So this is my first review on .net and this was the first Phish show I ever attended. I'm an achievement whore now, so...

'96 Phish gets overlooked a lot in general, and this show is probably the most overlooked one of '96 - and for good reason.

This was Iowa, in the middle of November, there was a freezing ice storm happening during the pre-show and throughout. Because of this the lot scene was non-existent and the show was clearly cut short so the band could get the hell out of there.

The band knew the room was full of n00bs, so what they did was demonstrate many of their "sides" and "talents". Jamming is pretty by the book with little to no Type II to speak of.

What does it have?

Dark jam during Free
Banter from Trey before ATR, talking about how his mom is from Iowa and he has lots of family at the show
Trey on Acoustic for Talk
Nicely recovered flub at the beginning of Llama
Vocal Jam during Scent with Fish on Vacuum
Life on Mars
Demand
And an acapella encore

Lots of phishy n00b goodness, minus real deep jamming.

This was my first show as well. I had never heard of Phish. I was working as a waiter at the local Village Inn Restaurant the morning of the show when a new friend told me about this band coming to town. He was going with his girlfriend and some others. I asked if I could tag along, he said sure but good luck getting a ticket. I knew that the day of the show big businesses who hold the rights to some seats will release them the day of the show. I walked into the student center at ISU and landed an amazing seat. My friend immediately did the same thing. I remember I dressed like I was going to church. He was a hippie and so were his friends. They laughed. I was a complete geek. But it started a ride that is still going to this day. I can't remember much about it except "Free" and "A Day in the Life". My new hippie friends had given me something before the show. Life has had it's ups and downs but Phish has always been there for me. Love these guys.

SET 1: AC/DC Bag: Solid but kind of short version. Good way to start off the show though >

Uncle Pen: Rocks right along like you would excpect.

Wolfman's Brother: Trey almost blows a lyric and then gets it at the last millisecond. Pretty vanilla version right here. >

Cars Trucks Buses: Intro is choppy. Page and Fish having some communication issues. Is Trey playing some kind of percussion instrument during Page's solo?

Free: The jam does pretty much what all of them have done this tour. Trey on his drum kit, some cool effects and then call it a day.

All Things Reconsidered: Trey welcomes everyone and thanks them for coming. Says how excited he is to be playing here tonight as his mom was born in Iowa, still has family here and some of them are here tonight.

Bathtub Gin: This is a damn good little jam right here. No, it isn't super lengthy but at just over ten minutes it gets the job done. Trey has the lead basically throughout.

Talk: Trey on acoustic showing off for his family.

Julius: Buried Alive tease at 4:44, very nifty and quick. This one rocks pretty good.

SET 2: Llama: Some weird equipment issues in the beginning that totally throws off the timing, but credit where it's due - they recover as if nothing ever happened. Well done. Some pretty gnarly effects in here from Trey, evil and shredded.

Sample in a Jar:

Taste: Might be the fastest I have ever heard this tune played, it's like breakneck speed. This song just is not meant to be played this fast, lol.

Swept Away > Steep > They sure are playing this alot

Scent of a Mule: This is the only charted tune of the whole show which kind of tells you all you need to know.

Life on Mars? This tune is so great and the placement works coming off of that extremely chaotic SOAMule.

Demand: Quite sloppy out of the gate, but recovered quickly. Gets really sloppy again during the beer cans part >

Run Like an Antelope: Kind of chaotic and not necessarily in the good way - seems disconnected and sloppy at points - and rushed... >

A Day in the Life: Fun fact, this was the first time all tour that this closed out the second set. Figured it would have been in that spot more.

ENCORE: Stash: Super rare Stash encore! Only done once before, 11.1.91 at the Gothic in Englewood, CO (love that venue, and love that show!!!). Like Antelope, this feels rushed and played to fast. No room to breathe at all. Still, it does peak fairly well. Pretty cool to see Stash as an encore. Good luck with that ice storm after this, lol.

Hello My Baby: Standard.

Summary: This show is the second lowest rated show of the entire year if you take out the Europe tour - it only go 46 votes and a 3.217 rating out of 5. There is a good reason for that. This show is largely uninspired. Big, ugly ice storm pre-show and during the show certainly put a big damper on a lot of the potential fun. In ZAPROWSDOWER's review - speculation was that the show was cut short because of the weather. Would make sense for sure. Set one is 53 minutes, set two is 59 minutes and the encore is 13 minutes. Tough to find a shorter show. Llama has replay value for the effects.