This whole show was heat, don't let the bowie overshadow the rest of the show. I could write 3-5 paragraphs about this bowie alone, It is good enough to be the sole reason for buying or dowloading this show, but everything from this night is excellent. everything is really tight but nothing is bland or unimprovised. this is one of my top 5 shows out of the 400ish I own

DOWNLOAD IT NOW,NOW,NOW!!!

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

Do It Now!
On September 14, 1990, we were preparing to leave for Madison Square Garden the next morning for our first Dead show without Brent Mydland, who had died what seemed like a week after one of the better Dead shows I saw that year (Buffalo, NY). I was a little skeptical about Vince Welnick, after hearing lukewarm reviews of his first few shows. My friend and I, who had seen the majority of our Dead shows together, were at a party, and another friend had been telling us of this band Phish he had been seeing for the past year. At first we didn't want anything to do with them, especially after a couple of Max Creek shows that didn't do much for us at the time. In my eyes, there was only one "jamband."
The first Phish song I ever heard was “Fee”, off of Junta. Our friend sat us down in a room and played the Junta tape for us. My first impressions were "this is great, sorry I didn't believe you!" and "Shit, these guys can play, that guitar tone is exactly what I want to hear." We told our buddy we needed to borrow the tape for the ride down to MSG. I think we listened to it about twelve times over the course of three days in the car and the hotel. We were both hooked, and were looking forward to getting tickets to see Phish at the Somerville Theater a week later.
I still can't find a setlist for that first show I saw (September 21, 1990), but I remember how amazed I was at the whole band. Trey's guitar sound, mixed with him looking like a guy I played Dungeons and Dragons with in junior high; Fishman in the Zero-man outfit set up at the side of the stage; Page looking like my science teacher in high school; and Mike being…Mike.
After Somerville I saw a bunch of shows (it wasn’t until years later that I found out I saw “Destiny Unbound” at UNH) in ‘90 and ‘91. I slowed down a lot to only a few shows in ‘92 and ‘93, and then "returned" to Phish in 1994. As fate would have it, I picked a good night to return to the scene: 12/29/94, Providence Civic Center
This was my first Phish show in an arena. It is to this date one of the best shows I've seen the band play. Things kick off with “Runaway Jim”; a pretty rocking “Jim”, I might add. This version is definitely overlooked. It's only about eight minutes long or so, but segues nicely into “Foam”. “If I Could” was next and was basically “If I Could”. “Split Open and Melt” was a nice treat early in the set. A much faster jam than usual, with Fishman and Trey playing off each other at the beginning of the jam. Some chaos ensues about eight minutes in, and the whole thing is about eleven minutes long. Not the best “Split Open”, but a great piece of the show overall. “Horse->Silent”, “Uncle Pen”, and “I Didn't Know” follow. All pretty standard. “Possum” was next. Trey teases “Dueling Banjos” pre-vocals, and the rest is pretty rocking, as rocking as “Possum” gets.
The second set opens with what would be the last “Guyute” until Halloween ‘95. It sounds pretty flawless when I hear it now; there are also some subtle differences to the newer versions in the beginning. I can still remember being amazed by what is still one of my favorite Phish songs.
