If you are indifferent towards 1993-era Phish and/or guest appearances, then you don't need to hear this show. But if you enjoy the Tinley Park Antelope and the previous show's amazing Reba, this show has plenty of highlights. Stash and Runaway Jim contain aggressive, "Hey-hole" jamming, and the whole Flecktones sequence is playful and cool, as opposed to the manic Albany YEM freak-out with the Aquarium Rescue Unit. Also, Bela Fleck's presence may have prompted our boys to demonstrate mastery of the bluegrass tunes in their repertoire; listen for up-tempo, tight and 100% accurate versions of Poor Heart, Uncle Pen, and Nellie Kane.

This was the 3rd Phish show that I attended. 3.95 stars.

Red Rocks was the night before. I remember it was the first time I did the drive through the Rocky Mountains to get to the next show. Northern lights and orange sunshine were our rocket fuel. We smoked the whole way and I don't think we realized the gravity of sketchiness that driving thru Utah on drugs entails. Béla Fleck and the Flecktones opened (my first time seeing them). They sat in most of the second set.

Buried Alive starts up the show. They opened with this song quite a bit back in the day. Then into Poor Heart. Foam is a little off in the middle. Page is slipping for a few measures. They quite the song down and play softly for a few bars, then play gradually louder and louder. The first three song of this show are a bit off. Guelah Papyrus is sounding better. Followed by a decent Rift. The Stash that they play at this show is one of the highlights, an absolutely stunning version. It has that Phish “1.0” jam going for it. I believe they were doing their “filling the hey hole” style of jamming (all the be-bop scholars out there will know what I’m talking about). By the time they finished this Stash I was glad that I made the drive. Sparkle really got us dancing. I was definitely laughing laughing. Into The Landlady which hasn’t been played in this form since 1994 (at least as I write this, you never know what they’ll surprise us with next). A hopping version to be sure. Next up they do I Didn’t Know. Fish auditions for a washboard part on Bela Fleck’s next album. They close out the set with Runaway Jim. Complete with extended trippy, hair razing jam at the end. Yehaa!

Possum bake to start the 2nd set with a nice introduction. A nice solid Horn slows it down a bit. Then they throw down a Bill Monroe song called Uncle Penn. Now I have always held that Phish was probably the first “jam band” playing bluegrass in the early nineties. The term “jam band” hadn't been heard at that time. And the music industry was a different beast. They don’t play much bluegrass these days. Next is Fee followed with an extended outro to introduce Béla and the Wooten brothers. They jump into Llama followed by a nice Lawn Boy. Victor Wooten plays the bass solo on this one. The David Bowie that follows is a bit choppy at the beginning, which is understandable. However the second half of the song throws down a great improvisational jam. HYHU and Fish gets reacquainted with his old friend - his brain. Vacuum style. A cool percussion jam and into a great Hood with Béla solo. Phish never plays a bad Hood… ever. I would have to go out of my way to find a Hood that is sounding off. Daniel Saw the Stone closes it out. They do a vocal jam with Victor Wooten accompanying on bass.

Encore: Amazing Grace w/out a mic and Nellie Kane to finish. Catch a bus back to the cheap hotel. Good times…

Following an epic night at Red Rocks, we drove to Saltair early the next morning and found our way to the venue around 3ish. We could hear soundcheck happening and wandered through some open doors at the back of the venue and caught a Funky Bitch soundcheck before being asked to leave.
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I recall Mike wandering around pre-show, taking in the venue, crowd and view of the lake - Saltair is right on Salt Lake . The band did not disappoint for their first show in Utah with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones opening and joining in for more fun during the second set.
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Solid summer of '93 show - check out the MLB jam and all the fun stuff with Bela.

The Bela Flek and co. sit-in makes for some pretty special jamming in the second set of this show. I especially love Victor Wooten and Page's call and response in Lawn Boy, the sick Bowie jam, and a killer Daniel Saw the Stone. Before the openers join Phish on stage, the boys open set 2 with a ferocious Possum, too.

However special the second set is, I think I've gotta hand the crown to the first-set Stash. Really incredible improvisation on this one, with an especially smooth transition from a far-off land back to Stash proper for an awesomely soft-spoken finish. Perhaps not as grand as 8/15, but it comes close.