From: Yance Davis
Subject: The Philadelphia Run (long)
Date: 5 Jan 1997 12:26:32 GMT

I haven't seen too many in-depth reviews of Philly so here's my rather
long attempt to do so for two great nights.    
12/29/96 first set

Only three songs redeemed this set.  None were Bad per se, it just wasn't
very interesting overall.  Caravan, just for being so rare.  I was damned
psyched to hear this tune, though I can see why they don't play it often.
Most people looked  bewildered, and all the setlist writers around me just
wrote 'jam' in its spot in the list at first.  It felt cool being able to
fill in the void for them, at the same time it felt like I knew too damn
much about phish.  Taste was incredible.  I've heard few 96 versions, so I
can't really compare, but Trey's jam blew me away completely and redeemed
the set on its own.  I'd get the tape just for this, and Page wasn't too
shabby either.  Only other high point was LaGrange which I'd never gotten
to see before, and which also helped to save an otherwise bland first set
(the second set did this as well, of course...save the show that is)

First set rating: 3.0 (one for each diamond in the rough)
Taste rating: a solid 9.5 on the TAste scale, whatever that may be.

SECOND SET!!!                                                         
I was in pure Phish bliss from the opening note, even if I didn't know it
yet.  This set was so fucking good, that yes, it beats any given set i've
been to (CB, NYE 94, 95..other good shows, etc).  They were simply ON.
It's like, I was smiling, and my mouth was getting tired from it, yet each
song (with the exception of ADITL) made me grin more and more in near
disbelief.  The best thing was, everyone around me (who had a clue about
'this whole phish thing' at least) had that same amazed look, which also
added to things.  Bowie wasn't 12/29/94, but was the best I've seen live.
It wasn't too spacey or loose, too short or too long...it was just...
Right.  Danceable too, which I've found with some Bowies just isn't true
(or at least it's kind of difficult).  A Day in the Life I'm a little
tired of, and sticks out from the rest of the show for Me, but I could
tell many were happy to hear it, and a security guard was mouthing the
words to the whole thing, which just cracked me up.  Unfortunately, this
girl behind me was screaming the words the Whole Fucking Time, and Page
kept looking right at her, so I'm convinced he heard it.  I sure as hell
did.  Bathtub Gin was funky and well-jammed.  I remember thinking early in 
the jam that Fishman needed to speed up the beat to get things going so I
focused on his playing for a while, and was reminded about how good he
really is.  He gets overshadowed a bit, as drummers often do, but I
followed him as the beat got faster and faster, with me smiling more and
more watching it happen.  The jam into Lizards was a nice segue, though I
felt it coming from a while back.  Overall, it wasn't as good as the one
from a year before (and Surely no 8/13/93::If you have gotten This far in
my review and don't have this tape (8/13/93 that is, NOT 12/29/96), send
me an email, and I'll hook you up with my address so you can get a copy.
All should have this tape, and I mean it) but a very nice jam nonetheless.
Lizards was smooth and got people psyched for Y.E.M.  The beginning was
smooth and crisp and all around me, and for the life of me I don't
remember any mistakes.  I had my eyes closed through most of it, and
swayed along with the rhythm, opening my eyes every once in a while to see
most of the people around me smiling and doing the same.  When the jam
started, it evolved quickly into this slow jam that lead to audience
clapping, which the band really seemed to get into.  Phish got quieter and
quieter until it was just claps at which point trey got into a deep,
intense power chord jam that built up nicely into an all out soundfest.
Tramps were out for this YEM too, by the way, to everyone's delight.
Then, Trey gets a devilish look in his eyes and puts down the guitar to go
over to the drum set.

...Switch Jam:  I'm a magnet to this thing.  It had me laughing
hysterically when then first did it last year at Hampton, though I didn't
care for it much after the fact, because it did NOT translate to tape, and
the rest of that show was just so damn GOOd.  Fishman sucked so bad on
piano that night, that Trey just started laughing and saying it was Fish's
first appearance on piano, while Chris gave him a bright white spotlight.
Then again, at where else but the Spectrum, last year on the 15th of
December.  A little better, but just not a 'jam'.  Well, this year, it is
apparent they have practiced, and produced for us a jam not only good live
entertainment, but worthy of tape as well.  Trey should be thanked for
this really, as his frantic, pounding (and perfectly in-rhythm) beats kept  
a good jam alive.  I'm glad he didn't hand the drums over to Page again
(who also had Juuust a bit of trouble in Hampton) and kept it all to
himself instead.  It must be noted that no drumsticks were broken, but at
three different points, Trey threw a drumstick High into the air and
behind him, grabbing another right away to keep up the beat, and getting a
louder applause each time.  Even on drums this guy can take center stage.
Fishman beat at the keys, but almost consistantly stayed in tune with
everyone else.  Mike and Page were present of course, and Page got a few
got licks in on the bass I might add (Fishman did a little slapping on it
too, I might add, when it was his turn).  Finally, Mike is all settled on
piano, and gets a solo while everyone else put down their wrong
instruments.  It was short and sweet, and no post-Coil Page, but he was
on.  Good rhythm, no bad keys...and huge grins all around, both on adn
offstage.  It sounded like he yelled out 'SEX' but it was really six, as
in the start of Sixteen Candles, which he did slowly and with a real slur
to his voice a la Scent of a Mule, and audience members began to hold
their lighters out in the air in respect, I guess.  Finally, they all got 
back to positions for the vocal jam, which didn't really move me, but was
decent, I suppose, for a voc jam... and then, when least expected...

