From: mdbruce@leland.Stanford.EDU (Michael David Bruce)
Subject: NYE and stuff.
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 93 00:06:38 GMT

Ok...I've been pretty silent for the last few months (what do you expect
with no shows out here?), but now it is time to go bananas and start
posting
again because I SAW PHISH AGAIN!!  

Where:  matthew's arena
When:  First Night, 1992-->93
Who:  Phish, me, my brother, some friends, and 6000 other people.
Why:  Because it's Phish.

We drove in all the way from Rochester, NY, starting bright and early at
7am.
The radio was sending the soothing sounds of phish shows past, the notes
driving us along.  We stopped to change drivers and empty bladders at the
first eastbound stop on the Mass Pike.  That's where it begins.  Because
the parking lot looked like a circus was coming to town.  Or more
accurately
that a circus was passing through.  Phish stickers everywhere.  Tie-dyes
everywhere.  Long hair everywhere.  And somewhere, we ran into a friend
that we hadn't seen in over two years.  

She was headed to phish, too, so we started caravaning.  It started with
two cars and ten people (both with phish stickers).  Pretty soon it was
three and 13 then 4 and 18, all the way up to 10 and 40+ (can't see in
the back of them vans, ya know).  And we were passing more along the way.
Headline:  RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS HEAD TO MECCA:  Caravan of beat-up cars with
liberal bumper stickers turns heads.

Anyway, we turned off early to find our boston friend, the one with the
beds, so we didn't see the arrival.  We took the train in, and ran out 
of the station screaming "Possum!!" and "Who's gonna help us finish this
champagne?!"  and on into the arena.  As I entered the lobby and looked
at the rather humble surroundings, I thought, "this ain't so bad.  Like
Union last spring (the greatest phish show ever, as far as I am
concerned)"
But something much bigger took over when I stepped into the arena.  The
immensity of it drew my breath out of me.  Like being surprised by some-
one from around a corner.  Unbelievable.  People everywhere.  A forest of
mic stands.  And not one but TWO sets of speakers--one about halfway back 
in the crowd, suspended in air over everyone's heads.  We stood under the
rightmost of them.

We barely had time to exclaim, though.  Our train was a bit late, and so
were we.  Fortunately, so was the band.  Lights out.  Voices UP!  And 
fishman begins to hammer out the beat to Buried Alive!  For a moment,
we think it is Poor Heart, but then page comes in with those five 
staccato piano notes, and we know.  There is no holding any of us back.
The music takes control of us and shakes our bodies into contortions.  I
peel my eyes off the stage and watch the rest of the crowd.  Insane!
They are all being pulled and pushed this way and that.  An ant colony
in an earthquake.

Poor Heart flows perfectly from Buried, even if Trey does screw up the
intro (listen to the broadcast when the band tries to pull it off!), but
it is Maze and Trey's solo that sends the first fire through the crowd.
The end of his solo brings all the hands on the floor into the air and
every voice up to the stage.

The show flows past in an ever intensifying tumult:  Divided Sky
is a wall of organ under raging guitar, Foam a frenzy at a faster pace
than normal, and antelope--one of the greatest that I have ever heard.

At set break, I wander around, find some people, chat, find some water,
drink, meet some new people.  People are satisfied in walking around.
Relaxed, but tired.  Waiting for a second wind.

The second set is a little more ragged than the first, but it is clearly
the bands "fun" set.  Bouncing ball jam--brilliant!!  Right over the
beat for  sweet1.  The end is a big game of basketball, although it is
soured by someone jumping up on the stage to dance in front of the crowd.
"Ego, craving distinction, belongs to the narrowness of now."  --William 
Least Heat-Moon.  Famous Mockingbird is a riot as always.  How many
bands these days ask their fans to actually use their imaginations the
way phish does?  For that matter who *ever* asks it anymore?  But the
end of the set is another orgasmic jam:  Good Times, Bad Times.

