Nuremberg 07/21 Review (just as promised)
Ok, here's what I can tell you guys. The room holds maybe five or six
hundred people. Way smaller than Amsterdam. There's enough space to shake
under Trey's oral liquids, and the acoustic is so good, the sound comes
more from the stage than from the speakers. At certain points you could
clearly hear Fish screaming with his mic turned off. Anyway, show starts
with Golgi, pure classic. Followed by Guelah and by Rift. It's strange how
you can't really tell anything interesting about theses songs and yet, you
remember that they sounded so great. Tweezer got quite strange and heavy
at a certain point, I would definitely not be able to retrace its
course... a Tweezer like we like them.
I must say I would never hold up a sign saying "If I could", but it was
more than ok. The end of the song was quite different from the Hoist
version. Maybe some of you already heard them playing it that way, there
was no "romantic vocal climax" at the end, Trey kept on playing some airy
licks which kind of faded away. Interesting is, after the show he somehow
got to this subject and explained how he always wanted it to end that way,
but how he got talked into it by a few people (producer,...) during the
recording in LA. (He mentioned that it happened at the Viper Room the same
night River Phoenix died in front of the club... ) My mind got a mind of
it's own, funny.
SOAM, there you go! Same comment as for Tweezer (I'm dying to hear it
again) but I do remember they, for the zillionth time, gave us a little
music lesson. Split is immediately followed by the Horse. Who agrees with
the fact that this song is so much more than just a little introduction to
Silent? This guitar sentence is so simply exquisite. Silent was cool and
directly followed by Taste. Fish never stopped drumming. He kept on
playing alone and fell in this strangest rhythm. Taste was simply
excellent. They jammed like hell. They stopped playing, Trey said a few
things about the fact that it was *very* cool not to have to stop
after 45 minutes (and boy, they didn't!). He also introduced the next
song. Train Song is a new song by Mike which is on the new album and which
is dedicated to the people on the road who follow them!! It just had Trey
on guitar, Mike and Trey (maybe Page) singing.
There are some beautiful vocal harmonies, the song is really cute. At a
certain point Page tried to imitate what, Trey later said, is played on
a vibraphone on the album. I think they experimented a few new
instruments on that song... we'll see.
Fee. At last I saw him grab this poor megaphone. At that point of the set
I started to realize that they were already playing for a little while
and simply *had* to go to the bathrooms before it wouldn't be necessary
anymore. As I ran back to the stage I got caught by this delicious
Timber Ho groove. Huge song!!! It went quite psychedelic, the jam took
some extended strange ways to finally, after I have no idea how long,
crash into Johnny B. Goode. Trey gave us one more
"a-la-Back-to-the-future" rendition and reminded us that he could be
The Guitar Anti-Hero your mother loves to hate. Anytime. No really,
they own this song now. I see the usual sparkles as the lights go on.
One hour and twenty minutes of intense jamming and dancing sure can
make a man feel thirsty. The break was quite long which was very
welcome. Llama opens set II. I really can't think of a lot of better
songs to open a set. This stays one of my favorite songs. The four of
them were just perfect. (If they really want to have a single, I always
though it had to be Llama! I mean this song has so much more of what
Phish is worth than Bouncing for instance. It is playable on the
radio(lengthwise) and yet it is such a powerful and typical Phish song.
Llama isn't even on the European album. I talked to Mike about it, he
agreed 100%. He said the only problem were the lyrics... ) Theme from
the bottom is probably my favorite new song. I never heard it before
the Euro-tour and got to hear it 3 times. It was just great: the
jamming, the singing. This "from the bottom, from the top" part is
gonna stick more than ones in our minds. I clearly remember Fish
totally amazing me *again* on this song (the part were he comes back in
is very subtle).
Theme went straight into Reba. What else can we say about Reba? It's a
pearl of a song. However, there was something original. Although most
of the jams during the entire show were pretty intense and heavy, the
jam part at the end was unbelievably smooth and loose. It was so
excellent I took my little paper out of my pocket and scratched "loose"
next to Reba. Just another reason to get this tape if you have the
chance. They do the whistle at the end and then go straight into a song
by David Bowie. I don't recall the title to this song but you probably
read it a few times by now. I never heard about them doing this song
but maybe it's classic. Anyway, they did it perfectly. Great singing by
Page and excellent background guitar by Trey. The two next songs were
simply highlights but, odd enough, I can't tell you anything special
about them. BTW, these songs don't need comments anymore. Free ->
Antilope!!!
