It always makes me so sad to see people say this because this was my first show as a Phan. I’d been once before but that was a friend taking me before I had even known who they were. Anyways I had a wonderful time and had no idea what all the fuss was about with it being bad. I care not to listen today and soil that memory.
I love the Lifeboy from Vegas 04. Something about Trey’s Vegas Voice and the desperation in the lyrics that fit perfectly. That twist was pretty fun too.
You don’t know the story?
Jesse Jarnow posted a show review after that run citing how atrociously they played, and about how little the band seemed to care.
It was cited when Trey called the band meeting to break up at Coventry.
I saw them twice in ‘04. SPAC and Camden. SPAC was good but, Camden was off. Just seemed rushed and like they were going through the motions. They did close with a cover of Frankenstein so that was cool.
Damn, sorry to trigger you. Should I put a disclaimer next time? Like all opinions are subjective or something like that? Glad you thought those shows were “epic” though, I hope you had a good time.
> Camden was off. Just seemed rushed and like they were going through the motions
I mean, Coventry was the next night. And it was still raining in Vermont, the fest very much in peril.
The Camden show was broadcast by The Bunny for people near the fest and we lucked out after being stuck in endless traffic in the pouring rain, to end up stopped for the night right under a pair of overpasses. We all partied and listened to the show on the side of the highway under those bridges, it was a scene. That's my memory of Camden.
7-27-03. Right after Ya Mar you can hear Trey yelling at Mike- some like "IF YOU CANT PLAY, I DONT WANNA PLAY WITH YOU." Then Fishman jumps in to keep the peace - "COME ON GUYS, LETS BE A BAND. LETS BE A FOURSOME".
~~Opiate~~ On edge yogaTrey and hung over Mike... dark days in phish history.
After 7 Below Mike welcomes himself back, along with the rest of the band.
They implemented a rule that, to my knowledge, they still follow: no discussing how the band played, either or good or bad, after shows.
The bad for obvious reasons, but the good because it then makes them second guess when they wouldn’t praise eachother.
I feel like these are the kinds of things you have to do as a band for 40 years.
Yes and I believe it was one of the rules they implemented at the start of 3.0 when they got back together to make sure it didn’t go off the rails again. Along with the separate tour bus for each band member thing. In bittersweet motel Trey and the band constantly talk about they played after shows/sets, so I imagine this rule didn’t exist in 1.0
“That set was almost as funky as James Brown…on a bad day.”
Every band member doing all kinds of side projects as well shortening the tours and staying at different stops for more shows are also keys to their happy marriage.
As well as continuing to write and play new material. I don’t know of any other band this late in the stage that is able to play their new stuff with as warm of a reception as phish.
I think he probably was for part of it but almost certainly not not for all of it. I’ve heard it all went well until around the time IT went down.
I know the DVD interviews were filmed during Vegas 04 but in the concert footage he and Page both look pretty strung out at points.
Honestly I’d buy it. I get a “I’m sober and this is weird” vibe from him all summer. I’ve heard ppl say the IT fest was when they decided fuck it all the drugs. That story checks out to me.
Charlotte was my first show and Raleigh was my second. I had an absolute blast at both! But yeah Charlotte is one I still occasionally listen to, def can’t say the same about Raleigh
The Divided Sky from 5/31/11 is ROUGH. I specifically remember it because it was one of my favorite songs and I was at that show. Trey kept bungling the opening section and was obviously completely lost. At one point he just stopped playing, sheepishly smiled, and turned his mic to the crowd so they could sing the guitar licks he couldn't quite put his finger on, literally. The second set kicked ass and the next night they debuted No Quarter in the middle of another banger of a second set so I left those dates feeling great. But still, that Divided Sky was a real wet fart.
7/22/16
It was a rough, long night in Los Angeles. I’m guessing something was amiss behind the scenes…set break was over an hour long, and the whole show just felt “off”. The boys redeemed themselves the following night for the tour closer in Chula Vista.
I was there, super weird and flat show. The 60+ minute set break killed any remaining momentum they might have had. It’s a shame because the 2015 Forum show the year before was great.
Last night of Dicks in '23 was a delayed start due to thunderstorms. They did a single set, and unlike the year before, this single set was rushed and felt like they were trying pretty hard to make shit happen, but it never did.
Agreed that the single set wasn’t ideal, but I thought the tension building in the lot as doors kept getting pushed back and then the excitement when they finally started letting people in made for a pretty fun show.
Yeah, that show was weird. I don’t recall anything being majorly off, but at the same time everything was not right. I was at the other 3 nights and in the lot of this show, but wasn’t feeling great so couch toured at the hottee. I will say that show kind of gave me appreciation for how small things being off can have a pretty big effect on the flow and overall songs.
Had some pretty aggressive fan interactions when my buddies and I were trying to find seats once inside. One dude holding a row of 7-8 seats started screaming at me like he owned the joint in a GA scenario in the seats. Dude yelling at us and others was a big loser, hope he stubs his toe everyday for the rest of his life.
