On the surface, this is a fairly average show, with little to be found here that can't be found in other good 1988 shows (9/8/88, 9/24/88), but there are definitely some tunes worth checking out here.

From the first set, I nominate Contact, a pretty funny rendition, and always an enjoyable listen. Time Loves a Hero is worth a listen just because it's a debut, and they play it well enough.

From the second set, a scorching Fire turns up to redeem a set chock full of average versions of early Phish standards.

And from the final set, the debut of Foam, which is played well, and a Timber with Russ Remington which goes into a jazzy almost-type 2 jam really quickly and has a nice return to the main theme of the song. Overall, the saxophone of Remington doesn't add a whole lot to most of the songs that were played on the night, but Donna Lee might be of interest to those that are fans of those Giant Country Horns tours later down the road. This Donna Lee is stripped down, sure, but it's well played and is a debut for the band.

Let's call it a four star show.

This is a nice recording, although the pauses in between most tracks and during some songs is a bit annoying. I would imagine there was a lot of great stage banter that took place on this night, but unfortunately it’s all lost. The source info says this is a SBD recording but I believe it’s either a Matrix or a really nice On Stage recording. The quality seems to degrade a bit after the cut in Bag. There’s clearly a couple cassette generations in the lineage but it’s still a very bright sounding source overall. The audience comes through clearly and there seems to be quite a few in attendance! Probably the whole darn school!????

The show is rock solid throughout with a little sloppiness in sections. Set 1 is highlighted by the debut of Time Loves a Hero, a very loose Contact and the Costume Contest -> Harry Hood. Harry Hood was the clear winner of the contest. I wonder if there’s any photos out there from this night? I’d love to see what the costumes looked like!

Set 2 kicked off with the first special guest of the night. I must say I’m not a big fan of Nancy on vocals for Halley’s, actually not a fan of what Halley’s sounded like in general in the 80’s. On a positive note, the jam out of Halley’s segues nicely into another short but hot version of Whipping Post! It’s great to hear Divided Sky back in rotation! Trey pulled off the ‘Gus the Christmas Dog’ section a lot better than his attempt at the “Full Moon at the Zoo” performance. Guest number two of the evening was another low point imho. Bobby Brown is no John Popper and definitely took away from this version of Curtis Lowe. This standalone version of Mike’s was pretty rockin’!

More than half of Set 3 features Russ Remington on Sax. Some songs work better with the addition of the saxophone than others but overall Russ was a welcome addition to Set 3. I especially enjoyed his contribution to Timber, Slave and the debut of Donna Lee. Bag started with the introduction but cuts out shortly thereafter and starts back up midway through the jam. The debut of Foam came next even though it was introduced back in the Spring during their Earth Day performance (4/22) as “Marijuana Hot Chocolate”. This version runs straight through the verses with no middle jam. Although Fish debuted his vacuum cleaner at Sam’s on 9/13 he still has yet to bust it out again. Both Terrapin and I Didn’t Know feature him playing his bone.

Fun show overall. This one is definitely worth a listen if you’ve never heard it!