dpurcell@uclink3.berkeley.edu (Daniel Edward Purcell) DELTA CENTER, SALT LAKE CITY, 6/8/95 Moved from Park City due to weather, they only sold the bottom bowl of the arena. The Delta Center is huge; even with the upper deck empty, there were probably 12,000 or so there. Security was tight (the guy in front of me was asked to open his tin of Skoal) but not especially obnoxious. FIRST SET Don't You Want to Go A nice opener, around five minutes long. Very simple and folky riff, along the lines of "Rock Island Line." Trey's solos were nice and clean, a good omen for the rest of the night. Ha Ha Ha -> Trey motions to Fishman, and off we go. Reminds me of Peaches (though not nearly as long, complex, or anthemic). Short sequence of composed guitar riffs. If this takes the place of Oh Kee Pa, as Charlie suggested, it'll be fine by me. Runaway Jim Longer than usual, it seemed to me. Maybe twelve minutes? I have such trouble keeping track of time as shows, though, so my guesses are not to be relied on. The middle was fairly standard, but the end jam (after the last two verses) was the strongest that I've heard. Trey wandered very deeply into space (which is becoming a habit, as the Red Rocks shows proved) and working more with ambient tones through his volume pedal. Very nice. I expected a Foam, but... Guelah Papyrus Same as always. The high point of Guelah in concert is the dance. Mound One of my sentimental favorites. The spacy segment after the second chorus was slightly flubbed, I think. A nice enough version. Fast Enough for You Trey did his very best to redeem this one, which I normally find rather smarmy. Really nice, soaring guitar solo. Reba -> Long version. The lyrics segment was fine, the composed section was fine, and the jam was very satisfying. This was more of a bumpy ride compared to the smooooooth build at Halloween, but when it got to the top, the place went nuts. No whistling, which sort of bothers me. I wonder why they never segue into another song after the jam and then return to the whistling later in the show. Good idea? Prince Caspian An incredibly simple song. Two chords (E and A, I believe) alternated back and forth in 4/4, over which Trey sings the line, "Oh, to be Prince Caspian thrown upon the waves." At least that's what it sounds like to me. There is a small bridge section thrown in twice (goes A-E-B-E, I believe), but otherwise it's just a long build: Trey starts off singing and playing, Page and Mike come in with harmonies, Mike and Fishman join in instrumentally, Page comes in on the piano, and it builds, and builds, and builds...only about four minutes long (I could've sworn that Trey took a solo here; he didn't at Red Rocks). I agree that this may get reeeeeeal annoying over time, and certainly if it's seized on as the first single from the next studio album, but it's a very pretty song, and it has its place. Certainly alongside Sparkle, which is structurally similar, it's very nice. Chalk Dust Torture Nice, inspired solo. This is pretty clearly Trey's night. SECOND SET Simple -> When they kicked this one in, I could not have been happier. I would've preferred a 2001 -> Mike's -> Simple, but I was not complaining. Sadly, though, they didn't do a lot with it. A tight enough version, but they came right out of the "cymbop and bebaphone" segment into... Rift There is no God. I hate this song. I understand that there are probably many of you out there who love it, and I do apologize, but I cannot stand it. It's always exactly the same, it doesn't go anywhere, it doesn't have a particularly memorable melody, they play it too damn much, and here they played it in a particularly inappropriate place, which (for me, at least) halted the show's momentum. Free A relatively long (minute and a half) intro, Trey playing theme and variation on a very rockist 70s guitar riff. (It almost sounded like an Allman Brothers riff to me, actually, but not being knowledgeable about the Allmans, I may be entirely wrong.) A nice, lilting melody, with mean lyrics ("In a minute I'll be free/And you'll be swimming in the sea"). Taken together with the lyrics for Taste, I'm wondering if Tom Marshall isn't a bit unhappy with the opposite sex. Actually, that's a point that bears repeating: the new songs seem to address emotional relationships to a greater extent than old ones. That's true of Free, Theme from the Bottom, Taste, and Strange Design. (I haven't heard Spock's Brain, unfortunately.) While I doubt Phish could ever entirely abandon goofiness, they do seem to be going for a simple and more direct emotional message than before. Anyway, a nice jam comes back to the lyrics segment, repeated in its entirety. I enjoyed this one very much. In fact, I enjoyed ALL of the new songs. What would you rather have, Free or yet another Golgi Apparatus? Bouncing Around the Room Standard. I went to the bathroom. Tweezer -> Ah, yes. I thought we were too late in the set for this, and was expecting a YEM. I couldn't possibly do this justice here. It seemed to be organized in about five sections, ranging from a basic Tweezer jam to deep, deep space. Overally, it probably ran about thirty minutes. Twenty minutes in they return to the Tweezer theme, but instead of ending (or segueing) they go back into space for a bit. I personally can't wait to hear this again on tape, and I would advise you to do the same. Moved smoothly into... Lifeboy Now, I wasn't happy with this choice at first, finding this song wan, toothless, and irritating on Hoist, but they totally won me over. Very pretty, very nice soloing from Trey, wonderful accent work by Page, a perfect drop in energy after the frenetic Tweezer. My friend Scott read the song as a blast at organized religion in a deeply religious place; it still sounds less like political discourse than self-pity to me, though. Poor Heart Standard. I don't generally mind it late in the second set, so long as they follow it with something interesting, which... Julius They didn't. Don't get me wrong, I really like this song. I just don't want it as the closer. Plenty of energy, at least. ENCORE Good Times Bad Times I was guessing Sleeping Monkey -> Tweeprise (my guesses, if you haven't noticed by now, are worthless), but instead we got this monster, stretched out to eight or nine minutes, I'd guess. Long solos, very nice, a great way to end the show. Overall, I'd give it an 7, I guess. The lapses were relatively few, great moments abounded, and the new songs made it a very novel experience as well. For those of you who doubted Phish's songwriting health on Hoist, I think they've redeemed themselves. They certainly have for me. More to come... Dan...