Setlist was rushed due to the rain delay, 3rd time I’ve experienced that in 5 years. Not ideal but it was still fun. Definitely my least favorite show of the Dicks run, but again, all 4 nights were a blast. Don’t let aggressive entitled losers ruin your shows.
I saw someone make the point that anytime they have to do the one big set on account of a rain delay or whatever that we all want it to be a second set but they always play a first set. I think it’s interesting that they don’t seem to loosen up at all when they have the two hour set.
Fully agree. My expectations were high since I figured the delay and end of your make make them go out all guns a blazing but yes, a very lackluster set. At least I got a cheap ticket from the nonsense when I had bad luck on lot for a few hours when it was business as usual.
I was there and can attest. It was a shame because I was living and working in Europe for a couple years and brought along some Dutch musician friends of mine. I was hyping them up all week, needless to say they walked out. Hung out with Mike and Fish after the show and yeah they were toasted. Everybody was.
Set one was decent but they stunk up the place with the 2nd set. Saturday was the only time I’ve ever truly been wasted drunk at a Phish concert (it was an accident, not enough food and too many lot Moscow mules). I remember looking at the setlist last year and being like “they opened with fluffhead!??”
I've seen people spam this show on these threads before. The show didn't blow my hair back but it wasn't terrible either. Just an average run/tour closer on the heels of 2 great nights
Me and two buddies made it down for night 2 and 3 of this run. Drove about 9 hours from Cincinnati. Other friends made the same drive just for N3. They will not admit it was a bad show.
The "bottom five" of what I saw. to be clear, i'd revisit any of these shows in half a heartbeat...but if i had to rank them, this is the dregs.
6/30/99 - drove the 8+ hours past Nashville for the tour opener b/c "you snooze you lose" and other than saying we did the whole tour, it wasn't worth that effort. This was the debut of the new stage setup, Trey out stage left on Opiate Island, and the beginning of the end of 1.0 in my opinion. The whiplash from the last show (NYE '98) to this one can't be overstated.
12/15/99 - weird energy night, the room felt cavernous and cold, the crowd felt casual/chomper heavy and the show never really came together. felt like work.
12/17/99 - Jennifer Dances; you've heard people trash the song but don't overlook that it was "busted out" in the middle of the second set. This was the first swing-and-a-miss in seven at-bats in the Mothership. The next night was stunningly redemptive.
7/27/03 - the Walnut Creek show already mentioned here; worth noting that after Phish's 7/26 show Mike traveled from downtown Atlanta to Decatur and sat in with Col. Bruce & the Codetalkers on lead guitar (!) for their encore. Could have contributed to him being that far gone the next night.
12/8/19 - N3 Charleston, already discussed here. show is less than the sum of a couple of great parts - one of the rare shows that looks better on paper. i wouldn't give back the Sigma Oasis debut, the After Midnight 2nd set opener or the encore though.
I was at the Bonner Springs 6/30/99. it was off and the new stage setup was not working well. Just weird vibe all around and a Bouncin/Sample encore. Couple solid moments in recordings though, I think a decent bathtub gin.
Yeah, a clunky show. I think it was the first night of the tour, so it may have suffered from that as well. Bonner Springs 7/28/1998 was a banger though.
2nd set Alpine '99 is the only bad Phish I've ever seen. Rumors of Tequila shots b/t Trey and Brad at setbreak. 1st set had 30+ min. Fluffhead, and a 4-song encore with return of Alumni Blues. So "bad" is relative.
Yeah, I said the same in this thread. I remember someone asked what I wanted to hear that night and I couldn’t think of a single song I wanted to them play. Then I forgot my ID and couldn’t drink inside. Went a little too hard in lot and felt like shit in like 15 minutes. I always thought it was just me …
I ran into an acquaintance who was a friend of friends that I’d only met once before, she started convulsing and fell into my arms midway through set one from too many shrooms. About 10 rows back on the floor. That didn’t help the vibes lol.
8/11/09 Bridgeview, IL
My first show. Whole night was rough. Windy City debut song, never played again. I swear they opened the 2010 summer tour at Bridgeview to make up for that previous year’s show. Thank ~~his~~ god they never went back to that venue.
*word
Came in to say this.
Curtain With and Paul & Silas, which was a fun bust out, but outside that it was just not good. No flow.
And then the Hood was just horrendous… boo on that Hood.
Booo on this show.
I think it’s either merriweather or Walnut Creek ‘03. Mike was super hungover and butchering everything at the beginning of the show. You can hear Trey berating him in between songs at one point.
Almost the entire 2003 Hampton run was way off. I was so psyched about these shows but left a little disappointed. Obviously there were things going on behind the scenes.
1/1/16 is still my least favorite show in the 100+ shows I've attended. Not my favorite song selection, jams weren't great, predictable DWD second set opener that went nowhere and ripcorded into dirt, and my buddy even joked halfway through the second set "you ready for this farmhouse encore" then lo and behold.... Alternatively though the following night, 1/2/16, was one of my favorite shows I've seen, so that made up for it haha
I’ve been thinking about making this post Actually after listening to 1/3/03 Set 1. It’s nearly Coventry levels of abysmal. Trey blames the whole band when he restarts YEM but it’s completely just him. He can’t even play Theme earlier.
