Subject: 11/29/96 Cow Palace "review"
From: dirkch00 

DISCLAIMER:  The following comments are written by a 26 year old 
straight white male elitist haughty moronic Phish fan in the midst of 
law school finals, who has only heard around 1100 hours of Phish's 
music, who has only seen about 45 shows, and who is so jaded that he 
won't be seeing the Sacramento show tonight because he knows that, if 
he attends and the show is average (""great"  "awesome") or amazing, 
he will be too tired to study effectively on Sunday for his 9am Monday 
Constitutional Law final and, on the other hand, if the show is lame, 
he will be BOTH tired AND pissed off on Sunday, and so he loses either 
way.

11/29/95  Cow Palace, San Francisco, CA

Outside, the scene was familiar and typical;  the smell of patchouli 
oil, burning sage, indica & sativa & hybrids, hippies, frat boys, 
glass bowls, hemp jewelry and clothing, hats, more hats, skateboards, 
miracle-seekers, t-shirt&beer&dope&shroom vendors, etc.  Surprisingly 
few unleashed dogs, however, which was good.  There were a lot of 
people there early (as usual), but not much of a party atmosphere (it 
was very chilly for San Francisco before the show.. about 55 degrees 
perhaps).  Certainly not as pleasant a scene for the eyes and ears as 
a good summer show when the lot opens at 3pm (and everyone shows up at 
1 or 2 and begins the party outside their cars waiting in line to get 
in, on a sunny 75 degree afternoon..).  I for one am happy about the 
summer tour, even though I won't be making any summer shows, in all 
likelihood.

The Cow Palace is, as the name implies, about as much a dump as it is 
a venue.  It was renovated at some point in the last decade, as it is 
allegedly not as much of a dump as it was in the 70s (but it is still 
home to rodeos and HOT RIIIIDERS and motorcycle enthusiast 
gatherings).  East Coast fans should take note that it reminded me of 
a typical indoor 80s-made collegiate basketball/hockey/graduation 
arena, only grey seemed the predominant "color" motif, as opposed to a 
school's colors.  The sound was not nearly as poor as it could have 
been (a big thank-you to Paul Languedoc!!), and I'm fairly certain 
that, in front of the soundboard on the floor, the sound was actually 
quite pleasing.  The Cow holds around 10,000 probably, and there were 
extremely uncomfortable "seats" for those that opted not to crowd onto 
the standing-room-only floor.  Reasonably-sized, average taper's 
section.  The bathrooms were few (I think there were only two men's 
rooms), and there may have been only one beer vendor in the entire 
place.  There was also some cheesy neon-advertised "bar" along the 
short vending thoroughfare, which, incredible as it seems, actually 
had a long line to get in it within an hour of showtime.

Lights went down at around 7:58 or so, and the non-smoking Cow Palace 
was modestly filled with smoke.  The show started within a minute.  

The Frankenstein NICU opener was excellent to hear and see (Chris' 
light show is quite brilliant, especially in a reasonably small 
smoke-filled room like The Cow), but these versions weren't as 
energetic and engaging as the 7/8/94 Frankenstein and the Amsterdam 
NICU by any stretch.  NICU even had a flub or two.  That's a tune I 
wish they'd jam the heck out of at some point...

The first set really wasn't very good.  The Divided Sky was the lamest 
version I'd ever heard or seen -- not much energy at all, and a flub 
or two.  The "jam" at the end was just not as passionate as it has 
been known to be even in an average version.  I was very relieved that 
Trey didn't spend too many minutes in suspended animation before 
playing the "Note" to close the Divide (as it were).  Maze had a 
reasonably good Page solo (as usual), and Trey's very curious solo 
(lots of flats.. interesting!) included a brief tease of Dave's Energy 
Guide's opening licks.  It didn't climax at all well, however.  

Bathtub Gin was fantastic to hear (I love this tune), but the 
awe-inspiring number of Sampleheads in attendance didn't seem to care 
much for it.  The jam segment was very short (a la 8/16/96 Clifford 
Ball), and enjoyable, but certainly not a thrilling Event like 11/7/96 
Rupp or 12/29/95 or 8/13/93.  The jam wasn't quite as focused as many 
other versions. The set closing tunes (which if memory serves included 
Life on Mars and Suzy Greenberg) were standard at the very, very 
best.  A 2.5-3.0 set, in my opinion.  Definitely sub-standard, given 
the lack of any serious jamming (only a few minutes in Gin).  

