Date:    Mon, 15 Dec 1997 05:26:05 GMT
From:    Dan Seideman 
Subject: Albany 12/13 II...

Well, I must say, after listening to Set II of last night's albany show all
the way through, it was AWESOME!! :)

I decided not to bother w/ my Macro studying tonight and just take a break,
rest up and get ready for the next 3 days of hell.  So, I popped in Set II
of the albany show and played some NHL '95.

This set is tremendous.  If *anyone* had any doubts about the set at the
show, forget about it, because it's fantastic from start to finish.  The
Ghost jam goes through a funk phase, before breaking down into HOT machine
gun Trey action.  The intro to Mike's comes out of the dissonant jamming at
the end of the Ghost jam. (a >)  Mike's is anything but standard.  Trey
starts off the madness by echoing Mike's Big Dude line.  "Big Dude in the
doorway, blockin' his way"  It was really funny, (doesn't come across if
you haven't heard it, kind of a reply to Mike)  He was laughing two verses
later.  So, then Fish starts in with the Cactus stuff, Bring the DUDE!!,
and they "Break it down" first over a Mike solo or two, then Trey says,
"FISH!  Let me break it down now"  ...or something to that effect.  Lots of
banter from everyone, especially Fishman.  Trey takes a couple of solos, w/
no drums, and then it goes to Page, who, I swear, plays the intro theme to
the TV show "Law and Order".  Dun, dun, duh, dummmm..if that makes any
sense.

Great segue into a really intense Llama, which mellows out in a Possum-like
fashion, before blasting away into the stratosphere.  Circus was a nice
mellow interlude before a really hot Weekapaug, with an extended bass
intro.  Weekapaug slowed down, more and more, until Mike started up
Catapult, which was complete, and then they fired back into Weekapaug, w/
some CYHMK teases as usual.  Slowed and quieted down before rocketing into
the Weekapaug ending.  They closed the song w/ that Mango song ending.
What is that, a typical blues ending?

Hood starts up, which rocked my freakin' world.  Great glowstick war, with
the lights down, and Trey firing some sticks back into the crowd.  A
different type of build, not quite as intense as the usual time, but
unique.  The encore, imho, was a downer, because I had been saying how much
I didn't want to hear those songs, but YMMV.

I can't stress enough the sheer "awesomeness" of this set.  The first set
was decent, some low points in the middle, but the beginning and end were
quite good as well.  Tube was sweet, and the funniest thing happened.  Two
"eyes" were put on the white lighting canvas above the stage. (Yellow
circles w/ white ones inside)  They drifted from side to side, like eyes
looking at both sides of the arena.  Well, soon after they came up, Chris
turns around to his right-hand lighting guy, laughing.  He high-fives the
other guy!  So, the ALTSTAR guy (don't know his name) must have just come
up with that new lighting thing on the spot. Hilarious.  They used it again
briefly during Weekapaug I think.

Anyhow, fantastic show, nice interlude between finals.  I need a break from
Phish though...I'm not going to any shows, whatsoever, for 2 weeks, man,
and nothing's going to convince me otherwise... ;)


Dan

p.s.  It was great to see everyone there again.  I'm not even going to try
to list off the names of everyone, because I'm bound to leave important
people out.  Great to finally meet Charlz face to face though!!!

***************************************************
Dan Seideman

http://www.amherst.edu/~djseidem/

Check out:
http://www.phish.net/mockingbird/
***************************************************

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 17 Dec 1997 17:02:38 GMT
From:    John Beatty 
Subject: It's time for a 12/13 Albany Review

Hi boys and girls...

To recap the story so far...  Rochester, 6.6, Albany 12/12 4.2...

After the first night at Albany, I knew that the second show had to be
better.  Jesse, as always, was a bit cynical, but Matt and I decided we
were just going to enjoy ourselves.  Our tickets were in section 240,
all the way in the back of the arena (our seats were dead center), while
Jesse and his girlfriend Jen were in 113, I think, which was halfway
back, Fish side.

Security was nowhere to be found on the second level, thankfully, and
the view of the lights and the rest of the arena was fantastic. The
sound was excellent, everything balanced nicely, except it was
occasionally difficult to understand what they were saying because of
the noise and distance from the speakers.  We stood at the railing
watching whatever mess that was that opened, because we couldn't see the
seat numbers, then took our seats.

As for the opening, we were trying to decide whether they had won a
contest to open for Phish, if they were the worst band in Burlington and
they thought it was funny to subject everyone to them (we pictured the
band sitting backstage at the Went while Burgess was on the radio
snickering and saying things like, "we put Burgess on the air, ha
ha..."), if they were somebody's friend's kid brother's band or if Phish
had no idea they were even playing.

Anyway, after that, a quick break and the REAL band came out.

YA MAR: Always a good choice to open.  Solid version, and a nice start
to the evening.  This segued a bit sloppily into

AXILLA: They started this out really fast.  Trey spent the entire intro
trying to slow the band down so he could spit out all the words when the
verses came up.  Other than the beginning stumbles it was a good version
which included the ending section from Axilla II.  It was also
noteworthy because a few people starting throwing glow-sticks and one
sailed straight over Fish's head and landed on the stage.

THEME: We'd been hoping to hear this somewhere on this run, so we were
pretty happy when it started up.  Good solid version with a pretty cool
outro jam (as I remember it).  Pretty good start to the set, so far.

GINSENG SULLIVAN: Matt had called a bluegrass song for the first set,
but he couldn't decide which one.  This was the one.  I definately
prefer this to Rocky Top, but would still rather hear Old Home Place.
This was a nice little break.

STRANGE DESIGN: Matt and I both had huge smiles on our faces at this
point.  I know a lot of people out there hate Strange Design, but I
absolutely love this song, and I can't believe they left it off the
album and then didn't even bother to release the single here (I'm STILL
trying to find one).  About halfway through, I was thinking that Sample
would be a perfect next song (how often does anyone think that.)  An
excellent SD ended and

SAMPLE: I laughed, and enjoyed an excellent (but not jammed, of course)
Sample.  Checking the time, I figured they'd play one longer, more
jammed song and end.

