Subject: Review of Evil Oil-Lord Arena (Sacramento CA, 11/30/96)
From: MWRowe@Csa5.LBL.Gov (Mike Rowe)

Hey all,

I wasn't going to bother to review this show (11/30), but I got sick of
reading all the glowing reviews.  Also, I have time to kill while my
beamline pumps down, so what the HEY...

I'm not a newbie.

The scene: There were a lot of people outside.  Some of them looked like
"hippies".  There were also a lot of people inside.  Not as many as
outside though.  (After the show, the parking lot was confusing.  The
lots go all around the arena and the outside of the arena looks about
the same from all sides.)

I was right in the middle of the floor for the whole show.  The sound
seemed fine to me.  (BTW, to all the people bitching about the sound at
the Cow Palace, I didn't think it was significantly better at ARCO.  At
the Palace, I was also right in the middle of the floor.)

First set:

Runaway Jim:  I hate this song.  I have hated this song since the first
time I heard it.  They didn't really jam on it.

PYITE:  This song disappeared for a while and so everybody wanted
desparately to hear Phish play it again.  It was okay.  Though I hate
the governor of California as much as the next commie bastard, I
questioned the wisdom of singing "Wilson, Wilson, I kill you 'til you
die" two miles away from his house.  Just seems like you're begging for
some dumbass Sacto reporter who's reviewing the show to misinterpret
this.  And then you (the band) get busted again on the drive down to
L.A.  Guess I don't know shit though...

All Things Reconsidered:  I really have no opinion of this song or this
particular performance thereof.

Bouncin':  Yay.  

Stash:  Okay, now things are going to start rockin'!  Never really got
into it that much, though.

Fluffhead:  I thought this was the highlight of the show.  I don't know
(or care) if they played it perfectly, but I thought the jam section
jammed pretty well, though it didn't blow my mind or anything.  BTW, I
called a first set Fluffhead (i.e. I figured they'd play it), so I guess
I was sort of hoping for it...

Old Home Place/ Uncle Pen:  I really dig bluegrass a lot.  However, I
wouldn't say this is what I was hoping to hear at this particular
moment.  Whatever; it's not like Phish usually asks my opinion before
they make up their collective mind.  This was pretty cool.  McEuen is a
pretty damn good banjo player.  The communication onstage seemed pretty
off to me; first McEuen was jamming away over the vocals, then it seemed
like they couldn't decide who should be taking a solo.  It worked well
enough, I guess.  I'm sure it would have been a lot smoother if he had
been playing with them for the last thirteen years.

Caspian:  I was hoping they'd play this-- now I've seen the whole
album.  It was pretty cool.

Chalkdust Torture:  Yay.  

By now you may have the impression that I hated this set and that I had
vowed to never waste my money on Phish again.  Well, no... it was okay,
just not up to standards, in-my-not-so-humble-opinion.  I give it a...
3!

Setbreak:  I went to get some stuff to drink.  I asked the nice lady who
sold me my drink (and handled my loan application) if I could please
have a cover for my drink.  She said no.  I said, "are they someplace
else?"  She said, "no, this is an NBA stadium."  At that moment, I
attained enlightenment.  No doubt the reincarnation of Joshu.

Set II:

Okay, I'm not going to go through this set in as much detail, because
being so negative is getting me down.  Aside from that, I need to go
leak-check my beamline (sorry to make you all jealous; I bet that's what
YOU wish you were doing at 11 at night!)