What happens next is what I look at as the opening of a whole new Phish I had never seen. This definitely marks the beginning of what I call my "Second Wave" of Phish. Sure, the intimacy of the small theater was gone, as well as the feeling of discovering a new band and having them to your self, so to speak, but if this show and future ones were an indication, why would I care how many people were there? Granted, this was my first arena Phish show, so that was also a bit of a big jump from my last show before this, at the Providence Performing Arts Center down the road (2/4/93 for those keeping track). So, another ten thousand people or so were now seeing Phish.
This was why, I guess.
What some people to this day still call a “Dave's Energy Guide” tease, I will still just call a “Delay Loop Jam”. Whatever you want to call it, it's wonderful music, and listening to it as I write this still gives me the shivers. This lasts for about three minutes, until Fishman begins what we know as the intro to “Bowie”. What happened next was basically thirty-seven minutes of Hose. Writing a simple "at 15:02 Trey starts playing arpeggios and whistling ‘Dixie’" would not even do this justice. For this thirty-seven minutes the band goes from some great spacey stuff at the beginning (including what I hear as an early incarnation of what we all know as the "Trey loop," which became pretty standard in jams starting in ‘97). Some great funky/spacey jamming, to the rocking Phish à la “DWD” (or “Drowned”), where it almost sounds like the “Bowie” is coming to a close. This is only halfway through the trip though. Eventually the band quiets down and Page takes the spotlight, playing some great melody lines. The band takes their cue from this and starts picking up the pace again, and then quiets down again. Some ambient stuff starts, and Trey and the band start whistling into the microphones with Trey whispering "Lassie…hey boy, there's a fire up on the old hill…good dog Lassie. Good boy…Lassie, come home." Some indecipherable whispering starts, and ends with "NOW! DO IT NOW! DO IT NOW!" This is repeated a few times and then Mike hits a pretty loud note that still makes me jump when I hear it now. A bit of feedback brings the music back to what we all know as the ending of “Bowie”.
The band could have left stage for the night and I would have been happy. Instead a short but fun “Halley's Comet” followed. This ended and went immediately to “Lizards”. To me, “Lizards”, even though it's never really jammed out, is like “Bathtub Gin”. It's one of those songs that when it starts you can feel the energy of the crowd and band as one. Fishman came out to the “Hold Your Head Up” music and stated, "I believe Neil Diamond sang this song. I believe he sang it at Madison Square Garden, too. He probably sang it everywhere. He sang it so much that. I am gonna sing it now, for you." The band broke into my first “Cracklin' Rosie”. Trey yelled "Henrietta!" at the end, and then started the set closer, “Good Times, Bad Times”. Trey teased “Heartbreaker” at one point.
They returned for the encore with acoustic instruments for “Long Journey Home”: Trey on acoustic guitar, Mike on banjo, Page on upright bass, and Fishman on mandolin. It was odd seeing an acoustic song in an arena, but it comes out on the tapes anyway. They went back to their respective instruments and ended the evening with “Sleeping Monkey”. This song is always great to end a show, or to bookend a great show with an amazing first half, or run of shows.
To me, this was the beginning of what would be many a show that blew me away with at least one large improvisational jam, or just all-around solid show. Not that I hadn’t seen some amazing shows four years earlier, but this is exactly what I was looking for. Band communication, band-audience communication, and collective improvisation at its finest. If you have not heard this Bowie at least, I advise you to go out and find a copy. Do it now.

