From: KaizrSoza@aol.com
Subject: phish review

Here is my review of 11-2-96 @ Coral Sky, W. Palm Beach Fl

     Coming from Colorado, 85 degrees in W. Palm was sure nice from me.
 Snowed here the night before I flew out.  This show was very special to
me because I came to flordia to visit my girlfriend, take a break from
school and see the band that we both love.  We made it to coral sky at
about 6:55pm, our cab driver spoke mostly english but his french accent
was a little hard for me to understand.  When I saw the place I thought
he took a wrong turn and took us to deercreek but the beautiful evening
had flordia written all over it.  To sum this all up, Coral Sky is
beautiful.
     On to the show.  It was opened with YaMar, which I thought was a real
big jam, really good.  I read that some thought it was just average, but
it was definately above average to me.  Next was Julius, which started
out average, but really jammed at the end making it the best Julius
that I've ever seen live.  Next, Fee which sounded like it was straight
off the albulm.
 Cavern was next and I really enjoyed this one.  Really good sounding and
good harmony at the end of the song.  That went right into Taste, which I
loved!  One of my favorite songs off any album.  The percussion player,
Carl Perazzo, really shined in this tune.  One of my faveroites of the
entire show.  I was a bit winded after this one.  Stash was next which
isn't really one of my favorite songs, although it was pretty good.
Lizards was next which is one of my favorite songs.  I love this tune.
Trey was on at the end of this one and I was really starting to have
the time of my life.  Last time I saw this song at deercreek, some ass
was banging on a tamborine throughout the guitar harmony and kind of
ruined it for me.  She wasn't at this one and I'm glad.  Free comes
directly after, with a cool drum intro, thought it was HYHU for a
second, but Free is a great live song and I enjoyed.  Next, Trey talks
of the beauty of the venue and how nice it is to play outside which I 
can't agree with more.  After that, Johnny B Goode which just smoked!
Never heard this one live, on alot of tapes though and this one was up
there with the best.  Really crisp guitar and the whole band was just
right on! Great set closer, and a good set.  Just wait until set II.
     Set two was almost too much for me to handle.  Opening with Crosseyed
and Painless, a tune that I've never heard before, but nothing wrong with
a 25 minute jam that Trey, Mike and Fish all sing.  Once I thought it
couldn't get any better, it did.  That led right into Antelope.  I said
it then and I'm saying it again now, when I get the tapes I will have
to say it once again, this was the best I've ever heard.  Very crisp
guitar, Fish and Carl working well together on drums, Mike and Page
doing their thing.  I really thought I was going to cry.  Almost too
much emotion for me at one time, we were having sooo much fun that it
really wasn't fair.  Fish is called Morton Charleston Heston in this
one.  After two songs in a row of that quality, I would have been
satisfied if they just quit there.  Anyone who says that the second set
was too short should be smaked. After Antelope comes Waste, a first for
me live and I took a seat to gather my thoughts.  As much as I hate to
do this at phish shows, Antelope just really took it out of me, Waste
was real good.  Really like B.B songs live.  Good stuff.  Harry Hood
followed.  The only other time that I've seen this one was at Dayon
last fall and it compared with that one for sure.  I always love to see
this one. Long and jammy, I was so into it I really need to get the
tapes and examine them to figrue this one out.  A Day in the Life is 
beautiful and brought a 2000 mile smile to my face.  Sweet Adeline closed
the show, which was real good, I always love to hear Fish sing.  I
barely had time to collect my thoughts when I noticed 6 people walking
out for the encore.  When trey said the name Butch Trucks I almost
collapsed to the ground.  Funky Bitch was a real fitting song, longer
than usual and very crisp and clean.  The end showcased Butch Trucks,
Carl Perazzo and Fish with about a 3 minute drum jam that was very
Widespread Panic like. After the show I felt a little weak.  It was so
great I could hardly talk about it.  All the trouble of getting to W
Palm from St. Augestine(don't ever go there) via Greyhound, getting to
the show via Haitain cab driver and everything else my girlfriend and I
went through was WELL worth it.  Omaha is my next stop with buddies of
mine from C.U and after that who knows. 

Happin Phishin' and take care.  Kevin Borst 
KaizrSoza@aol.com  please mail me with show comments, would like to hear
them.

-----------------------------------------
Subject: PHISH: It's a good show!
From: Alan Dorchak 


Just caught PHISH at Coral Sky Amphitheatre, WPB, Fl.  And I have thought
I would share the ramblings of a "old-time" music lover (me ;.)  

