I was somewhat disappointed listening to the first 2 nights of this 3-night Warfield run. The band was at the tail end of a 45-show spring tour here, and May '94 continued Phish's upward trajectory of ever-better playing. Aside from 5/25's Tweezer and 5/26's YEM, both of which are amazing, the first 2 nights are mostly average-great (that is to say, mindblowing, just not reaching the crystalline transcendence Phish is capable of).

Night 3, however, this Friday night 5/27 show, gives something more to write home about. Without going into too many words, definite highlights in Bowie, Hood, and Reba, but especially everything from Mike's Song through the end of the run deserves knowing. After playing around with Simple-style jamming during a couple '93 Mike's Songs, the "song" finally debuts tonight with the lyrics droning over great swells of screaming, cymbals, and be-bophones. It's not every band that can close out a 3 night run by debuting something never heard before like this on their audience. After returning to Mike's Song, the jam vaporizes into the dimensionless space where no concepts can exist. Out of this ether arises a melody through Trey's guitar that speaks the original language of the heart. That melody turns out to be a Puccini aria, which Phish naturally has a professional opera singer come on stage to sing sans microphone. During the brief opera, [from the phish.com show notes:] "the band handed out boxes of Kraft Flintstones macaroni and cheese for the audience to shake (this was the 3rd Mac and Cheese Jam in the tradition of 9/27/85 and 10/31/89) during Possum and Fire. Appropriately, Possum also included a tease of the “Flintstones” theme."

In sum, while far from the best 3 night run in Phish's career, the Tweezer, YEM, and 5/27 are all very worth hearing.