, attached to 1993-08-06

Review by Campster

Campster There's a number of "better" shows from this legendary month in Phish history. That said, this one one of my earliest experiences with the hallowed August '93 run and I had a crispy SBD of this show.

Set I opens with Split Open and Melt - boom! There's better versions (in what may have been the best era ever for the song), but this one is pretty great even though it colors within the lines. Awesome start.

Poor Heart is a nice jolt after a maniacal Melt. Definitely lots of energy already.

The Curtain is great in it's 90's (early) heyday.

Sample is pretty straight-up and an adequate singalong following the opening salvo.

They used to be able to play Rift! This version is great (particularly in comparison to today's often botched versions)

Horn is a cool down and fits the bill.

Divided Sky is up next. They play this song very well today, but they also played it exceptionally well back then. This is one of the set's highlights for sure.

Nellie Kane is a fun little diddy.

Chalkdust Torture and Suzy Greenberg both blow the lid off the place. Plenty of scorched earth and Suzy featured the first Tequila tease of the night.

Overall, this is a really nice flowing set. Great songs for the most part and lots of good energetic segments mixed with some compositions/slower/bluegrass tunes. Great playing all around, without having the adventurous jamming some other shows featured in set I.

Highlights: Split, D-Sky, Suzy

Set II is awesome.

They plow into a Buried Alive opener (always a great way to start a set)

Tweezer is next. It's not too long, but features a fiery early 90's jam that packs a major whallop! Throw in a tequila segment and you've got a mighty fine and mighty fun version. It's not a polished flowing jam like later eras, but is an awesome bit of improv nonetheless and showcases some of the approach they used (hey-hole type stuff).

Guelah Papyrus is up next and is awesome and features a beautifully clean Tequila tease as well.

Coil pops up in a bit of an odd placement, but this is a fine version with some great Page playing even though you might be tempted to cry Phish out of water about the placement.

UNcle Pen ratchets the show energy back up and is played crisply.

The big YEM is next and is an absolutely phenomenal version. More tequila madness, but also an incredible jam on Clapton's 'Cocaine' which pops back into YEM. This is a great version and tons of fun. It was always a favorite for me.

->Halley's Comet, which was an awesome version and is played very well and slides perfectly into Slave through a little instrumental bridge.

The Slave is glorious. It's under 10 minutes, but its incredible and builds to a furious peak. Absolutely stellar.

HYHU > Craklin' Rosie > HYHU is the fishman segment, and it's a good laugh.

Tweezer Reprise sends us home in style.

They encore with Amazing Grace to help the animals in the zoo go to sleep (how considerate!).

Overall set II is fantastic. Some good jamming and a lot of fun. You'll find better shows in August '93, but this show flows really well and has tons of exciting playing. The tequila tease theme is a really neat feature without being gimmicky. Tweezer YEM Halley's>Slave are all stunning!

Great show 4.2/5


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