Story time…

It was the summer of 91 and my best friend Nate was spending the night at my house. We were staying up late into the night listening to music and talking about how much fun we were going to have at summer camp a few days from then. At one point Nate pulled out a tape that his older sister gave to him and said “you gotta listen to this band. They’re really weird. They play this song about cars and tires and jump on trampolines on stage and one of them plays a vacuum and they play all sorts of crazy music.” So Nate pops in the tape. The first thing I think is “WOW…this sounds like total shit.” I remember Nate telling me that it was a live show that someone recorded so it doesn’t sound too good. Looking back it was probably like a 10th generation tape. I don’t remember everything he played but I do remember him playing Contact for me and really liking it. The whole idea of songs lasting for 10 minutes and having all sorts of changes was totally new to me. I never heard anything like it…and I was intrigued. The next day we went into town (I grew up out in the boonies) to do some shopping for summer camp. Just so happens that there’s a record store in the plaza and Nate goes in and picks up Lawn Boy. I remember looking at the liner notes on the ride home and trying to figure out who the crazy cave man was holding the vacuum cleaner. I can’t tell you when we first listened to that tape, I’m sure it was later that day. What I can tell you is that during that week at summer camp we probably listened to that tape 1000 times. It never left the radio and we played it OVER and OVER. I clearly remember running down the path to the lake while blasting Antelope and just feeling SOO good. I was with my best friend, I was at an awesome summer camp and somehow I had a soundtrack to it all. This was the first time that music made me feel that way. Nate and I were the Antelopes and we were completely out of control.

Nate’s sister took him to The Riviera Theater on 5/8/92. He had so many stories to tell I could hardly believe that any of it was true. Phish seemed like the coolest band in the world after he told me all about the craziness that went on. I wish we would have gotten some more live shows from his sister but at the time we both agreed that they were simply too bad to listen to and what band plays songs live that aren’t on an album? We did manage to get our hands on Junta and somehow that kept us entertained until Darien Lake. As with everybody else at this age, this is the time that I was really getting into music and trying to figure out what I liked. Even though popular music generally sucks, I’d have to say that at this point in time it wasn’t all that bad. This was the grunge era so we had Pearl Jam, Sound Garden, Alice in Chains and Nirvana…who I got to see that November! I was also into all the classics… The Dead, Allman Brothers, Beatles, Zeppelin, Floyd etc, etc…all the classic high school bands. At the time I wasn’t a huge fan of the Dead but I did go to see them earlier in the summer at Rich Stadium on 6/13/93. This was my first BIG concert. I remember walking around the parking lot trying to find people that were listening to Phish. Only found two guys and they were quite a bit older than me so I didn’t say anything to them. It’s funny, at the time I thought that Phish was way better than the Dead and that there was some kind of war between Dead fans and Phish Fans. It was like you had to like one band or the other. I thought I was better than Dead fans even though I barely knew anything about Phish OR the Dead. Took me a long time to appreciate the Dead, guess I just got older and wiser.

