In February of 1987, Phish began to play Nectar's once a month for two nights in a row during the school year. This trend lasted until August of 1988, after which the band began to move outward following their time in Colorado.

These shows, which were normally back to back, and in 88 would feature 3 straight nights of music, were particularly strong performances from the band and where the band began to make a name for themselves within the Burlington scene. This early date at Nectar's is very well played and also a show with a fairly nice sound recording.

A strong Funky Bitch gives way to a normal speed Mike's song, the jam which lasts about a minute and then moves into ascending chords played by the whole band, then into the common ending chords that precede a move into another song (generally Hydrogen or Simple). What sounds like a very very elementary Hydrogen (not listed on the setlists) quickly moves into Alumni Blues featuring a particularly upbeat beat from Fish which translates into an extremely quick post LTJP segment. This is a great Alumni Blues, with strong playing by the whole band and is worth a listen. Trey also mentions that his degree is from 'Goddard', interesting in that he wouldn't finish for another year.

YEM is nice, albeit without Mike's bass solo. Although Fish still hadn't quite figured out all of his parts to this song yet, the rest of the band had worked their way through the song and it was played at speeds faster than Junta. A nice Page-led and Trey-led jam segment are present in this YEM, as well as a B+D segment, followed by a weird call-and-response from Trey that foreshadows the Ride Captain Ride played later. The whole band jams while singing 'John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt'. After noodling about for a bit, the band launches into 'Sparks' and while Trey doesn't quite echo Townshend like he does in latter versions, it's still a good version.

Set 2 begins with Fluffhead which contains the then-typical 2x Fluff's Travels back into the traditional Fluffhead chorus. My tape (...mp3... sigh) hisses a bit and suddenly winds up in a full 'Arrival' section but never moves back into Fluffhead.

The band charges into an inspired Peaches, a "nice song" claims Trey, and then moves into the first Ride Captain Ride which is dedicated to Paul. The song, which features timid Trey solos, moves into some fast-paced jam which shuffles into DEG.

Corinna is pretty standard, but Why Won't You Love Me is just awesome. Trey mimics the RHCP in this version and it is extremely funky. He even changes some of the lyrics "my hair is still red..." and Page uses some funky synth effects. A extended version, this song moves into a particularly funky Camel Walk. Golgi continues and the second set closes with Swing Low.

This show isn't all that bad: a nice Alumni, a quirky YEM, the Ride Captain Ride> DEG, and the funky Why Won't You Love Me are all worth a once-over.

1) Mike's Song > Alumni Blues: Towards the end of Mike's, there is an ~15 sec segment where they band engages in synchronized riffing that sounded refreshingly hyped and the segue shortly thereafter offers a groovy ride into the typically energetic bluesy Alumni. The second half of Alumni carries even more steam than the first half, something I will always endorse!

2) Why Don't You Love Me?>Camel Walk: I highlight this song pair not only because its unique, but genuinely funky, fun, goofy and awesome. The cover definitely imitates the RHCP vibe, and the transition to Camel Walk is pretty slick. Check it out, as it is the only version of this cover available on tape!

This is a nice trip back in time to hear how the boys cut their teeth at Nectar's. The recording leaves much to be desired, but what can you expect for a 1987 show?

I pretty much agree with the other review already posted here. First set was decent, although I didn't find the Alumni segment through YEM and Sparks to be all that tight in my opinion.

Second set seemed better and it was fun for me to hear one of the old arrangements of Fluff. It was really strange to hear the first version of Ride Captain Ride, as it doesn't even come close to Page's voice we know today. Dave's is some nice classic weirdness and the whole back end of this set is petty good. Corinna was tight and then it just got funky! There were different lyrics in Camel Walk than I'm used to hearing as well.

It's worth a listen just for the funky second set, which is the only reason I'm bumping this up to three stars.