Set III:  I have my doubts as they begin with Mike's Groove.  Not enough
time!  But somewhere in the strobes, the screaming guitar, the bouncing,
the fog, Trey's voice proceeds:  "Two minutes to New Years!"  At the
stroke of midnight, as always, Auld Lang Syne, plus streamers and confetti
which gets stuck on the lighting rigs in front of the stage.  But then
brilliance:  Auld Lang Syne breaks down to a bluegrass feel, and I
think, no wait, I know I hear the beat to Weekapaug!!  There it is!!
And then, HARPUA!!!!!!  With a riotous Fishman speech in the middle:
"Yes we can stage a runaway golfcart marathon!"  Will there be any
more?  Of course!  The Dude of life comes out, dancing with a lawnmower,
and making it good, too!

As with the other two sets, it comes as no surprise that the hottest
jam is at the end, and Llama is finally and forever the greatest that
I have ever seen it played.  Amazing!!

But the final amazing part of the concert comes not in volume, but in
silence.  I did not think that it was possible that they could get
everyone in the place to be quiet for "Carolina,"  but they do.  And
there is total silence--for the *entire* song.  I'm sure that some of 
the people in the back could not hear it (the vent system was actually
very loud), but they remained silent.  Incredible!!  Thank you everyone
for making my year!

POSTSCRIPT:  An item in the boston globe the next day (quoting from memory
here):  "Was it an earthquake, a train, or a very loud Phish concert that
shook the neighborhood around the Northeastern campus last night?"  My
answer:  go with the phish show.

  


-- 
--Mikey                         "'But anything we can do is so _trivial_.'
mdbruce@leland.stanford.edu     And I would say, 'Not trivial, just small.
The
Hayduke lives!                  way all life begins.'"  --Wayland Drew.

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

From: Bill Logan 
Subject: NYE
Reply-To: wwlogan@colby.edu
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 23:33:40 GMT

I'm surprised at how few comments/reactions to the NYE show there have
been.
I'm still excited about it, here are some of my thoughts:

In the first set during "I didn't know" Trey was really getting off on the 
YAY/BOO's, he was laughing a lot and seemed to get a big kick out of it. I
thought it was great.  Wilson was good, although the New Haven Wilson in 
my opinion, was incredible.  (Also I don't think anyone ever mentioned 
their vocal "little" ball Jam the second night--a bold effort)  Antelope
was of course intense.
Second set: During It's Ice (I really love that one) Fish played a cool 
"tick tock" for a while. (for some reason it made me look at my watch
which
I thought was kinda funny) The Famous Mocking bird was a hoot, it looked
like
a big chicken.  Also did any one else notice that before Trey sang the
last
"Gliiidddee" in Glide he waited, (For a while as he's been doing) but just
as he took a deep breath and began to sing, he sucked in a little more air
and turned away as the audience started to sing without him.  Just as if 
to say (modestly) you can't touch this, then he finished the song.  How
great.
Third set started off strong: Mike's Groove (no Hydrogen) but I thought
the
arena was a little too bright for the otherwise-my favorite-strobe lights.
Harpua was a major Highlight.  I think Mike forgot to start the song and 
Trey said something about it too him.  Also did anyone catch the reference
to the "backstage ritual" that occurs on New Year's as well Trey started 
laughing and quickly continued.  I wonder.  
Some friends of mine near the front row said that the Dude of life was
there,
sort of slam dancing and generally being and asshole yelling things like
"make Burlington proud" before he went on in the third set.  Anyone else
see this?  Still the Toro was great.  Well that's it for now,
-Bill

EGGPLANT :-(


-----------------------------------------------
From: ncole@nyx.cs.du.edu (Noah Cole)
Subject: NYE Comments (No Setlist :-))
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 93 20:55:08 GMT

Well, after a horrible trip down to Boston ($72 Ticket in New Hampshire-
boy are those NH State Cops assholes!), we arrived at the Y and quickly
managed to meet Ellis (Hi there!) and then IU managed to meet Rich and his
party (Hi Rich, Jeff!) on my out to dinner.

Once at the show (gotr in the dorrs around 7:00)..
I was getting really excited.  I was not ph, shit excited that it
was a hockey arena but that's OK.. so I then managed to meet Tony Went by
spoting
the net shirt he was wearting (nice job Matt.. where's mine?).

