Date: Sat, 04 Jan 1997 13:37:57 -0800
From: Martin Goldstein
Subject: 12/30 review

12/30/96 Fleetcenter, Boston, MA

I think this review page is extremely handy, and I didn't see a
full-blown review of the 30th, so I decided to give it a shot...

Preshow scene sucked liked the 31th. Too cold, too dangerous, too cramped
etc., but again, getting inside was no big deal (when compared to
entrance at New Haven last year, we could enter the venue blindfolded and
it wouldn't be a big deal..).

Overall, a slightly above average show, nothing mindblowing and weak
compared to NYE, but still pretty decent...

Set I: YaMar, Sloth, Llama, Gumbo, Reba, Talk, Funky Bitch, Theme 
From..., GTBT

pre show tunes: Some wierd, jig-like stuff with what seemed like guitar
and soprano sax. They supposedly played it at the Ball.

YaMar: Called it, shocked my friends . Not my favorite choice of
opener, a little too laid back to kick things off. Also, pretty textbook
YaMar, weak by comparison to the Bob Gulloti YaMar on 10/23 in Hartford.
They hadn't got "it" just yet..

Sloth: Now this is more like it. Doesn't really change, but who cares?
Great fun to shout along to and great lights. Tough to dance to, due to
some odd time sigs...but a good choice.

Llama: I've seen this one at my last three shows, but don't really mind.
The set placement was good, and really got the crowd dancing. Page was
all over the organs on this one.                 

Gumbo: Loses something without the horns, but still fun. Love it when
Page rocks the ending. So far, a relatively standard, but grooving set.

Reba: Hmmmm...mixed thoughts about this one. Listening to Reba is like
digging for buried treasure, there's bound to be something good in
hiding, but you have to dig through tons of sand to get there...or in
this case listen to that boring, overlong, composed part to get to the
jam. The jam was actually pretty decent. Flowing, melodious, slowly
building etc. The jam quality is becoming standard for summer and fall
'96 shows. This was good, but check out Hershey '96 for AWESOME Reba.

Talk: Reba was unfinished and I thought they were going to do the
whistles, but Trey got his acoustic for Talk instead. No Thanks Of all of
the tiny acoustic ditties on BB, I like Talk the least. Oh well,
should've played Waste instead.  

Funky Bitch: Aaaaww  Right! Very rocking, very tight..funky as hell, but
then oh no! The sound goes out (what's with the sound on Holiday run?
(12/28/95)). For about a minute or so, the boyz are rocking hard through
the stage monitors, but when the realize the sound went kaput, we were
treated to a hysterical, very Spinal Tap-esque "air jam". Page playing
the keys with his ass, Trey doing windmills and rubbing his strings
against Mike's bass, Fish taking a virtuoso's drum solo. Won't translate
to tape....but very funny. Then the sound comes back on.

Theme From the Bottom: A beautiful song that I like to hear, but for some
reason, most '96 versions I've heard, including this one, simply aren't
as adventerous as their '95 counterparts. This was good enough, but lame
compared to the huge one from 12/28 last year...

Good Times Bad Times: Easily the highlight of the set. Rarely do I see
Phish rock this incredibly hard. They always do their covers justice, but
this was one of the best versions of this song I had heard, and it   
salvaged an otherwise mediocre set. Jammed this one for about 7 minutes
or so. Awesome.

Overall, a somewhat off 1st set that suffered from some less than
engaging versions of songs, in addition to the fact that as far as song
selection goes, it was clearly evident that they were saving the big guns
for tomorrow night.

BTW: setbreak kicked ass! Me and my friends had this "prefered seating"
from mailorder, and we got luxuries like clean bathrooms, leather couches
and fresh fruit frozen yogurt with no waiting in line! Kind of
sacriligious at a Phish show, but cool nonetheless...;)

setII: Timber Ho!, Uncle Pen, ACDC Bag, Guyute, Tweezer>Lifeboy, SOAmule,
Slave
    E:Possum                             

set break tunes: Dizzy Gillespie stuff

Timber Ho!: Yuck. Never really cared for this one. It's too basic and the
jam is aimless. Just mindless Trey noodling during the breaks. A shame
considering they never played Tube the whole run..........

