Best Phish show

[davepeck]

give me august 1993 over almost anything in 1994.

Dave have you heard this one? This is my 2nd show I believe. I had just come off 5 nights of Grateful Dead and this one show blew all 5 outta the water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It\'s the Summer Tour ender and it fucking rips! I became a Phan at this show big time!

08-28-93 Greek Theater, University of California, Berkeley, CA

Soundcheck: Ginseng Sullivan, Funky Bitch, Nellie Cane

1: Llama, Bouncing Around the Room, Foam, Ginseng Sullivan, Maze-> Fluffhead-> Stash, The Squirming Coil, Crimes of the Mind*

2: Also Sprach Zarathustra-> Rift, Run Like an Antelope**, The Horse-> Silent in the Morning, Sparkle, It\'s Ice-> Big Ball Jam, Purple Rain^-> HYHU, You Enjoy Myself#, Contact, Chalk Dust Torture

E: Daniel, Amazing Grace

With J.J. Cale opening. *With the Dude of Life. **With "Brady Bunch" theme beginning. ^With vacuum. #With "Oye Como Va" (Santana) jam.

pretty sure. it\'s been a while since i\'ve looked at my phish hard drives, but i\'m pretty positive i have all of summer 1993 on there. may have to do some revisiting soon.

[ds673488]

now that i am back and able to comment on this, i would like to.  1993 is phish\'s best year for a lot of reasons.  this was the year that the band began to break out into larger theater venues, but still had not done extensive national touring like they began to do in spring of 1994.  in my opinion, 1994 was where the compositional tightness of the band began to faulter, probably because of the band having less time to practice with all of the far travel for touring.  1992 was the pinnacle of tighness for the band...they literally never mess anything up this year or do anything sloppy.  1993 was basically the same, but this year they added much more sophisticated sounds/energy to their jams, while still maintaining 100% the integrity of the compositions.  although 1994 has more energy/experimenting in jams, this came with a price in that you begin to see slippage of some of the difficult parts.

with that said, MUSICALLY my pick for the greatest phish show is 12/31/93 at the worcester centrum.  every, every, every song on the setlist is nailed to perfection.  The setlist is a monster, and peaches en regalia teases are evident in several of the songs.  The harry hood in this show to close the 3rd set before tweeprise is the greatest hood phish ever played.  It is a masterwork that gives me goosebumps every time.  the buildup is perfectly linear in the jam and it rises to unprecedented heights, trey is absolutely on fire.  other highlights (basically the whole show is one big highlight) include YEM (one of my top 5 fave versions), a FACE MELTING possum (one of my top 3 favs), reba is immaculate (one of my top 5 versions), and very solid versions abound (antelope, suzy greenberg, its ice, fee, soam)...one of the best parts in the show is right after auld lang syne the band busts out into a DWD jam that melts serious face.  the whole show is a work of art.  if anyone doesnt have it that wants it, i have a great soundboard of it.

one last thing.  i said this was MUSICALLY the best show of all time.  however, if you want to add in that "X factor" that makes a show magical for so many other reasons, then big cypress has to be listed as the greatest phish show of all time.  i need not go into this, but those of you who were there, you know why im saying this.

some of the chinese years of phish songs (just for laughs):
1990 - the year of the my sweet one
1991 - the year of the destiny unbound
1992 - the year of the mound
1994 - the year of the rift (i LOVE 1994 rift versions)
1997 - the year of the down with disease
1999 - the year of the meatstick
2003 - the year of the seven below

[Gordo]

give me august 1993 over almost anything in 1994.

Dave have you heard this one? This is my 2nd show I believe. I had just come off 5 nights of Grateful Dead and this one show blew all 5 outta the water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It\'s the Summer Tour ender and it fucking rips! I became a Phan at this show big time!

08-28-93 Greek Theater, University of California, Berkeley, CA

Soundcheck: Ginseng Sullivan, Funky Bitch, Nellie Cane

1: Llama, Bouncing Around the Room, Foam, Ginseng Sullivan, Maze-> Fluffhead-> Stash, The Squirming Coil, Crimes of the Mind*

2: Also Sprach Zarathustra-> Rift, Run Like an Antelope**, The Horse-> Silent in the Morning, Sparkle, It\'s Ice-> Big Ball Jam, Purple Rain^-> HYHU, You Enjoy Myself#, Contact, Chalk Dust Torture

E: Daniel, Amazing Grace

With J.J. Cale opening. *With the Dude of Life. **With "Brady Bunch" theme beginning. ^With vacuum. #With "Oye Como Va" (Santana) jam.

:drool:   :drool:   :drool:

dave (that is ds-dave), id love a copy of the NYE \'93 show.

[Vassillios]

actually, as far as muscianship went, 94 is pretty pinnacle.

