I had the second set of this show on cassette for a long time, and it was an early favorite of mine. I've recently listened to this set again, while I have been going through shows I have from August 1993. This show doesn't really compare all that well to some of the incredible performances that followed, but it's almost like comparing apples to oranges. 7/24/93 was simply the most important show the band had played up to this point; a sold-out show at one of the largest venues in the band's home region. The band was not playing on this night to further their experiments with group improvisation and on-stage communication; they were playing to entertain their fans, and maybe to contradict any critics and prove that their success was no fluke. This show is not crazy, but it is tight as hell, and it rocks.

@MiguelSanchez did a great job breaking down the performance. I just want to add that segue in the set-opening 2001->SOAMelt combo is so seamless, I wish the band would perform it again. During Daniel, Trey thanks the crowd in a similar fashion to the version from 7/15/93 Weedsport that saw release on the I-90s compilation disc, but to this listener it really seems sincere. It also serves to remind us of how, having now scaled the career mountain of selling out Great Woods, Phish was setting their sights on even greater challenges.

I love this show for many reasons but sitting here twenty six years later and reflecting on it is a bit odd in that it certainly doesn't "feel" that long ago but also reminds me that I have been seeing this wonderful band for more than half my life and still love hearing them perform and love to anticipate the next show. I am so very thankful they did not give up and continue to push themselves. This date was a classic, sunny, summer day and we left western Mass. early to meet friends out east in Middleborough. It seemed as though everyone in our group had great "kind" bud except me so I was in good company. We got blazed, busted by a friends mom (it was her house and foreshadowed the Guelah to come later) and headed out to the "packy" to load the coolers with nothing but the finest Michelob cheap students could buy. We were set up in the right hand lot as you enter Great Woods closer to the venue so that worked out nicely. Balloons were being passed and I saw my first casualty of the gas and learned a very good life lesson: don't bogart that balloon my friend! as this kid huffing nearby did the faceplant into rock. It was shocking but he bounced right back up with a little help from his friends and was no worse for the wear. We had pavilion seats and word was the show would sell out. We had seen the growth locally as the band used to play small clubs like Pearl Street and the Umass Student Ballroom so there was a provincial pride that they were playing such a large venue. Inside, it did not feel sold out as the pavilion was easy to maneuver and "upgrade" our seats before show time. Llama openers always kick ass and kept the lot party rolling but Horn was oddly placed and allowed us to continue our search for perfect seats. Nellie Kane was a new one to me but I loved the bluegrass energy and the Divided Sky that followed reinforced my wise decision to buy the ticket and take the ride. When Guelah came next, we all had great laugh at the "through the bedroom door intrude" line since this exact same thing happened to us just a few hours prior. Rift was also newer to me but remains one of my favorite to hear live to this day and this version was tight and well played and stood out to me for the interplay and vocals. Stash was scary in a good way and I was amazed by the diversity of tunes to this point. Mango continued that trend with classic Phish silliness and Bouncin' was a big hit with the swelling crowd. Word must have spread about the ease of seat surfing as we locked down low and centered for the rest of the show and were never hassled to move. The Coil impressed me with the vocals, delivery and that damned outro that hits you in the feels every single time. Wow and only set one. I couldn't recall a concert experience that could compare in it's execution, style and range of emotions. More please and onto the second set. As a movie buff, I was amazed by the 2001 and thought is there anything these guys can't do? I had no idea it was played at nearly every show that summer and assumed a one off. I was a regular listener of the Junta & Lawnboy CD's and did not have many live tapes and when we got the double whammy of Split and Flufffhead, well that was gold to me following the 2001. Maze was also newer but no less impressive than the previous songs in pure execution, speed and technicality. Another of the classics that I still love hearing. Glide was a nice breather tune and lyrically fun. I honestly can't remember when the slide and glides came out but do recall them being used and hilarious. These were a telemarking "exercise" phenomena for a brief time but may have been used during Mike's. I just remember them being fun and was completely sold on the whole show. Sparkle seemed like a bit of a throw away tune but was up tempo and has grown on me with time. Mike's brought back some evil Phish but then they changed on a dime with beautiful Hebrew ballad that I could not name but could recognize. It was a startling contrast and just kept me amazed by the performers and then back to rock and roll with ease and a rollicking Weekapaug. Phew, could it get better or more fun or more weird? Why yes it can, how about a little man in a dress singing Prince with a vacuum? I was sold, this was by far the most fun I'd had at a concert to date and we still weren't done. Daniel ramped up the energy once again and they blew the doors off with a classic rocker to close. Wow, what a time! Is this how every show is? Golgi was a blast singing in a community choir and well, hell, why not a Freebird to close? Sold, absolutely sold. This was my first show and left a clear impression that truly hasn't receded in time. I feel so very fortunate that I chose to attend on this particular summer day and here we are so many years later still waiting anxiously for the next announcement. Thanks Phish for being there!