Uncle Pen: The second song in set II? Interesting placement that works.
Phish bluegrass is always fun and everyone gets to take some solos in
this one. Good stuff

ACDC Bag: Another oddly placed song that worked in context. The beginning
seemed to be a little slower than usual, but the build up jam was one of
the best I had ever heard. Towards the middle, the jam gets very
staccato, very quiet, and then Trey uses feedback to build the climax.
Double time ending was insane, even more so than usual. Nice. Thought
Tweezer was next, but...          

Guyute: Justice. Such a great song, really shows off Trey's fingerpicking
talents. Nothing to say here except the build up jam was incredible as
usual with plenty of dark swirling lights. "I hope this happens once
again!"

Tweezer: Seriously, who didn't see this coming? Heaven forbid they play
Fluffhead or something. I've seen 8 shows with 6 Tweezers and not one
Mike's Groove...poor me. Actually, the Tweezer was pretty decent. The
composed part was solid, and about 5 minutes into the jam or so, Trey
picks up on this repeating theme that I can't really describe, but liked
a lot. Pretty short, maybe about 15 min., and it dissolved into something
quiet, mellow, could've swore Page was teasing Keyboard Army, maybe a
Talking Heads song...but

Lifeboy: Ok! A first for me, and was pleasantly surprised. Just a great
song to kick back to, smile and sway back and forth. God never listens.  

Scent of a Mule: Very cool stuff happening during the duel. Page's solo
was long, ranging from virtuoso to being subtle, but always good. Fishman
was having some fun with woodblocks. Then Mike came out with a
Middle-Eastern type bass jam with him making some interesting noises.
Finally, Steven Wright (K-Billy's supersounds of the 70's for those
Reservoir DOgs fans..) lent his humorous bell-ringing skills to the
duel's end. A fine version.

Slave: Pretty standard stuff here. The jam seemed to end abruptly. During
the build up, it seemed like they had yet to climax, maybe Trey was about
2 whole steps away or so, and then they just play the ending F,G,A
sequence. Anybody else pick up on this? Premature ejaculation kinda
botched it for me.

Overall, An above average set II that had some interesting set placements
that worked. Guyute, ACDC Bag and the Scent were definite highlights. For
the encore, Possum was an extremely generous choice, and one that rocked 
hard. They brought the jam around several times before calling it quits,
and the effect was good. No signals, just solid ROCK.

A decent show with a disposable first set and a nice second set. Nothing
out of this world, but still worth getting on tape for GTBT and most of
set II. Peace.
                      -DAVID GOLDSTEIN
 "I come from downtown, born ready for you, armed with will and
determination, and grace too." -The Tragically Hip   
------------------------------------------
From: "James C. Raras Jr." 
Subject: NYE run in review pt 3
Date: 3 Jan 1997 00:38:32 GMT

Without further adieu part 3...

12/30/96

Ahhhh... back in my home town, I love Boston eventhough it makes no
sense, just try to give someone directions (right Mark, Jamie :) This was
actually a landmark show for my family as I got my 14 yr old sister to
come as well as my parents, maybe you saw them in the fifth row :)  They
all enjoyed themselves very much, my parents liked Page the best and my
sister loved Tweezer, way to go sis :)   The security (who were also nice
enough to give my parents ear plugs) was a 180 from the Spectrum but it
didn't bother me except for the fact that they opened the doors a 1/2
hour late and people were getting *very* restless which made me nervous
whereas I was up toward the front of the mob, but luckily everything
worked out allright.  The sound was much better than the Spectrum, and 
the Schoeps copies came out really well (way to go CHill :) The Ya Mar
opener was standard, but served it's purpose in getting everyone dancing,
batting second was The Sloth, who's always a power hitter, as usual a
strong version, Llama kept the energy up but there till wasn't much out
of the ordinary.  I always like Gumbo quite a bit, but this one was
somewhat sloppy (Trey on first verse flub etc...) Page had some nice
input though.  Reba was next, and to tell you the truth I wasn't
surprised at all, somewhat quiet intro, pretty standard begining no flubs
to speak of thru the first bag it tag it, jam section was nice but
nothing jaw dropping, standard ending with no whistling.  Next Trey
picked up the acoustic for Talk, standard version no jam to speak of.
Funky Bitch was next and that's where the fun started for me, a little
ways into FB Fish hit the bass drum and the PA went out, they could still
hear themselves because the monitors were still on so it took a few sec
for them to notice what had happened but when they did they began to ham
it up ala 12/9/95 it was really hilarious, the sound caame back toward
the end of FB and they ended it and began Theme.  Pretty nice version of 
Theme but this is a perfect example of a song I wish they'd vary a little
more in the Jam section, I think it's a great song but with a more
adventurous Jam I think it would be much better.  Good X, Bad X ended the
set which was fun, overall a pretty average set.

