Small point of correction to TheEmu: They were saying "Root Log" at the beginning of Dog Log. It's a mathematical shorthand, though far be it from me to delve back to my junior year in high school to try to remember exactly what the hell it is. Sorry, Mr. Carlone.

First thing's first: The Dog Log in the soundcheck is pretty amusing. First, as is so often the case, they play it for Paul, and call it "Rude Log" and then Mike starts in with "Rude's Log, Stardate 12-6." Then there is a whole bunch of banter, especially from Trey to Marley, telling her that the song is about and for her. Finally, towards the end, there are Jeff Holdsworth references, and the last line is changed to "Where's Holdsworth gone?" As far as the show, I found it to be pretty much average. The shouts of "Alligator" in YEM appear to be in reference to the Shaggy Dog soundcheck from the day before (which itself included lots of shouts of "Alligator?!?!?!"). YEM is average, though, and the B&D segment is kind of lame (though the vocal jam is decent). The highlight for me is actually Fishman announcing "This is an audience that needs to be punished" before launching into Whipping Post and a brutal Henrietta guitar solo. There are few things more frightening than a Henrietta guitar solo, but judging from the other reviews of this gig, it was merited. I was ready to give this show two stars, because all of Possum except for the intro leading into "Wait" was cut, and I thought it would be terrible to end a set with that 5 minute "Wait" business. Alas, though, it was just cut, so I'll go three stars.

False start from Fish on Foam - someone forgot to turn on his snares. Cool vocal effects that I'm assuming must be effects and not just acoustics since this is a SBD and I've heard similar stuff for Foam, among others, around this time period. Everything here is good, though I have one complaint: Trey is way higher than everyone else in the mix (go figure), and it makes for an unbalanced sound. Reba A little sloppiness from Trey during the "chase" scene, but not too bad - I've definitely heard much worse. Jam isn't great and rather short, but it's about what I'd expect from a '91 first set second song Reba jam. Uncle Pen is good; solos are all pretty well played, though Page ends kind of awkwardly. Vocal effects are back in Coil, trippier this time. Short Page outro, I haven't heard any other Coil's from this age, but I'm guessing this is characteristic. Jazzin' it up with Magilla - the Chairman puts one down for you; still waiting for this bust out. This is a good Landlady, not the best, but good nonetheless. Guelah but no Asse. Something happens to Trey's guitar, but it leads to what is probably one of my favorite Trey banter lines now - "Cut it Fish, cut the shit". I Didn't Know a little fast - probably a representation of Trey's frustration/pissed-off-ness. Short vacuum solo, but good. Finish up and end set short.

It's Ice is a tad bit slow for my tastes, but it's decent. Pre tick-tock Ice as well? I didn't know those existed - different but not necessarily in a bad way. A nice little break with Eliza - what a bust out this would be for NYE run - I'm thinking early second set 12/30, maybe after a four-song rage-fest that opens the set, segued to an appropriate ballad. They pick up the pace again with Sparkle. This one gets up pretty close to the tempo I like but still not at the "reality melting" speed I look for (see 4/5/98). Early second set YEM - where I like it best. Apparently there's an alligator in the audience - strange, I wouldn't think you'd see many of those in VT. PAGE RAGE - I mean, he really gets down, pitch bending and all, but Trey doesn't carry over the momentum, which I find slightly disappointing, even though he picks it back up shortly after. However, a nice Oom Pa Pa signal kind of makes up for it. BnD is good, but not as exciting as some others. Short, just-okay vocal jam goes straight onto Horn. This is the first pre-baby grand Horn I've heard and I don't like it nearly as much, though that's not to say that I don't like it. Trey has a few bad notes at the die down in Divided Sky, and starts to again in the solo, but he saves it and even has a little help from Page - it leads to some more atonal stuff that is interesting when juxtaposed with the major mode. A lot of times Tela seems to me to be kind of hit or miss, and this one definitely hits. Followed up by...yeah, that's right, LLAMA RAGE. Fish lays it down in Whipping Post, as does Page, and this is probably some of the best drumming I've ever heard out of Trey. Interesting Possum intro with "Wait", kind of a mind-f*ck, then there's a cut and we never get to actually hear Possum, or maybe that's the point? Anyone care to explain? Short but good Lawn Boy with a nice little solo from Trey aka "Lawn Boy" (-Page) and right on to a rockin' Rocky Top to close out this show.

This was an okay show, despite the problems with Trey's guitar that caused Guelah and subsequently the first set to get cut short. I think it deserves somewhere around 2.6-2.9 stars (again, despite the first set troubles), so I'm gonna go on the higher end with this one and give it 3 and maybe other votes can balance us back down.

It was nice to hear the soundcheck in the bootleg. Memories was cut from the bootleg I heard. Average show for this time period. For some reason Fishman kept saying Alligator during YEM. Whipping Post was a scream fest, from what I read, the crowd did deserve it. Wait is pretty funny although the actual Possum is cut from the bootleg I heard.

(Originally published on the legacy Phish.net site many years ago...)

I wish I was as put off as I was the night of the Middlebury show. First thing first. The venue was a really cool place, a bit small, but if you hung upstairs there was plenty o space to groove (but you couldnt really see the band). There were lots o great eatables which was very hospitable. But to make a longer stor y shorter, there was potential for a really killer show and after driving a bizillion mph from Boston, damn it, I deserved one. For one thing, the people at the doors were really disorganized and arriving minutes after the start, I was a bit anxious to get inside (not to mention it was colder than a rat's ass up there). I hate to generalize, and for the most part, a great number of the crowd were acting very appropriately, but there was also an awful lot of people who were acting like supreme idiots - astage diving in front of Page during Tela - come on!! During that 10 minute "Wait" song/thing, I felt (and rightfully so) that the crowd was being punished for acting like big dummies. Trey played hockey; it was like we were put in the box with a double major until we learned to cool down. Finally, I apologize to those who were being cool and responsible, but for the most part the crowd was a bunch of frea freakin drunks. Now there are drunks and then there are 'stupid' drunks, and believe you me, there were plenty o big stupit drunks that eve. If I can possibly apologize to the band, I would. Being the last show I cought on the tour, it left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, so Trey, Page, Mike, Fish, if you are reading this, you're more than welcome to come to Buffalo and play in my parents' house. I'll cook you a kind spaghetti dinner!

(Originally published on the legacy Phish.net site many years ago, after being posted to rec.music.phish 12/7/91.)

*This was quite a strange version of Guelah. Page and Trey kind missed the cue for the Asse Festival, and then Trey's guitar completely shit the bed. So they stopped Guelah, and Trey said "Thank you, thank you.... we're gonna do a vocal number now since my guitar is fucked up". It was pretty funny.

**This Possum had the "wait" business in the beginning. They were doing the standard lead in, and then they just started playing these weird chords and saying "wait". The crowd got into it, and it went on for about 5 minutes before they finally went into Possum

All in all it was a great show! The crowd was pretty crazy... A number of peo- ple jumped up on stage and Peter had to escort them off. There was free chips, lemonade, and BEER! Can you believe that? 7 kegs they got! Whew!