, attached to 1993-02-17

Review by DollarBill

DollarBill Well...After a day off this is the only show ever at the Benton Convention Center and maybe that is a good thing. This show is all over the place in a bad way. Maybe equipment troubles, or sound, or just having a little too much fun make this show an off night. The recording was really boomy in the low end and not in a defined way. Just muddy with the kick drum and Mike's bass.

Right off the top Buried Alive sounds a little shy while getting dialed in and Mike sounds off. Possum sounds like it has a Sex Machine tease from Trey in the intro. The song itself is pretty rocking. Weigh sounded unfamiliar and unpracticed, because they don't play it that often. ATR was good. Are we warmed up? No, Sloth has a sloppy middle and end. Something is not right as Fish false starts his drum part going into Jim. Mike still sounds off, like he has equipment troubles or something. Trey sounds frustrated and absolutely rips his solo in Jim. Ok, now we are warmed up because Ice and Bouncing are pretty good. An uninspired Fluff had tuning problems for Trey and rough spots in the Travels, the Clod and the ending. Trey fixes his tuning in a rough Maze that turns out to be pretty good by the end. Golgi nicely cleans up the mess that was the first set. "Don't believe everything you read!” says Trey.

Alright! What the hell are they teasing now? I'm not sure. Axilla starts off a hopeful second set, but Mike is still off and I know it's a new song so... just ok. A shaky transition brings us into a good Landlady. It was well played. Not sure what Mike and Trey are teasing in the Bowie intro? Then some signals, an ok beginning, a rough composed part, a good jam and a rough ending. Sounds like some Santana teasing in Bowie as well. Glide wasn't bad, but had a rough end. My Friend had an almost flawless intro and a rocking ending. Then the balls come out...followed by a ridiculously fast and out of control My Sweet One. Fish is way out there on this one. Horn was ok. The YEM is actually pretty good with lots of teases, a funny vocal jam, some sneezing, and a terrible church choir ending. HYHU brings Fishman out to a long, swinging, reggae Lengthwise. It's awkward to say that one of these is better that the other one, but so far I like this one. Now that the guitar is cold, Trey plays an out of tune Coil. Mike is also still off. I'm afraid not even Page can save this second set, but he tries.

The first Carolina of the year gets cut off on the recording and there is no GTBT's either. That's ok, I'm sure it rocked.

This was an off night. I'm only giving one star to bring the average way down where it should be. Don't get me wrong, there are some good songs in here and a lot of fun, but this is not four star Phish.


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