SHOW DAY! There are a handful of very clear memories I have of this show, more that are kind of blurry and probably a few that by now are completely made up. At this point, my best friend Nate moved a “few towns over” so we were just going to try to meet up at the show later. I managed to get a few more friends into Phish at that point so there were four of us that got a ride to the show from my friends Dad. I remember how lame it was that we had to have my friends Dad drop us off considering that most of my friends had cars but there was nothing we could do about it. None of us had a way to get a car. A sister of one of the guys I went with was going to the show so were able to hang with her crew in the lot beforehand. I was just starting to get into polluting my mind with drugs and alcohol so we consumed just about everything we could get our hands on. We ate some pot brownies, smoked some pot, drank a few beers and split a bag of mushrooms between the four of use. Funny thing is, I didn’t really get that fucked up. The shrooms were either fake or spread too thin, the grass was not enough and horrible, the pot brownie was probably fake or again spread too thin between us and a two beer buzz lasts about 20min. I don’t think that anyone of us would admit that we weren’t fucked up though. It was probably for the best, who knows what would have happened to us if all that shit was as strong as we wanted it to be. So we wander around a bit and eventually start to make our way into the venue. Around this time the Darien Lake amphitheater was much smaller and a lot different looking than it does now. There was shelter over the stage but none over the seats in the front. There was still grass in the back but it was about half the size it is now, maybe even smaller than that. So we get in and head straight to the merch table. I think we ALL bought shirts and hats. Typical noobs. I still have my t-shirt and even wore it to the first 3.0 Darien show as a sort of anniversary for myself. I think that was the only time that I actually wore that shirt to the show. Anyway, we’re waiting in line and the band starts playing. All out panic ensues and we rush to get to our seats. We finally get up to the ticket people for the seats, my friends all get through and it turns out that I have a lawn ticket!!! I scream out my friend Pete’s name as he runs in. He turns around for a second and just kind of shrugs with a “I’m sorry” look on his face and disappears. So here I am, a little buzzed up, my first Phish show and I’m alone on the lawn. I found myself a good spot and enjoyed the first few songs as much as I could. While I’m standing there I hear someone scream out “BB!”…I know that voice, I turn around and there’s Nate standing there with a huge smile on his face. Fucking awesome. At that point I knew Lawn Boy and Junta and could you believe that they didn’t play ONE song off of Junta? Needless to say I was pretty lost the entire night. Also something to consider is the fact that the songs I actually did know didn’t sound anything like they did on the albums. I remember some older guys next to me that were clearly huge Phish fans dancing around, fist pumping, cheering and singing along to every song they played. I couldn’t believe they knew all these songs. The only other songs I knew that weren’t on Lawnboy were 2001, Purple Rain and La Grange. I wish I could remember what the hell I was thinking the entire night but I can look at that setlist and only imagine. I remember Nate and me laughing our asses off numerous times and looking at each other and shaking our heads in disbelief at how weird this was. After probably the weirdest hour of anything I’ve ever witnessed was about to end they start up Antelope. I don’t think we could have been any happier. We were once again transformed into antelopes out of control.

This was the start of it all. Who would have known how much time and money I would spend on this band over the next 19 years. I know that I would have found this band eventually but I’m so grateful that Nate’s sister got us into them so early. From this point on Phish was number one in my book. My friends that I went to the show with never got past the albums and if you asked them now they would probably say that Phish sucks. Nate and I caught a handful of shows together up through the end of 96, including the Clifford Ball where we both REALLY got “it” during the same set. He eventually moved up to Maine where I hit all the festivals up there with him and sometimes I can twist his arm to come down to SPAC or Great Woods. I honestly think I have him to thank for all of this, my first show buddy.

I consumed *something* before this show, near the amusement park, which greatly affects my memory of this show! I remember "knowing, just knowing" they were going to open with Llama :0 My pals thought I was a wizard. I think I thought I was a wizard.
Like a a giant scooper in a barrel of Phish songs, I scooped up every song (pretty much) that I hadn't heard in concert yet. I remember jumping 9 feet in the air and hovering there when they started Forbin....(I doubt that really happened). I had been anxiously chasing Forbin, not to mention McGrupp and Kung. I remember Trey telling the story in Mockingbird from on top of a roller coaster. (I doubt that really happened).
What Fish did with the vacuum in Purple Rain made me convulse with laughter. I think I fell on the ground.
Now, 20 years after the fact, looking over this mega setlist, I kinda wish I had a clearer less-altered head. Times were changing for us....we had all just graduated high school...about to permanently scatter across the country for college and wider things. This was the last month of the last summer we would all be together.
In many ways, this show put a cap on an Era...an era I still look back on as the times of my life. It would never be like this again. But, oh what a Farewell show!

THE GOOD: The band continued their hot streak of shows with this one. Not to be missed is the arabic-groove laden Stash in the first set that features a nearly perfect ending (if only Mike had just resolved things!) The 'roller coaster of the mind' Forbin is also a stand-out, with a wild, screeching narration describing an ascent in an amusement park ride. But really, the whole second set is freakishly good. Mike's has some wild 93-era hey-jamming, but then the band mellows into a distinct slow Irish jig of-sorts, which quiets and dissolves into Kung. Kung slams back into the ending of Mike's wonderfully. But the transition of the night goes to Avenu > Sloth, which is just too good to be true. My Friend is explosive, McGrupp is beautiful (with Fish on the washboard), and the quirky Antelope ends things on a high-note.

