Phish Hold Final Stand At The Front 25 Years Ago
By Andy Kahn May 12, 2016 • 1:41 pm PDT
Photo by Peter Yang
According to statistics calculated by Phish.net, The Front in Phish‘s hometown of Burlington, Vermont is the venue performed at the most by the quartet. Accounting for over three percent of all of the band’s shows, the site notes 53 appearances by Phish at The Front between May 27, 1988 and their final show 25 years ago today on May 12, 1991. For Throwback Thursday, here’s a look back at Phish’s concerts on May 11 and 12 from a quarter-century ago.
The two-night stand at The Front began with Tom Baggott sitting-in on harmonica on “You Enjoy Myself” during the second set of the first show. That evening concluded with drummer Jon Fishman leading a take on Syd Barrett’s “Terrapin” before introducing guitarist Trey Anastasio as “Eddie Van Astasio” for a rendition of their original “Big Black Furry Creature From Mars.”
The second night, Phish’s final show at The Front, also featured guests as the band was joined by longtime collaborators Dave Grippo on saxophone for much of the show and The Dude Of Life on vocals for “Mike’s Song” during which he added alternate lyrics.
Full show audio of both of Phish’s final The Front gigs has been posted by fromtheaquarium and can be streamed below:
Set 1: The Landlady, Llama, The Squirming Coil > Cavern > Divided Sky, Guelah Papyrus, My Sweet One, Foam, Tweezer, Golgi Apparatus
Set 2: Chalk Dust Torture, You Enjoy Myself [1], Poor Heart > Reba > The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg > Tweezer Reprise
Encore: Terrapin, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars
Tweezer contained an In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida tease from Page and Trey briefly teased Buried Alive in Chalk Dust. YEM featured Tom Baggott on harmonica and a tease of Flash Light by Mike in the bass and drums segment of the song. Terrapin contained a Woman from Tokyo tease from Page and a Theme from Peter Gunn tease from Mike. After BBFCFM, Fish referred to Trey as “Eddie Van Anastasio." Donna Lee, Mike's > Hydrogen > Weekapaug, and Tela used to appear in this setlist between Reba and Oh Kee Pa in the second set, but because these songs do not appear in circulating recordings of this show, we have removed them from the setlist.
Set 1: Chalk Dust Torture, Bouncing Around the Room, Dinner and a Movie > Stash [1], The Lizards, The Landlady > Destiny Unbound [2], Llama [3], Fee > Foam, Runaway Jim
Set 2: David Bowie, Bathtub Gin, Poor Heart > The Curtain > Golgi Apparatus, Magilla [4] > Mike's Song [5] > I Am Hydrogen [6] > Weekapaug Groove, The Squirming Coil > The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > AC/DC Bag [7] > Rocky Top [8]
Encore: Run Like an Antelope [9]
Stash, Destiny Unbound, Llama, Magilla, Mike's Song, AC/DC Bag, Rocky Top, and Run Like An Antelope featured Dave Grippo on saxophone. Mike’s Song featured The Dude of Life on vocals, who added several verses. Page began Hydrogen on a Casio synthesizer, adding a humorous touch to the last Phish show at The Front.
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