Favorite Phish Year(s)

For many years I disliked phish, but latley for some reason im starting to enjoy them and picking up more and more shows. Any advice?

 

1994 was the best year for Phish IMHO

It was pretty much the year they 'hit it big'. They certainly played a lot of large venues in 93', but 94 was the first year that pretty much all of their shows were in large venues.
I'm certain many fans that started seeing the band before I started (93), would say the earlier years when you could still see them in clubs were the golden days, but to me the consistently high energy and greatness of the shows from 94 are unmatched. They just seemed so thrilled that that many people were enjoying their performances. This exuberance definitely carried over into 95/96, but starting around 97, the consistency started to drop a lot, almost like they started to take things a bit for granted.

A great place to start a collection would be Halloween 94' with the complete second set White Album. IMHO, that's the best show they ever played. The only thing slightly weak about it is the encore, but hell, they went on at 9 and didn't finish up until 3:30 AM, so they were obviously tired. I am slightly biased as I was at this particular show, but I did see 70+ in total from 93 to 99, so for me to pick a favorite is saying something.

Here's the setlist

10/31/94 (Mon) Glens Falls Civic Center - Glens Falls, NY
Set 1: Frankenstein, Sparkle, Simple, Divided Sky, Harpua*, Julius, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Reba, Golgi Apparatus

Set 2: Speak to Me**, Back in the USSR, Dear Prudence, Glass Onion, Ob-La-Di Ob > La-Da, Wild Honey Pie, Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Happiness is a Warm Gun, Martha My Dear, I'm So Tired, Blackbird, Piggies, Rocky Raccoon, Don't Pass Me By, Why Don't We Do it in the Road, I Will, Julia, Birthday Jam***, Yer Blues, Mother Nature's Son, Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey, Sexy Sadie, Helter Skelter, Long Long Long, Revolution 1, Honey Pie, Savoy Truffle, Cry Baby Cry, Revolution 9#, Good Night##

Set 3: David Bowie, Bouncing Around the Room, Slave to the Traffic Light, Rift, Sleeping Monkey, Poor Heart, Run Like an Antelope, E: Amazing Grace, Costume Contest###, The Squirming Coil

 

2004 was damn good.
1997-98 were the funk years.
1994-1995 were reputedly the best.
1990-92 were raw. In a good way, of course...

 

1994 till 1998, with few exceptions IMHO... LOL. The show at Shoreline in Mountain View when Phil played with them is pretty cool as well. Bob played with them there in 98, I think, and Phil in '99. Much as I like Bob Weir, Phil is the man, and I was lucky enough to be at both. The final show before the "hiatus" (October 7, 2000) really thrilled MY SOUL too, check it out!

 

90-93 You will get songs that are shorter and more of them per set. great musical abilities showcased in these years...with some jam monsters here and there.

94- was a year of wacky jams, that could go on forever into the 40 minute relms.....alot of good stuff happened in this time....

95-96 had big guitars, with hints of the year before and of what was to come...

97- the birth of the funk. these shows had less guitar solo orientated jams and lots of funky groove things happening.

98- was an amazing year that showcased all the previous years. everything happened. every show there was a new cover played. they had huge jams that we mixed with madness and perfect orechestrational jamming. great year!

99-00 these years had some cool trance style jams that were really flowy. i love these years. alot of great shows. and of course the famous NEW YEARS show, almost an 8 hour long second set from 12 am t0 7:45am....and it is not just quantity, it is thru and thru an amazing set. they proved on this night that no one really can really touch them....

02-03- The come back, though many shat all over it, was brilliant. listen to the first show from 2.14.03, amazing. then the Nassau show....the list goes on. they were on fire! Then the summer tour, a Jammy award winning tour, blew everyone away! "IT" how good was that!!

04-Vegas and the "See you Soon" Summer Tour.....the Vegas shows are awesome. they are like one big show when listened back to back. so much good stuff! Step into the Meatstick! then the Summer 04 Tour was also very good. they were doing very well on the road. but emotions ran high at the "see you soon" festival. they were heartbroken. the show had its up and downs. the ups were oh so good and the downs, really pulled you down hard..... but they will be back soon and i can't wait to get back on the road!!

LETS GO PHISHIN'!!!!

 

1994. So LIVELY. And fantastic.

 

from about 92 or 93 until 95 they were on fire and 97 was a real funky ass year

 

Bob Weir did not play with Phish until 2000.

 

03 was really tight, though there was a hint of the muddy sound that was to mark the 04 tour.

96-97 were fantastic shows; the band loved what they were doing and it showed.

check out the reviews on livephish.com

 

solla.sollew, that's true, it was the 6th, the night before the last show 10-7-00. Maybe it was Warren Haynes. I know they had some special guest at shoreline in '98....

 

My favorite year is 95 because any show you hear is just great thier are no real bad gigs. The Halloween from 94 is the best though with that beatles cover but i still find more enjoyment from 95

 

1991



Bump!!!

 

92-97
emphasis on 93-95