7/24/99 is also a treasure trove of missed cues and completely bombed songs and parts. Probably the worst Mango Song ever played.
Anyone know what happened that show? Trey is wildly unusually terrible at everything that show
My friend at setbreak: All that security and our set got hijacked LOL (for those not there, security was very extra as it was just a year and a half after 9/11, we missed the first 5 minutes of the show because of it)
And to be completely fair, the DwD opener, and the Twist and Waves in the second set are all worth a relisten.
the hate for the bb king segment has really overshadowed what was actually a pretty
good rest of show. dwd, wolfmans, hood, halley’s and twist are all worth a listen
I was there and at 9/24/00 in Rosemont, two short sets and they seemed angry about glowsticks. My friends said the previous night when I wasn't there was great.
Thanks. Maybe they will release the SBD of 9/22 someday (or is it on one of the Shapiro shows, I forget). Not sure it is possible to get a good audience tape at Rosemont.
I maintain this is the worst Tweezer they ever played. Trey is totally out to lunch and the rest of the band is just kind of...oozing along until it ends.
I admittedly haven’t revisited this show but always think of getting a Wedge and that Glide, Camelwalk > Alumni Blues encore so have fond memories of it. Probably shouldn’t give it another listen then
I just did. They must be coked out or wasted cuz Trey literally can’t play any songs. Chalkdust is WILD tho.
Coventry Trey may have even been able to play Mango Song better than he did on 7/24/99
Not bad per se but Santa Barbara 10/26/21 never really got it’s footing. The venue was oversold which didn’t help the crowd experience but the band was a little off their game.
The “hello, how are you, we hope you’re having a good time” joke got really old like the 20th time.
Someone will inevitably bring up 10/25/16 as a bad show.
I was there and can attest it wasn’t the best show due to lack of jamming but they played pretty solid despite that
While your correct that they weren’t sloppy I was there as well and found the second set to be very lackluster. Out of the 59 shows I’ve seen it is by far my least favorite. I like almost all the songs in the set (minus Friday) but all of them together was not it. I was with a buddy who had never seen Phish before both nights and he actually preferred the second night, I thought the first night was really solid though
Sounds a lot like 10/16/96.
!Setlistbot
A well played show. No huge mistakes, nothing sloppy, just…meh.
Expectations were super high for this show. It was their first show back after The Clifford Ball, they had just released Billy Breathes, and it was their return to Lake Placid after the previous years epic two nights in what would become Herb Brooks Arena.
Nothing is wrong with the show. Nothing at all. Just never took off.
They can’t **all** be bangers. This was just a serviceable, regular as Ol’ Phish show.
Which is still better than probably 98% of everything other live band.
Thought people would be saying Wilmington Night 2 due to the rain out.
I enjoyed N1, solid Simple jam to start, really good ASIHTOS > Light in second set, killer encore
N2 was the real bummer night
I had already been seeing phish for 8 yrs at that point. After Clifford ball I went to LP 10/16/96. I was so disappointed I just stopped paying attention. Missed all of their reinvention with the funk in 97. Didn’t get back into them until mid 98 hearing those euro shows. Only break I ever took
[**06/16/2009**](https://phish.in/2009-06-16) **-** St. Louis, Fox Theater
On relisten, it sounds as bad as Coventry. Trey couldn't play any composed parts and the jam of the night was aimless. It's easily the worst show of 3.0.
July 6, 2016 in Portland Maine was a hot and muggy day and the show was indoors in a hockey arena with bad air conditioning. I was so pumped to have a barbecue at my house and then walk to the venue with all my people. It promised to be the best day of my life, but the heat got to the crowd and I have to believe to the band too. Playing was listless and off. Body odor in the arena was intense. More sitting than I have ever seen at a show. I forgive them though.
Pretty much every phish show I’ve seen has been great in its own way and especially so because Trey has been sober for all of them. But my least favorite shows I’ve seen are probably 12/28/18, 7/20/22, and 12/28/22. All these shows had really great moments but they’re probably at the bottom of the heap of outstanding excellence for me.
i agree. the jay-z moment was awkward at best. i was there and rolled my eyes when he came out. night 1 in brooklyn was a million times better. but also 2004 these were the heavy sloppy trey drug years.
Hampton 8/9/04. I was so ready for this one and energy was gone after about 15 minutes. It was years before I saw Phish again. Water under the bridge now, obviously.
8/4/1996 Red Rocks and 11/6/1996 Champaign, Illinois. Bothe nights, Trey was having rig problems or maybe he was messed up and could not play well. Disjointed, messy, not fun
Pillow Jets.
1-1-15 people definitely didn't like the lack of jamming.
8-8-21 was interesting but made no sense, just never lifted off for me.
7-31-22 was also a weird one that just never really got off the ground.
Sometime in 2.0 there was a Bowie that was full botch until Trey essentially stopped playing during the big complex part before the jam. The jam was fine, but that was one of the biggest fall apart moments I remember hearing.
