Phish Live Review
Hershey, PA Sept. 15th, 2000

First off, a little background info on this reviewer, so you know where I'm coming from. I'm a big fan of interesting, out-of-the-mainstream rock music, particularly the brand that is known (and in some circles, reviled) as "progressive rock". Not all of Phish's music fits into that category, but enough does that the band caught my interest. And since I also enjoy their jam, funk, psychedelic and improv sides, they've become one of my favorite bands. I've got all the band's official releases, as well as a handful of concert tapes. But this concert was only my fourth time seeing the band play live, so I'm far from an expert on their live shows. I'm in my early 30s, so I'm older than the majority of people at Phish concerts seem to be. I'm not into the "scene" at all - I'm just into the band for the music.

Now that I've introduced myself, here's a review that I wrote for a progressive rock mailing list that I'm on. It has been modified and edited somewhat to be more suitable for a Phish-oriented web site:

Last night I drove the whopping 10 miles or so from my house over to Hershey Stadium to see a band I've been mildly obsessed with for the last couple months, Phish. Since I live so close to the stadium, and since I left a good four hours before showtime, I figured I'd have no problem getting to the show. Big mistake. Traffic was backed up for miles - it took over an hour to get into the parking lot, and then another 15 minutes dodging the blissfully vision-impaired (they apparently can't see cars) young hippies to find a parking spot. And of course the geniuses at Hershey decided to make everyone park in the big grass field about a half mile from the stadium, even though the lot right next to the stadium was empty. Reports are that the police were heavily patrolling this lot, mainly looking for people who were ignoring the "No Alcoholic Beverages in the Parking Lot" signs, which was almost everyone. I read that somewhere around 60 people were arrested and fined for breaking the open container law. Between that, the thorough friskings at the stadium gate, and the general hassles Hershey has given me in the past (and I don't even consume any alcohol or drugs at shows), I'm starting to think it's not worth going to concerts there, despite it practically being in my back yard.

Anyway, once I got parked I started threading my way towards the stadium gates, which were supposed to open at 5pm. After traversing the, um, colorful crowd, I got to the gates just as they opened at 5:45. Making a quick stop in a restroom turned out to be a mistake, because within the first five minutes, all the spots on the field within 50 yards of the stage had been taken. Oh well, I still got a fairly good place to stand. Next came the two hour wait for the show to actually begin. Why do they even print starting times on tickets? This one was supposed to start at 7pm, but actually got underway closer to 8. By that time, damn near everyone around me had broken out their little pipes and raised a thick cloud of dope smoke over the crowd. Above that cloud were the rain clouds - it had been beautiful all day, but as showtime approached it got very cold and windy, and looked for sure like it was going to rain. Fortunately there were only a couple small sprinkles, and once the show got started the general warmth of the crowd helped take the bite out of the wind.

Most of the people who I talked to while waiting for the show to begin were very nice, and a many seemed smarter than their slacker/stoner appearance would lead one to believe. And there were a few very interesting characters, like the guy who was dressed all in orange (from his sneakers to his sweater and even his hat) who was throwing free lollipops to the crowd, or the guy who was dressed all in green and had a cape made out of artificial grass with "Lawn Boy 2000" painted on the back of it. And then there was the guy who was sitting near the edge of the crowd completely naked. I think security eventually threw him out, receiving many boos from the crowd for their efforts. There was also a woman blowing soap bubbles, people inflating and batting around balloons with the names of Phish songs written on them in magic marker, and people passing out little stickers that either had a happy face on them or the Hershey's Chocolate logo modified to say "Phisheys".

Once the show finally did get underway, the crowd all got to their feet (several, myself included, had sat down for the wait, and a group of people behind me passed the time with a spirited game of Uno, using a deck that was missing several cards but made up for it with cards from other games substituted in). As the band entered the stage though, everyone got up and there was a general surge of bodies towards the stage, packing everyone in like sardines.

The band opened with First Tube, which is the one song from the new album that I was really hoping to hear, so that was a promising start. For those who haven't heard it, it's an instrumental with a bouncy but somewhat repetitive bass line and a slightly western feel to it. Trey cranked the guitar parts up towards the end, so it made for a nicely energetic opener. They followed with Gotta Jibbo, which surprised me because I didn't expect a "lets push the stuff from our new album" type show. As it turned out, it wasn't that sort of show after all - they only did one other song from the new disc (set two opened with "Piper", which turned into a lengthy jam).

The first set also included "Birds of a Feather" from the previous album, and I thought it came off much better live than the studio version. And I was quite happy to hear "Run Like an Antelope", which is one of my favorites from their early albums, and seeing all the "antelope crossing sign" bumper stickers in the parking lot had put me in the mood for that song. There was also a good version of Golgi Apparatus from the first album. The rest of the set was made up of songs that I had never heard before - I'm not sure if they were covers or just not-yet-released Phish tunes. One of them featured a chorus about driving from Erie to Pittsburgh, so the Pennsylvania crowd cheered that one.

All in all I really enjoyed the first set, although there was a dancing moron in front of me who couldn't figure out that in such close quarters his enthusiastic dancing meant he was bound to crash into people and step on people's feet. And since everyone has to be "mellow" at a Phish show, no one told the jackass to knock it off. Tip for those of you who need lots of room to express yourself through dance - do so at the back of the crowd. You're not watching the band anyway, and those around probably are trying to.