**HARPUA**:  No one expected this.  Some people jumped, some screamed in
joy, while still others (myself included) stood dumbfounded with an
enormous smile on my face.  There were a few little fuckups early on,
where someone was a little off, but really, no one fucking cared.  They
got to the story, which has been told here several times already.  I will
just say though, that Tom does a great fucking impression of modern rock
singers in general.  First last year's Shine, which sounded just like the
radio version and had many confused into thinking that the Collective Soul
singer was Actually there, and now Champagne Supernova, in which he even
got that snotty sneered "Supernover" sound out while singing.  Hats off to
was done as a huge joke, there was no respect for Oasis anywhere about it.

During Rocky Top, Trey went over to Fishman to say something and I was
sure there'd be a second tune, but there wasn't.  Who cares?  They 
finished Harpua, unlike the last one I saw, and blew me away with nearly
90 minutes of stellar music.  They could have had a Manteca encore and I'd
have loved it at this point, but enough

Second set rating: 9.5
show rating: 9.0 (yeah, that is incredibly uneven, but from my
perspective, I had forgotten about first set entirely at this point, and
was just blown away but what I saw.  When I look back at this show in
memory, I think nothing but good things, and so it translates to my
rating.  I digress yet again)

Thanks for reading if yer still here.  And many thanks to Phish.  I wish I
could have been there at New Years, but at least they were kind enough to
put on a show like that for those of us who couldn't be.  Peace

Yance DAvis
yance@wam.umd.edu          

PS.. And I've never grovelled, really, but damn, if you have this show,
I'd sure as hell love to get a copy.  I'd tape it for people and name my
firstborn child after you, boy or girl.  Thank

----------------------------------------------
Subject: 12/29 review
From: ozzyx@ix.netcom.com(Jason)

  this might be very disorganized.....it was written
like 45 minutes after the show ended so bare with me :)

Poor Heart 
Caravan? not sure though
Taste
Guelah
Train Song
Rift
Free
Coil
La Grange
set I 62 min

pretty standard set first caravan in years i think,great TASTE
and La Grange is always good to hear  but other wise pretty standard 
set
on the scott jordon scale about a 4 cause of Lagrange,Cararvan,and
TAste

set II
Bowie
ADITL
Bathtub Gin ->
Lizards
YEM ->
Rotation JAM ->
?  elvis-esque piano song that mike sung and played ->
YEM (vocal jam)
HARPUA->
Champainge Super nova * ->
Harpua
E: Rocky Top

* with Tom Marshall singing that cheesy Oasis song FROM HELL


Second set:
setlist looks to good to be true

Bowie: composed segment a little sloppy but the jam section COMPLETLY 
made up for it great opener really great bowie

Bathtub Gin: I though it was gonna be 12/29/95 all over again and it 
almost was excellnet HOSE jamming by everyone on that then when you
think it was going to get completely  INSANE they had to segue into
lizards...oh well

You Enjoy Myself: opening pretty decent when the jam section completly 
kicked in they went into this GROOVE similar to Albany last year
but.... trey walked over to fishman and took over and they all did
the rotation jam that everyone is familar about but this was boring
and uneventful like last years instument rotation jams it was 
very entertaining....mike was wailing away on guitar and trey did
so nice drum work and even broke a stick he was banging so hard the
jam died down and mike played and sung a song on piano (im not sure
what it was but its safe to say he butchered it :) then they stopped
everyone was sure the set was all but finished but then we all heard
oom pah pah oom pah pah oom pah pah....

Harpua: intro standard, but the story, I cant begin to describe it, 
poster and harpua are getting into the fight and a BIG TWISTER comes
and sucks them into HELL. while in hell a big mouth opens up and
and starts singing this WRETCHED EVIL song.....tom marshall comes 
out and does some SUPERB :) vocals to that song champaigne supernova
that we have all heard a thousand times then the storms gone.....

that might not be entirely the whole thing but the harpua description
was close enough


second set about 90-100 minutes somewhere in between 

set II on the scott jordon scale id give the set a SOLID 9
it would have been a complete 10 but some sloppy play and the 
lizards brought it down

overall first set decent average/little jamming set
 (besides caravan very shitty if your 
extremely jaded) 

second set will go in as one of the greatest setlists and sets
of all time 

i gotta be satisfied

and BTW: how can you not despise the acoustics/sound of the spectrum
 and other similar venues (msg)

Shameless grovel usually stuck at the end of all mediocre reviews:
if you taped either or both of the philly shows and have some time
to spin me a copies for blanks/postage feel free to email me :)

later Jason or _Ozz on undernet irc

---------------------------------------
Subject: 12/29 Setlist/review
From: truss13@aol.com (TRuss13)

