I've eyed this show for years and always hoped a recording would surface someday... I had a hunch this would be a hot one. They were famously on fire by the time they got to California about a week later and I've found that AZ and NMex shows are often among my favorites of the tour. So I'm super excited to review a "brand new old show" from a great year. 92 to 94 Phish is what made me fall madly in love and I treasure this stuff much more than the modern fan I think. Long mystical journeys and ravy dance jams aren't where it began for me and I love dense, type 1 shows. They aren't vanilla for me at all. I'm going in blind...haven't looked at the text file and have mostly kept my eyes averted from the setlist.

So, let's see what we've got here...

Landlady gets things off to a lively start. It sounds like the tape levels were set too hot at first and there's a wee bit of distortion. I think somebody eased them back a bit and things get better, but this tape seems to be pushing the limits all the way along. The upside is lower hiss and a pretty crisp, high quality soundboard in the quieter spots. The mix of instruments is pretty good. Not as over-bassy as the CA shows, whether you consider that a good or bad thing. The overemphasis of Mike on the west coast tapes definitely has its appeal...

Back to the music, Landlady through Mound are all snappy, energetic renditions that are pretty characteristic of that snappy, energetic month. You can hear Trey's got his fire-chops and everybody's throwing bits of creativity and electricity into the otherwise tight song structures. Foam and Llama had some "ooo...nice!" segments for me, but this stretch of songs isn't anything surprising. Average (great!) 92 playing. Reba's the first big number of the night. Again, energetic and enthusiastic and Trey gets a few little snazzy original licks in, but this isn't necessarily a keeper. Fish sounds like he's trying a little too hard and overplaying a bit. Doesn't gel into anything special. Uncle Penn is a little wobbly but ok. Stash plays out much as Reba does. There are some good flashes but it doesn't QUITE gel rhythmically either. Coil is decent, Golgi is ok. I'd dearly love to be more enthusiastic about this set but on that old one to ten scale with 5 being an average (GREAT!) median performance, I'd have to give this one a 3. It's a good listen and a short playlist of Landlady, Sparkle, Foam, and Llama might give you a little jolt for, say, a short morning commute, but it's far from some of the CRACKLING first sets from this tour... 3/13, 3/20, 4/16, 5/8... there are quite a few.

Set two kicks off with a snappy Suzy that could go on your morning commute list too. Finally we get to a track with some character...a NICE Bowie! They get pretty loose and creative with this and it's really the first one of the show that a jaded vet would want to check out. Not quite a hall of famer, but I like. The Avenu sandwich is standard as is MSO. Ahh...Mike's Groove...home run potential here. Alas, Mike's through the start of Weekapaug falls into the Reba/Stash category...close, but just a hair off. Then the recording goes awry. There's a cut that I fear is pretty significant and the tape seems to run weirdly fast for a bit. We get back to a nice typical 92 Weeka-P jam. All of sudden Trey RISES UP and throws out a fireball of a solo, and...then it wraps. Bummer...I wanted more Trey playing on that plane! That was THE STUFF. Big ole tease. Horse/Silent passed by as my attention was distracted but I don't think I missed anything. Chalkdust is high energy and hot. Another good one for the morning wake up playlist. Fishman comes out and apparently is having a bit of buyer's remorse about his expensive bagpipe purchase. He says the debut performance went poorly and hopes tonight will go better. Well... he creates a very peculiar cocktail of a sound. Kind of a smear of harmonica, clarinet, a hint of bagpipe, and a keytar, played incompetently. So I declare it a success! Cavern is standard and then...hah...Trey contradicts my general impression and says it's truly his favorite gig of the tour. I already have a thumbs down from Trey before I've finished the review! I think it indicates that they'd been having a fantastic time with the crowd and explains why the high energy tunes are probably the highlights of the show. It's pretty rare but Sleeping Monkey really POPS to me tonight. I love Trey's solo! More high energy fun with Rocky Top and they're out.

This is one where you'd probably give it a ten if you were there, but listening at home, by myself, 26 years later, with a nit-picky ear, I can't give it more than a six out of ten for home listening. MAJOR thanks to the folks who resurrected this!