This is the first show at the Bangor Auditorium, 69th of the tour, and pretty good overall. It’s almost the end of the tour and they are still breaking more new ground as far as venues go and still playing at such a high level. The recording was an audience and not bad at all to listen to. No real sound problems for Paul tonight.

Nice solid Buried Alive opens things up and it was average for this tour. Right into Poor Heart, which was also well done. Melt was pretty fast tonight. It rocked, but was just average. Sparkle was a bit loose, especially the ending speed up jam. Caravan was just ok for me. I like the song, but it wasn’t all that tonight. Lizards was good, no real problems here. Horn was ok, maybe a few bumps in the road. Divided Sky was spotty all over the place, but the jam was ok. IDK also comes in at average with Fish on the washboard. Antelope had the usual screwing around in the intro part and Fish blew the climax and kept playing drums along with Mike’s bass, making this one not all that. So it wasn’t the best first set for this tour, but not too bad.

Rift gets the opener spot for the second set and unfortunately the timing was still off during the middle solo sections. Bouncing was pretty standard as was Maze. Fee has a funny moment where Trey must have forgotten to pick up the megaphone or something, because he had to rush through the lyrics to keep up and he almost laughed out loud as he did. Then the Balls come out…and I have to say this may be one of the weirdest Ball Jams I’ve heard. Fish changes his drum part at least three times and makes it funky. YEM is a little off at the top and was just ok for me tonight. The vocal jam leads into Fish coming back out to do the Gig in the Sky. You either love it or hate it. Fish then jumps into Hood and nobody is there with him, so it’s a bit awkward and there are a few off spots, but by the end you do in fact feel good about this one. Woo hoo we have a Harpua! I always love this song, although this one is kind of sloppy, there is still the usual funny story. Highway to Hell is also a little sloppy, but at this point nobody cares. Pretty decent second set overall.

Everyone gets shushed for Grace, which was fine, and then the recording cuts a pinch of Golgi’s top off. The song itself was ok; Mike had a rough spot, but not too bad overall.

Good show, but just kind of average for this tour. I’m going with three stars just to bring the average down a bit.

later in the year the boys will murder this area on 12/30/93. this is home.
solid early 93 versions of the songs played abound.

the melt, and sky are not classics but good listens.
The Antelope gt type II for a few bars. Tight first set. You can tell that everyone is more energized , fans included, for the second set.
Go right to the maze. No searching Trey. After Page's solo Trey takes the band where they will live the rest of the year. A tight , rockin space lol sick, guitar mastery. Must listen if you're a guitar/trey phan.
I love hearing shows where the phans don't recognize the opening note of Y.E.M like they do now. this is one of them. It's almost lie a reverence or prayer. Beautiful listen.

PHISH, FRIDAY 05/07/1993
BANGOR AUDITORIUM
Bangor, ME

SET 1:

Buried Alive: Standard. >

Poor Heart: Standard. >

Split Open and Melt: Standard.

Sparkle: Standard. >

Caravan: The Manteca tease is choice! Check this out! This Caravan seems elongated than the other versions I can remember. But when I look at other timings from other versions, they are similar to this one so maybe it’s just me. I really enjoyed this jam though.

The Lizards: Standard.

Horn: Standard.

Divided Sky: Standard.

I Didn't Know[1] - Standard.

Run Like an Antelope: Smoking! Very hot version would recommend.

SET 2:

Rift: Standard.

Bouncing Around the Room: Standard.

Maze: Standard.

Fee[2] Standard >

Big Ball Jam: Standard.

You Enjoy Myself: Jamcharts version but nothing at all stands out to me. Well, the little Trey/Mike duel towards the end of the jam was fun. >

The Great Gig in the Sky: Standard.

Harry Hood: Standard.

Harpua[3] Standard.

Highway to Hell: Standard. Ravishing Rick Rude, lol. Like how they fit in the Crossroads stuff and then debuted it the next night for real.

ENCORE:

Amazing Grace: Standard.

Golgi Apparatus: Standard.

Summary: Good show, nothing crazy. Very enjoyable Antelope.

Replay Value: Run Like an Antelope

[1] Fish on Madonna washboard.
[2] Trey sang verses through megaphone.
[3] Narration about "Ravishing" Rick Rude.

Caravan contained a tease of Manteca. Page teased "Charge!" in The Lizards. I Didn't Know featured Fish on the Madonna washboard. Trey teased Johnny B. Goode in Run Like an Antelope. Trey sang the verses of Fee through a megaphone. YEM included Mission: Impossible theme and Fire (Ohio Players) teases and a Yield Not to Temptation jam. The YEM vocal jam was based on the Bonanza theme and also contained Under Pressure teases from Trey. Trey teased A Night in Tunisia in Harry Hood. Harpua's narration focused on the story of pro wrestler "Ravishing" Rick Rude and contained a tease of Crossroads, which would make its Phish debut the following day.

JAM CHART VERSIONS
Run Like an Antelope, You Enjoy Myself
TEASES
Manteca tease in Caravan, Theme from Mission: Impossible, Yield Not to Temptation, Theme from Bonanza, Fire (Ohio Players), and Under Pressure teases in You Enjoy Myself, Crossroads tease in Harpua, Charge! tease in The Lizards, Johnny B. Goode tease in Run Like an Antelope, A Night in Tunisia tease in Harry Hood

https://forum.phish.net/forum/permalink/1378236671

One reason I enjoy returning to these old shows is to notice how my opinions toward the performances evolve over time. Overall, 5/7/93 seems like an average show for 1993, and it certainly pales in comparison to the other blazing hot shows of this month. But this show still makes for a nice tonic after one has listened to several late-nineties shows in a row. @DollarBill's review gives a good feel for this show (even if he got flamed for underrating the following night's tour closer).

I found the first set to be more interesting than I remembered; Manteca is teased again after two appearances in the last three shows, there's a brief “hurry up” melody from Page on the organ before Trey's solo in Lizards, a typically shredding Divided Sky and some of the melodic interplay in the intro to Run Like An Antelope that would be everywhere come the following August. However, YEM is easily the highlight of this show, full of teases and adventurous jamming typical for this period. It's not mentioned in the show notes, but Andy Bernstein's write-up in the old Pharmer's Almanac mentions an inflatable pig being lowered from the rafters during a mind-bending Great Gig In The Sky performance by Fishman - apparently Marley sauntered out on stage before the encore to sniff it out, prompting a little banter from the band before Amazing Grace. Another blissful Harry Hood leads into a Harpua narration about the professional wrestler Ravishing Rick Rude (who apparently had just returned to the ring after suffering a neck injury the previous December, although I suspect Trey's reference had more to do with the Paul Bunyan statue outside of the venue). Andy Bernstein deemed 5/7/93 "a great show for non-Phish snobs" - 'nuff said!

"I'm not afraid of dying. Really, I'm not. Why should I be afraid of dying? It's stupid! When we all have to go, we all have to go..."