Weird story. This show was the first set of Phish tapes I ever got and I sought it out very intentionally. It had no sentimental value to me and no one had recommended it to me. Most normal people would seek out a Halloween or NYE show, maybe Clifford Ball or Lemonwheel or something. But when I first learned of Phish tapes from a friend-of-a-friend, I didn’t have any guidance to just “get a great show” and figure it out from there. I sought out this obscure and unacclaimed show from 1994 because it had the perfect setlist according to my very specific parameters.

What on earth…why 10/21/94??
I had just gotten back from my first show (9/29/99 Memphis) and learned about the whole tape trading scene shortly thereafter. I spent hours combing through websites where traders posted their collections and sought out a couple of online traders who said they were willing to do B+P (blanks + postage). I took their list of shows and compared it with the setlists, looking specifically for the “perfect” setlist that combined some songs I loved from the 9/29/99 show (“Down with Disease,” “Mike’s Song,” “2001,” and “Stash”) with some songs I had never heard before (“Old Home Place,” “The Lizards,” “I am Hydrogen,” “Sleeping Monkey,” “The Curtain,” “Foreplay/Long Time”). By that logic (and based on whatever the trader I found had in his collection), I settled on 10/21/94 Sunrise, FL. I copied those tapes a lot, as I recall, I guess because few other people had the show in their collection. That was part of the weird beauty of tape trading. Sometimes you just wanted to hear a certain song and so you went to the trouble of tracking down the tapes. Sometimes you based your choice on acclaim, sometimes the setlist, sometimes a guy’s recommendation. I’ve come to kinda of love that this was my first show on tape. It’s odd and idiosyncratic and totally part of that whole tape trading era, long gone now that everything is easily available digitally.

The show itself is fine. I just listened again today and had a great time. Though there’s nothing to write home about, there’s nothing really off about it either. It’s a fine show, front-to-back. “Run Like an Antelope” has an insane build that just goes nuts at one point, and that’s probably the best single moment in the show. The “Mike’s Groove” is a well-contained suite of music that introduced me to “I Am Hydrogen,” which I immediately loved. A nice “Slave” closes out set II. The playing is fine throughout, the setlist is well-constructed. But it will always have that little edge to it for me because of the tapes. And its weird little connections like that that make me love Phish and their music all the more.

So Day 2 of my Florida tour is kind of hazy. The Florida scene at this point was very very small and very pure. Lots of Deadheads checking out phish and probably not too many folks who were really into the band. This can lead to a great show when the boys turn it on though. And at this point they pretty much turned it on every show. The touring scenes was also really small and pretty much everyone knew everyone.

The venue held 1200 people and I remember being very close at this one. With these old theaters the ushers weren't equipped to deal with people who would simply not sit in their seats. After awhile they would just give up and let everyone enjoy themselves. God I miss those days.

So I listened to this show before I wrote this. I remember at the time thinking it was a good show but nothing special. Listening back now it sounds fantastic. The opening trio is very smooth and complement each other very well. The Mike's Groove is also fantastic. This was the show where I first got Simple. Before i couldn't really understand it but this show kind of hammered it home...

While nothing really in particular stands out from this show, it is still a very solid, all-around great one. From the opening notes of Fee you can tell they are feeling good and ready to throw down. The first set is very diverse in my opinion ranging from storytelling in Fee and Lizards, high energy hosing in Disease and Antelope, a dash of bluegrass in Old Home Place, the intricate windings of Foam, to the silliness and fun of Mango Song. This set epitomises the different faces of Phish all while imploring great flow and execution.

The second set is pretty standard '94 stuff opening with a typical 2001 and quickly moving into Mikes. While Mike's through Weekapaug is fairly short, it never lets up on the energy and rocks the entire way through, and they seem to love belting out Simple. They cool things down with a fun Sleeping Monkey and go into a well executed Curtain before popping off a good Mule. The show ends with a shorter but super sweet Slave that peaks ever so perfectly.

Good encore with the boys showing off more of their acapella > acoustic > electric talents.

Give this show a listen, you won't be disappointed.

Another fine Fall ‘94 show. While this show lacks much in the way of the monster jams from the previous couple of shows, there are a bunch of solid tunes and the band is in fine form. The Antelope to close the first set in particular really stands out. This version is chaotic, with frenzied energy making this worthy of multiple listens.

The Mike’s > Simple > Mike’s > H2 > Weekapaug is another fun run, similar to the earlier sequences from the tour but I liked each of the prior versions of Weekapaug better. Still, I’m loving the segues in and out of Mike’s into Simple.
Also, the FEFY seems to have just a bit more verve than usual. I really like this version.

Overall, the band continues to play extremely well and this show is another fine example of that playing, although the show lacks any absolute must-listens.

I was doing my taxes and felt compelled to stop for a moment just to acknowledge the Antelope from this show as I just listened to it for the first time in a long time. Quite the rager right there. This whole first set is just oozing with intensity just like 6-18-94. Not commenting on the second set now since I am going to go back to taxes, but give this show a whirl.

This show isn't quite as good, but it reminds me a lot of the 12-1-95 show. Lots of similarities in the set construction: DWD > early in the first set, a huge Mike's Song/Groove early in the second set.

I hold 12-1-95 in pretty high regard, and this show ain't that. But still would say that they're clearly of the same ripping era.