Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1993 03:14:55 EST
From: 
Subject: BLOOMSBURG ?????

Hey everybody,I have a few questions about the Bloomsburg show last night.
I was really wandering why they stopped playing so early.  When I checked
my watch after the encore it was 11:23pm and it seemed like the second
set was very short.  At the Roseland and Lisner shows they played right up
till the "MIDNIGHT HOUR" but that was not the case at the Haas Center.  I
tried to piece things together and I can't figure anything out.  Does
anyone know why the house lights came on during Tubb's vaccuum solo in
Sid Barrett's Swing?  They came on not only once but twice.  Was there
some kind of problem we did not know about that caused them to finish
early?  After the show my friends and I saw Mike on the pay phone outside
of the Haas Center.  Was that part of the reason they stopped? The night
seemed to end in an odd way.    I just wandered if anyone had any
insights, information, or ideas on this subject.  I would love to hear what
other people think about it.  Maybe it is just a fragment of my
imagination?


                                      Thanks for your ear
                                          -Fluff Head Kurt

------------------------------
From: "Green Bean Dean (Spice, Reid)" 
Subject: Bloomsburg setlist & review (long)
Reply-To: SPICE@dickinson.edu
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1993 15:12:09 GMT

 
Okay, granted it was my first show, but I think I may have been given the
gift of a lifetime tonight.  I'll elaborate after this set list (which may
have an error or two, I don't guarantee).  Before the set list I must
quickly mention that I was indeed *not* in the balcony but on the FRONT
ROW! Ohhhh... it was sick.  On to the setlist (which was also incredible):
 
I                                         II
========                                  ============
Suzy Greenburg                            Landlady
Buried Alive (--->?)                      Wilson --->
Poor Heart                                Uncle Penn (I think)
Stash                                     Mikes -> H2 -> Weekapaug **
Fee --->                                  Mound
Rift                                      Big Ball Jam
Fluffhead                                 Bouncing (everyone bounced)
Llama (insane)                            Honey Love (w/vacuum)
Lawnboy (Page doing the lounge thing)     Lizards
Bowie intro* ---> Bowie (wowowowow)       Cavern
 
                            Encore: Bold as Love!  and then Amazing Grace
 
* I think that they did the "D'oh!" signal and the Polka jam here, too.
** This was ridiculously good.  Trampolines, strobes, smoke everywhere...
I think this song must have gone on for a good 15-20 minutes (no
exaggeration)
 
Also, Mike wore this funky hat which, from my position, looked like a
really bad wig which didn't even cover all of his hair!  It was brown hair
I think and even had a hat on top of the fake hair.  It was funky.  Fish
wore the white dress with all the eyes on it and a groovy pair of black
goggle-glasses (maybe he wears them all the time, I don't know).  Some guy
behind me said, "Look at Fish with those Magic Johnson sports glasses!"
 
Review?  Geez folks.  I've heard a lot about things being too structured,
the sound being bad, the people getting obnoxious, the securitp being
cruddy, the band arguing, etc.  There was no evidence of any of this at
Bloomsburg. The venue was tiny tiny (comparatively, at least.  I think
someone said 1800 but it looked smaller than that) and it was great
because it was a hall and not a gym or something.  Someone farther back
said that it was a bit loud but all I heard were the guy's amps and
Fishman's drums, not much PA (!!!)...  I stood there at the very beginning
of the first set when Trey came out, grinned at the crowd, and gave
everyone the thumbs up sign and I thought, "wait, I'm in the very front
row for my first Phish show... am I dreaming?"  I might have been.  Things
got crazy fast.  Dre talked before about Trey looking at him a lot and
smiling during the show and, maybe I'm just imagining things, but I could
swear he kept looking at me and grinning away.  I'm almost positive  that
he laughed during Cavern when I did some hand motions to indicate the old 
"penile erector" lines that used to exist.  Then after Honey Love (which
was hilarious) Fish came along the front of the stage and was just going
nuts. I loved it and gave him five (this also happened again at the very
end after Amazing Grace).
 