The second set, on the other hand, was typically average, magnificent, 
awesome Phish.  The Wilson opener was extremely appropriate for me, 
since I definitely wondered at set-break whether I could still have 
fun given my geeeezing and attitude problems.  The highlight of the 
set was actually, in my opinion, not "Sparks" as you might think, nor 
the JAM into Sparks out of Simple (lots of chording from Trey.. not 
that much noodling), nor even the GLORIOUS jam segment of You Enjoy 
Myself (about a B+/A- probably), nor the Swept Away > Steep (I love 
these extremely Beatles-esque numbers), nor even the precious Harry 
Hood closer, but rather

THE JAM SEGMENT OF TASTE!!!!!   WoW!!!!!!!!  =^]  =^]   =^]  The crowd 
around me didn't seem into it at all, but it was by far and the way 
the greatest Taste I'd ever heard (I admittedly have only heard a few 
Fall '96 versions, but I've heard almost every other version).  Like 
other Fall versions, the jam was made up of a Page jam and a Trey jam 
(similar to Maze in this sense), but both of these jams were intensely 
moving and fiery and spell-binding, in my opinion.  An excellent 
version, that I cannot wait to hear again on tape (maybe I won't like 
it as much, I know, I know..).

The jam into Sparks out of Simple was remarkably tweezeresque, and I 
was reminded of the 5/7/94 Tweezerfest set.  This 11/29 Simple jam was 
very engaging and gorgeous;  much more enjoyable, imo, than the 
excellent 10/31/96 Simple jam with Karl (who didn't show up, btw, but 
that's ok.. I'll give him shit next time I see him ;-).  Sparks was 
played reasonably well (though not flawlessly), which surprised me 
because there were some flubs here and there all night.  It was my 
first *live* version of that tune.  No one within forty feet of me 
seemed to recognize Sparks, but when Sparkle began... (and people 
wonder why Phish still plays this song.. maybe it is because at least 
90% of the audience appears to REALLY REALLY REALLY LIKE IT!!!).

You Enjoy Myself was excellent, but only because of the jam segment, 
in my opinion.  The entire opening segment was below average without 
question.  The pre-Nirvana segment was spacey and beautiful, as usual, 
but no attempt at the Vibration of Life was made, and it wasn't as 
enchanting as numerous other versions (especially from 1994).  Mike's 
solo-section was certainly reasonable, but nothing incredible.  Trey 
broke a string at the first shot at the Note, which sounded like The 
Anti-Shot-at-the-Note, amusing me (I had my eyes closed, of course, 
and it wasn't until after the show that someone told me that the 
Anti-Note was actually Trey breaking a string).  The second shot at 
the Note was equally embarrassing, since I believe Trey was still 
doing damage control.  Additionally, Page didn't stop on time before 
the charge (only the second time I'd ever heard him do this).  

The WUDMTF segment was standard, and there were trampolines for the 
"tramps" jam.  Usual routine.  Page's jamming in the tramps segment 
was fine, but not jaw-dropping or unusually profound.

The jam segment, on the other hand, was incredible!  It opened up with 
Trey repeating a very, VERY groovy, funky, mellifluous theme (I 
thought of you folks who really enjoy the 12/31/93 YEM theme.. wait 
until you hear this one.. I think this one is even more catchy and 
groovy..). The jam on the whole was an amalgamation, it seemed to me, 
of themes and styles that Trey had integrated into the jam over the 
history of the song.  There were remarkable hints not only at Spooky 
and Oye Como Va, but also more obscure funk and R&B grooves that 
sounded very familiar in style but which I could not name.  A 
magnificent fushion of YEM jam segment styles, with a spectacular 
closing minute or so taboot.  It was also about two minutes (at least) 
longer than usual (the whole version was around 26 minutes).  

The bass and drums segment was All Mike, with Fish accompanying 
remarkably respectfully.  Mike's soloing didn't especially grab me (I 
just don't like his tone that much these days), but it was a very 
beautiful, patient, melodious effort, that even teased some of the 
themes of the aforementioned jam segment that Trey had commandeered.  
The vocal jam was active and danceable-to, but otherwise left me 
unmoved.  No small furry creatures noises, and lots of harmonizing, as 
usual these days.  All things considered, I'd probably give this 
version a B+/A- or so (I need to hear it again;  for those of you 
impressed by either the 10/31/96 YEM or the 11/7/96 YEM, this version 
is spectacularly superior to those, in my opinion, even though this 
11/29/96 version opened poorly).

