I second this. Outstanding. Some more than others, but overall, forget it. BGCA is a great place to see this band, because it's small for them these days. L.A. Forum not so much, but that's still fairly small as today's arenas go. Also, they always do a single show in L.A. At BGCA you get three, so you can see the momentum from show to show. I made it through 11 of the Baker's shows in quick order, but I never got to the last two, but they're on my phone waiting. Not too long ago I was listening to not Phish but a lot of TAB shows, because I figured that's what we'd be getting here in the Fall, and we did. Two good ones, esp. the second.
Night 1 was my first. Changed my life forever. The experience resonates to this day. Yeah they were en fuego in those days, with Aug 93, Nov 94 and Dec 95 being really peak months. They did a bit of searching for a bit after that only to give us Fall 97-the Island Tour which was when my interest started to drift a bit and I found some of the “looser” aspects of their approach less to my liking. To be sure they’ve played plenty of excellent, top-shelf shows since then and continued to push the envelope in different ways musically. They also consistently try to provide quality experiences for fans. ‘Rift’ is still a regular go-to album...a neat quasi-concept album about an relationship, with good production, excellent playing and some of their best songs. Acquired a vinyl copy recently which sounds really, really great!
11/20/92 Albany was my 1st show. So many quintessential songs so powerfully and deftly played. Balcony at The Palace was seriously bouncing. So great discovering all the songs, meeting folks in person and on rec.music.phish, B&P tape trading...heady times, man...
I was under the balcony in Port Chester for most of those two Nov '92 shows. It was nerve-wracking seeing how much it was moving up and down above us.
lol. I remember that well. The friend I was with was completely freaked out by that. I was so enraptured by The Divided Sky I barely noticed.
I was there! That was my third show, although it strains credulity to call the first time I ran into them "a show." It was a show but I only saw the first set and I didn't know who they were. I guess they quit two songs into the second set, because no one was caring, or not many. I guess that changed.
My friend Martin, a Phish veteran, was also at the 11/20/92 show and during Terrapin when Fish is giving the band introductions and asks what his own name is (at 3:00 minutes in), Martin shouts “Henrietta” - to which Fish replies “No...........my name is <<???????>>. The SBD stream on Relisten is crystal clear and I still wonder what Fish was saying. And fun to hear Martin immortalized on tape...
For the dorks who like to follow this kind of thing... check out Trey's new rig. Love the fact there is a "Trey 94" switch. 2017 CAE Rig Overhaul
I went to the first and third night of this run, but unfortunately skipped this show because I was also catching up and hanging out with some old college friends in NYC who weren't going to the shows, so that was my night to spend lots of time with them. I wound up at Gloria Steinem's apartment of all places, some friend of a friend was housesitting for her, and I think I managed to clean up the red wine that I spilled there... you couldn't take me anywhere back then. I like to think i've slightly improved over the years, but who knows. All I really know is that jewels and binoculars hang from the head of a mule.
Thanks for the kind words! This was a fun episode to put together. Can't complain about listening to a few amazing fall 97 shows! If anyone is coming to the NYE run, check us out at American Beauty preshow on 12/29 as part of the PhanArt show: HF Pod Live 12.29 American Beauty 3pm
I have literally never (at least knowingly) heard anything by Phish. What would be the archetypal essential (as in the essence of) Phish record to listen to first, which would encapsulate Phish as musicians and songwriters, not by what they evolved into in live performances, etc.? Something that's mature enough to represent the baseline Phish musical experience but with their greatness still ahead? Analogous to American Beauty as your first Dead album, or The Who Sell Out, or Frank Zappa and Uncle Meat? I'll monitor the responses for a while before I go listen to any. (or should this be a new thread?)
Yes, start with A Live One. The first track's a nice 3 minute pop song, so that's an easy start. But if you can make it through all 12 minutes of track 2, particularly the second half of it, without shouting "WTF is this? There's no tune!" then you might be OK to continue further exploration.
Read back through this thread as the question has been discussed a number of times. But keep in mind that there is no true answer. To my point, I would not consider any of the albums you listed as my preferred entry points for those artists. It’s all subjective.