I've reached deep into the archives of Phishtory, and decided to dust off this overlooked gem, 4/21/1992 (Redwood Acres Fairgrounds, Eureka, CA). Stuck in the shadows' of his three older brothers, the legendary triumvirate of 4/16/1992 (Anaconda Theatre, Isla Vista, CA - of Follow Me To Gamehendge fame), 4/17/1992 (Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA - Bowie > Catapult > Bowie!!! Brother and YEM!!!), and 4/18/1992 (Wilbur Field, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA - Harry Hood!!! Squirt Gun Break!!!), even 4/19/1992 (The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA), seems to be more known. This show is a monster just waiting to break free.

I stumbled upon this tape (Set 1 only) in the early 90's and was floored first by the NICU, and later by the Melt and Bowie. 20 years later and I can still remember the jams, and can basically sing along to Trey's playing. During this run of the tour, Paul had Mike way up in the mix, making for some great sounding soundboards. This one is no slouch, but the mix is a bit too high, and Trey seems to warble a bit. Still it sounds great. The playing during this run is also incredible. They were so tight it's like they were robots.

As I said the NICU, Melt, and Bowie are fantastic, and the Possum is LOADED with tons of secret language, both band only and band/audience. The 2nd set is new to me, and is absolutely amazing, and destroys the 1st set. The narration in Col Forbin's is totally bizarre, crazy vocal effects by Trey. The Tweezer starts off just totally bizarre (Tweezah, Tweezah, Tweezah. It's gonna be coooooooooold!). Forget about after Uncle Ebeneezer. It slowly develops into a beautiful, melodic jam. You need to hear this. One of the best I've heard. After Tweezer slowly deconstructs, a rare Tela is played which is followed by a sick Mike's Groove. The Mike's is slightly unorthodox in the beginning, and the tramps section is massively psychedelic. I can just picture the strobe lights going off, lots of smoke, and everybody just losing their shit. Hydrogen is written by Carl Yastrzemski, and is played robotically. The Weekapaug...holy crap, Mike! Make! Trey's playing is so melodic. Just beautiful! It then gets a bit odd, and then Machine Gun Trey. I love it when he plays so fast his fingers moving on the strings are part of that signature sound. Some great teases as well. Happy Birthday! So much fun! Does Mike say at the end, "Weekapaug without the groove?" What an awesome ending. I miss 1992 Weekapaugs!

Everything has an edge, everything is played a bit....different. Magic. Lots of Type 1 and even some early Type 2 jamming. They're having soooo much fun! Even the Weigh is bizarre. So slow. The ending of Weigh is fantastic.

Next we have the Cold As Ice intro for Fish, but Mike and Page really milk it. Someone in the audience shouts for Fish to sing Catapult (as it was just debuted at the Warfield), to which Fish replies, "oh, that's not my terrain." He then introduces Mike. Suddenly Mike sings Catapult a capella. Back into Cold As Ice, and then even Hold Your Head Up. Page is just torturing Fish. We then get the only time Lively Up Yourself has been played. But get this, Fish is on bass, Mike is on Trey's Languedoc, and Trey on drums. Mike just rips, and Fish does a bass solo. Mike does the vacuum solo, not Fish. Fish's singing is simply atrocious (sorry man), which prompts an apology from Trey, and on that note madness ensues. Listen to it, one of the funniest moments in Phishtory. This is why I love this band. I can't imagine what it would've been like to walk in off the street never hearing of Phish and seeing this show. Sanity is a fitting song to follow. CARL!!!

Unfortunately, the Maze is cut (I bet it ripped!), and the end of Set 2 is missing Sweet Adeline and the Cavern encore (which is too bad, as it is introduced as The Prison Joke), but the rest of Set 2 makes up for this. The band was clearly having fun, and boy did they throw down!
You will love it if you've never heard it. Carl Yastrzemski! This is my new favorite show. Sorry 12/29/2013 (and yes, 12/29/2013 is one of the best shows I've seen, and I've seen some stellar shows).