Waste was well, AGH.  Why don't they jam out the ending segment!?  The
song is absolut schwag without a jam (but I guess that's the point?). 
They should turn this tune into another If I Could (I don't think Waste is
even vaguely as precious as Lifeboy or Fast... it just doesn't work
without a climactic closing jam.. I nevertheless do not dislike it). 

Harry Hood to close the set was sahweeet, but not more beautiful than 
a normal Harry, in my opinion.  I was certainly more moved by it than 
I was by the 8/6/96 Red Rocks version, however, but I have yet to hear 
even one Fall '96 version.  Trey's soloing was very focused, and he 
seemed more interested in speaking to our hearts than in passionately 
noodling (actually, this is true of the second set generally.. Trey 
didn't noodle nearly as much as he is known to do.. he seemed more 
genuinely interested in enchanting us.. not much rock star Trey at 
all!!! =^).

I didn't expect anything good for the encore, given the blessedness of 
the second set's improvisation.  Indeed, the Sample (E) was even lame 
for Sample (flubbed, and the jam was surprisingly weak).

I would recommend this second set, which was good enough, in my 
opinion, to make this _show_ a typically awesome, 5.0 Phish show at 
best (maybe even a 4.5, in all fairness to truly well-rounded shows).  
I had a great time, and I'm very glad I was fortunate enough to go!  
It was a pleasure seeing Darius again (sans long hair), and meeting 
Katie Holloway and Michael Gouker face to face for the first time (if 
you see someone walking around who could be Paul Languedoc's brother, 
that would be Mr. Gouker..).  And congratulations to Bruce Norbeck, 
who successfully taped a Phish show for the first time with a brand 
new D8!!! 

two cents
charlie


p.s.  See, even a jaded fan can still have a good time at a Phish 
show!!  Thanks mail order, and thanks PHISH!!!!! =^]
-----------------------------------------------
Subject: Cow Palace 10/29 Review
From: eric@livingston.com (Eric Launder)

I:  Frankenstein, NICU, CTB, Character 0, Divided Sky, Bathtub Gin, Life
on Mars, Maze, Suzy
II:  Wilson>Simple>Jam>Sparks>Sparkle, Taste, Swept Away>Steep, YEM,
Waste>Hood
E:  Snapple

The Cow Palace is a old, musty, piece of shit. It's huge, cavernous, ugly,
and  had this indescribable stench that I can still smell (its noon the
next day). Worst of all the acoustics suck like no place else. With that
in mind, this show was decent and had some great moments. I wont go into
detail of every song, but some of these comments will probably be kinda
long, sorry.

Frankenstein - great upbeat opener. A good 70s tribute to a venue that
hosted its share of cheesy 70s rock shows.

NICU - nice to hear...the first song I noticed how bad the sound was.

Ch 0 - my third in four shows in the past week...the end jam was lost in
the cowmire

Gin - a welcome surprise, probably the best of the set. Wish they wacked
out the end jam a little more.

Life on Mars - another surprise, pretty standard but sounded good

Maze - great Page jam with Trey doing some nice dissonant chording. Trey's 
solo was cool and spacey for a while but he seemed to have trouble peeking
the end of his solo out. There was so much sound swirling and echoing
around the place that when he went to hit those high notes,  it just
didn't have the punch and intensity as usual.

Wilson - my friends and I that have seen the last week of shows have been 
waiting for this one. Short duh duh, duh duh opening, but solid. Segued
into...

Simple - surprised to hear this again but it was well jammed. The end jam
was nice and major sounding at first, then got kind of dark and spacey for
a bit. Then Trey just took off on this different two chord jam that he
started from scratch and got the rest of the band going on it. Trey seemed
really into this thing. Toward the end he was doing some real bluesy
soling on top of it-real rockin'. This was the first show of the four I
had seen this tour that had a spontaneous jam like this. Trey seemed like
he really wanted to take some risks here. This segued into...

Sparks - I'll admit I didn't recognize this tune (got the name off the
net). I remember a review earlier in the tour where someone talked about a
rockin jam they did that sounded too rehersed to be a jam. Is this the
same tune they played earlier in the tour? 

Sparkle - actually sounded great. The middle part where Trey first begins
that fast picking part was very tight, especially with the crappy sound.

Taste - another third in four shows. Not as good as Spokane's, but still
very good. Trey's solo was nice and spacey.

