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From	Tyler Comeaux 
Date	Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 11:15 PM
subject	4-26-96 JAZZ FEST!!!
	

Hello all!

This was my first Phish show to attend and it really did change my 
perception of live music and led to a string of wonderful experiences!!!  
I’m listening to it now and it’s bringing back several memories so I 
decided to finally submit something to this page which I have jumped into 
from time to time since fall 95.   I want all of you to know that this 
review page has always brought me great critiques of Phish shows, some of 
which I attended, have on Tape/CD and well others I read while I couldn’t 
make it to the shows.

Walked into the Fairgrounds in the middle of Bag, got situated, than Trey 
went ahead and ripped a nice little solo towards the end of bag.  Not 
going to analyze every song but have to note a couple of highlights.  
Michael Ray was tight as hell with the boys and to this day I feel the 
version of Wolfman’s played that day was very unique and beautiful.  
Anyone heard another version like it?  Now looking back I can agree with 
others that this was a crowd pleaser set.  Please note that for a first 
timer everything was just perfect especially A DAY IN THE LIFE!!  I 
listened to SGT PEPPERS for the duration of freshman year high school.  
The tape got stuck in my friends’ (only one who could drive at the time) 
car, but nobody complained.   Why would you?  A day in the life was our 
favorite on the album although it’s a tough call with Sgt. Peppers just 
one of the best albums ever in my O.  I went on to see several more shows, 
well as many as I could around school and work.  To sum it up: what a 
wonderful experience this band provided for us all.

Another note:  in my opinion the scene was so nice at Jazz Fest that day.  
Really met some cool people and you have to consider, I went by myself 
with no idea of what I was going to discover.  Once I got around the stage 
where Phish was performing I felt as if I was hanging out with my close 
friends up in Denver without missing a beat.  I can’t really put it into 
words but I think everything worked out for me that day.  The Music and 
the people were just great!  I’ll never forget it!!!   

tyler comeaux

 


From: Tom Torrill
Subject: Review 4-26-96

New Orleans Jazz Festival 
Heritage Fair Grounds
Friday April 26, 1996

Overall Grade - A

Set 1:
Ya Mar / AC/DC Bag / Sparkle / Stash /
Cars, Trucks and Buses->Jazz/Horn Jam with Michael Ray / 
YEM (no vocal jam) / Wolfman's Brother [1] / Scent of a Mule->Page Solo /
2001->Harry Hood / Sample In A Jar / A Day In the Life / David Bowie

Encore:
Hello My Baby
Cavern

[1]  Started with a vocal jam as the beat for the first two verses and bridge,
then kicked in with instruments.

Comments:
	This was one of those shows that you had to see to believe.
Just by looking at the setlist, one wouldn't get too impressed.  After
all, it's all their crowd-pleaser tunes.  The scene down there is what
made this show all the more better.  The day after the show, I picked up
the New Orleans paper.  They said an extra 20,000 or so compared to last
year's opening day showed up.  They also said that the big turn out
couldn't be attributed to Phish alone.  Yeah, right.  The crowd there
for Phish was tremendous.  I would estimate that there were about 
25,000 to 40,000 there for Phish.  Even Trey looked amazed when he came
out on stage.  And Fri/Sat night, ALL of the heads were on Bourbon Street.  
It was pretty cool, no wait, it was REALLY cool.  
	As far as the show, we had gotten to the fair grounds at 12:00 and 
got right up front and center.  By the time Phish came on the crowd went 
back as far as the eye could see.  Pretty amazing. 
	As far as the set is concerned: Ya Mar was Ya Mar and AC/DC Bag were
pretty standard as well.  Sparkle was standard and they played a short 
version of Stash.  The jam with Michael Ray was fantastic, although 
it was short.  I had expected him to stay on longer and get a treat like 
Susie with horns or a few songs in a row that had horns.  No such luck.  
They broke out the trampolines and played a short version of YEM and, for me 
at least, thankfully did not go into a vocal jam at the end.  The real treat 
of the day was Wolfman's Brother.  It started out as a vocal jam for the beat 
and then Trey came in and started singing the rest of the song.  After two 
verses and the bridge, the rest of the band kicked in.  It was, in my opinion, 
the best Wolfman's I've heard live or taped.  The rest of the set was standard 
crowd pleasing Phish tunes.  However, this doesn't mean that they were sub-
standard.  2001 into Harry Hood was especially nice although 2001 just isn't 
the same without the lights.  Frankly I'm sick of A Day in the Life, but since 
they were into crowd-pleasing, I expected it.   The encore consisted of a 
ragtime acappella and then a screamin' Cavern.  What made this Cavern so 
special was that it had been blazin' hot all day and right at the closing 
of Cavern (Give the.....) it started to rain.  It was pretty amazing.  
	Overall, This show was one of a kind.   The whole band was really into 
it.  Even though the set was filled with concert regulars, it was part of the 
fun to watch all the people who had never heard of Phish be amazed by not only 
the crowd who had followed them but by their amazing show as well!. 
Although I expected them to play some new songs (they've been in the studio) 
I would definitely rate this show as superior for a one set show.  So you 
may ask, would I go to the Jazz Fest next year to see them play?  My answer 
would be hell yes.

If anyone would like more information about the show (i.e.: pictures, etc.)
contact me at TTorrillo@rae.com

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From gladhj80@cris.com Mon Apr 29 14:38:08 1996
From: gladhj80@cris.com
Subject: (no subject)

hey, i just read the review from the 4-26-96 Jazzfest show, and i must 
add some thoughts. While the set list was rather low key, the show was
unreal. Maybe  driving 22 hours to see it