My first Phish show. I tried to make it to shows in early 90's but this was the one. At the time I was living near the University of Utah with some friends from my hometown who had been to Phish shows before, we scored tickets that day at the beloved Graywhale CD store just off campus. This Phish ticket is still my fav, cool artwork limited printing for a tiny ass venue. We walked the 30 blocks down to the show, right across the street from the former Delta Center, this "ampitheatre" was located behind some historical building. Tiny I mean small - maybe 700 people??? Definitly a treat looking back, check out the setlist and listen to the AUD recording, the band is on it, really locked in all night. Out the gate with Llama - I always giggle this was my first live Phish tune, love the Llllllama. Guelah and Rift are standard, then I get the first of 15 DWD I have seen live. I was hung up on Hoist at the time (still am, love the album)next is It's Ice is rare in my rotation, great version. If I Could is sweet too..Maze, Fee and Suzy were strong - I had the disctinct feeling at setbreak I was at home...SOAM terrific set opener, hot - Trey killing it..Glide! Another rarity in my rotation and then Julius bright springy. Halleys>Scent is the highlight of the night for me - Page & Trey, some Ginseng and them the classic Mike's>H2O>Weekapaug sandwich with kudos to Gordo - it doesn;t come thru on the AUD so well but he was killing it...Golgi wraps it and lights down. Love the HWY2Hell closer, we were treated to a one off show in a small ass venue where the boys played really tight. I am so lucky to have gotten this as my first!

my first show as well. freshly exiting my freshman year of highschool, i had heard a tiny bit of this band and how they "played a vacuum"...no vacuum this night, but fish did bust a little ditty on the washboard in ginseng sullivan. in all honesty, i had no idea what i was in for this night and was pretty much oblivious to the magic i had seen on stage- though i did know enough to know it was good. not sure if they've ever held concerts at this venue since this show, but it was really a magical setting in the middle of "downtown" slc, with some, oh maybe 1500 or so people in attendance...a far cry from the 70,000 or so i would see ten years later at their "last shows" at coventry. needless to say, i was hooked after this show and have traveled far and wide to continue seeing these special guys. it is hard to rate shows from this era- the band was so incredibly on point EVERY NIGHT. i'm not quite versed enough in the compendium of live recordings from this era to give it a rating based on '94 shows only, but, having stayed true and remained a fan through ALL of the years (right up and through the webcasts of the great "runaway golfcart marathon" of 2012) i have to rate this show in light of the arc of phish in general. i would give anything to see them play today with the loose-tightness that i hear in this show; playing every song with such intention; trying so hard to play each note and each transistion masterfully; with the enthusiasm for singing every one of their wonderful, silly, dark, light, fantastic lyrics. whether this show was "run-of-the-mill" for '94 or the gem that it seems to be to me, as with all of the times i have seen them here in the great state of utah, they blew the damn roof off.

My first show. I was 16 and I new kid had just moved into town from Boston. I had been into the Grateful Dead for about 2 years seeing three shows around that time. I asked Seth if he wanted to play ultimate frisbee and I had a dead sticker on my frisbee. He later told me he knew we were going to be good friends after seeing the sticker. Later that day he played Junta in the car and then popped in a tape from a show pre 93. I was hooked. First chance to see live Phish was this date. I remember jumping around with Seth during Golgi apparatus. We’d purchased our tickets from some kids at school and they turned out to be counterfeit so we had to pay again to get in. We held up our counterfeit tickets laughing and trey noticed us with ticket stubs in our hands. I also remember Fishman playing washboard and the supper sexy hippy shushing everyone so we could hear. I remember meeting two guys from Texas that we’re on tour. I more remember the experience then the music. Anyway Seth died in a car accident before we ever saw another show together. I backed off phish for a bit after this because all I could see was his giant smile and him jumping around to GA every time I listened. That hurt has faded but every show I’ve attended after I’ve done so in his memory. Not much of a show review I know but that’s what I remember about that time.

Judging by the fact that I am, so far, the only one to review this who wasn’t physically at the show (and only the 41st rating for the show overall), no one cares much about 6/9/94 Salt Lake City. But as Phish was prone to do in the mid-90s, they were just plugging along playing great shows, creating new fans, giving great experiences to those who showed up wherever they played, even a small venue like this (according to Pharmer’s, it held 3,000 but only 2,304 were in attendance). Even Pharmer’s doesn’t have any fan recollections on this one.

I love the seemingly inconsequential shows because it shows just how consistent Phish was as a musical unit at this point. The playing at this show is great. “Llama” and “Guelah” are awesome, as always. “Down with Disease” is not super extended and jammed out, but as I was listening I could easily picture this version living on A Live One as an illustration of what it was like live. It’s a fantastic, high-energy song that is amazing even in a short form like this (as opposed to the massive Type II vehicle it has become). “It’s Ice,” likewise is brilliant, with an interesting jam emerging in the middle of it. One of my favorite versions of that tune.

The other highlight is a very intense “Mike’s Song” that weaves into the conventional but wonderful “Mike’s Groove” suite of “Hydrogen” and “Weekapaug”. “Golgi” closes out the second set, where Trey really plays with the dynamics, taking the jam all the way to absolute quiet before blasting it out. Like I said, the whole show is well-played and a lot of fun. It doesn’t have any breakout moments but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s a dud. If you want to soak up the Summer ’94 vibes, this is a great lead-in to the more heralded Red Rocks shows.

We're approaching the 30th Anniversary of the beginning of the 2nd leg of the Spring/Summer 1994 tour. This is the band's second of seven total shows played in the state of Utah after debuting there on 8/21/93, and their only show at the Triad Ampitheater. Everything in the first set is played with precision, without any flubs that caught my ear. The It's Ice jam briefly touches on the rave-up riff from "I Can't Turn You Loose", aka The Blues Brothers Theme. As the noise intro to DWD starts, Fishman seems to say "write it down" twice in a somewhat menacing voice, possibly as a jesting command to those keeping track of the setlist on the rail at the show?
One reason I enjoy 1994 shows as much as I do is Trey's guitar tone. In 1994 he was still using the same guitar, amp head, and speaker cabinet he introduced back in 1989, but by this point he had his sound dialed in and then some, both for the stage and the PA. He was also getting a fair amount of use from his wah-wah pedal, and having fun with the pitch-shifter. But all the sound effects can't help you if it ain't in your fingers, and Trey's fingers and hands were always playing the right note at the right time in the Summer of '94. I consider Maze to be a highlight from this show; the whole band plays well, but Trey's Jedi credentials are on full display. Fishman's whoops and screams push Trey toward the raging peak.
And the second set is the same, but slightly less so. The crowd noise on the AUD during the unamplified Ginseng Sullivan is cute, but the recording level is painfully overdriven to catch the music. Mike's Song is great and jam chart-worthy, despite Hydrogen being cut on the SBD. A quick Highway to Hell encore makes this a short, professional rock show by our favorite Vermont quartet.
So with very little to complain about, why would this show's rating be as low as it is? Because this show's highlights are relatively sparse compared to what was to come later in the year (or month). There just aren't enough performances in the "excellent" category to compare to the majority of Phish shows from 1994. I certainly don't mean to say that this show isn't worth your time; but if you are picking a new show from Summer '94 to spin, you'd be forgiven for looking elsewhere.
Not that Phish ever cared about any of that. Like @Life_Boy said above in his show review: "But as Phish was prone to do in the mid-90s, they were just plugging along playing great shows, creating new fans, giving great experiences to those who showed up wherever they played, even a small venue like this".