Champaign 11/8/96 Review (long)

[post...@aol.com]

well, there haven't been too many in-depth reviews of shows this tour, so
i'm going to do my best to illustrate the champaign show for you all.
this was only my second show (alpine was my first), but i crossed the 100
tape barrier last night, and consider myself fairly knowledgable about the
band. without further ado, here's the review:

11/8/96 Champaign, IL Assembly Hall

let me start by saying that i had the highest expectations possible for
the alpine show this summer, and i was blown away. this show was that
feeling, times a hundred. maybe its just the morning after talking, but i
don't think i'll ever see a show that amazing again (knock on wood).

THE SCENE: the cops sucked ass. vending was not only stopped, but
ticketed. this coupled with the fact that we were having a typical
midwestern late fall evening (20 degrees and freezing rain) pretty much
eliminated any lot scene whatsoever. i did meet up with some traders and
came home with seven new tapes though, so i'm not too broken up. on to
the show....

FIRST SET

RUNAWAY JIM: they come on about 8:00, place goes nuts. a nice choice of
opener, got everyone involved quickly, but a standard version of the song.

AXILLA I: by no means am i a hoist-head, but i really wanted to hear an
axilla live someday. i just pictured as this total fist-pumping,
balls-out anthem live. that pretty much described it. a couple lines
into it, i noticed that trey wasn't singing the part two lyrics, they were
the strange old original words. first one since '93, i think. anyway,
trey's guitar just completely went out in the second verse, he must've
been pretty pissed 'cause he just went over and karate kicked his setup
thingy. it still wouldn't work, so he kicked it again, and the guitar
tech came out and fixed it. meanwhile, the song pretty much died, which
was kind of sad since it was its triumphant return and all. anyway, for
the rest of the set, trey's guitar sounded especially crunchy and evil,
IMO. one of the night's few segues into...

ALL THINGS RECONSIDERED: i was darn suprised to hear this, it even took
me a couple minutes to name it, since i wasn't expecting it at all.
pretty much the same as the album version, no drastic differences.

MOUND: definitely my favorite mike song of all time, i was so into this.
it was hilarious to see the crowd try and do the clapping thing, even with
the band helping us, noone could keep the beat. again, a standard
version, but a great song to see.

DOWN WITH DISEASE: so, the band gets real spacy now, and i'm thinking it
can't be bowie 'cause they played it two nights ago, and there won't be a
2001 in the middle of a set, so it has to be dwd. so no suprise when mike
laid down his line. i have to say i was disappointed in this version. it
was more similar to older dwds than the more recent jammed-out ones
because the band never signifigantly got away from the original theme.
for example, there was no percussion from trey, something that's become
pretty common. it wasn't bad, just a disappointment from 8/10 and 8/5
versions.

PRINCE CASPIAN: i really don't like this song that much, old version or
new, but it was enjoyable. i guess i needed a dancing break anyway. when
they kick into that part at the end of the song and the lights go up and
the crowd roars, its very neat.

REBA: got through the orchestrated part with few flubs, always fun to try
and dance to. before the jam got started, trey went over to his kit, and
did a few weird electronic noise things. mike also had this little foot
pedal thing that made a noise like a cymbal (has this ever been seen
before?). they fooled around with their toys for a little bit, then went
into the jam. now the 8/10 reba was great, but this version was just so
amazing. it built up beautifully, then hit this repetitive crunchy noise
from trey for a couple measures, which was released to a beautiful wailing
solo that almost brought tears to my eye, it was so touching. btw, the
whistling ending was done.

GOLGI APPARATUS: well, golgi's another song that is good for a big arena
full of people, all screaming "I SAW YOU" at the top of their lungs. fun
stuff.

RUN LIKE AN ANTELOPE: oh god, i didn't think i would survive this
antelope. the middle part just built, and built, and built; climax after
climax after climax. i didn't think i could dance any faster, and that
they would go into the final part, but they just kept pushing it higher
and higher and i kept dancing harder and harder, until my heart felt it
would burst. a perfect set ending.

SECOND SET

2001: i really wanted to see this, 'cause i've heard the lights are
amazing. they were so incredible, when they hit that climax and the white
lights shine straight out onto the audience, its indescribable. they must
have some huge fog machines back there. segue into...

MAZE: my friend that couldn't go is going to kill me when i tell him he
missed this. absolutely perfectly played. page's solo was a little
strange at the start, with some stacatto organ stuff, but he ripped out
the end. trey wailed like no other guitarist on earth.

BOUNCIN': THE MOST AMAZING BOUNCIN EVER!!!! JAMMED OUT FOR AT LEAST 30
MINUTES!!!! actually, no. it kept the kids happy, and wasn't bad to
dance and sing along with.

SIMPLE: this was the highlight of the show for me. hands down, the
greatest simple i've ever heard, and i'm tempted to say it was the
greatest ever. the jam seemed like it would never end. trey went to his
kit in the middle of it, and stayed on for the longest i've ever seen or
heard. page was amazing on the grand, he really kept it going. trey then
went back to his guitar, and the jam almost sounded like it was going back
into dwd for a while. then, trey's guitar went out again. he promptly
delivered another karate kick to the setup, knocking the amp mike into the
amp and causing all sorts of feedback, but fixing the guitar. he then
ripped out this riff that was so great, it may have been a tease of
something, but i couldn't place it. a great performance.

LOVING CUP: after simple, trey apologizes to the crowd for his guitar
troubles, while the tech tries to fix things. without missing a beat,
page starts loving cup, a song which i never figured to hear. one of the
tapers i was hanging out with before the show was talking about how cool
it would be to hear it, and it sure was. i didn't get the joke until they
sang "and i know i play a bad guitar". only phish could turn technical
problems into pure ecstasy.

MIKE'S SONG: wooohoo! i never thought i'd hear this since they played it
two nights ago, i was screaming my head off. a really good version too,
as all mike's are. trey was on the kit some more, in fact they ended it
with trey on the kit. he motioned to fish to come down front, and i
thought we'd get a fishman tune, but then the tech brought out the
acapella microphone. i screamed for freebird, but they must have not
heard me...

STAR SPANGLED BANNER: trey explained that they'll be singing at the
trailblazers-timberwolves game, not the lakers as was previously reported.
the crowd was pretty bad, but not too bad considering we were in chicago
blackhawks territory, were the national anthem singer is never heard
because of the crowd.

WEEKAPAUG: the technical problem fairy returned, unplugging mike's bass
right before his big solo. that probably hurt the most, not being able to
hear some good old slap bass from mike. but, it was a pretty kickin'
version anyway.

ENCORE

THEME: i checked my watch before the encore and noticed they had a lot of
time before 11, so i was expecting something long. theme was played, and
it was a great close to the night.

overall, an absolutely amazing show, one of the greatest experiences of my
life. to all who have been saying that phish is selling out, fuck you.
last night was pure musical genius, and proof that there is no better band
on earth than phish. sorry if that sounds corny, but there's no other way
to describe it. anyway, thanks for reading my review. if you have any
comments, feel free to e-mail me, i'd love to discuss the show with you.
see you in spring!

-rob