From: brian.feller@um.cc.umich.edu Subject: Atlanta Review Reply-To: brian.feller@um.cc.umich.edu Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1993 19:31:45 GMT So, we leave Michigan at about midnight on Thursday/Friday, itUs a balmy 5 degrees in Ann Arbor, but weUre psyched to go to Atlanta. The rental car had no cassette player, so we were forced to listen to classic rock the entire trip(except through Tennessee, where it was all country). At about 4am we were hit by a deer, which means the whole trip could end up costing me a few hundred dollars:-(. We were unharmed and the car was only hurt just a little, and we made it to Atlanta with hours to spare. The doors opened at about 8pm all three nights, and the scene outside was mellow and the number of ticketless was small. Show three didnUt sell out untill Sunday morning, so if you wanted to see at least one of the shows you could. The Roxy is a great place, it seats around 1200 people, but it looks smaller than that. I went up front to grab a space and met Ellis of Lemuria and his friend. The front of the stage turned out to be the net gathering place, with Ellis, Matt Laurence, his firend Amy, and Shelly Culbertson. For all of you wondering how the Diamond Girl is doing, she is doing great. Hopefully we will see her soon on the net again, but for now things are a little too hectic in Boston. On to the shows!!! First night: FishmanUs Birthday/PageUs Parents in attendance Set I: You could tell right away that the band was serious about making up for last yearUs Atlanta show. Everyone seemd in great spirits and the music completely rocked. The highlight for me from the first set was Split Open and Melt. Trey continually drooled through the whole jam section, which seemd like it would never end. As has been said, during the ForbinUs rap, Trey brought us back to the last Atlanta gig, and we were standing in water. Rwe will make it up to youS was the chant that induced the time travel. Only this time, instead of cancelling the gig, the water started to bubble, and we all turned into a steam cloud, slowly rising into the air, where we became a floating cloud in the sky. Then we turned into a thunderstorm(forshadowing Sunday nightUs real storm) and rained back down. As we fell, we expanded into people again only we werenUt in Atlanta anymore, we were in GAMEHENDGE. Then the story was the standard Mockingbird intro after that. Then there was Bowie. They jammed the Zepplin tune Moby Dick in the intro, and then Fish took a vacuum solo before returning to the Bowie intro. Trey also played Happy Birthday during the intro. The song itself cooked, and Moby Dick reappeared in the end jam. This is the second Moby Dick IUve seen, the other was during Bowie in Ann Arbor 12-11-92. They had jammed on moby Dick during the soundcheck at Ann Arbor and it worked its way in Bowie in the first set. Has anyone heard them do this song other times? Set II: Jim was great, the energy level was super high. ItUs Ice was was wonderful. During the jam Trey and Mike played each otherUs guitars with the necks of their guitars, which was very weird. YEM was supercharged, and the vocal jam was phenomenal. For Lawn Boy, Page came out from behind the organ and stood up in front of it, then dedicated it to his parents. His voiced squeeked once, probably from a little nervousNESS, but the rest was great. Then came Jimmy. My, oh my!!! He was using TreyUs backup guitar, which is an exact replica of his stage guitar, and played through one of TreyUs two mesa boogie heads, so their guitar sounds were identical. The sound was perfect. Jimmy blew everyoneUs mind with his playing. After Funky Bitch, Trey looked at Jimmy and said, RThat was fucking bad!!!S My Sweet One was wonderful. Trey told Fish to keep it slow for Jimmy, but he refused, and Jimmy was superb. It sounded like he had been playing the song for years. Fish picked up TreyUs guitar and attempted a guitar solo, which was hilarious!!! He couldnUt get it to work at first, and then he could only make little twangy sounds. He defintley has no carrer as a guitar player ahead of him. Llama raged like a ball of flaming foam, and Jimmy once again blew the doors out. Definitlely some of the best Phish I have ever seen. Page dedicated Amazing Grace to his father, and it sounded wonderful. Saturday I was talking to him and he said the whole band is taking barbershop lessons and they really love it. Maybe weUll see some new a capella tunes soon! For the encore Trey talked about their new friend Hack, and said they were going to play one for him. Fish wanted to play Sloth but Trey said he promised Hack that he would play a certain tune. AC/DC Bag!! Whoopiee! It was a little rough in spots but it was great to hear that one again. It had been almost two years since IUd seen it. All in all one of the top shows played by them in the last year or two. Okay, I have spewed enough. I was truly moved by these shows. Hi to Shelly, Matt, and Ellis!!! -Brian Feller zero.man@um.cc.umich.edu ------------------------------