12, 13, 20 years ago we were .....

[natronzero]

17th anniversary of my first

Friday, 07/25/1997   
Starplex Amphitheatre, Dallas, TX

Set 1: Beauty of My Dreams, Wolfman's Brother > Maze, Water in the Sky, Bathtub Gin -> Makisupa Policeman -> AC/DC Bag
Set 2: Chalk Dust Torture[1] -> Taste[2] -> Ya Mar[2] -> Drums[3] -> Ghost[2] > Character Zero[2]
Encore: Theme From the Bottom[2]

[1] Unfinished; Bob Gullotti on a second drum set.
[2] Bob Gullotti on a second drum set.
[3] Bob Gullotti on a second drum set and Page on keys.

and 16th anniversary of my 5th

Saturday, 07/25/1998   
South Park Meadows, Austin, TX

Set 1: Roses Are Free > Down with Disease > Roggae > Beauty of My Dreams > Ya Mar > Guyute > Julius
Set 2: Piper > Wilson > Frankenstein > Tweezer -> When the Circus Comes > Limb By Limb, Fee > Run Like an Antelope
Encore: Harry Hood > Tweezer Reprise

Teases:
· Frankenstein tease in Tweezer

[PIE-GUY]

I was at Southpark in 98. Great show!!

[gah]

07/29/2003   Post-Gazette Pavilion at Star Lake, Burgettstown, PA

Soundcheck: Little Drummer Boy -> Jam, Bittersweet Motel, Funky Bitch

Set 1: Daniel Saw the Stone > Camel Walk, Gotta Jibboo, Cool It Down, Scent of a Mule, Fee -> Timber (Jerry) > When the Circus Comes > McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters, Golgi Apparatus

Set 2: Crosseyed and Painless -> Thunderhead, Brother, Harpua[1] > Bittersweet Motel > Harpua > Fooled Around and Fell in Love[2] > Hold Your Head Up > Harpua > David Bowie
Encore: Farmhouse

[mattstick]

07/29/2003   Post-Gazette Pavilion at Star Lake, Burgettstown, PA

Soundcheck: Little Drummer Boy -> Jam, Bittersweet Motel, Funky Bitch

Set 1: Daniel Saw the Stone > Camel Walk, Gotta Jibboo, Cool It Down, Scent of a Mule, Fee -> Timber (Jerry) > When the Circus Comes > McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters, Golgi Apparatus

Set 2: Crosseyed and Painless -> Thunderhead, Brother, Harpua[1] > Bittersweet Motel > Harpua > Fooled Around and Fell in Love[2] > Hold Your Head Up > Harpua > David Bowie
Encore: Farmhouse

Drove down to this one and saw the rest of the tour... didn't miss another show until Jones Beach '09.

[gah]

07/29/2003   Post-Gazette Pavilion at Star Lake, Burgettstown, PA

Soundcheck: Little Drummer Boy -> Jam, Bittersweet Motel, Funky Bitch

Set 1: Daniel Saw the Stone > Camel Walk, Gotta Jibboo, Cool It Down, Scent of a Mule, Fee -> Timber (Jerry) > When the Circus Comes > McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters, Golgi Apparatus

Set 2: Crosseyed and Painless -> Thunderhead, Brother, Harpua[1] > Bittersweet Motel > Harpua > Fooled Around and Fell in Love[2] > Hold Your Head Up > Harpua > David Bowie
Encore: Farmhouse

Drove down to this one and saw the rest of the tour... didn't miss another show until Jones Beach '09.

That's a helluva run!

[PIE-GUY]

21 years ago I was in the first row for this show... It was the first show with no 2001 since the song's debut 2 weeks earlier.

Thursday, 07/29/1993   
Tennessee Theatre, Knoxville, TN

Set 1: Funky Bitch, Divided Sky, Weigh > Rift > The Landlady > Fast Enough for You, My Mind's Got a Mind of its Own, Colonel Forbin's Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird > Possum

Set 2: Maze, Bouncing Around the Room > It's Ice > Lifeboy, Sparkle, You Enjoy Myself, Purple Rain > Hold Your Head Up, Daniel Saw the Stone > Good Times Bad Times

Encore: Rocky Top, Free Bird

Teases:
· Theme from James Bond tease in It's Ice
· Beds Are Burning tease in Good Times Bad Times

[mistercharlie]

16 years ago, Riverport Gin.

