Well, it's about time I review this show.

This was my 60th show, and it was in my transplanted hometown of the SF Bay Area.

This show wasn't even 2 months after Jerry Garcia passed away on August 9th, so being at the home base of the Grateful Dead with a ton of Deadheads in attendance, there was many many songs and moments that were either overtly or tongue in cheekly referencing Uncle Jer'.

You've likely heard this epic show, and maybe seen snippets of the video on YouTube or even that one glimpse from NYE 2003 when they had the video montage during set break.

One important note(to me) They've gotten my name wrong and spelled wrong all these years. Understandably, as it's a strange name.
I believe, in fact, like Tigger, I'm the only one.

PüTzu is the correct spelling. Pronounced POO-TZOO.

That being said, I'm going to start by sharing my unique tale from that day. And maybe add more to the tale over the years.
My show started long before anyone else's show that day.

I used to sell a lot of glass in the parking lot, however on September 30, at Shoreline,
I decided that there were more important things to do.

I was showing some pieces to some folks in the lot when my friend Greenpeace Mike came out from his cave in the backstage area and found me working as usual.

He asked me if I had wanted to play Page a game of chess.

I’d been after Page to play me for a couple of years so, I said, “Yeah!”

Mike told me, “Come on.”

So, I closed the case of glass, and excused myself and followed Mike to the backstage entrance.
When we got there, he told me to meet him back there in 1 hour. So, I went back to the lot and
told the clients that were checking out the glass that I was closed, went and put away my glass case, and hurried back to meet up with Greenpeace Mike.

When I arrived he led me inside the big wooden doors to the back-stage area of Shoreline.
It kinda felt like the big castle doors opening up to let me inside.

We bee-lined it to the sort of “hang-out” area for the band-members where John
was playing Ms. Pac-man. Mike and Page were sitting on one side of a table with a chess-board on it and Trey was just kinda
pacing about.

I said hey to everybody, but John’s attention was taken by Ms. Pac-man, then I sat down on the couch across from Page.

A lot of folks thought that I made a horrible move. I have played chess for nearly
50 years, and I play chess like I live life, from the hip. I only thought I was playing an innocent game of chess.

After the three moves, Trey had been pacing around, watching the game, Trey came over
and said, “That’s good.”

I said, “Huh?!”

Trey said,
“Oh, you don’t know what’s going on.”

I said, “What?!”

Trey said,
“Oh, You don’t know what’s going on,” and pulled me out of my seat
and took me to the front of the stage and showed me a giant velcro chess board.
He proceeded to tell me that they were starting this chess game against the
audience, where the band would make a move at the beginning of the show and
a different member of the audience would make the move for the audience each
night after set break.

I was like,
“Wow, cool.”

So, Brad showed me around and told me how things would go, and how I wasn’t supposed
to cross certain lines and where to stand. Then I was dismissed, and told
to meet Brad at the beginning of the show.

I ran outside and told everybody I knew not to be late for the show. I didn’t tell a
soul why. I wanted it to be a surprise. And a surprise it was.
I found out later that many of my friends were seeing their first Phish show,
and then I went and got up on stage. This was the first time, but wasn’t
to be the last time I would get onstage with the band.

So then the moment came, and the show began. Phish opened the show with the always
eerie, My Friend followed by an instrumental version of Jefferson Airplane’s
quintessential psychedelic tune, White Rabbit. During the My Friend and the
start of the White Rabbit Jam, I was on the risers stage left. (Jerry’s
side) The jam kinda thinned out and Trey began to explain what was going
on to the audience.

Phish are all big fans of chess, and spend a lot of time on the road doing battle at the
chessboard. They would be challenging the audience to a game of chess on this
national tour, with one move played at each concert. I was invited onto
the stage during the White Rabbit Jam. Having moved from the side of the
stage to the front row, all I had to do was climb onto the stage. And
there I was, a little nervous to say the least. Trey called me out to
the front of the stage to meet the audience. With 20-something thousand
in attendance, a large percentage good friends of mine, there I stood on the
front edge of the stage at Shoreline, home of the Grateful Dead, in my Jerry
Garcia postage stamp shirt, hands folded in front of me like a little kid.
But on with the game…

The game began with keyboardist and vocalist Page McConnell making a very normal move
1.e4 (1.P-K4) and then I responded, some have said, “sensibly, with 1…e5
(1…P-K4). Then Page played one of his favorite opening moves, 2.Bb5!?
(2.B-N5) which is the unorthodox opening known in some circles as the Portuguese
Opening. I responded with another reserved move, 2…Nc6 (2…N-QB3), and Page’s
next move was, 3.Nf3 (3.N-KB3).

The music continued with Reba, Uncle
Penn a touch of Antelope, and then an acoustic rendition of Blue and Lonesome
dedicated to Jerry Garcia, with Sample in a Jar closing out the set. But
for me, the night was to become a strange psychedelic journey into the draw-bridge
that was coming down between The Grateful Dead and Phish.

