Fee's Cavern

Ride the rides!  See the show!  A night under the big top, the podcast's first foray into 3.0.  This show is home to fan requests, rarities, and a stellar second set.

This three set show starts off with early favorites, begins to spread it's wings by the time Weekapaug Groove comes around, and closes it's first set with Machine Gun Trey tearing through You Enjoy Myself. Two new songs find ground in the middle of set two, sandwiched by good versions of Bowie and Antelope. Set three is fantastic with a great Slave and Possum.

Ending the tour with a bang, this show ranges the best parts of the first tour of this particular year. Set one ratchets up the intensity through the set-finishing Run Like An Antelope. The closing set of the tour rages, including a great Mike's Groove and layers of band member solo sections that sent early tour heads out with the knowledge that the band was at an early peak.

Just another show from a condo complex... what?  This show rocks from start to stop, making it far from underrated. However, it did not find wide circulation until the BitTorrent era began. The first set displays a band playing at the top of their game, with a fantastic Runaway Jim opener and three jam chart tracks before the break. Set two is a tour de force: strong, crafty, masterful. Split, McGrupp, and YEM will take your face off.

Pre-show rain causes a change of location within the same venue. This show starts solidly before a great Stash and mid-set Squirming Coil. Set two makes an interesting listen with deft playing and a nasty, short Down With Disease. The back of the set features a fantastic Harpua and a gorgeous take on Slave to The Traffic Light.

A night in Charlotte full of highlights.  The first frame starts with four well played numbers before hitting its stride with a bustout and a gorgeous Slave to the Traffic Light.  Set two opens with crowd interaction, contains a monster David Bowie and a fun Forbin's Mockingbird.

Today's Phish podcast pays tribute to one of the hottest weeks in the early 90s.  Both sets contain tight composed segments and interesting jam treatments with the second frame being one of the most talked about sets of the year.  It was late one fall night at a fairground near town...

Showing no ill effects from a fall and wearing an ankle brace, Trey is on his game this show. Set one features impressive bookend numbers and some intense jamming in Split Open and Melt. Set two is extra strength: the intensity of the first four songs, a rare Fishman tune, and a colossal Hood to close one heck of a first week of the year.

Early in this tour Phish headed north of the border.  This show places a very good Stash in the keystone spot of a hard-rocking set one.  The second frame features a searing Down With Disease and a fantastic Mike's Song tacking down a hot Canadian run.

Wizard of Oz teasing bookends the first set of this classic early Spring Tour show.  The second set is a microcosm of where Phish was at the time of recording.  It features fun with audience members, pokes at the crew, a My Sweet One that will knock you out, and strong versions of Weekapaug and Magilla.

After being told to turn it down, Phish gives a clinic in quiet dynamics throughout both sets. This outdoor show in March features exceptional versions of Stash, Runaway Jim, It's Ice, and Weekapaug Groove.

After some blistering Spring Tour shows in Colorado, Phish made their way to the west coast for a big trek towards Canada.  That stretch begins in Los Angeles and this show is one of two nights just off the Walk of Fame.  Highlights include Maze, David Bowie, and a second set that rocks from the get-go.

The ability to instruct a crowd using musical cues is another check in the win column for Phish.  This episode puts you right at the early stages of that on a night in Portsmouth, NH.  Signals abound the night after the first Secret Language Lesson.  What really sets this night apart is how good both sets are overall.  Get in on the secret with Episode 16.

Party time!  A high-energy show from a defunct New York City club is pulled from the Cavern wall.  Really tight playing is the trend with this one and John Popper joins in on a couple songs.  Phish takes it past the 3AM hour in Tribeca with some Saturday Night Fever of their own.

In the middle of a short tour of European cities, this show is from a very small Northern Italian town.  While tough to get to, Phish rewards the fans on tour right away by starting the show with a treat.  Both sets have Jam Chart moments, tour hallmark passages, and the energy of a state-side band on stride across the pond.

Sometimes great performances hide among the other shows you have heard from the era.  Right before Phish tore apart the Roxy, shades of brilliance hide in this little heard show from Winston-Salem.  Sleepy at first, this show does a complete spin halfway through the first set to deliver a hidden gem.  Unlisted teases, unusual sonic oddities, and one of the best David Bowies you will hear this month make this show a treat.

Only one venue besides MSG can boast of over 50 Phish shows.  Today's episode comes from that venue: The Front in Burlington.  Three sets that are playful and precise with a relaxed bar atmosphere... outside of the unusual heckle before the first set.  This show features the band at peak in 1989 with highlights in each set.

Humidity can be a bear.  The last episode of an All-Request January gives us an example of weather tension-and-release from 1999.  Preshow rain clears up and Phish plays a great first set.  After the sun goes down, the band plays along to building humid conditions, growing winds and a swirling storm alive with lightning moving in.  The second set is maniacal: five songs ranging from dance-hall, to heavy syncopation, to musical majesty... all before the rain moves in during the encore.  One of the more underrated second sets of the Summer 99 tour, quite different than the shows that surround it.

A first-time performance from a now defunct venue populates Episode 10.  A perfect July day leads to a fantastic Midwest melt with a great example of the elusive "flow" we all desire each time we show up.  The third episode of All-Request January throws us deep into a few funky numbers in set one and rare treats woven into a thick second set.  Underrated?  Listen to what you have been missing from Summer '98.

Few Phish concerts signal a change in the wings, but this is one of them.  Starting a new year from their hometown, the band shows us practiced prowess and quite an number of new songs from an overlooked show to start a Spring Tour.  A second set throw-down from the Giant Country Horns spells a treat for the continuation of Twenty8's All-Request January on Fee's Cavern.