I never realized that people viewed all these unfinished songs as some sort of flubbery until today. Just seemed like the theme of the 2nd (which includes the 3rd) set was to throw repeated curveballs. If this set happened a year later, I think it would have been taken better. In 1996,...

The most misunderstood show in Phish history = 7/12/96. Long considered one of their worst gigs ever, this is actually an elaborate prank in which every song in the second set is left unfinished (even the ones not noted on the setlist are missing lyrics) and all the jams devolve into quiet...

I was at this show, and I can attest that the crowd as zonked as the band, so I don't think anyone was too critical of the piss-poor play. Between the 2nd and 3rd set, my buddy pointed out that no one was even talking to each other, and it was true, when I looked around, it was just a sea of...

An interactive jam in which the band plays chords yelled out by the audience to a ska groove.

Caps the second set of one of Phish's most maligned (misunderstood?) shows. Accounts suggest the band, following an unfinished "Suzy" (every song in the set is either unfinished, or has missing lyrics), leaves Fish onstage to maintain a "slow, hypnotic, beat." Maybe so / Maybe not. (Seems like Fish sat on-stage between sets One and Two.) Regardless, an unusual beat begins near the 2:00 mark, after which Trey lays way back, Page moves front and center, and a strange, atypical jam ensues before the band "breaks" for Set Three.

Unfinished? Maybe. Or, -> from "Jam" and -> an unfinished "Slave," simply part of a crazy point in history where a clearly 'distracted' band works through the song as best as they are able before creating a bouncy, Page-crazy, chord-laden (Trey) version marked by wide open space; strange changes; eerie 'underwater' overtones; sparse - yet pointed - Fish; and groovy Mike. Must hear, and more than once.