I wasn't at this show (I had seen my first a few months earlier back on the East coast in my hometown of Montreal), but set one was one of the first tapes I wore down in my Walkman going to and fro from school as a teenager. I don't remember how I got it, though I think it was a fairly well circulated, good sounding tape, in the days when such a thing existed. I hadn't heard this show in years until I remembered out of the blue tracked it down; I think I actually lost the tape in said Walkman when it was stolen out of my locker during a high school dance. But I digress.

This is a great, fun show. They played a LOT of shows in 94, and by December Trey was doing absolutely obscene things on his guitar and the band was locked-in. You don't need to peruse that first-set setlist too much to figure out it was a special night. The Simple->Catapult->Simple is no novelty; there is some very interesting and engaging jamming in there. If you're a fan of a blisteringly well executed Maze, Scent, or Lizards, please give a listen. I'm not as familiar with Set II, but I'm pretty sure both the Possum and Reba get the silent jam treatment, with the latter also getting soft and spooky, and spanning almost twenty minutes. Maybe not as good as the one I saw on 7/6/94 back in Montreal, but again, I digress; I've still never been to San Diego.

https://forum.phish.net/forum/permalink/1378183731

When I'm rating shows, it's a challenge for me to avoid being affected by song choices in the setlist. I'm inclined to give a show the benefit of the doubt if it includes a few of my favorites, which introduces the human element and skews the ratings. But everybody has a personal list of Phish songs that elevate a show's status from good to amazing, just because they were included. And Reba is likely on a lot of fan's lists.

Reba is a multi-part musical composition written in 1989, but ask any bro and they'll tell you that the song features many characteristics that equate with their own feminine ideal. She is complex but uncomplicated, in turns child-like and mature, intelligent and unpredictable, pensive and raucous. The four gentlemen who attend to her may occasionally stumble, but would never besmirch her name, and others pursue her for days and nights, only to find their efforts were in vain. The Reba from this show is one of my all-time favorites, for the astounding majesty of the jam.

Even so, Reba is an unlikely "tent-pole jam"; one could count the number of second sets carried by Reba on one hand. Thankfully, there is much more to enjoy from this show. Since 2018, Phish fans have been blessed with first sets of high quality, containing excellent jams and noteworthy bustouts at nearly every show. 12/8/94 contains a wonderful first set, bookended by rarities and overflowing with strong playing. '94 Jedi Trey levitates the audience during a dissonant Maze and a rollicking Possum second set opener, and then pins the audience to the wall like the Gravitron during Bowie. A well-balanced SBD brings out all the nuances of this superlative show from the tail end of the Fall '94 tour.

This is such an amazing venue, a theater I hadn't been to before, nor since and you'll soon find out why. Super intimate (1,500 people), super tough ticket and the only 2 night run of Fall Tour. 8 days earlier we were in Washington, it was a well earned respite. There was so much hype leading up to these shows because of all these factors.

While the 1st night brought us the YEM from ALO, it's mostly overlooked compared to N2. I believe mostly because we had a sbd from N2. A taper plugged into Paul's board without permission. Even though there was a ground issue/hum, it was still a treat because we didn't get shit from this tour due to SBD lockdowns as they prepared for ALO.

San Diego police suck. They were out in full force, handing out tickets to fans for jaywalking - in a city! Even lamer, it was an alley leading to a hotel, not even a busy intersection. So they hassled a couple on tour for this and wanted to search them. Total bullshit. The girl, who was pregnant, protested and they slammed her up against some newspaper racks. She has some acid on her. It wasn't good.

We did what we could and gathered in solidarity and they treated this like a riot. Before you knew it there were dozens of squad cars and cops in riot gear, even a helicopter overhead. They made us go into the venue or leave. There wasn't a shakedown/vending scene, nitrous or anything, we were just chiling. I remember their road manager (don't think it was Langenstein) was in front of the theater, screaming at the cops in front of everyone, pointing his finger in the cops' face, absolutely livid about how they escalated the situation. We didn't do shit, the cops just knew they fucked up so they panicked.
The vibe inside was intense. Trey comes out and opens with Makisupa, because policeman came to HIS house. He walked to the front of the stage past his wedges and did a Marley-esque dance, a defiant kind of thing. I believe this was the 1st "woke up, 4:20 dank" twist on the lyrics which since has been part of the song.

Most of the 1st set seem to be in protest.

Maze has police sirens from Trey. He had our back. It was a unifying moment. My first Bag, about a henchman. Mule is a song of choosing peace when faced with laser beams. Punch is a story of disobedience, nipple torture and a fight to escape your oppressors.

The groove that Simple turns into towards the end was super unique for '94, and the way they carried it over into Catapult was also just fantastic.