It Was 20 Years Ago Today: Phish, Live at the Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA Dec. 15th, 1995

      Good day everyone. Hope you are enjoying this El Nino inspired warm spell we are experiencing. But I come to you today not as a meteorologist but as a chronicler of music events, and few were bigger than Phish's Fall of '95 Tour. And now Kempepedia proudly presents the final installment in my documentation of this Tour, It Was 20 Years Ago Today Phish, Live at the Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA Dec 15^th, 1995.
      This show came 2 weeks after my adventures in Hershey so my expectations were pretty high. First time Phish had played the Spectrum and I figured Trey saw a few shows here growing up across the river from Philly.

Friday, 12/15/1995
CoreStates Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA

Set 1: Chalk Dust Torture > Harry Hood > Wilson > Maze > Ha Ha Ha > Suspicious Minds > Hold Your Head Up > Cars Trucks Buses, Bouncing Around the Room, Free > Possum^[1]
Set 2: Tweezer Reprise > Runaway Jim > It's Ice > Bathtub Gin -> Rotation Jam -> Mallory^[2] > Also Sprach Zarathustra > David Bowie, Sweet Adeline
Encore: Good Times Bad Times -> Tweezer Reprise
[1] Oom Pa Pa, Simpsons and All Fall Down signals.
[2] Debut.
Teases:
· Voodoo Child (Slight Return) tease in Possum
· Lazy tease in Chalk Dust Torture
Notes: Trey teased Lazy (Deep Purple) in Chalk Dust. Possum included Oom Pa Pa, Simpsons and All Fall Down signals and a Voodoo Child tease from Trey. Trey mentioned that he saw his first concert (Jethro Tull) in this very venue. Mallory debuted at this show.

You can stream it here

http://www.jamstreams.net/phish/1995/1995-12-15

      First set was solid if typical for the era. I really enjoyed my first Ha Ha Ha. Also like the fact there was no let up in the first set. Nearly everything goes right into something else. I also had my final encounter with the Devil and Uncle Leo. These were two guys who knew each other and we were seated really close to each other for 3 of the 4 shows I went to on this Tour. I can't remember their names but Uncle Leo kind of looked like Jerry Seinfeld’s Uncle Leo from the show, plus he took his shirt off at every show and danced topless for most of the show. Yes, he could have used a manziere. His friend I nicknamed the Devil because he had all these piercings in his ears and crazy tribal tattoos on his arms. Remember, this was 1995, before everyone and their uncle had ink. But they were cool and I never saw them again.

      This show was all about the second set. First, they start the second set with a Tweezer Reprise. They had done it before on this Tour but I wasn't aware but still WOW! The Jim>It's Ice> Gin were top notch. All have some tasty nuggets within them. The Rotation Jam and Mallory were weird to say the least. The 2001> Bowie were out of this world, except I had some clown keep asking me during the long build up to the Bowie Intro if this was Bowie. Yes, I have been putting up with people trying to talk to me during the show for over 20 years.
      They made a Mike Tyson joke before GTBT (He was fighting the next night at the Spectrum) and some how squeezed even more juice out of Tweezer Reprise. And then it was over. The journey that had started when Jerry died and getting the notice in the mail about an expansive Fall Tour had been completed. I had seen my musical future without Jerry G and it looked rather bright. Have a safe holiday season and I’ll be back with my reports on Cabinet and the Infamous Stringdusters for NYE and Phish at MSG in NYC night 4.