This band is simply on fire, their power, derived from their ability to
amagalemate and trancend a wide range of musical styles to create a truly
unique sonic landscape, filled me with joy and other good energies.  A
real pleasure to behold and be involved with.  

I have seen PHISH several times starting in 91 (cameo theatre MB, FL) and
while I have always respected the virtousity of the group I never truly
"connected" like I had with other groups most noteably GD & ZERO.  Maybe
it was the frenetic energy of the music, or their often monodimensional
(imo) lyrical content, but I was of the mind that PHISH had tremendous
potential, but was, as of yet, not fully realized.  I was sure that PHISH
and I would converge down the road and grow closer with time.  This has
certainly been the case for me.  

For me it seems that PHISH is benefiting immensely from playing their
asses off and exploring new music horizions.  They have gained a sense of
maturity which has enhanced the pleasure of their live performances.  No
longer does PHISH take you on a never-descending spiral of ever dizzying
musical heights.  While they still go into "epliepsy mode" at points
during the show, it seems they are now able to bring you up & down with
equal dexterity, and for a psychedelic ranger like myself this is of VITAL
importance.  Nothing worse then being stranded in the stratosphere without
a way down, I guess this is what it is to be truly "free" huh?  

The first set was absolutely gorgeous, don't ask me the setlist but there
was a Runaway joe, a STASH and an antelope in there somewhere, oh and
free(?) (sorry but I'm not you accurate setlist kind of guy), but the set
showcased PHISH's ability to bring together and quote styles across the
board, from a-capella to zydeco and weave a joyous tapestry of sound.  I
was on my feet dancin like snoopy the whole set!  

The second set seemed shorter and they broke the mood (for me at least)
with an accurate but superfulous "Day in the Life"  beatles tribute and
the a-capella schtick.  I prefer their groovy jams over this kind of thing
as a rule.  Karl Perazzo (from Santana) sat in on percussion and this gave
the whole show a new percussive dimension that only increased the depth
and fierce aspects of the groove.  

For the encore Butch Trucks (from Allmans) sat in and they ROCKED out a
bluesy song that was a perfect ending for this southern most PHISH show of
1996.

All in all PHISH continues to grow and mature by leaps and bounds and I'm
starting to get that awful feeling that I should "drop out, turn on, and
tune in" and catch more than the incidental PHISH show.  Who knows, maybe
I'll find myself on a bus somewhere in alabama with the tennessee blues
again sometime soon.  

my .02,
Alan Dorchak                                     china@gate.net 
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/9372

    "You can find love if you care to look
           where others would look away
               here in the whirlwind pits of thunder
                            where the hounds of Heaven bay"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Mike at West Palm
From: eggstein@aol.com (Eggstein)

I met Mike Gordon in the lot before the show.  I was in the back nothwest
side of the lot and Mike came around on his golf cart and hung out for
like 20 minutes and everyone was gathering around him.  He was an
extremely nice guy.  That just shows how much the guys feel about their
fans.

-Craig
-------------------------------------------
Subject: Review: 11/2/96 W. Palm Beach
From: jcarver@alston.com
     
Hey All:

Well, I haven't read many reviews about this show yet, so I 
thought I would express some of my thoughts about the show.

First Off: The Coral Sky Amph. is a nice place, and Trey 
mentioned during the show that it was the only outdoors show of 
the tour...pretty cool.

First set was pretty standard, nothing incredibly special.  I 
like the new, new version of Taste. When I read that they were 
playing a version with Trey's solo again, I figured it would 
sound like the '95 versions.  But this doesn't.  There is a 
pretty interesting transition between the Page Solo part and the 
Trey solo part. Very cool...this song now has lotsa a room to 
grow...

On to the Second Set:

This was one of the best sets of Phish that I have ever seen.  I 
wasn't expecting so much,  having been completely blown away by 
the Halloween show two nights earlier. I figured this show just 
couldn't match 10/31...but...

I was so psyched when they started the set with Crosseyed and 
Painless. I haven't read much discussion about this on the net, 
but I actually think Fishman does a great job with the lyrics of 
this song.  When I heard this during Halloween, I kept thinking 
to myself that this song could really be extened and played out 
longer if they want to.  Well, just two days after Halloween, 
this is what we got.  It is a great song, with many different 
textures, and layers and most important a GREAT GROOVE.  Well, 
Phish went with this groove for about 25 minutes.  For the most 
part this was very tight jamming, it really didn't get spacy 
until the end.  I'm sure Phish won't play the Remain in Light 
songs often, but I hope they at least keep some of these songs in 
light rotation.  What's amazing is that they are VERY DIFFERENT 
sounding than Phish, yet they do a great job with these songs.

