well, um, what can i say it was a great show

i remember seeing the second drum set next to fish's and everyone freaking out about it. there were alot of speculative guesses, but im pretty sure few had it nailed it with the bob gullotti call. he's a well known drummer, but im pretty sure he was an instructor of fishman's in the past.

the hello my baby stuck out as oddly placed even though i didnt know(and still dont) know much about phish setlist placements and traditions.

I always love a julius near the end, if not the end of the second set. Its like a heavy duty rinse cycle.

this was the first show when i remember, im pretty sure during antelope, phish's ability to build "level" upon "level" in their jams. i thought, "wow, i can actually see everything raising up a level". it was pretty great.

this is an intersting note too...my friend Todd may have been one of the first people to notice The Funk. He's a bass player and he knows music well. He turned to me during a jam(dont remember which--my money would be on tweezer) and says "phish is getting funky!" i nodded back to him and thought, "yeah i guess they are.." it wasn't long before the band had fallen clear down the spacefunk rabbit hole.

haha.

SET 1: Punch You in the Eye: Sounds great out of the gate, you just cannot beat this opening up a show.

Poor Heart: Good energy, Mike sounds great.

AC/DC Bag: Trey has a little extra juice in spots in the jam. Definitely picking and grinning.

Foam: Crowd just cannot contain themselves during the quiet part. Which is NAILED. First of only two played this tour.

Hello My Baby: Really strange placement. If you look at Ihoz, this tune right in the middle of set one in a two set show has basically never happened.

Character Zero, Rift, Theme From the Bottom > Run Like an Antelope: Standard/Awesome

First Set Summary: Nothing that I would revisit, but a great set of Phish nonetheless. Cohesive, great flow, well played!

SET 2: Brother: Bob Gullotti on drums the entire second set and encore. The intro just souds nuts with two drummers, lot of muscle! This one is explored just a bit more than the huge bustout a couple of months ago at the Clifford Ball.

Ya Mar: It’s almost as if this one was made for two drummers, sounds great! Killer drum jam at the end.

Tweezer: The intro is a two pronged attack from the drummers! This one gets super weird and goes way, way out there. 14:20 things return to normal and Trey and Mike lead the charge for home. Shredsville, USA. >

The Lizards: Outstanding, crowd goes nuts for this – serious energy.

Llama: Crushed.

Suzy Greenberg: Page OWNS, check him out just crushing it on the baby grand. Impressive! Then switching back and forth from the ivory to the B3 (?) >

Slave to the Traffic Light: Strong Slave especially considering the guest dynamic could have been a bit challenging. This bad boy is ripped hard.

Julius: Standard

ENCORE: Chalk Dust Torture: Standard.

Second set summary: So much fun, wish I could have been there! Tweezer is definitely an all timer. Outside of that, there is not anything else I would return to singularly but as a complete body of work this is a really fun set that I would be happy to revisit in total every few years. Best show of the tour so far, but just barely. I would rate this as a 4.25 out of 5.

This was a last minute decision to go to this show and it wound up being one of my favorite shows to catch live. The energy inside the Hartford Civic Center was palpable from the start, and PYITE was the perfect opener to feed off of it. Poor Heart and AC/DC Bag that follow match the energy and the band was clearly on fire. The Bag is really interesting and contains a fun jam before the band launches into a well-played Foam that keeps the energy going. Much of the rest of the set is more solid stuff, with a nice mid-set Character Zero, and Theme and Antelope closing it out in fine form.

Brother to open the second set made the show right there for me. I love that song and it was only my second time catching it (I’d caught my first during my third show, on 5.17.92). This version is spectacular, with the band and Bob Gullotti (sitting in on drums for the set) clearly connecting here. This version is raging. The Ya Mar that follows is fantastic, leading into a short drum duet, before its conclusion.

Then comes the Tweezer that is the highlight of the show. This version is a monster and here the two drum combo really shines. The band is raging, resulting in a driving, energetic version that is full of pep. Things eventually calm down some as the jam gets more exploratory. Lizards is a nice follow-up, and then the energy returns with an awesome Llama. Following Suzy, the band launches into a beautiful Slave. I’ve coincidentally been listening to many shows that contain this tune lately but this version is up there with my favorites.

This show was a blast and Bob joining the band for the second set took it to the next level. The energy in that arena was electric and I recommend giving this show a whirl or two.

piggy-backing on the review above, I am listening to all the '96 shows. I just got to this one! In terms of the beginning of Phish really getting funky I say it was the week previous in Pittsburgh during Y.E.M......

but this is an interesting show to listen to for many reasons. The biggest one is the show last night at the Garden which was bananerrrrs!! I was at this show and it was a seminal moment of my life...

Before PYITE you can hear the energy of the crowd knowing what happened at the Garden. A great choice for opener in my humble opinion. Its always a harbinger of good shows, and Fall '96 gets forgotten about when phenomenal runs are talked about. it is...

the boys are in afterglow from the night before. very upbeat poor heart. bringing it all back home and intimate. the crowd goes berserk after and shuts up as soon as Trey touches the guitar.... Every note is anticipated. It does help the boys are in Connecticut.. but I think we are listening to a band that really now knows they are masters of the universe of good tidings.They knew this for sure just by booking MSG . But listening to these 96 shows in a row, you can hear the bounce from last night...No more opening for Santana like the lethargic summer tour.

AC/DC got heads bopping'!! a searching jam with trey out front delves into an ambient laid back electric monster. When Trey comes out front its with an atonal version of the them he was working then goes ambient ball of sound again. Page is really using that pedal well and filling out the sound.

You can probably argue that up to this point the boys have not played a bad set all tour. Depending how u feel about Foam, they are on , arguably a 3 show run of perfect song by song choices. great first set song and page vehicle. Did it bring the energy down? just a little. but hey, they're human ;-)

an acapella song, Hello My Baby, in the middle of a first set! nice

The arena monster Character Zero returns for the second night in a row. Why not ?? last nights was crazy. Trey gets out front from the get!! Awesome shredding. do you like guitar?!?!? lol

Rift follows and continues a tour of minimal covers. The boys were still dipping into their early 90's sets. but rift is an upbeat pace changer and a challenger for the boys.

The crowd , anxious to participate, claps the beat for Theme. Magic is happening.....This Them takes us on a floating musical orb of increasing greandeur. There are better themes but few that are transitioned into an ANTELOPE!!
The crowd doesn't react as crazy as it did for poor heart lol everyone is sorta gassed.... They are going to need to step it up..
trey doesn't lay back on this one. His guitar theme is present and able. Page's chords are haunting and massive. Fish is 97ish and Mike is ever-present...
AT the 4:20ish mark things get hairy lol we get a real Type II jam. Mike is just an animal and Trey follows. They alternate this until Trey takeover as he usually does in an entertaining fashion. well done , boys!!
Solid First Set. But for sure the weakest in a week. It's above average because of the energy of the crowd and the phenomenal second set at MSG the night before. The PYITE-> Character Zero were top notch.

The second set features a guest drummer, Bob Gullotti. And this a testament to Phish's self-awareness as a band. They knew they had to step it up after what they were going to do at MSG. could they have decided that day to play with gullotti an entire set? maybe. doubt it.
Brither is the opener. First time since Cilfford ball and that was the first time since like 91 ! This is a great minor exploration by Trey.
The extra drummer add extra muscle.
Ya MAr is a perfect vehicle for this set-up and get the good feeling swirling. really sick drum solo at the end.. awesome