That is still my favorite opener I've ever seen.

[GBL]

16 years ago, Riverport Gin.

That is still my favorite opener I've ever seen.

Ever seen? More like ever

[VA $l!m]

16 years ago, Riverport Gin.

That is still my favorite opener I've ever seen.

i was shut out & it even sounded good from the Lot.  :mrgreen:


--meant to post yesterday as well-- day late, but 20 years ago was my last Dead show. 
buckeye lake, OH. 7-29-94.
(-i was shut out of the Philly 'unbroken chain' show the next spring-which would be my last 'lot')

after hitting Rfk, deer creek, and chicago i headed back to noVa, and after a few shifts delivering pizza i had enough cash to take RJ's ticket to go with one of our friends back out to Ohio.
buckeye was one of the coolest, if not the coolest venues i ever went to. basically a bunch of cow fields for parking/ camping, and then a big hill with a stage at the bottom for the show. camping over night in the lot of a dead show was an awesome experience that ive never topped.
i had slept over night between shows on teh soldier field lot, but that was just b/c i passed out on the pavement . buckeye was legit all night party in the lot. its the closest i ever got to the awesomeness i always imagined a show like Veneta 72 had, venue wise that is.

i remember getting to the exit for the show and traffic being backed up for miles from the highway to the show.
after being stuck a few hours i finally decided to bail on teh car and walk to the show to meet a girl at will call i had been chillin with earlier in the tour... mind you pre cell phone days meeting up at a dead show could be quite the task.

when i left the car it was clear, hot summer day. i was wearing cut off shorts and a t shirt.
i made it to will call and pretty much camped out there til the show started.
sometime before the shows start the weather turned from 90 clear and sunny to about 40 or 50 with the biggest plains storm i think i'd ever seen just roll down over the fields. shit got super intense and i was freezing so i bought a trash bag from some entrepreneurial head for a dollar.
Kristen never showed, so i ended up into the show a few songs late. missed the Rain opener, but heard most everything.
overall not a great show playing wise, but the environment was still hella fun, especially with all the mud once the storm passed.
i remember passing my pipe around at one point and it got snagged by a security person who i then followed around for the rest of the show trying to get it back from him. eventually he caved and i think i got it back for a dollar, lol.

after partying all night in the lot i remember waking up with a cow outside my car window staring at me.
then there was a bunch of crazy mudslides people where trying to get cars and buses out of that was quite a scene.

[PIE-GUY]

My show-club post regarding the show that happened 21 years ago tonight... a fun read (for me anyway).

Warning: Long post filled with nostalgia ahead!!

So, this show was at Starwood Amphitheatre, which was a typical summer  shed (very similar to Lakewood or Walnut Creek) that is no longer there.  This was not on the main stage, though. They set up a temporary stage out where the concession stands and bathrooms all were... basically up at the top of the lawn. It was the same area where they put the second stage for the Lollapalooza shows that took place there.

They were scheduled to play the same place the following year but the show was moved to the main stage due to rain. That was pretty cool, too, actually. The pavilion was less than half full and 100% general admission. Definitely a show worth checking out for the "If I Could" with Alison Kraus.

On a personal note - I was in Nashville for summer school sessions at Vandy. I was taking a photography class to get my GPA up high enough to be allowed to stay in school. It was one of the best summers of my life. I went to this show with my big sister, my buddy Nate, and this girl I was hooking up with who ended up being my sister's maid of honor for her first wedding. She had huge cans and introduced me to Koyannisqatsi. 

This show was also my first experience with paper. I had 1 or 2 nights with boomers before, but never paper. It was intense. I remember almost every moment with complete clarity. I spent the entire second set dancing on a picnic table with a cute hippie girl I never saw again after that night. The picnic table was about 25 yards from the stage so I had a completely unobstructed view of the stage from 4 feet above the heads of the entire crowd.