And then Simple with a hot extended jam at the end which *simply* went
into Prince Caspian. Ah, Trey definitely knows how to build setlists!
Prince Caspian was perfect to chill out. I think it's not on the album.
I love this song. Caspian went straight into Suzie Greenberg. Classic
Jam, and everything. Set II finishes and I have simply no idea of how
long it lasted. Encore was short in terms of number of song, but, I'm
weighing my words, it was the most beautiful Harry I ever heard!!! Not
just the jam. The beginning of the song was smooth and perfect. Trey
was in the same kind of mood as in Reba. Beautiful and long but I think
we could have used one more song. But then again, they give you a hand,
you want the arm...
They came down the stage almost directly after the show. Page was already
quite surrounded when I approached. Fish was already drunk. Mike came a
little later. And Trey was having this really interesting discussion
about the producing of Hoist and of the new album (Produced by Steve
Lylliwhite!?! Check his history...) He seemed to be *very* happy with
the production of the new album. We were talking about movies, books,
France, Italy, Germany, music,... Until they were nearly forced by the
road manager assistant to leave, and so were we. By then, it was more
than 2 am I guess, and just one more of these excellent shows. No
Henrieta appearance, no acoustics, no bluegrass set-up, no barbershop,
no tramps, no narration,... That night, the word was
JAMMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's it, if you wanna e-mail my friend who wrote this review (he's not a
taper) just do it at Benjamin A.
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From: Kai Weber
Subject: Nuremberg, 7/21/96, setlist & review
I'm "only" a recently converted Phishhead. I passed up the chance to see
them in Madison, WI, in November 94. But I picked up "A Live One" when it
came out, and ever since, I felt I owed it to myself to see this band live.
So I jumped at the chance to see them play in Germany, where I currently
live. Here's my attempt at a review of my first show - what I might lack in
musical experience, I try to make up by covering some of the special
atmosphere of that gig. I think I could tell it was special, first show or
no... The setlist, and much of the wisdom that follows, is courtesy of all
the kind Phishheads I talked to.
1st set: 9:15-10:35, 80 mins.
Golgi Apparatus
Guelah Papyrus
Rift
Tweezer
If I Could
My Minds Got A Mind Of Its Own
Split Open And Melt
Horse>
Silent In The Morning
Taste
Trainsong (new, from forthcoming album)
Fee>
Timber>
Johnny B. Goode
2nd set: 11:15-12:25, 70 mins.
Llama
Theme From The Bottom
Reba
Life On Mars
Free
Run Like An Antelope
Simple
Prince Caspian
Suzy Greenberg
Encore: 12:27-12:39, 12 mins.
Harry Hood
I missed the segues of the 2nd set, there were some, though.
Sunday, July 21, 1996
A beautiful sunny day in a summer that has been late in coming. Blue
with sparse white puffy clouds grace the skies of southern Germany. It's
about 80F. I drive to meet Petra, a good friend of mine, who doesn't really
know much about Phish, but she's listened to their double live album and
liked it. Plus, she thought it sounded like a nice way to spend a Sunday.
Around 2:30 p.m., we head out of Frankfurt towards Nuremberg's Forum.
We hit the city about three hours later, which leaves us a good hour to take
a look at the old parts of town. Most of those look like they were built in
the 16th century Renaissance, I'd say. But I might be wrong. On a hill in
the city, a fort looms over the surrounding quarters. Gone are the
aristocrats of days past, today it houses the local youth hostel. All the
buildings are well maintained -or currently being renovated-, some of them
are quite touristy. Albrecht Durer, eminent 16th century painter and
engraver is ever-present in statues, names of streets, museums, book shops, etc.
Our walking tour of the city quickly brings us back into the present
again, as we slowly cross over from the old part of town, via the town hall
on market square, to the downtown shopping district. Finally, we wind up at
a Burger King. Two English-speaking people even look downright phishy...