Timber Ho! opened the second set which didn't surprise me at all, but was
nice imo, I love it as a set-2 opener.  Uncle Pen came next which is my
least favorite bluegrass song so I wasn't all that impressed, standard
imo.  The Bag which followed had it's moments but I didn't like it nearly
as much as the one exactly a year earlier, which smoked!  I was really
happy to hear Guyute but Trey had major problems/flubs just as he did the
last time I saw it (8/4/96), I wonder how Rupp's version was, anyone??
The Tweezer that followed blew my friend Jed's ALS>Tweezer to bring in
the new year call, but I enjoyed it, I really liked the groove in the Jam
section and it was great how Trey hung back at first and let MIke and
Page jam away, then he came back strong and they were wailing away at a
really nice groove for a while, this was probably my favotite part of the
show.  Then it got really mellow after that, which was kinda the theme of
the Jams on this run, they'd get crazy but then they'd just kinda
mellow/fizzle out (see MikeS>Design 12/28) not that mellow is bad, I love
the Fleeeeezer as well as many other long, mellow at times, Jams but I
don't want to hear a Page piano solo at the end of every Jam if you know
what I mean.  At least they segued into a slow song that I like which was
Lifeboy, standard version.  Next was Mule which I'm really not usually
that happy with but I really enjoyed this version not to mention that
Steven Wright came out to play a bell "solo", great stuff from a home
town boy :)  I enjoyed both Page and Mike in Mule which wasn't so much a
duel, thank GOD I was really getting sick of that duel thing, infact I
think I liked this one so much because there was no duel, but Mike's bass
work was really nice too along with some eerie bellowing (for lack of a
better word :)  Slave was nice to hear as a set closer (again) but really
I like it there, the intro was a little weird but overall I thought it
was a standard (great) version, but as Dan Seidman noted Bob Gullotti's
fills were missing (see 10/23/96) :)  The Possum Encore surprised the
hell outta me, I was hoping for a "We're an American Band" enc. but
Possum allowed me to leave with a smile on my face, and for the second
year in a row Paul had "Rocket Man" playing on the PA after the show on
12/30, for those of you who care... :)

part four to come...

later,
jim    
---------------------------------------------
Subject: 12/30 Boston Recap
From: lerdawg@aol.com (Lerdawg)

First the Setlist:

Set I:
  Ya Mar,  The Sloth,  Llama, Gumbo, Reba, Talk, Funky Bitch*, 
  Theme From The Bottom, Good Times Bad Times

Set II:
  Timber Ho!, Uncle Penn,  AC/DC Bag,  Guyute, Tweezer > Lifeboy,
  Scent of A Mule **, Slave to The Traffic Light

Encore:
  Possum

*  With a silent jam by all four band members, Fishman added 
     numerous silent drum fills!!! 
** Featuring Comedian Steven Wright on a bell!!

Quick Recap, Set I:
Ya Mar opener was energetic, Page was all over Gumbo, the Reba Jam saw
Mike getting waaaay funky, they started getting down  to what reminded me
of a Stevie Wonder tune, some 70's soul jam definitely, then the sound
went out during Funky Bitch so Phish treated the crowd to some fine air
jamming, with Fishman especially carrying on the silent drumming antic,
looking robotic!!

Set II:
Once the Timber Ho started, the light show took off, with a great view of
the patterns from up High (Upper Balcony Seats), after a frantic AC/DC Bag
ending, Guyute was picture-perfect, Serious bombs by Mike in Tweezer led
into a sweet Lifeboy, and the Scent of A Mule surprised everyone, as
comedian Steven Wright (you know this guy, "So I got a tatoo of myself,
only four inches taller") appeared on stage to tap a bell during the Mule
Duel!  Possum closed the night with some great work by Trey, who seems
really fired up for New Year's Eve!!  I expect a 2001, Antelope, Disease
and amazing Divided Sky, hope for some Remain in Light Tunes (Crosseyed!),
and wouldn't rule out a seldom played old tune...