Now for the REAL stuff.. I didn't bother keeping a setlist because I knew
that other people out there woulod.. but I do have some highlights.. in no
random order:

Sound System: BUY A NEW ONE! One.. one.. one (Echo Echo Ech)
Security: Loosen up a bit; I saw some goy who looked like he was on a bad
trip gett hassled and then dragged out and down the stairs head first!

Musical Highlights: Bouncing was hot IMHO.. people really got into it and
it
was cool to see everyone bouncing from the second level. Run Like An was
also tight and Trey looked like he was having a good time.. on that note
Pagve
looked like he was having an even better then normal show.      Mike even
smiled a few times (Does this sound like we're talking about a cvertain
singer
in the Grateful Dead :-))... I loved Mike's GHroove, the entire midnight
activities, Fishman's bazooka of confetti, the famous mokingbird was
strange (who was that- crew?), Dude of Life was HOT and should have done
more sogs.  The lights were well done. The Barbewrshop was INCREDIBLE;
not only was it in front of 6000 people WITHOUT a mike but
6000 people stated, er stayed QUIET! I didn't see 1500 people at
Minneapolis
do that! Well, there was one person ("I love you Page).. but.

Overall, it was incrediblew and I was leaving without believing what I had
justy seen-
waiting for more.  I'm sorry if this is a bit random and unconnectedt but
I was
up with Rich Fromm (yeah Rich- thanks for everything from me and my
brother) (
also thanks for Jeff and your friends for the Beer and stuff!).. time to
sleep

-Noah
--
Noah Cole               "Outside is America,
NCOLE@MACALSTR.EDU
Macalester College      and also the car park"
ncole@nyx.cs.du.edu
St. Paul, MN 55105      - Bono, 27 December 1989
cncole@coos.dartmouth.edu
612-696-7388                    Dublin
aj909@cleveland.freenet.edu

------------------------------------------------
From: Phil Goldsmith 
Subject: 12/31/92

I noticed that this show wasn't in your review files, so I figured I 
should mention it, being that it was one of the best phish experiences 
I've ever had.  It was my first new year's gig, and I've seen them all 
since then.  It was my favorite new years experience, by far...it was 
the last time phish would play an intimate venue for New Years Eve, and 
the entire crowd knew it.  I've never been to a new england 
general-admission show that was this mellow, with no one crowding, no 
one pushing, everyone just dancing and having an amazing time.  It was 
the first time that phish experimented with silly special effects and 
stage antics (lowering the "famous mockingbird" from the ceiling) and 
the show definitely had the most dramatic countdown to the new year, 
ever.  Right in the middle of a fantastically tight and blistering 
"Mike's Song", Trey began counting down, from 30, never stopping the 
hecticness of the jam, easing perfectly into auld lang syne, perfectly 
into weekapaug. In all the ensuing years, I never saw a more explosive 
reaction to trey saying "happy new year everybody!".  The concert was 
held in Northeastern's hockey rink, and the ice was barely covered by a 
thin cardboard covering, which had large chunks ripped off by the end of 
the extremely long and satisfying show. By the end of the third set, 
people were skating and sliding around on the exposed ice, and the 
atmosphere was nothing less than magical.  It is a show that I look back 
on with fondness and also depression, because I am reminded that there 
will never be a new years show like it again. 
It's hard to believe that I bought my ticket for this 6,000 seat venue 
just a week before the show...a laughable concept, nowadays. 

-Jon Herman
email address joats@aol.com
--------------------------------------------------------
From: jkraft@lynx.dac.northeastern.edu (john kraft)
Subject: NYE Show comment
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1993 07:24:55 GMT

WOW!!!

I'll let people who can better describe the show give the more
verbose comments.

The NYE show was my first phish performance and I must say
I was a happy buckaroo.

