I've reached deep into the archives of Phishtory, and decided to dust off this overlooked gem, 4/21/1992 (Redwood Acres Fairgrounds, Eureka, CA). Stuck in the shadows' of his three older brothers, the legendary triumvirate of 4/16/1992 (Anaconda Theatre, Isla Vista, CA - of Follow Me To Gamehendge fame), 4/17/1992 (Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA - Bowie > Catapult > Bowie!!! Brother and YEM!!!), and 4/18/1992 (Wilbur Field, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA - Harry Hood!!! Squirt Gun Break!!!), even 4/19/1992 (The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA), seems to be more known. This show is a monster just waiting to break free.

I stumbled upon this tape (Set 1 only) in the early 90's and was floored first by the NICU, and later by the Melt and Bowie. 20 years later and I can still remember the jams, and can basically sing along to Trey's playing. During this run of the tour, Paul had Mike way up in the mix, making for some great sounding soundboards. This one is no slouch, but the mix is a bit too high, and Trey seems to warble a bit. Still it sounds great. The playing during this run is also incredible. They were so tight it's like they were robots.

As I said the NICU, Melt, and Bowie are fantastic, and the Possum is LOADED with tons of secret language, both band only and band/audience. The 2nd set is new to me, and is absolutely amazing, and destroys the 1st set. The narration in Col Forbin's is totally bizarre, crazy vocal effects by Trey. The Tweezer starts off just totally bizarre (Tweezah, Tweezah, Tweezah. It's gonna be coooooooooold!). Forget about after Uncle Ebeneezer. It slowly develops into a beautiful, melodic jam. You need to hear this. One of the best I've heard. After Tweezer slowly deconstructs, a rare Tela is played which is followed by a sick Mike's Groove. The Mike's is slightly unorthodox in the beginning, and the tramps section is massively psychedelic. I can just picture the strobe lights going off, lots of smoke, and everybody just losing their shit. Hydrogen is written by Carl Yastrzemski, and is played robotically. The Weekapaug...holy crap, Mike! Make! Trey's playing is so melodic. Just beautiful! It then gets a bit odd, and then Machine Gun Trey. I love it when he plays so fast his fingers moving on the strings are part of that signature sound. Some great teases as well. Happy Birthday! So much fun! Does Mike say at the end, "Weekapaug without the groove?" What an awesome ending. I miss 1992 Weekapaugs!

Everything has an edge, everything is played a bit....different. Magic. Lots of Type 1 and even some early Type 2 jamming. They're having soooo much fun! Even the Weigh is bizarre. So slow. The ending of Weigh is fantastic.

Next we have the Cold As Ice intro for Fish, but Mike and Page really milk it. Someone in the audience shouts for Fish to sing Catapult (as it was just debuted at the Warfield), to which Fish replies, "oh, that's not my terrain." He then introduces Mike. Suddenly Mike sings Catapult a capella. Back into Cold As Ice, and then even Hold Your Head Up. Page is just torturing Fish. We then get the only time Lively Up Yourself has been played. But get this, Fish is on bass, Mike is on Trey's Languedoc, and Trey on drums. Mike just rips, and Fish does a bass solo. Mike does the vacuum solo, not Fish. Fish's singing is simply atrocious (sorry man), which prompts an apology from Trey, and on that note madness ensues. Listen to it, one of the funniest moments in Phishtory. This is why I love this band. I can't imagine what it would've been like to walk in off the street never hearing of Phish and seeing this show. Sanity is a fitting song to follow. CARL!!!

Unfortunately, the Maze is cut (I bet it ripped!), and the end of Set 2 is missing Sweet Adeline and the Cavern encore (which is too bad, as it is introduced as The Prison Joke), but the rest of Set 2 makes up for this. The band was clearly having fun, and boy did they throw down!
You will love it if you've never heard it. Carl Yastrzemski! This is my new favorite show. Sorry 12/29/2013 (and yes, 12/29/2013 is one of the best shows I've seen, and I've seen some stellar shows).

This turned out to be a really funny show. Audience bootleg, a little boomy but unclear low end.

Sounds like a radom note tease to start with others before a nice Suzy. Weak start on Pen but good overall. Solid Melt! Rift and Guelah are good. Possum has a great tease opening, pretty solid jam. First half of Ice was missing from the bootleg I heard, probably a tape flip. Pretty good half Ice into a rare Eliza. NICU still has the weird middle. Bouncing is missing from the bootleg also! Good Bowie, lacking signals though. Too many in Possum I guess.

More teases to start the second set as Trey and Mike take us through As Time Rolls On? Following with a howling Dinner with a few warts. Forbin is great as always, great story, nice FX on the vocals, pretty good Mockingbird. Tweezer is rocking! Can't figure out what song Trey is teasing? Tela makes a rare appearance as well and it shows a little. Mike's Groove is solid tonight. Weigh is a little drunk sounding with a weird ending.