This set had a lot of obscure songs in it.  Two of them (LaGrange and
Timber) I hadn't seen since at least '90.  I totally dig Brother.  Glide
was great.  I will always love Contact (my first Phish tune, more or
less).  Although It's Ice is probably my least favorite of their jam
songs, it did have a little space/jam in it (though I thought the part
where they were all just pounding on their instruments was one of the
lamest things I've ever seem them do.  The end of the jam was okay
though).  By the time they did ASZ, I was finally getting into the
show.  I was ready at that point for a good long, structurally alternate
Tweezer or Mike's or Bowie or Antelope or Theme.  And then Apfelbaum
came out.  Okay, this is cool, I thought.  They did Timber Ho!, and it
was pretty cool.  Okay, I wouldn't mind if he left now.  Oh wait,
Apfelbaum has taken it upon himself to lead the band through some
cheezy-ass Kenny G type of shit!  JOY!!!  It would definitely have been
okay for him to leave at this point.  Instead they do Taste.  It wasn't
any better than at Cow Palace.  LEAVE NOW.  Funky Bitch.  Cool song,
played well enough, but at this point I have a feeling that the long jam
is slipping away.  Finally he leaves (pumping his sax in the air a few
times as he goes.)  A capella tune is... Amazing Grace.  The same damn a
capella tune they do EVERY TIME I SEE THEM DO ONE.  Oh well, at least
now they will leave the stage and, I am hoping, come back and play a
long, jamming, UNACCOMPANIED 'Possum.  

But no.

Who is that I see slinking back onto the stage?  Why it's John McEuen! 
And here comes that charming Apfelbaum fellow.  Again.  I never did make
up my mind if this "Amazing Grace jam" was moving or just cheezy... too
many cooks, yadda yadda yadda.

I got my 'Possum encore.  It wasn't up to expectations.

Okay, okay, I know I sound like a spoiled brat.  I'm sorry.  I feel
guilty about posting such a negative review.  

When I used to go to Dead shows, I was there for the space.  When I go
to Phish shows, I'm there to hear the beat drop out from under me and
mutate into something mechanical and unstoppable then gradually ease
into a structure that is quiet and flowing, followed with a long slow
build into something huge and jubilant.  (Sounds kind of like Hood,
huh?  I want to hear it in the middle of Sample though.  Actually, you
know what I was hoping for this show?  A FIFTY-MINUTE SAMPLE!!!!  Just
to keep us all on our toes, you know? ;-))  At this show, I felt like
they didn't even try to go there.  So I was disappointed.

This show had a lot of cool, obscure songs played with a couple of very
talented guest musicians.  At times, these musicians added a great deal
to the music and I liked the fact that they were there.  Just one
rockin' tune after another.  But I never really got into it.  I like
Phish better without guests-- they swing better.

Alright, I REALLY have to go leak-check now (btw, this is NOT an obscure
urination euphemism.)  I give this show a King-Moron-420Dank
Refuse-to-Rate rating.  

If anyone agrees with me about any of this, please let me know so I know
that I'm not insane.  If anyone wants to prove to me how wrong I am, I'd
be willing to do a trade for the tapes (I've got about 300 hours, about
fifty of which are pre-91).  I'm looking for San Francisco and Vancouver
as well (shameless grovel.)  

Mike (the BEAST)

"lahh lahh la lalahhhhhh, life is just a BUNDLE OF JOY!!!!! :))))"
----------------------------------------------------
Subject: Sacramento Setlist
From: Randy Ward 

Hi everyotherphish,
   Just in from a killer show. even better than last night
at the Cow Palace. What a setlist!!!

set 1: Runaway Jim, Punch You In the Eye, All things Reconsidered,
       Bouncin', Stash, Fluffhead, My Old Home Place*, Uncle Penn*
       Prince Caspian, Chalkdust Torture

set 2: La Grange, It's Ice, Glide, Brother, Contact, 2001, Timber
       Ho#, Taste#, Funky Bitch#, Amazing Grace (a'capella),
       Amazing Grace (electric!)#$

encore: Possum#$

* - with a Banjo Player, I believe Tom McKuen(sp) from 
    the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
# - with a Saxaphone Player (forgot his name)
$ - with a guest musician sitting in front of Fishman,
    sounded like a steel guitar, looked like a violin

The Saxophone was AWESOME, Timber Ho! was jammed hard. The
electric 'Grace with the slide and the sax was sooooooooo
beautiful. And whatta 'Possum to close it out. Probably the
best show musically that I have heard on the West Coast. I
still think 12-30-93 Portland, ME beats 'em all, but I saw
an amazing show this very night.