VULTURES: This didn't do much for me at the Went, but I really enjoyed
this one.  great quick layered vocal parts and a nice evil jam for a
while.  I can't even remember to describe it because I was too busy
getting lost.  They ended and Trey started counting.  Matt said,
"Suzy?"  I was about to say probably, but

TUBE: YES!  Ha...  Another one of my abslolute favorite songs that they
never play (along with The Wedge and Demand and a few others).  This was
absolutely incredible.  They played a normal, moderately quick Tube up
until the solo section.  Page played the normal piano solo and then
continued with a Moog solo, Hammond solo and Rhodes solo, then the band
jammed a bit more and kind of slowed down a bit.  I figured they were
going to hop right back into the verse, but at a signal from Trey, the
whole band shifted into the guitar solo.  I can't describe how great it
sounded.  I haven't heard the Hampton (or was it Hartford, no I think it
was Hampton) Tube yet, but it would have to insane to top this.  They
finished up and went straight into

GOOD TIMES BAD TIMES: This was pretty standard (I think) but it was nice
way to close off the set.  Matt was pretty happy to hear it, seeing as
he was a Zeppelin freak back in high school.

Wow...  Other than the flubbed segue into Axilla, this was
near-perfect.  Many of the songs were incredible and the ones that
weren't were still played very well.  The song choice was also really
good and the set flowed well.  Tube, Vultures and Theme were all
fantastic and the Ginseng, Strange Design, Sample middle section was
placed perfectly.  I'd give it an 8.5.

During setbreak, there was an argument in our section between the guy
sitting next to me and someone a couple seats down.  The second guy said
that except for Vultures, the whole set was a throwaway.  The guy next
to me said that the set was incredible, even the Sample was incredible.
He also told me he was pretty excited because he'd seen 37 shows and
that was his first Tube.

Matt and I also discussed the shows in general and he complained that
Jesse always wanted to "micro-manage" the set and that he (Matt) was
just going to enjoy whatever they played...

The lights dimmed once again...

NICU: Great choice, I'd have to say.  I absolutely love this song and I
think they should have put it on Hoist (and left off, say Wolfman's
Brother and Dog Faced Boy, especially Dog Faced Boy...)  This was a
standard great version which led into Trey playing with his wah.  I
thought, "Again? They just played this in Rochester."

PYITE: I was kind of surprised they repeated this, but I'm not going to
complain because I like this song a lot, plus this was a great version.
I don't remember a single Trey mistake in either of the solo sections.
This was followed by

GHOST: Oh, no...  This song has always dragged the set down for me, but
this time something about it made me like it.  It was nice and uptempo
and just flowed.  When I saw it before, it just seemed to drag until the
jam (As Matt said before Rochester, "Can't they just play the jam and
skip the song).  But this time I really liked it a lot.  I'll have to
get the tapes and listen to find out why.  They ended and right into

MIKE'S SONG: No, I guess we're not going to get the YEM I called.
That's more than OK, though, because this Mike's was awesome.  The
beginning was really funky, and after a minute or two of the jam, Fish
started yelling "Cactus!  Cactus, bring on the Dude (although it sounded
like it could have been doom in the back)" and Mike played a little
unaccompanied solo.  Then he started yelling, "Leo, bring on the Dude!"
and Page played a little solo.  Then Fish and Page started saying,
"Trey, bring on the Dude" and he played his solo.  The whole thing was
twisted and funny.  The Mike's continued and his the closing chords,
segueing into the usual post-Mike's jam.  I was wondering if they were
going to play Hydrogen, but then the jam sped up and got weird and
eventually they segued (a little sloppily) into

LLAMA: Finally!  Where was this last night.  A pretty good, rather fast
Llama.

WHEN THE CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN: I thought this was ok, at the Went, but
something, maybe the vibe in the room, maybe it was just better, made me
like this a lot more this time.  After, there was a bit of discussion
between Trey and Page, then Fish started playing a beat really softly
and then crescendo'd

WEEKAPAUG GROOVE: Wow, a totally stand-alone Weekepaug.  This came from
dead silence.  After, Matt described this as the "Variable speed, never
ending Weekapaug" because they would kept radically changing the tempo,
playing a few bars extremely slow, then going back to the original
tempo, slowing down, speeding up.  And it just kept going and going,
until it quieted down into Page holding chords on the organ.  The lights
dimmed, except for a spot on Mike.  He walked to the microphone

CATAPULT: This was a weird, ethereal Catapult.  After Mike finished the
lyrics, they headed straight back into

WEEKAPAUG GROOVE: They continued in the same vein as before and finished
the song.  I was hoping for one more, but figured the set was over.
Fish started playing a beat and I thought, "Buffalo Bill?", but no it
was

HARRY HOOD: Whoops, duh...  This was another incredible Hood.  When they
got to the quiet part near the end, people started throwing glow-sticks
around.  Trey stepped up to the mike.  "Chris...  Topher, turn the
lights down...  Throw the glow sticks."  Like a mini-version of the Went
Hood jam, people in the whole arena started throwing glow-sticks
around.  From the back it looked incredible.  At one point, Trey started
grabbing them from the stage and tossed an armful back into the crowd.
When the band started coming out of the jam, Chris started slowly fading
up violet lights.  The effect was beautiful.  You can feel good about
Hood...  Trey thanked everyone for a great tour, "We really enjoyed this
tour..."

Double wow...  Mike's was great, Ghost was great, Hood was great,
Weekapaug was insane, PYITE was flawless.  This one gets a 9.0

The band came back for the encore and went into

MY SOUL: I don't care much for this song, but it was just the bonus tune
to cap an excellent show.  After, there was a quick Trey/Page conference
and I thought, "Coil."

THE SQUIRMING COIL:  Yup.  A nice ending to a spectacular show and
tour.  There were a few flubs in the first solo by Trey, but otherwise
this was really good.  Page's solo was kind of short.  When he finished,
he thanked everyone for the great tour again and walked off stage.

Whew...  I give this show an 8.8.  Get the tapes.  I will at the
earliest opportunity (grovel, grovel).  This is easily the best of the
two set shows I've seen and better than at least one, maybe more, of the
three set shows.

Well, I have an English paper due three minutes ago.  Gotta run.  See
yas next year (No NYE tix...)


Cheers!