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

I first listened to Phish in the Fall of 1994. It was my sophomore year of college, and I was living next door to this fantastic girl who was really into them. I really wanted to impress her, so I started buying their studio albums and listening to them constantly.
It turns out that this band was coming to Spartanburg, about an hour away, in late October. I knew she was going to be there, so I was determined to get tickets. My roommate wound up scoring us great seats, and we were all set to go. I even borrowed a few live tapes from a friend from high school who lived upstairs. My first live Phish was the New Year’s 1993 show, and I listened to that tape over and over again to try and prepare me for what was coming.
When listening to the tapes of Spartanburg, I can truly appreciate what a great show this was. I don't remember much about the first few songs, except that I liked “Runaway Jim” and that the melody to “Simple” was really catchy. I vividly remember getting excited to hear “Split Open”, which was a song that I knew, but getting confused as hell as the band ran through two other numbers before winding up in “Rift”. Little did I know that the two songs were the rare “Buffalo Bill” and the (at the time) semi-rare “Makisupa Policeman”. The way that the band moved through the songs with ease, seamlessly flowing from number to number without regard to succumbing to the various rhythm and tempo changes left me awestruck.
During setbreak, I took the chance to look around and gather my surroundings. The Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium is a pretty small theater and, along with the Fox in Atlanta, is one of the two smallest places that I have seen Phish. Everyone seemed to know each other; hugs and smiles and kind, warm feelings were passed around and shared continuously. I was on the left aisle, center section, and the guy across the aisle had been keeping a setlist. He filled me in on what I didn’t know, and I couldn’t believe that they had dared to play so many non-album songs! We were only about ten rows in front of the tapers’ section; I knew such a thing existed, but I couldn’t believe that so many people were so passionate about chronicling the music and that the band was so open and encouraging of it. This band seemed to break all of the rules of a traditional concert! Nothing, though, prepared me for the second set.
It opened up with “Down with Disease”, which I was incredibly excited to hear. Hoist was the first Phish album I ever heard, and “Disease” is one of the two songs that firmly inserted the hook into my mouth. It flowed beautifully into what I thought was just an absolutely beautiful jam. I later learned it was the theme from “The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday”. After “Avenu” and the “TMWSIY” reprise, I began to hear some familiar guitar licks. As a classic-rock fan and longtime Who devotee, I jumped ecstatically when I recognized “Sparks”. Later on, the “YEM” was nice, as was the opening to “Antelope”. I couldn’t believe it when they stopped and changed into some song about sending a monkey home on the train. I laughed uncontrollably as Fishman belted that final chorus, much like I had when he danced around with the vacuum during “Bike”. And I again lost my marbles when they tagged “Let It Be” onto the ending of that monkey song. And then they finished the “Antelope”! So what did we get for an encore? “Harry Hood”. Sure, I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but what a treat!
Over the last few years, I have enjoyed this show on so many levels. First, I dug it because of the humor the band wove into the music, as well as the band’s obvious musical talent. Then, as I became a bigger fan, I started to appreciate the jams and the fun segues. Later, I realized what a strange setlist it truly was and how lucky I was to see a song in my first show that I will probably never see again. (“Buffalo Bill”…yes, I missed the Great Went!)
When I put it all together, it’s easy to realize what a great and underrated show it is. Things never worked out between the girl and I, as awesome of a person as she is. But I sure as hell don’t regret spending the money on the ticket! I’ve seen quite a few shows since and heard over six hundred tapes, but this show, my first, still ranks as one of my favorites.

When I rate shows for Phish.net, I try to consider the rating as a cumulative grade of each song's performance during the show. A great jam does not necessarily mean a great show, if the band shows signs of struggling to stay together at other times. We now have the luxury of downloading individual performances of any show at any time; Why trudge through another "standard/great" first set just to get to another killer second set? Time is precious, and I want my review to help listeners and fans to save time (i.e. get to the good stuff).

Well, this show is the good stuff. The first set arguably slows down during the Horse>Silent-Uncle Pen (sloppy Trey)-IDK sequence, but *everything* else on the setlist is performed well for 1994 Phish (meaning excellent). When the band feels good, songs like Foam, Possum, or Good Times Bad Times will feature extra jamming or teases that reward listeners that seek them out.

The other reviewers have done a fine job reviewing the Bowie. All I will add is that, to my ears, this is the culmination of Phish's Fall '94 improvisation style. grinding rhythmic tension, spacy ambience, spontaneous melodic compositions, a touch of Phish-y, "get into your head and f*** with you" madness, and a rousing return to the climactic ending of the composition. You need to hear this show.

This was THE show.

This isn't really a review, as I don't have anything to add which hasn't been touched upon in other reviews. Rather, this is just a comment about one of the other reviews.

One review attached to this show talks about a show in Spartanburg from Fall '94. It was bothering me that this review was attached to the wrong show, so I decided to figure out which show was actually being reviewed. It turns out this was actually a review of the show from 10/29/94.

I try not to be too pedantic, but I couldn't help myself with this one.

At the time of this review this show has the highest rating here on Phish.net. I think that is crazy talk, but this show is still spectacular. This is a show whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The centerpiece, and only truly notable part of the show, is the Bowie, which has to be heard to be believed. The only other part I feel compelled to comment on is the actual segue between Jim and Foam, which is cool. Other than those two things, this is a well played show from '94 that just works. I don't know why, it just does.

5/5, a must have.