   -Randy out

THANK YOU PHISH!!!
-------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 11/30 Arco Arena setlist and QUICK comments (more later)
From: Darius.Zelkha@oberlin.edu

11/30/96 @ Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA

I: Runaway Jim, Punch you in the eye -> quick messy jam, All Things 
Reconsidered, Bouncing, Stash, Fluffhead, My Old home place*, Uncle 
Penn*, Prince Caspian, Chalkdust

II: La Grange, It's Ice (w/ a CRAZY middle jam), Glide, Brother, Contact, 
2001# -> Timber Ho^ -> Classical piano/sax jam? -> Taste^, Funky Bitch^, 
Amazing Grace, Amazing Grace jam (with instruments, slow, bluesy)*^

E: Possum*^

* - w/Jon McCuanne (sp?), of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, on banjo or Dobro
# - serious James Brown teases/jams in between heads (I think it was 
SUPERFAT or SUPERFLY that was teased numerous times)
^ - w/Peter Applebound (sp?) on Tenor Sax


This was, imo, the better of the two shows, though there wasn't much
jamming.  The song list and guests were great, and the general playing
level was really pretty high.

The JIM that opened the first set was fairly predictable.  Strong JIM --
nothing too over the top, but strong.  PYITE works SO DAMN WELL as a 2nd
song, and this was a really strong, fairly jammed version.  They really
opened up the opening groovy segment (from the beginning to the first
"HEY!"), with Trey really taking his time in playing the chords, and
groovily funking along in the spaces between lines.  After a bit of this,
Fishman started shouting "Get up offa that thing!" ala James Brown --
really hilarious (Fish repeated this a few times).  The JAM that followed
PYITE was a bit of a mess;  it consisted of Fish banging on the drums, and
Trey, Mike and Page playing random chords in time with him, while Trey
side-stepped across the floor.  Interesting.  It only went on for a minute
or two, but was interesting.

STASH was good as well.  Again, similar to JIM -- nothing too notable, but
a strong version.  FLUFF was well-played, with a few minor flubs by Trey
but overall very strong.  The jam at the end (post "FLUFFHEAD!!!!") was
really drawn out, with a long, building, rock-out solo by Trey !!! ;-)
Really great stuff.

John McEuen came out (this guy looks EXACTLY like Kenny Rogers, fwiw) and
played a bit of banjo for the next two bluegrass tunes, and it was
cool...i
guess.  I will say though, that while everyone on-stage was having a GREAT
time (McEuen seemed to be LOVING it, as was Trey), I was happy when McEuen
left and the rest of the band stayed after Uncle Penn.  I didn't want a
repeat of the first set of the last night of Red Rocks '96 (yuck).

CASPIAN was severly jammed.  They jammed the intro (with fish using
mallets
on the cymbals), REALLY jammed louder segment of the song that follows the
vocals (for a long time, no solos, just a thick jam), and then jammed the
quiet segment as well.  Very nice version of CASPIAN -- so nice, in fact,
that while I was disappointed when it started, I was loving it by the end.
CHALKDUST rocked the house to close the set, with Trey doing some
different
stuff (very disco-esque) for in between segments of his solo, and rocking
out as usual.

Set II was my favorite set of the two shows, by far.  LA GRANGE opened the
set, which was a huge surprise.  Well jammed, with Trey taking a nice,
long, patient solo.  ICE followed, and was taken a bit faster than usual
--
fast enough so that Trey was having some trouble with some of the composed
stuff.  The middle jam of ICE was BALLISTIC.  By far the WILDEST middle
jam
of ICE that _I've_ ever heard.  Just insane -- started out in typical ICE
fashion, with Page and trey playing some sparce, spacey stuff and Fish
doing a lot of cymbal work.  Then, Trey just kept building effect over
effect onto the wall of sound (somewhat melodic, very interesting), with
the band getting increasingly louder, until it was just a MESS of sound
(don't take the word "Mess" negatively; actually, it sounded really cool
to
my ears, though it did have an element of insanity to it).  It got quiet,
and i was sure they were going to break back into ICE, when Trey started
playing this really dark, melodic line, again with a lot of pedal use.
They built it up again -- there was probably a tease of something in here
somewhere, but I couldn't place it...anyway, really wild jam.  Definitely
worth hearing.

GLIDE was a real treat, with Trey messing with the melody (intentionally)
a
bit, which was cool.