John

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 14 Dec 1997 19:41:51 GMT
From:    MR DAVE J KIEVAL 
Subject: 12/13 Albany Review and Setlist

I: Ya Mar > Ya Mar jam -> Axilla (I), Theme, Ginseng, Strange Design,
Sample, Vultures, Tube, Good X Bad X
II: NICU, PYITE, Ghost -> Mike's -> Llama, When the Circus Comes,
Weekapaug -> Catapult -> Weekapaug, Hood
E: My Soul, Coil

Hey everyone,
This is my first review and only my 3rd show (12/9/95 Albany and
Hartford this fall), so bear with me.  I have 150 - 200 hrs. on tape

My friend and I got to the Knick (Pepsi) at around 6:45, someone was
putting up a huge sign that said "Willis Will Rock You":  They didn't.
  J. Willis Pratt sounded like the ska group Rancid on some songs,
and everything was basically the same 3 chords, awful metal type
stuff, and the vocals were awful too.  I thought at first that it was
Fish on the keyboard.  The guy sitting next to us said these are
Fish's old friends. They played about 5 songs.
The band came out and launched right into Ya Mar.  Typical great Ya
Mar, Trey gave the first few bars of his solo to Fish, who was good.
Then, after the song ended, there was about a beat of pure silence
then Trey played the Yamar chords once and the band launched into a
totally different Yamar FUNK jam.  This was awesome, I'm guessing
this is the first time this has happened because it sure didn't in
Hartford.  The funk jam built nicely to segue into
AXILLA (I)  These two combined for a high energy opener.  There was a
little jam at the end similar to the background music for the "I'm
Serious" dialogue at the end of Axilla II on Hoist.
THEME was nice, spacy, Trey was hitting the pedal a lot all night.
GINSENG was Ginseng, the security guard in front of the stage sang
along to the whole thing.
STRANGE DESIGN was very nice to hear, This was an oft-played song in
my bunk at my camp this summer, and my friend who I was with loves it.
  We both commented on how great it was to hear Page.  Aah, Page sang.
..
SAMPLE was Sample
VULTURES The first time I've heard this, it was amazing!  We thought
it was taste at first because of the drums, but it definitely has
tons of room to become a Taste-like song with a monstrous jam.
I was very surprised to hear TUBE, played only 4 shows ago and not
all year before that.  But it was awesome to hear, VERY jammed out,
early reviews said this is the same jam from the last Tube.
Hopefully its a new part of the song for good, nice jam.
GOOD X BAD X  Great way to close the set, 1st one this tour I think.
This was the only song that the late 40's to early 50's couple next
to me knew.

Setbreak wasn't too long, nice fast jazz was the music.  _Very_
crowded halls to go get a soda

NICU opened the 2nd set.  You'd think with all the new exploratory
'97 stuff they'd make this a real jam song... maybe next year.  It
didn't jam at all.  nice to hear though.
PYITE had everyone dancing, no major flubs like hartford, I was
psyched to hear it.
GHOST I didn't recognize this (I still have no summer tapes) but it
didn't take long to figure it out... It is as good and better than
people make it out to be.  I don't really remember the jam so well
except that I was on my feet and loving it.  The jam slowed down into
a slow
MIKE'S! I was very happy to see this, my friend and I were talking
before the show about how we better be getting our first Mike's
tonight.  i don't know what a typical '97 Mike's is like, but this
was like nothing I ever heard.  The jam was pretty funky right away,
with lots of chatter among the band.  Trey said to Fish, "I think
they want to hear Mike, what do you think? They want some Cactus" etc
and Mike took a solo.  Then Trey did the same with Fish and Page,
giving each of them little solos.  Duringthis chattering time, I'm
almost positive Trey saw my Bike sign and mentioned to Fish that
someone wanted Henrietta, because I think he smiled at me.  Then
before the enc, Fish teases us coming up to the front of the stage
like he was going to sing.  I may just be pulling this out of my ass,
wishful thinking...  Anyway, the Mike's built with Funk for a real
segue into
LLAMA once again everyone was dancing.  This was a high energy show
all around.  When the jam started it got real quiet, stayed fast, but
it was melodic and very pretty, not words that historically
characterize Llama jams.  I think the rest of the band went back into
the refrain before Trey was ready, He missed it the first time or two.

CIRCUS COMES was a nice rest after nonstop dancing so far this set.
Not to mention a nice rest for what was to come...
WEEKAPAUG started up with lots of Mike!!!  At least a couple minutes
of Mike soloing before Trey and Page came in.  This Weekapaug seemed
to go on forever, it kept coming back for more, getting quiet then
loud again repeatedly.  During one of the quiet parts, very
harmonious, almost Vibration of Life-ish (or maybe not, please don't
flame that, probably not true) Mike stepped up and sang Catapult to
much cheering.  After Catapult, Week went on for a while longer,
absolutely great stuff.
Everyone was hoping that wasn't the end, when the drumbeats for HOOD
were heard.  Lotsa Page in this one (Page was great in the whole
Ghost --> Weekapaug btw).  Pretty soon after the jam started, Trey
asked Chris to hit the lights.  The glowsticks were out immediately.
At first I was annoyed that people were throwing them at the stage,
but then huge cheers erupted when Mike started throwing them back.
This went on for a while, Mike was cathcing them at first, then he
went around the stage gathering them all up and threw them back at
once.  It was very beautiful, I wasn't at the Went, but it must have
been amazing.  So I am pro-glowsticks, except I'm sure they don't
translate to tape very well.  Hood was good, not great, after that,
but it was something I was dying to hear so I was ecstatic.  But it
didn't end, just disintegrated a la everyone's complaints.  Has
anyone written to the band about this?  it's a pretty small thing and
I'm sure if they knew pretty much everyone wish's it would end like
it used to, our wish might be granted.
Long break before the encore.
MY SOUL was vastly overplayed this tour, and therefore a fitting
encore.  Not a great version imo, I liked the Hartford one better,
but probably because I was so into it because of the great Gumbo
before it.
COIL was very nice, and it was great to just relax, close my eyes and
listen to the beauty of this song after dancing all night.  The jam
went on for a while before Fish Mike and Trey dropped out, Trey and
Page had a little duel type thing beforehand.  Page's solo was very
short but nice.  We all went home happy.

This show absolutely blew me away.  Ya Mar was quite possibly the
best ever with the added jam; Nice Vultures, Tube, Punch, Hood; Great
Mike's Groove, esp. Week; Amazing Ghost.
I would say it was my favorite of my 3 shows.  Even though I
witnessed the historic Albany YEM at my first show, I had never heard
the band before and was a little lost in the 35 minute jam.  I'm in
no position to rate a show, but if I had to I think I'd give this an
8.  Thank you Phish for a great tour, I can't wait to hear some
tapes!
Sharin' the groove,
Dave


____
******************************************************
David Jonah  Kieval       tcnw14c@prodigy.com
138 Darroch Rd.
Delmar NY 12054                       518-439-1453

"He not busy being born is busy dying"
           -Bob Dylan
"Set the gearshift for the highgear of your soul"
           -The Dude of Life
******************************************* ;-) *******

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 15 Dec 1997 00:38:25 -0600
From:    Andrew Friberg 
Subject: 12/13 thoughts (long)

Well, I certainly read RMP enough, it's developed into a kind of
subconcious escape while doing work.  Without thinking I'll just click a
couple of buttons and I'll be reading the RMP.  I'm pretty much a
passive reader of the newsgroup so I figure it's time to contribute a
review of sorts.  I'm still basking in the afterglow, so I might as well
talk about it, eh?

