Suzie Reprise with The Dude of Life

Here's an interesting one for ya... It's from 11-24-98 at the New Haven Coliseum. The venue was very strange, it's shaped like a giant plus instead of an oval- there are huge empty voids in the 4 corners and the 4 "lines" of the plus go up VERY high. This was the last Phish show ever at the NHC. Guaranteed. Reunion or not (and the rumors are flying these days). Guaranteed because in 2007 they imploded the place. Sort of an ok show, some good jams- DWD, Tweezer-but nothing spectacular. The first set was sort of blah.

The encore however was great! First off, you really can't go wrong with a Suzie Greenberg, Tweezer Reprise encore. Love the Reprise in the encore slot- might as well end the show dancing as hard as humanly possible (see Antelope too). This Suzie features the one and only Dude of Life, who wrote the song, singing it. The Dude, in typical DOL style, adds his own little flourishes to it. His lyrics are slightly different than what Trey typically sings and he ADDS A WHOLE NEW 2ND VERSE to it. And to top it off, he's adding in some lyrics to the opening of Tweprise. And he's dancing around, wearing stupid glasses atop his head, and having just a grand ol' time up there with Phish. So all in all, a solid and very fun encore. If anyone out there can understand anything he's actually singing in the 2nd verse or Reprise, maybe you could transcribe it in the comments section?! Thanks- Enjoy:

Feeling Good about this Classic '91 Hood

Here's a classic Harry Hood from 11/30/91 at the Capitol Theater in Portchester, NY. Lots of classic Phish closeup action here including some sweet head rolling, bobbing and note mouthing action from the classic muscle shirted short haired Mr. Anastasio. 1991 is not really known for it's Hood's but this one seems pretty good (and classic). The very beginning is cut off (starts at the "where do you goooooo") but the video takes you all the through to the classic "I feel good" ending. Why did they drop that part? Arrgh.

ASIHTOS Coney Island

This right here is the reason Phish needs to get back together. To leave a song with such huge potential to be a monster jam vehicle having only been played three times is a crime against music. Or maybe music is actually the victim here and Phish is the criminal. Am I the victim or the crime? A Song I Heard the Ocean sing is probably Phish's last great song; great lyrics, harmonies, and a nice jam with potential for growth. Think Free or Down with Disease- both started off small but could easily become a monster in the hands of Vermont's Phinest. They premiered this in Coney Island, right on the ocean, in the great borough of Brooklyn, home to the world's best pizza, opening the show with it on 6/17/04. Here it is, the case for the Phish reunion in full pro-shot glory:

Mmmbop: Like an 11 Year Old Sex Machine

Phish.com calls this the rare example (maybe the ONLY example?) of a Phish soundcheck that is better known than the actual show. This soundcheck was open to the public and is some of the loosest most carefree fun Phish you will hear (click for pics of the limbo karaoke contest!). Check out the setlist for the soundcheck courtesy of Phish.net:

07-06-97 Spiaggia di Rivoltella, Desenzano (Brescia), Italy

Soundcheck: Jam, Oblivious Fool, Beauty of My Dreams, Hell's Bells (attempt)*, You Shook Me All Night Long#, MMMBop^, Another One Bites the Dust (Queen)$&, And It Stoned Me (Van Morrison)$, Only Shallow (My Bloody Valentine)$, Day-O

*As the show is outside (on a beach), bells ringing at a nearby church prompt this attempt at this AC/DC tune. #Sung by Fish after Trey can't remember the words. Trey makes a comment afterwords about writing just one song like this one. ^Hanson cover, sung by Fish as James Brown ("Like an 11-year-old sex machine"). $The Soundcheck Limbo Karaoke Contest (sung by audience members). &Sung as "Another one rides the bus".

Today we've got a video of the MMMBop, which is just hysterical. Trey (in his oft-worn eyeball top hat shirt) looks like he's having blast. Fishman, unfortunately blocked by fans' heads here, is doing his typical crown prince/court jester. Page looks mildly amused. Mike- are you there? So here ya go-Phish doing James Brown's version of Hanson's Mmmbop. Take it to the bridge.. 23 times...hit me....116 times:

Sleep & Albuquerque 12/28/98 MSG ministage setup

Might as well keep the MSG theme going while the going's good. Here's a pair of quickies from 12/28/98. What's interesting about these is that Phish adopted a mini-stage setup to do a few acoustic songs. A really small stage was rolled out off to the right side of the main stage for a 3 song interlude. It reminded me of the acoustic sections they did during the summer of 1996. I'm pretty sure this is the only show of 1998 that the mini stage was used. Note Jon "Bob Weaver" Fishman in his Viking horns playing drums with brushes and Mike "Cactus" Gordon on acoustic guitar instead of his normal bass:

Here's Albuquerque, which is a Neil Young cover and extremely difficult to spell without using spellcheck... they followed this up with Driver (no video unfortunately):

First Wilson Chant 12/30/94

Since it looks like my last few posts have all been from Madison Square Garden, I might as well continue the trend. Here's Wilson from 12/30/94, which is the version included on "A Live One". This was Phish's first appearance at MSG and from the looks of it, both the band and the crowd were pumped up. The Wilson chant had appeared weakly throughout 1994 but it was at this show, with Trey egging on the crowd, that it really took off into it's own. And with it, was the demise of Jon Fishman's little woodblock solo thing. But I think we're all better off with 20,000 fans chanting the name of the evil ruler of Gamehenge. A Live One came out before the next tour began, and sealed the Wilson chant as a permanent fixture in Phishtory.

Vicious Mike's Song into Digital Delay Loop Jam 12/31/95

Oh yeah! The culmination of possibly Phish's best year ever, 1995 was the big show at Madison Square Garden on 12/31/95. New Years Eve had the band in fine form. The 2nd set ended with a HUGE Mike's Song. Just monstrous. Best ever? Maybe. Not really evil Phish but just intense and focused, moving smoothly from one theme to the next as if it were a pre-composed song. That little thing starting around 7:45 into the first video is just the absolute shit. Damn.
The jam went into a smooth mellow loop jam with Trey "we work in the Gamehenge Time Factory" Anastasio creating digital delay effect loops using his foot pedals to end the set in a chill psychedelic mood. Gotta love how he says "don't go away" as if someone was going to leave before the midnight set.

12/29/98 Divided Sky Encore

At the time the Divided Sky encore just seemed like a great encore and nothing more. But when the stathounds got their hands on the setlist, it was revealed that this was the first Divided Sky encore since 1990 which just made it all the more special in retrospect. This was the 2nd show of Phish's 4 day run at Madison Square Garden. The playing is just spot on and very enthused and intense. The build towards the end makes it the perfect encore. Here ya go- a 2 part video today: