After a day off around home base, the boys make their return, less than six months later, to the Palace Theatre in Albany for the first of two nights of fun. This is the 67th show of the tour and it’s a pretty good one. We are back to a board quality recording on this one as well and I couldn’t be happier to hear it complete with sound check and everything! It’s Sue’s birthday, Trey’s future wife, so there seems to be a little extra gas in the tank tonight too. There were also lots of repeats from the last show’s set list.

Rift gets pushed to the opener spot tonight and its getting better, but still had some timing problems in it. Guelah was ok, but Mike had some troubles in the Fly part. Foam also had some messy spots and the recording level changed as the taper got settled in. They were just not locked in on this one. Sparkle was ok, pretty standard for this tour. Stash had some tiny off spots, but a good jam anyway. Bouncing was average. Ice had a few rough spots and some noise in the middle section. Most likely Trey and Mike were screwing around. Glide was good and had quite a long hold on the last glad. Maze rocked, but had really weak climaxes in both Page and Trey’s solos. Golgi was a solid closer to this first set and was nice and dynamic.

Jim opens up the second set and Trey blows the last verse by going right to the double chorus instead. It was not very smooth overall. Jim goes unfinished as Trey picks up the acoustic for My Friend, which was kind of sloppy, but had a funny Manteca ending on it. Poor Heart was also kind of sloppy, but good. Another Weigh, which I love, was pretty good. Then the Balls come out… Nice dedication to Sue before a better Ya Mar with a funny Mike screaming section at the end. YEM is pretty good overall and descends into a crazy jam with guest stars and sounds like Trey singing gibberish on the megaphone, some trombone and vacuum! The jam also had great guitar interplay from Trey and Jimmy and a great jazzy scat session from Oteil on bass. It was a great way to end the show tonight.

Grace was cut from the recording, but that’s fine. Cavern gets the call for the encore tonight and what a weird one with A-Train right in the middle? No idea what that was all about, but it’s freaking sweet! Fish almost didn’t make it back in for the rest of Cavern and Trey continues to struggle with the lyrics a bit. The walk out music was Unforgettable. Indeed!!!

This is actually a four-star performance because the heavy hitters like Foam, Stash, Maze and Jim were all weak. However, after further soul searching, I’ve got to move this up to five stars just for the YEM jam and the A-Train bust-out! I also loved the extra sound check portion of the recording. I can’t wait to hear tomorrow’s show!

So the first set is pretty standard. Pretty well played, a decent Stash, ho hum. The second set, though...let's just say that it is a testament to the number of amazing Phish shows out there that this one made it so long as an unrated show. Let's start with a great Runaway Jim with a fantastic segue into a My Friend, My Friend that includes a Manteca detour. Freakin' awesome, and we're already at 4 star status. The Ya Mar is also most excellent, with Trey showing off some beautiful quiet soloing for Sue, along with Two Princes teasing.

The YEM -> Jam pegs the "Crazy-Ass YEM" Meter in the red and keeps it there. Amazing and stupendous, WTF?!?!? and OFF THE HOOK!! Trey (I think) jabbering on the megaphone at one point, whacked-out business from the Dude, great jamming with ARU...the YEM slam dunks this as a 5-Star show, and is itself a must-hear jam, IMHO. Seek this second set out!!

I was not at this show, but it ranks as one of the best shows I have ever heard from this band. Like the notes say, this show is full of anomalies, perhaps the best of which is take the a train cavern sandwich. goto phishows.com and get yourself a copy, the soundcheck is included and this shows is a smoker.

I was obviously not at this show, considering I was not even 1 years old yet, but this is without a doubt a top 5 pre-95 phish show with highlights all over the setlist, coolest cavern ever? I think so with this one and the 7-13-94 and the Island Tour version in a very close 2nd and 3rd. Every phan should definitely hear this show, and at the very least the second set from this show.