From: Steve Cunningham 
Subject: >>> Review of STTA 4/1 (long) <<<

Sorry this is so rambling, but I'm not an English major.  :)
I wasn't familiar with any of the other musicians besides Trey and Fish, 
so just try and bear with me when describing who was playing what.  

Okay, lemme see, where to start....

I got to the city around 6:30 and ran my ass off for ten blocks to get a 
good spot near the stage.  As soon as I turned the corner from Broadway 
to 43rd street, I got bombarded with offers for tickets, buds, shrooms, 
you name it.  The outside of the theater was pretty crowded, probably 
about 800 people in line to get in at 6:45.  There were alot of cops 
around, too.  It sucked standing out in the rain, but we all had our fun 
watching this truck driver trying to back into the New York Times loading 
bays that are right across the street.  

Once inside (7:00), I was amazed at the size of this place.  It was 
tiny!!  People were milling around, just kind of hanging out waiting for 
something to happen.  I went upstairs and got a few beers ($4.00 a 
piece--drink before you get there), and was still amazed at how good the 
seats were even at the top of the balcony.  Made my way back downstairs 
though the crowd, which seemed to be a little younger than the crowds 
that I'm used to at Phish shows.  The theater had these boxes that were 
elevated off of the floor, like they have in Broadway theaters.  I was 
standing right under the one on the right of the stage, and Trey's dad 
and stepmom came out and sat down right above me.  Someone in the crowd 
recognized him immediately, and he ended up signing autographs for about 
half an hour.  Mimi Fishman was sitting on the opposite side, but I don't 
think that she was signing any autographs.  A few people on the floor 
sang her 'Happy Birthday', which she really enjoyed.

At around 7:45 the funniest thing that I have ever witnessed at a 
concert happened.  Trey's dad (does anyone know his name?  I can't read 
his writing) waved over a friend of his who was sitting in the balcony.  
This guy came over and sat down with them.  Someone in the crowd asked 
who he was and he said that he was nobody, just a friend.  About ten 
people got his autograph too.  Anyway, about ten minutes later, still no 
sign of the band.  The smell of burning Ganga was ripe in the air.  Us on 
the floor were still joking around with Trey's pop and stepmom (Boy is 
she hot!!)  When one of the guys in the crowd asked them if they wanted 
to smoke.  The fellow who joined them ten minutes earlier took this guy 
up on the offer.  He hands him up a bowl and a lighter, this guy stood up 
to the _roaring_ crowd and took a hit off of it.  The crowd was going 
nuts!!  You have to understand now, this fellow was about 50 years old 
and sitting in the VIP section.  It was truly an uplifting experience.  

On to the music.....
The band came out at 8:05 and started to jam.  I was directly in front of 
Trey, in the third row of bodies.  Trey was on the right side, with the 
bass player on his right, and the organ/keyboard player on his left.  For 
the first fifteen minutes or so, I couldn't hear Trey at all.  The music 
that was playing was similar to that on the first few tracks on the CD.  
There were 4 horn players (flute, trombone, sax, trumpet) on the left 
side of the stage, and these guys were kicking some serious ass.  The sax 
player stole the show for the entire evening.  The jam session continued 
for the next hour, with Trey pretty much directing the rest of the band.  
His guitar was pretty much turned down for most of the first set.  
Fishman was playing on the drum set on the right (2 drum sets).  He was 
just his usual self, playing away, nothing spectacular.  The first set 
ended at 9:00.  

The setbreak yielded some interesting ideas as to what was going to 
happen for the second set.  The guys sitting next to me were convinced 
that Mike and Page were going to come out and Phish was going to play the 
second set as kind of an April Fool's joke.  I think that I would have 
been disappointed if this would have happened.  They would have been 
'selling out' the other great musicians on the stage with them.

Around 9:15 the second set started.
The second set opened with just Trey, the bass player, and Fish coming 
out and doing this quiet jam for a few minutes.  The rest of the band 
filed in a few minutes later.  It seemed that the stage was a little 
crowded and they were getting in each other's way when trying to move 
around.  I guess that's what happens when you try to crowd eleven 
musicians onto a stage built for four.  The second set was much more Trey 
centered, and he really had it going tonight.  Some parts almost seemed 
that they were doing a Tweezer jam, with Trey wailing away and the rest 
of them backing him up.  The second set was more like the second half of 
the CD.  Trey had this HUGE smile on his face for the entire second 
half.  It really looked as if he was enjoying himself.  (I know I was!)  
At one point, Trey and Fishman left together, followed by a few more 
players.  The only ones left on stage were the flute player and the 
organist, who jammed together for five minutes or so.  Fishman came out 
and started to play the keyboards.  Not play really--he was just kind of 
quietly tapping the keys one by one.  The jam during this part was really 
quiet, and the crowd seemed to be cooperating.  This was the _quietest_ 
crowd that I have ever seen at any concert.  Not one scream during this 
jam.  The other performers filed back onto stage, led by Trey.  They 
jammed together for a little while longer.  It seemed that each performer 
got a little time to do his 'own thing' sometime during the show.  Trey 
thanked the crowd while the rest of the band was still playing and walked 
off the stage followed by all but the two drummers.  They held a beat 
together for a few seconds, which slowed down, then eventually stopped 
and they also walked off the now empty stage.  The show ended at 10:15.

I wasn't really sure whether or not to expect an encore, but I wasn't 
disappointed when I didn't get one.  To be honest, going into this show I 
wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it or not.  What I ended up getting 
was the most interesting and unique concert experience that I have ever 
witnessed.  There was quite a few tapers there, see if you can go and 
hunt down the tapes.  I know that I would love to have one.  

Oh, I forgot to mention that after about half of the crowd had left, 
Trey, Mike, Page, and Fish came back on stage and played an entire 
Gamehendge, start to finish.  Tela really kicked ass!!  
Happy April Fools Day everyone!

   +---------------------+------------------------------------+
   |  Steve Cunningham   |  Major:  Civil Engineering         |
   |  310 Russell E      |  Minor:  Political Science         |
   |  Newark, DE  19717  |    University of Delaware          |
   |  (302) 837-3289     | <><<  ><>>  <><<  ><>>  <><<  ><>> |
   |  dblbogey@udel.edu  |   I'd rather be Phishing.....      |
   +---------------------+------------------------------------+