Happy New Year Everybody.
Peace Out- Johnny K.
-----------------------------------------
From: phisher@aol.com
Subject: (none)
Reply-To: phisher@aol.com
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1993 04:08:19 GMT

>From root Fri Jan  1 23:08:51 1993
From: phisher@aol.com
X-Mailer: America Online Mailer
To: phish@fuggles.acc.virginia.edu
Subject: NYE-Oh What a Night!
Date: Fri, 01 Jan 93 23:08:51 EST
Message-ID: <9301012308.tn14052@aol.com>

Dude!  What can I say?  The New Year's show rocked!  Phish was playing
with
*so* much *energy*!!!  Also, they went out on great jams in almost every
song.
I won't put the whole set list on because I'm sure someone else will be
able
to do it more accurately than I.  Here is what stuck out for me though.
IMHO-Stash, Poor Heart, and Divided Sky were the best songs they played. 
Divided... was huge!  It must have lasted 15 minutes!  A rocking Harpua
was
also to be had with a hilarious story.(complete with Fishman screaming
incoherently about golf carts)
The 3rd set started with Mike's Song.  Then, Trey did the count down.  The
New Year was brought in with a smoking Weekapaug Groove and confetti
falling
from the ceiling.(BTH, I think they skipped I Am Hydrogen.  What happened
to
never playing these three songs apart?)
Other highpoints-A great Gamehenge story.(Down, down, down...we're all
fossils for millions of years!)/During Mockingbird, someone was suspended
over the stage in a bird suit/ball jam during My Sweet One/new sign
signals.
About that last-When you entered, you were given a paper explaining about
five new signals to be invoked by signs that Trey had.  Such as, if Trey
held
up a sign that said "Mass Hysteria", everyone had to scream and, well, act
hysterical.

All in all.  A great show.  Thanks to ya'll for making it so cool.
I saw lots of tapers.(hint, hint)  I hope there will be a tape surfacing
soon.  :-)

Well, I'm going on two hours of sleep in the last two days.  (Road trips
are
hell, but its worth it.) I need some sleep.

I don't want a gold fish.  I don't want a goldfish.

-Zach

---------------------------------
From: jeg5s@uva.pcmail.Virginia.EDU
Subject: Other NYE comments
Reply-To: jeg5s@uva.pcmail.Virginia.EDU
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 08:33:45 GMT

6306
 
Article 6306 (3 more) in rec.music.phish:
From: jeg5s@uva.pcmail.Virginia.EDU
 
 
 
Subject: Marriage in Lemuria :-)
Message-ID: <1993Jan3.020233.19935@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU>
Sender: mmdf@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU (Mail System)
Reply-To: jeg5s@uva.pcmail.Virginia.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 02:02:33 GMT
 
About two hours ago, I successfully proposed to my
girlfriend/roomate of three years, Kristen of Lemuria, on the
very steps upon which I met her three and a half years ago.  She
had fussed about walking out in the freezing cold, but I had been
hiding the ring for two weeks (an oval blue topaz surrounded by
diamonds), and after hearing Diamond Girl thursday night, just
couldn
't wait anylonger.
 
BTW, the descriptions of NYE seem extremely lacking.  To begin
with, Diamond Girl is by Seals and Crofts, which puts it at about
the same chart-time as all the other covers Phish do (from GTBT
to Ride Captain Ride).  
 
--MORE--(44%)
 
The famous mockingbird was someone in a costume on a harness,
lifted high above the stage for the entire song.
 
The Dude of Life pushed in a lawnmower, continuing this odd
obsession with 12-year-old-boyness, and, as with the famous
mockingbird, being none afraid to fly straight in the face of the
People magazine crap-commentary of calling them characterized by
too much "jokiness".
 
The encore was cool for a 3-set extravaganza after a long week
after a short break, but, hey!  We heard both Fire and Carolina
as encores earlier in the week.  It seems apparent, as well from
the repitions of songs (compare 12-28-92 to 11-25-92, or the
first set of 12-31-92  to 12-28&29-92), that there may be
CONSCIOUS efforts to discourage touring.  (BTW, I saw three
people get kicked out for fake tickets.)
 
Also, why no fanfare over the 12-29-92 Bike?  It was psychotic,
and introduced Jon's new cloak ("I've got a cloak, its a bit of a
joke....)
 
