Sandwiched right between the highly regarded 8/13 Murat, 8/14 Tinsley Park, 8/16 St. Louis, and 8/17 Kansas City performances, 8/15/93 in Louisville marks as the halfway point in a crazy 5-night stretch of consecutive shows. As each of the other aforementioned shows have their own LivePhish release, this one might not get as much attention from the Phan base. While it might not be as consistently amazing as the surrounding evenings, it's definitely worth checking this one out on Relisten, if only for a few tunes (Stash is a required listening for Phans).

Set 1 has some great moments among a uniquely Phishy arrangement of Caravan (jazzheads have to listen to this one), a Runaway Jim that climbs from delicacy to a mighty peak through a nice jam, and a Fee with a cheeky, dreamlike groove appended to the outro that gives Mike a bit of spotlight. The heavy hitter of the show is most certainly Stash, which I believe reaches Top 3 Ever status (among 11/14/95 and 7/2/97). To copy an earlier description I wrote: In contrast to some of the more capricious jams from summer of '93, this one builds on itself and evolves with extreme patience that challenges one to delineate distinct sections. Around 11:00, the band aligns on a fantastically optimistic mixolydian groove full of rhythmic and melodic elements reminiscent of Mango Song. The less-organized blend back into Stash plays extremely well. After this, a fun Colonel Forbin-> Mockingbird and CDT take us home.

Set 2 starts with a nice Rift, followed by a big summer of '93 Tweezer. This one covers a lot of Type II ground, working in some Tweezer-based riffing, Antelope-style higher tempo groove, and dissonant reggae influence, and ultimately working its way back to a blazing Tweezer and burning out to a slow stop. The rest of Set 2 is less notable, hitting a couple more standard electric tracks (including a Maze that lives up to its great August 93 peers), and then transitioning to an acoustic/a cappella set up that capitalizes on the intimacy of the venue. While I'm sure this would've been special to witness, it ends things on a lower note from a tape-listener's perspective. Thankfully, the band opts for a Harry Hood encore to inject one last bit of jam into the evening. The Hood jam scratches the itch for sure, dabbling in more patient and subdued ground (and even teasing a Dorian modal shift for a quick second) before arriving at the peak. *chef's kiss*