BROTHER was a particular favorite of mine, since I brought a BROTHER! sign
to Arco (and since I was 2nd row center, I'm sure they say it).  Not the
best version of BROTHER, to be honest, but strong none-the-less.  Trey
yelled "Steve McConnell!" at one point, and I was sure Steve was going to
come out (he was at the show, I believe), but to no avail.

CONTACT was a riot.  Standard CONTACT.

2001 was REALLY jammed out.  It had about 3 minutes of spacey stuff before
the drums kicked in, and a long while before Trey came in with the theme.
In between themes, they jammed for SO long, often times teasing SUPERFAT
(I
think that's what it's called) by James Brown, with Fishman often adding
"Get up offa that thing!" and other James Brown lines.  Really hilarious.
They must have teased/jammed this AT LEAST five or six times in this 2001.
Long, funky, cool version.  I was sure this was going into MIKE'S, but
then
heard the opening chords of TIMBER HO!.

A member of the crew set up a mic next to Trey, and I was sure Banjo-man
was coming out to play on TIMBER (and I was pretty excited for that -- I
tend to enjoy guests much more when they play on staple tunes of the PHISH
repetoire, such as Bela on SLAVE 11/29/95, etc.).  Instead, this guy named
Peter Apfelbaumcame out on Tenor Sax.  Pretty standard stuff; nothing too
wild in the Sax department.  The JAM in TIMBER went on for a really long
while though, with Trey directing a lot of Peter's playing, trading solos,
soloing together, getting loud and spacey, etc.  Cool stuff.

This segued into an instrumental song/jam (?) that really should be
included on the setlist.  It actually didn't sound like a JAM at all --
sounded very composed, and mainly consisted of Page on the piano and the
Sax-man playing together.  It sounded very...well....cheezy is the only
word.  I thought it may be some kind of an intro to STRANGE DESIGN or
something, if that tells you anything about the sound (not calling SD
cheezy or anything, but this Sax/piano thing was, sort-of).  It was
CLEARLY
composed (somewhat, at least) and clearly planned.  This segued right into
the opening of TASTE.

Sax-man took Trey's solo on TASTE, which didn't work that well, to my
ears.
It just didn't build in the same way it does when Trey solos.  Sax-man
also played a few licks in between verses and such.

FUNKY BITCH was next (which I was SURE was going to close the set), with
solos all around.  Cool version, very inspired.

As the boys sung GRACE, I noticed John McEuen setting up his dobro (that's
what a lap-guitar is called, right?) in front of Fish's kit, and as soon
as
the band finished, he kept the melody going on the dobro.  Very slow, with
a bluesy, country feel -- very beautiful.  Sax-man came back out, and the
band jammed on the GRACE melody for a while, and trey thanked everyone,
etc.  For a closing jam, it was actually really cool -- very chill.
Everyone on stage just looked SO _happy_ ;-)

I was absolutely positive that ROCKY TOP would be the encore (as you can
see, my predictions are absolutely meaningless).  When they began POSSUM,
I
went nuts.  THIS VERSION WAS A MONSTER.  SERIOUSLY -- hear this now!  Lots
of dobro on the intro, which just sounded SO COOL.  Trey was absolutely
loving it, and for good reason -- it really sounded GREAT.  The verses
were
standard, with lots of little fills and licks by the sax and dobro, on top
of the standard Phish stuff.

The solos were so much FUN!  John took the first solo, and I can't tell
you
how great a dobro sounds over the bluesy beat of Possum.  Just great.
AFter building up that, Trey took a brief solo, old-school machine gun
trey
style (which, if you've read my posts, I enjoy _in the song POSSUM_ much
more).  Trey and John then traded fours, then twos, then just jammed for a
while.  After that, PAGE (that's right, PAGE) took a solo (has Page ever
taken a solo in POSSUM before???  If anyone knows of a version, let me
know, because I've never heard it).  After Page's brief solo, Sax-man took
a long solo, and after that, EVERYONE started soloing together, creating a
fierce, bluesy groove.  It sounded so great, so melodic, just really cool.
Talk about finishing with a bang -- that POSSUM might have been the
highlight of the night.  Really cool stuff, and a GREAT encore (kicked the
pulp out of the SAMPLE at the cow palace, that's for sure).