Last night was grand.  A superb show.  Phish seems to have reached the
goal they've been talking about for a while now:  the majority of the
time they're all soloing at once.  Each instrument is an equal
contributer to the sound as a whole.  A sonic landscape is laid out
before us and Phish provides the airplane with big windows to see it
all.  All four of them are in such command of their instruments.  As
somebody mentioned earlier, PLM is victorious.  Mike's bass has been fed
chubby pills.  The sound of his bass is so full, pure and pleasing.
Now, I'm no skilled musician or anything, but it seems as though Mike is
playing so much more lyrically.  The majority of the time, it seems as
though Page Mike Trey and Fish are all equally Melodious.  It's such a
pleasure to listen to.  Such a different sound from the likes of '94,
which when I think of quickly, I think of space, full sound and
dissonance.  Now, Phish still has dissonance, but they utilize the empty
spaces, the sustain of notes, the volume of their instruments, rather
than relying on just the creation of sound.  In other words, the boys
are funkmasters.  Funkmasters with a lot of depth, knowledge and
experience.  Fishman, wow.  That man plays the drums so well.  He is
quick, exact and accurate, but at the same time he is gentle and
abstract.  He seems to have achieved that fine, great medium not heard
from many drummers.

Anyways, on to last night.  Man, once you hit the roadways around
Albany, you enter Confusionville.  It's such a Maze.  But, we finally
parked the car under a bridge for five bucks, walked a couple of blocks
and stumbled upon Phishville.  I wasn't really looking for anything in
particular, but if I was, I would've been able to find it.  It looked as
though they had the portion of the street in front of the Pepsi Arena
blocked off, so it was a certain concentrated area that comprised the
scene.  Cops on Horseback.  Easily found an Ice cold Guiness and didn't
waste too much time getting inside.  It was mighty chilly.  The Twelve
Tribes Folks were there in full effect.  The fellow that handed me a
flyer entitled "The Three Eternal Destinies of Man" was so happy.  He
was just a man of no worries.  My friend and I just couldn't help but
smile and chuckle at this man's happiness.  He said:  "Read this.  It'll
Change Your Life.  It did Mine."  He kind of sounded like he was from
the same family as that hippy sounding muppet on the Muppet Show.  With
that, in we go.  Me, I disregarded the number on my ticket which
indicated nosebleed seats and with some smoothe strutting, a pick &roll
and a quick, casual hop, I was on the floor.  Yes!  I had never been on
the floor for a Phish show.  I was about half way back, center/right,
which brings up the subject of the men in yellow shirts.  Now, I
understand it's their job to keep the isles clear, but this guy was just
relentless!  The whole show, every five minutes his shoulder is bouncing
off mine knocking me out of the isle and into the confines of the two
inch space between the seats.  Whatever.  I was half in the isle most of
the time.  Something cool and funky was the house music and...

The lights go down...

WOOOOHHHHHOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!

YaMar.  This was, honestly the most enjoyable version I've ever heard or
witnessed.  That sounds really cliche around here, but I speak the
truth.  They started up the song, put on some pink and blue lights, and
we were in the happy, boisterous world of Phish.  I was grinning.  YaMar
was played well and then, the jam....  !!  This jam was so Good!!! They
dropped into this intense groove that was really quite exciting.  For a
while, the jam seemed to be based around two emphasis points, each about
maybe fifteen seconds apart.  The would just jam over and over, each
time differently between those two points.  I had my fist in the air and
was catching an INTENSE groove.  I can't wait to hear this YaMar JAM on
tape.  Speaking of "on tape," I had the pleasure of running into Dan
Seideman for the first time in a while in the herd of cattle that was
the hallway during setbreak.  Hey Danjamin!

Axilla Pt. 1 was neat.  I've never been too much of an expert of the
difference between Pt. 1 & 2, but this one seemed to be Axilla Pt 2 with
the words to Pt. 1.  Is that the way it's always been?   It took me
almost the whole song to realize that what I was singing so loudly was
wrong.  I was like, "FROM WALL TO WALL!!!!!"  Ooops, sorry, wrong words.
Intense hard rock goes into -

Theme.  I thoroughly enjoy Theme from the Botttom.  It's just such a
great composition.  This song is a good example of the confidence these
guys have in their playing right now.  You know the part of the song,
pre-jam, where it sounds pretty suspensful - bum ba ba BAH ba ba ba ba
ba boo BOW badada bada da ...  You know what I mean?  You know how in
Themes of old, Trey would hit that glorious note that would signal the
beginning of the jam?  He did a variation on that last night.  Last
night's Theme sounded a lot more dissonant than the way I'm used to
hearing it.  Instead of going "BEEWW"  he kind of went "BLoOuGH"
Anyways, a heck of a good Theme.

I really like Ginseng Sullivan.  I finally distinguish it from their
other bluegrass tunes.  It seemed like a dramatic shift of gears to go
from Theme to Ginseng.  Just shows their incredible versatility at any
moment.

Lucas' sarcastic comment pretty much sums up Strange Design:  "I must
admit, I felt a bit reflective during Strange Design."

Sample in a Jar was nice. I like Sample and I'm not afraid to say it.
I've always been able to identify with the lyrics in a wierd way an plus
it was one of the first songs I learned chords to on the guitar.  They
put heart and soul into Sample. Good Sample.  The mid set lull comes to
an end with

Vultures!!  Fantastic song.  I think the beginning to this song is one
of the better beginnings to any song in existence.  You feel like a
vulture, or perhaps more appropriately, a chick-adee tootling about.
Hearing the song live and basking in the shower that is Chris's lights
is just a really nice moment.  The whole song was played great.  I
really like the four-at-a-time vocals.

With the next two songs, Phish established themselves as deities of two
things:

FUNK!!  TUBE!  Tube was freshly funkulicious.  They were happy to be
jamming this out, funk style.  I shook my booty.

-and-

ROCK AND ROLL!  Now, I must admit, I didn't really have much of a
reaction when they started Good Times Bad Times, but damn, Trey, rocked
the shit out of this song.  Climax after climax.   I felt so pumped
after this.