I was wandering around backstage for a little while when I saw this woman playing basketball
with a young boy, perhaps her child. Not really knowing what I wanted
to do next, I sure didn’t want to leave the inner sanctum of Shoreline’s backstage
area with Grateful Dead emblems and iconography everywhere, I watched them play
horse for a minute and then asked them if they were with Phish.

“Nope, Grateful Dead,” she replied.

And that was all I needed to make my night complete.

My first visit to Shoreline Amphitheatre was earlier that year in June prior to starting Phish's Summer Tour. I caught the Friday and Sunday Grateful Dead shows which ended up being my final Grateful Dead shows, and the last Dead shows at this venue and for the Bay Area. Appropriately the last song I heard Jerry sing was Brokedown Palace.

Shoreline, unlike the first three venues of Fall tour, is a traditional outdoor shed with a pavilion and a lawn. While I was on the lawn for the Dead I was in the pavilion for Phish.

Trey teased Call to the Post prior to the set opening My Friend My Friend. This song perfectly highlights the yin and yang of Phish. The 4th consecutive Cars Trucks Buses starts underneath the ending screams. One can't help but groove along with this song while Page displays his talents.

Trey welcomes everyone to Shoreline and explains why there is a chess board at the back of stage Page-side. The band plays a lot chess on the bus and people kept asking when can we play some chess. So they decided to play the audience in chess during this tour. They chose to start the game in SF because there are so many incredible chess players living there. White Rabbit fits the mood appropriately. Page and fan Pooh start the game with a few moves each. Going forward, the audience will decide their move at setbreak and make it at the start of the second set while the band will make their move at the start of the first set.

Reba was the perfect call to get the show back on track. The composed section is played much faster than normal and has a manic pace. The jam is full of activity; soon after starting it strays nicely away from the groove for a little while before coming around to a screaming finish. Uncle Pen follows and keeps the mood upbeat. Soon after the song ends Trey starts Antelope and just as Fishman starts his hi-hat intro Trey aborts into Horn. Obviously they had a game plan and in hindsight it made sense. I enjoyed hearing Horn as we only got one during the 22-show Summer Tour.

Run Like An Antelope starts up again and gets past the 10 second mark The intro doesn’t depart from the norm and jam moves along strongly. It reaches a chaotic segment where the band stretches a little before picking things up to close out the jam. The ending segment/chorus is typical.

The band comes to the front of the stage to play an acoustic song. Trey says "We wanted to send this one out. This is the last place, that personally myself and I know two other guys in the band, saw Jerry alive and we thought this would be a good opportunity to play one of his favorite songs 'cause I know he's up there listening. This is for you Jerry!" They play Blue and Lonesome for the first time since the 1st MSG show during the ‘94 Holiday Run (28-show gap). They close the first set on a high note with Sample In Jar. While the set was less than hour a lot of interesting things happened.

Runaway Jim opens the second set and Trey implores some scratching effects in between verses. The jam doesn’t get out of hand and gets fiery toward the end of the song. The Fog That Surrounds comes next and Trey plays some intricate riffs. Another solid version.

If I Could is up next and nicely fills the ballad role albeit a little early in the set. This would be the 1st of four versions played during Fall Tour before the song became somewhat of a rarity, which is a shame. Scent Of A Mule comes rolling in and the duel is entertaining; Page wins!

Finally we get the first Mike’s Song of tour. The first jam is sinister while the second jam ends up plodding along until Page starts playing Keyboard Army. Upon conclusion Mike initiates the start of Weekapaug Groove. The jam is more of a full band groove with little Trey soloing.

Toward the end of the song Trey moves to the drum kit and Fishman emerges wearing a cape to sing Suspicious Minds. The night before Fish debuted Cryin’ which was hilarious. But this song was light years better. Hence why it stayed in rotation. The best part was he ran around a bit then stopped at the front of the stage in dramatic fashion to open his cape and expose the lights on the inside. Of course the band played Hold Your Head Up to end the shenanigans and slickly dropped into Cavern without stopping to close the set.

The encore began fittingly with Amazing Grace and closed with a rocking Good Times Bad Times. Page thanks the crowd and wishes Trey Happy Birthday. All in all a great night, and a fine finish to a 4-show CA trek to start Fall Tour.

The next two shows would take place at Seattle’s newly renovated Key Arena. Fortunately we had Sunday off to complete the roughly 14-hour drive. As most of us know the vibe differs between outdoor and indoor shows; both have their perks and their drawbacks. Shoreline was the second to last outdoor show of Fall Tour; Compton Terrace 10/11/95 was the last. I was excited for some indoor Phish!