THE BAD: Like most of the mid-to-late summer of 1993, finding bad spots in a show is like trying to find black lining on a silver cloud. Even Sparkle sounds good in this one. The Irish-groove out of Mike's is definitely weird, though, so take that one with a grain of salt.

ETC: Listen to Trey introduce Mike as "Mik-hae-el" in both Poor Heart and Avenu Malkenu, a possible reference to his Jewish background. This is the first Stash, as far as I can tell, where the audience participation is clearly audible in an audience recording. Makisupa has the policeman telling Trey, "Please don't do that". If you want to hear some great banter, check out this Forbin. MFMF is unfinished and features a bunch of odd noodling before McGrupp.

August 1993: The Month Everything Changed; the hurtling-down-a-mountain kinetic energy of the early days was being mixed with a newer style of improvisation, leading to one of the band's strongest years and some of their (to this day) most beloved shows. I've never heard this show, so let's fire up the new LivePhish remaster and dive in...

Set 1 kicks off the right way with a fireball Llama that dips into some of the same pool of atonal dissonance Stash did during that time period, then after a few tracks we get tossed into that pool as Stash itself makes an appearance. Or, at least, we eventually do, as beforehand Page and Trey combine forces and start an odd major-key groove which soon enough winds into familiar teeth-grinding Stash territory and closes in fine fashion with a sneaky and goofy segue into Makisupa Policeman. A surprisingly short (but still incendiary) Reba comes next, then a dig-in-your-heels typically gnarly mid-90s Maze, and Forbin's > Mockingbird (Trey story time is fun and all, but I prefer to just get to that incredible guitar part) and Cavern close out a nice enough first set.

Set 2 begins with a bog-standard 2001, then good ol' Mike's Song pops up (funny how the Mike's Song closing starts about 4 minutes earlier than it would in 3.0, but it then goes into a 2nd jam so it's not a big deal) and brings a manic, also-dissonant added jam that actually sounds like a darker, eviler Simple in points, before we enter an eerie space (Page teases New York, New York, the goofball) that winds into an odd little jamlet and crashes its way into Kung. Mike's Song comes hurtling out of the end of Kung and we get the usual finish, then TMWSIY > Avenu Malkenu charms its way into our hearts before making way for The Sloth. Sparkle comes next (this is a second set, right?), then the second big highlight of Set II with a blistering MFMF that cools down to an atypically weird ending and ends up in McGrupp. McGrupp is a nigh-perfect version, given that extra green-treatment oomph by Page strutting his jazzy stuff on the keys, and with a wink and a nod Page starts playing some familiar chords and Fish gets his showcase for the night with a typically hilarious Purple Rain. A fierce and breathtaking Antelope ends Set II, and Carolina and the ever-rare La Grange ends the night.

Final thoughts: this is August 1993 for you. They aren't quite ready to make the deep dives of 1994 (and especially 1995), and they're still getting some of their showier elements out of their system, but the virtuosity is absolutely off the charts and some of the wilder jams will leave you feeling like the dude in the Maxell commercial. If you want a primer to one of Phish's best months without dipping right into the most legendary shows, you can hardly go wrong with this one.

It doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere, so I just want to add that the McGrupp (with Fishman on washboard) has Trey, Mike and Fishman standing around Page's baby grand for the 'jam' in the middle. None of them looked at the audience, they all kind of leaned in over the soundboard-case/under the lid as Page played. It struck me very odd and cool b/c it seemed like they were playing for themselves rather than for the audience.

As an addendum to my prior review...I finally realized that the tramps memory was not false, but it was during MIke's Song. Didn't know that was a common thing back then until I happened to read the Song History for it here. It was intense and scary at times...I just signed up for LivePhish+ and am reliving the show once again :-)

Ah my first Phish show! I think I had the Rift and Junta CDs by this point but was really not familiar with their live music for the most part. I was late to the Dead scene and had just seen them for the first time at Rich Stadium earlier that summer, which was where I heard about Phish and their summer tour that was coming to Darien Lake. So I grabbed the CDs at a local record store and started to listen. I dug the music right away and promptly bought tickets for the 8/7/93 show for myself, wife and brother.

