There's a reason this show is designated 'Live Phish 01.' The second set is some of the best Phish of a great year, particularly the ferocious Tweezer/Timber combo. Everything in December '95 sounds outsized now - like a key musical muscle was getting overworked, then sprained, and the band stepped off delicately in early 1997 looking for a new logic. Shows like 12/14/95 show the band pushing past some energetic limit, playing harrowing arena rock music for hours on end and filling every cubic inch of every venue with sheer power. Even the quiet of Keyboard Army sounds like a powerful musical engine momentarily idling. Impatient. If you came into Phish fandom via 'A Live One' then this will feel like the next logical step, before the 1996/97 turnabout and reconception. While you're at it, grab the 11/14 Orlando Stash > etc. > Stash, one of the all-time great Phish jams and a slightly more refined cousin to this second set.

This was my first show... I was 14... I was "allowed" to go because of an older brother who was going "with" me! He let me stand in line while he and his friends did the lot scene! I did not understand any of what was happening...
All I knew is that I was super excited and that I had wished some of my friends were allowed to go!
I remember strange ppl trying to sell me clothes, food and god knows what!! I stayed in that spot for 2hrs!
When my brother returned all all bright-eyed it was time to go in!!

I was really excited they opened with Suzy...it was one of the few songs I actually knew!
The show it'self was amazingly fun!! I was a dead sober 14 year old rocking out to one of the greatest phish performances ever and I didn't even know it!!
I sometimes wish I could go back in time to this show now that I'm a lil more experienced for this stuff and truely appreciate what kind of show it was... but then I think to myself that I loved it when it was happening already so why ruin a good thing!!

I can honestly say that it was one of my favorite shows, eventhough I didn't know how special the Keyboard Army was, how rare a Suzy opener is (havent seen one since), how rare Taste that surrounds is!!, and how sick the show really was!!

Tweezer into Timber back into Tweezer!! amazing!!
Bold as Love encore!! yes please!!

Just a beautiful memory for an amazing show!! Great 1st show!!

College-aged n00b100 made this his first Live Phish purchase, as I had vague memories of my Dead-loving aunts playing me A Live One and I wanted to give the band a proper shot. Back then, I was most into Suzy Greenberg and the cover of Bold As Love (still one of my favorite Hendrix songs); now, of course, I'm more into the Set II jams, like the amazing Halley's Comet and the pure fire of Tweezer/Timber (how the heck is this version not mentioned on the Timber song page???). It's pretty amazing listening to shows like these, where Phish's complex stagecraft has been imbued with the on-stage energy of, say, The Ramones or something. December '95 is my favorite pre-97 run, and this is my favorite show of that run - yes, even over 12/31/95.

beautiful show. what is this incredible jam in Halleys?

I just aint hearing the "Slipknot!" tease..