From: dsteinbe@nmsu.edu Subject: port chester Reply-To: dsteinbe@nmsu.edu Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1992 21:16:45 GMT A few notes about some great shows. The highlight first night had to be the Split Open and Melt. Best I've ever seen. I don't believe that Shelly the Big Ball Jam out of Tweezer second night. Smooth segue into TMWSIY... Of course, the second night highlight was the Harpua. My first one since 10/28/89 (my first show)- 37 months to the date... Lowlight of the trip? That must be when I got mugged going back to Baltimore. No joke; I picked up a hitch-hiker and she pulled a knife on me :@(. I lost a hundred dollars... -David "ZZYZX" Steinberg p.s. BTW I think it was Jimmy Olson Blues and not Little Miss in Harpua p.p.s. To the person talking about the TRAX shpw, the reason that there is no encore in the tape is that it was Possum->Vaccum Freeze-> Possum and went on for 16 minutes. Prob. couldn't fit on the tape... p.p.p.s. Soundcheck first night was Dog Log, Axillia x 2, Two blues jams. I missed the check last night p.p.p.p.s. Did anyone else sense that they were going to play Harpua. I was jumping up and down screaming Harpua Harpua, long before the OOOOOM PA PA... p.p.p.p.p.s. (last one I promise) Esther had the Esther language and the finger cut language... ------------------------------ From: Matt Laurence Subject: PortChester redux... Reply-To: mlaurenc@world.std.com Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1992 05:24:51 GMT Well, I know it's a bit late to be saying things about Portchester, since the quicker netheads have probably already posted lavish reviews of the wonderful shows we witnessed - however, I felt it was my civic duty to at least add a couple of cents worth.. As y'all know by now, we got a McGrupp and a Harpua, and that made me very happy. Plus an all-expenses paid trip inside Fishman's brain, in two installments! Trey has been getting VERY creative with his little Forbin- Mickingbird segues, and on Friday, he actually did what might be considered a rap, a VERY quick series of comments that seemed pretty much impromptu (as much of it might have been) all done in a quick, triplet rhythm... extremely impressive! Fishman's Windham Hell (as he is still calling it) was cool, since it was more or less audience participation, AND he threw in a couple of Jimi Hendrix tribute riffs on the ol' acoustic gee-tar. I think the funniest moment for my concertgoing dollar was when Fish tried to solo during something and ended up dropping a stick way out infront of the drum riser. He just stopped utterly and looked at it for a moment, somewhat forlornly, and then looked up at the crowd and shouted "Jimi Hendrix Birthday, ladies and gentlemen!" and got a huge round of applause anyway! Seeing Trey Dance with his grandmother was touching, and seeing him and Mike play with, and eventually punt the rubber nipples that I threw up on stage was enjoyable too. And all I can say about Mike's->Groove on Sat. is that I have never seen them play it so hard and with such VISUAL intensity. Chris was going NUTS with the strobes, and watching Mike and Trey race back and forth across the stage in stroboscopic stop-motion and being intermittently blinded by other strobe flashes was quite a cumulative experience. Well, since I'm going on 4 hours of sleep, it's time to hit the trail, and say thanks to everyone who made my weekend that much more enjoyable. And thanks to Rich's Brother, without whom we may never have had the opportunity to grace the pages of Business Week magazine!!! (we still don't know if it'll happen or not, but check out thise coming Friday's issue and you may see one or more PhishNetters in there... maybe even a net shirt!). To all those who are just about to see them, get psyched (like you needed me to tell you that...) - you're in for a romp. Llama is STILL getting faster! Take care of those gosh-darned shoes! Matt ------------------------------ From: Chip RollinsonSubject: Portchester crowd Reply-To: P3TJ@cornella.cit.cornell.edu Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1992 19:48:43 GMT I'm glad someone pointed out how strange the crowd was at the Portchester show(s)..