I wandered around the massive herd of sheep in the hallway during a
comfortably lenghty setbreak, got some water, ran into some folks, snuck
my way down to the floor and set 2 began with NICU.  Very nice.  I was
surprised to hear Punch, as I was not expecting it for some reason.
But, boy, Punch was its usual awesome self.  We were pumped.  As Punch
was ending, I could see the funk building, slowly rising in Trey.  The
song was in the scattered end period, waiting for something to grow out
of it and Trey just started to contort his face and start to hop and
shimmy around a little bit.  I thought I saw the word Ghost come out of
his mouth towards Mike, then I saw him mouth: "I feel I - never told
you"  I shrieked "Ghost!" in excitement and I had assumed right.

Yanked instantly to funky town.  I love this song and was really hoping
they would play it.  Trey sure was into it.  Man, I would've liked to be
in the front row because Trey seemed to be making eye contact and silly
faces to the front row for most of the time.  Eithere the front row or
the computer arsenal of foot effects he has.  I also crack up at Trey's
take-a-shit stance he assumes when they're deep in the funk.  He was
having a blast.  They all had a blast when they got into Mikes.  I like
how Trey kind of dances around the opening theme of the song, never
really playing it exactly.  They were yukking it up this whole song.
They were saying, "Cactus" in between beats.  On one chorus I remember
Trey singing:  "Got no other Nice Guy"  I couldn't really make out what
they were saying the rest of the jam, but it was funky.

Llama was intense.  They seemed to have been teasing Llama and Scent a
lot the night before without ever really going into it.  Tonight they
decided to.  Nice.  As is Circus.  Trey definitely gushes his heart and
soul during this one.  He likes it.

Then, an outstanding Weekapaug complete with extended funky Mike intro
and a creepy Catapult in the middle.  Now, heck, I would've been
satisfied with them ending the show with this, but no, they had to blow
our minds.

HARRY HOOD!  Wow.  My socks were knocked off.  The whole intro is so
pleasant and fun to dance to.  Great jam, too.  Wonderful.

I didn't really have much of a reaction to My Soul for the encore, but I
think it's great they played it.  This tour was all about their soul as
a group.  A good way to end it.  But no, we couldn't end with just
anything...

Squirming Coil.  Beautiful choice.  Beautiful song.  Trey and Page were
really working nicely together just before Page's end solo.  The high
notes of the piano and guitar sounded like one instrument.  Simply
beautiful.  Page's solo wasn't incredibly long, but hey, I'm not
complaining.  This was one hell of a show.

Got dank Black & Tan and Taddy Porter outside afterwards, found Adam,
who we thought was lost, all was good.  Oh yes, a warm burrito.  Mmmm.

May the magic continue,

Andy

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 15 Dec 1997 20:01:36 GMT
From:    Redbeard 
Subject: This Weekend in Phish (Reviews)



hi.  I've reading rmp in digest form (first rosemary, now benjy) for almost
a year now, and this is but my second post and is my first review.  I had
tickets for three shows (thurs rochester --> sat albany), but I was in a
play on friday night and had to give away my ticket for friday night
albany, and I had a dress rehearsal on thursday and was late in rochester.
but saturday night blew me away (as I will get into) and I got over the
jaded feeling that rochester left me with.

but anyway, just for clarification and so y'all don't think me a rambling
moron who can't write a non-runon sentance to save his life and has zero
experience writing about shows who is a no-good filthy bastard, I'm a
student at Hamilton College in Central New York, originally from the
NYC-area and I've seen 14 shows and have roughly 100 hours on tape.

***Saturday 12/13/97***

I: Ya Mar, JAM* -> Axilla ** -> Theme, Ginseng, Strange Design, Sample,
Vultures, Tube, GTBT.

II: NICU -> PYITE -> Ghost -> Mike's -> Dude of Life Chants -> Llama, When
the Circus Comes to Town, Weekapaug -> Catapult -> Groove, Harry -->
Glo-Stix=Happy --> Hood

E: My Soul, Coil

* starts with chords to Ya Mar, and goes off into Type II jamming
** with ending from Hoist and Axilla II

After much insanity concerning the conflict between my body who wanted to
sleep and miss the bus and every other part of my body who wanted to go to
Albany, I pulled into the bus station at 8:00 PM.  Luckily, the show was a
couple of blocks away, there was an opening band (punk? I missed them, but
heard they were nothing special), and the albany pigs were on horses. .

I sat Fishman side, inspired by my meeting Mimi two nights previous, and
tried to acquire the setlist from the night before and see if tube had been
played.  My prayers were for Tube, Mike's, and BEK.

YA MAR was a fun way to open up.  got people up and dancing early.  I'm
always reminded of how happy I was when I heard it at the Ball, and it's
always like a little splash of summer whenever I hear it now.  Fishman took
an intentionally boring drum solo, and my section went nuts w/ fish-pride.
After the song proper, they did a stop-time, and then started jamming with
the Ya Mar chords!  It rocked, and was an extremely vibrant jam, imho, for
so early in the show.  This jam went on for some time, before trey started
power chording to signal the opening of AXILLA!  I thought it was the first
time played since Europe but someone else told me it was played at Bryce
Jordan.  nice axilla, and at the end, they did the end to axilla II, which
is pretty cool.

That died out, and fishman was hitting a cymbal.  I thought it might be an
alternate opening to bowie (two straight shows I was deluded into hearing
bowie), but soon realized it was the opening to THEME.  Cool placement of
this tune, because it's a nice song to come down from axilla with, but it's
a nice jam too.  I really liked trey's solo in here, and was very happy
with the set so far.  when the vocal ending came in ("from the flottom to
the top"), I was waiting with baited breath.

GINSENG SULLIVAN, nice.  Probably my favorite bluegrass tune they do, kept
the energy level high, for... STRANGE DESIGN?  ich.  I always like to hear
page's beautiful voice, but this song has ruined the energy of the set both
times I've seen it.  So I sit and pack a bowl, smoke about half of it, and
. . . the opening chords to SAMPLE.  So I finish the bowl, then get up and
commense dancing during the guitar solo.  Trey as 70's guitar-rock star,
please don't let this finish the set, they've been playing short ones
lately . . .

VULTURES!  Nice, and me in fishman section.  have this on tape from deer
creek this summer, and it's very interesting, one of my favorite new tunes.
Nice placement in same set with THEME and AXILLA, also with the
uninteresting drum solo earlier that he blew away with vultures'.  Maybe an
acapella after to close the set?  No, trey seems excited, and he yelled
something I couldn't quite make out. . .