Overall, not much jamming in the Arco show, but with the setlist (the 2nd
set esp.!!!) and the guests and playing that accompanied it, I think it
was
the better of the two shows.  Certainly more enjoyable to my ears, though
some of the jamming (the SIMPLE -> SPARKS, and the YEM) of the Cow Palace
show was really cool as well.

Well, that's all the shows I'm going to see until next summer...thanks for
reading and thank you PHISH for a great batch of shows!

-- Darius


darius.zelkha@oberlin.edu
http://www.oberlin.edu/~dzelkha/
-------------------------------------------------
From: r-arthur@ix.netcom.com
Subject: Phish on 11/31/96

Set One:
Runaway Jim, Punch You in the Eye, All Things Reconsidered, Bouncin, 
Stash, Fluffhead, My Old Home Place*, Uncle Pen*, Prince Caspian, 
Chalkdust Torture

Set Two:
La Grange, It's Ice, Glide, Brother, Contact, Also Sprach Zaranthustra> 
Timber Ho!**> Jam**> Taste**, Funky Bitch**, Amazing Grace, Amazing Grace 
Jam#

E:Possum#

*John McCuen on banjo
**Peter Apfelbaum on Tenor sax
#John McCuen on electric slide guitar (real name?) and Peter Apfelbaum on 
sax again.

     Let me just say that we had a very nice line going for the general 
admission enterance, but some people just scoffed at it and walked by, 
what's with that?  I suppose they eat lines for breakfast or something.  
It was nice and small inside, and this was the closest I've ever been.  
Happy.

Set One:
Runaway Jim -This was a great opener, and it was not too long as I think 
it's been played before (ala new years 95).  I was quite impressed and it 
really got it going for...

Punch You in the Eye -I've seen this at two of the three shows I went to 
on this tour, and this was great as always.  But what made it even better 
was Fishman yelling something to the effect of "every body get down" 
several times throughout the song, I laughed my ass off every time he 
did.  Trey also kept playing for a while after the song was over, and was 
walking around the stage like a penguin while making funny faces.  Class 
A humor, and I appreciated it.

All Things Reconsidered -This tasted very good.

Bouncin -Umm.. they played it again.  I realized that I would love this 
song a whole lot if they wouldn't play it up the wazoo.

Stash -Yes, this was beautiful.  Tight jamming, even when they sounded 
like they might lose it, but Trey brought it back.

Fluffhead -Wow!  My friend and I put everything we owned on this song, 
and they played it.  Nothing beats it once Fluff arrives and Trey just 
breaks it out.  Perhaps the highlight.

My Old Home Place -Once John came on with his banjo, Trey became even 
happier, and there was so much communication between all of them.  John 
initiated a duel between himself and Page, and Mike really went at it too.

Uncle Pen -The last show that I saw was with Popper in St. Louis, and it 
seemed that the songs kinda lacked with him, maybe because Trey was 
holding back.  But the banjo fit in so beautifully to this piece.  You 
could tell they were all just having a shitload of fun up there.

Prince Caspian -Not bad at all, Trey was really getting into the jam, and 
Page had some nice work before the hard jam came in at the end.

Chalkdust Torture -A great set closer, and it was played out as always.

Set Two:
La Grange -It didn't expect this, it was great when Mike came up to the 
microphone, and started talking.  I didn't catch all of what he said, but 
Trey was busting up.  I think they were teasing another song in there, 
but I didn't catch it.

It's Ice -Man, once they sunk down there, they really jammed it out hard 
before coming back up.  No quiet Page here, and so it was equally hard 
that they came out of it.

Glide -I was amazed when Fishman started up the drums to this, I haven't 
heard this in a very long time.  It was so fun to see all of them stop 
playing, and then turn to the audience with lots of "And we're glad glad 
glad that you arrived".  This song made me glad, very glad.
 
Brother -A first for me, this jam was awe inspiring.  I can't say more.

Contact -Wonderful, and very happy.  I just love to see Mike sing.  For 
the final choruses, the band was waving their hands back, and forth, and 
so the whole audience was doing it in unison.  "This is great" says Mike 
in between choruses, I thought so too.