Crosseyed slowly faded out into...

Antelope!  A specatacular version.  I heard this exactly one week 
earlier in Charlotte, but the two versions just down compare.  
This was soooo tight, and sooo well played.  I think I had my 
eyes closed for about half of this song, and I was just felt 
completely surrounded by the music.  I have heard this song many 
times, and I always really  like it.  For some reason, and I 
can't explain why, I LOVED this version...

Next came Waste.  I couldn't think of better placement for a 
song.  We had just enjoyed two straight long powerful, entrancing 
songs, and we definitely needed a break.  I loved waste acoustic, 
but this is one song that is better electric.  Trey's guitar at 
the end is beautiful...hopefully the end of this song will 
evolve, and go on longer. Nonetheless, I couldn't have thought of 
a better song at this point in the set...

Harry Hood:  Wow, this set just kept up at a great pace. I 
remember thinking after hearing the Crosseyed, that there was no 
way that Phish could keep up the energy and pacing throughout the 
rest of the set.  Well they definitely did.  Again while 
listening to this song I kept thinking that this was one of the 
best Harry's I have heard.  I guess I would have to hear a tape 
of the show to confirm that thought...but nonetheless it was 
spectacular...again I just closed my eyes and concentrated on the 
music...

Next came A Day in the Life...I know many people don't care to 
hear this song, but I love it and think that Phish does a great 
job with it.  I guess the first time I heard it was last fall at 
the Fox theatre, and I can't see myself getting sick of it...I 
would much rather hear this than Golgi or Fee.

Adeline closed out the set.  I remember overhearing some people 
complaining and saying that it was a very short set.  I think 
before the encore they had played about 70 minutes.  The thought 
about it being short never crossed my mind because it was just 
incredible...you really should never judge a set on its 
lengthe...I mean the first set of this show was definitely longer 
but...

Great encore with Butch Trucks on Drums, and Fish on Trey's small 
drum set.  I always love hearing Funky Bitch, and I am very glad 
that it is in part of the rotation. This one seemed a bit longer 
than usual with both Trey and Page taking a solo(pages solo was 
on the organ).  As the song closed out, Fish, Butch Trucks, and 
Carl Perazzo played a short drum solo(well not solo, there were 
three of them), this lasted about two minutes, then the rest of 
the band came back in with the last couple of notes of Funky 
Bitch again.

All in all, it was a great second set...there was very apparent 
improvement in just one short week between the Charlotte show and 
the W. Palm Beach show. 

Hope this review made sense...I guess now I just have to 
patiently wait, and be content with reading show reviews until 
the New years run

One more quick comment:  After reading some peoples reviews of 
earlier shows, and some people saying "Phish has finally sold 
out" I just can't believe people could have those feelings.  It 
is always going to take Phish a couple weeks to warm up to 
playing live again.  You can't expect them to break out a 30 
minute Tweezer at the first show of a tour, can you.  It is 
obviously easier to focus on shorter songs, and less extensive 
jams.  

Take it Easy,

Josh
-------------------------------------------
From: name witheld
Subject: Coral Sky Amphitheatre Show 11.2.96

This was a great show in perfect weather under the stars (The 
only outdoor venue this fall tour).  I got there early enough to hear 
the soundcheck (Ya Mar, Funky Bitch).  The parking lot had a lot of 
police officers and security roaming around.  Mike Gordon was driving 
around in a golf cart casually.
	Phish hit the stage around 7:30 with Karl Perazzo sitting in on 
percussion the whole show.  The first set started with Ya Mar which was 
fine but they didn't seem to do anyhing spectacular.  I was dissapointed 
 that it might be an off night.  Julius was next, rather laid back 
untill about eight minutes into the jam when Trey really started to 
cook.  Fee was without much improvization but Page did some neat things 
on the Theramin.  Without stopping came a beautiful Taste which was nice 
and jammy.  It was cool hearing this completed version, I am used to 
hearing just the Fishman vocal version.  A tight Cavern directly into 
Stash followed.  Most of the audience couldn't decide how many times 
they wanted to clap during Stash.  A beautiful Lizards was next, laid 
back, with little feedback in Trey's soloing.  Free was next, and it 
sounded to me like they fucked up in the jam with Trey and Mike trying 
to do something that the rest of the band didn't catch.  After this Trey 
commented on how nice it was to be playing outside and how that morning 
he even had time to do some (stall) ..phishing.  The set closer, Johnny 
B. Goode, was rip roaring and absolutely mind blowing.  It put a big 
smile on my face.
	Set II started with Crosseyed and Painless, a Talking Heads 
number they played at the Omni.  I had never heard this one, and it was 
great.  Trey, fish, and Mike all took turns singing in this fast paced 
crazy psychedelic jam that had to be fifteen minutes long.  A perfect 
Antelope was next, instead of Marco Isbandolas Trey called Fishman 
morton Charleston Heston.  A good Waste was next, the beginning (just 
Trey and his guitar) was absolutely gorgeous.  Harry Hood (monster 
jam!!) was next and I swear I heard all fall down secret language at the 
beginning.  If I did no one else knew what was going on.  Page got his 
moment with A day in the life.  What next?  Sweet Adeline, of course, 
which was not all that audible from the immense crowd cheer.  That was 
the six song, hour and ten minute second set.
	Butch Trucks of the Allman bros. joined on drums for the 
encore.(three percussionists!!! fish played Trey's drums.)  The Funky 
Bitch encore absolutely kicked ass, and as you might guess there was a 
drum jam.  It was a very good show.
-Name Witheld
     
