Fire Alarm Almost Derails Phish Show At Haunted Venue On This Date In 1994

Twenty-two years ago today Vermont jam act brought a tour in support of the recently released Hoist to Cincinnati Music Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio. Attendees were evacuated less than five songs into the first set after a fire alarm went off, but thankfully the show later continued with a scorching second set. Today fan-shot video of the nearly the entire concert has surfaced on YouTube marking an upgrade video quality wise from song-by-song footage of the performance previously available on the site.

Phish’s visit to the Cincinnati Music Hall was their first and to date only performance at the historic venue which opened in 1878. As Phish.com notes, “The building is a National Historic Landmark and was built over a ‘pauper’s cemetery’, fueling its reputation within the paranormal community as an especially haunted spot.” The venue’s reputation wasn’t helped by the fire alarm suddenly going off as guitarist Trey Anastasio started “The Horse” early in the first set. Fire marshalls cleared the venue leading to an early setbreak.

Anastasio warned the audience to refrain from smoking adding, “This is a really old building. It’s a beautiful building and they’ve got a ventilation system and the fire alarms are set in the ventilation system. If anybody else smokes during the rest of this concert…the fire chief just came up and talked to us and he said the next time this thing goes off it’s over, history, done, no more. So just don’t smoke anymore. It’s that simple.” The guitarist explained the evacuation would serve as setbreak and the band would proceed to play “Fire” by Jimi Hendrix. Other highlights include an outrageous “Split Open & Melt,” a rare acoustic “Big Black Furry Creatures From Mars” and an at times blissful and at times eerie “Harry Hood.”

Watch Phish’s visit to Cincinnati from this date in 1994 shared by SpaceTimeTeleportal: