From: bing@Apple.COM (Christopher R. Bingham)
Newsgroups: rec.music.phish
Subject: Phish in Europe, Possum
Date: 5 Oct 92 18:36:01 GMT
Followup-To: rec.music.phish
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA

In article <1992Oct2.225147.27948@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> ncole@nyx.cs.du.edu (Noah Cole) writes:
>PS: Hey.. I was off teh net this summer. DOes someone want to tell me about the European tour.. how it was recieved etdc, er etc and about any interesting stories (Airport storied, er stories etc?)

[Semi-Phish-related rambling follows]

I was at the Brussels show, but never did a post about it (by the time I
got back on the net it was months later).  Bill Thomas (ex-Phishnetter and
current Prague resident) and I were travelling through Europe and the 
Middle East last summer, and coincidentally were in Paris and Brussels at
exactly the right time.  Paris was a bust: sold out, and scalpers wanted $50
each for tickets.  We could hear them playing Divided Sky from the street
outside.  Arg!

But we got tickets at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels with no problem.  After 
refreshing ourselves with a few Kwaks (potent Belgian beer; highly
recommended!) we enjoyed an extremely intense 45-minute set with about 10 other
very psyched American Phish fans.  Unfortunately I don't have a set list
(it included The Curtain; that's all I remember).  It was a lot of fun (sort
of like a private concert in this big empty club), but from the band's point
of view, I don't think it did much to build a following in Europe...

We stuck around for the Violent Femmes (who I actually like, believe it or 
not!), and they put on a pretty good show.  The Femmes seem to have a bit
more of a European following than Phish -- while Bill and I talked to some
other American Phish fans up by the stage between sets, the room filled to
capacity with about 500 people (unnoticed by us at the time) who subsequently
crushed us against the stage during Add It Up, Blister in the Sun, etc.  All
in all a fun time, though.
 
On a completely unrelated note, someone asked if "Possum" was actually called
"Oh! Possum": I believe it is, but people usually just abbreviate...

Chris

[Completely-non-Phish rambling follows]
PS.  As far as airport stories go, the best I can offer is an intimate 
experience with the thoroughness of Israeli security at Ben Gurion airport
in Tel Aviv.  We were questioned (separately) and searched for about two
hours, our stories cross-checked against each other, every item in our 
luggage meticulously examined.  The only part that really scared me was when
I was invited into a curtained back room for the "body search".  Fortunately
my worst fears were not realized; it was a simple pad-down (like you get
going to a concert).  The whole experience was a bit unnerving, but the
security folks were friendly and even checked our luggage and got our boarding
passes for us when they were done so we could avoid the long lines.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christopher R. Bingham             bing@apple.com
Macintosh System Software          (408) 974-7291
Apple Computer, Inc.               We can stage a runaway golfcart marathon! 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------