this is one of the great "hidden" gems of the fall '95 tour. everyone focuses on the december shows, but don't allow yourself to overlook some of these very good pre halloween shows. there are some real winners in the mix, this one included.

ac/dc bag gets this one off to a nice rocking start. this one is played nice and tight before its typical rousing ending. cars trucks and buses puts page in the forefront as they work their way through this newer tune. kung is somewhat oddly placed, but hell, i enjoy it anywhere. free springs out of this kung, and in true '95 fashion, it is definitely of the rocking variety. sparkle is quick and keeps the energy up before a vary nice stash provides the boys another chance to really cut loose. you know you are seeing an interesting show if you catch both kung and catapult in the same set. this one does not build up right away. instead, they dip into acoustic army, which serves as a nice mellow out. they do start to bring it back up with a very sharp and focused its ice. fishman plays well on this one. tela does its thing before a somewhat rare set closing jim. they work this one over a touch extra before calling it a set.

i really like reba in the opening slot. it shows they mean business right off the bat. plus, they are challenging themselves. no warm up...just go time! this one, like many in 95, is a real gem. trey and page both shine on this one, and gordo and fishman are on all the subtle time changes as this jam progresses. rift, like sparkle, is pretty quick and keeps the energy up. then we get a really nice treat. phish and mmw together. while, in my opinion, these two bands' sounds have diverged a bit over the years, but at this juncture, this was a match made in heaven. their paths also crossed at a show in new orleans, but i would say this was a far more successful encounter. the back section of this yem is all over the place. it is easily one of the longer ones around, and the loose improv just flows perfectly. hearing medeski and trey play off each other is always a blast. see the 'o1 trey band shows at alpine, deer creek, and st. louis too if my memory serves me correctly, for examples of medeski/trey jams. anyway, hello my baby ends the mmw encounter and gives everyone a chance to catch their breathe. instead of tweedling out the rest of the set, they bring up a very strong and energetic mule. some of that weird mojo built up in the yem jam was released in mule before closing it out with a nice cavern. aditl was still a fairly frequent occurence at this time, but it works well as a quality encore.

My 2nd show and the one that got me hooked. 1st set starts with a very hot AC/DC bag. Then, set I is pretty standard until you get to ICE. The Ice > Tela, Runaway Jim is the point I remember finally understanding what all the hype was about. As if that wasn't enough, set II contains a nice Reba, a very hot set II Rift that had the place roaring, and then the EPIC 28 Min. YEM with MMW. So cool to see Trey with MMW later that night at Emo's too. 5 star SOAM as well. Overall a great show, and the one that pulled me IN!!!

The prior show in Austin, on the outskirts of town, was a pretty low key event (but amazing performance). The touring fans were limited and subdued, and Austin wasn't very hip to Phish yet. This time, however, things had changed. Jerry was freshly gone and the dead crowd was migrating into what had been a much more innocent scene. The venue was downtown, and with limited parking, the large green nearby turned into the hot spot. Multiple drum circles , many vendors of illegal things, wookies, miracle mooches... the scene had gotten much crazier for sure.

I once read an interview where Kuroda discussed Austin. Apparently they had a whole lot of extra lighting in tow for some of the much larger Midwest shows, and had used a stripped down setup for much of the tour. I guess he decided since they were there for two nights, they'd set up the full rig for a test run. So they had lights for 10K+ venues set up in a 2600 seat room. And wow, were they intense. Kuroda was less subtle than he is now and it was quite an assault.

The first set was long and strong throughout with the awesome lights going from the start. My highlight was the powerful Jim to end the set. Loved the set. The second set featured the YEM of course. By the time they got to the guests the jam had worked its way to utter insanity. Kuroda was shooting his wad on lights with strobes and swirls and everything. MMW was there, the bus driver was blatting away on the trumpet, and at one point Trey was doing laps around the stage with his megaphone, to bright white strobes. The craziest spectacle I've ever seen them create. At one point this (likely heavily altered) kid near me got down on all fours, put his head in his hands, and starting screaming "ITS TOO MUCH! IT'S TOO MUCH!"

I found this to be one of the most entertaining shows I ever attended. Listening back, it doesn't hold up as well for me, but this is still one of my most memorable shows.

SET 1: AC/DC Bag, Cars Trucks Buses, Kung: Nice bustout, not seen since 10.20.94 which turns out to be a 75-show gap > Free, Sparkle: Tons of momentum out of gate with these first 5 tunes. >

Stash: Nice, our first shot at a jam! And do they ever capitalize on the opportunity. This one is a monster. They take it down to about nothing a couple of times. Once they do finally build for a peak, it is a big one! Creepy too – extremely intense. Then they literally whisper the ending Maybe So Maybe Not. Evil Phish. 3.0 take note! This is without a doubt, an all-timer!!! ->

Catapult, Acoustic Army, It's Ice > Tela, Runaway Jim: Super solid segment here to complete the set.

First set summary: Very good first set anchored of course by an all-time Stash. The stage is set for a great night.

SET 2: Reba: Not seen as a second set opener since 10.4.90! This only happened once more at 10.25.95 (my favorite version) and they never opened another second set with Reba after that as of the writing of this review, 10.9.22. This Reba is workmanlike as they exhibit great patience to move through many passages. The peak is solid yet unspectacular.
Rift: Standard.

You Enjoy Myself: This was a had to be there, there is so much going on with the special guests. No replay value for me.

Hello My Baby, Scent of a Mule, Cavern ENCORE: A Day in the Life - Standard

Second set summary: Good Reba and one that I might revisit occasionally. Outside of that, this set just is not one I care for.

My 2nd show and the one that got me hooked. 1st set starts with a very hot AC/DC bag. Then, set I is pretty standard until you get to ICE. The Ice > Tela, Runaway Jim is the point I remember finally understanding what all the hype was about. As if that wasn't enough, set II contains a nice Reba, a very hot set II Rift that had the place roaring, and then the EPIC 28 Min. YEM with MMW. So cool to see Trey with MMW later that night at Emo's too. 5 star SOAM as well. Overall a great show, and the one that pulled me IN!!!

AC/DC Bag: great classic 1995 opener. Breaks off for a minute but returns for the normal peaky ending

Cars Trucks Buses: Page time

Kung: 76 show gap. After the lyrics there’s a fun spacey jam

Free: average 1995 percussion Trey version

Sparkle: standard

Stash: very exploratory. Starts super quiet with Trey + Mike interplay. As it grows it becomes heavy before winding down and building once again to an unusual ending. One of the best from this tour

Catapult: out of the strange Stash ending

Acoustic Army: standard

It’s Ice: cool spacey jam with good Piano from Page

Tela: sing it Page!

Runaway Jim: quickly gets type 2 but builds intensively to the Jim peak to end the first set

Reba: nice way to start the set. The patience in the jam is perfect

Rift: another lightning fast fall 95 rendition with some troubles early on. Slow down boys!

You Enjoy Myself: long crazy type 2 jam with horns, Fish on vacuum, and percussion Trey. No bass+drums or vocal jam

Hello My Baby: acapella

Scent Of A Mule: Page piano > strange Trey vocals + guitar > more Page piano

Cavern: good choice to close the set

A Day In The Life: beatles to end the show

Awesome show from the Chess Tour. Two beasts of improvisation and a big mule duel. Some rarer treats mixed in as well. This is a 7.5/10 show. Highlights are Kung, Stash, Jim, Reba, YEM, and SOAMule