Setlist
I: Poor Heart, Caravan, Cavern > Taste, Guelah, Rift, Free, Squirming
Coil, la grange
II:  David Bowie, Day in the life, Bathtub gin > lizards, YEM > rotation
jam > sixteen candles jam > vocal jam, Harpua*
E: Rocky Top
* w/ Tom Marshall singing that Oasis song "Champagne supernova"(or
whatever it's called)

The first set was frankly kind of weak. Coming off last night's solid
performance, this was a bit of a let down. Caravan was a nice treat, there
was no real jamming except for a nice outro jam to taste. Tush was
powerful as well, but the others didn't have much power and were pretty
much note-for-note renditions that I've heard so many times.
But boy did the second set smoke!! This has to be one of the best sets
I've heard live, and one of many great ones in my tapes. I think they
wanted to make up for the lackluster first set, so they started off with
Bowie (when the high-hat started there was no mystery, because they played
maze last night) and boy did this Bowie boost my energy level. It was
simply wonderful, not too long or spacy, just nice power jamming, rising
to multiple climaxes, and finally had the hose on the whole crowd as the
final climax was reached.
Day in the life was nice...they've played it many times recently, but I
really don't mind.
Bathtub gin: right back into the jamming, nice strong solid one which
segued just beautifully into lizards (no FOTM tease though ;) . The
transition was brilliant (I was thinking back to a year ago today when
they went gin>real me) I liked this one almost as much.
YEM was INSANE. During the tramps segment, Trey gave the thumbs-up to the
crowd behind the stage...(that's where my tickets were...but I somehow got
nice lower level seats facing the band!!) There was silence at one point
in the jam and the crowd started clapping. Trey then started up a power
riff that fit beautifully with the clapping. Trey kept motioning over to
Fish about something, and after 5 or 10 minutes of nice jamming, Trey took
Fish's sticks, Fish took the piano (he had a nice solo when he was
replaced by Mike later!!) There was some nice rotation jamming (Page did
some nice spacy stuff on guitar!) After Mike got on piano, the jam faded
into a Mike solo (ala Page--Squirming Coil....or last night Weekapaugh).
After some really nice piano playing, Mike screamed "Sex!" But it was
actually the "six" in "sixteen candles" Mike played piano and sang Sixteen
candles, while the rest of the band danced near the drum set. Then they
started a vocal jam...nothing too wierd...pretty nice. After the song was
done, I was wondering whether they would do Hood or Guyute or
Tweezer...maybe something real jammy to make this set just complete
jamming !
Instead, I started jumping up and down as they started in on the
"oom-pah-pah"s
Trey skipped the introductory story line, and asked those ignorant to the
story in the crowd to turn to their neighbor and ask them about the intro,
as Trey was just going to dive into the "meat" of the story--at which
point Fish yells "Meat, meat!"
The story was basically the grinch who stole christmas in gamehendge. At
christmas time, the people (I'm not sure if he said lizards) got in a
circle and sung christmas carols. Then he said poster and harpua rolled
around, started a tornado, and somehow got to hell (It was hard to hear as
the crowd was going nuts. Then they said the voice of hell was going to
come out, this is what it would sound like if you were in hell...Tom
Marshall came out and belted Oasis's "Champagne supernova in the sky,"
which had me laughing hysterically!
They finished out the jam and came back with Rocky Top for an encore...a
little letdown from the jamming insanity that was the second set.
Believe me, this second set must be heard...it's pure jamming and insanity
for an hour and whatever it was. Although part of the effect of the
rotation jam is its visual aspects.
Hope everyone enjoys Boston...I can't make it.
-Adam
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/adr128

P.S. Some guy who didn't get into the show was asking for setlists after
the show, after he saw Harpua on mine, he fell to his knees. Poor guy;(
PPS. poor heart was an appropriate opener given the Eagles poor redzone
work in San Fran
------------------------------------------
From: christian campagna 
Subject: review;12/29/96

