R12/W03: 1994-04-24 Grady Cole Center, Charlotte NC

[rowjimmy]

1994-04-24
Grady Cole Center
Charlotte NC

Set 1
01. My Friend My Friend
02. Ya Mar
03. Axilla II
04. Maze
05. Bathtub Gin
06. Dog Faced Boy
07. Paul and Silas
08. It's Ice
09. Slave to the Traffic Light

Set 2
01. Demand
02. David Bowie
03. The Mango Song
04. Julius
05. Colonel Forbin >
06. Narration >
07. Famous Mockingbird
08. Chalk Dust
09. Contact
10. Good Times Bad Times
11. Crowd

Encore:
12. Sweet Adeline


Lossless: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=544643

Lossy: http://www.mediafire.com/?m8c0xb6va7w8r


1- August
2- runawayjimbo
3- RJ
4- whatapiper
5- GBL
6- Jezmund
7- bacchist
8- aphineday
9- phil

[phil]

Nice pick! :banana:

[PIE-GUY]

I'm glad everyone is checking my stats and only using shows I attended this round!!

[justjezmund]

I'm glad everyone is checking my stats and only using shows I attended this round!!

sorry to ruin yo fun but the hint for week 6 people is PG did not attend this show.

[aphineday]

Nice pick!

Set I:

My Friend My Friend: nice to hear this open a show. Solid version, crowd excited.

YarMar: wow, liquid, fluid playing from T. Rest of band having fun. Seemed like they are giving people just enough jam here to know shit is going to smoke later on.

Axilla II: Rock juice. Bringing some rage in, firing up the crowd even more.

Maze: short, but oh so sweet. Trey nails the peak, and the band built nicely to achieve the peak. Not an all time favorite, but awesome!

Bath Tub Gin: Heard this start, and knew right away that it was BIZ TIME. So good. They start hacking into it around 8:00 pretty hard, playing a sick variation on the theme. Seemed to get almost rip corded about 9:00, but this was just a serious turn in the direction of a sick jam. Love how they played with the theme throughout. Could have gone longer, but some beauty in there.

Dog Faced Boy: Nice! Love this one for a slowdown. It always leaves me ready for something fun after...

Paul And Silas: YES! Love this one. Holy bones, Page is all over it. Totally chomping at the bit to play some honky tonk. Nice, fluid playing from Trey.

It's Ice: One of my favorite Page songs, never disappointed to hear this. Well played, full of energy.

Slave To The Traffic Light: LOVE THE >! Wow, had me pumped from that point. Very nice build, Trey especially on point peaking this one about 8:30. 

Overall, nice first set. Shorter jams, but it was a first set, and 1994. Totally bringing it though.

[guyforget]

this was my first phish show.

[natronzero]

IMO that's one of the sickest motherfucking Gins ever

[rowjimmy]

Went into this pick cold...


I

I used to rate a show with a My Friend opener a tick above most others. This opener sets a nice tone of mild freakiness.

Ya Mar - love the echo. Makes me think that hypers would have been a better choice over those cards.

Axilla II - rawks. Trey's feedback goes straight >

Maze - Strong and on point.

Gin - Nice intro. Seems standard-good at first but insane accelerando @ 7m. woah. Breakdown leads to a fucking Jump Monk jam at 11min. Sick sick sick version.

DFB - cute

Paul & Silas! - More great Page.

It's Ice - Another standout for Page. He absolutely crushes the below the ice sequence while Trey takes a backseat until the theme kicks back in. Great stuff.

Slave - Nice set finish. Powerful peaks from the get go.


II

Demand - first, a little Tequila! Then a sweet version. >

Bowie - Strong, not perfect, intro & composed section leads to a jam section laden with Tequila; just like a few Saturdays in my past. They ditch that and shit gets real. Shit. This Bowie is straight madness.

Mango is great. More good Page.

Julius - rawks

Forbin's > Mockingbird - Forbin's is cool, the "puddle of muck" narration and accompanying jam is super cool. Nice Mockingbird.

CDust - odd intro. and an odd solo from Trey too. Wild waves of noise rather than his usual flurry of rawk. Then things go back to normal to wrap it up.

Contact is great.

GTBT - rips

Sweet Adeline - yep. Nice encore for those in attendance. Soft on the recording.


Great, fun, show. Gin & Bowie were seriously meaty. Forbin's Mockingbird was excellent, too. This was basically a blind pick (though, during the narration I recognized it from whatever long-ago listen) and I'm very satisfied. Not that I'm surprised.

Total keeper.