Swept Away>Steep - I really like these tunes live. The transition and 
beginning of Steep is so sweet...its creepy

YEM - very hot, very different. Nice long "Close Encounters" intro...the
light bridge looked just like a spaceship hovering over the crowd. On the
first "note" (you know the one), all this energy was building up and when
Trey hit it, it sounded like something exploded. He quickly went to a
lower pitched note. The chording after was way out of tune (sounded cool
tho), so I assumed he broke a string. The second "note" was also kind of
wacked and lower in pitch than normal and they kind of flubbed the part
right before the build up to the scream. Right before tramps, Trey
switched guitars and this is where this YEM took off. Trey just got going
on this clean chord vamp (with some slight wah) on top of the others'
groove that went on for about 3-4 minutes. It was pure disco...this thing
was so groovy, I could have listed to it for an hour. It was that kind of
groove that you here very rarely...the highlight of the show for me. The
remainder of the jam was very unique, Trey relying mostly on chord soloing
as opposed to single note stuff. He did a little single note line here and
there, but the climax of the jam was all chordal...cool stuff. Outstanding
vocal jam with great lights.

Waste>Hood - saw the same transition in Vancouver. Sounded OK, the Hood
was nice...short and didn't peak as high as usual though.

Sample - another 3 out of 4 show tune. It seems like I see this multiple
times at every run of shows I see. If they only played it 1 out of 4, I
think I would really like it.

Good show, but the venue was the absolute worst I've ever been in. Avoid
it at all costs. Thanks for reading.
--------------------------------------------------
Subject: Review of 11/29 Cow Palace
From: "R.Mitchell" 

Hey there,

Here's my take on the Cow Palace show in San Francisco.  Just so you
know where I'm coming from, I've been heavily into Phish since 1988,
seen somewhere between 45 and 50 shows, have about 300 hours worth of
tapes.  I've never gone on tour, but have seen a few shows each year; my
last shows were the Clifford Ball.  I probably fit into the (somewhat!)
"jaded Phish fan" catagory; when I go to a show I'm looking for
something I haven't seen before-- new tunes, rare tunes, stuff played
differently, cool segues...

Setlist:
I:  Frankenstein, NICU, Cars Trucks Buses, Character 0*, Divided Sky,
Bathtub Gin, Life on Mars, Maze, Suzy Greenberg

II: Wilson > Simple > Sparks, Sparkle, Taste, Swept Away/ Steep, You
Enjoy Myself, Waste, Harry Hood

E: Sample in a Jar

* with a capella ending
NOTE:  there was NO segue between Sparks and Sparkle

I'm not going to go through every song in detail, just the stuff I
thought was interesting.  The Frankenstein opener was unexpected,
definitely rocked.  I was stoked for NICU, which is probably my favorite
song that doesn't change much from show to show... I thought this boded
extremely well for the rest of the evening.  This was the first time I'd
seen Character 0 live; the a capella ending was particularly cool. 
Divided was very well played, but no real surprises.  I really like
Bathtub, but didn't find this one particularly inspiring-- it seemed
like they were trying to take it "out there", but it never really went
anywhere.  I keep hearing how they've been really jamming out on Maze so
far this tour, so I was hoping to catch this one.  It definitely jammed
harder than I've seen in the past, but was ultimately just Maze. 
Overall impressions of the first set:  cool setlist, well played, but
didn't blow me away-- about a 6 rating.

Second set:  The opening notes of Wilson were of course accompanied by
the usual singing-- I liked this a lot as it allowed me to vent my rage
against our stupid, petty evil governor, whom I would like to punch in
the eye (and maybe shoot in the head...no, no, no; I didn't say that
;-)  This segued smoothly into Simple, always cool to hear, and then
into... Sparks!!!  Excellent.  Sparks was very tightly played (probably
the tightest version of those I've heard [on tapes]), though after they
had gone through it a couple of times, it seemed like they weren't sure
where to go next.  Both of the segues in this opening triplet of songs
were very well executed; they dropped out of the starting rhythms, moved
into new territory and then eased into their destination, without any
noticable jerks.  Sparkle was Sparkle; fast, but not the fastest I've
seen-- whatever, crowd loved it.  Most of Taste was very standard; Fish
seemed rather bored with his vocal part.  I've said it before and I'll
say it again-- this song was at its best when Trey and Fish's vocals
overlapped (late Fall '95).  However, I really liked it after Trey's
solo began-- an excellent jam.  I was impressed with how good the vocals
sounded on Swept Away/Steep, almost as good as on the album (another
first-live for me).  You Enjoy Myself was VERY cool.  The vocal jam was
the highlight of the night for me, very rythmic and percusive (rather
than tonal).  I thought I caught a "Ninja Mike" (of the Ninja
Custodians) chant for a while, though I may have been out of my mind. 
The lighting during this sequence was my favorite of the night, all
black and white beams.  Waste was okay.  I called the Harry closer and
was stoked to hear it.  The build was not the best executed I've heard,
but IMHO, you can't go wrong with Hood.  The encore was Sample, probably
the song I was hoping for least.  The crowd loved it though.  I have to
admit, it's a pretty cool song-- I just wish they'd do something NEW
with it...  Rating for the second set: 8.5  Show rating: 7.5