Okay,hi everybody,I've never done one of these but...i'ts 9am and i just
arrived back home in Mass..last nights show was something i've never
seen in 6 years of shows:First off I have to say NItrous Vendors are
evil!!!I watched as one of these morons sold their balloons next to my
car charging Phish phans 5 bucks a balloon..why help these people their
just there to make $$$$, and do absolutely nothing for the scene ,
except for make a gigantic mess of the lot(thanx for the tank leaning
against my car after the show guys!!!)Anyways lets venture into the
show...POOR HEART opener was well played and got everybody moving
quickly...CARAVAN??? I think the last one was in 94 maybe?this set an
amazing groove going,great...CAVERN was next,standard ...GUELAH was next
another standard version,props to Mike &Trey on the dance though..TASTE,
i love this song and Fishman totally ripped this up..TRAIN SONG, could
have done without the clap along fanfare but enjoyable..RIFT, the last
few times I've seen this it got screwed up somehow, this was pretty much
by the book...SQUIRMING COIL, i don't know something was wrong with this
i can't put my finger on it, Trey's voice at the beginning was kind of
off, throwing the intro a bit off key..FREE, okay we've all seen this
same version at one point or another, still enjoyable though,LA GRANGE
closed the set and brought the energy back up that was lagging a bit..
2nd setif you didn't see this set you definitely missed history..okay
first up was BOWIE, nothing to knock your sox off but very well done,
about 15 minutes long(?), you could tell the boys were on to
something...A DAY IN THE LIFE, i tell ya, Page gets better every time i
see them..his voice and playing was so on during this, i didn't know how
they'd top it... so exactly a year after another amazing version came
BATHTUB GIN, Fishman,Fishman,Fishman, amazing, and we're just getting
warmed up...Lizards got a great crowd response, as was deserved, nothing
to complain about..YEM!!!this was the YEM to see this year complete with
rotation jam(Fishman:piano,Trey:drums,Page:bass,Mike:guitar, and then 
another switch)Mike got on the piano and did some 50's sounding number
that was definitely cool , this all concluded in an amazing vocal
jam(lightshow!!!)okay at this point I'm thinking Julius or Sample and
then we go home...Oom Pa Pa..HARPUA!?!!...who knew?all i have to say is
if you did't see this show get the tapes, Trey didn't do the whole
beginning of the story, telling people to ask the person next to them
for the whole story, anyways to make along story short Jimmy ends up in
hell, and hears the sounds of hell; was that the guy from Oasis on
stage?No,I think it was Tom Marshall doing Oasis' Champagne Supernova
with them..enough said.I couldn't stop laughing at this spectacle, as
they went into the end of  HARPUA to close the show..whew...
Encore:ROCKY TOP, I was having so much fun at this point, and this was
an excellent choice to end the night...so what are they gonna do to
Boston,,,thanx, I'm out , 10 hours to the next show.. 

--------------------------------------------
Subject: 12/29 YEM Rotation Jam
Date: 1 Jan 1997 22:15:53 -0500
From: lkotas@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Leo Kotas)

Since I haven't seen anyone post the specifics of who played what during
the 12/29 YEM rotation jam, here goes ...

Trey set down his guitar and took over on drums,
Fish then took over on keyboards,
Page moved over to bass, and
Mike moved over to guitar.

After jamming for a minute or two,
Mike moved over to keyboards,
Fish took over on bass,
Page went on to look bewildered on guitar,
while Trey continued on at drums.

Another minute or so of jamming in this configuration, and the others
dropped out, leaving Mike doing his solo number on the piano.

The most memorable thing about the rotation jam IMHO was the how much Trey
was enjoying being able to pound the hell out of Fish's drumkit.  While
we've all seen Trey with huge smiles while jamming during shows, I can't
imagine him looking any happier than he did for those few minutes.  Don't
think he broke any drumsticks as someone posted, almost looked like he was
tossing sticks out on purpose like Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick used to.

Only six months or so till summer tour,

Leo
------------------------------------------------
Subject: 12/29 review and article (good!), from Trenton Times
Date: Thu, 02 Jan 1997 20:37:11 -0500
From: Steve Goeke 

The following article appeared in the 12/31/96 edition of the Times (of
Trenton, NJ, about 40 minutes from Philly).  Typos are probably mine.

This is one of the most complimentary articles I’ve seen in the
main-stream press, and I thought y’all might be interested.  BTW,
Trenton is only a few miles from Trey’s hometown of Princeton, NJ.  This
may explain why the article seems to focus on him.

Steve
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Phish takes the stage at a sold-out Corestates Spectrum"
by John Nalbone, Staff Writer

PHILADELPHIA - Had Trey Anastasio hung around Princeton a few more
years, the coffee houses that have sprung up like weeds in and around
Palmer Square would have been an ideal forum for him to weave his
musical craft.

Now, Anastasio and the four-man band he founded in 1983 after posting
fliers in the hallways as a student at the University of Vermont, sell
out arenas and are considered by some to be the official house band for
Generation-X and the "new" counter-culture.

The new Phish album, "Billy Breathes" is steamrolling toward gold
status, the same sitinction enjoyed by the band’s two previous efforts,
last year’s "A Live One" and 1994’s "Hoist."

Anastasio, 31, spent some of his formidable [sic] years as a student at
Princeton High before enrolling at Taft and then at UVM.  He returned to
the area last weekend with two completely sold-out shows at the
Corestates Spectrum.

Phish kicked off Sunday’s show with the hillbilly rocker "Poor Heart,"
before Anastasio made a sharp hairpin turn into the jazz realm with Duke
Ellington’s "Caravan."

The first of three songs from "Billy Breathes" in the first set, "Taste"
gave way to the funkadelic "Guelah Papyrus" and there was no turning
back from there.

"Trainsong" and "Free" – the first single from the new release –
preceded a well-received "Squirming Coil" before Anastasio’s southern
rock juices flowed during "La Grange" to close the nine-song set.

After a 30-minute break gave the twirling dance-fiends in the hallways a
needed respite, "David Bowie" exploded from the stage to begin set-two. 
The Beatles’ "A Day in the Life", with McConnell (keyboards) on lead
vocals followed.

