Fee's Cavern

This show stands apart from the shows that surround it. Set one has a number of fantastic passages including a raging Foam, Chalk Dust with an extended into and a very nice Divided. While that set holds true to its era, the second set is unusual in that it is nearly entirely segued (with a Harpua taboot). Full of great jams, banter and narration, an early show that is underrated.

Diamond in the rough.  Set one packs a lot of punch with a very high energy level and pace to go with narration, a Jam Chart Runaway Jim, haunting questions and a stellar Golgi Apparatus.  The second set does not let up either, highlighted by a very eerie and strong Mike's Groove.  This is one of those shows nobody talks about that will surprise your ears and  dancing shoes.

It's baaa-ck!  Season Two begins with a balanced show with a ton of flavor.  Set one features a song that only opened a show once, two Jam Charters, and maybe the best first set since the tour opener.  The second set is fantastic with a debut, more heat, and two other Jam Chart tracks to keep you moving.  Back in the high life again!

Today's featured show comes from a venue that closed this particular Fall Tour and starts the Fall Tour 2018.  A crisp day in the state capital, this concert is rife with sharp playing.  The night opens with two fan favorites and eventually moves into a spacey, twenty-three minute Ghost.  Set two contains a fantastic first forty-five minutes (underrated as being some of the best the back stretch of this tour has to offer) and an encore rumored to be for a fallen fan.

Inside this small venue in the Northwest, Phish put together the best show thus far on this young tour.  Set one features a fantastic song selection with Gumbo, Mound, Possum and Antelope getting strong treatment.  The second set follows suit with no let-downs and a gotta hear Harry Hood.  Crisp as the air outside, settle in for an unheralded, four-star gem.

The podcast steps back in time to a tour just getting underway.  Some new songs make appearances as well as soon to be shelved classics.  The first set smokes with a Llama opener, a great Divided Sky, and a nod to a famous author.  Set two continues the trend with Brother, Destiny, and a Mike's Groove. Background music by Rolemusic with the track "The Black Kitty" off the album The Black Dot.

This episode explores a concert at a venue Phish will be playing this Fall Tour 2018.  While the arena itself has housed numerous minor pro sports teams, its fame comes from a rich history of concerts.  This particular show is underrated and home to a bevy of riches.  Set one is home to a debut opener and two Jam Chart tracks... all the while clocking in at only six songs long.  Set two is a sum of its parts and home to one of the best Pipers before the first hiatus.  Also, this recording is a step-up from those found on popular streaming and download sites. Background music this episode is "Be Which One?" by Captive Portal.

The podcast's exploration of Fall Tours begins on a cool night in the Northeast.  The first set features a great balance of songs with tight play that culminates in a fantastic set-closing combo.  Set two is only five songs long, three jam chart tracks deep, featuring a wonderful middle stretch to lead into a YEM closer.

Our journey of this tour's venues comes to a close.  Last stop of the Summer is a fan favorite: Dicks, just outside Denver.  Fee's Cavern steps back in time, delivering you to a special night, fond among the fan's in attendance for it's simplicity and spectacular show of surprising symbolism.

This episode is a radio-style replay of many of the hidden tracks that have populated the first eight months of Fee's Cavern.  Enjoy from the couch, enjoy on your way to the festival, enjoy as the hours of work tick away until the celebration begins, enjoy at the campsite.  You won't be disappointed.  All track dates are mentioned within the episode for further exploration.  Drive on the right, pass on the left, dance in the middle.

The Summer Tour 18 Series rolls on with a long drive up the eastern seaboard.  The first featured set rages with long, groove based jams at the heart of Piper, Weekapaug and Hood.  The featured second set is one of the strongest ever featured on the podcast: fully segued, exploration in songs not usually taken for rides and head-on flow not to be missed.  Drive safe everyone!

In the third installment of the Summer Tour 18 series, the focus shifts to the cities of the tour rather than the venues themselves.  We also hone in on two remarkable first sets built-to-the-hilt in listenability.  The first featured set is from a hot show in Austin revolving around nasty versions of classics, unique song choices and great flow.  The choice for the Atlanta area is rocking from go, involves three Jam Chart tracks and a U.S. debut.  Drive safe out there!

Down the California coast we go!  This episode's first set is one of the most underrated second sets from BGCA with jam after jam to blow you away.  A two song combo opener, a trifecta in the middle with some serious flow, and a 2001 dance party extraordinaire.  The second featured set drops us off at a venue famed for rock-and-roll style nights.  No Man's Land and Roggae are aspects of the celebration at the Forum.