"An Asteroid Crashed, But Nothing Burned!"  Oh MY God!  I almost shit my
pants!  I was so happy hearing this TUBE, I felt it sacrilege to ask for
anything close to what Dayton got.  So it was a nice, phat Tube,
well-jammed, but nothing out of this world.  Definately Golden moment for
me, though.

Very high-energy GTBT to close the set, who could ask for anything more?
Set Rating: 8.0.  Very entertaining and well-played first set.  Actually,
the moment of strange cheese brought it down to a 7.2, let's say.  I was
psyched for second set, and already felt that first set was better than the
entire rochester show.

My head hurts though, so I'm going to stop writing.  I'm sure other people
will post, and say how generally excellent the weekapaug was, and how NICU
-> PYITE was a really cool way to open the set, or about how my soul should
be delegated to fill the high-energy encore slot instead of being stuck in
the first set, or how much everybody loves when a show (and a tour) ends
with a page solo.

I hope my review wasn't too generally poor and that people get something
out of it.  THANK YOU Yance Davis for those tapes!  12/30/93 II should
really be required listening, and all the extras more than made up for its
lateness.

peace,

Justin

=============================================================================
Justin B. Stein  198 College Hill Road  Clinton, NY 13323  jstein@hamilton.edu
=============================================================================
My totem image is Nancy's hair. You know Nancy in the comic strips? Isolate
her hair from the rest of her body and you have one strange and remarkable
object. Simultaneously biomorphic and industrial,it's like a machine-tooled
amoeba, an oversized tadpole that has somehow been fused with the gearbox
of a tractor.                            --Tom Robbins
=============================================================================

------------------------------

Date:    Mon, 15 Dec 1997 21:29:56 -0500
From:    Aaron Boros 
Subject: Expect the Unexpected: 12/13 Albany Review

Ok, I will try my hand at a review of the tour closer in Albany.
Quick history:  22nd show.  Have seen some good ones including 12/7/95
Niagra,
Clifford Ball, New Year's '96, and Summer tour from St.Louis->Went. I
have
heard approx. 350 hours of Phish.  I saw both Albany shows, my only two
of the fall tour. Of all of the shows I have seen, I would
not hesitate in saying that the second Albany show was up there with the
best of
them.

SCENE:
        The scene at both the shows was suprisingly festive.  Most of the
fall tour shows I have seen had some pretty dreary lot scenes.  Luckily
it
was quite warm in Albany and the police had blocked off the street in
front
the Pepsi, so no cars could run over any unsuspecting Phish fans.  There
were
a ton of ticketless the second night, but what can you expect with the
last
show of the tour?

SECURITY:
        I used to not really notice the security but after the shows in the
summer and the Albany shows, I realized that some places absoultely suck
for
security.  (St.Louis, Chicago).  The security in Albany was very
strange.
They barely searched you if at all on the way in; however, they didn't
allow
you to smoke at all.  Whatever, even the security couldn't ruin the mood
that Phish set with this show.

SHOW!:

 Although I am sometimes critical of the
shows I see, you will find little criticisim in this review.  Thats only
because it was a fuckin' incredible show.  I know the rest of the tour
was suppose to have some big shows, but I haven't heard any of those, so
you'll have to excuse me if this show is only AS GOOD as the others. But
if they were AS GOOD as this show then there is no doubt that this is
the
greatest tour of Phish ever.

12/13/97
The Pepsi Arena, Albany NY

I:   Ya Mar, Axilla Pt 1* > Theme From the Bottom, Ginsing Sullivan,
     Strange Design, Sample in a Jar, Vultures, Tube, Good Times Bad
Times

II:  NICU > Punch You in the Eye > Ghost > Mike's Song** > Llama,
     When the Circus Comes, Weekapuag Groove > Catapult >
     Weekapaug Groove, Harry Hood***

E:   My Soul, The Squirming Coil


YAMAR opened up and I thought it was pleasent.  That is until Trey
strummed
a few chords partway thru the jam and took it to a whole other realm.
From
this point on I was in a zone.  It was great.  Amazing way to open the
show.

The jam eventually led into AXILLA I. I am pretty indifferent to this
song
but the energy coming out of the post-Yamar Jam was unreal.  Very
powerful.

I could hear Theme starting up through that final bit in Axilla.  Out of
all
the 'jamming' songs that night, I think THEME may have been the weakest,
but
that is not to say that IT was weak.  It was actually one of the better
ones
I have heard, just in comaparison to everything else it seemed
insignificant.

Ginseng, Strange Design and Sample were obviously standard.  Not to say
they
weren't enjoyable.  Well actually, I enjoyed Strange Design the most of
these
three.  It had been a while since I had heard it and with the way Page
was
playing this weekend, his voice sounded oh so sweet.

Vultures is definitely a cool song.  I haven't heard it that much, but I
am
pretty sure this is the best version I have ever heard of this song.  It
got
a little trippy towards the end, when the band brought down to near
silence.
I thought that was it, until I heard the final chords come back for the
song
to close out.  Very nice.

I had heard about the new middle funk jam in Tube from the Dayton show
so I
was extra excited about my first Tube ever!  The funk in the middle of
TUBE
was sa-wheet.  This brought us to the end of the first set with GTBT,
which
rocked hard-core.  Great way to end a fabulous set.

The setbreak was fun.  Some guys were throwing out candy to the audience
but
he had a terrible arm!  Good jazz.  Only problem was that the air was
awful the second night.  It was really hot, and I could barely breath.
No
matter.  My two calls for the show were YEM and Gumbo. I thought these
were
obvious choices but look who was wrong!!  No woories. Second set kicked
the
living shit outta me.

NICU opened and was tight and nice to hear. This led to a very tight and
extremely charged PYITE.  I was surprised to hear this becuase they had
just played it in Rochester, but I think the only thing to expect these
days
is the UNEXPECTED.

Following PYITE the set took off.  I was again surprised with Ghost but
this
version was absouletly incredible.  It started off very funky with Mike
jammin'
away for about the first 3-5 minutes.  The jam slowly built and really
began
to rock.  I forget most of the jam, but I do remember that it was the
best
one I have ever heard.  I was absoultely shocked to hear Mike's, but the
last
thing I was going to do was complain.  This version was really nuts.
When
they got to the jam, they started saying all this crazy stuff, that I
couldn't
really make out.  I heard them say CACTUS over and over again so I was
jumping
up and down in anticipation of a Mike solo.  Mike gave us a sweet
distorted solo
albeit pretty short.  The same came from Page and eventually Trey.
Crazy shit.
I am not sure if it was during this song that I heard the "Foxy Lady"
screaming,
or was it teasing? I dunno.  I was really out of my mind at this point.
The
Llama was cool because of all the teasing the night before, and Circus
was
great so I could have a breather for the slightest second.  Would they
stop?
Without playing Weekapaug? Not a chance.   This was THE BEST WEEKAPAUG I
have
ever heard (is that the 5th best song I have heard in this show alone?!)
I am
not going to try to explain this song, because there were so many
different
parts, just listen to this one.  Mike solos, page solos, CATAPULT!, wow.