The unquestionable highlight of Sunday’s Spectrum performance began five
songs into the second set when the instrumental jam "You Enjoy Myself"
just about blew the roof off the "old " building.  During what was
thought to be the closing stages of the song, each band member suddenly
switched instruments (without missing a beat) to continue the outrageous
jam.  Anastasio, who started on lead guitar, hopped on Fishman’s drum
kit.  Gordon, originally on bass, grabbed Trey’s guitar.  Fishman slid
behind the piano and McConnell went for Gordon’s bass… and so on.  The
aptly titled "Rotation Jam" continued in front of a delirious crowd of
over 20,000 for 15 minutes before roaring back into "You Enjoy Myself."

Stunning the audience with yet another song in the now 90-minute-plus
set, Phish debuted a brief rendition of the recent Oasis hit "Champagne
Supernova" sandwiched inside a rare "Harpua" closer.  Anastasio’s
longtime friend, fellow Phish songwriter and Princeton resident, Tom
Marshall, lead [sic] the way on vocals.

After making the awkward, but triumphant, journey from country, to jazz,
to searing rock-and-roll, to folk, to delta blues and then back to rock,
Phish ended the evening as it began more than three hours earlier with a
country-fied version of "Rocky Top" for an encore to bid the masses
goodnight.

Welcome back, Trey.
------------------------------------------------------
Subject: NYE run in Short Rev part 2
Date: 2 Jan 1997 20:59:25 GMT
From: "James C. Raras Jr." 


This part deux of the NYErun in short review is brought to you by Seseme 
Street, The Duke, and the Uber Demon (sorry Craig, the other one ;), and 
of course the Phishiest Dankmeister and Schwag Queen, respectively 
(whoever they may be, let the election begin :)

12/29/96

After taking in the Philly Art Museum (yes the one that Rocky ran up), 
the bell and Liberty Hall I was ready for the second show of the run, 
which is always one of the better ones of the last few NYEruns.  I 
dropped my deck off (thanks Craig!) and headed up to the 10th row on 
Fish's side for the show (thanks Dan & Chris!).  The Poor Heart opener 
was a little weak imo, I much would have rather heard My Friend in this 
slot, but... CARAVAN next certainly made up for it.  Cavern was next and 
it was... well it was Cavern good energetic version, then Taste, great 
Jam in the middle of this one, I thought Trey was going to stumble into 
Norwegian Wood again at one point but no dice.  It's really weird I never 
get overly excited when I hear the intro to this tune as I do with many 
other songs but by then end I'm usually really happy with it, go figure, 
anyways this along with Caravan made the set for me.  Guelah, Train Song, 
Rift, Free, ehhhh whatever these tunes just don't really do all that much 
for me, I miss some of those crazy Free's (see 11/22/95, 6/26/95, 
10/31/95 etc...).  Coil was next and I thought to myself that this would 
be it, but after a couple of Trey flubs (including losing his place for 
30sec or so) the Page solo came around and it was average except for a 
cool Seseme St. tease, otherwise this was probably the worst Coil I've 
heard (see my comments about being "jaded" in pt 1).  When the opening to 
La Grange filled the spectrum I was happy that this rebound of energy 
would continue into the second set, but La Grange was short and not 
nearly as nice as the one from Arco on 11/30/96, nor 12/29/95.  After 
this set I was not expecting what happened after the set break. 
     Well they fooled me with the second set opener at first I wrote down 
2001, then I crossed it out and thought DwD, and then I finally figured 
out Bowie, really nice intro, similar to 12/11/95 (ie spacy!) this nice 
strong Bowie gave me hope that set-2 wouldn't end up the way the set-1 
did, next was A Day in the Life, standard but I did need a break from 
dancing after that Bowie.  Then Gin, I was thinking what is this a combo 
of 12/29/94 and 12/29/95 (Bowie and Gin) but neither version held a 
candle to their predecessors, nonetheless I liked the Gin, great Page 
work (he was hot all run) and a nice segue into... Lizards.  Next came 
YEM, here was the test, well needless to say they passed and pulled this 
set off in grand style.  Nice opening thru the note, fierce tramps, great 
stereo imaging with the crowd's cheers when Mike and Trey turned to them 
I've never seen the crowd react so well to the tramps, definitely a 
treat.  Some more nice jamming came along with Trey and Fish egging 
each other on then.... the rotation JAM first it was Trey on drums, Fish 
on Keys, Page on bass and Mike on Guitar, then Page on Guitar, Mike on 
Keys, and fish on Bass (slapping!).  Trey was the heart and soul of this 
rotation JAM, which was much better than the one from 11/25/95, Trey just 
kept kicking in the drums, it was really great, very hot indeed, best JAM 
of the run.  This rotation JAM wound down and found Mike solo on the keys 
and then came the segue into Sixteen Candles, at first I thought Mike 
yelled "SEX", but it was SIX......teen candles, great cover, really fun.  
This segued into the Vocal Jam which was fairly standard, but the lights 
always look really cool from the tenth row, great job as always by 
Topher.  Just when everyone in the house was thinking that we'd get an 
accapella tune to end the set phish shocked us all with the "Ooooom Pah 
Pah...", yep harpua!  Harpua was normal speed as opposed to the long 
drawn out tempo that was showcased in Vegas with Les and Co (which was 
pretty cool imo) and included the best narration, not counting Vegas's 
opera version, since 94, imo.  This narration included Trey skipping 
right to the "MEAT" of the story, which tells the story of Poster and 
Harpua's fight creating a tornado which creates a direct hole to hell... 
the Uber Demon (Tom Marshal) comes out and out of his mouth comes the 
"sounds of hell" which is an Oasis song (Champagne Supernova), and fwiw 
Tom said that there "was very little respect involved" which was just as 
I though, could he have picked a better song to sing, I don't think so, 
kudos Tom!  The goldfish part was a little sloppy but this was a great 
way to end the set, and a really fun Harpua indeed!  Rocky Top was the 
encore and was fine, but I would have preferred to have seen Rocky Top as 
the E. on 12/28 and JGB as the E. on this night, but once again who am I 
to say... :)  