OK, Here's where it gets interesting! I love the Fishman sections of shows and this one had to be legendary! Lots of teasing by Page lately including full on Cold as Ice jams plus a brief HYHU. But then Fish on Bass? Mike on vaccuum and Trey's guitar!!! By the way Mike has some sweet chops. Great Lively jam followed by an apology/disclaimer vocal jam. And what a great idea, by Trey, to follow that with a rocking Sanity! Maze is a great closer.

Memories was missing from the bootleg, but Adeline is nice, plus great stage banter about buds, and an ounce to take home for Fish. Bluegrass Cavern tease and then introduced by Mike as the Prison Joke.

Very funny show, 5 stars just for the Fishman section!

Fantastic Suzy opener. Early Uncle Pen, cool cool. Nice ripping SOAM with a heck of a jam. Fish and Page back way off and Trey and Mike walk it around for a while then Fish kicks back in and it rocks out. They're not the band they will be yet but they're on their way. Rift is so good here. Incredible Possum, great Ice. Things cool off but stay fun and we end on a fantastic tumbling David Bowie.

Set 2, hold on to your butt. Love me Dinner and a Movie. Forbin>Mockingbird is good fun but gimmie that TWEEZER. This thing is weird and has an enormously satisfying melodic jam that's maybe a little bit pedestrian and a ton of fun. Mike and Trey interplay really elevates some simple riffage to the sublime. I love this Tweezer. Thank you Tela and then Mikes Groove continues to jam your butt , 92 style. Weigh immediately kicks off the shenanigans portion of the set. You can read about the shenanigans above or you can listen because this show is grade A top shelf '92 Phish. A must listen. Magical show.

Ah the 1992 California run. It is easily the most consequential trip to this point for the young band and the energy is palpable no matter which show you spin.

Everyone has their favorites but this is the one to seek out IMO. It will deliver on the quirkiness and oddball antics that define pre-1993 Phish. Some Yaz references and Secret Language and this show is pretty boilerplate for 1992.

Where it really shines is the crumbs that lead us to see the future. Tweezer is great, not for pre-type 2 heyday but for any era. The band is tight and ready to take it off the launchpad. A Mike's Song is where we stand years ahead of the time. Multilayered and tight. Its incredible that they cover so much ground in about three mins of jamming.

There are more sacred Cali shows from 1992 but this is the one that can give you a sampling of how things were to that point while also showing the glory days ahead.

Some really good meat dispersed throughout both sets off this Spring '92 show. I've heard whisperings of some other tremendous performances from earlier in April of this year, which I'll have to check out, but I think that this does a fairly good job of representing the peaks of the band's abilities at this point in the timeline. Great diversity of tracks and jams that cover ground from tried and true compositions (Suzy, Rift, Tela), quirky interludes (Eliza and a standalone Catapult), gimmicky Fishman tunes, fun Forbin narration, shredfests (Possum and Weekapaug), and jams that include cacophony (SOaM, Bowie, Mike's) and beauty (Tweezer).

The clearest highlight of the show is the second-set Tweezer which, through a series of modulating legato motions, meanders into a glorious and melodic A major - D Major jam. The transition out of this section hits hard as the band hits on a Tweezer Reprise-esque movement. I'd round out my top three with SOaM and Mike's, which both showcase some really excellent dissonant shredding from Trey and the band's ability to keep up and follow the leader. Weekapaug has some nice type II moments baked in as well that distinguish this Mike's Groove suite as a particularly meaty specimen.

Love this show. The recording is waay Mike heavy; and he is on. fire. Awesome.

4:50-Trey settles on a riff, a bit of a trill...Mike lays back and Page joins Trey with a bit of dissonance.
5:50-Trey and Page begin modulating the riff. Mike then comes in adding a background rhythm. Fishman plays the same driving beat for the beginning of this jam.
6:30-Page switches to Piano.
7:00-Trey plays an off key melody line. The jam kinda falls apart.
7:30-Trey settles on a simple melody and continues to play the rift as Page eventually comes back in.
7:50-Trey fills out the melody and Fishman comes in with a beat. Page continues dissonant sounds on the Piano.
9:05-Trey pulls it up, vamps on a note and Mike catches on. Fishman plays a nice line of fills.
9:25-Trey returns to his riff.
9:50-Trey unleashes a guitar scream that would make the guitar gods proud. He brings the melody down an octave and adds a nice distortion on it.
10:30-The jam has a bit of a Tweezer reprise feel to it.
10:45-Trey plays around with the melody. Him and Page take turns with some dissonant sounds.
11:33-Trey brings the melody back up an octave and has some great sustain and bended notes.
11:50-Fishman pushes the beat and plays some great fills. Tons of power in his playing.
12:10-Trey pulls it back, everyone plays dissonant strange chromatic lines.
12:30- Everyone begins to slow the tempo, continuing their strange lines.

13:15

Fantastic Tweezer that starts a little awkward but gets soaringly melodic during the jam before ending in darker territory.