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From: "Rich Fromm - 'Whatever you do, take care of your shoes.' 23-Mar-1992 1810"
Subject: philly
Reply-To: fromm@tecrus.enet.dec.com
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1992 01:57:58 GMT
Another incredible show. Somehow every time I see these guys I just get more
and more impressed. Second set was great. Nice A-Train jam (I'm really into
jazz lately), including an audience cue for the Simpson's "DOOOOOOOOH!" I guess
word has spread a bit, because a lot of people in the audience (or at least a
lot of the people up front) caught the cue. That was the only audience
participation thing they did, but I was happy nonetheless. The highlight of the
show for me was David Bowie. They jammed and jammed and took it to places where
it's never gone before. (Just as the Furry/Antelope at Providence and the
Mike's Groove at Sommerville were the best renditions of those respective songs
that I've ever heard.) Weigh is a bit of an interesting song. I'd be curious
to see the lyrics for it. Mike sings about doing a bunch of things that sound
rather nasty in the nice sing-song way. Weird song, but I liked it. Fishman
once again brought out the "B" and "AH" cymbals (was this during Cracklin'
Rose?), as well as the vacuum/bagpipe combo. The bagpipes sounded a little
better, but I still think I like the plain vacuum more. Page had some very fine
moments on piano (one really nice piano jam, i don't remember during what song).
Trey put on some of the best guitar faces I've ever seen from him. I don't
know if it was just me, but I kept getting the impression that he (and Mike too
a little bit) were staring in our direction; maybe he was just looking at Fish.
Mike actually showed a decent amount of emotion, and finally looked like he was
enjoying himself. Actually, I've noticed that in general of Mike this tour.
Once in Providence he looked over at Page (and therefore directly at us), opened
his mouth gaping wide, and stuck his tongue out all the way. Not something I
would have expected from Mike.
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From: Matt Laurence
Subject: Philly and folly
Reply-To: mlaurenc@world.std.com
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1992 02:39:41 GMT
Hey folks!
I'm sure this has already been posted, but since I FINALLY actually
remembered to write down the set list at a show, by god I'm going
to post it! So here y'go, the setlist from Sat, Mar 21 at the Chestnut
Cabaret in Philly:
Set 1:
The Landlady
Runaway Jim
Foam
Sparkle
Split Open & melt
Silent in the morning
Dinner and a movie
Squirming Coil
Strange Jam --> My Sweet One
Stash
Golgi App.
Set II:
Buried alive
Oh Kee Pa ->
Suzy Greenberg
Take the A-Train
Wild intro jam ->
Knife (My Friend My Friend?)
Poor Heart
All Things Reconsidered->
ATR Jam->
David Bowie
Weigh
Cracklin' Rose
You Enjoy Myself->
Vocal Jam
Encores:
Bouncing Round The Room
Rocky Top
This was ONE HELL of a show! The evening started off with a net
gathering at Mike Blackin's apartment scant minutes from the
cabaret, at which I learned the entire saga of Taeaph (spelled right
Mike?) and his vital role in the universe. Perhaps if we're all
very nice to him, Mike will tell us the whole story. Anyway, after
hanging around there for a couple of hours and catching Star Trek,
we headed over to the Cabaret.
The Chestnut Cabaret is a very nice venue from which I totally failed
to get a Picture of Nectar poster. Despite that, it was an intmate
venue with a nice low stage making for a very close feeling with the
band. You could very easily reach right out and adjust Mike's mic
stand if you cared to (which one resourceful fellow in the front row
did when, during YEM, Mike's microphone attained a certain level of
self-sufficiency and got away. As the song progressed, the first
spun around so Mike had to sing into it froma strange angle, and then
finally slid away altogether. Which was VERY amusing to watch, tho
probably not to experience). It was, very probably, one of the last
small places our boys will play on the east coast... sigh. Next time
they play Boston, it's gonna be the Orpheum with its tiny and all but
guaranteed assigned seats. Guess we'll just all have to get backstage
passes for the show, eh?
Anyway, this was a dream show, almost like the old days. No big
surprises, just great, top-quality Phish at their best. Being RIGHT in
front of Mike didn't hurt... I understand the sound at the back of the
Cabaret isn't nearly as good, but I saw pretty much everyone from
Mike's party right up near the front, so we all won out. A few
highlights include: Trey wailing briedly on his guitar during Foam
with the tiny crate that normally sits on top of his amp; a cool
jam into an INSANELY fast My Sweet One; a killer Suzy Greenberg,
with Page using both the Piano and the new Goff to solo; a VERY
nice intro to Knife that I didn't remember from previous shows...
anyone else hear it before?; a wild All Things Reconsidered jam
into the BEST David Bowie I've heard since Umass in Fall '90 or a
1987 tape that I have; Weigh, which I had never heard before and
is one of the funniest Phish tunes in a while; a deadly You Enjoy
in which they used the trampolines and strobes; and the general
joy and excitement that goes along with standing inches away from
your favorite performers in the world.
We'll never get out of this maze!
Matt
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