If you made it this far and have D>D capabilities I will spin a copy of 
the FM NYE broadcast for the person who is the most clever, this is only 
good til 1/4/97.  I mastered this Sony Receiver > DA20, levels peak at 
-5db and it's on 3X60m.  Keep an eye out for pt 3 soon...

later....
jim       
--------------------------------------------------

From: Steve Goeke  Subject: 12/29 review and
article (good!), from Trenton Times Date: Thu, 02 Jan 1997 20:37:11
-0500
 
The following article appeared in the 12/31/96 edition of the Times (of
Trenton, NJ, about 40 minutes from Philly).  Typos are probably mine. 

This is one of the most complimentary articles I^Òve seen in the
main-stream press, and I thought y^Òall might be interested.  BTW,
Trenton is only a few miles from Trey^Òs hometown of Princeton, NJ.
This may explain why the article seems to focus on him. 

Steve |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Phish takes the stage at a sold-out Corestates Spectrum" by John
Nalbone, Staff Writer

PHILADELPHIA - Had Trey Anastasio hung around Princeton a few more
years, the coffee houses that have sprung up like weeds in and around
Palmer Square would have been an ideal forum for him to weave his
musical craft. 

Now, Anastasio and the four-man band he founded in 1983 after posting
fliers in the hallways as a student at the University of Vermont, sell
out arenas and are considered by some to be the official house band for
Generation-X and the "new" counter-culture. 

The new Phish album, "Billy Breathes" is steamrolling toward gold
status, the same sitinction enjoyed by the band^Òs two previous
efforts, last year^Òs "A Live One" and 1994^Òs "Hoist." 

Anastasio, 31, spent some of his formidable [sic] years as a student at
Princeton High before enrolling at Taft and then at UVM.  He returned
to the area last weekend with two completely sold-out shows at the
Corestates Spectrum. 

Phish kicked off Sunday^Òs show with the hillbilly rocker "Poor Heart," 
before Anastasio made a sharp hairpin turn into the jazz realm with
Duke Ellington^Òs "Caravan." 

The first of three songs from "Billy Breathes" in the first set,
"Taste" gave way to the funkadelic "Guelah Papyrus" and there was no
turning back from there. 

"Trainsong" and "Free" ^Ö the first single from the new release ^Ö
preceded a well-received "Squirming Coil" before Anastasio^Òs southern
rock juices flowed during "La Grange" to close the nine-song set. 

After a 30-minute break gave the twirling dance-fiends in the hallways
a needed respite, "David Bowie" exploded from the stage to begin
set-two.  The Beatles^Ò "A Day in the Life", with McConnell (keyboards) 
on lead vocals followed. 

The unquestionable highlight of Sunday^Òs Spectrum performance began
five songs into the second set when the instrumental jam "You Enjoy
Myself" just about blew the roof off the "old " building.  During what
was thought to be the closing stages of the song, each band member
suddenly switched instruments (without missing a beat) to continue the
outrageous jam.  Anastasio, who started on lead guitar, hopped on
Fishman^Òs drum kit.  Gordon, originally on bass, grabbed Trey^Òs
guitar.  Fishman slid behind the piano and McConnell went for Gordon^Òs
bass^Å and so on.  The aptly titled "Rotation Jam" continued in front
of a delirious crowd of over 20,000 for 15 minutes before roaring back
into "You Enjoy Myself." 

Stunning the audience with yet another song in the now 90-minute-plus
set, Phish debuted a brief rendition of the recent Oasis hit "Champagne
Supernova" sandwiched inside a rare "Harpua" closer.  Anastasio^Òs
longtime friend, fellow Phish songwriter and Princeton resident, Tom
Marshall, lead [sic] the way on vocals. 

After making the awkward, but triumphant, journey from country, to
jazz, to searing rock-and-roll, to folk, to delta blues and then back
to rock, Phish ended the evening as it began more than three hours
earlier with a country-fied version of "Rocky Top" for an encore to bid
the masses goodnight. 

Welcome back, Trey. 

==============================

From: Icculus3@aol.com Subject: Holiday Tour in Review - Part I - 12/28
and 12/29 Date: 3 Jan 1997 22:48:21 GMT
 
Hey, Happy New Years to all! 
 
