most overrated show

[jedifunk]

i was just perusing the pharmers almanac looking to see what "top 25" shows i need to collect and noticed that 8/9/98 virginia beach was listed in the top ten.  this tells you how outta wack the polling in the almanac is (btw, the average age of those surveyed was 19.5).

this show has to be THE MOST OVERRATED SHOW OF ALL TIME!!!! hands down.  it doesn't even deserve a top 5 billing from that summer tour!!!!

i won't even go into my reasons why i don't like peoples opinions of this show.

any other shows you think can top this one as most overrated?

[bellybuttonfunk]

i second your va beach '98, raise you anything after 2000 and duck the projectiles.

[jedifunk]

lol, no need to duck.  i only saw a handful of shows post-hiatus, and i did enjoy myself (no pun intended), but they just weren't on the level of what i was used to.

don't know if i would say they are overrated.......

[Hicks]

Don't get me wrong it's an IMPORTANT show in the development of Phish's improv, but I've never found 5/7/94 to be a very enjoyable listen.  The jams just don't pull me in, between this and 2-20-93 I'll pop in the Roxy show every time.

2/28/03, it's a good show but some people claim it as the end all be all, for my money 12-29-03, 12-30-03, 8-2-03, 8-3-03, 6-17-04, 6-19-04, 7-13-03 and 7-15-03 are all better.  

7-29-03 ever notice that the playing during this show just isn't that good?

[jedifunk]

wow thats way too much post hiatus in one comment.  could you tone that down a little next time :wink:

[Hicks]

Heh, check the other thread for some non-post-hiatus comments!  Sometimes I get a little excited when writing about Phish!   :oops:

[Read Icculus]

2/28/03 and 12/7/97

12/7 is a beast, but that whole tour is slouching towards bethelehem.

If people fluff 8/9/98 too much then they're wrong as well. Like others have said the Bag is best. Other than that it's just another summer 98 with the killer encore (for me).

[jedifunk]

i'd have to disagree about 12.7... it lives up to its reputation imho.

as for 8/9/98, i still cant believe that it was voted into the top 10. anyhoo

[guyforget]

I'd add 12/30/97 to the list.

[Bill]

Wow!  I never thought I'd see 12-7-97 listed in a thread about overrated shows.  I guess it shows how subjective this is . . .

I'd second 7-29-03 as well.  Great set list, but when I listened to it, they were just slightly sloppy.  Kinda like all of the post-hiatus shows for me.  Still haven't heard 2-28-03 though...

[emperor_brian]

I can think of a good deal of 1998 and onward shows that may be very good indeed by any reasonable measure but don't deserve as much praise as they seem to get. 8-9-98 is a good example, as is the previous night.

If you want to talk old-school, 8-03-91 is ghastly overrated...that show HAD to be all about the scene, the music really holds up as barely average (for Phish).

I find both 2-20-93 and 5-07-94 to be among the most DESERVEDLY overrated shows they ever performed, if that makes any sense at all. Both are still in my top 50 easily (though I admit to liking 2-20-93 more as well), however,

As for post-hiatus, I have mixed feelings, but I think that some of Summer 2003 and to a lesser extent a few of the PRE-Coventry Summer 2004 shows hold up pretty well on tape, and even if they're not in the same league as their better pre-hiatus shows, I still think they have something to offer. I wouldn't take back my 2003 Deer Creek run for anything, for instance...a wonderful experience while I was there.

And as far as 7/29/03 goes -- chalk this up as another "deservedly overrated show". It's still easily one of my favorite post-hiatus shows. Now, I'm probably biased cos I was THERE (and I actually only saw 8 shows total in 2003), but still. At the concert, the energy created in that venue by what was happening transcended everything else and really made the show for me. On tape, I personally feel it holds up very well, better even than the majority of the post-hiatus shows do. The second set Brother and Crosseyed jam still sound great to me in all honesty.

[Bill]

Good call on 8-3-91.