Thank you.

I don\'t know MUCH about \'93 and I\'m sure there were some great ones (\'94 and earlier are the best Phish years) but I have heard a lot of \'94 and the spontaneity was just so incredible. Is this when they started going into shows without setlists?

don\'t remember the date or the setlist exactly, but its one of the live phish releases,

something like mikes->simple->midnight rider->simple->hydrogen->weekapaug-> fluffhead

[Wolfman]

As for best 2 set shows...I am a huge fan of 1998-12-29. Night 2 of a 4 night new years run.

Anyone else hit up this run? I was only 17 and took a Greyhound bus down to the city with a couple of my friends. Good times.

Wow booz we\'ve been living the same life.  I was 18 and took the Greyhound bus from Boston for that run too.  12/29/98 is indeed a great, great show.  Right out of the gate Page SHREDS the vox on Rock N Roll and you can taste the greatness in the air...

*  *  *

There\'s no "hands down" or "end of discussion" anything when it comes to Best-Of-Phish; it\'s eternaly debatable and that\'s the beauty of it.  Make a case for anything you want, but could everyone stop acting like it\'s so...simple  \'Cause it\'s not.

I\'ve always had 2 best shows: 2/20/93 and 11/27/98.  They\'re both on all the heavyweight lists in any reputable Phish source.  I think 2/20/93 II is the craziest set ever, it\'s beautiful, flawless, weird, frightening, dark, and inexplicable all at once.  There\'s no other set like it.  But nothing happened first set at that show.  11/27/98 is money start to finish.  There are much better recordings available of 11/27/98 (including LivePhish) and I was there, so that gives it an unfair advantage, but it\'s a true 2-set show.  

5/7/94 is not my personal best-ever but it is certainly an A++++ show and has to be mentioned in any discussion of best show.  

My favorite years have always been 93 and 98.  They\'re completely different eras and sounds.  93 was such a breakout year when they really started to get ballsy with seguing ANYTHING, going off into uncharted jam waters, doing crazy stuff, and just packing heat every night.  A great sleeper show that doesn\'t make most lists is 12/30/93 from Portland, ME.  93 was still the Trey-led-jam era before they really got good at teamwork, and it is the best of that sound IMO.  Plus, as ds mentioned, they NEVER made mistakes.  They nail every note of every tune every night with inhuman efficiency.  Trey must\'ve been a damn drill seargent at practice.  

\'98 was the last year they really just had it all together.  They had such a huge catalog of tunes and could pull any out.  They had the "funk" jams along with the other jams, the chemistry, the huge tunes, the ballads, everything was working.  It was when they really had it all.  You can make a good case that any year 93-97 had a better overall package of shows than 98, but 98 brought together everything they ever were and they totally peaked, before things started to get different in 99.      

Phish shows really were the best.

[ds673488]

some comments about things people just wrote...

vassillios...that set you are thinking of might be the 6-22-94 2nd set..they dont play midnight rider, but they play in and out of simple several times and eventually get to fluffhead (icculus is in there too)

gordo, yeah i can get you that show...will you be at toads?  im getting wolfman a copy on discs for toads and if youll be there i can get that to you too.  just give me like a dollar to cover the cost of the discs.

wolfman, the 2-20-93 is one of my top 10 shows...great great show with a massive setlist.

other gems of shows for me indlude...rochester 1997-12-11 (my favorite maze and tied fave DWD with 1994-11-12 kent, OH), 1993-5-5 (INSANE, at palace theater in my own albany, ny...aquarium rescue unit sits in a few songs, a MUST HEAR), and 1991-4-27, ANY of the 1990/1991 colorado run shows.

[jking]

actrually, they definitely jam on midnight rider during 6/22.94 and then sing catapult over it, too... it shows up two or three times during all that craziness...

Wednesday, June 22, 1994
Veterans Music Hall, Columbus, OH

      Set I: Llama, Guelah Papyrus, Rift, Gumbo > Maze, If I Could, Scent of a Mule, Stash, Golgi Apparatus
      Set II: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Mike\'s Song -> Simple -> Midnight Rider Jam -> Catapult -> Simple -> Icculus, Simple -> Mike\'s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove -> The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday Reprise > Digital Delay Loop Jam > Fluffhead, My Sweet One, Big Ball Jam > Jesus Just Left Chicago, Sample in a Jar
      Encore: Carolina, Cavern
      Show Notes: My Sweet One was performed acoustic and, along with Carolina, without microphones. Catapult was sung over the Midnight Rider jam. Icculus was played for the first time since March 25, 1993 (126 shows).

i\'ve decided that 6/11/94 is my single favorite show, though... pure heatfrom beginning to end!!

