Thursday, 05/19/1994

Silva Concert Hall, Hult Center for the Performing Arts, Eugene, OR

If New England is Phish Country, what is Eugene? I’ve never actually been to Eugene, but my babysitter growing up went to college there and she was the hippiest hippie I’ve ever known. I’ve heard a lot about this town. Seems like the perfect place for a Phish show, to me.

Show starts out really fun with the Halley’s>Llama. Poor Heart features some serious fire from Trey… it’s funny to me that Poor Heart is so loose here. I feel like it was locked into a note-for-note same-same rendition by the summer of 1995. But these 1994 versions just feel a lot looser.

Stash is an obvious early highlight here! It’s funny hearing “Woo!” where we eventually would settle in on the clapping. I’ve never been a clap-during-Stash guy. Not that I’m against audience participation, but I miss Fish’s little fills in Stash, so I refuse to clap. Anyway, this Stash jam gets good really early. It eventually locks into a pattern similar to the version on A Live One, but it gets there in a very different way. It starts with these large patterns that just start getting tighter and tighter… Almost like figure skater who starts with larger circles but gets faster and faster as she pulls her arms and legs in closer and the centrifugal force speeds her up. Great Stash!! Seriously great.

The rest of the set is pretty solid Phish stuff. I love to hear Mango in the morning! Can anyone explain why Trey gives a shout out to CK5 at the end of Cavern? Was it his birthday or something? The last thing Trey says is “Topher, we love you.”

The meat and potatoes of the second set is the Mike’s Groove, for sure. The Mike’s Song is stellar. The classic H2>’paug always makes me happy. The ‘paug is short but sweet and starts the I Love Lucy theme that pops up a few times. Good stuff. Lots of fun.

The Lizards has a pretty unique section during Page’s lovely solo with Trey playing some staccato chords. Cool. You don’t expect anything radically different in a Lizards. Man, I love this song!!

Julius has really settled in at this point. But it still rocks every time. The Hood, much like the recent Slaves, is short but great. They really take their time in the mellow start of the jam before a pretty quick build. Gorgeous.

The rest of the show is gravy. I always loved the acoustic segments without microphones in person, but I hate not being able to hear them better on tape. Oh well. If you weren’t there when they were doing this regularly, you really kinda missed out on one of the things that made Phish special. Sorry!

And a Fire that is FIRE! Thanks for reading. Have a great week, folks.

Thursday, 05/19/1994

Silva Concert Hall, Hult Center for the Performing Arts, Eugene, OR

Set 1: Halley’s Comet > Llama, My Friend, My Friend, Poor Heart > Stash, The Horse > Silent in the Morning > Down with Disease > The Mango Song > Cavern

Set 2: Sample in a Jar, Sparkle > Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, The Lizards, Julius, Big Ball Jam, Harry Hood, Golgi Apparatus

Encore: Ginseng Sullivan, Nellie Kane, Sweet Adeline, Fire

Notes: Mike’s Song contained teases of Today (Smashing Pumpkins) from Trey. Weekapaug, Big Ball Jam, and Hood included I Love Lucy theme teases. Ginseng Sullivan and Nellie Kane were performed acoustic, without microphones, and featured Fishman on washboard. Sweet Adeline was also performed without microphones.

Setlist courtesy of Phish.net.

 

Key tracks:

http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1994-05-19/stash

http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1994-05-19/mike-s-song

http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1994-05-19/harry-hood