Okay that's about it.  Sorry I don't give better desciptions; I'm not
very good at dancing about architecture.  I may have missed some cool
antics or lighting stuff, as I mostly dance with my eyes closed. 
Closing thoughts:  Fish is God.  Very good show.  Phish at its best is
like acid without the scary stuff...

Please direct comments, thoughts, flames and piles of money to my other
account:  MWRowe@LBL.gov

Mike (the Beeszt)
-------------------------------------------------
Subject: Cow Palace review
From: Jesse Appelman 

This was my second show. My first was Shoreline last fall (Beginning of
chess match, Jerry Garcia dedication).  I have 60 hours of Phish
spanning from 4/26/87 to 6/6/96, so take this review however you want.

Pre-show:  Not too bad.  The only dogs I saw were on leashes, I guess
people are actually respecting the bands wishes for once.  I was in line
for one and a half hours before they let us in.  The Cow Palace is the
worst place I have ever seen a concert at. It's a huge musty piece of
shit and before the show even started there was a thick layer af smoke
hovering at the celing.  We were on the floor about 20 feet from the
stage.  The problem is, I'm 14 years old and 5'3" tall, and for most of
the show I had to stand on my toes just to see the top of Mike's head. 
Pre-show music was Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, some Irish jig stuff, and
some jazz toward the end.

Frankenstein:  A great opener.  It got the crowd moving and Kuroda's
lights were spectacular.

NICU:  Nobody around me seemed to recognize this one.  It made me
realize that the audience was composed of mostly sampleheads
(Freeheads?).  This song was the first one with vocals, and I realized
how bad the acoustics in the place really were.  If I hadn't already
known the words, I wouldn't have understood what Trey was singing.

CTB:  Page plays the opening notes to this and the guy behind me yells
"YESSSS!!!".  This guy behind me sang along to the melody the whole time
and seemed utterly suprised by the false ending.  Despite his annoyance,
this is a funky song anyway.  If I remember correctly, they suprisingly
had the tramps out on this one (anybody remember?).

Char 0:  The guy behind me seemed pretty happy about this one too.  The
new vocal thing at the end is kinda cool, but this song was nothing
special.

Divided Sky:  I thought we were finally going to get a nice jam, but
this one was pretty weak.  During the pause, people were cheering as if
the song were over.  Louder than I've ever heard.

Bathtub Gin:  This one had a nice jam, but it didn't seem to go
anywhere.

Life On Mars:  I'd never heard this one before, even on tape, so I don't
remember much about it.

Maze:  Standard, nice Page solo.

Suzie:  This one was funky, some nice soloing, but nothing special.  The
acoustics were so bad that I couldn't make out what Trey said at the
end.  It just sounded like "------15 minutes---------away---fun--".  Can
someone who was in fromt of the soundboard tell me if the sound was any
better there?  I'm sure it would've been much worse if it weren't for
Paul!

Setbreak music was MMW's Shack Man.  I overheard five samplehead girls
saying "You know that girl from Days of our Lives?  We smoked a bowl
with her!  We smoked a bowl with her twice!"  I figured that after a
weak first set, they would surprise us for the second.

Wilson:  The chanting from ALO still hasn't worn off.  The jam was nice
but standard, and segued into Simple.

Simple:  I had heard about the '96 jams in Simple, so I was exited at
the beginning of this one.  After the lyrics were over, they went into
this two chord funky jam thing and they kept on sounding like they were
about to go into something, until they seamlessly slipped into Sparks.

