Saturday, 05/14/1994

Montezuma Hall, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA

 

Gonna be another busy day, but as I mentioned last night, today is my bride’s birthday, so I am determined to get my listening in while I work. I cannot put this off to the end of the day again.

So, I’m in. Llama opener first thing in the morning? I’m awake, damnit. I’m awake!! Wilson with a fun, secret language boasting, intro, but, alas, no chant. It’s fun tracking this thing. I mean, by the end of the year there will be no more Wilson’s with fun intros… well, the chant is fun, I guess, but you know what I mean.

…and I thought I was in, but I’m just now getting to the Reba at 2:30pm. All work and no Phish makes me a dull boy! But this Reba is worth the wait. Yes, indeed. Then I love Trey’s banter about “our muddy-water, Mississippi, Vermont home” before they close out the set with a tight Bowie.

And the second set is exactly my type of Phish. Curtain opener always sets a nice tone, if you ask me. The Mike’s Groove is traditional with no real surprises, but it is fantastic. I should note how much I appreciate a traditional Mike’s Groove. I’ve seen Mike’s Song 36 times and I am Hydrogen only 7. It’s a stat that has urked me for years. I didn’t see a single H2 from 7/2/1994 through 12/30/99. And the 7/2/94 Mike’s was in no way “traditional.” So, suffice it to say I love an unadulterated Mike’s->H2->’paug.

When the ‘paug melts into TMWSIY; my heart melts with it. It’s such a lovely composition… and speaking of stats, I’ve only seen TMWSIY 4 times (well, 7 times at 4 shows, if you want to get technical). If they want to bust it out at SPAC this summer it’ll end a 19-year, 80+ show gap. I’ve given up hoping for such things these days. Shit, I never thought I’d ever see a Fuck Your Face and I’ve see a couple at this point. I can’t complain.

PYITE features Page on the Rhodes. That’s a permanent transition at this point. Sounds great, too. Then the Fast Enough is beautiful. Trey and Page sing the opening verses with the most delicate of tones. Then the energy kind of explodes by the time they get to the last refrains.

This show has a lot of quiet moments. It’s not something you can count on these days. The 3.0 crowd gets chatty during quiet moments (or maybe they’re just chatty and we can hear them more during quiet moments). But there were lots of shows like this one back in the smaller era, when the band senses an attentive crowd and they reward them with lots of quiet moments. I love it. Even the Lizards here starts out really quiet and mellow. Like their saying, “lean in… listen to this tale.”

And who doesn’t love a Bold As Love encore?? What a great show. So very different from the night before, but just as great. I’m loving this journey!

Thanks for reading.

 

Saturday, 05/14/1994

Montezuma Hall, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA

Set 1: Llama, Wilson > Down with Disease > Fee, Reba, Sample in a Jar, My Sweet One, Ginseng Sullivan, David Bowie

Set 2: The Curtain > Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, Punch You In the Eye > Fast Enough for You, The Lizards, Cavern

Encore: Bold As Love

Notes: Wilson included Oom Pa Pa, Simpsons, and Key Change signals. Trey sang the verses of Fee through a megaphone. Ginseng was performed acoustic and without microphones. Weekapaug included a Divided Sky tease and was unfinished.

Setlist courtesy of Phish.net.

 

Key tracks:

http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1994-05-14/reba

http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1994-05-14/mike-s-song

http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1994-05-14/i-am-hydrogen

http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1994-05-14/weekapaug-groove