Happy New Year's Brothers and Sisters :) 
-----------------------------------------------
From: Icculus3@aol.com
Subject: Holiday Tour in Review - Part II - 12/30/96
Date: 5 Jan 1997 12:30:23 GMT

Well, now that a few days have past and I have gotten sufficient rest for
the first time in a while, I will try to review the two Fleet Center
Shows, to the best of my ability. I know I wont be able to recount all the
specifics, but I'll try. Again, I would like to express my gratitide to
Shelly, Phish, M.O personel and everyone else who made this great run as
enjoyable as it was. Onto the review......


The 8:00 am train ride from Philly to Boston was very long and boring. I
regret not taking a plane, as it was only $35 more, but I am a little
strapped for cash. There were plenty of 'heads on the train, but
conversation was bleek as we were all exhausted after the pandemonium that
transpired at the Spectrum over the past two nights. I slept most of the
ride and we arrived in Beantown at about 3:00 pm. Fully rested, I stopped
for two slices of pizza and clam chowder at Fannuel (sp?) Hall where I met
my friends and we were off to the show soon after. By the time we got the
Fleet Center at a little before 5:00, phans had already taken over the
streets in front and adjacent to the Fleet Center. North Station was
packed and everything was really crazy!                 

The Scene: Way more ticketless in Boston than there were in Philly. Some
of them were pretty creative; I saw a guy with a chalkboard strapped to
his back and some other creative people. However, there were also the
obnoxious fans yelling "Who's got MY ticket" and "C'mon you know you want
to give me your extra, I got nugs." If I hear the word nugs ever again,
I'm going to vomit. I know what it feels like to get shut out of a show. I
had to forfeit my Hershey and Cliff Ball tickets this summer because I was
stuck working in Maine. That was the worst feeling in the world, but I
wasn't obnoxious about it. I hate how some ticketless are so bitter. It is
not my fault that I was lucky enough to get a ticket and they weren't.
Anyway, the excessive masses of bitter ticketless made for a less cheerful
scene at times. There were literally hundreds or even thousands of people
begging for tickets. I'm sorry for the digression. Anyway, There were some
very cool drum circles, lots of beer and some delicious grilled cheese. My
compliments to the chef ;-) The Hare Krishnas (sp?) started parading up
down the streets chanting. Some people were dancing along, most people
found the sight comical. I really did not know what to make of it. Right
before heading in to the show I found my friends who I came up sperately
from. What are the chances?!? We chatted for a while and then I went
inside and I had floor seats that my friend got with a bracelet, but I had
no idea what awaited me until a security guard said, "Right this way I'll
show you to your seat." He lead me to FRONT ROW, CENTER!!!!!! I was
hyper-ventilating and in disbelief. I did not let this oppurtunity pass me
by and I made a Guyute sign out my 4 X 8 peice of paper I was going to
write the set list on. Anyway, there were so many cool people seated
around us in Section FloorB. We talked about lots of stuff before the 
show, but mostly we talked about how incredibly lucky we were to have 
obtained these primo-seats. When the lights went down I held out my
make-shift Guyute sign and Page read it first. He looked at me, smiled and
gave me a nod as if to say "We'll get to it."  Trey then squinted and read
it. He glanced over at Page and they both gave a nod. How cool is that!! I
was in disbelief that Phish was acknowledging me and I was also phsyched
to know that we'd be hearing a Guyute!!!       

The Show:
Yamar: Standard Yamar, with the normal extended outra jam segment. The
crown erupted with aplause when Mike sung "By By Bd a By By" part. Trey
glanced down at me during this song, it was definite eye-contact. So when
I saw this I gave him a huge smile and the thumbs up sign. He smiled back,
nodded his head a couple times and then jammed away. Very cool...

Sloth: Perfectly placed, I love this tune....

Llama: jammin', this was surely not standard. They took it places. It
wasn't long, but it was fiery. I was glad to hear it.