-------------------------------------------
     
------------------------------------------- From: 
ahitz@merle.acns.nwu.edu (Andrew Hitz) Subject: Re: *WEST PALM
CROSSEYED&PAINLESS** Date: 19 Jan 1997 23:05:59 GMT

Hello everyone,
        It has been awhile since I last blathered to you here at rmp
but as always, if someone is going ot coax me out of my
computer-hybernation, it is Mr. Dirksen;) His review of the West Palm
Beach show has inspired me to commend him on his review and add some of
my own comments, having been lucky enough to catch this show myself. 
**Warning**: I'm feeling like this might get a little
long-winded...there will be a lot of Phish content but I'm feeling the
urge to write about my entire weekend, as it is one event in my mind... 

It all started once I got to Hotlanta.  Haloween, although I won't talk
much about it here, was one of the highlights of me life.  No shit.  I
still can't seem to describe the second set better than I did during
the Crosseyed and Painless at the show to fellow netter Saul Wertheimer
"This is a mother-fucking THROWDOWN!".  And that it was... And this
came after my friend, Peter Bothe, called the Highway to Hell second in
the first set while leaving our hotel room at the Omni at about 5:30. 
No shit... 

        On Friday, my friends and I had a very lazy day leaving
Atlanta, still kind of stunned from what had happened the night before.
We were also in no rush to check out of our room at the Omni since they
didn't have our $200 room ready at 4:00 the day before and didn't seem
to care:( We finally hit the road and decided to head down to the Fort
Meyers area because we all had a strong desire to go to Sanibel Island
the next day before the WPB show.  We pulled into Shell Point Village,
a Christian retirement community on an island in the Gulf that my
grandmother lived in for 20 years, at about 4:30 in the morning. That's
right, me and four of my stinky, non-sober friends pulling into a quite
retirement community at 4:30 am.  The security guard at the enterance
found this rather odd.  But hey, a forty dollar hotel room for five
people less than one mile from Sanibel is not bad at all.  And we were
truly on our best behavior...really;) 
        
The next day we drove to Sanibel at about 1:00 and drove through the
Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge (highly, highly recommended for everyone
cause you gotta love wild alligators) and ended up driving to Captiva
Island.  Here, on the very far tip, we found a public beach with white
sand and bath water to bask in.  We were supposedly in a hurry at this
point to get to WPB.  But after returning to our car to take our
medicine, we went swimming for about 20 minutes (with the lyrics to
Free running rampant through my head).  Off to Alligator Alley and the
other side of Florida... 

We unfortunately didn't have much time to spend in the parking lot,
because of our romp in the ocean (Insert Scene Commentary Here: 
although I'd trade 20 minutes in the Gulf of Mexico with my friends for
3 hours in a phish lot with 25 "kids" asking me for change).  We were
quite relieved that there were tickets available.  Actually quite a few
of them.  It turns out, one of the most important aspects of this
evening to me was there were just under 10,000 tickets sold for the
cookie-cutter "Great Woods/Walnut Creek/Riverport/etc" 15,000 person
outdoor arena.  This meant one thing that I hadn't enjoyed in a long
time at a show: An assinine, I mean assinine, amount of room with which
to get down on the lawn.  And that row of Palm trees lining the back of
the lawn didn't hurt one bit... 