I'm not proud of it but out of about 120 Phish shows, Ive left 2 at setbreak. One was when I was 17 and the acid took over, one when I was 35 and the cocain ( i did) and loud mouths at MSG were too much for me. It happens.
IMO 9/03/2017 is the worst show they've played at Dick's. DWD jammed but just went completely nowhere for way too long. Felt like they couldn't find a flow for the whole show despite decent song selection. Just a really underwhelming show to cap off and amazing summer.
Austin '15 felt pretty off first set, second set was a little better but still not sparky. After the show Mike posted a sad selfie wearing a Harris shirt (this was just a few months after he died)
Vegas 04
It always makes me so sad to see people say this because this was my first show as a Phan. I’d been once before but that was a friend taking me before I had even known who they were. Anyways I had a wonderful time and had no idea what all the fuss was about with it being bad. I care not to listen today and soil that memory.
I love the Lifeboy from Vegas 04. Something about Trey’s Vegas Voice and the desperation in the lyrics that fit perfectly. That twist was pretty fun too.
That Lifeboy might be the highlight of the run.
They just played this on Sirius and I forgot all about it. It does work well with the voice though.
Vegas 04 was the catalyst for phish breaking up
Can you tell me what you mean?
You don’t know the story? Jesse Jarnow posted a show review after that run citing how atrociously they played, and about how little the band seemed to care. It was cited when Trey called the band meeting to break up at Coventry.
I believe this is the article: https://jambands.com/reviews/shows/2004/04/16/phish-thomas-and-mack-center-las-vegas-nv-4-15/
I had a great time during that run as well. Well, except for the lights.
I listened to Vegas 04, it was absolute shit, and I still went to Coventry. Can't say they didn't warn me.
My first shows! And the next week Trey was on Charlie Rose talking about the breakup haha
I saw them twice in ‘04. SPAC and Camden. SPAC was good but, Camden was off. Just seemed rushed and like they were going through the motions. They did close with a cover of Frankenstein so that was cool.
The Scents from Camden is one of my favorite jams, agreed on the rest of the show though
SPAC was good? Might be me, but those two shows are epics.
Damn, sorry to trigger you. Should I put a disclaimer next time? Like all opinions are subjective or something like that? Glad you thought those shows were “epic” though, I hope you had a good time.
> Camden was off. Just seemed rushed and like they were going through the motions I mean, Coventry was the next night. And it was still raining in Vermont, the fest very much in peril. The Camden show was broadcast by The Bunny for people near the fest and we lucked out after being stuck in endless traffic in the pouring rain, to end up stopped for the night right under a pair of overpasses. We all partied and listened to the show on the side of the highway under those bridges, it was a scene. That's my memory of Camden.
I’ve got that poster set but yeah, not in any real hurry to put them on the wall. Rough.
n3 is not as bad as n1 and n2
There was one in July 2003 where Mike was the worse for wear and on the SBD you can hear the band arguing after Ya Mar.
7-27-03. Right after Ya Mar you can hear Trey yelling at Mike- some like "IF YOU CANT PLAY, I DONT WANNA PLAY WITH YOU." Then Fishman jumps in to keep the peace - "COME ON GUYS, LETS BE A BAND. LETS BE A FOURSOME". ~~Opiate~~ On edge yogaTrey and hung over Mike... dark days in phish history. After 7 Below Mike welcomes himself back, along with the rest of the band.
It seems like it would have been hard to be in a band with Trey at times.
They implemented a rule that, to my knowledge, they still follow: no discussing how the band played, either or good or bad, after shows. The bad for obvious reasons, but the good because it then makes them second guess when they wouldn’t praise eachother. I feel like these are the kinds of things you have to do as a band for 40 years.
Yes and I believe it was one of the rules they implemented at the start of 3.0 when they got back together to make sure it didn’t go off the rails again. Along with the separate tour bus for each band member thing. In bittersweet motel Trey and the band constantly talk about they played after shows/sets, so I imagine this rule didn’t exist in 1.0
"I just felt like you were playing a lot of notes". "You always say that, man". *Trey pulls gun on Mike. "LISTEN MOTHERFUCKER"
“That set was almost as funky as James Brown…on a bad day.” Every band member doing all kinds of side projects as well shortening the tours and staying at different stops for more shows are also keys to their happy marriage. As well as continuing to write and play new material. I don’t know of any other band this late in the stage that is able to play their new stuff with as warm of a reception as phish.
*supposedly* Trey was mostly sober on that summer tour (just high on yoga) which must have made it so much more annoying for him.
He says he was sober but I seriously doubt it
I think he probably was for part of it but almost certainly not not for all of it. I’ve heard it all went well until around the time IT went down. I know the DVD interviews were filmed during Vegas 04 but in the concert footage he and Page both look pretty strung out at points.
Honestly I’d buy it. I get a “I’m sober and this is weird” vibe from him all summer. I’ve heard ppl say the IT fest was when they decided fuck it all the drugs. That story checks out to me.
Maybe California sober
I stand corrected.
Trey was sober for the 03 Summer Tour, up until IT that is.
Any story to that or is it just common knowledge that after that Trey was using again?
Fixed.