[mikesgroovin56]

2-20-93 imo is immensely overrated

Now, i think the show was very tight, and the second set is very fun and interesting, but i have heard many people call this the "best show ever" (mind you most of these people have not heard enough shows to actually make this statement).  I very much enjoy listening to this show, but in terms of improvisational exploration and the focus on jamming, i think this show does not even compare to almost anything from 94, 95, 97, 98, 99, and 00.  The setlist is awsome, but i would rather hear a very exploratory four or five song set than a 16 song set where each song is just briefly visited before swiftly seguing into the next.

6-11-94 i think this show is slightly overrated

Again, the playing is extremely tight, the YEM is absolutely exelent, along with the antelope; with all that said, listening to this show is somewhat akin to listening to a studio album.  Everything is played very well but there is not much in terms of improvisation and there are no jaw dropping segues.  I really think 6-18-94 is much more improvisational.

6-22-94

I hate the second set, and the show in its enirity... i have no idea why it was made into a live album

6-11-94

Improvisation is somewhat dull and uneventful... i like other shows from this japan tour better

[emperor_brian]

Hey, to each their own I guess.

I agree that 2-20-93 is overrated (I certainly wouldn't call it the best show ever/best second set ever), but I still think it's very fun and loose, and that creates a great playful energy that I really dig (second set). I like many shows that came later in 93, 94, 95, and 97 in particular a lot more overall, to be sure.  But as far as shows up to and including that date, I'd easily put it in my top 5.

I think 6-11-94 is about adequately rated, and for what it's worth, I do like it even more than the even HIGHER rated (usually) 2-20-93. I think that the YEM alone qualifies for a lot in terms of improvisation  

6-22-94 is the one on your list I scratch my head at the most. Of the three shows I'm talking about in this post, it's easily my favorite...it's one of those 1994 shows where my jaw hit the floor when I heard the energy level in the performances. I think the first set has a very tight Rift, Maze and Gumbo amongst other things, and as for the second set...wow. I'd never yell at you for hating something I adore -- opinion differences are what Phish discussions great -- but man. I can see how you could argue that they don't always allow each "song" to fully blossom, but I think that they more than make up for that by integrating these pieces into a flowing whole...in this case, I think it's the WHOLE that matters...each part of that crazy 10 or 11 part Mike's Groove might not rate too highly on its own (the Paug is particularly short), but taken as a whole, interwieving piece of music I think it's pretty damn cool. Also, this set has a very powerful Fluffhead, one of my favorites.

For what it's worth folks, I think that the Big Cypress Run is more overrated than any of these shows easily (overrated meaning "the average public rating of this show far exceeds the show's stand-alone merit". But being as that means "most inspiring show in the history of the universe > show's actual quality," I still love it and treasure the recording, if that makes sense.

[jedifunk]

makes sense, but i still disagree...BC was without a doubt the best 2 days of music.  you could cut out the 1st day and the 1st set 2nd day and just give me the midnight set, and i'd live on an island with just that forever!

i'm come on, they played for 8 f**king hours straight!!!  no one can make a case for this set being weak, or not up to the standards of the top 5 phish sets ever.  there are 3 30+ min jams, and a host of others that are 20+ min. and each one is unique and well done.  the DWD is top 5 for that song, and while the Bathtub is not, its still a fun version that i enjoy listening to.  the crosseyed is probably my 2nd fav version of that.  the rock&roll is just sick, as is the drowned>after midnite, and the roses @ 5am is simply surreal...it captured the feeling and mood of the entire everglades @ 5am (whether we were there or not).  the 2001 is a favorite as well.  Piper>free is fun.  the sand>quad topplings is just plain sick. and on and on and on.

AND to top it all off, i thought the entire weekend had its own unique sound that was present in each and every song that weekend.  and can't be heard anywhere else, before or after cypress.

throw in that my campspot was 2 feet from the entrance, and that i had at least 100 of my closet friends right there with me...and that i didn't sit down all night long and danced my ass off for 8 hours, and you've easily got the best phish show in exsistence.

but take it as you will...imho