Saturday, June 11, 1994
Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO

      Set I: Wilson > Chalk Dust Torture, You Enjoy Myself -> Rift, Down with Disease, It\'s Ice > Tela, Stash
      Set II: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Run Like an Antelope, Fluffhead, Scent of a Mule, Split Open and Melt, The Squirming Coil, Maze, Contact > Frankenstein
      Encore: Suzy Greenberg
      Show Notes: This show marked the breakout of Frankenstein, which hadn\'t been played since July 26, 1991 (326 shows). This version of SOAM is a fan favorite. Fluffhead was played after a group of screaming fans had been requesting it for the entire beginning of the show. Antelope included a tease of the Odd Couple theme.

[ds673488]

ohh, yeah i remember that now...its not really the song itself though..just the guitar riff...and red rocks, both 93 and 94 are unbelievable shows...my top 3 fave YEM in the 94 one...great rift version, great antelope, awesome DWD, scent is spot on.  the 93 show is awesome too, rediclous YEM, halarious harpua...

[jking]

yep! and its real hard to find a better SOAM than this one... with the BC one being a close second...

[ds673488]

the bass riff gordo plays right after trey cuts out of his blazing guitar solo in YEM red rocks 94 is the greatest thing he ever played.  its the closest thing to rap phish ever busted out, its so head-banging-dank!

[Klout]

the total lack of respect for december 95 and 12/31/95 here is despicable people.

[solver]

I\'ve always had 2 best shows: 2/20/93 and 11/27/98. They\'re both on all the heavyweight lists in any reputable Phish source. I think 2/20/93 II is the craziest set ever, it\'s beautiful, flawless, weird, frightening, dark, and inexplicable all at once. There\'s no other set like it. But nothing happened first set at that show. 11/27/98 is money start to finish. There are much better recordings available of 11/27/98 (including LivePhish) and I was there, so that gives it an unfair advantage, but it\'s a true 2-set show.

i really was not going to add anything to this thread, but then this show had to be brought up. i was there too, but the funny part was, some friends and i were in the mall across the street before the show in the kaybee toy store or whatever they had over there. anyway, the trend at the time were those giggly ball things with the rubbery nubbins that when you switched \'em on, they\'d jitter around, and the one on display was playing wipeout. we started joking around, wondering if phish had ever thought to cover that song, and what a good song it would be to whip outta nowhere to stir up the crowd. we talked about it for a while and the song was in our heads before we went into the show...
 
then that night happened and i lost my flippin\' marbles. i have never felt the same about that band since. super-fuckin magical or someone was followin\' us and listening in, i\'ll never know but yeah, wolf, i agree there is no best, but this show was my favorite.

[Gordo]

11.27.98 is fantastic, i agree. it\'s got a different mood altogether, or at least it always has for me.

gordo, yeah i can get you that show...will you be at toads?  im getting wolfman a copy on discs for toads and if youll be there i can get that to you too.  just give me like a dollar to cover the cost of the discs.

i live in chicago my man. so, uhh, no i won\'t be there unfortunately. if you\'re down for an old fashioned bubble-mailer trades-a-doodle that\'d be cool. i could burn you a breakfast show that you don\'t have, orrr whatever else man.. let me know.

I\'ve always had 2 best shows: 2/20/93 and 11/27/98. They\'re both on all the heavyweight lists in any reputable Phish source. I think 2/20/93 II is the craziest set ever, it\'s beautiful, flawless, weird, frightening, dark, and inexplicable all at once. There\'s no other set like it. But nothing happened first set at that show. 11/27/98 is money start to finish. There are much better recordings available of 11/27/98 (including LivePhish) and I was there, so that gives it an unfair advantage, but it\'s a true 2-set show.

i really was not going to add anything to this thread, but then this show had to be brought up. i was there too, but the funny part was, some friends and i were in the mall across the street before the show in the kaybee toy store or whatever they had over there. anyway, the trend at the time were those giggly ball things with the rubbery nubbins that when you switched \'em on, they\'d jitter around, and the one on display was playing wipeout. we started joking around, wondering if phish had ever thought to cover that song, and what a good song it would be to whip outta nowhere to stir up the crowd. we talked about it for a while and the song was in our heads before we went into the show...
 
then that night happened and i lost my flippin\' marbles. i have never felt the same about that band since. super-fuckin magical or someone was followin\' us and listening in, i\'ll never know but yeah, wolf, i agree there is no best, but this show was my favorite.

That\'s ridiculous man! Seriously, maybe Fishman was playing with Cabbage Patch Dolls in the next aisle and you never saw him. Really, that\'s insane.

[Klout]

or one of them was over at the toy store too at some point and saw the same toy and had teh same idea. definitely possible.

[ds673488]

yeah gordo, we can work something out..ill let you know