This was my first show, 21 years ago today, whoa! Phish.net reminded me and invited me to write a review - so here goes!

I'll review the show based on listening to the recording over the years, since I was too young to contribute a constructive review based on that experience alone.

The show opens with a raging Llama! WOO! Divided Sky and Guelah Papyrus I consider litmus tests as you can judge the energy in the venue during the two quiet parts and I think these results came up positive!!! I wasn't aware but the Mango song was a bit of a bust out...A powerful Stash starts some exploration that continues later and the coil wraps the first segment up beautifully.

Set two wastes no time getting serious. I absolutely love these earlier versions of also sprach before they got all super space funk jam, these are more short, tight, and to the point, but still full of that groove. And the one-two punch of Also Sprach into Split Open and Melt is just perfect, like they were meant to be played together. The Split gets dark and deep and scary and totally awesome psychedelic. Fiery and scary beginning to the second set. Fluff is solid, the ending is bursting with joy! The Maze is downright sinister, with a nice Also Sprach tease - they're just playing in and out of whatever they like on this July eve in Mass...Glide is great, then sparkle, but it's all about this freaking Mike's - this is a complete monster - even if you sleep on this show don't sleep on the mike's - it goes all over the place and eventually hits yerushalayim shel zahav before entering the Weekapaug...This sandwich is the magic of the night - check it out. Some nice fishman purple rain action, Daniel saw the stone keeps the energy high and Good times bad times potently caps an incredible set. And who doesn't love a free bird encore?

So that's my review of the show based on listening over the years. What follows is a more personal account from the experience.

I was 12, so there's that. My memory is foggy, rather groggy, but the things I remember without a doubt (and will never forget) are:
females with hair under their arms, and still hot, who knew?
glass pipes, with a strange new smell. Asked my dad if it was marijuana, he said yeah, I asked how he knew what it smelled like, he said "I was in 'Nam! I know what the fuck it smells like!"
I remember the drummer playing a vacuum cleaner, to a beautiful purple rain, with neat lights, and lots of lighters (more lighters!)
I remember the melody to divided sky, even though it would be months until I heard it again on Junta. These are really the only things that stuck with me, and a huge sense of wonder at the gap between the only other Phish I'd heard (A Picture of Nectar) and this live experience - my mind was blown, to put it lightly.

A good friend of mine was attending classes at Boston College for the summer. He invited me out to spend a couple of days with him in Boston, and to go see Phish at Great Woods. He was a big fan of the Dead, but this was his first time checking out phish live. The Rift album was relatively new and we were both soaking it up.

Having grown up in a small town, Running free in Boston was a thrilling experience for a junior in high school. We saw and did so much, it was a blast. The beginning of out of state Phish following travels that would take me around the entire country...

I had seen a few phish shows before, but the venues were much smaller. The lot at Great Woods was packed with heads and resembled what one would see at a dead show.

Can remember Trey doing the silent break during Divided sky and we were really thrown for a loop back then... We were looking at each other like "Dude, what the heck is goin on up there." "Is he havin a seisure or somethin?"... We were really stoned...

The second set opener was frickin' awesome. We didn't know the song and had just wrote down "Lights" on the setlist, cause during the climatic parts of the song they were blazing huge ass headlights up into our eyes... (It was 2001)

During Maze, this Kid (I had just turned 17 and he was quite a bit younger) was going nutz. Like a Mr. Roboto dance at warp speed. It was awesome. Seeing others letting it hang out like that really made us feel comfortable too. By the time Weekapaug rolled around we were all bending at the knee into some deep funk. Just completely Free...

My friend was blown off the face of the earth at his first Phish show, and continued on to see many many more. We would bounce back and forth between Phish and the Dead, then Phish and Furthur...

THE GOOD: There's high praise for this show from the other reviewers and this show has been fondly remembered by long-time phans. I really like the first set Stash, which draws down to a quiet lulling pulse during its heart, only to revive and deliver a fantastic sustain from Trey in the final 45 seconds. The Mango Song breakout is nice statistically, but I think it is overshadowed by the band's mellow jam out of Coil, one that I am quite fond of. The Mike's foreshadows the lilting playful swing-jam that would be featured in Mike's jams throughout the summer (notably in Murat). This version is sans craziness by Trey, though. Weekapaug has a wonderful silent jam around 3:45, which moves unpredictably into a full-blown rockabilly style jam (akin to Dogs Stole Things!).

