Friday, 04/15/1994
Beacon Theatre, New York, NY
Tax Day! Tuesday! Phish with Giant Country Horns Day!! Red Moon Day?? Sure! I got up super early today to see that moon and couldn’t really get back to sleep, so I started today’s listening exercise at about 6:30am!
I love this show. I mean, I really love this show. I wish I was at this show. The tape I had of this second set is one of those that lived in my car stereo for months on end. There was a stretch where you would get in my car and hear either this or the Bomb Factory show (or WRVU). Nothing else.
After a fairly normal start (well a screaming Llama etc.) they drop right into Hood. It’s funny, because I’ve listened to this first set a lot more in recent years. Tapes probably were more conducive to listening to favorite sets of Phish vs. listening to whole shows. Listening via itunes, or whatever your digital method, is more conducive to whole shows (though, perhaps also more susceptible to “song skip” when Fuckerpants starts up… luckily we won’t have that problem while listening to 1994 for this project).
This Hood is really nice. The first quiet part of the jam is just perfect. I can just picture that beautiful room lit up with the blues and greens and lavenders CK5 loves during jams like this. MAN, do I wish I had seen Phish at the Beacon!!!
Then, of course, we have the birth of the Wilson chant!! Read Scotty B’s take on it here: http://bit.ly/P3a9Kx
Also worth mentioning another great little breakdown segment in It’s Ice. I love that stuff!!
On to the second set… the meat and potatoes. Stellar Maze and If I Could, for sure. But this set is all about the horns!!
Listen to that crowd when the horns come out during Suzy. It’s nuts!!! This is probably my favorite Horns sit in of all time. Not that it’s tighter or even “better” than others. It’s just the electricity of it. The energy is palpable throughout. Maybe it’s the room. Maybe it’s the culmination of an intense 3-night run. Maybe it’s the New York crowd. I don’t know. But I wish I was there to see it!! It brings me intense joy listening to this set even to this day.
Back to the task at hand, though. I went back and listened to that first Julius (which also had horns) and compared it to this one. I gotta say, that first one is so groovy. I mentioned when listening to the second Julius (the first without horns) how the groove gave way to a straight rock feel. Well, that rock feel stays here despite the horns. I actually like the first one better. But this one is pretty special, too.
Then the energy just builds and builds through Wolfman’s and the crazy Alumni Blues segment. Yeehaw! And the rest of the show is pure fun.
That’s really all you can say about it. It’s pure fun. Thanks for reading!
Friday, 04/15/1994
Beacon Theatre, New York, NY
Set 1: Llama, Guelah Papyrus, Paul and Silas > Harry Hood, Wilson > Chalk Dust Torture, Bouncing Around the Room, It’s Ice > Down with Disease
Set 2: Maze, If I Could, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg > The Landlady, Julius, Wolfman’s Brother -> Alumni Blues > I Wanna Be Like You > Hold Your Head Up, Cavern
Encore: Magilla, Amazing Grace
Notes: Suzy through Magilla featured the Giant Country Horns: Carl “Geerz” Gerhard on trumpet, Dave “The Truth” Grippo on alto sax, Chris Peterman on tenor sax, Mike Gallick on baritone sax, Don Glasgo on trombone, and Joey Sommerville on trumpet. Alumni Blues was incomplete as only one verse was performed, but it was the first since July 18, 1991 (301 shows).
Setlist courtesy of Phish.net.
Key tracks:
http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1994-04-15/harry-hood
http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1994-04-15/wilson
http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1994-04-15/suzy-greenberg
http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1994-04-15/wilson
http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1994-04-15/wolfman-s-brother
http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1994-04-15/alumni-blues
20yearslaterblogdotnet 
I was at 4/15/94 (Beacon) and thought I would share my memory of that show. It was the only show of the 3-night run that I attended. Although my first show was in 1992, I only managed to see Phish a few times b/w 1992-94 so the band was still fairly new to me. I didn’t realize that Harry Hood in the first set or Alumni Blues in any set were rare treats!
The GCH’s were great and the energy in the Beacon was incredible. But, I must confess that I was slightly disappointed initially when the GCH’s were introduced on stage b/c it essentially meant that Phish would not be playing any deep jams. But, what the show lacked in psychedelia was more than made up for in sheer energy. In fact, by the time they were getting to the end of Cavern I noticed that alot of fans were bending down. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. It turns out that they were taking their shoes off. As Trey sang the line, “whatever you do take care of your shoe,” all of these shoes started getting tossed on stage. I suppose it was a precursor to glowsticks. It was pretty funny.