat, dark section in the middle, amazing peaceful building jam at the end) anyways after Hood came a Prince Caspian, my second time hearing the new version. Then the set ended with the most rocking Character Zero of all time... So much energy...great way to end the set. I'll review the third set later, cause I'm in a hurry......... ==============================