Cyall soon.....
 
--MORE--(89%)
 
 
ELLIS OF LEMURIA  email: jeg5s@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu
   snail mail: P.O. Box 3240, Charlottesville, VA 22903
     +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
motto: keep smiling, gliding, and riding that train!!  :-)

ELLIS OF LEMURIA  email: jeg5s@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu
   snail mail: P.O. Box 3240, Charlottesville, VA 22903
     +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
motto: keep smiling, gliding, and riding that train!!  :-)

-----------------------------
From: beowulf@wam.umd.edu (ames)
Subject: new year's mockingbird
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 04:49:24 GMT

apparently, the dude in the bird suit was brad.
one wonders how they convinced him to do it.

hello! to all the net people i met out there... 
particularly to matt "chocofiend" laurence, who
was kind enough to put up with me. or rather,
put me up. whatever. :-) anyone else - i was the
one in the 2nd row, center with the phish.net banner.

take it easy, all, happy new year.

(sleepsleepsleep)

amie

-- 
                I don't love you anymore since you ate my dog.
beowulf@wam.umd.edu
beowulf@eng.umd.edu
===============================================================================

From: Rich Fromm 04-Jan-1993 0018 
Subject: more NYE thoughts
Reply-To: fromm@rock.enet.dec.com
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 05:48:01 GMT

koverber@cs.ulowell.edu (Kurt Overberg) writes (Subject: NYE Set List)

|Set I
|=====
|

that was "Buried Alive"

|II
|==
...
|My Sweet One
|Stash     (everyone in audience clapped along with woodblocks!)

they did the Big Ball jam in between these

|III
|===
|Mike's Song -->
|I am Hydrogen -->
|Weakapaug Groove

i'd have to check the tape to be sure, but i don't think they did "I Am
Hydrogen"; i think it was more like:

Mike's Song ->
midnight countdown (with Auld Lang Syne) ->
Weekapaug Groove

anyway, a few comments...

the narration between Col Forbin and Mockingbird, and the narration during
Harpua, were pretty wild; anytime they were doing something like that, or
Fishman playing vaccuum, i couldn't help but thinking how strange this was
going to be to somebody who just happened to be listening to the radio the
next day and flipped past WBCN, not knowing what was being broadcast

did anybody see who came out of the Mockingbird suit?  our guess was that
it
was the Dude of Life, but that's just a guess; having this guy in a big
bird
costume hovering above the stage was kind of funny at first, but it got
tiring
by the time it was over

while trey was right in that it was kind of neat to do a barbershop
quartet
without mics in front of 6,000 people, i think it was even more incredible
that
they were able to get 6,000 people to be totally silent; it really worked
pretty well - in fact, it was quieter than most of the times where they've
tried it for 1 or 2 thousand people

while the acoustics sucked (what do you want from a hockey rink?), i still
had
a good time at the show; it was a bit bizarre seeing phish in such a large
venue - if they continue to play arenas, they really do need a new sound
system; i ran into many people that i knew, but it was also one of the
only
shows i've been too where i DIDN'T run into a bunch of people that i knew
were there

if a tree is run, it should definitely be from a tape from WBCN - it
sounds
a hell of a lot better than any audience tape possibly will; i've got sets
2 and 3, but unfortunately we were still driving home when set 1 started,
so i don't have all of it

glad to hear that the triple at the Y was nice, ellis; the double rooms
were
about the size of prison cells; we made the best of the situation, and
ended
up staying up until about 6 am; unfortunately our only hope of musical
enjoyment there was by cranking up the volume and using jeff's headphones
as speakers - oh well; if i had to do it again i'd probably bag the Y and
just drive home

a nice healthy dose (thanks j) of phish; so, how long 'til spring tour?

