30 years ago tonight was my first ever jaded moment at a #phish show. More like semi-jaded.
When they opened with Llama I think I said "Seriously?" out loud because 7/8/94 was my 3rd show and my 3rd Llama opener!
I loved Llama then and love it now. Was just looking for something different.
Any hint of jadedness immediately vanished the second the siren started that signaled the start of NO2.
I had stumbled onto Phish only six months earlier but I fell in with a super-connected crowd...
1/x
...at Northwestern as soon as I returned to school after seeing #phish 12/31/93. So I knew all about Gamehendge and it's significance. I was already tracking every setlist and I was devastated when they played it 6/26/94 because it meant I wouldn't be seeing one in '94.
When it hit me that I was wrong I started jumping up and down like I was getting tasered.
A magical, magical evening for this 18-year-old.
2/x
I listened to the first set of 7/8/94 today and the way that Trey absolutely carves up Lizards, Tela, Mockingbird, Sloth. It takes my breath away. #phish
One of the greatest guitar players to ever live at the height of his powers, three months into a tour, playing really fucking difficult music in a total flow state.
The flow. The swing. The assertiveness. Complete mastery of his instrument.
3/x
And the entire band is SO CONNECTED. During the composed section of Divided Sky there is a section where they don't frequently get quiet and the bottom falls out dynamically from the entire band and it happens with seemingly no warning. #phish
All four have ears for days and when they are individually and collectively in a flow state it frees them up to communicate in a way that feels telepathically.
4/x
Getting into that level of musical conversation, even for those of us who have been obnoxiously lucky to get to play with the greats, is so incredibly rare.
The communication shines in the composed sections as well as the jams.
The 7/8/94 Divided Sky is the GOAT for my tastes. It is tension and release #phish at its finest.
But it is completely overshadowed by the Stash in the second set which is featured on A Live One.
5/x
If I want to play an example of tension and release #phish for a professional musician, the 7/8/94 Stash is what I go for every single time. It is stunning - simultaneously uplifting and disorienting in spots.
It is Phish at their absolute best. Four musicians speaking as one.
6/x
And don't sleep on the Reba or the YEM->Frankenstein->YEM. The second set has pretty much zero flow AND NONE WAS NEEDED. When the peaks of a show are this asininely high you don't need flow. #phish
This was the first show of my first extended run (5 shows in 9 days) and emerged from the other side of this stretch as a changed musician.
I cherish the memories of these shows. Can't believe it's been 30 years!
7/7
@drewphish fantastic show. The video is up on YouTube btw.
@lizardllama Getting to see the video of this show during the pandemic when I didn't even know video existed was almost an out of body experience. So great that it is up.
The revelation from the video for me was how dark Kuroda made the lights during the madness of that Stash jam. And then he turned on what felt like every light in Eastern MA at the peak. Goddamn what a band!