Add to that, CK5 had just added the new "robotic" lights to the rig for the first time.  They debuted 2001 at the beginning of the tour and it served as a showcase for the new lights. In fact, Kuroda wouldn't even use the new lights until the second set each night on this tour so that 2001 was this big intro to them. Everyone was talking about it on rec.music.phish, so I was expecting it... then the first show I saw that summer was at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville and it was the first show with no 2001 after 11 straight. Needless to say, my mind was immediately blown from the opening notes of Set 2.

All told - An EPCOT night in the life of young Pie-Guy. On to the review:




- set 1 / disc 1 -

01. Contact - OK, this story is sort of told in the show notes... here's my version... before the show started, we were Fish side right next to this chain-link fence that separated the crowd from the makeshift "backstage" area. We see the band being driven to the stage on golf carts (I guess from the dressing rooms by the main stage). The first golf cart has Mike in the passenger seat with his bass in his hands. We see him and start cheering. He smiles and starts playing his bass... which is wireless, so everyone can hear it. However, If you weren't right against this fence, there was no way you could see him, so most people had no clue what was happening. That's why you hear Mike alone for a while on this recording before the rest of the band joins in... Trey then does the same thing when he pulls up. So you'll hear the two of them for a minute until finally they are all onstage and playing Contact. Pretty cool.

02. Llama - Now the show starts "for real." Solid rockin' Llama.

03. Horn - I love this song - not much to report other than well-played version.

03. Uncle Pen - A Bill Monroe classic played very near where Monroe was living at the time... a tip of the hat, if you will. Played fast and furious with great solos from Mike and Page. Fantastic!

04. Stash - Jam starts out interesting - also, this is where I really started to realize things were happening in my brain and body. An early mini-peak for me at the show. I really got lost in this jam. It was the first time that had ever happened to me in any context. Intense memory just listening to it now. About 8 minutes in they lock into a pattern similar to the ALO version. Whew. So good. I miss Stashes like this one. It peaks brilliantly, then they take it down to almost nothing to end it. Wow. One of my favorite Stashes of all time.

05. Esther - pins and needles from that quiet Stash ending - people are listening. Great placement of Esther. Played exceptionally well by all four. A song that benefited tremendously from Page's newly added baby grand.

06. Chalkdust Torture - short and rocking. Classic CDT

07. I Didn't Know - Madonna washboard solo - no vacuum. Fun!

08. Reba - They take the jam down to almost nothing right away. So quiet. Again, Page's baby grand sounds amazing here. You can just tell he loves playing those little trills up high that would have sounded like crap on the old keyboard. After that quiet segment, they get right to the rocking - almost no build-up between the two. Still, a great Reba with great quiet section and a smoking final jam.

09. Cavern - Sounds like a set closer to me!

- set 2 /

01. Also Sprach Zarathustra > see my story above... this was my first time hearing this song (other than the Strauss version from 2001, obviously). The lights were incredible. The spaceship launched and off we went... and they drop right into...

02. Tweezer - This Tweezer is interesting. It is unrelenting. It rocks loud and proud until the very end when the "slow down" eases into Trey on acoustic - not as smooth a transition as the Mikes->Horse from 12/30/93, but still a pretty cool transition where he takes the theme he was playing on electric and continues it on acoustic.

03. The Horse > Silent in the Morning - Love Horse on acoustic guitar. Sounds so sweet.

04. Poor Heart - Lightning fast! So tight on these tunes back in 93. Page, especially, sounds great here!

05. Fluffhead - this song just bristled with energy back in the early 90's, didn't it? Sofa king great! Also, I love the acoustic outtro. This is the only time I saw Trey do that, I think. Can't think of another show I was at where he did. And he eases right into...

06. My Friend - again, I think this is the only time I saw Trey do this on acoustic. Sounds fantastic. Actually, let me say that I think Trey's acoustic guitar sounded better in 1993 than it ever did when he busted it out in later years. I don't know what's different about it, but it sounds great.

07. Golgi Apparatus - the first of three "set closers" in a row. As with everything in this show, tight tight tight!!

08. Squirming Coil - My first time hearing Coil with the baby grand. I was mesmerized by Page from my perch on the picnic table.