When Hood started I knew this was all I could take before the encore.
The
glowsticks were kinda cool to see again.  Definitely not as cool as the
Went
and although it was funny that the fans were having a "war" with the
band,
I felt it was pretty stupid that everyone was whipping glowsticks at
the
stage.  Whatever, the Hood was beautiful and I was both physically and
emotionally drained.

of course I wanted to see more Phish although I didn't know if my body
could
take anymore.  The encore was good, not as good as the previous night,
but trey
always seems to screw something up in Squirming Coil.  Not this time
though,
as he nailed it perfectly, I think.

Well you could tell from my review that I enjoyed myself at this show.
I am going to the New Year's run 29th-31st, and I am heavily
anticipating
some sweet Phish.  This is my first review, so if you have any
comments/criticisms/
or whatever let me know.  If you have read this far then you may be
entitled to
a B&P offer.  My friend got the first night of Worcester today in the
mail
and I will be taping it tonight or tommorow.  So for the first five
people
to e-mail me I will tape this show for them for blanks and postage.
If you went to any of the shows this tour let me know what you thought
of them.

And visit my homepage at
http://www.geocites.com/BourbonStreet/6968

Thanks,
Aaron

--------------

Subject: Albany Review -- 12.13.97
Date: Mon, 02 Feb 1998 16:56:08 -0400
From: Jonathan_Shedletzky@mail.Bialik.on.ca (Jonathan Shedletzky)
Organization: Bialik Hebrew Day School
To:  dan@archive.phish.net


*NO DISCLAIMER NECESSARY* Y'all just need to know that I am infatuated with Phish and than this is strictly my opinion
of the 12.13.97 show. 

12/13/97 Pepsi Arena, Albany, NY 
J. Willis Pratt and Weird Bionic opened 
I: Yamar>Jam, Axilla Pt. 1, Theme from the Bottom, Ginseng Sullivan, Strange Design, Sample in a Jar, 
Vultures, Tube, Good Times Bad Times 
II: NICU, Punch You in the Eye, Ghost->Jam->Mike's Song->Breakdown->Llama->When the Circus Comes, 
Weekapaug Groove->Catapult->Weekapaug Groove, Harry Hood 
E: My Soul, Squirming Coil 

What a rough day....I spend the day at the Crossgates Mall on Saturday the 13th, about 15 minutes from the Knick. While in a
rush to find a cab (which are scarce in Albany) at 5PM I left my wallet on the counter of a phone booth. About $175 US, my
Canadian birth certificate, driver's license, all identification....gone! Fortunately, I managed to hang on to my Phish tix and bus
tix, but I'm thinking I'm not going to be able to cross the border....I'm telling you, my mind wanders when about to be
mesmerized by Phish.... 

SCENE: I didn't really notice the scene. It was packed and all, people selling drugs, glassware, homemade delectibles, and
t-shirts (same as the night before). I just wanted to get to my seats, though. I needed some Phish to rid of my worries... 


J. WILLIS PRATT: I had read a rumor at Gadiel's page during the week before the Albanys stating that J. Willis Pratt would
open. I was surprised when, at 7:30, him and his "band" actually did come out. J. was on guitar and vocals accompanied by a
bassist and keyboardist. They were nothing to speak of....Pretty amateur, to say the least... 

THE SHOW!!! 
Set I: 
YA MAR: At one point, Ya Mar was one of my favourite tunes that Phish played (cover or original). I guess, during this
summer it became too common in setlists and I wasn't thoroughly impressed with what these versions offered musically. This
tune had been pretty scarce on this tour so I was glad to hear it open up the show. To my surprise, this was an exceptional
version. The composed lyrical section ends (including the customary Caribean-ish jams).As soon as the song "ends", Trey kicks
back in with the recognizable Ya Mar chords, yet with more of a funk/reggae beat. This initiates a great extended jam. Trey is
an ever-present force as they expand the funk into "Type III" territory. A nice, long, jammed-out, unexpected Ya Mar ends
after an intense 18 minutes. 

AXILLA PT. 1: I liked hearing this tune. It's pretty rare nowadays but nothing too special. It's a nice energizing tune, in a dark
sense. I'd prefer to hear this one over Part II. 

THEME: This tune, like Taste, I like for their type I jams that always sound really good. I love the gradual build of intensity and
the inevitable climax. A nice spacey jam was enhanced by Chris' lights which really helped create the underwater effect. A nice
Theme, but nothing groundbreaking. 

GINSENG: I had just heard this tune in Cleveland so wasn't glad to hear it again. It is a good bluegrass tune, though, and I love
listening to Trey on this one. Short and sweet... 

STRANGE DESIGN: I felt that the band lost a lot of energy by playing this tune to follow Ginseng, although I enjoyed listening
to it. This was my first time hearing it live. Such a sweet melody... 

SAMPLE: This is the set's weak point, imo. Second time seeing it live in 4 shows, and I'm pretty tired of it. It's interesting; half
the place is jumping upon the opening chords of Sample while everyone else stands and smokes a cigarette, hiding it from a
nearby security guard. I was ready for Chris to turn on the set closing orange lights and the band to stand up and bow, but
thankfully they continued for a while. 

VULTURES: I like pretty much all of the new tunes from the summer, and Vultures is no exception. I'm not too familiar with it,
but I've always enjoyed songs with call and answer vocals and new-age/lounge/Yanni-esque compositions. Vultures was
extended beyond the composed portion and I was kinda surprised because I never heard Phish do so. It was a decent jam but
at one point I felt that it was getting kind of monotonous. It didn't really go anywhere, but I think that at this point in the set
(following a Ginseng, Design and Sample) a jam was necessary. 

TUBE!!!!: I was surprised to hear it, because it's such a rare tune and it had been played only 6 days before in Dayton. I was
not one to complain though. This was a really good version, although I assume not as good as Dayton -- probably the second
best version ever. This could be labelled Tube->Funk Jam->Tube like Dayton, minus the "Jam Reprise". They started with the
first verse and just jammed in that funky manner that we're all addicted to. The jam was lengthy and very groovy. Eventually
they finished off the vocal sections and concluded this way above average version of a great tune. 