- rich (the guy with the neato twirling thing)
----------------------------------------
From: face@world.std.com (Scott Shurr)
Subject: My 2 cents on NYE
Date: 4 Jan 93 12:50:51 GMT

Hi,
Just thought I'd put in a few words about what I liked about the NYE
show.  I was surprised at how absent the security people were once
people had gotten in the door.  I didn't see anyone being hassled for
the whole show.  I was sitting in the back facing the stage, and the
sound was very good from back there.  I really like "Buried Alive";
it's one of those tunes that keeps replaying itself in my mind, and
I was glad that they started with it.  Wilson was kind of nice, but
I was really pleased to hear that nice long Divided Sky.
I wandered the floor during the break, and was pleased that Shelly
saw my Phishnet shirt and introduced herself.  She's the only nethead
I talked to, though I did catch a glimpse of someone wearing the new
style shirt.  I was a little disappointed that no net gathering place
ever got posted to the net, and I didn't get to meet more people.
The Famous Mockingbird thing was neat, and I also wondered if it was
the Dude of Life in the bird costume (which didn't look much like a
mockingbird actually, but it was a nice idea).  The new signals sounded
cool on the next days broadcast, especially the "mass hysteria" during
the flying saucer rap.  Good Times Bad Times really cooked.  I was hoping
for a Hendrix cover, and really liked the Fire encore.  All in all it was
a most satisfying birthday experience for me.
--Scott face@world.std.com

------------------------------
From: jxr1092@ritvax.isc.rit.edu (Jens Rodenberg)
Subject: NYE comments
Reply-To: jxr1092@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 00:50:12 GMT


   Wow, what a great show!  It was nice meeting everybody at the Fort
gathering and at the NYE show, and hope to see everybody during Spring
Tour...

   There were a few times during the show when I thought that everybody in
the band was quite proficient at their instruments with the exception of
Trey, who learned how to play guitar by watching Headbanger's Ball on MTV,
and the concept of the whole band is just one big joke on us phans, sort
of
like Spinal Tap (sorry, can't get the umlaut over the n).  That was only a
few short moments though... then of course there's the other end of the
spectrum, during improvisational sections, where the whole band can see
into the future (or another dimension) and determine where the jam is
going
to go, then base the actual jam around the jam that would have happened...
(does that make sense?)

   Someone mentioned poor sound quality, but I thought it was excellent
for
a hockey arena.  The only times it was marginal was during Trey's
narrations when there was lots of echo, but usually it was too loud for
that... I was quite satisfied with the sound during most of the show.  I
was in the net.section, which was in the Page Zone, pretty close to the
stage, first row of seats.

   That totally uncoordinated mockingbird (it looked almost like a skinny
Big Bird) was very funny- I haven't laughed that hard in quite a while.
To
me it seemed like a complete mockery of other bands who do stunts like
that
while thinking that they're coolest thing to happen since frozen yogurt.
The Dude of Life singing Diamond Girl was pretty funny too, mainly because
of the cheesiness, but also because he's (IMHO, of course) a pretty bad
singer.  I think that tune ranks up there with the Bob Weir and Rob
Wasserman version of Misty.

   I thought the audience was very good... I didn't see/hear any yahoos
(the idiots who go to a show to get drunk and scream
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
throughout the entire show)... it seemed like everyone was there for the
same reason, which was to enjoy the music (and humor) of a very cool band. 
It seemed pretty amazing that the whole place was quiet during Carolina. 
Unfortunately, something like that doesn't happen very often.  Too many
bands are plagued with a popularity that seems to attract assholes to
shows.  I've been to Dead shows where only one yahoo hampered the
experience for hundreds of people in the general vicinity, and at the
Allman Brothers show I saw over the summer, there only seemed to be a few
people who were there to *listen* to the music.  That's what I get for
going to a weekend show, I guess.  While I wish plenty of success for
Phish, I'm glad that they're getting very little radio airplay (and
especially no eMpTyV videos) which of course keeps show attendance down
and
limits it (in the most part) to true phans, but I can't help but think
that
Phish will eventually have a mystique very similar to the Dead's which
will
draw tons of people to shows whether or not they like, or are there to
listen to, the music.


Steve Franklin writes:

>lastly, shouldn't "fluffhead" be "PHLUFFHEAD"?! ;*)

   Of course not, it should be phluphphhead!

                                                Jens

EGGPLANT!!!