4-22-10

16 years ago today I headed to the Township Auditorium to see a band I had only been listening to for a 4 or 5 month period. I had no expectations. I entered the venue with only a sense of wonder about the evening. Up to this point I had only heard a handful of tapes including Sacramento 3-22-93, Lawnboy, and the newly acquired Hoist.

I remember being able to stand and hold my arms out and still not touch anyone. It didn't seem to be very crowded, yet I still felt like I was part of something bigger. It's a difficult thing to describe. The one feeling I keep going back to was amazement. I realized that night I had found something I didn't even know I was looking for.

I was lucky enough to get a recording of the show that very evening, which blew me away. That started my collecting years, but more importantly, it allowed me to relive those moments right away. I could go right back to the tape and verify that my mind had, in fact, been blown.

Since then, shows have come and gone. I have made new friends, traveled to new places, met my wife (a story for another anniversary), and now have a son with show stats of his own. I, like everyone else, witnessed the downward spiral into Coventry, and the subsequent rebirth of that thing we all love so much.

With all that behind me I will walk into my first show 2010 again with a sense of awe and wonder...and no expectations.

http://jiggslot.blogspot.com/2010/04/16-years-ago-today.html

TL;DR: Skip this show.

The only reason I'm bothering to review this show is because this was my first one. For a first show, it was just fine: lots of album songs, not much in the way of jams... easy to digest for a 17 year old kid. But for anyone looking to find some overlooked gems from '94, this ain't it. The entire first set lacks any real energy. It seems hollow somehow. Llama lacks that frenetic energy that I love, PYITE doesn't have much punch, and all the bluegrass tunes just kill the energy even more. Divided Sky is decent, but only average, really. David Bowie is the only potential jam vehicle of the set and it doesn't ever get off the ground. They take it down into some atonal territory, briefly, but it goes nowhere.

The setlist for Set 2 looks like it has potential, but don't get your hopes up. Suzie starts off the second set with much the same lack of energy or drive we had in the first set; it just feels forced. However, Julius finally sees the first real fire of the show and gets the juices flowing. Reba is decent but average. Tweezer is even more average: must like the Bowie in the first set, they try to explore a little but it just falls apart... slips through their fingers. Runaway Jim is fantastic, though very straightforward and short. If I were ever introducing someone to the song who wasn't particularly familiar with Phish, I'd pick this version. Fish came out for the song from Disney's Jungle Book, which was fun and silly of course. The encore with Dr. McConnell was fun too, but nothing very exciting on tape to be honest. Lastly... no Tweezer Reprise. Alas...