Gumbo: Page owned this Gumbo and we knew it. Therefore, right before the
end solo, the guy next to me and I, simultaneously yelled "Take it away
Leo!" Page laughed and jammed the ending out. This was 
great..great...great

Reba: This was a very majestic Reba, a flub here of there, but we'll let
it slide. This Reba was far from mind-numbing, but it was still 
above-average. I closed my eyes from start to finish and let the beautiful
music filter through me. No whistling at the end which was kind of a
bummer. I have yet to hear live whistling.

Talk: was enjoyable. I'm not a very big BB fan, but I like the Talk,
Trainsong, Waste medley. Trey picked up his acoustic for the one. That was
good since I think that Waste, Transong, Talk tandem work better
acoustically
(i.e. 8/16/96).

Fucky Bitch: Here is where the mayhem insues. The boys take off on a
jammin' Funky Bitch. Mike looked down at us in the first row for a while.
I got so excited everytime I made eye-contact with the band. It may not
sound cool, but it was way cool, when they looked down at our expressions.
It seemed like they were looking at us, sort of for approval. I hoped they
realized that I not only approved, but I loved every minute of 12/30/96.
Anyway, as I digress, Funky Bitch was really jammin and fiery. Trey
commanded, but Mike was so Funky. As, I mentioned in my Philly reviews the
bass was so audible, especially in front row. Anyway, soon after we heard
a big speaker pop. We could still hear Trey, but Mike's mic and amps went
out. He continued to sing anyway and we could hear in Row One, but I'm
sure everyone else could not. Soon after I stopped hearing the piano and
then virtually the whole PA system went out. Trey then walked over to the
piano and spoke to Page and then he told Mike something and relayed the
info to Fish. Soon after the "Silent Jam" was raging. Page was pretty
un-enthusiactic, but Trey was doing wind-mills, head banging, playing
behind his back and with his tongue. After a little while he went over to
Mike for a guitar rubbing session. I could see Mike had a pretty
embarrassed look on his face. Probably, because he was guitar-humping Trey
and also because he was just singing without realizing no one could hear
him. After this madness, Fish takes over with a very spirited, 
enthusiastic drum solo. The boys got a cue that the PA was back up and 
they began to REALLY jam out the end of Funky Bitch.

ThemeFTB- very cool. I watched Page's fingers the whole time. As a piano  
player I wanted to see what he did. I'm going to figure this song out,
now.
Anyway a cool jam led into...

| --> Good Times Bad Times.. Page's vocal exclamations in this one are so
energetic: "I know what it means to be alone...." Trey jammed it nicely.
This works well as a closer and many people in the audience seemed to be
familiar with the Zepelin tune.

Set II:
Timber Ho!: This was an excellent jammin' version. This was my first, so I
jumped up and down when they began this one. Page laughed at me when he
saw me jumping up and down. I was so siked. Excellent jamming, I paid
extra close attention to the lyrics that I have trouble understanding on
tape, but I heard them loud and clear here. Jerry is a pretty cruel mule,
indeed.. Excellent version of Timber flowed choppily into...

| --> Uncle Pen: They pay their respects to the late Bill Monroe in this 
standard version. Mike had gotten his share of Blue Grass over the run and
that is not a complaint...

AC/DC Bag: I was beggining to get worried that they had forgotten about my
Guyute, so I held up the sign again. But, they went into AC/DC instead. I
was very pleased with this jam. This is up there with the most jammin'
Bags every. It was pretty long and very enjoyable. Machine Gun Trey
treated us to some fast paced action, but it was a joint effort. They
collaborated well together. Mike added some spice and Page was on, as
always. This was a very impressive effort.

