3.14.93 Western State College Gym - Gunnison, CO II: Halley's > Bowie Curtis Loew > YEM ridiculousness Lifeboy Rift BBJ The Great Gig In The Sky > HYHU Coil
I've been revisiting "Live Bait Vol. 4" this week. So good it's almost ridiculous. Kevin Shapiro really does an excellent job curating these compilations. From Wikipedia: Live Bait, Vol. 04 - Past Summers is a live download by band Phish. The song selection was compiled by Phish archivist Kevin Shapiro, and was released May 2011. This download features highlights from previous summer tours, and was released shortly before Phish's 2011 summer tour. It was available for free on the official Phish website for a short time. It is now available for purchase from Phish's LivePhish website. Track listing "Scent Of A Mule" (Gordon) - 12:05 (1996-06-06 Joyous Lake - Woodstock, NY) Contains an instrumental tease of Sunshine of Your Love by Cream "You Enjoy Myself" (Anastasio) - 25:00 (1999-07-15 PNC Bank Arts Center - Holmdel, NJ) "The Landlady > Tweezer" (Anastasio; Anastasio, Fishman, Gordon, McConnell) - 16:27 (1993-08-12 Meadow Brook Music Festival - Rochester Hills, MI) "Mike's Song > Contact > Weekapaug Groove" (Anastasio, Fishman, Gordon, McConnell) - 36:46 (1995-06-20 Blossom Music Center - Cuyahoga Falls, OH) "Split Open And Melt" (Anastasio) - 15:10 (1994-06-21 Cincinnati Music Hall - Cincinnati, OH) "N02" (Gordon) - 5:36 (1999-07-13 Tweeter Center aka Great Woods - Mansfield, MA) "My Friend My Friend > McGrupp And The Watchful Hosemasters" (Anastasio, Marshall) - 17:54 (1993-08-07 Darien Lakes Performing Arts Center - Darien Center, NY) "Twist > Slave To The Traffic Light" (Anastasio, Marshall; Abrahams, Anastasio, Marshall, Pollak) - 29:50 (2000-07-04 E Centre - Camden, NJ) "Free > What's The Use" (Anastasio, Marshall; Anastasio, Fishman, Gordon, McConnell) - 19:27 (1999-07-09 Merriweather Post Pavilion - Columbia, MD) "Axilla > My Sweet One > Run Like An Antelope" (Anastasio, Marshall; Fishman; Anastasio, Herman, Marshall, Pollak) - 17:38 (1993-07-28 Grady Cole Center - Charlotte, NC) "David Bowie > Catapult > David Bowie " (Anastasio; Gordon) - 13:12 (1994-06-29 Walnut Creek Amphitheater - Raleigh, NC) "Divided Sky" (Anastasio) - 15:28 (1997-08-02 Gorge Amphitheatre - George, WA
I was at 1999-07-09 Merriweather Post Pavilion - Columbia, MD for the Free > What's The Use from this set. Another track from this show was just released on Live Bait 14 (Runaway Jim). I REALLY wish they would just release the whole damn show.
12/30/13 NYC Random selection for today. Okay, it's not totally random in that I picked this show for the upbeat-looking setlist and the fact that it's loaded with songs i'm familiar with at this point. In other words, high-energy+songs I like=success!
I've not bothered to get any of these sets. Would you consider them album-comparable listens as far as content goes? I mean, it's random tracks but do these seem to work pretty good as actual sets/releases?
Nice. Like several of us, I suspect, I was at the Gorge for that Divided Sky in '97. Spectacular, especially in that setting.
I'll let others answer, but one related suggestion: you might try the Live Phish app. Even if you don't pay for a subscription there are a few rotating free shows, usually including one of those Live Bait sets.
I always picture those kinds of settings when I hear Divided Sky... There is a great version from Red Rocks, maybe '94, that I used to listen to all the time. It's a perfect song for an outdoor venue on a nice day.
YES these hold together well and for a free release have always been worth checking out. I can drift far far away from the Phish realm at times, and have gone though chunks of times where I would go to shows but did not want to really listen to shows, but whenever there was a new Live Bait download I would make a point of grabbing it and checking it out.
Controversial indeed. I was there, and was bored to death when Trey was running around with the megaphone during Tweezer. I only saw Phish two more times after that show. Luckily, the next two were more interesting for me. To my group of friends, it was obvious that something was going on (wrong) with Trey at that point, and many of us just moved on to other bands and concerts after that.
Oh yes indeedy! They're full of great individual picks. But it depends how you listen to your Phish, really. I very rarely, OK let's make that never, have time to listen to a full show straight through. So my ipod has a Phish section divided into individual years, and I just put my favourite tracks in there. So, for example, 1998 has 4 Hoods, 4 Slaves and 3 Rebas. But I only need 1 Cavern or Golgi. And, of course, no Character Zeros.
I am an old school fan. 1.0. I like Phish songs that are complex and composed with some super creative jamming thrown in. Their jamming then went places (90-93). The tension and release was amazing. It lifted me off my feet. The Tweezer jam from 95 is boring compared to what I had heard them do previously. Hardly any key changes, no otherworldly ideas floating between the band members, no audience interaction. The magic I was used to was gone with that song. It wasn't jamming. It was meaningless noodling instead. As a musician myself, it was the first time Phish didn't impress me with their improvising skills. I attribute the boring factor to the beginning of Trey's drug issues. He used to practice guitar even when he was at the grocery store shopping. When he stopped doing that, and started drugging it up instead, the music went from complex to pretty ordinary.
Have a look at some of the comments on this one. Some people hype, and some were very much not hype about set II. Jun 22, 1995 Setlist - Phish.net
You might like it, man. I don't know. Like I said before, Phish were musician's musicians when I first went to see them, so my love for them comes from how well they communicated without saying a word, and how crazy Trey's composing was at the time. As a musician myself, I went to their shows for other reasons than many fans would.
Different strokes for different folks. Yea, I really have been drawn to the "early" stuff (95 and before) for all the crazy Zappa-esque stuff like Reba or It's Ice or YEM, etc.