Michael A Wall
Atlanta, GA - Lakewood Amp. - 6-15-95
Holy Shit! Excuse the french but this is going to be a show to grovel for.
They opened with Friend which was completely jammming (though I'm kinda
biased because I've never seen it live). Sparkle was it's regular "kick
you shoes off and shack that booty" self. AC/DC Bag was fantastic, they
had a fairly extended hard jam that had the audience freakin. Then the
changed the pace to a little blugrass with Home Place and went into Taste
which I predict to be thier first single release off thier next studio
album which will have only songs that are about or mention water. Me
thinks I like this song. Anyways, the went on to Wedge and I was
completely stoked, it is such a completely fantastic song. Then came a
good ole Stash that in the end I felt like they going into Cannonball
like at Bomb Factory but instead they went into the most psychedelic
freaked out version of I Didn't Know that exists on the planet. It was
soooo slooooooow and chant like with kinda of a constatnt hmmmmmm in the
background like some vocal jams I've heard. Then Tubbs comes out with a
trombone (is this a first?) and plays long drawn out notes like a whale
song or something. Meanwhile Trey is marching slowly around the stage
shooting his ray-gun/megaphone over the audience and playing with the
hundrted or so "burger balls" on stage (some one handed them out in the
parking lot). Then when i was thinking this set is far to great, they
cant make it any better they reached deep into their bag o' tricks and
play freakin Fluffhead with a Trey goin on a psychedelic wa-wa peddle
trip. Second set opened with a fairly standard shit-eatin grin My Sweet
One. Then came Ha Ha Ha which I heard in Utah and liked it there, but
when I heard it here I decided, "Yep, I really like it!" It's just a
really cool kind of dark song. At the end they went into the whirling
psychedlic craziness and started playing David Bowie! (which I had
already heard in Missouri, but do you think I was dissapointed? Well I
wasn't in the least!) David Bowie was sooo long and at one point I
thought I was going cry it was so sweetly psychedelic. Then it just
cooked sooo hard at the end that the boys couldn't help but take and bow
and bask in the applause while the rested thier mutual fingertips. Then
there was an aptly placed Strange Desire which is a nice smooth song that
is kinda of Beatlesque in nature. Then they start with a bass line that
I thought had to be a Velvet Underground song and it end up being Theme
from the Bottom which was about 10min long and was sooooo gooood. Then
came Scent which was pretty standard except the dual in the middle was
exceptionally playful. Trey and Page threw a burger ball between each
other and Page even played the piano with the burger ball. Page ruled
the dual, he completely blew Trey out of the water. Then came an
Acoustic Army which I have enjoyed before in a Classical Gas kind of way
and was happy to hear it again. They closed out the set with a powerful
Slave that had some acid-dripping synthesizer in the middle. I've only
heard a few Slaves and this one completly blew those others away, no contest.
The Encore housed Bouncing (my third this tour out of three shows) but I
enjoyed it the way I usually do in a Bouncing kind of way. Then came
Frankenstien which blew my brain completely off of it's stem it was so
powerful. Now I know that everyone would like to say, "I
think the boys really enjoyed playing tonight." after every concert. And
they may very well enjoy playing at every show. However, I have never
seen them having as much fun as they had last night. They were so smokin
and they knew it. It kind of scares me about the future because if they
get much better my brain willstart to overload at concerts. Some other
side notes: Trey was wearing a brown condom cap that was pretty silly,
security was pretty cool, lots of peoply chomping on mushrooms in the
parking lot. And a final sad note: I saw an older man in the parking lot
with a laminated picture of what I guess to be his daughter. He was
standing at the exit looking at every one who was leaving trying to find
her I guess. Anyways it was really sad and even if you think your
parents are the uncoolest people in the world at least call them and tell
them your alive. You may not worry about them but chances are they worry
about you. Sorry for the downer and the "waste" of bandwidth.
Later,
Michael Wall
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From: tlkalka@mailbox.syr.edu (Terrance L Kalka II)
Subject: Phish in Atlanta - full review
Date: 21 Jun 1995 03:55:52 GMT
My apologies for the tardiness of this review.
PHISH - The Coca-Cola Lakewood Ampitheatre
Atlanta, Ga. June 15, 1995
Phish walked onstage at approximately 7:30 pm. Way early by Guns 'n'
Roses standards, but a little late for Phish. The show was worth the wait.