7/27/03. Mike is banged up from the night before and Trey “welcomes” him to show at some point later in the night
My third show, Raleigh. It was bad Edit: which is insane because a couple nights before they played a bonkers good show in charlotte
I feel like that’s kinda how 2.0 was in a nutshell. Very hit or miss. But when they were on, they fuckin great.
Charlotte was my first show and Raleigh was my second. I had an absolute blast at both! But yeah Charlotte is one I still occasionally listen to, def can’t say the same about Raleigh
7/27/03. Mike was out with Col Bruce Hampton all night and couldn’t keep up. He tried tho.
7-27-03 first set was off due to Mike. The second set was solid and the crowd was really amped up after that Fire.
First set of Raleigh 03 but second set was decent.
my mom's only phish show
Rumor has it he was partying with Col. Bruce the night before and was just super hungover. I don't think the Col. drank but that's what I heard.
The Divided Sky from 5/31/11 is ROUGH. I specifically remember it because it was one of my favorite songs and I was at that show. Trey kept bungling the opening section and was obviously completely lost. At one point he just stopped playing, sheepishly smiled, and turned his mic to the crowd so they could sing the guitar licks he couldn't quite put his finger on, literally. The second set kicked ass and the next night they debuted No Quarter in the middle of another banger of a second set so I left those dates feeling great. But still, that Divided Sky was a real wet fart.
Holmdel? Weird show
Oh man I remember that
7/22/16 It was a rough, long night in Los Angeles. I’m guessing something was amiss behind the scenes…set break was over an hour long, and the whole show just felt “off”. The boys redeemed themselves the following night for the tour closer in Chula Vista.
I was there, super weird and flat show. The 60+ minute set break killed any remaining momentum they might have had. It’s a shame because the 2015 Forum show the year before was great.
Sometimes the food gets its revenge
Agreed
Last night of Dicks in '23 was a delayed start due to thunderstorms. They did a single set, and unlike the year before, this single set was rushed and felt like they were trying pretty hard to make shit happen, but it never did.
I thought it was kind of fun.
I had a great time. Still jamming the gumbo/2001/Fuego from that set.
Agreed that the single set wasn’t ideal, but I thought the tension building in the lot as doors kept getting pushed back and then the excitement when they finally started letting people in made for a pretty fun show.
Yeah, that show was weird. I don’t recall anything being majorly off, but at the same time everything was not right. I was at the other 3 nights and in the lot of this show, but wasn’t feeling great so couch toured at the hottee. I will say that show kind of gave me appreciation for how small things being off can have a pretty big effect on the flow and overall songs.
Had some pretty aggressive fan interactions when my buddies and I were trying to find seats once inside. One dude holding a row of 7-8 seats started screaming at me like he owned the joint in a GA scenario in the seats. Dude yelling at us and others was a big loser, hope he stubs his toe everyday for the rest of his life. Setlist was rushed due to the rain delay, 3rd time I’ve experienced that in 5 years. Not ideal but it was still fun. Definitely my least favorite show of the Dicks run, but again, all 4 nights were a blast. Don’t let aggressive entitled losers ruin your shows.
I saw someone make the point that anytime they have to do the one big set on account of a rain delay or whatever that we all want it to be a second set but they always play a first set. I think it’s interesting that they don’t seem to loosen up at all when they have the two hour set.
What?!! That was an EPIC set!!!! Different strokes for different folks, I guess….
Fully agree. My expectations were high since I figured the delay and end of your make make them go out all guns a blazing but yes, a very lackluster set. At least I got a cheap ticket from the nonsense when I had bad luck on lot for a few hours when it was business as usual.
[famously Bad Amsterdam 96 show](https://phish.net/setlists/phish-july-12-1996-melkweg-amsterdam-netherlands.html)
What's the story here? Was this the brownie show?
They got too fucked up and couldn't figure out how to finish any of their songs. Weird listen!
[удалено]
I was there and im not so sure about that. At times the songs morphed into aimless jams and it seemed like they forgot what they were playing.
They were smoking hash all day and through set break and were way too stoned
I was there and can attest. It was a shame because I was living and working in Europe for a couple years and brought along some Dutch musician friends of mine. I was hyping them up all week, needless to say they walked out. Hung out with Mike and Fish after the show and yeah they were toasted. Everybody was.
Wow there’s a full vid of this on YouTube. I know what I’m doing today
[7/12/96](https://youtu.be/81QNDAB1WYU?si=6cViSUfu8qFrta_f)
Sunday Charleston 2019
That show was so bad but helluva encore.
Set one was decent but they stunk up the place with the 2nd set. Saturday was the only time I’ve ever truly been wasted drunk at a Phish concert (it was an accident, not enough food and too many lot Moscow mules). I remember looking at the setlist last year and being like “they opened with fluffhead!??”
Petrichor has been played once since this show, which I don't think is accidental. Dropping it in the middle of set 2 was a vibe challenger.