Dave Kemp
BA American Studies
PhD Rock and Roll

It Was 20 Years Ago Today; Phish, Live at Hershey Arena, Hershey, PA December 1st, 1995

     Of the four shows I saw on the '95 Fall Tour, 12/01/95 Hershey is my favorite. And it just so happens I got off work early today, on the 20^th anniversary of said show. So look out, straight from my brain to the page It Was 20 Years Ago Today, Phish Live at Hershey Arena, Hershey, PA December 1^st, 1995.
      This was one of the shows that jumped out at me when Phish announced their Fall Tour. I had lots of friends come down State College. I had just moved back to Hanover from Penn State in May so I was still in touch with my crew. Plus, practically everyone I knew and was about to meet was there from York Adams counties. Many of the Hanover High people I know now I met at that show.
      I rode up to the show in someone's Volkswagen bus. It wasn't a classic looking van but it got me there. Got inside and low and behold my seat was dead center, almost directly in front of Trey, 5 rows back. Up until then, it was far and away the best seat I ever had for a show.

Friday, 12/01/1995
Hersheypark Arena, Hershey, PA

Soundcheck: Buried Alive > Down with Disease, Dog Log, Funky Bitch (half-speed)
Set 1: Buried Alive > Down with Disease > Theme From the Bottom, Poor Heart, Wolfman's Brother^[1] > Chalk Dust Torture, Colonel Forbin's Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird^[2], Stash, Cavern
Set 2: Halley's Comet > Mike's Song -> Weekapaug Groove, The Mango Song > Wilson > Suspicious Minds > Hold Your Head Up, David Bowie -> Catapult^[3] -> David Bowie^[4]
Encore: Suzy Greenberg
[1] Trey flubbed lyrics and remarked that, since he likes them so much, he would sing them again.
[2] Narration referenced chocolate and the rhombus.
[3] Started over David Bowie hi-hat intro.
[4] Homer Simpson quotes ("mmmm... chocolate") and Simpsons signal.
Notes: Trey flubbed the lyrics to Wolfman’s Brother and remarked that, since he likes them so much, he would sing them again. The narration during Mockingbird referenced chocolate and the rhombus. Weekapaug was played in a different key. Catapult started over the Bowie hi-hat intro, which also featured quotes of Homer Simpson (“mmmm... chocolate”) and a Simpsons signal.  This was the first time ever that Mike’s and Weekapaug were played without anything in between them. This show is available as an archival release on LivePhish.com.

You can stream it here

http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1995-12-01

      Buried Alive opener gets things flying. All high energy rockers. Trey does a narration that is so long and so detailed. He talked about giving us a big hint, the biggest clue we would ever get... CLUE TO WHAT???? It's on the recording, clear as a bell. Still don't have any idea what he is talking about.
     On Feb 10th, we were going to see the David Grisham Quintet in Miller Chapel at Lebanon Valley College. Nad and myself went to King of Prussia and found a Wilson road. But who knows if it was the right one. Looked around but found nothing but open fields and it was really cold that day. 
      As they came out for the second set, someone told me they saw Mike give someone in the audience one of those giant chocolate chip cookies they used to sell. They were instant diabetes size.
     Halley's>Mike's> Weekapaugh. Are you fucking kidding me? There is so much energy in the jams that there isn't room for ANYTHING between Mike's and Weekapaugh. This is burned in my head, up there with the Hood from 11/22/97 and Split and the Mike's from Clifford Ball. This Mike's is criminally overshadowed by the Niagara Falls and NYE MSG versions but it is the third longest of all time.
Mango and Wilson allow us to catch our breath before the spectacularly caped John Fishman singing Elvis's Suspicious Minds. He did the karate moves and everything. The cape lit up, it was truly amazing.

Best photo I could find. 

Video

     Bowie sandwich with a Catapult protein? Hell yes. And then during Suzy rave up to end the song, Trey points his guitar at someone diagonally from me, in the row in front of me and yells “You!” It definitely was NOT at myself.
      And then it was over. Three shows down with one to go. In Philly. At the Spectrum. Where I saw the Grateful Dead and Trey saw Jethro Tull. He was playing in one of the most famous arenas (music wise) in the world. It was were I saw some incredible dead shows and historic Dead Lots. Look the fuck out!


Dave Kemp
BA American Studies
PhD Rock and Roll