ah, my first phish show! i had about 10-20 tapes and all the studio albums going into this show, so i was pretty well-versed in the ways of phish. not as much so as i would be going into deercreek 96; no amount of tapes can prepare you for the real deal. also to note, this show was sold out, but it was not a complete zoo. security was almost non existent. phish's shows at deer creek in 96, and there after for that matter, were a whole new ball game. a couple of weeks after this show, there was the infamous dead/deer creek gate crashing incident. since phish was lumped as being "the same thing as the dead," that incident changed the way security handled phish shows, especially at deer creek. also, less than two months after this show, jerry garcia, god bless him, passed away. this created the biggest shift in phish "phandom." the phish scene suffered after. phish picked up all of the dead's "bottom of the barrell" element. i love the dead, don't get me wrong, but there were some real shit heads following them around, and now they were with phish. great. i guess what i am getting at is that i am very glad that this was my first show. i was able to see phish before it became a huge cluster fuck. this was a great introduction to phish, and in many respects, i wish it could have stayed this way. then again, people that saw their first shows in clubs and small theaters probably say the same damn thing....

theme from the bottom was a nice opener. i wasn't yet familiar with this tune, but i took to it immediately. trey's solo here was very nice, and it set the tone for an outstanding first set. poor heart got the crowd hopping, and it worked very well before a nice tight ac/dc bag. the band was really tight on this one and petered out into tela. sticking with the gamehendge vibe they had going, they played a killer punch. i love these early/mid 90's punches. they seem to be a little bit more raw than the ones that would come later. then again, they don't have the longer funkier intro that would come later. this reba is glorious. the whole band plays brilliantly on this one. the whole first half of the first set was just flawless. strange design provides a quick breather for everyone. they moved away from the whole flawless thing on this rift. trey completely bones the lyrics on this one, and it might be one of the most severe flubs i've seen phish pull off. cavern seemed to close this one down, but they kicked down a bonus antelope to seal the deal. trey made up for his rift flub by absolutely ripping this antelope.

phish came out and belted a fine simple to kick up the jams in the second set. they weren't really doing extended jams out of this tune yet, but this version gives you a little idea of where this song would go in the next year. it works well going into a very trippy bowie. there were some mind left body teases floating around in this very intense bowie, which i didnt really notice at the show, but they sure did stand out when listening to it later. the middle part of this bowie is just awesome. gordo, fish, and page lay down a really spacey foundation, and trey just cuts right through it. very strong. the mango song is an inspired choice for a cool down song, and they executed it very well. in 95, loving cup was still somewhat of a rarity, so this was a nice little treat. sparkle was nice, quick, and uppity, before another killer 95 era yem. gordon, as always,has some very strong playing in this one, and after the tramps, trey and page really light up. this yem gives way to the now defunct acoustic army. not much to see here. i guess its better than caspian. then a rowdy little posssum closes down the second set at phish's deer creek show. this is a great possum, but there are so many great deer creek possums that i'm not sure that this even makes the top 3. '96, '98, and depending on my mood, maybe even '03 are deer creek possums that i like a touch better. after debuting aditl at redrocks a week + before, they brought back out for another ride here. it was, obviously, very well received.

overall, this was an excellent show. it gets overshadowed a bit by the cuyuhoga falls show, but this one should not be missed. as a first show, this was a great introduction to phish. there were a few rarities and a bunch of classics. very good show.

highlights:

set 1:

bag,tela, reba, antelope

set 2:

simple>bowie, loving cup, yem, possum