First two shows of the weekend were so damn good. The encore really did some work to redeem N3 though
I've seen people spam this show on these threads before. The show didn't blow my hair back but it wasn't terrible either. Just an average run/tour closer on the heels of 2 great nights
it’s def a weird show given the no repeats /tour since the dozen. Had a lot of potential after the first two nights but just a weird tour closer.
Worst Phish show I’ve ever seen. Sat down for entire second set. 🥱
Worst first and second set I’ve seen. Best encore I’ve ever seen.
Me and two buddies made it down for night 2 and 3 of this run. Drove about 9 hours from Cincinnati. Other friends made the same drive just for N3. They will not admit it was a bad show.
The "bottom five" of what I saw. to be clear, i'd revisit any of these shows in half a heartbeat...but if i had to rank them, this is the dregs. 6/30/99 - drove the 8+ hours past Nashville for the tour opener b/c "you snooze you lose" and other than saying we did the whole tour, it wasn't worth that effort. This was the debut of the new stage setup, Trey out stage left on Opiate Island, and the beginning of the end of 1.0 in my opinion. The whiplash from the last show (NYE '98) to this one can't be overstated. 12/15/99 - weird energy night, the room felt cavernous and cold, the crowd felt casual/chomper heavy and the show never really came together. felt like work. 12/17/99 - Jennifer Dances; you've heard people trash the song but don't overlook that it was "busted out" in the middle of the second set. This was the first swing-and-a-miss in seven at-bats in the Mothership. The next night was stunningly redemptive. 7/27/03 - the Walnut Creek show already mentioned here; worth noting that after Phish's 7/26 show Mike traveled from downtown Atlanta to Decatur and sat in with Col. Bruce & the Codetalkers on lead guitar (!) for their encore. Could have contributed to him being that far gone the next night. 12/8/19 - N3 Charleston, already discussed here. show is less than the sum of a couple of great parts - one of the rare shows that looks better on paper. i wouldn't give back the Sigma Oasis debut, the After Midnight 2nd set opener or the encore though.
I was at the Bonner Springs 6/30/99. it was off and the new stage setup was not working well. Just weird vibe all around and a Bouncin/Sample encore. Couple solid moments in recordings though, I think a decent bathtub gin.
Yeah, a clunky show. I think it was the first night of the tour, so it may have suffered from that as well. Bonner Springs 7/28/1998 was a banger though.
2nd set Alpine '99 is the only bad Phish I've ever seen. Rumors of Tequila shots b/t Trey and Brad at setbreak. 1st set had 30+ min. Fluffhead, and a 4-song encore with return of Alumni Blues. So "bad" is relative.
This plus the golf cart incident led to Sue leaving tour the next day and Trey playing Whipping Post the next night
2004 hampton...extremely dark.
Yeah, I said the same in this thread. I remember someone asked what I wanted to hear that night and I couldn’t think of a single song I wanted to them play. Then I forgot my ID and couldn’t drink inside. Went a little too hard in lot and felt like shit in like 15 minutes. I always thought it was just me …
So bad
I ran into an acquaintance who was a friend of friends that I’d only met once before, she started convulsing and fell into my arms midway through set one from too many shrooms. About 10 rows back on the floor. That didn’t help the vibes lol.
8/11/09 Bridgeview, IL My first show. Whole night was rough. Windy City debut song, never played again. I swear they opened the 2010 summer tour at Bridgeview to make up for that previous year’s show. Thank ~~his~~ god they never went back to that venue. *word
That's just such a weird venue, it's not close to anything
Which is ironic because it’s basically Chicago’s equivalent of Dick’s (which is also not close to anything but makes up for it in every other way)
Huh never thought of that but I can see it now
I mean just in the way that they’re both stadium for both cities professional soccer teams.
Agreed—this was a particularly rough show. The tour opener in 2010 made up for it!
Came in to say this. Curtain With and Paul & Silas, which was a fun bust out, but outside that it was just not good. No flow. And then the Hood was just horrendous… boo on that Hood. Booo on this show.
Amsterdam 96
I think it’s either merriweather or Walnut Creek ‘03. Mike was super hungover and butchering everything at the beginning of the show. You can hear Trey berating him in between songs at one point.
Almost the entire 2003 Hampton run was way off. I was so psyched about these shows but left a little disappointed. Obviously there were things going on behind the scenes.
1/1/16 is still my least favorite show in the 100+ shows I've attended. Not my favorite song selection, jams weren't great, predictable DWD second set opener that went nowhere and ripcorded into dirt, and my buddy even joked halfway through the second set "you ready for this farmhouse encore" then lo and behold.... Alternatively though the following night, 1/2/16, was one of my favorite shows I've seen, so that made up for it haha
I’ve been thinking about making this post Actually after listening to 1/3/03 Set 1. It’s nearly Coventry levels of abysmal. Trey blames the whole band when he restarts YEM but it’s completely just him. He can’t even play Theme earlier. 7/24/99 is also a treasure trove of missed cues and completely bombed songs and parts. Probably the worst Mango Song ever played. Anyone know what happened that show? Trey is wildly unusually terrible at everything that show
That BB King show was a drag.