Sparks:  This rocked.  I had never heard them play it before, but I've
always liked the Who.  Fish has really improved his drumming.  This was
so tight and together, although most of the people around me had been
going "What the hell is this" ever since the Simple jam started.  I
figured that after something like that, they would give us a throwaway
song, and they did.

Sparkle:  The people who were confused during Simple > Sparks were now
cheering for Sparkle.  Standard soloing, but due to the acoustics of the
Cow Palace, you couldn't distinguish individual notes.

Taste:  This was one of the highlites of the show for me.  I don't
remember much about the jam, except for loving it.  I can't wait to hear
this on tape.  I had two wishes for tonight, YEM and Harry, and neither
had happened yet.  I was hoping for one now, but my hopes had begun to
fade.

Swept Away/Steep:  I had been curious how they did this one live.  It's
mostly standard to the album version with Fish compensating for the
blob, until the end.  That scream with the strobes almost gave me a
heart attack.

YEM:  Yes!!  One of my hopes for the night! The planned part was
standard.  Charlie said in his review that Trey broke a string on The
Note.  The beggining did sound a little flubbed.  Page stopped late
before the charge.  He turned toward the rest of the band and smiled
sheepishly.  Page's funking during the tramps segment was nice, and the
jam was incredible.  They found this groove with 9th chords that built
up toward the end.  B&D was nice, but I couldn't make out individual
notees from Mike due to the poor acoustics.  The lights during the vocal
jam were the coolest things.  The rotating white beams coming up from
behind the stage were just mindblowing.

Waste:  When are they going to jam this one?  Standard.  I figured the
set was over, but no.

Harry Hood:  Thank you Phish!  As someone said (I forget who), this song
is the musical manifestation of joy.  It may not have been the best Hood
ever, but it was good enough for me.  The HOOD! yelling from Red Rocks
was there a little bit (Great work Darius and Tom!).

Sample (Encore):  You can't get everything you want.  The encore pissed
me off, but what can you do.

The show was awesome, but nothing unusual for a Phish show.  Thank you
Page, Mike, Fish, Trey, Chris, Paul, Brad, and anyone else I may be
forgetting for a great night.

Jesse
------------------------------------------------
From: Darius Zelkha 
Subject: 11/29 and 11/30/96 detailed reviews
Subject: Cow Palace and Arco Arena reviewed (long, detailed, etc.)
         by Darius Zelkha


Just got back to school, thought I'd post my thoughts.

11/29/96 @ Cow Palace, Daly City, CA

I: Frankenstein, NICU, Cars Trucks Buses, Character Zero, Divided Sky,
Bathtub Gin, Life on Mars, Maze, Suzie Greenberg

II: Wilson, Simple -> JAM -> Sparks, Sparkle, Taste, Swept Away -> Steep,
YEM, Waste, Harry Hood

E: Sample in a Jar


We got to both shows early, and since both were G.A, we had GREAT seats
for
each (2nd row, center each night).  Sound and view were perfect.

Not much to say about the first set of the Cow Palace.  FRANK and NICU are
a great opening duo -- got me really excited for what was to come.
Unfortunately, I felt the rest of the set didn't follow suit.  ZERO was
jammed hard, though that's nothing new.  SKY had a few flubs, and not THAT
much energy.  BATHTUB had some cool jamming, in a very stop-start fashion,
with Fishman often displacing the beat haphazardly and then the band
coming
together on the next ONE count.  They kept it pretty short, but the
jamming
wasn't as awe-inspiring as some Bathtubs I've heard.  MARS was *horribly*
placed.  SUCH a buzzkill.  Yuck.  MAZE was interesting.  I liked the solos
a lot (very interesting stuff happening, esp. in Trey's), but I didn't
think that they climaxed that well.  SUZIE seemed fairly lackluster.

The 2nd set, however, was fairly noteworthy (imo, of course).  The JAM out
of SIMPLE was really groovy, melodic, and syncopated, and went on for a
fairly long time.  The segue into SPARKS was *great*, and though no one
around me knew what the heck this was, I enjoyed it.  First since 10/29/94
Spartenburg, I think.  SPARKLE followed, which I think was a joke (SPARKS,
SPARKLE, get it?).  TASTE was ___GREAT___; very tight, with GREAT jamming
all around, esp. on Trey's part.  This song has REALLY come into it's own.
VERY enjoyable.

YEM was a mixed bag.  The composed section was an absolute NIGHTMARE.
Trey
broke a string on his first shot at the Note, and the jamming around it
suffered horribly, until he switched guitars when he got on the tramps.
Really poor composed section.

