(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

This was definitely the show that hooked me for life. It is now known as the “GameHoist” show, for obvious reasons. I won't go into much of a performance review besides saying they rocked and the setlists speak for themselves. Of course, the music is what brought me there, but the main reason this show had such a big impact on me was the circumstances surrounding it.
I had just gotten back from studying and traveling for a semester in Florence (Firenze), Italy. I went with my buddy Dogger, and as we departed I gave him a little crap for bringing twenty Phish tapes along. Though I had seen the boys three times already, I was not a huge fan yet — still sticking to my Jerry-is-God opinion and not really opening myself up to the Phish experience. Well, needless to say, those damn tapes grew on me like fungus on cow dung. By the end of our four-month adventure, I was thanking the Dogger for bringing that music. By then I knew about every note and lyric on all twenty tapes.
Back in the States I dubbed a few tapes and was off to an adventurous job supervising youth groups in the repair of poor peoples’ homes in War, West Virginia. This was one tough job. Sixteen- to eighteen-hour days (no exaggeration) of some of the most satisfying and hard work I've ever done. When I found out Phish was playing two hours’ drive from War in Charleston, I felt I deserved a break and immediately told my supervisors that I had a "wedding" to go to. They bought it and I was off to see Phish — the band I now felt I really knew after listening to those twenty tapes and many others.
So going into this, my fourth Phish show, having done my "homework" listening to tapes, I felt I was ready to rock along with every tune note for note. Maybe I would finally figure out what this Phish thing is all about. What I did not realize was that I had never heard a Gamehendge tape and that Phish had recently released Hoist — an album I had never heard, or heard of, for that matter.
I walked into Charleston's Municipal Auditorium right as Fish crashed a big cymbal to start “Kung”. Huh, “Kung”? What's this weird chant? As Trey began to tell his intricate story of the fall of the Lizard people, “Wilson's” abuse of the Helping Friendly Book's powers, and the rest, I was mesmerized — drawing parallels in my head to our government's treatment of Native Americans and to the Bible. Wow, these guys are a lot more than the noodling, nonsense-lyrics band I had pegged them to be. Oh, I forgot to mention, the auditorium was about one-third full with no more than nine hundred people in attendance. Since I was alone, I walked right up to an empty second row seat in front of Trey. By the end of Gamehendge, I was fully impressed and ready to hear some tunes I knew. (Of course I knew “Divided Sky”, “Lizards”, “Llama”, etc., but the rest were not on tapes I had heard.) So what do they do second set? They played all new tunes I did not know, but quickly caught on to and enjoyed. This was the only time they have played all the songs from one album in the same order as they were on the album. Pretty cool. They encored with the first “My Old Home Place”, which I remember Trey saying they had just learned on the bus the night before. Then I think I recall Trey saying something about Internet people requesting this next one — “Tube”. Another rare one that I had never heard before, but loved. End it off with a killer version of my favorite guitarist's (Hendrix) song, “Fire”, and you have the show that would hook most people and definitely hooked me.
Moral of the story: You never know what you’re gonna get when you see a Phish show, but it almost always satisfies your soul. If it was predictable, we wouldn't travel fourteen hours to see them like I'm doing this weekend (12/6–7/97).

I am fortunate enough to call this my first show ever. Wasn't really into any music at the time. I was only 14 years old or so. My big brother was a Phan and came in to town for this show because how often does a band like Phish make their way to Charleston, WV where we grew up. With my mom in tow to make sure I behaved, and along with all my brother's college buddies we made our way to the show. In the parking lot I remember Mike chillin' on a curb talking to a friend and gladly signing autographs for the small crowd of phans (after all, who goes to see a band like Phish in Charleston, WV!). I wish I had cared enough to grab one of those autographs, or even save my stub from that show now that I know how epic it ended up being and what a large part of my life Phish would become. Needless to say after experiencing "IT" I was hooked. This was truly a prime example of being in the right place at the right time. No need I think to actually review the show as it speaks for itself. Such an intimate setting to boot! Thank you Phish for creating such moments. You are without question way more than a band, just ask any of us!

Written by SWiM on the occasion of the 20th anniversary (2014) of this show

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The end of a long run (by my standards) and totally unplanned show. Beavis and Butthead was still in the air. Started with a big whiff by my first and only shut out at Kalamazoo (what was happening to our band?!), to the next first- a one set full show in Cincinnati (FIRE!). Then taking JG's keys by accident and heading to Columbus without him, leaving him stranded in Cincy with friends causing him to get fired from a job he didn't like at the Red Chair Bakery. But did I care? No! Because we didn't have cell phones back then and I didn't find out till I rolled into his friend's place in Columbus. He did get a ride back to Btown with L who borrowed a car from her parents that lived in Cincy. Columbus - front row Trey side. Enough said there. Skip Pontiac to go back to Indy to kiss and make up with JG to catch another fantastic show in the Murat Theatre. So lots of balloons everywhere back then. We weren't under a microscope due to some other Band still touring. Made '99 look like nursery school. So much that in Nautica, the band needed to let us know we were being idiots. Very special. Great energy at Nautica for some reason ;-) I'm not sure, but to hear Highway to Hell for the encore got our juices flowing (harkening us back to '93 Murat) and told us we needed to keep going. We were supposed to go home. But something pulled us. We were lit (again). JG had no job. The only time any of us went to a show unplanned. We were on Tour. So we hit the road for Charleston, WV.
8 hours away I think was the calculation.

We pulled into a 1/2 empty parking at the Municipal Auditorium the next day and stayed that way until showtime. Inside, more of the same. Each person had minimum 4 seats to dance. Kung opener! Weird! Never heard that before to start a show. Llama then Lizards sounded great. Is that Tela I hear? Wait? Is this happening?!! YESSS!!! Its ON! Hugs all around. Second set was icing. On clouds. We won.

Luckily Walnut Creek was 3 days away, so we loaded up on orange juice and chocolate (unadulturated) and headed back to Bloomington and pulled in a few hours after sunrise. Twenty years ago...

(Maybe we went to UIC. Truthfully can't remember...)

Still Upside Down,
S.Wi.M

I really enjoyed listening to this show! I wasn't there, but this is a great example of throwback Phish that I love to check out from time to time.

BUT, really I just wanted to call out the Landlady tease from Page towards the end of encore Tube - it's so seamless but it's there - absolutely blows my mind how that fits, but it does!

This is a note-perfect first set. There are no stunning versions of anything, but as a whole it's great. Not jammy, incredibly precise.

Second set is novel but not all that enchanting. The 6-minute SOAM jam is among the few moments that is cool in isolation. Everything else really only works because of the play-the-entire-album thing.

6/26/1994, the GameHoist show, is an interesting spectacle of Phish lore not only for the obvious reasons, but also because it may be the only show they've ever played where the show as a whole is famously noteworthy, but none of the individual songs that make up its two sets are particularly so. Of course, as others have pointed out, the band played everything with excellent precision. Mike is especially phenomenal throughout the Gamehendge set. But rarely if ever will an individual song be plucked from out of the show's greater context for isolated listening/discussion. I point this out not as an indictment of the show--I had an absolute blast listening to this unique slice of Phish, which poetically bookends the band's career up to this point. It will probably never happen again, but this was a really cool way to craft a special evening, and I imagine the folks in attendance felt the blessing from their spot in Municipal Auditorium.

+1 for the encore. Old Home Place debut and Tube bustout are very fun, and Trey absolutely burns down the house on Fire.