From: DR MARTIN B GOLDSTEIN Subject: Review of Phish 12/02/95 Here's a rundown of the show from 12/02/95 from New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum. I: Prince Caspian, Runaway Jim, Mound, Guelah, Reba, MSO, Free, Fog that Surrounds, Bouncin', Possum II: 2001>Maze, Simple, FAHT!, Tweezer> Day in the Life, Golgi, Squirming Coil, Tweezer Rep. E: Axis: Bold As Love First, the pre show scene was not nearly as fun as a summer tour show because, well, it was 20 degrees outside and the scene was situated more so inside of a parking garage. Same amount of action, just everybody was really cold and too many non Phish fans trying to break up the festivities by attempting to run down Phishheads with their cars. My party arrived about 2.5 hours before showtime and we wished we hadn't due to the extreme cold and lack of layers. We'll know better for Worcester, but otherwise it was ok. Seemed to be a lot more people asking for miracles than usual, but then again, maybe a lot of people just wanted to trade for New Year's run which had just gone on sale. Some guy was asking for money for Ohio...wasn't that the show from the day before? Anyway, here we go. Prince Caspian: Uggggghhh. I'm sorry if you guys like this song, but I don't. It's way too repetitive and simplistic. What's worse is that it was the opener! What were they thinking? Oh well. Runaway Jim: Good choice. Last Jim I heard was from 6/29 and this one was much better. Trey was having a field day with the ending solos and the song wasn't as repetitive as previous versions. Mound: Always a fun tune, but standard. Guelah Papyrus: Complete with synchronized dance moves. They haven't played this one in awhile, so it was pleasant, but standard. Reba: I groaned when I heard the opening notes, but was pleasantly surprised. The ending jam was creative and not analagous with previous versions. Longer, spacier version than I've heard before. Good. My Sweet One: Always a rare treat. Standard, but fun. Right after Reba. Just like on Lawn Boy. Free: This is where the first set explodes. My favorite new song continues to blow my mind each time I hear it. Very interesting textural jam with Trey on his little percussion kit. The strobe lights added to the spacy tension. Awesome. Fog That Surrounds: Basically a souped up version of Taste with some additional Fishman vocals (i.e. yelps), This one has developed well since summer tour. This could be the next Bouncin' if released on an album. The swinging time signature makes it hard to dance to. Why'd they add Fishman vocals? They don't help. Bouncin': Standard buzzkill. I sat down. The girls in front of me who used the bathroom during Free were in heaven. Figures. Possum: Ahh, just what we need. The first build up was played with an all fall down signal and well, Trey and Mike fell down! Rockin version with some great Trey leads towards the end. Definitely his night. Mike had some nice solo bass work as well and his vocals were right on. The lights are fun on this one. End of set 1. 2001: Always a good second set opener. The guy in front of me was dancing so hard I thought he was gonna combust. This segued into.... Maze: Yes! I was jonesin for this one. Incredible version that rivaled the one I heard at Great Woods this summer. This one was all Page and he was going sick on the hammonds for the first half of the number. Trey nearly matched his fury with his soloing as well. A definite highlight. Simple: The ultimate Phish anthem. Standard, but fun. Towards the end, Trey winds it down and Fishman can be seen walking towards center stage with a tiny acoustic guitar.... Faht: Whoa! This was extremely unexpected according to HPB, this must've been the tenth time. Sounds just like it does on Nectar, right down to the foghorn noises. This prepared us for Tweezer: I was worried because I remember sitting through the 35 min. behemoth on 6/28, but this was a surprise. First 7 minutes standard, but then the tempo picks up to about Bowie speed. From there, the boys embarked on a speedy jam that was unlike anything I have ever heard out of Tweezer. Sort of like 12/30, except not as mannered. I couldn't stop dancing as groove was much more reminiscent of Bowie or Antelope. Incredible new direction for Tweezer that made my show. Very interesting, eventually, the tempo slowed down and it almost sounded like the beginning of a Cannonball Jam, but lead into, Day in the Life: Fun, but standard. I'm starting to get sick of it. Golgi: Normally this one annoys me too, but it hasn't been played in awhile and the set placement was unique. Standard with the usual bursts of bright light during "I SAW YOU!!" Squirming Coil: Very nice with the usual Page expertise towards the end. I think he even teased Carol of the Bells. This usally ends the set, but we needed to make room for, Tweezer Reprise: Always one of the best set closers. This one rocked. Bold As Love: I was hoping for GTBT, but this was an appropriate and good encore. It's always great to hear Page on vocals and I hadn't heard this one in awhile. Plus it was about 10 minutes as opposed to Hendrix's 4! Overall I'd have to give the show a 7.5 out of 10. Incredible jams in Tweezer, Free, Maze and Possum were brought down by standard versions of album songs. Prince Caspian was a loser of a choice for an opener as well. Still, you will want to hear Tweezer on the tapes...so be on the lookout. See ya in Worcester! -Dave Goldstein, NPDP32C@Prodigy. com ------------------------------------------------- From: -name removed- Subject: 12/2/95 New Haven Review... After five showless months, us Northeasterners were finally able to see our favortie band again! Yea! Traffic