Also Sprach Zaranthustra -Lot's of spacey jamming before, and the main 
body was completely jammed out.  They were playing something else at the 
same time too.  The lights made it ten times better.

Timber Ho! -Another first, and it was good with the saxophone, perhaps 
not great though.

Jam -This was mainly sax, and I don't know what it's from, but it was 
very tasty, which led into..

Taste -I love hearing Fishman sing on this, and the jam was awesome with 
the sax in on it.  Trey was making funny faces at the audience during 
this, tongue hanging out, and his head waggin back and forth.

Funky Bitch -Trey wasn't about to back down on this one, and it was 
really played out, great. 

Amazing Grace -I was very glad the set wasn't over when they got up, they 
crowd was also very quiet for this.

Amazing Grace Jam -This blew me away, with John on the slide guitar, he 
and Trey were jamming at the same time, and it sounded almost Allmanish.  
Very beautiful, anyone listen to Garrison Keillor, because it sounded 
alot like the "going out" musical selection for that.

E:Possum -Wow upon wowish wow.  This was a great closer, and everyone but 
the sax had a big hand in this, this left me feelin very good, and some 
guy ran up on stage towards the end, and was wrestled off by security.  
Trey looked like he thought this was really cool.  The communication 
between Trey and John was very cool, they were just smiling at each 
other, and picking up everything the other guy played.

    This was a great show, and also very different, I'd give it a 7 or 
so, but then I could be stupid, so get the tapes, I think you'll be very 
pleased.

With much brotherly love,
Brant Arthur
--------------------------------------------------
From: Interactive Imaging 
Subject: review of 11/30/96

Well this show had some high points and a few low ones as well.

You have seen the set list, here are my thoughts.

I am 23 and have been following phish since I was 19.  I can not believe
the amount of under 18 year olds at the show.  The average age of the
crowd must of been 17.  I saw very few people over 25 anywhere.  This is
new to me, I felt a little aged or something.  Lets get to my review.

Jim opener.  Standard start.  Nothing special, band played it very
simple and I figured that maybe Phish was mellowing out.  Maybe they
were playing to the "newbies" who havent heard many live shows.  I have
seen three prior Jim openers.  So, I have a feel for the song.  Played a
spacy jam, then to my alarm went into a rocken jam, where the whole band
went off.  Got me stoked!

Punch you in the eye.  Great choice.  I love this song.  Played it
awesome and really got the crowd going.  I am ready to really start
rocking!

All things reconsidered.  Well the title has some ironic meaning.  They
went from a rocking jam into mellowness that killed the crowd energy. 
There was a group of 15 yearolds behind me that I think screamed at the
top of their lungs every chance they could.   I think they would of
screamed no matter what phish did.  

Bouncing.  Been playing this one alot.  A old high school chum told me
that the modern rock station(ie the cure) Plays this song all the time.
I like this song, so I got into it.  Played a short but sweet version. 
They harmonized well.  But they played it for the "newbies" and that is
about as much effort as they gave.

Stash.  I have probably heard this song 10 times live.  Good version,
Trey missed a few notes, but jammed all in all.

Fluffhead.  AWESOME jam.  Band really rocked hard.  I danced off my
rocker on this one.

My old home place, Uncle Penn.  Played with a banjo player.  I  really
enjoyd these to songs.  Mike sang in his twang and the band did the
same.

Prince Caspien.  Geeeezzzzz!!! This is the worst Phish song I have ever
heard live.  Mellow with no emotion.  I feel this song was done for
Rolling Stone Mag!

Chalkdust.  Picked me up!!  Good closer but that Caspien Killed me.

II.

La Grange.  Good, but band didnt look to into it.

Ice.  They rocked on this one.  

Glide.  Awesome, I love this jam and they never missed a beat.

Brother.  Average

Contact.  Show HIGHLIGHT!!  They impressed me bigtime on this one.  You
gotta hear the boot.