GTBT: I knew this would be the set closer, whereas I thought Sample would close up the set. I've never really been into this
tune (I was never a big fan of classic rock, which could be why), but I got into it. Very high energy and some great solos within.
The vocals are so gut-wrenchingly beautiful. 

In my opinion this was an above average set, well above average. It started off solidly with Ya Mar(->Jam!), Axilla and Theme,
but the middle of the set was quite weak, and because of this the band lost some momentum. They closed the set even stronger
than it began. Several rarities in this set; Axilla, Design, Tube, GTBT...and many firsts for myself. 


Set II: 
NICU: I was very psyched to hear this tune. I have a newfound appreciation for NICU. The groove it encompasses is
intoxicating, to say the least. A great set opener. This was a standard version. I was hoping they'd extend it (ala 12.14.95 or
8.17.97) but no such luck. There was some nice jamming between verses. 

PYITE: Again, I have a newfound opinion for this song. I've never been too fond of this one on tape, but seeing it live is truly a
different experience. The Landlady was executed flawlessly. Trey was masterful in his Santana-esque style of playing. He ripped
shit up. Very strong set as of yet, with a bouncy NICU and a very tight PYITE. 

GHOST: Ghost opened up Cleveland for me and I wasn't to pleased with that version (partially because of set placement). This
version completely replenished my love of this tune. This Ghost wandered way beyond it's normal confines of a funk jam. It
started off as such but evolved into a high tempo, infinitely energetic, unconceivably melodic, hosed-down jam. Absolutely the
best version I've ever heard (I've heard enough to warrant this an exceptional Ghost!). Trey had an especially prominent role in
this jam. Him fucking around with the high registers of his 'doc blew my mind. The stage was bathed in white light as Trey trilled
to infinity (this is heaven to me!).This Ghost may have been a bitter shorter than most versions (then again, I have no time
perception with Phish -- about 15 minutes), but definitely worth hearing. The jam chilled out...Mike teases the Makisupa
bass-line....and segue into.... 

MIKE'S: I was surprised to hear it because it's becoming less and less evident in setlists. This is quite an interesting version, to
say the least. Upon the conclusion of the composed part of the song, where the standard raw, arse-kicking jam commences,
they started with a really funky groove that inevitably evolved into the ultimate funk jam. This jam was the epitome of funk. Soon
after, everyone (Fish, mainly) start yelling in this 70's pimp/hipster manner. "Cactus! Break it down! Cactus! Everyone, Cactus
is gonna bring the Dude [of Life] for you". Cactus takes this wild solo, as he chords up and down his 'doc. The resulting sound
is this metal-esque distortion of bass chords. Then Trey brings the Dude with a wah-solo. He breaks it down twice, as a matter
of fact, with another wah-solo. Page is the last to bring in the Dude with a harmonic clav solo. The Bring the Dude jam subsides
into a dark, intense and raw funk. Fish speeds it up and Trey finally begins the intro to Llama after a night's worth of Llama
teases from the first Albany show. 

LLAMA: I was kind of disappointed by this version. Rather than the balls-to-the-walls jam that followssthe vocals, it was kind
of a jam that lacked in energy. It wasn't as if they brought it down to the point that it was jazzy (like 12.5.97 Julius!!!), it just
kind of lingered below the level of energy which is expected from Llama...It did explode in raw energy but continually digressed
to a quiter jam. Not a bad version, by any means... 

CIRCUS: Circus segued out of Llama. I wasn't pleased with the placement of this song in this set, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.
Nearly everyone around me sat down for Circus, except myself and a few others. My buddy Tim just looked at me and said "sit
down, Jon" as if I was embarssing myself, but I refused. I've got something against sitting at Phish shows. It's out of respect for
the band to stand and pay attention, and Phish is more enjoyable when you're up and moving. Nice Trey solo but nothing
spectacular. 

WEEKAPAUG: Geeaaahh!!!!! Mike took a phatty extended solo at the opening of the tune. I found this to be a great version
of Weekapaug. It was really long (the boyz just didn't want to stop playing. They didn't want the tour to end) and contained a
beautifully rhythmic jam. All out of experimentation with tempos and textures. This should be heard on tape; my memory brings
this version no justice. Eventually segued into... 

CATAPULT: An almost gospel-like version, a dark gospel Catapult one could call it. Mike sang over a wall of sound.
Returned to.... 

WEEKAPAUG:.....which jammed out for a while longer! Overall it was an amelodic, exploratory jam that experimented with
tempos and percussiveness alot. I did catch a blatant "Time" or "Meatstick" tease (the jam out of DWD Reprise on 6.25.97 or
out of Fee on 11.19.97) somewhere within the jam. 

HARRY HOOD: Musically, not the best version. Definitely one of those versions you had to be there to appreciate. The lights
went down as the jam commenced and people started throwing around all these glowsticks. Some of them were shaped like
stars, and if you squinted in order to drown out the hall lights, it looked kinda like the sky was falling. T'was a good Hood, but
nothing spectacular. 

Encore: 
MY SOUL: I dislike this song, and was severely disappointed with it as encore, but I decided to enjoy it because it could be
the last tune I see live for several months.... 

COIL: Thankfully, My Soul didn't end the tour. Coil did. A nice version, flawless. Trey and Page did a nice little angelic duo
before everyone left Leo alone onstage. The customarily beautiful solo finished off the tour;^(~ 

Set II was exceptional. It undoubtedly made up for any weak spots in the first set. They continued to bust out rarities, and phat
jams. Ghost was mind-blowing, Mike's is a must hear, Weekapaug was really enjoyable as were NICU and PYITE. Llama
was weak, and Circus was the only non-jam tune of the set (minus Catapult). I was severely disappointed that there was no
YEM this weekend. I was positive there would be one, considering the fact that best one EVER was played at the Knick two
years earlier. Nevertheless, this was a great show and an amazing weekend!!! 

Compared to the previous night's show, I preferred this one both during and for the weeks after the show. But upon receiving
the tapes and repeatedly listening to them, I find myself enjoying the 12.12 Albany show better. It's more based on jamming (the
2nd set at least) rather than song content, and that's what made this fall so great. This show, was by no means, a bad show -- it
was incredible. But I think that the previous show must also be heard. 

Phish; a remedy for those who have lost there wallets.