wasn't bad getting in, and as far as I know the parking garage didn't fill up. As for the scene, the garage seemed to be where it was at. Besides the thousands of ticketless miracle seekers, there didn't seem to be any major problems. Cool bumper stickers, lots of funny winter hats, hack circles galore and eternally cold beer - a thin slice of heaven, basically :)! Getting in was quite an ordeal. Let me start this out by saying that the New Haven Coliseum has by far the worst layout I've ever seen. Add in an extremely inexperienced and unprepared security crew, and you've got the potential for really bad things. There was only ONE entrance to the whole place, on the side, and by the time 6:30 came around a crowd of around 3,000 had amassed in front of the stairs, all eager to get in. A security guy then came out with a megaphone and informed everyone the "you must have a ticket to enter" - no shit! A roar from the crowd then errupted and the mob charged foward and up the stairs - it is an absolute miracle no one got hurt. There was no search whatsoever, and I don't think the ticket takers did anything more then glance at anyone's ticket before ripping it. Inside was pretty much a free-for-all as far as seats go until you got inside the first 15 rows on the floor. My friend and I settled in about 5 row up from the floor on Page's side, and encountered no hassels at all. NICE... The show started around 7:55... Prince Caspian is a great song, but not a great opener. It's way too soft and sweet...I think it fits best after a really intense jam or rockin song, like Maze or Chalkdust. But this version was nice nonetheless. Runaway Jim was the real opener. This was a relatively short version, but got the crowd movin and shakin. The jam was nice and not too drawn out, like some Jims. Mound and Guelah were VERY standard and, IMHO, didn't fit in so early in the set. They are both pretty slow-paced songs, and Phish usually starts off their shows strong. The band was clearly tired from doing 5 shows in a row, and seemed to be in dire need of a day off. But the best was yet to come. The band finally picked up the pace with a boppin Reba, which featured a marvelous solo section that built up ever so slowly and evenly. The band was in no rush, and Trey's guitar was screamin' for a long time. The crowd got really into it. My Sweet One built on the Reba intensity and got the people movin even more. Real fun to see live. Next came Free, the one song I REALLY wanted to see. To be honest, I was a little dissapointed. The verses were standard, but once the jam began Trey immeadiatly went over to his little drum setup and started to pound out a very boring beat for the full 5 minute jam. I think the percussion is a good idea and all, but I wish he'd play his guitar on this one. The lighting effects during this song are unbleieveable, BTW. Chris managed to literally slow down time itself and make the whole coliseum seem as if it were moving in slow motion. Incredible. Free seagued right into another new tune... Fog that Surrounds. I saw this one at Waterloo over the summer and it completely blew me away. I then heard the Fishman version of it and thought it was horrible. I really like the new combination thing, though. I think Fishmans part sounds really bad alone, but when sung together with Trey's part the song really clicks. The ending jam was great, as it always is :). Bouncing gave us dancers a chance catch our breath and rest. Thanks Phish :). Possum was next and was definitly the highlight of the set. They started it off with the fall down signal. I fell down, freaked the shit out of the woman in front of me, and now have a nasty bruise on my leg thanks to that damn arm rest that got in my way...oh well. The band didn't have quite as many problems (it's easy for them...they've got the whole stage to fall on), and seemed pretty comfortable lying there on the floor. They actually jammed a bit while still lying down, but rose just in time for Fish's opening drum roll. This Possum absolutly ROCKED the whole way, and the crowd loved every minute of it. It kept going and going, and when the dust cleared, the first set was over. All in all, a pretty lop sided set with moments of pure joy generously dispersed throughout. The half hour set break featured Friday Afternoon in the Universe (fit right in with my Medeski shirt) and really large, cheap sodas. The second set began with a game of glow rod catch between Trey and the audience. That's guy's got quite an arm - he launched that last one way past the 25th row! 2001 got the crowd back into groove mode, and the lights made the smoke filled coliseum look pretty space like (whatever the hell that means). Maze instantly put all 12,000 people into "the zone", and pretty much set the pace for the set. It featured one of the best Page/Maze/organ solos I've ever heard - the chairman just wouldn't stop! It was hard for Trey to match that, but I think it's safe to say that he rose to the occasion. Great version all around. Simple was next, and the opening riff really set the crowd off. The woman that danced across the stage stole the show, though. I can't believe it took secutity that long to get he off. The look on Trey and Mike's faces were classic - "Who WAS that masked man?". The ending jam was nice and mellow, and broght everyone down. We then got a real treat... FAHT! Seeing Fishman waddle out to the front of the satge with his dress and little acoustic guitar is reason enough to cheer. The version was complete with jungle/city noises at the end, which brings us to... "The Tweezer". I've lovingly given this Tweezer the offical title of "Psycho