This was the final show of my 3 night run with Phish and closes my first encounter with the band. 10/13 was a great warm-up. 10/14 (and the night show @ Emos) was obviously all a fellow needed to get on the bus and stay on the bus. This night was very good and showed the kind of stamina these guys possessed back then but in my final estimation, they were exhausted and didn't have it in them to fully hit the highs that they hit the two previous nights. I recall being particularly impressed by Buried Alive, Slave, and Julius. I left those 3 nights a total convert up to this point in 2012.

At this Sunday show, it felt like there was a tacit understanding between band and audience that we're all beat, but let's do this. I know I was wiped out and the band was well known to have been blowing it out on sixth street til the wee hours, as were most of the crowd. And predictably, the show was a meh... particularly given all the high energy shows on the tour. Oh well...a Phish show is always a wonderful thing.

A note on the Hood. There'd been a big hubbub on RMP that they weren't finishing their Hoods this tour. People were seriously grumpy about it. So at the end of this one, they gave a meek little finish while Trey threw a grin and an eye roll that said "Alright, alright....we're finishing it... you happy now?". A funny little moment I thought.

I haven't found that negative reviews are received too well around here, but I figured I'd give my bits of backstory and experience at the gig anyway. There's a whole lot of great stuff to be found elsewhere on this tour...I'd recommend working your way to this one last.

Buried Alive was a bit of a bustout opener but shows no signs of rust. Slave pops up in a strange position, but is majestic nonetheless with Trey enthusiastic and way out front. Nice and tight Foam, but the first section of the Bowie closer is rushed, with the timing slightly off. The jam is typically stellar for a '95 version, though not especially distinctive.

Before any kind of jam can get going, Simple is brought to a screeching halt by the Tweezer intro. The Tweezer jam has some interesting, rhythmic weirdness to it, slowing down until it's finally just Page, Mike and Fish with almost no guitar sounds at all. That segues nicely into the Lizards intro. Suspicious Minds is frenetic.

The opening to Harry Hood is very quiet, with the opening lyrics spoken extremely quietly. The rest of the song is mildly subdued but after building to the traditional "You can feel good, good, good about Hood" climax, Trey calmly, almost soothingly, speaks the final lyrics and the song comes to a quiet conclusion. Very unique.

The Tweezer>Lizards and Hood are the only unique aspects of an otherwise solid night on this tour.

The calm before the storm.

Slave in a rare first set #3 slot, it's strong and has a strong ending as most from this era. Excellent Llama. Bowie has a fairly straightforward jam, but still has the same great fire.

Tweezer moves with ease into it's jam with some fantastic bass work by Mike. As usual a very well played Lizards. Hood is probably the most noteworthy/interesting part of the show. Instead of your typical epic build and release they try something different and basically whisper the Good About Hood portion. I will take the peak any day but still a very interesting approach.

Overall a very average show and the valley before the giant hill they climb up to the peak of all peaks NYE '95.

SET 1: Buried Alive: First of the tour, 47 show gap. > Poor Heart: Solid start, good energy. >

Slave to the Traffic Light: Definitely a solid version and I really like the atypical placement.

I Didn't Know, Demand: Standard stuff. >

Llama, Foam: Fantastic segment, ripping Phish!

Strange Design, I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome: Little cool down before the home stretch.

David Bowie: Average Bowie but appreciated in the closing position.

First set summary: Nothing mind blowing here but they are playing with conviction and fire. Slave has replay value.

SET 2: Julius, Simple: Killer opening segment here, like the first set – they definitely come out of the gate swinging. Simple is short but sweet. >

Tweezer: I really enjoy this Tweezer! Has kind of everything, rock and roll and patient, ambient space to close out the last 5 minutes or so. -> The Lizards

Sample in a Jar, Suspicious Minds > Hold Your Head Up: This is where the show could go from good to great. Unfortunately this segment holds the show back.

Harry Hood: This is a below average version unfortunately. The vocals in the beginning and end are basically whispered/spoken. Unique. But the jam itself is not coherent especially for this era. Page and Trey seemed like they could not get on the same page.

Tweezer Reprise: Good stuff.

ENCORE: Funky Bitch: Standard.

Second set summary: It’s too bad they couldn’t have replaced the Sample/SM/HYHU with something we could really sink our teeth into. But it is what it is. Tweezer rocks and seems super underrated in the grand Tweezer scheme of things. I would rate this show as a 3.4 out of 5 – solidly average and had potential to be much more. On to the next one!