An absolutely ridiculous show, one of the best shows of Phish's game-changing month of August 1993, and a show thoroughly deserving of its LivePhish status. Just a couple notes, in lieu of a full-on review:

1. It's actually kind of nice to get a Melt that doesn't go into full-scale teeth-grinding dissonance (the 7/13/14 Melt is nastier than this one!), but instead provides a surprisingly nearly melodic jam thanks to Trey's soloing that makes this one stand out a bit more from the usual psychedelic/dirt-nasty Melts of the mid-90s.

2. You can, I think, actually consider the Antelope here as a trial run for the fabled Tweezerfest of 5/7/94, as out of a *wild* Antelope jam (the Dixie tease leading into a surprising classic-rock jam) the band puts together a beautiful little run of segues that include a few of the ones we get in the Bomb Factory show (Sparks, Walk Away), while not sparing any of the usual ferociousness we associate with Antelope from this era. The fun thing about this jam, of course, is that we get the Antelope ending to top things off, kinda like a Playin' jam sandwich from those other fellas.

3. To draw another Dead parallel, the other interesting thing about this show is seeing the Phish of the mid-90s, before 1997 brought on the four-song second set era, having no problem plugging in a few "song" songs in between the big jams. A Mound/Coil/Daniel Saw The Stone run is nothing to sneeze at, certainly (who doesn't like those songs?), but that's 20 minutes of 2nd set real estate with nary a jam to be found. Think of it as their Big River/Toodle-oo tendency, if you'd like.

4. This is a prototypical pre-94 YEM (when, IMO, YEM really turned a corner before its 1995 peak); you've got teases up the wazoo, a Smoke On The Water jam and goofy Speed Racer jam, and energy for days (more of the manic rock kind than the nasty funk kind, of course). The slide into Purple Rain is the icing on the cake.

5. One last thing to consider about this show - how much it illustrates the way that Phish evolved. August 1993 really captures the group with one foot in the early-90s (manic energy, a billion quotes and teases, lots and lots of songs) and the other in the 1994-95 era (leaps into the void, exceedingly clever and nigh-perfect segues, better setlist flow); the extraordinary thing is that a group right smack in the middle of its evolution from one to the other managed to churn out so many great shows while making that transition. You get the weirdness to spare of a show like 8/6, astonishing jams like the 8/26 Reba, and the combination of the two in shows like 8/13 and this one. We're over two decades past and these shows are still beloved and still gaining new fans every day, and it's very easy to see why.

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

Many have heard this show, thanks to the LivePhish release. I was so happy they put out a soundboard of this one. After the Murat this is a close second for my favorite show I've attended. The lawn was empty, the pavilion was half full at best. I was there with many friends and we got booted from hanging and drinking by the car from some of Tinley Park's finest.
The first set from this show seemed very standard at the time. "Chalk Dust" opener, "Guelah Papyrus", "The Horse" > "Silent", a great "Esther" and a set closing "Cavern". Then Set 2, though: whoa! A first time (for me) "2001" (which rocked my socks off!) To quote Comic Book Guy: "Best `Antelope' Ever". This started off standard but led to "Sparks" (I am a huge Who fan, so I was freakin') > "Walk Away" > "Have Mercy" > "Antelope"- You have all heard it... so sick live!
At this time I wasn't into checking Phish's setlists so I really had no idea some of the songs they had been playing, which was nice for "Purple Rain" as it seemed like such a far out surprise for everyone. After the encore of "La Grange", which was my hometown at the time, I really felt this had been a special show. Top notch all the way!

No review here, my apologies, I know this is the spot to do so... But really what more could I say about this show that hasn't been said already???

One thing though, which I'm sure people have debated before in the years since this show's date / subsequent archival release - whether in a group or in one's own mind - is the tiny little question of whether we should add a footnote regarding the Band's (obvious) jaunt into David Bowie, post-WalkAway, right after the LivePhish-titled 'Tinley Park Jam' section, in the minute leading up to HaveMercy (c'mon you know what I mean).

Few Questions to Raise Here:

1) Did Trey forget which song he was in?

- Quite possible, given that this was one of the 1st HUGE, extended segue-fests the band experimented with, wandering all over the place. Also, with all the furious enthusiasm/enthusiastic fury that goes into a song like RLAA, one might expect that, at one point or another in a meandering musical journey, the band/Trey may mistakenly slip into a similarly wild song like Bowie. Once the band picked the pace back up, I wonder if Trey's excitement shot the tempo up a little too fast into final Bowie jam territory / final hyper-speed Antelope jam territory which is basically the same format as Bowie just diff key.

2) Or was it actually planned?

- Also very possible, given that Red was maniacally insane - whether it was thought up pre-set/Antelope or on the fly like we all hope was the case. I don't think that's what happened, and I believe in #1 above; I actually appreciate the enthusiasm and slight screw-up more than a planned set aspect. Trey was just giving his all, even if it wasn't the same song, and I really believe he dropped the band back down into Have Mercy as a chance to regroup and find the key for RLAA. This also might explain why he chose to sing the RyeRyeRocco portion in Have Mercy melody, giving him more time to collect himself.

3) Who cares? (I mean, it's PHISH, just appreciate the magic.)

- Welp, I do. And yes, this is pure geekery to spend time thinking/writing about this for an extended period of time, but I'm a geek. A Phish geek. Additionally: 1) Antelope and Bowie are two of my fav songs, I love the early Phish, especially the mean/nasty stuff like those two, Stash, Melt, the like. and 2) Thousands of minor notes have been added to this site, like another boring Oye Como Va tease in Twist (which should go away), so what's one little "Full-band Bowie tease" going to hurt here? It sure will make this guy happy, regardless of the true intentions from the band's perspective.

Anyway..........END BOWIE-related RANT (until next time).