Mike seems to be almost asleep at times!  However, when he did crack a
smile you knew it was something he really liked.  Some jerk threw a lit
cigarette at him and, when the crowd pointed it out, he actually handed
it back to the guy!  I loved the choreography between Mike and Trey.  I
don't know if they normally do that much of it but they were walking
around together for about 1/3 of the songs.  At one point (I can't
remember when) they came to the front of the stage, put the tips of their
guitars on the floor, and each put one foot up in the air like they were
doing ballet or something.  Mike's bass was around six inches from my hand
(maybe I was dreaming, folks... I'll tell you in the morning if I was :).
 
I think I experienced the classic "Phish tease" during the set-closing
Bowie. Trey kept building up and up and you thought he was about to sLam
into that final jam but then he'd drop back and start over.  I swear he
did this about four times; when he finally hit it I think the whole crowd
let out a sigh of relief and then cheered.  It was rivaled only by the
Mike's -> H2 -> Weekapaug in intensity.  As I said in the setlist, this
jam went on *forever*.  They shot so much smoke into the audience that,
especially being in the front, I really couldn't see anything.  So the
smoke clears and the strobe go wild (the past reviews were right, by the
way, the lighting is fantastic) and trey and mike are doing their thing on
their trampolines.  The jam they went (slowly, slowly) into was somewhat
reminiscent of Union Federal: fairly slow, not terribly tonal, and then it
comes slowly slowly back into Weekapaug -- somehow.  I don't pretend to
know how they pulled this off; it blew my mind.  There were a couple of
mistakes in the show but I loved them: it made the guys look human. And
when Trey looked at Fishman in the first set when they lost the rhythm and
Fish actually had to stop playing for a measure, the smile on his face
ironed the whole thing out.
 
Big Ball jam was decent and then the crowd shot hoops through the arms of
Mike, Trey, and one of the stage managers.  It was intense to look back
out on the crowd during Bouncing and see everyone doing just that.  Trey
was grinning like a madman.  His facial expressions really are fantastic
and his solos were great (as I expected).  I think that Page may have been
even hotter tonight -- I think this new piano really has him fired up.  It
does sound wonderful. During Bold as Love, Trey played about a 2 minute
solo without opening his eyes and without closing his mouth!  I swear it
looked like he was having a constant orgasm throughout the entire solo
(sorry about the sexual references but I think there's a strong connection
here, the music is that good).
 
Okay, enough already from the "just lost his virginity" Phisher.  Met a
few netters tonight -- nice to meet you folks.  In short, those posts I've
seen occasionally over the last 6 months of Phish.netting about the band
going downhill really scare me.  If this is downhill then I think in their
heyday the guys should have introduced as "Moses on drums, Jesus on bass,
Peter on guitar, and Paul on keyboards"... what a great first experience.  

Anyway, I'm off to get some sleep.  I can't imagine what I'll dream
about...

Mail me if you have further questions/comments/flames and keep Phishing,

Reid Spice
SPICE@DICKINSON.EDU


------------------------------
From: sf04@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (SEAN FOLEY)
Subject: Bloosmburg, Pa review /set list
Date: 12 Feb 93 18:26:36 GMT

INTENSE!!!

I saw the Bloomsburg show last night as a last minute thing and wow...it
ROCKED!!

 I

 suzie greenberg
 buried alive
 poor heart
 stash
 fee
 rift
 fluffhead
 llama
 lawnboy
 david bowie

 II

 landlady
 wilson
 mikes song
     -> i am hydrogen
     -> weekapaw groove
 mound
 big ball jam
 bounce around the room
 vac solo -> honey love
 lizards
 cavern

 E

 bold as love
 amazing grace

 There...this is especially for all the west coasters complaining about
the late appearance of set lists on the net.  On to the show....

The auditorium sounded good for a place that holds 2800 phans. Too bad
that there were seats everywhere except for in the front 20 feet of the
auditorium. Suzie was a great start to the show and you could tell Page
was having a blast on his new toy, the grand piano which he also banged on
pretty hard during fluffhead along with Mike on his bass.

The second set jamed through Mikes song ( I was right in front enveloped
in the fog, I felt like I was in a giant psychedelic cocoon). Actually
IMHO the WHOLE second set was amazing.  I danced so hard I thingk I'll be
sore for weeks!  I was psyched to hear another Hendrix song in the encore,
I hope to hear others. I definately cannot wait to get this show on tape!

Oh yeah..I almost forgot...I met some other netters at the show and saw
the new net shirt...definately cool artwork..  I gotta get one.

Later,


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