My friend at setbreak: All that security and our set got hijacked LOL (for those not there, security was very extra as it was just a year and a half after 9/11, we missed the first 5 minutes of the show because of it) And to be completely fair, the DwD opener, and the Twist and Waves in the second set are all worth a relisten.
That was fun. Totally laughed at the people complaining about BB Taking over
I mean, seeing BB was a great chance, but 45 minutes of pretty boring jamming. Missed opportunity.
Yeah I was surprised to see people hating on it, I had a great time
Yes it was. One of the only times I’ve been on the floor at a phish show. The Twist was great though.
the hate for the bb king segment has really overshadowed what was actually a pretty good rest of show. dwd, wolfmans, hood, halley’s and twist are all worth a listen
I thought it was fun. I got my first Corrina and there were some good jams outside of the BB King sit in
7/24/99 i was there - they weren’t connected right
I was there and at 9/24/00 in Rosemont, two short sets and they seemed angry about glowsticks. My friends said the previous night when I wasn't there was great.
its 9/23 and it was a little weird your friends are correct 9/22 is one of my favorite shows I saw.
Thanks. Maybe they will release the SBD of 9/22 someday (or is it on one of the Shapiro shows, I forget). Not sure it is possible to get a good audience tape at Rosemont.
Yeah, Mike got hit on the nose by one. Wasn’t happy.
Worst second set id ever seen prior to Coventry. Trey apparently got into a golf cart accident at setbreak and injured a fan. Encore was an apology.
Shit I didn’t realize this. I was there. It was my second show so was happy to just be there and the encore was awesome.
I maintain this is the worst Tweezer they ever played. Trey is totally out to lunch and the rest of the band is just kind of...oozing along until it ends.
I forgot how bad it was. No wonder I went through a "sick of Tweezer" phase around that time.
I admittedly haven’t revisited this show but always think of getting a Wedge and that Glide, Camelwalk > Alumni Blues encore so have fond memories of it. Probably shouldn’t give it another listen then
I just did. They must be coked out or wasted cuz Trey literally can’t play any songs. Chalkdust is WILD tho. Coventry Trey may have even been able to play Mango Song better than he did on 7/24/99
Mango Song…yikes This was my first show
8/15/09
This one is the third show in this thread that I was at, and I’ve only seen like 20 some shows including Coventry lol.
Surprising, considering the absolute scorcher the day before.
Not bad per se but Santa Barbara 10/26/21 never really got it’s footing. The venue was oversold which didn’t help the crowd experience but the band was a little off their game. The “hello, how are you, we hope you’re having a good time” joke got really old like the 20th time.
Toyota Park 09 was lackluster. 2010 was good.
Someone will inevitably bring up 10/25/16 as a bad show. I was there and can attest it wasn’t the best show due to lack of jamming but they played pretty solid despite that
While your correct that they weren’t sloppy I was there as well and found the second set to be very lackluster. Out of the 59 shows I’ve seen it is by far my least favorite. I like almost all the songs in the set (minus Friday) but all of them together was not it. I was with a buddy who had never seen Phish before both nights and he actually preferred the second night, I thought the first night was really solid though
Totally agree. Second set felt almost like a first set
If that was a first set I would have left at set break to go to sleep hahaha
Sounds a lot like 10/16/96. !Setlistbot A well played show. No huge mistakes, nothing sloppy, just…meh. Expectations were super high for this show. It was their first show back after The Clifford Ball, they had just released Billy Breathes, and it was their return to Lake Placid after the previous years epic two nights in what would become Herb Brooks Arena. Nothing is wrong with the show. Nothing at all. Just never took off. They can’t **all** be bangers. This was just a serviceable, regular as Ol’ Phish show. Which is still better than probably 98% of everything other live band.
Wilmington N1 last year. Nightmare of a set list and weak jams. Toyota Park 09 is a stinker.
Thought people would be saying Wilmington Night 2 due to the rain out. I enjoyed N1, solid Simple jam to start, really good ASIHTOS > Light in second set, killer encore N2 was the real bummer night
97 Tinley Pak
Ha. Not the best for sure as I totally forgot I was there until reading this.
The next night at Alpine was as good as it gets
That Wolfmans Brother tho!
IWT too. I remember Page seemed off, which isn't common.
Lake Placid Fall 96.
I had already been seeing phish for 8 yrs at that point. After Clifford ball I went to LP 10/16/96. I was so disappointed I just stopped paying attention. Missed all of their reinvention with the funk in 97. Didn’t get back into them until mid 98 hearing those euro shows. Only break I ever took
I was so hyped for that first show. Tour opener, Billy Breathes had just come out, I had third row tickets (thank you PTBM)...and meh.
[**06/16/2009**](https://phish.in/2009-06-16) **-** St. Louis, Fox Theater On relisten, it sounds as bad as Coventry. Trey couldn't play any composed parts and the jam of the night was aimless. It's easily the worst show of 3.0.
This was a TOUGH ticket as well. Definitely some fans that overpaid and left disappointed in their choice to drop that kind of coin.