Now Darien Lake has always had a special place in my heart for sure...from Senior Night in 1983 when the park was closed to all but the area graduating HS seniors and Molly Hatchet played in the rain back when the concert venue was on the opposite side of the park and was lawn only with no roof...to the Wendy's employee party where I met the girl that ended up being my first ( ah well you can guess where I'm going)...to all the family time here with my younger sibs and the year the viper opened, etc.

This was actually my first show at this new venue and I have faint memories of it not being completed yet...no roof or no seats...something like that. Help me out if your memory is better than mine.

Anyway after a great time in the lot meeting lots of people and drinking lots of beer we headed in. Most of the music was new to me save for the few songs from Rift that they played. I have to say it was the first concert I had been to where it didn't even matter if I knew the songs they were playing...I knew the music was great and we were close enough to see how much the guys were enjoying playing it. It really felt like I was part of something big...like my participation was vital to the whole production. Odd thoughts and I wasn't even smoking anything but I remember it vividly.

I'm not going to review the songs because I think this show speaks for itself 24 years later. I listen to it often and marvel at what a great show, setlist and playing-wise this is. The jams...Llama, Stash, Reba, Maze, Mike's...damn. Kung! Roller Coaster of the Mind narration...Purple Rain and a vacuum solo. Yes I had discovered something truly special here. the whole package was just a great first show to experience. One thing I remember that is either a false memory or no one has ever chosen to speak of it or mention it here... I feel like they used tramps at one point during this show...and I feel like it was during MFMF and there were strobes and fog and they were bouncing such that the strobes caught them in midair every time they flashed. I was freaking out. This is either a very vivid false memory or dream or you all just thought it was normal and it didn't get mentioned in the recap of this show or in any review yet that I have read. Got anything for me?

I've not seen a ton of shows over the years...somewhere around 40 total, but I think that has worked in my favor because I can honestly say that I have left every single one of them thinking it was the best concert I had ever seen.

Love the website, I visit often and lurk in the forums...think my last post was circa. 1997.

Two years ago on my 20th phishaversary I wrote this little piece for NYSMusic. Pasted here for your enjoyment yourself.

I first heard of this band called Phish in the middle of my first year of college at SUNY Alfred from a fellow architecture student. He had a few tapes which he copied for me (which in turn I was able to trade for a box full which now resides in the “dusty memories” corner of my basement). This was back in the day where you couldn’t just turn on YouTube or cruise to the Phish spreadsheet to hear whatever show you wanted – you had to actually work for it! Despite my musical background, which was mostly metal and classic rock at that point, the band impressed me immediately. The juxtaposition of incredibly structured songs wrapped in periods of ‘anything goes’ was completely new to me and I became engrossed in learning about all things Phish.

Read the rest here:
http://nysmusic.com/2013/08/07/upstaterewind-20-years-later-a-phan-looks-back-at-8-7-93/

This was my first Phish show. After seeing the Grateful Dead quite a few times, I was slightly aprehensive with a megaphone-toting, trampoline-bouncing, secret language-having band from Vermont. My roots felt more down to Earth... This show was one of the foundation stones of who I am today. From a song about a turquoise mountain (and some subsatnce known as "blastoplast") to another about running like an antelope, out of control, I was completely mesmerized.
From seeing the Dead continually drift apart at this time, I was filled with joy to see a band like Phish, with such cohesion, have so much fun together. I have only had 3 TMWSIYs but each time I hear it, it brings me back to this day... this day that I decided was so perfect, i could never go to another Phish show again. So as not to have an opportunity to taint it. Three years later something really special happened in Plattsburg, New York: the true journey of my life began