Guyute: I held my sign up again and they granted my wish. The second they
played the first note, I started screaming thank you! Thank you!. I was
jumping up and down like a madman. I was so excited. Page looked right at
as they began the song and I  was still going crazy. He laughed at me, of
course and I yelled thank you and he gave me a "glad to do it" facial
expression. There seems to be some discrepency on the .net as to the
quality of this   Guyute. I agree with Ellis and Mark and some others who
said this was not a extraordinary Guyute. It was a little rusty and Trey
flubbed the big note and did it again. It is true that Trey forgot to
whistle, then he looked over at Page and said "Oh yeah" and whistled. They
don't play this song enough and that is why it was a little weak. However,
this is a very complexly written song (if you don't believe me, just try
to play it) and it is such an amazing song that it is easy to look over a
few minor flubs and call this a great version. In reality, all Guyutes are
great. This was an energetic, collaborative jam. It sounded incredible and
was a huge highlight for me. So, if you enjoyed this Guyute, I don't know
if I was responsible for getting them to play it or not, but nevertheless,
if I was responsible for the Guyute | -- I was glad to do it ;-)

Tweezer: This was most definately a highlight for me. This was not a long
epic Tweezer nor did it draw any similarities to any of the monumental
Tweezer or Fleezers, for that matter. I would say the boys went out on a
limb here and do any experimentation or take any risks. This was just a
solid 15 minute or longer Tweezer. The first 9/10 of this jam was
extraordinary. Very solid, fluent, firey, energetic jamming. Again Trey
took the lead, but it was really a good night for Mike, as he contributed
wisely and funkily. This was hands down Page's tour. He ruled the
Weekapaug, salvaged the horrendous Coil and owned the Mule Duel. His
contributions this tour were incredible. Oh, yeah and there was Ebeneezer
screaming in this version. Topher's lights were splendid during the
screaming and the whole Tweezer, for that matter. However, the last 1/10
of this jam really fizzed out and died. I knew they were going to go into
a slow tune after a while, so that made up for the lackluster effort
towards the end. I had an intuition that they would segue into FEFY. But
they went slowly into....

| --> Lifeboy: This Lifeboy really was much needed. I was exsasperated
after the mayhem of Guyute, Tweezer, Timber and AC/DC. This Lifeboy
dragged on for a while or so it seemed, but it wasn't bad at all. It was
perfectly placed. If they had placed this Lifeboy in set I, I would have
despised it, but after the jams of epic proportions that preceeded this
Lifeboy, it served as a great cool down song. Very beautiful.....

| --> Scent:  I'm pretty sure there was segue here. I might be wrong.
Nevertheless, this Scent featured an incredible Page solo that was long
and perfect. Page tapped the ivories for a while and then stopped on the
first note of the Eastern European/ Fiddler on the Roof jam. At this point
I was expecting Trey to step up, but Mike took command. Bonus!! We are
rarely treated to a Bass solo. Mike played a cool little bass segment
accompianed by some Middle-Eastern type chanting. it was very cool. If
Mike was substituted into the duel instead of Trey, I would say Page beat
Mike, but who cares? Anyway from here they go into...

| --> Jam: This was a short little jam, that is typically unheard in
Scent. That is why I labeled it seperately from Scent. Anyway in this
short jam, Steven Wright, the comedian who is all over Comedy Central, is
the voice of the radio station in Resovoir Dogs and is in other things,
came out to wow us with his amazing bell ringing abilities. He came out to
a huge aplause. He does happen to be a Bostonian. The music stopped three
times and he tapped the bell on those three different occassions and then
he left. At this point the boys segued back into...

| --> Scent: The klezmer jam and then back into the ending of Scent. Quite
a good performance. Knocked the socks off of most Scents that I know of.

Slave: Ended the set. I don't think I can ever be impressed by a Slave
again after hearing the Nashville 95' Slave with Bela Fleck. That is the
most amazing, incredible, tear jerking Slave ever. If you don't have it I
will gladly spin you a copy. It is a must have, just for the slave.
Anyway, as I digress, this slave was as average as it gets. Good to hear,
very peaceful, although they never hit the really high note at the end,
which was a little bit of a bummer. Good way to close the set, though. No
complaints here.

E: Possum: Great.. Great...Great version. This was as firey as it comes
ladies and gentelmen. I thought Trey set off the secret language note in
the intro, but I guess I was hearing things. They jammed this song until
there was no tommorrow. Extremely energetic and our Security Guard buddy
(more on him later) seemed to really like this one. Trust me this Possum
did not dissapoint.

This night was just incredible, partly because of the atmosphere in the
front row and because although, there are those out there who disagree, I
thought this was an extremely well played show. I want to say Hi to John
(the guy who looked like Shaggy from Scooby Doo plus a long beard and 10
inch frames) and friend. I'm sorry we did not cross pathes after the show
;-(. I also want to say hi to all the other cool people in FloorB (the guy
with the wool hat, the big guy with the earings and everyone else). We had
a hell of great time!