2001.  I was on fire when they busted this out.  I was sure the show was
going to another level when I heard trey play the 2001 riff.  This
version rocked sooooo hardddd!!!!  

timber ho.  now the show took a huge dive.  A Sax player came out and at
first I was stoked.  Then I could of sworn Kenny G was playing.  Trey
let him take all the solos and the guy was not a "phish" type jammer. 
Ever note he played was straight off a Kenny G album.  I was really
appalled at The band for letting the Sax guy have so much controll. 
This guy really put me to sleep.

Taste.  I liked 95 tour version better.  Sax guy again ruined it.

Funky Bitch.  Sax guy again

Amazing Grace  Good tight version, crowd even behaved.

Grace Jam.  Was awesome.  But they should of played a closer.  I am
wondering about these guys.

encore:

Possum.  I was stoked when I heard the riff.  Then Sax guy came back on
stage.  This was the worst version of possum I have heard.  Band wasnt
into it, Trey had no solo, only a slide guitar solo(which was ok), and a
horrible sax solo.  I was thinking how the crowd could be so stoked.  I
bet if they heard 12/31/93 version they might react alittle different.  

Well like I said the show rocked and crashed.  I will see LA, SD, and
Vegas to come.  I hope that these guys do something cool.  I feel that
they are showing signs of change, as in they arent what they used to be.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Thomas E Sternberg 
Subject: 11/30/96 Arco Arena

This show is going straight to my top-5-of-all-time with a bullet! I
knew things were gonna be special when I realized that the HUGE Arco
Arena had the entire upper tier blocked off by curtains, so the venue
was actually VERY small, the smallest show I've seen in quite awhile. 
The crowd was much cooler and high-energy than in San Francisco, and the
boys kicked it off strong with a very tight "Jim", and then right into
the opening scratches of "PYITE", which pretty much blew the roof off
the joint.  After the next few tunes, one of my friends said to me "this
is like a show from '92!" Which was true...because when was the last
time they plaid "All Things Reconsidered" anyway? Truth be told, aside
from "Caspian" and "2001" and "Taste", the show COULD have been from the
sweet days of '92... never have I seen so many old, cool, amazing songs
busted out during one show. 
Anyway, mid 1st set there was a blistering "Stash", followed by what had
to be the best "Fluffhead" I've EVER SEEN!! No bullshit here, just a
ridiculously wailing climax/jam by trey, who seemed to be enjoying
himself so much that the whole place was going nuts. Then Trey brought
out John McCuen of the NItty Gritty Dirt band (on banjo) and played some
country tunes. ('Old Home Place and Penn). 

The 2nd set was ridiculous, and started out very unexpectedly, with a
smokin' "La Grange" which jammed with a steady, funky confidence that I
knew would lead to a very cool set. No sooner had they finished "GLide"
(and when was the last time I saw THAT one?) then they kicked into the
opening drum riff of "Brother" and I nearly freaked on the spot. I know
they've been playing this since the Ball, but I've been waiting for 5
years to hear that one, and it was pretty god damned sweet. A very sweet
"Contact", and then (HELLO?!?!) Mid-set "2001!" which went into a very
spacey, trippy, and ultimately gorgeous "Timber Ho!" with Peter
Apfelbaum (sp?) on tenor sax, and he kept on playing with them, through
a very cool "Taste" (I don't think anyone minded that it was a repeat of
the night before, it was soooo different with the saxophone) and then
(BONUS!!) "Funky Bitch"...which once again proved that when Phish
invites guests onstage for this tune, the results are tremendous.
(remember Warren Haynes in Maine last December?)  Then both guests were
invited back onstage for a very soulful and beautiful "Amazing Grace"
jam, and also for the insane "Possum" encore.  Everyone inside the
"abbreviated Arco" knew that they were seeing something special, and I
think Trey and the boys knew it too.  If only Phish could play shows
like this ALL the time, I'd seriously consider quitting my job.  An A+
show, and I'd better get a tape of this, or I'll be very upset.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: jjachens@ix.netcom.com
Subject: 113096

This show rocked very very hard.  The Fluffhead was unreal and very 
intense.  But the middle of Ice was one of the most trippy, heavy jams 	
I have ever heard.  It was SCARY, and I remember the crowd being so blown 
away, they couldn't even cheer!