Between sets, I tried to use the restroom again, but it was literally jam-packed with bodies. It took about half an hour just to squeeze in the door, get in a line, use the facilities and then try to squeeze through the crowd to get out the exit, which even more people were trying to enter. Hershey is just utterly unprepared for hosting big concerts like this. The lines for the women's bathrooms were even worse, so there were some girls forcing their way into the stalls in the men's room. Made for interesting conversation, to say the least.

After a nasty struggle to try to get back to the general area I had been standing in for the first set, I finally threaded my way back through all the bodies (most of whom had sat down again) and got relatively close to the stage and waited for the second set to begin. Then, just as the lights went down, three really tall guys forced their way in front of me and decided to stand there for the whole second set. So I didn't get to see much of anything, except for some of the light show (which was nice, and occasionally impressive) and the two big video screens set up on either side of the stage. Those seemed mostly to focus on Trey's playing, although there were also occasional glimpses of Page's fingers on the keys, and even more occasional shots of Mike and Fishman. Annoyingly, there were also a lot of shots of the crowd - I paid to see the band, not all the other people in the audience. Oh well.

Musically, most of the second set was jam-based. To be honest, I started getting a little bored during parts of it, and found myself checking my watch. Most of the other reviews I've read seemed to rave about this part of the show though (particularly the 17 minute version of "Tube"), so maybe it was something that you need to be a concert regular to appreciate. Even for me, there were some good bits - I really enjoyed one spacey section that sounded like what Pink Floyd might have done in their prime, if Waters was a much better bassist and Gilmour had had a ton of modern guitar effects to work with. They also played a really nice version of "Lizards", which I was psyched to hear since it's my favorite song from _Gamehendge_, and I just discovered that little unreleased gem this summer (thanks to the Bathtub of Adventures site). But overall the second set didn't interest me quite as much as the first set.

The last song of the set was "Character Zero". While _Billy Breathes_ is probably my favorite of Phish's "pop" efforts (an opinion that I seem to be in a minority by holding), I've never thought that this particular song was all that great. But for some reason I really enjoyed this live version of "Character". People had been throwing those little glow-sticks around all night, much to my annoyance, but when this song began they really let loose. For a couple minutes, the hundreds of glowing streaks of light flying over the audience outshined the real light show. I've gotta admit that it was pretty cool, even though I got biffed in the head a couple times. People were also throwing them at the stage and a couple guys managed to climb up on stage and run around until security dragged them away - what gets into some people? Trey caught one of the glow sticks and threw it back at the crowd, while Page seemed to be trying to play piano while keeping his head turned 180 degrees so he could watch for incoming projectiles. He definitely looked annoyed. Come on folks, grow up - keep the glowsticks to yourself.

For an encore, the band came out and played "Possum". I got the feeling that several people around me were disappointed that the encore was so short, but I like that song so I enjoyed it. Overall the whole show seemed to go by very quickly - I've read that this was one of the shortest concerts the band has played in a while. Apparently they made up for it at the next show in Maryland by playing two very long sets of music and doing a double encore.

All in all, it was an OK show but I left a little disappointed. I think all the Phish albums and tapes I've been listening to lately had put my expectations a little too high. I'm left with the feeling though that the band wasn't really into it. Mike just stood there the entire show and barely moved. Fishman didn't wear his usual dress (probably too cold), didn't play the vacuum cleaner (in four shows, dating back to the _Hoist_ era, I've never seen him do this) and didn't really seem into it either (for what it's worth, another review that I read strongly disagreed with me on that). But I'll probably try to get a tape of the show so I can hear it again before passing judgment. BTW, speaking of Fishman, just about every car in the lot had a bumper sticker that said "Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Fishman". Given how the majority of Americans seem to be planning on voting not *for* a presidential candidate this year but rather *against* the one they hate more, Fishman should give it a shot. He could probably run the country as well as Gush or Bore.

For anyone who's interested, the full set list (stolen from a rec.music.phish post) was:

Set I: First Tube, Gotta Jibboo, Corrine Corrina, Birds of a Feather, Windora Bug, Run Like an Antelope, Golgi Apparatus, Bittersweet Motel

Set II: Piper, Lizards, Tube, When the Circus Comes, Character Zer0

Getting out of the stadium proved to be a challenge, since there are no exit signs anywhere, and vast numbers of stoned kids were shuffling into dead ends, leading the crowd along behind them. No one could figure out how to get out. Turned out there were two tiny exits in the back - took about 15 minutes just to get out of the stadium. Then the search for my car, which took a while because the tent that I was using as a landmark had been taken down. But it didn't matter anyway, because it took an HOUR AND A HALF to get out of the parking lot. Have I mentioned that I really hate how Hershey handles their concerts?

On my way into the stadium, someone had handed me a flyer for a band called Fat Apple. They were playing in a little bar in Hershey that I had been to before, so on my way home I decided to stop and give them a listen. Caught the last hour or so of their set and drank a couple beers. Either the beers or the fact that I had been up since 5am really caught up with me, so I was probably too sleepy to fully enjoy their music. But they sounded OK - jam-based stuff, drummer, bassist, percussionist and two guitarists who alternated rhythm and lead duties. Long, long grooves with guitar solos and occasional lyrics over top. Not bad, but I didn't buy the CD they were selling. If they happen to play in your neck of the woods and you like that sort of thing, they're probably worth checking out.

And then I drove home and crashed for 10 hours.

-- Bob "Bice" Eichler