The JAM, however, more than made up for it.  REALLY cool jamming, all
around.  Lots of different themes happening -- for a while, they'd groove
really hard, in the 12/9/95 fashion, then switch over to a more OYE COMO
VA
type style of jamming, then jam for a while in typical YEM jam segment
fashion, then mix it up, etc.  Long, interesting, fun YEM.  I'd be
surprised if Charlie didn't give this one at least a B+; imo, it's more
like an A- (though the composed section was a mess).

WASTE was, frankly, a total waste of time.  If they're not going to jam
the
end out, and they're not going to play it acoustic, imo it has no place in
the 2nd set.  They just seemed to want to get it over with, as soon as it
started.  The HOOD that followed was interesting -- very rhythmically
syncopated build.  Not the best of HOODs, but one worth hearing, since the
jamming seemed a bit different than usual, to my ears at least.

SAMPLE encore was a let-down, and Trey blew the opening riff.  The jam
wasn't that strong either.

All in all, average 5.0 Phish show.  The 2nd set had a lot of jamming, and
the SIMPLE -> JAM -> SPARKS and the YEM are definitely keepers.  Nice
opening duo of FRANK and NICU, too.

On to the next night...
------------------------------------------------
Subject: You Can Feel Good About Cows, part 1
From: cbertolet@aol.com

Friday, November 11.  A sketchy bus ride through the worst parts of
greater San Francisco delivered us from my friend Neil's North Beach abode
to the soiled doors of the weirdest venue I've ever seen.  The lot scene
was fractured and peculiar, almost as if people were tired from the
Seattle drive (or still had tryptophan poisoning from too much turkey) and
just decided to come for the tunes.

THE most disturbing thing I saw in the lot, by far, was a tourscum
fuckhead trying to trade his labrador puppy for "nugs."  No one in my
party of eight could believe it, and I needed to be dragged away from a
confrontation.  More on this later.

The line wasn't so bad, and I'm glad the doors didn't open until 6.  Once
inside, though, things got even weirder.  Conflicting reports from venue
staff about what time the 2 (!) beer vendors opened had us waiting in the
hall for a half hour.  We had already scored great seats (1st row off the
back of the floor, about even with the board on the left), and run into
Steve Silberman.  Once sated with drink, we went inside and waited in the
smoke-filled sauna that was the arena.  It was so hot that my sister
literally couldn't breathe at all, and adjourned during Divided Sky to
listen to the rest of the show with the spinners near the entrance. 
Awful.  But we did get an interesting opener.

Frankenstein!...  My first time, and it was a monster deserving  of its
name.  Tight and chunky and raucous, and the crowd was loving it.  My only
reservations were that this was going to be a tough act to follow.  My
feeling now is that this show would have been much better if Sample and
Frankenstein were reversed.

NICU... Another first for me!  But why is there now NO jam as opposed to a
half-assed one?  As neat as this was to hear (I bought a NICU t-shirt in
the lot later), I said that the best thing about it was that it probably
portended a Bathtub Gin in this set.

CTB... This isn't an arena song, IMHO.  It's a cool little fusion ditty,
but never gets my blood up.  A standard reading.  And no, I don't remember
tramps at all here.

Character Zero.  Yet another first.  I'd heard great things about the
end-jam and wasn't disappointed.  It's a little more ambitious than the
end of Sample, for instance, and the vocal trickery is pretty fun.

Divided Sky...  Blecccchhh.  Given how much I love this song when it's
played with soul, I HATE a bad version, and this was one.  It laid there,
and everyone around me was nearly asleep until...

GIN!  It had me hoping that this was the set closer and we were in for a
marathon a la Rupp.  Well, it wasn't to be.  The jam, as Dr. Dirksen
noted, pretended at being epic and then seemed to pull back before really
interesting grooves emerged.  Don't get me wrong, I'd take this over a
poke in the eye with a sharp stick anyday, but it simply didn't blow my
mind.  Fishman's playing stuck out on this... his jazz chops are getting
better still.

Life on Mars...  blahh.  I can't stand Bowie (the man and his music, not
the Phish song), so it's hard for me to get into this.

Maze.... Having heard that Simple and Maze were the two "most improved"
jams by concensus, I was excited to hear both.  Maze did not disappoint. 
It strayed further from Maze than most, though Charlie will disagree, and
came back growling like a beast.  It was during the climax that I
perceived the stage as a vehicle, actually moving forward at a great rate
of speed, wind tearing through Trey's hair.  YES!