[runawayjimbo]

04-24-1994
Grady Cole Center
Charlotte, NC

I

My Friend My Friend - My favorite opener. From the opening composition to the evil laughs, this is the way every show should start. Wait, no accoustic intro? This is BULLSHIT! (1.0 HATE, lol) Not the tightest intro but then it rages perfectly.

Ya Mar - Don't love the pairing with MFMF but how do you not want to boogie to this song? Mike forgets to tell him what it is but they just go with it (that would have grinded to a screaching halt today). Leo goes off and I love Trey's supporting lines too. Trey's solo is nothing to sneeze at either. Great start.

Axilla II - Keeps the flow flowing. Did the alternate lyrics freak anybody out in these early versions? No heady Part II ending but I guess I can't be mad about something that didn't exist yet (when's the first, Aug?).

Maze - Smokin'. Page with a Bond tease at the start of his solo and then he puts on a clinic. ~6:55 Trey starts going off and Page follows him immediately. They're so in tune with each other it just sounds so easy. At this point I'd be frothing at the mouth for more.

Bathtub Gin - Not to be outdone by Mike, Trey flubs some lyrics and everyone laughs good-naturedly. Trey's pretty active right out of the gates and then ~6:00 they find this cool little shuffle jam. They strip that down and Trey and Page have a little fun until you think it's over. But then Fish starts up with the jazzy beat and holy shit they're playing Jump Monk! They hint at the Gin ending and then shift smoothly into...

Dog Faced Boy - Great song to catch a breather.

Paul and Silas - My favorite bluegrass tune. Superb work by all.

It's Ice - A few minor flaws but no worries because the breakdown is the sickness.

Slave to the Traffic Light - Perfect opener, perfect closer. A gorgeous jam and some fireworks by Trey at the end. That's one hot set.

II

Demand - Like Axilla II, there must have been some people scratching their heads with this "new" song. Well played, cool start to the set.

David Bowie - And away we go. The crowd eats up the Tequilla teases and by 6 mins they're cookin'. They flow from theme to theme with such confidence and fluidity. They have a nice buildup but don't fully connect on the peak ~11:00 so they back off for a bit. Mike first hints at DEG ~11:35 and even though Trey is busy raging he picks up on Mike and they take a little detour. They come out in this happy yet sinister groove and Trey leads them down another hole. It sounds like they're about to slam back into Bowie ~15:30 but they take another left turn and just keep riding this bitch. Trey misses the cue ~19:15 but they regroup so easily and a couple measures later they nail it. I'm sitting on my couch and I need a breather. Fucking awesome.

The Mango Song - Oh yeah, it's 1994 so there's no time to cool down at this point in the show. Short and super tight.

Julius - More tightness. I could use some more Mike in this but Trey carries the load nicely. Straight-forward awesome.

Colonel Forbin - My favorite song that I'll never hear (properly, anyway). As per usual, they just attack this thing. Then Trey talks about how he really loves molecules, ooze and muck.

Famous Mockingbird - Trey is just so confident playing these compositions back then. Every note sounds so effortless and I'm not all cringey waiting for him to fuck it up.

CDT - This one gets weird real quick-like. It's almost like Trey was a little burned out from raging the whole show so he just starts playing what sounds like the world's first whale call. This didn't do much for me.

Contact - Page has a cool little Spanish Harlem tease after the first chorus (which Fish steps all over when he shouts "Ta-quilla!"). Again, need more Mike especially in the breakdown.

Good Times Bad Times - Rocking - as opposed to today's rawkin' - version to close.

E

Sweet Adeline - I'd have preferred if this and GTBT were reversed but no worries. At least this way I don't blow out my speakers (or my ears) by forgetting to turn the volume down. And the shushers are always good for a LOL.

Overall a really fun listen. I usually go for the Fall when I reach for 1994 so this was a nice change of pace. Highlights for me are the Maze, Slave, and Bowie. I liked the Jump Monk ending to the Gin but on the whole it felt a little rushed. The 2nd set kinda loses some steam after the Bowie, but still a great example of really tight playing mixed with that sense of pure exploration. I give it a B+.

[aphineday]

Set II:

Demand: Cool to hear, even cooler that it was 2nd set opener. Nice > into...

David Bowie: nice through the composed with a nice "Tequila" tease from Trey early in the jam. This starts getting sick just into 6 minutes.  SER heat about 11:30. Nice to hear a show with Trey leading them through the abyss beyond the 17:30 mark.

The Mango Song: Definitely better than any of the 3.0 performances, but still a little flabby in parts. I love this song, and they have very rarely nailed it over the years IMO. Either way, still fun.

Julius: REALLY love and miss those back up vocals! Nice rock peaks here to get the crowd up another notch or two.

