Red Rocks is one of the premier venues in the world. If you haven’t been to a show there at some point you should. Doubtful it’ll be Phish since they do Dicks now but it’s a must see venue. The two pack of Red Rocks shows during summer 94 are very indicative of the tour. The band comes out trying to destroy every song. Great type 1 jams. I love this tour but I think I lean towards the 95 summer tour when they were doing wild, long type 2 jams almost every night. Either tour could be considered their best, I personally consider Phish’s highest peak to be from 93 to 95. I was lucky to see most of my shows in this era.

Our seats were pretty close like 10th row. We had a fun crew and we were raging for the show. Ripping Jim Foam old school to start which got us in the mood right away. Song choice in for first set is somewhat suspect but still the Bowie was a good type 1 jam. Along with Lizards which I never really connected with musically.

The old school pairing of curtain --) tweezer is always a welcomed treat. Curtain is played well. Love that song. Tweezer is really high energy as well. Trey locks in on a riff right away. He goes high and dirty right away while staying mellow. Gordo and Fish are locked in with a great beat. For 10 min, the band stays in the pocket with a slower jam. Then after about 10 m of this, they blow it up with a bunch of high notes and tension release rock riffs. Then this purposefully falls apart. Fish runs Tweezer which is cool. He was such a beast back then. Lifeboy was a buzz kill for me in 94, but now a days I kind of like it. Nice reflective moment for everyone. Great Possum this night w a signal. Trey completely dismantles Possum and then put it together again. This is how to play Possum. Hood was the song of the show. Long reggae breakdown intro and the end is really beautiful. The energy was so euphoric in the venue during Hood. The ending is the peak of the show. Certainly worth a listen. Too bad there isn’t a board of this show just for the Curtain-Tweez-Possum-Hood. Fish was the MVP of this show. The next night was a better show but is heavily reviewed. 6-11-94 was a complete throw down with soundboards on the spreadsheet along with boards for 1993 Red Rocks show which people should take advantage of.

Forever overshadowed by the next night, this shows has some major highlights that shouldn’t be overlooked.

The Jim Foam is a solid opening combo and both are typical for the era, which is to say that they’re excellently played. A bit later, after a welcome Demand, we get to the first highlight of the show, Bowie, and it’s a really nice version, demonstrating how this band was able to stir things up when warranted. This one crackles with energy once things get going, building to a frenzied, chaotic peak. While there are much longer and more exploratory versions of this tune this year (including my all time fav on 12.29.94), this version is a fun, compact one. The rest of the set is pretty standard, and the Cavern having some Jimi teases is a treat.

Set II has some gems. It starts on a high note with the Axilla > Curtain > Tweezer run. The Tweezer, unsurprisingly, is fantastic and a major show highlight. Like Bowie, Tweezer was having a peak year and this version is a prime example. It’s not as exploratory as some of the big ones from this year but that shouldn’t deter a few listens. There are some early vocal antics before the jam takes off and once it does, it’s spectacular. This one feels like a roller coaster, moving with ease between frenzied jams and slower, more melodic parts. In all, it’s quite a ride and I listened many times before moving on. It’s been a while since I’ve heard a version that wowed me like this one did. Tweezer fades nicely into a lovely Lifeboy. After Sparkle, the bulk of the rest of the set is phenomenal, with the Possum and Hood lifting the set higher. The Possum builds to a huge peak, with Fish leading the way. It’s a great version, full of zest. The Hood is lovely, as is often the case, with beautiful quiet moments. The set closes on a high note with Tweezeprise, and the show finishes with a nice Sleeping Monkey > Rocky Top encore.

Overall, this is a really good show with a few major highlights. While it’s understandable why the next night gets all the love, this show has more than enough going for it that it’s worth checking out and is arguably underrated.