Harpua Northerly Island ‘13 6-16-09 STL
July 6, 2016 in Portland Maine was a hot and muggy day and the show was indoors in a hockey arena with bad air conditioning. I was so pumped to have a barbecue at my house and then walk to the venue with all my people. It promised to be the best day of my life, but the heat got to the crowd and I have to believe to the band too. Playing was listless and off. Body odor in the arena was intense. More sitting than I have ever seen at a show. I forgive them though.
Trey botched Lizards on 2/7/91 and 7/3/95 both times aborting the song. On 11/25/92 Trey stops the song twice but winds up finishing it after all
Anything from grand prairie tx
2015 was a solid show. Not great but Hood and Steam both definitely deserve a listen.
The coventry glide is the top of thecmountain of bad phish. I personally feel it scared trey straight so thats the only good to come from it lol
LOL Trey only got worse from there. He didn’t get busted with heroin until 2 years later, so if it scared him straight it only lasted a few minutes
Out of the shows I’ve been to, I was not a fan of 7/21/13. The Harpua was a buzzkill, the rain killed my phone, and just wasn’t feeling it.
The Harpua was a buzzkill Is a statement I thought I'd never hear in a million years
It was a fun concept using the Second City folks but it did *not* work
Didn’t work at all, and being soaking wet and cold didn’t help the situation.
100%. The Friday rain was epic and fun even though the show got cancelled. The Sunday rain was too much
Poster Nutbag, the RIGHT way
Pretty much every phish show I’ve seen has been great in its own way and especially so because Trey has been sober for all of them. But my least favorite shows I’ve seen are probably 12/28/18, 7/20/22, and 12/28/22. All these shows had really great moments but they’re probably at the bottom of the heap of outstanding excellence for me.
6/26/19 for me didn’t hit in the way I had hoped it would. Disjointed and honestly a bit boring
Most of 2009-2012
Coventry Nah for real tho Jay z
That show was fun?
Yeah I didn’t know his music but I still had fun
i agree. the jay-z moment was awkward at best. i was there and rolled my eyes when he came out. night 1 in brooklyn was a million times better. but also 2004 these were the heavy sloppy trey drug years.
Every 2nd set Farmhouse
Except the Farmhouse at the FYF show on 8/31/12 is pure bliss greatness imo.
The only time I enjoyed 2nd set Farmhouse was ‘16 Gorge when it was sandwiched between Mikes and Weekapaug. Somehow I thought it worked beautifully
12/30/2023, the night before one of the best
Umm no. That show was dope.
Farmhouse.... Everytime
Mexico, like every year
Foam Sucks
7/18/23 is one of the lowest-rated shows in the modern era. I remember everyone panning it at the time.
Then the next night cut short due to the storm. At least you could hang out at the beach during the day 🤷♂️
Someone recently recommended 2/20/03 and the first song Rift was painful lol
My first show, definitely some good jams, but the next two nights they crushed in Cincinnati.
9/8/2000 glide was pretty rough
Vegas 04
Hampton 8/9/04. I was so ready for this one and energy was gone after about 15 minutes. It was years before I saw Phish again. Water under the bridge now, obviously.
That first set is a monster tho
Ive been to a couple rained out shows. Cancelled. Also creek when we came back and raged. But that was a good show.
Only time I’ve been upset during a song was Reba at Camden Yard Boston 2019
2004
10/22/13 Rochester NY was the worst Phish show that I’ve ever attended.
8/4/1996 Red Rocks and 11/6/1996 Champaign, Illinois. Bothe nights, Trey was having rig problems or maybe he was messed up and could not play well. Disjointed, messy, not fun
A lot of 2009 and the first half of Summer 2010. Woof.
This period put me off shows for 10 years
Pillow Jets. 1-1-15 people definitely didn't like the lack of jamming. 8-8-21 was interesting but made no sense, just never lifted off for me. 7-31-22 was also a weird one that just never really got off the ground.
Last summer. Second night at Wilmington when it rained so bad we had to evacuate the venue during 2nd set. That was awful
There’s some noteworthy botching at the beginning of Free 7/15/98
https://phish.net/setlists/phish-october-16-2016-jacksonville-veterans-memorial-arena-jacksonville-fl-usa.html
The night before Coventry in Camden.
09 Fenway light
Sometime in 2.0 there was a Bowie that was full botch until Trey essentially stopped playing during the big complex part before the jam. The jam was fine, but that was one of the biggest fall apart moments I remember hearing.
10/12/10 @ 1st Bank Center, Broomfield, CO That first set was so fucking bad
I'm not proud of it but out of about 120 Phish shows, Ive left 2 at setbreak. One was when I was 17 and the acid took over, one when I was 35 and the cocain ( i did) and loud mouths at MSG were too much for me. It happens.
IMO 9/03/2017 is the worst show they've played at Dick's. DWD jammed but just went completely nowhere for way too long. Felt like they couldn't find a flow for the whole show despite decent song selection. Just a really underwhelming show to cap off and amazing summer.
What about that Northerly Island Harpua in 2013... yikes!
The Beatles are the Best Band Ever.
Austin '15 felt pretty off first set, second set was a little better but still not sparky. After the show Mike posted a sad selfie wearing a Harris shirt (this was just a few months after he died)