this was the first night of the first multi night run at deer creek. they laid a firm foundation for themselves the year before, and all of us fans were hoping they would build on that this time around. there was a big difference between 95 and 96 though. Jerry was still alive the first time phish hit deer creek. if the 95 show didn't sell out, it was pretty damn close. Both nights here in 96, in the lot and in the venue, were a complete zoo. the dead head spill over was in full effect. dead heads or not, this crowd was pretty amped for some phish, and the boys did not disappoint. while this night is greatly overshadowed by the next night, it still quite good in its own right.

set 1:

yamar: as i've mentioned in other reviews, this is one of my favorite sunny/nice summer day openers. it was well played and got the crowd going in the right direction.

soa melt: this one got the crowd moving. the lawn was in a frenzy by the end of this early set jam. this one certainly climaxed appropriately. good early show melt.

esther: this infrequently played tune was played straight forward but good none the less

chalk dust torture: trey owned this one. once again, this was fairly straight forward, but they rocked this one.

it's ice: very nice ice. they took this one pretty deep before bringing it back home. always a pleaser.

dog faced boy: nice odd tune to catch your breathe too

taste: this one was still slightly a work in progress, but it was well played and well received in its current arrangement. page and trey bounced off of each other quite well. this one did not quite heavy the depth that it would gain later, but it was still a good early quality performance.

oh kee pah>suzy: good set closer. i think i appreciate the oh kee pah portion more now than i did then, as it was much more frequent then. suzy closed the set well.

set 2:

timber ho!: here we go! great opener, great song! trey and fish were both really strong on this one. great choice

sparkle: i didn't really care for this one in this slot, but hey, it's only 3 minutes long

simple: this was one of the first of the pretty interesting '96 simples. they really came full swing in th fall, but this one is an early indicator of what's to come. they took this for a bit of a longer ride than the previous years deer creek take.

prince caspian: i didn't like this song then, and i didn't like it now. i took this opportunity to buy myself a snazzy summer 96 t shirt. i was hoping they would be playing something better when i was done...

mcgrupp and the watchful hosemaster: here we go... back on track! page owned this one, as always. good solo in the middle section....

run like an antelope: this worked great out of mcgrupp. good strong version. this mcgrupp-lope pairing is probably the highlight of the show.

hello my baby: good acceppalla

golgi: i thought this was going to shut it down, and i thought it was a little anti climatic but then...

possum: very good possum with some good secret language fun. trey seemed to be having a lot of fun on this one.

enc:

sample: straight forward.

overall:
this show was good enough that a bunch of fans with some pretty lofty hopes were not disappointed but not so good that many didn't believe it would be topped the next night.

highlights:
set 1: soa melt, it's ice, weigh, chalk dust

set 2: timber ho!, mcgrupp, antelope, possum