I also want to enlighten all of you guys who give security a hard time. In
FloorB, we had the nicest, most honest and hard working Security Guard. He
was doing his job; kicking people out, telling people to put out
cigarettes, etc., but he was so cool. On the exterior he looked like a
smug guy, but after the show when we were exchanging setlists, high
fiving and glowing after the awesome show, he came over and slapped us all
five. He began joking that we were all big one happy Phish family, him
included. I guess he was a little shocked at how friendly all of us
strangers were to each other. Anyway, we talked to him for a little while,
told him we'd see him tommorrow and we got him to admit that to his dismay
he did in fact, enjoy the music. Nonetheless, I saw him the following
night and talked to him for about 20 minutes, a couple guys from the
previous nights section came by for the chit-chat, too. He was stern, but
very friendly and I wish people would see security guards as they see
everyone else and not act like such jerks to them when they are only doing
their jobs and ensuring our safety. *Preachy Mode Off*

Well the show had to be a 7.5 or 8.0 on the Scott Jordan Review Poll. The
T was a mob-scene getting home, but I enjoyed this show tremendously, so
nothing could bring me down.              

Thanks again for reading this review, I know it was long-winded, but there
is so much to say. I'd love to trade anyone who has the Holiday Run shows.
Also, if you've read this far, I can offer you some Fall 96's off my list
for trade or Blanks. NYE review is still to come and check out my Philly
review, if you want, too.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

Jesse
Icculus3@aol.com
jhalder@newtech.net         
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Subject: Setlist and Notes from 12/30/96 FleetCenter
From: gt5685d@prism.gatech.edu (Shaggy)

Well, it's late, and I'm sure some net.folk have already given the
list, but humor me. Got a few quick notes then off to rest up
for tomorrow night's pure bliss.

The FleetCenter 12/30/96 Boston, Mass.

Set I:
  Yamar, The Sloth, Llama, Gumbo, Reba, Talk, Funky Bitch, Theme
  from the Bottom, Good Times Bad Times

Set II:
  Timber Ho, Uncle Pen, AC/DC Bag, Guyute, Tweezer, Lifeboy, Scent
  of a Mule, Slave to the Traffic Light

E:  Possum

A few quickie-notes:

Pre-show house music: What was this? Altan?

Yamar - Odd time signature.. excellent
Sloth - sick
Llama - fast and tight
Gumbo - We're in for a _really_ phun show; Page - excellent solo
        to finish
Reba - pretty standard.. until -- a really impeccable jam; song
       unfinished (hmm..)
Talk - At the end (which was sweet) Page bears a reeeealy big smile
FBitch - Um... Adam? Very, ah, funky. However, they lost house sound
         near the end, and the band either didn't realize or were
         just too into it. Could hear stage monitors and actual
         drums, though. So band breaks it down into a funky "air jam"
         to cover. Finally Mike (I think) strikes a note, realizes
         house is back up, quick to finish.
GTBT - Kinda short, but a real fun time.

Setbreak music: none for ~10min, then real jazzy music, with
   trumpets, a swing-feel. Who was this?

AC/DC - tick-tock ending with Trey, Page follows
Guyute - Page - very fine keys indeed
Tweezer - Didn't carry a timepiece, but long, furious,
        energy-pushing, well.. siiiiick jam! (segue into Lifeboy,
        not really continuous)
SOAMule - fairly quick into piano with a bit of a holdback,
        Page - long build to finish his part, Mike - weird
        Middle-Eastern bass jam with vocal - way beautiful.
        All joined, including comedian *Steven Wright* on "service
        bell."
Slave - Nothing short of gorgeous magick; Trey lent a lot of sweetness
        to the "soft parts"
Possum - Incredibly energetic

Some notes from the show --- see you net.folks tomorrow afternoon
at the Commonwealth Brewery! Love to hear from ya! Happy New Year!

