From: Ethan White
Subject: Umass Phish show- 12/5/95

                The second Umass show was by far the better of the two. I saw 
Gamehenge, I saw the flying Hot Dog, but this show was even better than 
those, IMHO. I went to the show warning my friend, "I'll lose my shit if 
they play Bowie, Hood, or Lizards." Oh, did I lose my shit last night...

Highlights  (oh, there were plenty)

Horn and Chalkdust were solid and standard, nothing special. Then came 
this wonderful song that a friend of mine said was called Blind. I don't 
know if he's right, but it was great. Fish took up most of the vocals, 
and his voice was powerful!! I was so happy after that tune, I really 
wasn't prepared for Lizards. I completely lost it when they started- and 
did it SMOKE!!! Trey didn't miss a lyric, and the final ending 
progression rocked the Mullins Center.  Then they came right back with 
one of their new songs, Free. I had never heard this before, and let me 
tell you it is *wonderful*. The chorus soared through the sky with the 
beautiful lights. Then they went into this thumping jam with Trey on 
drums-- the rythem was intense and I just stood there with my mouth 
hanging, until they finally went back to the chorus. Frreeeeeee!!!!!
Wow. Well, I was still reeling when they pulled out Esther. Esther?? No 
WAY!! I felt proud to hear this rarely-played favorite, and sang with 
the rest of the crowd. Ok, I thought, this set has been flawless so far. 
They have to close with Bouncin' or Riker's Mailbox just to keep the set 
from being perfect. Nope, the band was in that perfect frame of mind, 
and what else did they play but BOWIE!!! When the high hat started I was 
sure it would go into Maze, but to my delight (I'd always wanted to hear 
a Bowie live), Trey strummed out the openning licks, and the place 
exploded. They took this jam to amazing places, and at the end they all 
but stopped everything about 4 times before plunging into the final 
chords. It was bliss. To close out the set, the guys played a song with 
Trey on acoustic, Page on double bass, Mike on banjo, and Fish on 
mandolin. I'm not sure what the song was called, but they were tight. 
This was the best set I have EVER heard. GET THIS SET.

Set 2 openned with an average Poor Heart, then Bathtub Gin that turned 
into something crazy. The jam went on and on until Trey, Mike and Fish 
stopped playing, walked to the four keyboards around Page, and they did 
a jam with the four keyboards. Scent came up and I knew they had been 
experimenting with this tune, but I was NOT prepared for this. The 
Russian-sounding jam they've been doing with it turned into a long Page 
solo, then it went to Trey who blew into the microphone as he played, 
then back to Page who did the same, and finally to Mike who eventually 
brought the house down with the return to Scent- crazy Mule.
God Never Listens. Sigh- I could have definitely done without this. For 
the first time all night I sat down. Come on, Phish, this show has been 
almost perfect. Don't let me down......     HOOD!!!!! That's when I lost 
it for a third time that night. It was simply beautiful. Cavern ended 
the set, and we all cheered and raised our lighters to the band.

I was hoping for a Simple or A Day in the Life, but their encore was 
Theme from the Bottom. Ok, I have to get this off my chest. I HATE this 
song! I heard it last summer and thought, "what the hell?..." and this 
was no different. I like the jam and the end, but the beginning is so 
slow, lagging, and even atonal. Sorry if you like this, but I think it's 
just a bad song. They left on a better note, however, with a sweet Sweet 
Adeline.  

Overall, the show WAS amazing, especially the 1st set, which was 
flawless. 2nd set was great, except for God Never Listens. Get the show 
if you can, but make SURE you get the 1st set.

See you at Worcester!
Ethan
[email protected] 

-----------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 15:00:50 -0500 (EST)
From: Jonathan Epstein
Subject: 12/5/95

12/5/95 - Mullins Center, UMass, Amherst, MA

Set 1
*****
Horn is a pretty weird opener, but I suppose so is Caspian. Im
convinced that the opener isnt the opener anymore, but the 2nd tune
in, which was Chalkdust. Pretty standard Chalkdust but got me into the
show after a kind of weak opener. Taste/Fog was good. I really like
Taste, though I wish Fish wouldn't sing. Lizards for Dick Vitale
followed. Dick was in town for the Umass-Wake Forest Game last night
(go Umass!!!) and he even mentioned the show during the game, though I
missed what he said excpet for "it sure smells differently in here
than last night." Free was pretty good, though New Haven was better.
We called Esther on the drive over. My girlfriend said, "Im sure 
they'll play it as its one of the tunes I really dont like." Sure
enough, my first Esther in 4 years!! Bowie was excellent. After
hearing the Bowie teases in the New Haven Tweezer, I was listening
hard for any Tweezer teases, though those came later (see Bathtub Gin,
set 2). I figured that was the end of a short first set, but then Blue
Lonesome was a nice little added bonus. Good first set, though not as
good as the night before.

Break : Got booted from my 6th row center seats to 5th row slightly
off-center seats. Ended up being separated from half of my group. Was
kind of pissed actually.

Set 2
*****
Poor Heart was nothing compared to Mondays set 2 opener (Timber) But I
called the Bathtub Gin and it was amazing. Highlight of the show
probably. As good (if not better) than the 11/9/95 Gin from the Fox.  
Trey teased Tweezer Reprise hard during this, and the jam went on very
nicely. Very intense. The jam slipped right into Keyboard Army, which
was my first. Then Scent of Mule. Trey did his scatting Oteil style
solo, like at the Fox. Page mimicked him, but Mike won the duel
actually. His vocal intro back into Scent was a riot. He was doing
those Julius bass-bangs along with his voice (know what I mean?). It
was a riot. During Pages solo, Trey wa talking to Mike and Fish about
something, and I think they were talking about what was going to come
after Scent. It was this cool rock jam for like 5 minutes or less.
Very cool. No one had any idea of what it was. Harry was great. I was
really made, because I really wanted to dance with my girlfriend,
Alix, during this one, but like I said before, we got separated at
halftime. So, for a while I was just really mad. But eventually it
wore off, and I got very into this Hood. Then as it was building and
building, Trey was playing the Hood theme chords very early and I
thought they would end it pretty soon, but it just kept going. Then
Trey held this one note, and I thought they werent going to end it,   
ala Cal Expo 9/27. I was really mad again. How could they not finish
it!!?!? But then they were all on that note and built up just that
note and absolutely exploded into the outro theme and ended it!!
Amazing ending!! A dark and rocking Cavern closed a great set.

Encore
******
A very abridged version of Theme from the Bottom. It was good, but I
wish they had played a whole length version. Not much jamming, and the
vocal jam at the end ("from the bottom, from the top... the bottom ..
the top...) was short too. And then I got my 8th Sweet Adeline.

Very good show. Monday was better in my opinion, but this was even
better than New Haven.

Later.                  

Jon.