When will the next show be? How many on the tour? Where will they play? Are they going international? The story goes on an on. Rumors are an ever-present part of the Phish landscape; they exist because we want them to. Everyone wants to guess, refute, and predict just where the next cosmic conference will be. With so-called reliable sources ranging from “a friend who knows Page’s brother” to “someone in the music industry,” everyone gets their word from someone who “knows.” As rumored dates come and go, your expectations rise and fall as well, so what have “people” have been saying?
Maybe in March. Maybe in the summer. Maybe in March in Europe. I have heard all of those from different people within the last little bit. In March they have venues booked, so they say. Hampton, MSG, Philly, and Boston? Maybe so, maybe not. Phish has been known to book venues, just in case, and let the dates sail on by. As weird as Europe sounds, it would make sense that the band would want to play some smaller scale “warm- up” shows before stepping on stage in a rowdy arena. Their initial comeback into four high key arena gigs didn’t work out so well. Maybe so, Maybe not. They’ll just wait until summer, and practice a lot. Make a new album and come out loaded with new material. Maybe so, maybe not.
It’s all just words until we read it on Phish.com, but it is always fun to speculate. Just another area where Phish imitates life, rumors are everywhere. Pervading all areas of celebrity and entertainment, politics and sports, circles of friends and extended families, rumors live everywhere we turn. But when it comes to Phish, rumors get the heart pacing a bit faster than the latest US Weekly, and create that feeling in your stomach when you really think that they may be true. Announcements could come at any time, especially if they are playing in March. Who knows? And that is the fun of this all. Except for the insiders, everyone is grasping for the same knowledge, like Colonel Forbin looking for The Book. As Bob Marley once sang, “Oh, time will tell.”
One of the standout shows from a standout summer, this well circulated FM Broadcast soundboard source is quite crispy. A setlist looking like it was written by a fan, the Phish came with no-nonsense on this evening. A staple of every collection, this one is a must own. Grab it now if you don’t have it! (Also, I am uploading a remastered Nashville source, and will link it at the bottom.)
I: Wilson, Chalk Dust Torture, You Enjoy Myself, Rift, Down With Disease, It’s Ice, Tela, Stash
II: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Run Like an Antelope, Fluffhead, Scent of a Mule, Split Open and Melt, The Squirming Coil, Maze, Contact > Frankenstein
E: Suzy Greenberg
Last “Frankenstein”, 07-26-91
This remaster, though I do not know how the original was altered, sound significantly more balanced in my opinion. This is just the second “set”.