The band looked as it always has. Fish wore his usual orange donut dress,
Mike had his pants rolled up, etc. Trey wore a wool cap for the duration of
the show.
MY FRIEND, MY FRIEND - The sound where I was (center of the lawn) was
really good. It was very full and heavy, without being muddled.
Mike's bass was frequently hard to hear, but the piano and drums sounded
great. As the song went on, I noticed that it seemed a little slower than
usual. More on that later. They carried on the spoken bit at the end
for a little while, and Fish joined in.
SPARKLE - Pretty standard and fun. Again, this didn't seem to fly like
it usually does.
AC/DC Bag - Surprisingly great. The harmonies were right on, and Trey
played a fantastic solo. He was into the show from the 1st note, but
the other guys weren't yet moving with him. They just played those
chorus chords. Fish seemed to be dragging. He was holding the band down
rather than helping it fly.
MY OLD HOME PLACE - Pretty cool. Mike got a chance to stand out.
TASTE - I'm not sure about the title here. This is a strange new song.
Hints of If I Could. It's very syncopated, and I had a hard time finding
the meter of the tune (this is a good thing!)
THE WEDGE - A lot closer to the album version than the 1993 versions.
A nice surprise.
STASH - The song that made the difference. The middle jam sounded
especially sick, but that's not where the action really was. The
ending jam turned the evening around. Trey got into a little
groove that he just held for minutes, and Fish played a real basic hi-hat
and bass pattern. This is how they locked on. It's as if they slowed
down to let Fish catch up, and then they took off together. This was a
fantastic jam that went on for a long, long time. It slowed down
again, but they were all together, and it got very spacy. Page built
up a drone on his keyboards, and Trey started to sing
I DIDN'T KNOW - By far the strangest version of this song ever. Page
held that drone and they sang it very drawn-out and dreamy. Fishman
ever-so-slowly edged to the microphone and blew a very simple trombone
solo. Trey grabbed his megaphone and hit the "horn" button. He went
over to the drums and started swinging the thing around so that everytime
it got near a mic you could hear that tone fading in and out. They finished
the song as it began. Weird and wonderful.
FLUFFHEAD (-> FLUFF'S TRAVELS) - Fantastic. The vocals again were excellent.
At this point it was dark enough to appreciate the lights, and they were
beautiful. The played Travels as they always do, but it felt like it
ended too soon. I know it didn't, but I wanted it to go on!
RUN LIKE AN ANTELOPE - A 1st set Antelope. Glorious. Antelope. What
more do you need to know?
Set 2
MY SWEET ONE - This was cool to hear. I thought it was a strange way to
open up the set.
Ha ha - Another new one. I bet that in a year, this will be part of
something larger.
->DAVID BOWIE - Fishman's hi-hat kicked into gear, while the rest of the
group played sound effects. Trey counted it off, and away they went!
And boy, did they go! This tune went anywhere and everywhere. 20 minutes
later, it ended. One of my top two Bowies ever.
STRANGE DESIGN - This is a very pretty song that Page sings. He blew a note
or two, but it really didn't seem to matter.
FEED FROM THE BOTTOM - My favorite of the new songs. They lyrics seem to
be about fish ("I feed from the bottom, you feed from the top"). There's
a great solo, with some cool vocal games at the end.
SCENT OF A MULE - As advertised. Fiddler jam, etc. Someone (or more than
one) brought a bunch of Wendy's inflatable "Burger Balls" to the show.
By showtime, they were all over the stage. Trey and Page tossed one
back and forth during the middle.
ACOUSTIC MARCH - Unexpected instrumentation. All four on acoustic
guitars. This sounded really pretty, but again, I bet there'll be more to
it as time goes on.
SLAVE TO THE TRAFFIC LIGHT - This is going to be a historic Slave.
Excellent as always, the groove slowed down to about half-time and stayed
that way until the end. It finished at kind of a ballad tempo. Gorgeous.
Encore
BOUNCING AROUND THE ROOM - The first time I've actually gotten to see
this one performed. I was struck by precision of the vocals.
FRANKENSTEIN - A nice hard rockin' way to end up. I'd like to get
some details on the keyboard on top of Page's piano. I thought
it was a Hohner Clavinet, but there's more going on than that. I think.
Anyway, it was cool.
Conclusion: Excellent show. Brilliant. I would never have mentioned
all that stuff about Fishman in the beginning, except that the way they
picked up in Stash has to heard to be believed. So, anyone got tapes?
Peace
Terry
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