(I only went Friday so I'm assuming that Saturday had the same sort of crowd). So many people did not SHUT UP during the show. The talking during Memories was ridiculous. I was in the second row and there were a bunch of people in front of me that did not stop talking during the entire second set...one of them even tried to talk to me during one of the most intense Bowie james ever. I was really into the song, hanging on each and every note that came out of Trey's guitar..and this guy turns around and starts talking to me..."sick show isn't it?" he asked. How would he know, he'd been TALKING THE ENTIRE TIME. Why was he in the front row ?? Maybe the croud was strange because of the timing of the show and the fact that a good amount of the tickets were SCALPED.. ...AND THERE WAS THE MOST SHOCKING EXPERIENCE OF THE NIGHT : I saw a person with a phish.net shirt on. He looked about 16 or so. I went up to him and asked him if he was on the net. He told me to repeat myself, so I did. His response was "I don't think so !!" in the rudest, most unfriendly tone of voice I'd heard in a while. I'm a VERY peaceful person, but I must say that I felt like hitting this kid. I had never seen this type of behavoir at a Phish show before; disrespect for phellow phans...it's something that I hope I don't see again. It seemed like there were a lot of people there that did not really want to be there at all. I hate to be sooo negative, but this is how I feel. I must say that I am on an emotional high after going to 3 shows in 6 days...these shows have made my fall, can't wait for New Haven !!!! Happy Phishing and God Bless, Chip Rollinson P.S. (personals) Hey Baz, how was Lake Placid? How was the hot tub?? P.S.S. Mike B., hey thanks for stopping by when you were at Cornell, jerky Did Joe tell you that the car I was in at Binghamton pulled up next to your yellow beetle at a traffic light. I wasn't sure if it was you so I did not make a fool out of myself by doing anything embarassing ------------------------------ From: dsteinbe@nmsu.edu Subject: More Port Chester ramblings (nothing about Hitch-Hikers) Reply-To: dsteinbe@nmsu.edu Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1992 16:02:37 GMT A few more thoughts about Port Chester (look when you travel 5000+ miles to see two concerts, you're going to want to talk about them for a while...): 1) Wasn't that the worst crowd that you have ever seen at a Port Chester show? I mean they couldn't get anyone to shut up during Memories. 2) Approx. Timings: 11/27 First Set 94 minutes, Second Set 80 Minutes, Encore 6 Min. (I think) 3) No one mentioned Mike's improv. during Contact. With all of the commotion surrounding Trey's grandmother, Mike forgot where he was in the song, and was forced to come up with "The tires are the things on your hood when you get back to your home." I laughed... -David "ZZYZX" Steinberg ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Nov 1996 17:41:30 -0800 From: Phil Goldsmith Subject: 11/27, 11/28 1992 well, I figured i'd send you my thoughts on these two epic, amazing shows, Phish's final appearances at the Capitol Theater (which is misspelled for the 5/14/92 show review, by the way) in Port Chester, NY. I've heard that these were among the first of Phish's shows that sold out well in advance...an omen of things to come. The Capitol Theater is probably one of the coolest places Phish has ever played...and they've played some classic shows there...don't know if you've heard any tapes, but you should. The place was, literally, rocking. The balcony was actually VISIBLY moving, up and down, during such amazing rockers as Tweezer and Mike's Song. I was standing on the balcony during Tweezer, and I think everyone there must have felt it...it was sort of scary. Maybe that's why phish never went back...people loved them so much the place almost fucking fell down...and that's completely true, I swear. It was 4 years ago, so obviously I can't remember the setlist perfectly, but I think that, when talking about long-ago shows, setlists aren't the important thing. Back then, Phish ONLY played good songs, there was no Waste, Taste, or Strange Design. It was the atmosphere, the vibe, the community of the fans, the intimacy, and the special feeling that we all had that phish was a golden secret, something we could cherish and didn't have to share. Cheesy, maybe, but nonetheless true. Because the scene has suffered with each passing year. Jon Herman joats@aol.com