27 years ago today. Damm. Happy anniversary to me.

This was the first time I saw this amazing band and I was blown away. It was my sophomore summer (a required, but delightful semester) at Dartmouth College. There were probably only about 1500 students on campus. Phish already had quite the following in Burlington, and I had heard of them, but alas had not had the chance to check them out. We had a couple of tapes and Junta floating around the house, but the Dead was still the shit during this era.

It was like pulling teeth trying to get folks to leave the comfort and free flowing beer of our fraternity basement on a hot Saturday night to go to a *free* concert. The action was already in progress when a few of us ambled in. Back in those days, Collis, which still serves as the Dartmouth student center, contained a small cafe and a dance floor more suited to a high school band. No way there were 300 ppl at the show. It was more like 80-100. I remember thinking how sad it was that such talented musicians were ripping it up for such a small, subdued crowd. There were a few "followers" shaking their bones, but otherwise it was pretty lame crowd.

Despite the turnout, I reveled in the goofy energy and raw power of the band, especially my new guitar hero. Honestly, I still prefer this era of Phish to the self-indulgent, tripped out, incessant noodling of 96/97. The Bowie, the following comedy act led by Fish, as well as the Mike's Groove to end the first set, all left a permanent impression on me. I recall 2nd set trampolines, during YEM I believe. I left this show thinking, "What a friggin talented and crazy band! Too bad they are so out there. They'll never make it big." LOL. A few New Years shows later, the Santana and Horde tours, Jerry dies, and the rest is Phishtory.

In the early days, the p fish did not need much of an audience to have a good time.

There’s two sources for this show. The sound on source #1 is a hair sharp but has brighter sound than source #2. Unfortunately, source #1 suffers from multiple cuts throughout. Source #2 is pitch perfect but is a bit flat.

A great run of songs starts things off on a high note. The very first Oh Kee Pah>Suzy pairing gets the party started. TMWSIY>Alvenu is always a welcome treat. Solid version of Bag. PYITE is similar to the debut version at The Front but doesn’t have the mini Fish solo at the end. Highlights: Alvenu, Split Open, Divided Sky, Bowie, Undun, YEM, Hood

I recently participated in a thread [http://forum.phish.net/forum/show/1375431294] on the phish.net Forum asking about the trumpet player during the 8/26/89 Antelope. 'Twas a mystery that appears to be revealed with a listen to "Undun" from the second set of this show, as well as the show notes. The rest of the show , IMO, pales in comparison to the classic 3-sett show at Townsend Family Park one week later, though early versions of Oh Kee Pah, PYITE, and Rocky Top are worth a listen.

Not much I can find to say about this one. Avenu M. is pretty tight, there's a good Bag and decent Mango and Melt. A Train is pretty short, Mike's is egregiously cut. All in all, pretty average. 3 Stars.

This was a hard show to review as about half of it does not exist in recorded history, although the bulk of the first set does. This show was the third trip back to Hanover this year (Jan, May and August). From what I can tell from some internet researching, this would have been a 300 capacity show. My guess is far less than that, but really need someone who was there to comment on attendance. I imagine this was a fun place to play with some loyal fans from the area that attended or made the trip. At any rate, it must have been a blast!

My general thoughts are they came out smoking and I really liked the first set as it flows really well and nicely balances vocal duties. The second set is so incomplete it’s just too hard to say much about it. But as for the first set at least, this was an “on” night for the band in 1989. There’s not really much on the recording in the way of improvisation, but as stated, half of the show isn’t represented on tape. There is nothing here that is “must hear” material, but if you love Phish and want a different 89 show to check out besides the rightfully classic 8/26/89, the first set is a good mid 89 representation.

Set I
Oh Kee Pa > Suzy is the perfect start to any show IMHO. Although Fishman is not flawless in this Suzy, he still tears it up. Dissolves wonderfully into TMWSIY. Two instrumentals in the first 3 songs of the show, nice! This is just beautiful. The expected segue into Avenu Malkenu. Great energy. Smoking. Trey quickly counts off and we’ve entered Gamehenge via AC/DC Bag. Next is a brief dedication to two Dartmouth students for winning the Phish quiz (they go unnamed on my copy), one of whom apparently has graduated and seems is not even present. PYITE. Trey runs into some problems here, which I think it can be forgiven, as according to phish.net stats, this is the second version ever of this incredible tune. This would have floored me if I had been in attendance. It was played 4 more times in 1989 and then not again until after Page scored his baby grand in 93, when the Landlady/Punch dance was unveiled for the first time by Trey. Trey just nails his solo in Rocky Top. Scorching. Just as I’m noticing a great back and forth flow of songs sung by Trey and Mike, Page steps up to the plate with his vocal lead for Bold as Love. Perfect timing. Just ask the axis, he knows everything-g-g-g. Hilarious. Mango. Ok, great. Very jazzy feel. Loving everything Trey and especially Fish are doing. Lizards. And we’re back in Gamehenge. Mike would probably say Trey is playing too many notes leading up to his solo, I’d tend to agree. Again, quickly forgotten by the typically gorgeous composed solo part of the tune. Mike’s. Again, love the back and forth vocal sharing. H20 and Weekapaug are missing off my copy and that ends the first set.

Set II
Split, A-Train, Divided, Gin is all that exists from set two and is the opening stanza. To my ears everything is played well. Sandwiching A-Train in between Split and Divided really showcases their diversity. I really love the jazz standards and you can hear it come out in a lot of their playing from this era. About the only things I didn’t like was during the outro Gin segment when Trey intentionally plays behind the beat, as he will often do. One of those things that I find hard to enjoy on an early sbd recording like this because there’s just so much of Trey’s attack in the mix. This is something that just sounds much better in concert or on an audience pull than a sbd copy. Although I know what Trey is trying to do, it doesn't play back well.