09. David Bowie - a typically intense Bowie to close out the set. Solid!!

- encore -

10. Walk Away - Hard to complain about a rock and roll song like this one!!

11. Amazing Grace - How sweet the sound. I gave that cute hippie girl a big hug and off I went into the night with my crew.



Obviously, this show is special to me. It's one of the shows I point to when I try to figure out why I became so obsessed with Phish. It was one of those nights where nothing could have gone wrong no matter what. All the acoustic stuff is great. The Stash is extraordinary. The Reba, Tweezer, and Bowie are all top notch. The energy just never lets up.

A prime example of Phish in 1993. Solid A!

[Augustus]

16 years ago, me and my bud Eric hopped in my black '86 Chevy Celebrity wagon and did our first lengthy run together.
Hit Polaris > Lemonwheel and drove some serious miles.
It was a great time to be seeing shows and we caught some fatties.
18 years old is a cool age.

[GBL]

16 years ago, me and my bud Eric hopped in my black '86 Chevy Celebrity wagon and did our first lengthy run together.
Hit Polaris > Lemonwheel and drove some serious miles.
It was a great time to be seeing shows and we caught some fatties.
18 years old is a cool age.

Polaris through Lemonwheel was dope!

You def caught some fatties, too bad I was 15 and didn't see any shows for another year

[birdman]

16 years ago, me and my bud Eric hopped in my black '86 Chevy Celebrity wagon and did our first lengthy run together.
Hit Polaris > Lemonwheel and drove some serious miles.
It was a great time to be seeing shows and we caught some fatties.
18 years old is a cool age.

Polaris through Lemonwheel was dope!

You def caught some fatties, too bad I was 15 and didn't see any shows for another year

Pipe down, noob

[mbw]

My show-club post regarding the show that happened 21 years ago tonight... a fun read (for me anyway).

Warning: Long post filled with nostalgia ahead!!

So, this show was at Starwood Amphitheatre, which was a typical summer  shed (very similar to Lakewood or Walnut Creek) that is no longer there.  This was not on the main stage, though. They set up a temporary stage out where the concession stands and bathrooms all were... basically up at the top of the lawn. It was the same area where they put the second stage for the Lollapalooza shows that took place there.

They were scheduled to play the same place the following year but the show was moved to the main stage due to rain. That was pretty cool, too, actually. The pavilion was less than half full and 100% general admission. Definitely a show worth checking out for the "If I Could" with Alison Kraus.

On a personal note - I was in Nashville for summer school sessions at Vandy. I was taking a photography class to get my GPA up high enough to be allowed to stay in school. It was one of the best summers of my life. I went to this show with my big sister, my buddy Nate, and this girl I was hooking up with who ended up being my sister's maid of honor for her first wedding. She had huge cans and introduced me to Koyannisqatsi. 

This show was also my first experience with paper. I had 1 or 2 nights with boomers before, but never paper. It was intense. I remember almost every moment with complete clarity. I spent the entire second set dancing on a picnic table with a cute hippie girl I never saw again after that night. The picnic table was about 25 yards from the stage so I had a completely unobstructed view of the stage from 4 feet above the heads of the entire crowd.

Add to that, CK5 had just added the new "robotic" lights to the rig for the first time.  They debuted 2001 at the beginning of the tour and it served as a showcase for the new lights. In fact, Kuroda wouldn't even use the new lights until the second set each night on this tour so that 2001 was this big intro to them. Everyone was talking about it on rec.music.phish, so I was expecting it... then the first show I saw that summer was at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville and it was the first show with no 2001 after 11 straight. Needless to say, my mind was immediately blown from the opening notes of Set 2.