Pax et lux,

:: Shaggy ::

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful | gt5685d@prism.gatech.edu
 committed citizens can change the world;     |
http://www.prism.gatech.edu/
 indeed it is the only thing that ever has."  |
~gt5685d/shaggy.html
                             -- Margaret Mead
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Subject: Re: "Steven Wright Solo's" In Review, Part 1
Date: 2 Jan 1997 02:00:02 GMT
From: chucktea@aol.com (ChuckTea)


My mind is still reeling from the amazingly perfect solo
by the genius, Steven Wright.  How can anyone top his 
brilliance deep inside of Scent of a Mule.
The craftmanship of his musical work I don't think
can ever be topped by any person. Atleast not in my
lifetime.  The only thing that can top his solo would 
definately be a repeat of his stellar performance. Even then
I don't think He could recapture the sweetness and the perfect
sound emitted from his instrument.  He has given me the drive to actually 
try to learn a musical instrument.  And like my mentor i shall perfect the
"Ring for Service" Bell.  I can only wish to be as good as he is.

-Jim
Holdin my breath until i get 12-30-96 so i can hear Steven Wright over and
over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.  If
anyone has it please drop me a line.  I don't think i can hold my breath
forever.
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Subject: 12\30 Highlights(and crowd comments)
Date: 3 Jan 1997 03:11:05 GMT
From: runawyjimm@aol.com (Runawyjimm)


12-30-96 Highlights
1st set,
1.Sloth is always a treat
2.Funky Bitch, okay this could have sucked, but it was covered sooo
amazingly    by the band, after they lost their sound you could still hear
them through their    stage speaker, and then after repeating the funky
bitch chords a few times trey    starts his best Jimmy Hendrix impression,
as Mike jumps into the fucked up act
  trey starts the windmills, then fishman stands up and starts gettin in
the act. 
  after a few minutes of this the band got a cue the sound was back on and
  jammed right back into funky bitch!!! This was way better then avante
garde rift 
  12\28\95..
2nd set
1)Timber Ho! nough said
2)GUYUTE only my second live but it was played to perfection...my favorite
song    of the night
3)SOAMULE-Best Dule EVER with Steven reight and his magical bell it was   
awesome then mikes hebrew jam 
4)Tweezer-my eighth one live IMHO not one of the best doesnt even come
close to
                12\2\95 or even a nice 10\23\96 but its still tweezer
5)Possum-Raging encore , thought they might give a few signals but it was
not to 
   be
Overall an excellent second set and a good first set. @nd set definitely a
keeper.
***This was hands down the best crowd of the holiday tour*** When the
power went out it was silent, also everyone picked up the bell trick
really quickly!!!
Too bad the crowd on NYE was not as cool as this one :>(
Ohh well overall 12\30\96 was a show to remember
Later on,
Kevin
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From: icculus@pop.netaxis.com (David Siegel)
Subject: Re: 12/30/96 Gyute
Date: 3 Jan 1997 12:18:05 GMT

|The guyute they played last night (12/30) was the most incredible
|version I've heard.  I thought trey's plucking was on all night and it
really
|showed on the second set, third song(?) guyute.  Get the tapes even if
only to
|hear just this song.
|
Right on.  This Guyute completely made both the set and the show for
me.  It is was completely unreal, and has become my second favorite
song, only behind that masterpiece Harry Hood (which, btw, was equally
as moving).  The Guyute/Tweezer definitely combo made this show a
keeper.

Not only that, but Trey whistled after the first verse, something I
don't think he does terribly often.  I'm not sure if there was Guyute
whistling at Red Rocks (and I'm far too lazy/tired to check), but this
was, imho, the second best musical highlight of the entire run, losing   
to the *entire* second set of the now-legendary 12-29 show.


...I going to have to agree with all of this.  Gyute has become one of my
fvorite songs by listening to tapes (i.e. Providence '94, joy!) and
12/30/96
was the firs opportunity I had to be at a show where they played it.  I
must
say that it was by far better than any other Gyute I have ever heard
(which
has something to do with the fact that I was there, and not just listening
to a tape) and was one of the highest point of my first time touring with
Phish.  My friend and I were practically crying it was so beautiful.
Gyute
ranks up there with my other greatest moments of this tour, which include
hearing Antelope for the first time at a show (I GOT DOWN!) and, of
course,
12\29 set II (Oom pah pah!)
Dave Siegel
icculus@netaxis.com
URL:  http://www.netaxis.com/~icculus/index.htm