Now I'd like to comment on Charlie's well written review... 

|> From: Charles Andrew Dirksen: 

|C&P opens up with Fish on drums and Perazzo on Trey's minikit (you
|know, his little percussion outfit).  At least, this is what it sounds
|like.  Maybe Perazzo had his own little minikit in addition to the
|tablas, I don't know.  I wasn't at this show.  I'm hoping that someone
|who was at this show and has the tapes can correct me when I'm wrong
|in this review. 

First of all, I do need to clear up that Maestro Perazzo did indeed
have his own full compliment of percussion toys just to Mike's left as
he did on Haloween.  Perazzo never played on Trey's kit because he had
a better one;) 

|After they play the opening lyrics of the tune, the jam segment kicks
|in, predictably, after around 5-6 minutes.  Trey begins soloing
|melodiously low on the 'doc, and around 8 minutes you can hear "Still
|waitin.." from Fish and Trey, reasonably softly. 

It was around here when I began to realize that this was no ordinary
jam. It started to take on that semi-permanent feeling. 

|For those who haven't heard C&P, it is EXTREMELY UPBEAT. 

This is one of the biggest understatements of all time, in spite of the
all caps.  This is one of the happiest songs/grooves that I have ever
witnessed live or on tape in any genre of music in my life (and I
listen to or play about 10 hours a day).  It was the perfect groove for
the only outdoor show of the tour.  And don't think the band doesn't
get just as happy as I do to be in southern Florida in November. 
 
| The thrillingly active Crosseyed |rhythm is continuously pounding
with a distinctly mechanical accuracy, |carrying a captivating &
enchanting jam, a Heideggerian joy of DASEIN, |a Husserlian PRESENCE
that enshrouds the entire Advanced Western |Post-Industrialized
Capitalist system in a Habermasian legitimation |crisis (or something). 
TOO MUCH MOTION!?!??!??  AND YOU MAY SAY TO |YOURSELF | |MY GOD | |
WHAT | HAVE |I | |DONE????!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!?????? |

Wow...for a tuba player this is a little much to chew on;) 

|At 20 minutes there's a little Santana-like (Gypsy-Queen-esque) rush
|for about ten seconds, and then the jam quiets a little.  The beat has
|NOT, repeat NOT, slowed down yet.  Fish and Trey start spacily
|singing/saying "Still waiting" over and over again, and the jam gets
|spacey in here, with soft light chords from Page, and wistful eerie
|spacey effects from Trey.  Mike is primarily sustaining a low note on
|the bass.  But at 21:30 or so, Karl and Fish and everyone start a
|massive crescendo of the groove, acompanied by "Still waiting" vocals
|from Fish and Trey (NOT in unison, btw). 

This was just surreal.  It reminded me of the 12/29/95 Bathtub Gin when
shortly after the Real Me, Scott Jordan turned to me and said "If they
go back into Bathtub Gin, I'm going to lose my shit." Well they did,
and he did.  And so did I in WPB when Trey and Fishman just start
screaming, almost with a Doppler effect, "Still waiting......still
waiting".  A truly magical moment for me. 

|At 23:50, Antelope lightly segues in (Trey starts playing the opening
|licks) out of the soft-roar that is the aforementioned fuzzy wall of
|sound.  I'll let Victor review this Antelope.  I think it is
|awe-inspiring, but hey, I really loved the New Year's version, too,
|so.  The jam segment of this Antelope ends at 34:44, which basically
|means that the jam segment was as long as many of the older versions
|of Antelope.  The concluding segment is great given the exciting
|percussion, but this Antelope isn't as hell-bent and incredible as,
|say, 10/24/95, in my opinion. 

Exactly what I said.  When Antelope kicked in, I didn't know what was
going on.  It was just too much to handle.  The best part of this
Antelope is that they bring it around one extra time (see the Vegas
Good X, Bad X) and just wail.  And they dropped off of a sonic cliff. 
Wonderful stuff.  The best set opener combination that I had seen in a
long time:) 

|Total time of this Crosseyed -> Antelope is 37:24, or thereabouts. 
|Fish lets out a "KARL PERAZZO" and a "NeeYAAAAH!!"  Waste is honestly
|the **PERFECT** breather after that monster of a jam.  Aaaaahhhhhhh. 

Just wonderful.  A truly special evening/weekend in my phish seeing
history. A must check out for anyone who is into good, intense, happy
jamming.  One of the top five sets I saw in 1996, even though it ended
with ADITL/Sweet Adeline.  And that's saying something. 

If you read this far, I'm impressed and you might want to seek help... 

Drew

==============================