Summer Tour 2018 Series: Part 1.  The first set featured is a strong example of the powerful second sets from the year it was performed.  It features an opening number not usually found in that slot, a great series of jams that follow it, and a muscular version of Walls of the Cave.  The second set featured has four Jam Chart tracks and the combination of musical factors we all hope to hear when a tour lands at the Gorge.

Three winning features: opens with a classic, all segues are wonderful, contains one of the best Bathtub Gins of the era. Combine all of these with a funk tonality and consistent twisting of jams... and you have an underrated gem. Here's a toast to cool nights, great lights, and surprises in a show you may have never heard.

You don't need a passport to get to this fine Thursday show. Wasting no time, Phish drops a sparkling Reba opener and plays one of the longest first sets of the year with great versions of Taste, The Moma Dance, and You Enjoy Myself. Set two features Limb by Limb, Also Sprach, and Piper in all their glory.

Often over looked as one of the best places to see the band, this week we check in on the Nashville area. Phish brings on guest artists to lay down some very impressive first set tracks... then Mother Nature brings on the weather and drives the band into an intense three song second set.  Roggae and Back On The Train are not-to-be-missed tracks.  Set two might be slightly shorter than usual, but packs a punch with thunder all around.

Relaxed in Southern climates, Phish lays down a tonally refreshing show on this night. Both sets display a theme of laid back appreciation for interplay. Right off the bat, the band is playing Jam Chart tracks. Surprise song positions are performed masterfully, the appropriate emphasis is placed on strong jams, and the theme of cool improvisation is carried throughout the night.

When show anniversaries pop-up, one of the coolest is The OJ Show. But what about the shows that precede it? Often overlooked is the run of shows that started the tour leading up to that night. Today's podcast is a great example of the phenomenon of looking past greatness to get to the juice. Some real treats hide in set one, but its just a prelude for the second set which really starts off one of the best weeks in Phish history to that point.

The podcast tosses it's listeners a rare one: an indoor show in June from a college venue during the 3.0 era. The first set starts strong, features a nice Mike's Groove... and check out the back-end of Undermind! Set two contains a gorgeous three-song combo to compliment one of the top Reba's of the last decade.

Ride the rides!  See the show!  A night under the big top, the podcast's first foray into 3.0.  This show is home to fan requests, rarities, and a stellar second set.

This three set show starts off with early favorites, begins to spread it's wings by the time Weekapaug Groove comes around, and closes it's first set with Machine Gun Trey tearing through You Enjoy Myself. Two new songs find ground in the middle of set two, sandwiched by good versions of Bowie and Antelope. Set three is fantastic with a great Slave and Possum.

Ending the tour with a bang, this show ranges the best parts of the first tour of this particular year. Set one ratchets up the intensity through the set-finishing Run Like An Antelope. The closing set of the tour rages, including a great Mike's Groove and layers of band member solo sections that sent early tour heads out with the knowledge that the band was at an early peak.

Just another show from a condo complex... what?  This show rocks from start to stop, making it far from underrated. However, it did not find wide circulation until the BitTorrent era began. The first set displays a band playing at the top of their game, with a fantastic Runaway Jim opener and three jam chart tracks before the break. Set two is a tour de force: strong, crafty, masterful. Split, McGrupp, and YEM will take your face off.

Pre-show rain causes a change of location within the same venue. This show starts solidly before a great Stash and mid-set Squirming Coil. Set two makes an interesting listen with deft playing and a nasty, short Down With Disease. The back of the set features a fantastic Harpua and a gorgeous take on Slave to The Traffic Light.

A night in Charlotte full of highlights.  The first frame starts with four well played numbers before hitting its stride with a bustout and a gorgeous Slave to the Traffic Light.  Set two opens with crowd interaction, contains a monster David Bowie and a fun Forbin's Mockingbird.

Today's Phish podcast pays tribute to one of the hottest weeks in the early 90s.  Both sets contain tight composed segments and interesting jam treatments with the second frame being one of the most talked about sets of the year.  It was late one fall night at a fairground near town...

Showing no ill effects from a fall and wearing an ankle brace, Trey is on his game this show. Set one features impressive bookend numbers and some intense jamming in Split Open and Melt. Set two is extra strength: the intensity of the first four songs, a rare Fishman tune, and a colossal Hood to close one heck of a first week of the year.

Early in this tour Phish headed north of the border.  This show places a very good Stash in the keystone spot of a hard-rocking set one.  The second frame features a searing Down With Disease and a fantastic Mike's Song tacking down a hot Canadian run.

