Wow, this is a fantastic example of Phish at their prime in the "late early" phase. Just imagine a 3.0 setlist that included SOAM, Fluffhead, Reba, David Bowie, Bathtub Gin, YEM, and Possum, all in one show, plus crowd pleasers like the Landlady, Esther, CDT, Timber, Axilla, and Llama, and covers including I Walk the Line, Take the 'A' Train, and Ride Captain Ride. Like I said, Wow!

The playing by the band here is typical of this period, precise, crisp and intense. "Machine Gun" Trey is clearly on firm footing throughout, listen to his adept playing including interesting work in SOAM, CDT, and Timber. In fact the whole band is spot on throughout. Page didn't bring the baby grand on tour until the following year, so you have to initially "get used to" the electric keyboard sound, but once you do, you realize just how talented he really is.

No Phish show would be complete without some humor, and this show features multiple lighter moments, including banter with the audience and amongst the band, and of course the BBJ > Fishman show towards the end.

It's probably no surprise that the band played so many great songs on this night, it was after all part of the 1992 New Year's run, and these guys often load up on the big songs for New Years (just look at 12/31/10 for example).

If you are like me and spend most of your time listening to '93 - '95 and '97 - '99 Phish, do yourself a favor and listen to this show for a little something different. The MP3 spreadsheet link is a SBD version, so the sound quality is good. It's great to hear and remember just how good a band Phish was before 1993.