Not only was this glorious day my first phish show it was also my first concert. I'd seen bar shows prior but nothing this large(actually small) or outside or anywhere near as amazing. I actually wrote the band a few day afterwards. " Dear phish, your Buffalo(darien lake) was mind blowing". Thst was all I wrote. Less than a month later I get a postcard, a Pollock none the less, from Mike that reads,
" Dear *****, of all the shows from this tour, we like Buffalo the best. Mike Gordon" Almost 15 years later at a CD release party at a, now closed, record store I met him and he resigned it. Telling me " I can't believe you kept this for so long". Of course I did mike. It's one of my most precious items. Anyway, great show, amazing setlist and one of the finest days of my life. If anyone knows of or has video/images from this show I would be forever grateful. I've searched consistantly for years with no luck. Btw, someone mentioned the encore being "average for the time", which is just completely insane since La Grange has been played only a handful of times ever. I think 10 times??

Another excellent gem from summer '93, this show features two sets fairly dense with songs, musicianship, and improvisation--though the last of which is not taken to the same extreme as it is by some of the other landmark shows that take place later in the month.

Set 1 gives us plenty to chew on. Llama opens with a particular ferocity and displays some some sweet comping from the backing band during Trey's solo. The Stash jam explores a few different modal and dissonant spaces, all the while Trey soaring as Mike, Page, and Fishman maintain course and facilitate a subtle ascent in intensity. The transition into Makisupa is as unexpected as it is flawless and marks one of my favorite moments of the first set (the whole Makisupa intro and jam are excellent, as well). Reba and Maze pair quite nicely with the latter neatly fitting in the former's reprisal whistling. The Colonel Forbin's and Mockingbird performance is one of the tunes' more venerable due in part both to Trey's enthralling storytelling and the especially regal outro the band pulls off with Mike's solo. Cavern closes Set 1 with the gusto early Cavern usually displays (a note: I love when Trey finishes the verses' stanzas by moaning along with his guitar, as he does in this version and some others I've heard).

Anytime I see a ~4-minute Also Sprach open Set 2, I gear up for some good shit to follow. The extended ambient intro on this performance is utterly brooding and serves well to foreshadow a crazy Mike's -> Kung -> Mike's. The Mike's jam is pretty representative of summer 83's inventive nature. Some moments that sound like confusion between the band on whether to stick in F or resolve to F# end up serving as fodder to develop dissonance, but eventually the groove cools off to a slower waltz. An extremely tense Kung leads us right back to the close of Mike's song, the anticipated resolution of which pays off incredibly well. Also noteworthy from this set are MFMF and McGrupp. While both tunes are typically performed in a pretty straightforward manner, MFMF gets a delicate and plinky Pink Panther-esque outro jam, and McGrupp boasts uniquely swanky solo section between Page and Mike (with Fishman on some tasty percussion) plus a subtle transition into Purple Rain. Closing the second set, Antelope serves as the final high point for the show, displaying blazing hot chops, empathetic jamming, and an improvisational nature exemplary of the period.

Another great show from a great year. Lots of strong playing, lots of your typical shenanigans.

Set one has a beautiful and cohesive stash. Trey and Page have a lot of fun with it riffing around. Reba is straightforward but strong. Very well played very strong Maze where everyone is on pointe with nice Stairway to heaven Tease. Really enjoy the "Rollercoaster of the Mind" Mockingbird Narration.

Set two has a nice Mikes-> Kung sequence. A top notch segue into The Sloth. A typically strong MFMF. Mcgrupp I also noticeably strong. Antelope starts out a little disjointed but becomes the standard ripper that it is.

Average encore for this era.

Overall a very strong show that illustrates all of the bands strengths at the time.

Maze is absolutely ripped, just killed it.

8-7-93 Darien Lakes
:nice show:
Set started w/a rocking Llama a standard Bouncin' that jumped right into Poorheart.Stash was great w/a nice segue into Makisupa.
This Reba and Maze,was simply stunning.(nice combo). Forbins->Mockingbird,Cavern too close

SetII:What a Set'
2001>
Mikes had a wonderful Irish Diddy Jam,Kung and Mikes closing (w/Fish screaming adding some extra heat to the beat!)
TMWSIY>Avenu w/a nice segue into Sloth.My Friend,Mcgrupp->Purple Rain,and a fun Antelope to Close.