From: mdbruce@leland.Stanford.EDU (Michael David Bruce)
Subject: NYE and stuff.
Summary: NYE was a cool show.
Keywords: NYE, phish, cool, fun
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 93 00:06:38 GMT

Ok...I've been pretty silent for the last few months (what do you expect
with no shows out here?), but now it is time to go bananas and start posting
again because I SAW PHISH AGAIN!!  

Where:  matthew's arena
When:  First Night, 1992-->93
Who:  Phish, me, my brother, some friends, and 6000 other people.
Why:  Because it's Phish.

We drove in all the way from Rochester, NY, starting bright and early at 7am.
The radio was sending the soothing sounds of phish shows past, the notes
driving us along.  We stopped to change drivers and empty bladders at the
first eastbound stop on the Mass Pike.  That's where it begins.  Because
the parking lot looked like a circus was coming to town.  Or more accurately
that a circus was passing through.  Phish stickers everywhere.  Tie-dyes
everywhere.  Long hair everywhere.  And somewhere, we ran into a friend
that we hadn't seen in over two years.  

She was headed to phish, too, so we started caravaning.  It started with
two cars and ten people (both with phish stickers).  Pretty soon it was
three and 13 then 4 and 18, all the way up to 10 and 40+ (can't see in
the back of them vans, ya know).  And we were passing more along the way.
Headline:  RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS HEAD TO MECCA:  Caravan of beat-up cars with
liberal bumper stickers turns heads.

Anyway, we turned off early to find our boston friend, the one with the
beds, so we didn't see the arrival.  We took the train in, and ran out 
of the station screaming "Possum!!" and "Who's gonna help us finish this
champagne?!"  and on into the arena.  As I entered the lobby and looked
at the rather humble surroundings, I thought, "this ain't so bad.  Like
Union last spring (the greatest phish show ever, as far as I am concerned)"
But something much bigger took over when I stepped into the arena.  The
immensity of it drew my breath out of me.  Like being surprised by some-
one from around a corner.  Unbelievable.  People everywhere.  A forest of
mic stands.  And not one but TWO sets of speakers--one about halfway back 
in the crowd, suspended in air over everyone's heads.  We stood under the
rightmost of them.

We barely had time to exclaim, though.  Our train was a bit late, and so
were we.  Fortunately, so was the band.  Lights out.  Voices UP!  And 
fishman begins to hammer out the beat to Buried Alive!  For a moment,
we think it is Poor Heart, but then page comes in with those five 
staccato piano notes, and we know.  There is no holding any of us back.
The music takes control of us and shakes our bodies into contortions.  I
peel my eyes off the stage and watch the rest of the crowd.  Insane!
They are all being pulled and pushed this way and that.  An ant colony
in an earthquake.

Poor Heart flows perfectly from Buried, even if Trey does screw up the
intro (listen to the broadcast when the band tries to pull it off!), but
it is Maze and Trey's solo that sends the first fire through the crowd.
The end of his solo brings all the hands on the floor into the air and
every voice up to the stage.

The show flows past in an ever intensifying tumult:  Divided Sky
is a wall of organ under raging guitar, Foam a frenzy at a faster pace
than normal, and antelope--one of the greatest that I have ever heard.

At set break, I wander around, find some people, chat, find some water,
drink, meet some new people.  People are satisfied in walking around.
Relaxed, but tired.  Waiting for a second wind.

The second set is a little more ragged than the first, but it is clearly
the bands "fun" set.  Bouncing ball jam--brilliant!!  Right over the
beat for  sweet1.  The end is a big game of basketball, although it is
soured by someone jumping up on the stage to dance in front of the crowd.
"Ego, craving distinction, belongs to the narrowness of now."  --William 
Least Heat-Moon.  Famous Mockingbird is a riot as always.  How many
bands these days ask their fans to actually use their imaginations the
way phish does?  For that matter who *ever* asks it anymore?  But the
end of the set is another orgasmic jam:  Good Times, Bad Times.

Set III:  I have my doubts as they begin with Mike's Groove.  Not enough
time!  But somewhere in the strobes, the screaming guitar, the bouncing,
the fog, Trey's voice proceeds:  "Two minutes to New Years!"  At the
stroke of midnight, as always, Auld Lang Syne, plus streamers and confetti
which gets stuck on the lighting rigs in front of the stage.  But then
brilliance:  Auld Lang Syne breaks down to a bluegrass feel, and I
think, no wait, I know I hear the beat to Weekapaug!!  There it is!!
And then, HARPUA!!!!!!  With a riotous Fishman speech in the middle:
"Yes we can stage a runaway golfcart marathon!"  Will there be any
more?  Of course!  The Dude of life comes out, dancing with a lawnmower,
and making it good, too!

As with the other two sets, it comes as no surprise that the hottest
jam is at the end, and Llama is finally and forever the greatest that
I have ever seen it played.  Amazing!!

But the final amazing part of the concert comes not in volume, but in
silence.  I did not think that it was possible that they could get
everyone in the place to be quiet for "Carolina,"  but they do.  And
there is total silence--for the *entire* song.  I'm sure that some of 
the people in the back could not hear it (the vent system was actually
very loud), but they remained silent.  Incredible!!  Thank you everyone
for making my year!

POSTSCRIPT:  An item in the boston globe the next day (quoting from memory
here):  "Was it an earthquake, a train, or a very loud Phish concert that
shook the neighborhood around the Northeastern campus last night?"  My
answer:  go with the phish show.

  


-- 
--Mikey				"'But anything we can do is so _trivial_.'
mdbruce@leland.stanford.edu	And I would say, 'Not trivial, just small. The
Hayduke lives!			way all life begins.'"  --Wayland Drew.
Newsgroups: rec.music.phish