At 7:15, we pull up at the Forum. It's in the southeast end of town,
along a street of hardware stores, car dealers, and smaller factories. In
fact, the Forum looks like it once was a warehouse itself. As we get out of
the car, we meet two guys, sharing a pipe, one plucking a mandolin. They're
Phishheads alright, from the States. I start to wonder, if we'll get a
parking lot scene... the answer is evident, as we round the corner: in the
narrow, but long back lot, about 250-300 people have quite a scene going,
replete with the inevitable hacky-sack circles, people piling through their
backpacks, circling pipes, exchanging travel notes, chatting and standing in
line for tickets. There is mercifully little hassling and peddling going on
with only one local pizza vendor, and a handful of people each, selling
stickers and t-shirts.
The Forum has a maximum capacity of 1,800 I was told, but only 300
tickets were sold in advance, and the evening's crowd can't have been more
than twice that. Tickets are DM 30, about US$ 20 - so it's about the same as
what you'd have to lay out stateside. They don't even bother to check my
name off the reserved list.
After I get our tickets, we sit down to take in the scene a bit, but
soon we're talking to people left and right. At the box office, I'd already
met a guy from Lincoln, NE, where Petra once lived. We meet Craig from
Alabama who asks us to watch his two beers for him - and offers us one in
return. We meet Kjetil, who's originally from Norway, but now he's at
Stanford. We meet Lydia, an American who works at the U.S. army rec center
in Garmisch, in the south of Germany. Inside, I run into two guys from
Wisconsin, one a sophomore, the other a student-to-be at UW, where I once
spent a year. I hear only one couple speaking German. It seems there is *no
one* here, who does not know Phish from the States, regardless where they
are from originally. And most people *are* from the States.
As we pass the checkroom on our way in around 8:30, we notice there is
not a single coat, but 100 or more backpacks. Inside, near the entrance in
the rear are two stands, one selling tour t-shirts, signing up people for
Döniac Schvice, the band's newsletter, and providing information about
Greenpeace. That the band's belief to support environmental causes is also
put into action was already apparent in the lot, where a few people were
going around, collecting and separating recyclable trash, like bottles and
cans. The other stand sells jewelry.
Apparently, the Forum is not even expecting a near sell-out, as a fifth
of the auditorium in the rear is curtained off. The show was supposedly
announced and publicized well in advance. Well, locally maybe, even though I
did't see a single poster anywhere. But nationally, there was only info
about Phish opening up for Santana, but nothing about the two shows on their
own in Nuremberg and Hamburg. I got word about this gig from the
Web-Phish-homepage.
The stage setup is quite a surprise for me: it looks like a crammed
rehearsal space setup. From left to right, it will be Page, Trey, Mike and
Jon. Poor Page, the only way his grand piano fits on stage is pointing
upstage center. He'll have to look over his right shoulder to see the
audience at all. Jon will be facing out to the center of the aditorium. The
stage is probably a bit over 3 feet high. The band's moved up front so much
that I could touch the drum riser or Mike's midi pedals if I bent over.
During the show, I'll be closer to Jon than Trey will be.
The band starts reasonably early at 9:15. Often in Germany, shows will
be announced for 9, but won't start until 9:45 or 10. While the audience is
generally very dedicated and enthusiastic, there is no rush to the front, so
that I even have freedom of movement in the first row where I'm standing.
There are, however, a couple of jerks who insist on pushing their way to the
front. One of the winds up next to me. He'll spend most of the first set
shouting "Treeeeey!" and "Feeeeeee!" - until late in the set, Trey picks it
up and says: "Yeah, why don't we do that!?"
(As this was my first Phish show and I don't know any of their albums
or tapes, except "A Live One", most of what I'll say about the guys and
their songs in the following will be speculative and preliminary.)
From the beginning, the four are very much together. They spend the
first three, four songs to "dig with the mix," as Bob Weir says. A friend of
mine stateside has wondered, if they were going to bring their own sound
system. While I wouldn't really know, my guess is it was. It essentially
looks like the gear we see in the booklet of "A Live One," but Trey's amp
setup is updated, compared to these pictures.
