ubject: 10/29 review (longish)
From: eflagg@mailer.fsu.edu (Ed Flagg)

Hello. This'll be short 'cause I got no time, and this is my first review,
and I didn't take notes other than the set list, bitchmoancomplain, and so
on with the show:

PHISH  10/29/96   LEON COUNTY CIVIC CENTER, TALLAHASSEE, FL

(unofficial setlist)

SET I
Chalkdust Torture;  Guelah Papyrus;   Cars, Trucks, & Buses;  Taste;
Bouncing Round the Room;  Stash;  Train Song;  Billy Breathes;  Poor
Heart;
David Bowie

SET II
Rift;  Mike's Song-->?Hydrogen (Fog Jam!);  Silent in the Morning;
Weekapauge Groove;  Wedge;  Character Zero*;  Suspicious Minds**;  Slave
to
the Traffic Light;  Ragtime Gal***

ENCORE
Good Times, Bad Times

* ends with a vocal _arrangement_, not a jam, _nice_.
**Trey on Fish's kit, Fish in ELVIS cape, doesn't forget lyrics, and bows
and kisses to the audience before he leaves. Trey calls him Charlton
Heston, and claims this is the first appearance of C. H. on this tour.
***a capella, though mic'd (yeah!)

///APOLOGIES TO THE KILLER PERCUSSIONIST WHO PLAYED TONIGHT, I DIDN'T GET
YOUR NAME. _CAN'T WAIT_ TO SEE YOU ON HALLOWEEN!!!///

Ach, the show!! Our first since 11/12/95, so I was pretty hyper as my
wife,
Amy, and I walked over to the venue. We were there early, and got turned
off by the begging, but the scene was alright. Cops were out, confiscating
beers and coolers and yelling and arresting, but they were being taunted
needlesssly, and some moron slashed the tires on two squad cars. But it
was
mostly mellow, nice, and friendly.

Overall the show was competent, which for Phish means excellent. No
transcendental moments (for me, anyway), but a fine level of performance
all the way through.

The show started with Chalkdust, which brought up the energy level,
definitely some butt-shaking rythms (Amy's phrase) going on! Then Guelah
seemed so damn natural to follow. Love that jig they do! Almost not enough
room on stage for the big kicks. Car, Trucks, & Buses was standard, a
little Page jam going on, a clean showing. Then Fish started those
paradiddles on the cowbell & tom (or was it the snare with the snares
off?)
leading into Taste, and this was a near transportable moment, when Mike
came in with those "power-notes." Sweet jamming. Then BRTR had the whole
arena on its feet. WOWZA!!!  The harmonies were typically sweet. Then a
par
Stash, nothing I noticed out of the ordinary, then... Train Song! I've
read
that some folks don't like this one too much, but it does transport me a
bit. Mike was ON with the vocals. Tasty fare. Then Billy, and again,
standard stuff here. The lights were sweet, at one point it was JUST like
we were underwater! Poor Heart next, talk about getting the energy back
up!
Actually, the energy throughout the show was pretty high, they just
moderated it very well. Poor Heart had me stompin' my foot and clapping my
hands. Was on a riser about 5-8 rows off the floor, so it was some LOUD
stompin'! Then Trey walks over to Fish, says something, then Fish starts
in
on the high-hat, and trey noodles with some toy he has, electronic drums,
I
think, and you know, every time I here Fish working the high-hat like that
I think "Bowie," and sure enough, Trey eventually bangs out the opening
chords. They really open this up, jamming pretty fierce, then
recover--they
recover SO WELL--to end the set.

After a 30-minute 15-minute break, we're back.

By the way, Fish showed some real class last night. He toned down in
intensity and volume, and talked with the guest percussionist while they
played, letting the guy get into the groove in his own time. This made for
some EXCELLENT music. I've always respected Fish's playing, and admired
his
whimsy, but he's a pretty classy guy, too. Anyway...

Rift was a good opener, Fish was classily subdued AND he didn't get
off-tempo [Jon, Jon, Jon, will you ever live that down? :-) I shall never
mention it again!] Where was I? Oh, yeah. Mike's Song was tight, good
vocals, then they segued into I THINK Hydrogen, and then it got all trippy
with the smoke/fog machine going into overdrive and the lights going
strobe/colored/ flashing laser ecstacy, and the boyz all noodling. Then a
quiet transition to SITM, Page was ON, the lights were sweet, as usual, it
moved right along. Then...Mike damn near slapped his bass silly with that
opener to Weekapague (spelling?). It ROCKED, at one point he looked up and
his mouth was ajar and he had that glazed look like he was working his ass
off but was also in a very cool place musically. Wedge, well, I love
Wedge,
especially the second verse. Again, pretty standard fare, but oh, how
sweet, intense, and musically delicious! Character Zero was _hard_, like
someone pounding a giant fist on the stage, a rousing, thumping 4/4
blitzkreig during the chorus. ThenSuspicious Minds: Fish farts around in
an
electric(!) cape as... the King! Either that, or a transexual vampire who
want to BE the king. After some posing/posturing and general muscial
chairs, we get the opener to SLAVE, and here is about the closest I come
to
being "hosed," I felt myself lift off just a touch, but then I became too
aware of it and the transcendant moment collapsed. Sweet tune, though.
Finally, Ragtime gal was cool, MIC'D, thank god, and the percussionist
sitting in with them came down and percussed while the boyz harmonized.
Encore? Why, a little Good Times, Bad Times, thanks so much! Sweet. Fish
really could have hung with Bonham, you know? (Flame not, lest ye be
flamed).

And that's was pretty much it.

NOTES
1. You know, it really IS better sober, Toto, it really is!
2. To the person(s) who slashed the tires on two cop cars in the parking
lot during the show: stay home next time, you fucking moron(s).

This show ROCKED!!  On to Halloween!!!


:-P,

--ed
eflagg@mailer.fsu.edu

=======================================================
You are a warped individual.....
glad to see that an education hasn't changed you!
                                   -- CTIC (NAC) E. J. Smith (Ret.)
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