Well, I got back from Boston yesterday and got 16 hours of sleep that I
lacked over the past 4 days. What a wonderful time was had by all over
the past 4 four days and I would like to express my gratitude to Phish,
Shelly, M.O. personel and everybody else that made this great run
possible.  Without further ado, here is the review as best as I can
recount it: 12/29/96 I: Poor Heart, Caravan*, Cavern --> Taste, Guelah,
Trainsong, Rift --> Free, Coil, La Grange

II: Bowie, A Day in the Life, Bathtub Gin --> Lizards, Yem (instrument
change) --> 16 Candles** --> Yem, Harpua --> Champagne Supernova*** -->
Harpua

E: Rocky Top

* first since 94' ** w/ Mike on vocals *** w/ Tom Marshall on vocals

The Scene: I got to the stadium a little later than I usually do
because I watched the Eagles get their ass handed to them by the 49ers
in the first half. I regret doing that, but if I had known Ty Detmer
would have had better completion percentage to the Niners secondary
than he did to his own recievers I would not have watched. I apologize
for that, enough with the sports nonsense and onto Phish nonsense. The
lots were pretty cool, except for the asshole nitrous venders. When
will we ever learn that the only way to get rid of these leetches is to
NOT BUY NITROUS!!! The coppers confiscated most of the nitrous and let
all the tanks loose in a parking lot adjacent to the Spectrum. Also, I
have one more complaint, I wish these Shroom/Acid/Hash dealers would
not knock on my car windows and demand that I open the windows. Where
do these pests come from!?!?! Anyway, I had a few extras I had to rid
myself of. The first person I helped out was so nice. I miracled a
really nice girl, who had come all the way from Tennesee. Miracling is
such a great feeling. This girl was so apreciative and I was glad to
help her out. i gave my other ticket to a guy for face and he gave me
his glass bowl, too, just as a nicety. Bonus!!!!! There were very many
ticketless, but that came as no suprise. On my way into the building, I
tried to sneak my water inside in my hood. But, the security officer
found it! Those guys are smarter than I thought :-) 

Onto the Show...... 

Poor Heart: Could have gone for a better choice, but... 

Caravan: Holy Shitskey! It is about time they brought this one back. 
What a splendid treat. This was my first. I know Phish thinks this Duke
Ellington classic does not translate well into big arenas, but it
seemed to work fine here, especially in my 9th row seats!!! Thank you
M.O!! They played this one perfectly. The boys did not seem rusty at
all, I guess Fish and Trey get their practice on this one at Soundcheck
and Bad Hat shows. 

Cavern: Of all the anti-climactic songs to play. This one was pretty
unenjoyable for me. *Dirksen Mode Off* However, I was still glowing
from the Caravan, so I did not much care. 

| --> Taste is the most stoacastic song. Sometimes it is so enjoyable
and jammin' and other times is seems they have hit a sour note. Most
tastes have never hit the peek of a few of those first brilliant Tastes
in June of 95', but I can't imagine how they could play this song
consistantly after always changing it. This Taste was pretty much
average. They did not jam forever, but their jam was sufficient. I have
gotten so used to Fish's high-pitched shrills in Fog that I kind of
missed not hearing them mixed in, here. I know, I'm weird... 

Guelah: I was thrilled to hear it as it has become pretty rare lately. 
I love the Trey/Mike choreographed dance. 

Trainsong: not bad

Rift: This set (aside from Caravan) was taking a pretty gruesome turn
for the worse... 

| --> Free: Worst Free ever! Basically no jam segment. I really think
they have butchered this one. This was my first post-Billy Breathes
Free and it does not compare to the epic Frees of 95'. It is a shame.
Flame away, but I'm entitled to my own opinion. For this version, they
might as well of just plugged track One of Billy Breathes onto the
house speakers... 

Squirming Coil: I'm not a Coil Hater and I'm a Page fanatic, so this
one did not disapoint. This set was pretty standard, though. 

LaGrange: I did not recognize this one at first, until my friend
screamed "Holy Shit-LaGrange!" This one salvaged a somewhat dreadful
set. This LaGrange was far supieror to last years 12/29 version with
Jim Stinnette completely lost. Machine Gun Trey was jammin' this to its
best capability,which was incredible. Fully jammed and Mike emulates
the ZZ Top lyrical style perfectly. I really loved this!!! 

Setbreak: I guess 15 minutes is the equivilent to an hour in
Gamehendge, but we already knew that. Also as soon as the lights went
down hundreds of people snuck down to the floor and crowded the aisles. 
I practically lost my wonderful aisle seat and had no room to dance. I
would like to say this to the girl who snuck down and kept bumping me
the whole second set: Fuck You! There that's better. 

II: Bowie: Very Long high hat intro. It was a truly jamming Bowie with
solid contribution from every one. As I mentioned Mike was very audible
the whole tour and Mike was the MAN in this Bowie. He is SOO
underrated. Trey legthened the climactic ending and the end segment was
long and orgasmic. Very Solid opener and very solid Bowie! 

A Day in the Life: They pay a good homage to the Beatles by keeping
this song completely as it appeared on Sgt. Peppers, but I wish they
would jam it a little bit more. Anyway it was a good cool down song. 

