Curtis Lowe, Alumni Blues, Contact, The Lizards, David Bowie, McGrupp, Clod, Divided Sky, Reba, Mike's Song, I am Hydrogen, Weekapaug Groove

This is superior source for this date…

Phish
10-13-1989
Orange Grove
Syracuse, NY

Source: SBD>cass/x
Transfer: Sony TC-KA3ES > Lucid AD 9624 A/D > REBA @ 24/48kHz

-SET 2-
^DISC 1^
01. McGrupp*
02. Divided Sky
03. Reba^
04. Mike's Song >
05. I am Hydrogen >
06. Weekapaug Groove//
07. \\Curtis Lowe
08. Alumni Blues
09. Contact
^DISC 2^
10. Lizards
-Encore-
11. David Bowie
12. Swing Low Sweet Chariot Jam

* Has the portion of Fluffhead known as "Who Do? We Do!" in it...
^ 2nd time it was played live...VERY different from the Reba we know now....
Tape flip indicated by // and \\ there is a good portion of Weekapaug and the start of Curtis Lowe missing....

~Mastering~
Stereo Montage to reconstruct set > Edits and Fades for the tape flip > 10 Band Paragraphic EQ > BBE 0/2/0 > Waves R-Bass @ 35Hz 0db > Waves L1+ > 192kHz Stereo ReSampler (48>44.1) > L1+ (24>16bit) Mode 1/Ultra > FLAC16

~NOTES~
This show has some *recorded* distortion....hard to tell if it's present on the board or if the levels on the tape were too high....I'll have to assume the latter because I can't imagine Phish sounding like that out of a PA....This sounds very similar to 8-21-87 Ian's in the way Mike is WAY up in the mix and overloads the recording at times....Still, this show is a must have for all the diehards out there...LawnGirl provided me with the tape that was used for the txfer and according to her she got it from someone who dubbed it from a copy that Mimi Fishman had. Below is an excerpt of an email exchange with Kevin Shapiro about the show:

art (marmar):

10/12/89 is mabel brown room at keene state college and they didn't play buried that night so no confusion. 10/13 is likely syracuse but i don't know the history of the place's name except it's been the source of confusion as you can see below. mockingbird's lists for the first three syracuse gigs are in italics below. it's obvious if your tape (with mike's groove) is a complete set, then their different list also containing mike's groove is incorrect.

i'm tempted to believe you have a set of 10/13/89 syracuse for three reasons:

1. 10/1/89 is the first reba and 10/20 is a lot of gigs between the first and second play of the song.
2. the show is listed in the 10/89 newsletter as copperfield's in syracuse
3. mimi probably would have attended the show and would have known the correct date and venue at
the time.

i'm also tempted to think it probably was at orange grove because of reason 3 but i know little to nothing about syracuse venues. i actually suspect copperfield's may have also or later been known as orange grove. here's what i know: phish's first syracuse gig or gigs (depending whether they played 5/12 and 5/13 or just 5/13 - a whole other inquiry) were at copperfield's and/or hungry charlie's respectively.

my suspicion is one venue may have had multiple names - ie: copperfield's could have been called that in 5/89 but called orange grove in october and still been the same location, leading to a misprint in the newsletter. it's also possible management thought the 10/89 gig was going to be at copperfield's at press time but venue changed between newsletter and gig. unfortunately i don't have much more to work from. your tape is a good find and sheds more light on the date and reba's history, but not the venue name.

-ks-

I’m curious of the true lineage of this source. It sounds like 3 different sources that are clearly out of order. Curtis Lowe through the Bowie encore sound like a Cass/3-4. McGrupp through Weekapaug may be from a partial Set 1 recording?? Or quite possibly the first half of Set 2. Swing Low, which last appeared at Nectars on 6/19/88, sounds like it’s the last song of the night. Maybe a second encore? The Swing Low source sounds very close to the master tape. Also, while this is listed as a SBD there is a suspicious amount of audience in the mix. Possibly Paul started mixing in FOH mics around this time? I’m also suspicious of this show actually taking place at The Front. Trey says “see you guys next time at Hamilton College”following Lizards. After Reba Trey says “that was called Reba and that’s a new song. You were only the second people to ever hear that one. And that of of course is going out to everyone at Hamilton College and Ithaca College. And thank you guys for coming down all the way here.”

All in all an enjoyable listen although the true lineage is questionable. It’s cool to hear the difference between this Reba and the debut version from The Front on 10/1. Unfortunately Trey stumbles through the lyrics on this version. Highlights: Alumni, Bowie, McGrupp through Swing Low