Col. Forbin's Ascent: Nice to hear this played with some passion/creativity. Also, WITH narration? Win. Trey was great in the narration... "A GIANT PUDDLE OF MUCK!!"

Fly Famous Mockingbird: fluid, and practiced. Sounds nice!

Chalk Dust Torture: Great placement, and absolutely on fire! This is the old skool, short - but still pushing musical boundaries - stuff I miss with this song especially.

Contact: Great intro, fun song! Page having a blast of course.

Good Times Bad Times: I think you either like the way they do it, or hate it. I'm always a fan. Well played.

Sweet Adeline: novelty, but a nice way to send everyone home.

All in all, extremely solid show, LOTS of stuff in here that will be getting a return visit by me.

[whatapiper]

Set 1:

My Friend My Friend - love this as an opener, great way to start the show

Yamar - well played and everyone sounds loose.  Trey having fun with his solo at the end.

Axilla - Rawk, although I think it has got better with age

Maze - definitely gets better as it progresses, nice tension build, Trey the hero here, harmonics leave a bit to be desired

Gin - dig the more "structured" lead in by Page.  Interesting right off the bat with tempo change and locking into that quintessential 94 sound.   
Finishes jazzy with teases to go around

DFB - purdy

Paul and Silas - all page and played with purpose by Trey.   

Ice - smokin version, mid section everyone locked in, thats what ice should sound like >

Slave - perfect placement, fish like a machine here, nicely done

Set 2:

Tequila!

Demand - Meh >

Bowie - short intro, nice vocal feedback, can't.hear.Mike.   Well played composed section, tequila!,
Getting dark and interesting around 9 min, lift off at 11.  Changing themes around 13 with beautiful texturing by Page.  Fish brilliantly on Treys hip.  Once again teetering on the edge and Trey brings it home, strong finish!

Mango - schweet and Page makes it sound easy >

Julius - ::dancing banana::

Forbins > narration - nailed intro, Trey can keep a straight face through lyrics!  We are all one big wook pool! Watch out for muck!!!!! And space travel taboot>

Mockingbird - played well but not perfect, latter portion much better and solid overall

Chalkdust - mike bombs, gets dark and psychedelic there before Rawk liftoff

Contact- all page all the time

GTBT - Trey rage, solid

E: Adeline is what it is

Great show with a fun setlist.   Page easy MVP of the show for me.   Gin, Bowie and Ice the highlights.   

[rowjimmy]

It's Friday, bitches.

1- August
2- runawayjimbo
3- RJ
4- whatapiper
5- GBL
6- Jezmund
7- bacchist
8- aphineday
9- phil

[whatapiper]

A couple of those still need a review for last week! 

[phil]

I got mine written out in my notebook, too lazy to type it in. It'll be up in the morning.

[phil]

Set I:

MFMF: Just the tip, just for a second, just to see how it feels. Trey rocks pretty hard on the way out of this one. Ser awesome opener.

Ya Mar: Goofy, I dig it. Mike Rocks. Play it Leo > Page's House. Everything from 6:00 is damn near immaculate.

Axilla II: Love this placement/the way this set is starting off. Never understood what my body was for.

Maze: Craziness. Just the way I like it. This is just about everything I love about '94 Phish. Trey is on FIRE @ ~7min.

Gin: Was that segue a little abrupt? Either way, Page tears the intro apart. Real good stuff. I also really like what Trey's doing around 4:30. Around 7min it gets SUPER tight. This is the exact kind of playful/adventurous thing that I think people are looking for these days (I know I am). Love the changes in tempo.

DFB: Love this tune.

Paul and Silas: Love this one, too. Not entirely sold on the placement, but that's my only gripe. Solid version.

It's Ice: Brain = disassembled. I have no words after that. Around the 6min mark, INSANITY.

Slave: Comforting after the mind-bending It's Ice. Gets a little out there, super fluid playing from all. Trey doing some beautiful stuff near the end.

Set II:

Demand: Song's weird. I like it.

Bowie: A musical journey. Top ten Bowie for me, possibly top five.

Mango: Energetic, fun, nearly flawless. Everything the Mango Song isn't these days.

Julius: Fun, but I'm not so sure about this placement. Rocking peak sounds pretty damn good though.

Forbin's: Super smooth. Love the narration ( :hereitisyousentimentalbastard @ the muck business)

Mockingbird: Pretty.

Chalkdust: I usually don't like it in this slot, but this one is hot!

Contact: Luv it.

GTBT: Love me some Zep to close set II.

Adeline: Like I said last week, they need to bring this one back. I seriously love it.


All in all, killer show. Everyone shines at some point or another, but like whatapiper said, Page takes first place.