this show is a real winner. it truly offers something for everyone, old school fan and newbie. it is chalk full of so many brilliantly played classics, and on top of all that, it has, in my opinion, the jam of the year in the first set.

the curtain is a very sharp opener here, and it pairs up nicely with a strong melt. in '92, phish had not quite figured this song out yet, so it was not quite up to its potential. none the less, this is a strong early version. poor heart and papyrus are both played well. then trey and page hammer home a really nice maze. like melt, this one not quite at its fullest potential yet; although, maze was further along than melt at this point, jam wise. dinner and divided work well together before a nicely place mound. then this set really starts to get hot. fluff head is played with a truck of load energy and it gives way to one of the best antelopes ever. it starts off fairly straight forward, but the jams shifts into a darker realm. page hits the coolest effect on his keyboard. i don't know how to describe it...if ice could sing maybe. very chilling effect. the bbfcfm that follows is pretty nuts too. musically, it is brilliant. lyrically, it's hilarious. from the "why do i want to kill you" line, it goes to "oh why," repeatedly, to "hawaii" repeatedly, to a brief little tropical/hawaiin scat thing, with some really funny fishman stuff, back into bbfcfm. then, as if that weren't enough, they slam this one back into antelope. killer set closer.

the boys keep the action coming in the 2nd set. wilson starts the set off in rocking fashion before dipping into a very fun version of brother, with a nice trey solo in there. the horse>silent is an excellent breather song...hell, people probably still needed a breather from the antelope. the landlady gets the party jumping again and it dives into a very bouncy take on lizards. page sounds nice on this one. i love mmgamoio, and this is another good version. sloth lights the place up, and it keeps the energy rolling. rift is straight forward, and the love you is nice fun. after spattering some secret language around throughout this show, phish kind of realized that few were getting it. at this point, trey decided to give another language lesson. this is where i find this tape valuable for newbies. even though they don't mess with the language fun as much any more, it is still good fun, and who knows, when they do, you want people to get it! after urging people to spread the tapes with these language lessons around, they push into a nice rowdy possum, of course, chalk full of language play. good possum. contact>fire works as a very good encore to a very fun show.

it is not completely unheard of to have the jam of the night in the first set, but it happens sometimes. tonight is one of those nights. the second set is really strong, despite not having any of the typical early phish big guns in the setlist, tweezer, yem, hood, 'lope (nailed it in the 1st of course), slave, etc. it is just one killer tune after another. a great show for any phish fan.

highlights:

set 1:
the curtain>melt, fluff>antelope>bbfcfm>antelope

set 2:
brother, landlady>lizards, the sloth, lang less>possum