My first show. Starting hearing about Phish in early '93 summer. Was a 19 year-old college student running in GD circles. I'd first seen the dead in 91, and already by '93 they were noticeably worse; especially Jerry. I still wish he was here though. That scene will never be replaced. That being said....

I bought two tickets to the World Music Theater; having scene stupid Warrant/Skid Row there for free couple years prior.

Being a slight loner, I had no one to really ask to go with me. I talked a classic hipster/grunge college buddy into going with me to the show. At this point, I was quite used to Dead lot scenes. Lots of vending and hippies galore. Surprised to find the Phish scene quite different. Lots of preps actually. But people knew the songs! Everyone there was with it. They still seemed so underground.

I remember the seating was "General Admission", even in the pavilion. Never seen that. We dropped "orange tabs" of sunshine?double?dipped?don't?remember?something beautiful.... I remember running back to my seat during the first riffs of Chalk Dust. Being my first show, I just took it all in. The band supplied so much. Everyone had good seats, in that they pretty much had the seats they wanted.

Some will say this is the stars talking, but I saw a moth land on Page's piano during his solo in 'Coil. The first set was great.

Second set opened with 2001. I'd never seen lights move up to the right like that before...cool. Daniel saw the stone was neat. Esther....I'm still chasing. The second speaks for itself.

I don't remember too much about this show as 1993 was such a sick year...and such a long time ago. Yes, it was obvious at the time that it was a really special night but time has a lot to do with that. What I do remember is some of the ushers dancing in the aisles a little bit. Also, it was quite strange seeing them in a little theatre -> a huge amphitheatre -> a little theatre three nights in a row. The strangest thing was how sparcely attended the show was for such a huge shed; there couldn't have been more than 5000 - 7500 in attendance that night.

As for The Murat/Tinley being two of the sickest back-to-back shows, I've never thought about it, but I challenge you to find two better. The only possibility (in my experience) would be the greatly unheralded first night from the Roxy, 2/19/93, and the greatly heralded second night. Other than that, you're gonna have to help me out on that one...

i have heard it argued that this and the indy murat show are the two best back to back shows phish has ever played. personally, i don't agree, but i'm not going to call you crazy if you do. this second set is a knock out.

papyrus, divided sky, ice, and melt are really well-played in the first set, but like i said, the second set is champ here. the 2001>antelope combo starts out standard for '93, but antelope really starts to get out there. after a pretty rocking jam, the find themselves moving seemlessly through the who's "sparks". they work this in brilliantly and do not miss a note as they crash into walk away. after a bit of jamming, they find themselves working breifly bake through the antelope theme, but this is short lived. they move nicely right into have mercy. gordon has some fun playing in the antelope/mercy/antelope section of this "song." after a rousing closing to antelope, you would expect a breather, but they play a really nice version of mound. coil and stone offer the breather, but then yem is a crazy funky dance party. full of teases and good times. the rest of this set is standard fare. la grange is one of my favorite covers... good rowdy closer.

this is pretty standard aug '93, with a buck wild antelope mixed in there. you absolutely have to hear the antelope!

August 1993 represents the consensus month that phans agree Phish started deploying Type II with our now customary regularity. The precision is off the charts in the composed portions of songs, and I suppose the jamming was invigorated by a newfound sense of discovery and potency in a different way to approach "the show." Phish could honestly do no wrong during this month. I find myself overwhelmed by the amount of teases, but I would certainly welcome a return of that kind of variety nowadays in 3.0. Don't miss this one!

The past few days I've been going on a self-led tour of August '93, and I was very happy to have some additional context behind my re-listen of the Tinsley Park show. The first set of this show has some pretty stellar moments among a ripper Divided Sky that foreshadows its '94 glory, a dark and dreary Page-centric It's Ice breakdown, and a SOaM that has all four band members exploring melodic and rhythmic space. Dotted between these are some rock solid performances of a few of my other favorite Phish tunes.

Set 2 better captures the ethos of the Type II Phish that was really beginning to bloom at this point. Starting off with a launchpad Also Sprach, the "Antelope-fest" jam that makes up the meat of the set is a must-listen for any Phan looking to study the band's early interplay and exploration. It isn't even four minutes in when the band enters Type II territory and sets off an evolving behemoth of a musical journey. There are a number of excellent sections throughout the entire performance, all laden with creativity from each member of the band, and each transition exemplifies impressive agility and syncopation. As others have pointed out, this could be considered the spiritual predecessor to the 5/7/94 Bomb Factory Tweezer-fest jam due to the gnarly segues, the presence of Sparks and Walk Away, and the vast sonic ground covered from end to end. Without trying to sound like I'm forming an indictment of this performance (I most certainly am not), I'll call out that this jam sequence seemed to have a bit of a shorter attention span that that of Bomb Factory, flipping between segments a little more quickly and flippantly.

The efficiency of the Antelope jam makes me forget that there's still plenty left to Set 2. In addition to a few sweet standard selections and a goofy Purple Rain, YEM stands out as another set highlight. Still representative of the August '93 setting, we get plenty of teases of other tunes and readily re-imagine the baseline YEM groove following Page's solo. Overall, a super fun show that--along with a number of others--captures the band entering its next major phase of development.

P.S. If you're listening on Live Phish Vol. 7, it is definitely worth checking out the filler material. The Great Gig Mike's Groove from 8/11/93 offers further examples of the band's riffing off one another as a simple pattern established by Mike early in the jam follows the band for several minutes and Trey's rhythms inspire Fishman to pivot the groove in a few different directions before -> Great Gig. The supplemental Stash from 8/15/93 is a favorite of mine from this era. 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.

Obviously Joy hadnt been released yet, but one part of Page's part in squirming coil sounds like alaska. haha