THE BAD: Sound quality for the circulating version of this show is a B-, which is definitely a detraction. There's not much bad about this show, but it's bookended throughout this tour with spectacular performances, and, listening chronologically, seems a bit underwhelming. As mentioned elsewhere, the band plays it somewhat safe as the show was at the largest venue the band had played at the time. No real flubs to speak of.

ETC: The Mango Song features a false Bouncing start by Fishman. Mango may have been prompted by fans calling for it before the encore the night before (listen carefully to 7/23). Blatant teases of 2001 by Trey can be found in the Maze. Fish is entertaining during Purple Rain, coaxing the crowd to "see some more lighters!". Trey thanks the crowd, as was per usual for the tour, during Daniel.

BOTTOM LINE: A very solid show, solidifying their New England fan base, but not spectacular. 3.5/5

this is a great precursor to what was to come in august 1993. this show may not be quite as crazy as what was going to come in the next month, but this show features some top notch, tight, and focused jamming. the first set was pretty straight forward. llama opens things up nicely. mango was a nice bring back. the divided sky and stash show some nice flashes of improvisatory brilliance, but the real fireworks start in the 2nd set.

this is a nice little 1993 2001. page shines on this one. check out this melt; it is where this show really starts to pick up. i love listening to the evolution of this song throughout '93. it really starts to come together in these summer shows. fluff head is particularly sharp, and the whole band is really on point here. then comes one of my all time favorite mazes. with page really lighting it up, trey starts to put some 2001 licks over the top. very very hot maze. glide and sparkle give you a breather without killing the momentum, then... this mike's song is a monster. i love it. it has some really nice peaks. gordon and fishman get into such a nice groove while page and trey murder this one. as it peters out, they don't really steer toward the land of hydrogen. instead, they drift into yerushalayim shel zahav. i'm not jewish, but by damn, i love when they do these jewish hymnals. this one sounds a little eerie coming out of a some what dark mike's jam. the darkness passes as gordon brings up the weekapaugh intro. this show sort of peters out after a good weekapaugh. daniel saw the stone is a nice treat, and you have to dig the freebird.

overall:

very good show. this may not be a best of year contender, but at this point in the year, it was about the best. if you like this, check out the 12/30/93 and almost any show from august. i just love how much the music seemed to evolve between 93-94.

highlights:

set 1:
llama, divided sky, mango song, stash

set 2:

Melt, fluff>maze, mike's>yerushalayim>weekapaugh

Been listening to a ton of shows from August '93 over the past few days, digging through the month that most Phans agree marked the regularity of Type II jamming and, in a way, the birth of the Phish we know now. Out of curiosity, I decided to step back just a week to this 7/24 show to get a comparison point as I was wondering just how stark the August line was. Reading through some of the other reviews on the site though, I learned that this show was unique for the time: Great Woods '93 was the band's biggest show yet, selling out to a "hometown" New England audience roughly 12K strong. With this context in mind, I think it might be best not to draw too close a comparison between 7/24 and the back half of the summer tour but rather to view this as the gateway show that proved the bands' chops had a community to back it up. Performing a rock solid (even if straightforward) show in a setting like this, Phish earned the confidence that would drive deeper exploration and invention in the coming weeks and follow them into '94 (and beyond). Would I revisit? Probably not frequently, but I'm glad I checked it out to help fill in my picture of summer '93.

Most of the tunes in Set 1 are pretty cookie-cutter, but all are super strong and devoid of flubs. Mike and Fishman are great during Trey's solo on Llama (some similarities between this one and 8/7/93). Stash rips hard and dark as the band dives into the jam section with a descending motif, later pulling us out with an ascending ladder and booming peak. The Squirming Coil outro closes Set 2 in grand fashion: the band sticks around for a bit longer than usual, for a moment seeming like they'll enter full band jam territory (a la 5/8/93), but then opts to let Page rock out solo--a decision not regretted.

In Set 2, we see a little more bravery as the band digs into a Mike's Groove and takes the unbeaten path more than the rest of the show. Mike's Song jam has some nice floaty jamming that resembles a calmer Simple mixed with a 12-bar blues harmonic structure. The a cappella Yerushalayim Shel Zahav grants a beautifully eerie intermission before Fishman picks things back up into Weekapaug and the band pulls off some nice noodly improvisation, a swing blues break, and closes things out in standard fashion. The rest of the set--like the first--contains some pretty standard versions of a bunch of fan favorites. Standouts in my opinion are a very strong SOaM and Maze.

One of the best 2nd sets I've seen to date. Such a great set. Super tight & raging. Split Open, Maze (w 2001 riffs from Red), and a humongous Mike's Song. Purple Rain w all the lighters in the lawn, amazing.