This was a decent recording for the time period, although boomy because of the barn building. This is also important for the archives if this is in fact the first known Golgi, and Wilson and the first time I've heard Mike sing Possum this year. There may have been others before this gig, but alas we do not have setlists or recordings as proof, this being the first school year with out Jeff. Sally is nice and funky and you can hear Marley, I'm assuming, barking on the recording before a jammy Makisupa, which is strangely similar to versions I would hear twelve years later. Trey was already messing with delay pedals and such. It is a nice clean sound without a second guitar.

This show is a great listen for hard core fans.

The debuts give this show some historical significance. You can see Trey stepping up to fill the space left behind by Jeff and thriving. Trey's guitar intro on Slave is excellent and beautiful. The highlight of the whole show to me is likely Sally which is pretty well played. Overall a decent show with some positive signs of a new direction.

Might be a short show but what it lacks in length it makes up for in HISTORICAL RELEVANCE Golgi and Wilson are some of the best set 1 openers now in Phish repetoire. . .I admit Wilson Fluffhead MFMF and Buried Alive are probably the best ever openers but look at one of the best Phish shows of all time in 1994 at Sugarbush it opened w Golgi Apparatus trying to The Squirming Coil Squirm away. . . That show is amazing it has my favorite ever Phish tune The Lizards and it has an amazing HH which got me hooked to begin w in 2001 at College not Goddard but a GOD of a DARD college Cedarville university which was then just a college but while I attended my Junior year in 2003 when Phish went back on the road after The Everglades and attempted to get that magic back lost after the crest of such a great wave that was 1995-2000 I knew NOTHING of this but love the song Nothing and at the time even their shitty stuff like Friday and Mexican Cousin and Round Room and Pebbles and Marbles and Walls of the Cave sounded like Chopin to me . . .I now see that Phish was way better in 1.0 and way better in 3.0 after 2009-10 those rusty years sucked for the most part but 2012-2017 were such magic and it seems they are getting that magic back again in 4.0 after COVID Golgi and Wilson debuts cannot be under stated CANNOT be understated that is important because both are great now openers to start off some of their best shows except flops i had to attend like MPP I should have gone to 8-15-2015 but I went to the Sunday show like an idiot and it was inferior so it is a crap shoot I was always told do NOT miss a Sunday show at Merriweather but that was 2014 when Jennifer was Dancing around stage and Page told us he has been around I been around Trey asks where you been Page and he was always there at least after 1985 . . .oh i've been around awhile i smoked in town a while i layed it down a while oh yes all to say that 8-16-2015 had such a great setlist ON PAPER and the 8-15 one was not as great on paper but the Tweezer fest and the Sleeping Monkey was amazing and then they were on such a high that they tried to keep it going on Set 1 the next night but did NOT actually play the song had they reprised it It would have been cool but they just peetered out to nothingness and anxiety land and said oh shit now we have to play Golgi Apparatus an AMAZING Junta tune disgraced during such a great Phish summer tour 2015 overall I had to go to the only shitty show on the tour 8-16-2015 w such a great setlist on paper but NO jams except David Bowie and Stash 2 of my least favorite Phish tunes DB reminds me of SOAM dark jamming but sometimes amazing but not tonight 2-22-2003 and IT that is GREAT David Bowie but this was just sad and still listed as Jam Worthy I disagree And Stash is a terrible song it is repetitive like Halleys Comet and Julius in all the WORST ways it just repeats the line over and over and not only lyrically but musically which gets boring and sad I love TYPE 2 Stash but it is SO FUCKING RARE This was apparently Jam worthy also the Stash but Maybe so maybe fucking NOT to me This show is needed to be remembered because Golgi and Wilson are iconic unlike say TTE or Friday or Julius or Character 0

Decent show with some first time performances for songs that are iconic in Phish's current repertoire. Nothing too stand-out, but there are some minor highlights:

1) Slave to the Traffic Light: Just a well executed, early era Slave without any of the extended build-up or crazy peaks

2) Wilson: As noted by another, the vocals evoke Dylan and its kinda hilarious. There is a brief, smooth, jazzy jam in the middle of the song.

3) Halley's Comet: Although Mike's questionable falsetto may induce cringes, there is a nice little jam on the end that builds up really well into a Possum segue

4) Possum: Some slick guitar work by Big Red in the middle of this one

Continuing my walk through the early years. Notes follow:

Golgi is played for the first time here and is surprisingly complete, though a little rough edged.

Slave is complete at this point. A nice rendition.

Love this Wilson! Out of the box and it is not only well formed, but a great jazzy jam as well. This is worth the listen alone. It is honestly better than the one I saw at Pine Knob.

Halley's is not marked here as a first, but it is the earliest one that I can find to listen to. I'm a huge fan of this song and hearing this early version is quite a treat. The harmonies are already worked out to a great extent. And while this is no Hampton 97, the little jam that closes it out is really well played. Nice!

Segue to Possum... the first Possum to sound even slightly like the modern version. The entire gait of the song has morphed into the rocking beat we are used to, instead of that angular loping sound of the prior versions. And the vocal harmonies are now in line with what we expect. Welcome to the party, Possum... this jam rocks!

The 2nd Sneakin' Sally to make it to tape is really well done. You can hear the precursor of the funk sound here... particularly Trey & Mike. All we need is for Page to hone his funk chops (give it a decade or so). This version sounds very Little Feat-ish (yes... I certainly know).

And... Makisupa is still as silly as ever. But it is well played... plenty of reggae to go around.

Love this show! Recording is solid and this one is attached to my permanent rotation.

Dude did they do a riders on the storm jam out of Wilson? it sounds like it to me

First Golgi and it's not quite up to tempo yet, but performed fairly well. Slave is alright. That jam out of Halley's to Possum is pretty sweet. Marley really does make this one of the coolest Sneakin' Sally vocal jams. I dig the Makisupa. I kind of agree with the 2.5 stars, and with the current 2 ratings that's exactly what we have, but I feel like I can't NOT log my rating, (c'mon we really need those half stars!) so, in light of the debut performances of Golgi and Wilson, the fact that the recording is MUCH better quality than other pre 88 recordings I've heard, the Marley "banter", and the tasty Makisupa, I'm gonna put up another 3 star rating.

Interesting intro on this first-known version of Golgi. Slave and Possum don't have very interesting jams, but the highlights here I'd say would be a decent jam out of Halley's and into Possum, and a long Makisupa with some tasty Cactus. Oh, and Marley joining in on the Sneakin' Sally vocal jam I'd probably call this 2 1/2 stars, so I'll lean towards the high end and go 3.

P.S. What's with the Wilson vocals during this time period? Was Errand Wolfe originally conceived of as Bob Dylan?