It had been 9 months since Phish had played at Goddard, despite the fact that three members of the band at the time were students at the College. Despite their trend in playing increasingly serious shows, the band knew practically everyone in attendance at this show and lightened things up a lot. While the music for this show isn't particularly amazing, there is a whole lot of banter that gives the listener a feeling for how small the band still was.

Things opened up quickly with Fire. The next two songs, I didn't know and Halley's featured Richard Wright on vocals (and also on the drums for I Didn't Know!). The audience cheers wildly for Richard, who at that time went by 'Nancy'. At the time he was a fellow classmate of Trey, and Trey introduces him as his best friend "for 28 years". Fishman is once again introduced as "Moses Brown, Moses Heaps, and Moses DeWitt" and also as the "second best trombonist drummer in Vermont", all nicknames he'd be introduced as throughout Phishtory. The move into Light Up happens quickly and the song ends quickly, but there's nothing of particular long-term interest.

YEM is preceded by some funny banter. Checking the sound, Page says that Mike needs more Mike in his mic. Trey introduces Marley by singing "Who is She?", a lyric that would eventually be the title of Phish's music label, many years later. The YEM vocal jam here has a tease of the Jackson 5's ABC, but the jam is lackluster. The Lizards next is botched heavily in Trey's series of arpeggios and is one of the worst early versions. Perhaps referencing the flubs of Lizards, the band plays a brief BBFCFM, which features a lyric change: "Why am I barking?" - referencing a Marley freak-out.

Bobby Brown is featured on harmonica in this JJLC who adds a nice element to the song and makes it one of the better tunes from the set. Post JJLC, Trey points out "Mrs. Fishman", Fish's new drum throne. He rides Fish on the price of the throne, which cost over $250! Fluffhead here is unremarkable, but is very clean. Nothing much to say about the Alumni, but there is a guest saxophonist on A-train (although you can hear how he doesn't really want to play it before the song starts). There's a brief tease of Rockin into the Night by 38 Special as well as a HYHU, which the whole band plays.

Not much musically here, although there are a whole lot of low-quality friend of the band guests. I like the banter throughout the show and there's lots of great goofy silly things going on. Were it not for the banter, this show would likely get just 1 star, but since the band had so much fun and was so talkative, it's a bit better than that. Nothing you'd want to play continuously though.

3.25/5

The band had a blast at this show as is evident with all the banter and laughter inbetween and during songs. I'm sure it was great to be there. But, from a listener's perspective on tape, the humor got a bit out hand and kind of took away from the performances.

The show kicks off with a good Fire and then I Didn't Know which began the whole humor fest. They bring up Richard Wright for vocals on I Didn't Know and then also Halley's Comet, both of which he sings horribly on. The harmonies suffer as a result and these are pretty hard versions to listen to. Light Up or Leave Me Alone is a big highlight and actually had a nice jam in it, almost veering into Type II category, but not quite. The rest of the show standard to below standard.

If you wanna hear the band goofing off with friends and are interested in how fun the scene was, this tape is worth a listen. Just don't expect to find quality versions of songs.