Tweezer from Hell". Out of the 400+ hours of Phish I have on tape this is by far the best version I've EVER heard. It started out unusally upbeat, and the sound was just perfect. Everyone was hitting their parts really solidly. The jam began the way it usually does, with the drum beat still going and a nice bass line. After a minute or two the jam started to get extremely intense, and Fishman upped the anti and started playing DOUBLE TIME!! The rest of the band agressively followed his lead, and before long Phish was rockin like I've never heard them rock before! It was like Whipping Post meets The Eleven meets the end of David Bowie, but even better. The jam went on at full speed for around 5-6 minutes, with each member absolutly raging the whole time! I've never danced so hard in my life, and actually had to stop for a few seconds to keep from passing out. The jam finally slowed down a bit, and Trey hit "the note" to start the "melt down". This melt down was different from any other I've heard, and had kind of a Walk Away like blues riff going on. The rest of the show was anti-climatic, and featured 4 show closers. Day in the Life was standard and was a nice cool down. Golgi was a real crowd pleaser, and made everyone happy. Coil featured yet another amazing Page solo (don't they all?). I always find it amazing how quiet the crowd get during the solo - I think Page's talent literally puts everyone in awe. Tweezer Rep. had the crowd SCREAMING for more... I thought for sure we'd get Rocky Topped encore-wise, but to everyone's delight we were Bold as Loved instead! This is a great encore. Nuff said. All in all a great second set. The Tweezer alone was worth the price of the ticket! Getting out of the parking garage after the show was insane. Like sitting in gridlock for an hour straight. The worst part of it was, it was all because of the two guys collecting the $5 parking fee at the bottem! Shouldn't they have done that as we came in?? Other random thoughts: 1)the chess game is getting very involved. I wish I knew haow to play better. 2)Trey looks REALLY weird with the short hair, long beard, and thick black galsses. Makes him look like some kind of crazy uncle or mad scientist or something. 3) Is anyone else wondering what that really nice video camera the band has set up at the soundboard is for? Sorry this was SOO Long...Catch you later... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 14:58:38 -0500 (EST) From: Jonathan Epstein Subject: 12/2/95 12/2/95 - New Haven Coliseum, New Haven, CT Here's my take on Saturday's show at the New Haven Coliseum.... Yuck... this was one crappy venue. No ventilation whatsoever and it seemed like everyone was smoking. Even at 7:15 or so long before they would go on, the room was way too hazy. Set 1 ***** What a horribly lame opener...Caspian. Like I said before, this tune has got to go. Jim was an excellent choice next. This, for me was the real opener. I'm beginning to like Mound more every time I hear it. This was less dark than the summer Mounds. It almost fell apart at one point, but recovered nicely. I was excited to hear Guelah for some reason. Maybe I'm just getting retro, I dunno. :) REBA! I was so psyched for Reba. I heard Trey play notes I have never heard before. Little blues-type bends. Solid version. Free was excellent. It got very spacey and Trey was playing with his toys while changing his guitar sounds and notes with pedals on the floor. This is one of the best versions Ive seen live (though 6/10 still stands up on the tapes! check out that amazing Free) I was also excited for Possum. Ive been saying this since 92 (the beginning of the language), but the language was just got to go. Of all the silly gimmicks Phish does, this is the silliest, and I dont care much for it. But Possum was excellent, nonetheless. Got quiet and built up nicely. Good good closer. Set 2 ***** 2001-> Maze was cool. Not having seen the Hershey setlist from the night before, I was hoping for Mike's. You see, the 2 songs Ive seen the most are Mikes and Bouncing (16 times each). Mikes was ahead before the show (16-15) and when I heard Bouncing, I was just hoping that Mikes would show up second set to take the lead back. Maybe tonight or tomorrow, though at Umass. Simple followed and was excellent. Very tight ending jam, then Fish came off the riser, grabbing an acoustic and gravitated towards the front of the stage, where Trey gave him his vocal mic for the guitar. Faht emerged wonderfully out of Simple. I had never seen Faht before. The lights were cool (they are amazing this tour, actually.) but I which the train had been a little better, but thats not really important. Tweezer came right out of Faht. When people have asked me how the show was, I tell them one thing, "Excellent Tweezer." And indeed it was an excellent Tweezer. Probably 15 minutes or so of solid rocking jamming. The ending to me sounded just like Bowie. I even screamed "It's f*@!ing Bowie!" a few times. Probably the highlight of the show. I was psyched to get to Day in the Life again, because I totally missed it at the Fox due to some boneheads and there seats (see my Fox run review). Golgi = New England (its the Great Woods theme song! :) I was a little disappointed when they started up Coil, but the ending jam was excellent. Really cool. An exceptional Coil jam. I used to not care for Reprise, I preferred the old ending of Tweezer, back in the days when it was called "The Tweezer Song". Bold as Love was a great encore. I'm very excited about the Umass shows tonight and tomorrow. Got great seats due to mail order (thanks Shelly and Phish). The lights are top-notch this tour. Later. Jon.