https://forum.phish.net/forum/permalink/1377956169

Phish began 1994 with a new album, Hoist, finished and scheduled for release coinciding with the start of a three-and-a half-month, 73-date tour across the continent. The band's agreement with Elektra Records stipulated that their following release would be a live album, and the first three months of the year were spent in dedicated rehearsal, fine-tuning their ensemble performance and raising their improvisational abilities. As April began, the band debuted the new material to a friendly local audience, and by the fifth show of the tour in Binghamton, NY on the 9th, it seemed that their touring machine was running smoothly and their shows would soon be the best they had ever played...

...and then Trey fell into a HUGE HOLE!

Apparently, there was a gap in the floor at the back of the stage at their gig in Buffalo, and as Trey was walking through that poorly-lit area at the conclusion of the soundcheck, his foot plunged down through the gap and his ankle ligaments were torn. Although the medical attention Trey received was swift, and his ankle was fitted with an air cast, the show began almost an hour late. Trey was likely adjusting to his new situation and playing through some pain, yet the Harry Hood from that evening is musical proof of the depths of his will and determination. By the next date in New Hampshire, Trey had doubled his resolve to overcome his handicap with an elevated, uplifting performance. He brings the audience all the way up to the ceiling during his Forbin's/Mockingbird narration, and he shreds like Marty Friedman in an aluminum recycling plant during Foam, Divided Sky, and Maze.

From The Phish Book, p. 155:
Page: “We didn't play most of the songs on Hoist before we recorded them because someone in Elektra's upper management theorized we weren't selling albums because everybody had already heard the songs on them. It wasn't a bad idea, just wrong. But it gave us an opportunity to let songs come together in the studio without our preconceiving them onstage.”

Page is typically diplomatic in the above quote, but I suspect that the band may have been observing the beginnings of a backlash against Hoist material among their audience. After debuting five new songs on opening night, they had cut it back to two new songs from Hoist per night, and Julius is the lone "new in '94" song in this setlist. Accordingly, Trey tailored the setlist to minimize the detriment of his loss of mobility. The first set notably features two jazz tunes, Caravan and Magilla, the latter also allowing Fishman to demonstrate his own version of the "Jungle Book beat" of I Wan'na Be Like You. Page takes everyone back to Nectar's with some vintage Fender Rhodes soloing during Suzy Greenberg. Listen to Trey's mock-announcement during YEM announcing that "Brad The-Guy-Who-Throws-The-Balls-Out" would be subbing for him on the trampoline. My Soul gets a preview almost 3 years prior to its official debut performance by the band, and it's also cool to hear the band teasing "Sunshine of Your Love/Sunshine of My Life" three weeks before featuring the mash-up in the 5/3/94 Harpua!