Suzy Greenberg... Should have ended the set with Maze.  This was a really
lame Suzy, IMHO, and Fish seemed utterly joyless in his vocal blurts. 
Didn't even scream on the last one.  I thought maybe his voice was roached
until the second set Taste...

First set gets about a 4 from me.  Barely.

During the break, I waited in a line of lemmings to get a Coke from a
huge, angry cracker named Lisa who intimidated everyone so badly that
people were simply dropping out of line.  Anyone else see this multi-beast
from hell?  We settled back into our seats and chilled with MMW until the
lights dropped...

Da-nant... Da-nant... Wiillllsooonnn.  Nice version, loose and pissy.  The
dissonance before BLAP! was short, and soon we were bouncing along to

Simple... Jammed really beautifully.  This song has an anthemic quality to
it, and I imagined at one point - when Chris had the lights shining red,
white and blue - that this quintessential American Band was jamming from
the windows in the crown of the Statue of Liberty.  It was a very
declaratory Simple, if this makes any sense.  It might also be that all
Simples are declaratory, and I just got it for the first time.

Sparks... Took me a second to figure out (Bomb Factory :-) and then I
enjoyed it FWIwas.  Nothing remarkable.  I wonder why Phish don't learn
other tunes if they really want to pay homage to The Who.  Who Are You
maybe?  As I was thinking this, they played Sparkle.  I think it was
pretty good, since my section was going nuts.  I took the occasion to have
a pipe and wait for

Taste....  Charlie said all that need be said about this version.  Longer
and more soaring than any other version I've heard, certainly.  I turned
around at the end of this tune and saw a yuppie couple with their jaws
dropped open.  Spectacular.

Swept Away>Steep.  The thing I remember most is the chunkiness and
comparitively excellent sound quality during the Steep portion.  And the
fact that the scream scared me shitless even though I knew it was coming. 
Cool to hear these live for the first time (a show of firsts for me).

YEM.  This was simply the highlight of the show.  I have no idea how long
it was (Charlie says 26 minutes) but I know that I forgot what song I was
listening to at least 6 times during the jam segment.  Oye Como Va
definitely snaked in and out of a theme at one point, and there was one
segment that sounded like a lounge act on Venus.  This jam was soooooo
well-structured and brave at the same time, I'm not sure I can do it
justice in words.  When Trey finally clicked into machine gun mode, I was
hosed, utterly, and the vocal jam ended in an ooohhhhhmmm that stopped my
heart...  GET THIS.

Waste...  A musical turd.  I like hearing this with my fiancee, since she
really likes the romance in it, but it just never takes flight.  Echo
Charlie's remarks here.  Just a real momentum-stopper.

Hood...  Okay!  Very fluid and tight up to the "Thank You Mr. Miner"
refrain, which was wicked, loud and stroby.  That's one of my five
favorite Phish moments.  The jam took its time building.  If I could
compare this to other Hoods, it is much less textural than ALO's, and much
more dissonant than, say, 7.9.94.  It wasn't the kind of Hood that brings
tears, although it was certainly a happy, happy Hood.  My friend Neil and
I rambled for awhile later about what a fantastic song this is.  Trey
spoke for about 15 seconds during the flurry at the end (anyone know what
he said?), and I feared he was apologizing since they'd run late and
couldn't do an encore.

But we got Sample.  Not even worth remarking on.  Like I said, flip Sample
and Frank and this show gets an 8.  As is, I call it about a 6.5.

A note to Phish... there are a zillion cool venues in the San Francisco
area.  I would highly recommend finding one that has some modest
ventilation system and enough vending.  The other complaint that seemed
pretty much universal after the show was trash.  There were no trash cans
ANYWHERE in the lot, and cars were running over bottles right and left.  A
bad thing.

Finally, to the young "man" that traded his dog for drugs: I hope the
person your puppy is with now is better equipped to care for him than you.
 And I hope that the "nugs" you got in return give you years and years of
companionship and joy.  You made me realize how far human beings can fall,
and reminded me why people look upon tourheads with derision.  I realize
if you need to trade your dog for pot that you're probably not online -
you'd have hocked your computer for smack or something.  But I hope that
somehow this message finds its way to you and causes you to reflect.


"This is my new sig."

chris bertolet
-------------------------------------------