From my first row position in front of Mike, I pretty much hear the
stage monitor mix, where some of the vocals and some of the keyboards get
lost. The keyboards are there in the second set, however. During
intermission, I talk to a taper. The taper section has been set up not
behind, but next to the house mixer. It's on the same risers. The guy says,
he's been taping shows for three, four years now, and rarely has seen them
play such a small place with such a fine sound. So the house sound really
seems to be fine.
The band first takes off for a nice, long Tweezer. If I Could is very
sweet. Split Open And Melt is another long one, very well jammed. About an
hour into the first set, Trey says what a pleasure it is not to have to
leave the stage after 45 minutes - like they have to when they are opening
for Santana. Reports from these shows, both on the net and from the people
here, are not exactly enticing: rained out once, booeed off the stage once,
playing 40 to 60 minute sets must be a bit of the drag for them. And they
clearly take advantage of their chance tonight, by playing three times as long.
Trainsong is a new tune Mike wrote that'll be on the forthcoming album.
Trey announced it as one of a number of new songs they'll play, but it
remains the only one. It's a very pretty tune that combines a rolling train
groove with Trey's happy guitar loop riffs and harmony vocals that sound a
bit bluegrassy. But it's still young and needs a little breaking in, before
it'll have a definite solo and a definite ending to it. The way they played
it, Trey explains afterwards, Page tried spontaneously to recreate Jon's
xylophone solo from the album. The song kinda fizzles out at the end. But
the audience appreciated nevertheless to be treated to a new song that will
be a worthy part of Phish's repertoire before long.
They abandon the introduction of new songs in favor of Fee, which is
greeted enthusiastically by the audience. The end of the first set is a
rambunctious, energetic affair. Johnny B. Goode is quite long and crazy. My
humble estimation is that the first set already included several moments,
especially during the two long jams and towards the end, that easily stand
up to the musicianship on "A Live One."
But it is during the second set that the band really shines. They get
off to a running start immediately with Llama. Theme From The Bottom is very
sweet. From Run Like An Antelope on, it is one long powerful ride. The light
show is very much together with the rest of the band on a couple of songs
and gets cheers from the audience.
One thing is quite apparent throughout the show: this is Trey's night.
He calls most of the songs and most of the shots within them. He enjoys
playing and playing with the tunes tremendously. During the encore, Trey
teases the audience by playing the instrumental verse over and over in a
coy, puckish way before starting to sing.
My overall impression is that this is a very sweet and friendly show.
>From reports and the little I've heard, I gather Phish can be much darker at
times, but tonight feels like a celebration, a chance taken to play what and
as long as they like in an intimate setting for a cheerful, responsive audience.
So, to close my review, the inevitable question: anyone have a tape of that
crackling, energetic and sweet show?
Yours, Kai. :-)
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Kai - who'd rather be phishin'... "I live the frailty you despise,
American & Scandinavian Studies Faith that flies in the face of lies.
J.W.Goethe University In cruel diversity our hunger feeds us all
Frankfurt, Germany Lest we starve behind blank-faced walls."
kaiweber@informatik.uni-frankfurt.de --"White Buffalo"
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Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 22:13:08 -0700
From: Walter Schmidt
Subject: Nürnberg 96
OK, this is thought as an addition to all the great reviews on Nürnberg,
The Forum, 7/21/96, it's a warning for all you travelling phish heads out there:
If ou ever go to a show in Nürnberg, Germany, don't walk to "The Forum".
This is the worst you can do, me and my friends have experienced that!
Although we're from the area around Nürnberg, we didn't know where the
forum was located, so I just asked some old lady. Well, that was a BIG
mistake. This "friendly" old lady told me we could walk there, it's about
10 minutes away. Now, please listen: Don't you ever walk to the Forum when
you arrive by train!!! It's a hellish 3-hour trip, and your feet are gonna
hurt!! There are some buses which will take you there, and you can also
take a cab. The show was really great, though, and we had the time of our
lives.
E-mail me if you're coming to a show in Nürnberg, because you'll always
find me there. I hope this will be posted although it isn't a real review,
I just thought it's important for phans and their health.
Mike