Thursday at Nassau - by Eddie Zuckerman

The April 2nd Phish Show out at the Nassau Coliseum wasn't bad at all. I managed to squeek some weeknight fun into an otherwise crazy week.. To me, Nassau Coliseum has typically been an arena with the darkest vibe ever, but that may be a phantom pain leftover from years of Deadtouring in local filthy motels, with filthy people, with a head full of filthy drugs and booze.

It was a bit brisk outside, but there was some sort of interesting parking lot scene. I didn't notice any particular overpresence of security...just yer typical parking lot yellowjackets buzzing around. A Patrol Car or two.. Inside, the Phish Fans did spill over the wall to the GA floor section, and the security guards would focus on one or two individuals, but let the rest of the throngs proceed over the wall. Being some sort of a yuppie looking character, who is basically a saint anyway (yeah right), I never get harrassed by security....you see the trick is to do nothing wrong! Go figure!!! :-)

I ate some parking lot Gyro with unrefridgerated Sour Cream, Browning lettuce, overcooked mystery meat, served from the back of a rusty brown van with multicolored bodywork, filled to the brim inside with a months worth of tour debris: like dogs, Indian Blankets, sleeping people with Dreadlocks, worn out dirty sneakers, unwashed clothing... Surprisingly, I never once saw a cooler which I had hoped would have priorly contained the raw ingredients of the Gyro I had just ate. Of course he didn't have any napkins....I was crazy to even ask. Some things never change. (Buuuurp!) :-)

The show itself was yer typical Nassau Coliseum scene. Old Arena. Ventilation lame, Bathroom lines too long, hallway too thin, muddy acoustics.... Very young crowd...every single one of them a cigarrette smoker apparently...and their smoke trails all managed to aim themselves into what still works of my nose. Tons of college age kids, probably right over the fence from Hofstra U.

The Music: Can't keep a Phish setlist to save my life...don't even want to. I've been to maybe 6 Phish shows Grand Total. That band can jam, I'll tell ya that much. They hit some interesting spaces quite often, and often stumble upon jams that are as outrageous as any I've ever heard. These very cool moments pop up quite often. I like how this band is maturing. Very interesting to watch them get better and better. They can't buy a lyric to save their lives though.... I almost wish they wouldn't sing at all. Other than that, the show was fun. Phish's light show captured my attention often from my seats in the rear of the arena. They are damned good live music. On Thursday night, they were the best game in town. Phish has a sound that very often reminds me of Early Peter-Gabriel driven Genesis...blent with bits and pieces from Zappa, Dead, ELP, Beatles, and about a trillion other influences. In fact, as I listen to each Phish tune, I find myself trying to locate the influence....(i.e. This sounds just like "Not Fade Away" meets "Foggy Mountian Breakdown")

Providence - by John J. Wood

Phish played a fine pair of shows over the weekend at Providence, the second half of a 4-show mini-tour that started at Nassau (you couldn't get me back to that dump!!!). Anyway, lots of fine playing all the way around.

First night highlights included the Tweezer->Taste opener, a version of Brother that unleashed a mindpeeling jam, a strong Talking Heads-ish new song called Birds Of A Feather whose jams clearly derive from Crosseyed & Painless, and a strectch covering Ghost->Lizards, the David Bowie set closer and a Harry Hood encore where Trey wanted to morph it into something else but the band had ran out of time.

coaster will have a different opinion of last night ("they played a first set?")? While she enjoyed the second set, I got off on the 87-minute first set: A great song selection featuring a half-hour You Enjoy Myself, a driving Theme From The Bottom, a tasteful McGrupp (always like it when they play that, especially in the first set) and a crunchy Split Open & Melt set-closer. Of the 7 songs featured in the second set, only the funk-flavored Cavern (a welcome change of on-the-spot rearrangement) was finished, and featured two notable mind-twisting jams. The other surprise was the lack of new material, especially given how prolific the band has been in creating new material the past few years.

Nonetheless, a certainly phun weekend!