Bathtub Gin: To paraphrase Nick Johnston: "For me there is 8/13/93 and
12/29/95 and the rest are just Bathtubs" Well that is my sentiments
exactly.  I used to adore the 12/15/95 Gin, until I came back to earth
and realized it was nothing special. This Gin was fun and enjoyable,
but the jammin' will never make me go ape-shit as it does in other
songs because they haven't perfected a perfect Bathtub style. Often
times, Bathtub jams don't go anywhere and they drag on. I'm not saying
that is what happened in this version. It just wasn't a masterpiece.
Let's call it average. 

| --> Lizards: cool. Lizards is a fun tune and Trey did not flub the
lyrics! 

Yem: This is where the madness insues!! Yem took off in typical Yem
form. Trey hit the note and I went into convulsions. Mike was funky and
I was loving the jam and then Trey takes off for the kit. I thought we
were going to be treated to a Fishman tune, maybe Love Ya, hopefully
Bike. But Fish went to the Piano and Page took the Bass and Mike to the
Guitar. Fishman as a self taught muscian was VERY VERY impressive to
me. He was quite impressive on the keys. In my 9th row seats I could
see him play the piano in a very unique style. He was pounding on the
keys very hard. I can't explain it, if you can picture Fishman's
mannerisms coupled with him going crazy on the piano, all while the
furry little beast was trying to be serious. Mike was very good at the
guitar. At some points it sounded as if the band had not missed a beat. 
Mike impressed me the most on the guitar, which was much different than
when he failed to impress me last year at the Spectrum during the
Trading Places Jam. Soon Page took the guitar (nothing impressive) and
Fish took over at the Bass (hilariously funny looking and sounding). 
Mike switched to the piano and after a short jam ( in which Trey broke
a drum stick in the rim) Mike sung... 

| --> 16 Candles: Trey and company were mocking him in the corner while
they watched, but it was very funny to see Mike. This was a cool choice
of a song to sing. If you remember Fish sang Moonshine last year at the
Sectrum while at the piano. BTW, I will answer the discrepency now,
Mike yelled SEX not SIX at the beggingin even though, the original
lyrics are SIX. 

| --> They went right back into the final "Washa Uffiza Drize me to
Firenze" and then into a vocal jam in which they kept saying "Satan is
here" and other Satan related phrases. Who would have known why they
were saying Satan, until...... 

Harpua: The second they said the Oom Pa Pa the crown erupted. This was
my first Harpua as I missed the Clifford Ball this summer ;-( and I had
not seen one at my previous 13 shows. The story was hilarious!!! It
starts in the Dr. Seuss/Grinchesque Gamehendge where all the people of
Gamehendge sing songs in a circle every Christmas and the old man on
the hill who has been ostrascized from the town comes down from the
hill and ruins Christmas. Anyway Trey skips right to the fight after a
brief description of Jimmy and Poster because he says he wants to get
to the "meat of the story." The fight between Poster and Harpua on this
particular day was so fierce that they began rolling and tumbling until
they formed a tornado that began pulling all the people of Gamehendge
down deeper into the ground until they were in HELL!! When all the
people in Gamehendge got to hell they were confronted by the devil who
blurted out the "horrible, awful sounds of hell." At this point Marshal
came out equipped with Oasis style glasses, a cheesy shirt and a
british accent and he sang the radio hit "Champagne Supernova." There
is no discrepency here, Phish was really making fun of Oasis, unless of
course, you take the "horrible, awful sounds of hell" to be a
compliment. Anyway they finished Harpua completely. I loved this
Harpua, it was on of the highlights of my tour and Phish concert going
career. It was especially funny because I also hound my
closet-MTV-watching friend for his fondness of Champagne Supernova. He
was in attendance for this show and he loved every minute of Marshal's
Oasis spoof. 

E: Rocky Top - Not a bad choice. I know some phans dislike this number,
but not I. I would have liked Sleeping Monkey, but what can you do? 

This night was so incredible!!! I get the chills just thinking about
all the fun I had!! I want to say hi to the very cool woman sitting
next us, Taz@something.something, the person who re-filled our bowl. If
your reading this, no matter what you said to us, I don't think your a
bitch ;-)  Thanks for a cool night. Taz and husband, it was nice to
meet you. The first set was a 4.0 on the Scott Jordan, but the second
was a 15.0 out of 10, so let's just call it an 8.0. Also, I want to say
hi to the girls from Tennessee, Aaron and Kevin- thanks for the ride
and the guy who gave us the best Veggie Burrito i've ever had!! 

I can't write anymore or my hands will fall off, but please read my
Part II review of the Boston shows in which I will tell you about my
interaction with the band and how I got them to play Guyute. If you are
reading this far -- Good for you! You have a long attention span. I'd
love some feedback if anyone wants to drop me a line. Also I'd love the
tapes if some kind taper wants to help me out. I will also trade for
your FMs of NYE from WBCN. 

Thanks for Reading and Happy new Year. 

Jesse Alderman Icculus3@aol.com jhalder@newtech.net