All told - An EPCOT night in the life of young Pie-Guy. On to the review:




- set 1 / disc 1 -

01. Contact - OK, this story is sort of told in the show notes... here's my version... before the show started, we were Fish side right next to this chain-link fence that separated the crowd from the makeshift "backstage" area. We see the band being driven to the stage on golf carts (I guess from the dressing rooms by the main stage). The first golf cart has Mike in the passenger seat with his bass in his hands. We see him and start cheering. He smiles and starts playing his bass... which is wireless, so everyone can hear it. However, If you weren't right against this fence, there was no way you could see him, so most people had no clue what was happening. That's why you hear Mike alone for a while on this recording before the rest of the band joins in... Trey then does the same thing when he pulls up. So you'll hear the two of them for a minute until finally they are all onstage and playing Contact. Pretty cool.

02. Llama - Now the show starts "for real." Solid rockin' Llama.

03. Horn - I love this song - not much to report other than well-played version.

03. Uncle Pen - A Bill Monroe classic played very near where Monroe was living at the time... a tip of the hat, if you will. Played fast and furious with great solos from Mike and Page. Fantastic!

04. Stash - Jam starts out interesting - also, this is where I really started to realize things were happening in my brain and body. An early mini-peak for me at the show. I really got lost in this jam. It was the first time that had ever happened to me in any context. Intense memory just listening to it now. About 8 minutes in they lock into a pattern similar to the ALO version. Whew. So good. I miss Stashes like this one. It peaks brilliantly, then they take it down to almost nothing to end it. Wow. One of my favorite Stashes of all time.

05. Esther - pins and needles from that quiet Stash ending - people are listening. Great placement of Esther. Played exceptionally well by all four. A song that benefited tremendously from Page's newly added baby grand.

06. Chalkdust Torture - short and rocking. Classic CDT

07. I Didn't Know - Madonna washboard solo - no vacuum. Fun!

08. Reba - They take the jam down to almost nothing right away. So quiet. Again, Page's baby grand sounds amazing here. You can just tell he loves playing those little trills up high that would have sounded like crap on the old keyboard. After that quiet segment, they get right to the rocking - almost no build-up between the two. Still, a great Reba with great quiet section and a smoking final jam.

09. Cavern - Sounds like a set closer to me!

- set 2 /

01. Also Sprach Zarathustra > see my story above... this was my first time hearing this song (other than the Strauss version from 2001, obviously). The lights were incredible. The spaceship launched and off we went... and they drop right into...

02. Tweezer - This Tweezer is interesting. It is unrelenting. It rocks loud and proud until the very end when the "slow down" eases into Trey on acoustic - not as smooth a transition as the Mikes->Horse from 12/30/93, but still a pretty cool transition where he takes the theme he was playing on electric and continues it on acoustic.

03. The Horse > Silent in the Morning - Love Horse on acoustic guitar. Sounds so sweet.

04. Poor Heart - Lightning fast! So tight on these tunes back in 93. Page, especially, sounds great here!

05. Fluffhead - this song just bristled with energy back in the early 90's, didn't it? Sofa king great! Also, I love the acoustic outtro. This is the only time I saw Trey do that, I think. Can't think of another show I was at where he did. And he eases right into...

06. My Friend - again, I think this is the only time I saw Trey do this on acoustic. Sounds fantastic. Actually, let me say that I think Trey's acoustic guitar sounded better in 1993 than it ever did when he busted it out in later years. I don't know what's different about it, but it sounds great.

07. Golgi Apparatus - the first of three "set closers" in a row. As with everything in this show, tight tight tight!!

08. Squirming Coil - My first time hearing Coil with the baby grand. I was mesmerized by Page from my perch on the picnic table.

09. David Bowie - a typically intense Bowie to close out the set. Solid!!

- encore -

10. Walk Away - Hard to complain about a rock and roll song like this one!!

11. Amazing Grace - How sweet the sound. I gave that cute hippie girl a big hug and off I went into the night with my crew.



Obviously, this show is special to me. It's one of the shows I point to when I try to figure out why I became so obsessed with Phish. It was one of those nights where nothing could have gone wrong no matter what. All the acoustic stuff is great. The Stash is extraordinary. The Reba, Tweezer, and Bowie are all top notch. The energy just never lets up.

A prime example of Phish in 1993. Solid A!

aha!  i knew i heard this story before.

[mattstick]

Well it was 20 years ago today... my first GD show.

https://listentothedead.com/1994/8/1