So this was my first show, and it was a fairly solid one. At the time I was living in Des Moines, and had no idea they were playing in Lincoln, 45 minutes from my home base in Omaha...if only, if only. Of course, this was before I had gotten "IT," so the great 10-21-95 show would have been mostly lost on me. But I digress.

The show is pretty standard for circa 1995. Nothing spectacular, but a solid show nonetheless. I was psyched to hear My Friend open, since Rift was the one album I owned at the time, and I now consider myself fortunate to have caught a Ha Ha Ha at my first show. Not too much else stands out, though. Amazing Grace jam with bagpipes, nice acoustic bluegrass, typically solid '95 Antelope, amusing and fun MonkeyTop encore. Not a legendary show, not a bad show, just your standard solid Phish gig.

Was kinda rainy waiting in line. Acoustics were not so good. Tapes turned out kinda "boomy." Memories of enjoying Timber(better than the 10/8 version I saw 2 weekends prior.) The mid-set WMGGW was excellent as was the 2 song acoustic interlude. Gave this show a 3 but it is special for me because it is my only WMGGW and Long Journey Home. Also, i think the seats in the upper deck were orange.

Lames Iowa is what I always called this town. This experience certainly ran along those lines. The whole setup was malaligned to begin with. The venue was reserved seating and the smoking watchdogs were out in force. There was an ice storm going on outside and the show was cut short because of it. Frankly, I didn't get into the groove of the band on this night until Antelope and I thought to myself 'FINALLY, the band is starting to open up and explore in provoking ways" Then low and behold the show was over! Technically the band was fine, but the audience energy level was low and Phish just seemed to be going through the motions.

Whoops! The previous review I gave was for Ames, IA. 11-14-1996. When there actually was a an ice storm going on. Got my tabs confused. This show from Cedar Rapids was much better than the Ames show a year later. The floor was GA and that helped make for a good crowd energy. Trey looked showered and presentable. I had heard that he had family in Iowa and maybe some were present and he wanted to put on a classy presentation. I could be wrong there but that's what this show was, classy. It wasn't crazy by any means but a solid show nonetheless. I always loved hearing rocky top.