Wizard of Oz teasing bookends the first set of this classic early Spring Tour show.  The second set is a microcosm of where Phish was at the time of recording.  It features fun with audience members, pokes at the crew, a My Sweet One that will knock you out, and strong versions of Weekapaug and Magilla.

After being told to turn it down, Phish gives a clinic in quiet dynamics throughout both sets. This outdoor show in March features exceptional versions of Stash, Runaway Jim, It's Ice, and Weekapaug Groove.

After some blistering Spring Tour shows in Colorado, Phish made their way to the west coast for a big trek towards Canada.  That stretch begins in Los Angeles and this show is one of two nights just off the Walk of Fame.  Highlights include Maze, David Bowie, and a second set that rocks from the get-go.

The ability to instruct a crowd using musical cues is another check in the win column for Phish.  This episode puts you right at the early stages of that on a night in Portsmouth, NH.  Signals abound the night after the first Secret Language Lesson.  What really sets this night apart is how good both sets are overall.  Get in on the secret with Episode 16.

Party time!  A high-energy show from a defunct New York City club is pulled from the Cavern wall.  Really tight playing is the trend with this one and John Popper joins in on a couple songs.  Phish takes it past the 3AM hour in Tribeca with some Saturday Night Fever of their own.

In the middle of a short tour of European cities, this show is from a very small Northern Italian town.  While tough to get to, Phish rewards the fans on tour right away by starting the show with a treat.  Both sets have Jam Chart moments, tour hallmark passages, and the energy of a state-side band on stride across the pond.

Sometimes great performances hide among the other shows you have heard from the era.  Right before Phish tore apart the Roxy, shades of brilliance hide in this little heard show from Winston-Salem.  Sleepy at first, this show does a complete spin halfway through the first set to deliver a hidden gem.  Unlisted teases, unusual sonic oddities, and one of the best David Bowies you will hear this month make this show a treat.

Only one venue besides MSG can boast of over 50 Phish shows.  Today's episode comes from that venue: The Front in Burlington.  Three sets that are playful and precise with a relaxed bar atmosphere... outside of the unusual heckle before the first set.  This show features the band at peak in 1989 with highlights in each set.

Humidity can be a bear.  The last episode of an All-Request January gives us an example of weather tension-and-release from 1999.  Preshow rain clears up and Phish plays a great first set.  After the sun goes down, the band plays along to building humid conditions, growing winds and a swirling storm alive with lightning moving in.  The second set is maniacal: five songs ranging from dance-hall, to heavy syncopation, to musical majesty... all before the rain moves in during the encore.  One of the more underrated second sets of the Summer 99 tour, quite different than the shows that surround it.

A first-time performance from a now defunct venue populates Episode 10.  A perfect July day leads to a fantastic Midwest melt with a great example of the elusive "flow" we all desire each time we show up.  The third episode of All-Request January throws us deep into a few funky numbers in set one and rare treats woven into a thick second set.  Underrated?  Listen to what you have been missing from Summer '98.

Few Phish concerts signal a change in the wings, but this is one of them.  Starting a new year from their hometown, the band shows us practiced prowess and quite an number of new songs from an overlooked show to start a Spring Tour.  A second set throw-down from the Giant Country Horns spells a treat for the continuation of Twenty8's All-Request January on Fee's Cavern.

A brief statement about an update to the podcast precedes this episode, then we climb right into the first episode of the new year.  Twenty8 dusts off a mid-90s New Year's Run show that wastes no time getting to the heat.  The first set has some fun moments and the second set begs you for headphones.  Let's step into the freezer from a cold night in Worcester.  If you want the date of the show before it plays, new id3 tags have the date as the album title.

Just before one of the best months in Phish history, July 1993 has a present for your ears.  Check out this show from the shelves of the underrated.

This show has more than enough treats for under your tree.  Let's jump back to a show in July from the 80s!

A show from the top fifty?  Yes, please!  However, it was a lengthy climb to that position.  Here is a concert that bears little in common with any other and has earned it's accolades traveling the long road to the top.

Twenty8 is dusting off a show from a cold night on the north Atlantic.  Stoke the fireplace and check out a lesser heralded show that features shades of the Everglades in both sets.

We step back in time to feature a show from one of college basketball's most revered venues.  Hoisting banners and pressing full-court!  Here is another trip inside Fee's Cavern.

The first show from one of our favorite arenas.  From a hot tour in a great year, Fee's Cavern takes a look at wonderful performance.

Let's look at a Sunday night in Wisconsin.  From the shelves of the forgotten, here is a Phish show that deserves a dust off.

New to the podcast?  Here is the crib sheet to answer all your questions.  See you in the Cavern!