#20yearslater

Phish's legendary Fall 95 tour actually got off to a rather tepid start with 4 shows in California in late September after a nearly 3 month long break. While this show is the best of the 4, it does not come close to reaching the musical heights reached later in the tour. Still, as with just about every Phish show, there is some stuff here that is worth hearing. Besides the My Friend, My Friend opener that I always enjoy, the most notable moments of the first set are the introduction of the audience/band chess match played over the White Rabbit Jam and the dedication to Jerry before I'm Blue I'm Lonesome. Reba goes a little out of control at times and is average.

The second set begins with 3 well-played songs, and the Scent of a Mule in the middle of the set features some significant improvisation. Mike's Song is average, but the segue into Keyboard Army is pretty good, and Weekapaug ends with another segue into the debut of Suspicious Minds.

This show comes off as completely average in just about every way, but it is not a bad show. 3 stars for sure.

A friend at the last minute offered me a 10th row ticket and we headed down to Shoreline from the Mission. The chass match was very cool and was really digging the Antelope. I thought the I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome dedication to JG was very, very classy and was a tremendous moment. I was really impressed with the whole Mike's Groove and Suspicious Minds blew my mind.

SET 1: My Friend, My Friend: Standard.

Cars Trucks Buses: Now played in 4 straight shows.

White Rabbit Jam: This is pretty cool. This jam is the backing music to Trey explaining how the chess match is going to work over the course of the tour. Tour head PüTzu gets the first move. He has a great review on .net of this show, check it out: https://phish.net/setlists/phish-september-30-1995-shoreline-amphitheatre-mountain-view-ca-usa.html >

Reba: Played at the speed of light, seriously. Was Fishman trying to win a bet with Trey or something? Nuts. In the mid 8’s this takes on a bit darker and minor chord expedition but not for too long, perhaps 45 seconds to one minute. Then it explodes into familiar Reba jam territory and it’s a great, pent-up release.

Uncle Pen: Standard.

Horn: They play the Antelope intro for about 7 seconds then ditch it for Horn. Really strange. Other than that, this Horn is standard.

Run Like an Antelope: Pretty standard to my ear, although it does take a brief left turn at 6.5. Gets fairly dark but just for about 30 seconds. It is back to being red hot and has killer trilling in the early 7’s, but for the era…kind of a run of the mill Antelope.

I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome[1] Trey says "We wanted to send this one out. This is the last place, that personally myself and I know two other guys in the band, saw Jerry alive and we thought this would be a good opportunity to play one of his favorite songs cause I know he's up there listening. This is for you Jerry!" Beautiful nod to Jerry.

Sample in a Jar: Listening to the opening notes ring out from Trey’s guitar. Absolutely gives me crazy goosebumps. That tone, so crisp and clear. Outstanding, takes me right back to my first couple of years seeing the band.

First set summary: I enjoyed Reba, Antelope, and I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome. It’s a solid first set but surely won’t win any awards.

SET 2: Runaway Jim: Trey referencing the chess match “The Portuguese defense, huh? HA! We will crush you!” Check out the crazy Trey scratching effects between verses – this goes on for 40-50 seconds, pretty cool and unique. Solid opener >

The Fog That Surrounds: Standard.

If I Could: > Gorgeous, awe inspiring. Why they won’t play this song like this anymore makes no sense to me. Listening to this version reminds me why I have been in love with this band for almost three decades.

Scent of a Mule: Page for the win in the duel. Crazy effects at 8:10, woah.

Mike's Song: First jam has the dark edge to it! Second jam is mostly boring space unfortunately where they are just doing what it takes to align for a segue into… ->

Keyboard Army: Played in three of the first four shows of the tour.

Weekapaug Groove: Trey employs that scratching again like in Runaway Jim but only briefly in the intro. Cool little breakdown at 5:25 that gets funky that melds into heavy metal at 6:15 and then back into traditional ‘Paug territory at 6:45 for a moment. Another breakdown and then an absolutely brilliant segue into… ->

Suspicious Minds[2] Fun listening to some folks near/in the taper’s section realize the awesome segue and what the tune was. First time played seemed well received >

Hold Your Head Up: 45 seconds >

Cavern: Standard.

ENCORE: Amazing Grace: Standard.

Good Times Bad Times: Standard.

Second set summary: I would happily revisit If I Could and Weekapaug Groove -> Suspicious Minds[2]. Outside of that there is nothing to sink my teeth into. Kind of like the first four shows of this tour, largely toothless. First night of Shoreline was the best of this two-night run.

[1] Acoustic.
[2] Phish debut.

Trey teased Call to the Post before My Friend and Antelope before Horn. This show was the beginning of the Band/Audience Chess Match that continued throughout the fall tour. Page and a tour-head named "Pooh" played a few moves to set up the board during the White Rabbit jam in the first set. Suspicious Minds made its Phish debut. I’m Blue I’m Lonesome was dedicated to Jerry Garcia and was acoustic.

Found a neat review on this website:http://www.ericschiller.com/schiller/phish.htm