C’mon, this show deserves some love! Granted, there’s nothing monumental here. But there’s joy in precision. And this show has energy and precision right through. The band sounds so dialed in.

‘96 is considered a transition year. For some that’s a way of calling ’96 not very interesting. But there’s something exhilarating about transition. Trey in particular is playing with what I can only describe as a kind of shrug of the shoulders virtuosity at this point. It’s something to marvel at. His solo in Gumbo (with great support from Fish) somehow sounds both beyond compare and routine. Similar feel in Bag and Theme for me.

Great fun to listen to this show. 4 stars from me.

This show is a Phish rarity: a show where the first set outshines the second. Trey was stretching the outro solo in AC/DC Bag to it's limit towards the end of Fall '96, and this one will have you standing on your tiptoes by the end. The tramps jam in YEM is plenty funky - the band was practicing James Brown grooves around this time. After Trey blows the roof off with the 'doc, he steps to the percussion rack, and Page adds a little piano to the usual Bass and Drums section. The vocal jam is quite percussive as well.

Ya Mar has a lengthy Trey solo, a tad noodle-y, but there are a couple of fun full-band rhythmic hookups. The Billy Breathes songs sound great here - Theme, Taste, and Free are all worthy Fall '96 versions. The second set is solid, nothing is particularly subpar, but to these ears the flow seems a little rushed. Perhaps they were running out of time, which would explain the short-and-fiesty Fire encore. All in all, the best moments of this show fail to match the peaks of the earlier Pac-NW and West Coast runs just before, but the clear AUD still makes for a nice listen in any environment.

Pretty solid show. Last week of a long tour, playing to a probably half-full or so big pro basketball arena. Trey's grandma and her friends from Sun City were in the audience.

Page has some sweet moments, and if you listen really closely to Mike, you can hear bits and pieces of ideas that would take off with the Modulus in 97.

Nice recording off the spreadsheet, and while it's not a HOLY COW type of show, but I enjoyed it.

Trey's grandma and her friends from Sun City were in the audience.

SET 1: Rocky Top: Standard. >

AC/DC Bag: Smokes.

Bouncing Around the Room: Standard.

You Enjoy Myself: The 97 funk peaks through in this one, very danceable version.

I Didn't Know: LOL at Trey’s intro of Fishman, very funny stuff. Funniest I have heard. Has a boxing theme and everything.

Theme From the Bottom: Standard.

Gumbo: Standard.

Julius: Standard face melter.

SET 2: Ya Mar: LOL at the poster nut bag chant at the beginning of this one. What’s that the Mike sings at 10:50? “I am going to rectify????”

Divided Sky: Definitely has more juice than a typical version. Worth a relisten. Check out the run Trey goes on from 13:20 through 13:40!

Wolfman's Brother: They grow ever closer to figuring out what to do with this jam here in this version. Really cool, little jam here. Check it out. >

Taste: Totally smoked, this is a version that has tons of relisten value! >

Free: Same old, same old.

Scent of a Mule: LOL @ Mike screwing this one all up. Really strange. Wish there were more insight as to what happened here.

Harry Hood: Solid yet unspectacular – they kind of back into the climax as opposed to building towards it and then having it explode.

Sweet Adeline: Standard.

ENCORE: Fire – Standard.

Summary: Pretty average show. Outside of the Divided Sky and the Taste, I wouldn’t be seeking out much else. Maybe the Wolfman’s, YEM and Bag but those are not truly notable versions as such. My rating? 3.3 out of 5.

Holy crap... this Taste is spectacular! All the raging passion of the best versions to come in the following few years, like the amazing Walnut Creek 97 version in the thunderstorm. Trey's really possessed in this one... might be his finest solo of the year. It's a sneak preview of '97 Tastes with a flashback to Trey '94 gun-slinging guitar.

Thanks to all of you who brought this version to my attention...special track!