, attached to 1994-11-25

Review by MrPalmers1000DollarQ

MrPalmers1000DollarQ While there are certainly other, more-deserving shows from Fall '94 worthy of their own official releases, that's more indicative of the tour's strength than it is of any distinct shortcoming 11/25/95 bears. The show is admittedly fairly contained, but there's still plenty of great Phish to be heard. Llama starts out nice and strong, with Fishman particularly standing out as MVP--this is a common theme throughout the show, in my opinion. This one has an epic moment of peaking Trey right around 4:45. The Reba jam features some more great Fishman (love his interactions with Trey starting around 9:00; these guys are going back and forth all song). From a subdued early section, Trey takes us into a midrange energy groove fairly quickly, but the ascent from here to the top is grand (11:30 to the end is spiritual). SOAM takes the more chaotic approach, delivering a very sludgy and wild jam section, reminiscent of the Bomb Factory version from 5/7/94. Last first set highlight is a slappin' Julius. This song was an excellent rotator all Fall.

Second set delivers with a hot 2001>Mike's Groove. Mike's has some nice alternating moments of full-band riffing and regular jam before giving way to a great peak. From here we -> into the highlight of the show with a very experimental Simple. Early in the jam, the song loses all shape as the band members each contribute to a sloppy, nebulous soundscape colored by Trey's phase pedal. Out of a brief ambient jam arises some dark and creepy interactions, largely focused on Page and Mike, but with moments of contribution from Trey and Fishman as well. As I'm writing this I'm realizing how hard of a jam this is to describe...it's one of the more unique segments to come out of '94 for sure, but segues incredibly smoothly into a sweet Thanksgiving Harpua. Mike's Groove is wrapped up with a flying Weekapaug which dabbles in dissonance, plenty of guitar effects, some excellent Page clavs, and more of that rockin Fishman. A strong Mango Song and Fish show segment deliver us to the Antelope closer, which packs a strong if straightforward punch. One of the stronger Type I versions of this tune I've heard.

Ultimately, I think this show is the obvious weaker leg of the Chicago '94 boxset. However, as I pointed out at the beginning, this is only because of the high bar Phish set for itself in 1994. If they played a show like this today, the audience would achieve nirvana and/or shit themselves.


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