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Band

June 1995

After trying out a lot of new material at events the previous month (see TMIPH May 1995), Phish began June with practice and preparation for their summer tour. They had been recording their live performances on digital multi-track tape for all of the preceding year and had compiled and mixed their first live album, a double CD entitled A Live One.

The month began with technical rehearsal in Boise, Idaho on June 6th and the summer tour officially began the next day at Boise State University Pavilion, where set one featured an opening sequence of Possum, Weigh and the debut performance of Taste, as well as the first performance of The Wedge in almost a year. Set two included the band’s first performance of Acoustic Army, an instrumental interlude which features all four band members on acoustic guitars. On the 8th, Phish played at The Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, where they unveiled the then-new Prince Caspian. They performed back-to-back shows on the 9th and 10th at majestic Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado (their fourth and fifth appearances there). The show on the 10th began with an unusual Makisupa Policeman > Llama opener and included Phish’s first rendition of The Beatles’ A Day in The Life as the encore.

After a couple days off, band and crew headed east to Riverport Amphitheatre in Maryland Heights, Missouri, for a show on June 13th. The following day, they performed at Mud Island Amphitheater in Memphis, Tennessee. At Mud Island, the band performed a nearly-50-minute version of Tweezer which twisted and turned through a variety of themes before resolving back into the song and ending. On the 15th, Phish made their first appearance at Atlanta’s Lakewood Amphitheater. During I Didn’t Know at Lakewood, Mike “played” an electric drill, Fish played his trombone and Trey broke out his megaphone. The next day they traveled to Walnut Creek Amphitheatre in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the soundcheck began with Caravan followed by Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds. After a well-played first set, set two of the Raleigh show began with a surprisingly stretched-out version of Runaway Jim which segued seamlessly into Free. After an appropriate offering of the a cappella number Carolina, Dave Matthews Band fiddler Boyd Tinsley joined the band for You Enjoy Myself. On June 17th, Phish played at Cellar Door Pavilion at Stone Ridge in Gainesville, Virginia. There, they performed their first cover of the rock and roll classic Johnny B. Goode and broke out Three Little Birds as the encore, with guests from Dave Matthews band.

After a day off, Phish made their first appearance at Deer Creek Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana (near Indianapolis) on June 19th. Since then, they have performed eight shows at this venue with three more to come in the summer of 2000. June 20th was a show at Cleveland, Ohio area venue Blossom Music Center, a classic outdoor amphitheatre constructed almost entirely of wood. The tour then traveled east from there to Canandaigua New York’s Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center for a show on the 22nd. Set two from FLPAC consisted of two songs, Theme From the Bottom and Tweezer. Theme segued into a jam which morphed into a forty-minute experimental rendition of Tweezer which attained the level of Fish playing the vacuum prior to the traditional Tweezer Reprise. The next night was a show at Waterloo Village Music Center in Stanhope, New Jersey. There, Trey narrated a Harpua that included a jam on Abba’s “Waterloo”. The narration was never finished; Blues Traveler’s John Popper joined the band for the closing songs of set two.

On June 24th and 25th, Phish played a two-night stand at Mann Music Center in Philadelphia. They continued on to Saratoga Springs, New York for their second appearance at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). A Live One was released on Elektra Records on June 27th. It was the band’s first live album (a double-CD set) and featured live versions of songs recorded the previous year. The review and editing process for A Live One was unique in that the audience (through the Usenet newsgroup rec.music.phish) was polled for its opinion of what should be included. The band simultaneously reviewed dozens of tapes based upon their own notes taken during the recording period. Despite the band’s careful review of their own performances, the fans who responded to the phish.net poll were able to focus the band’s attention on an overlooked version of Stash from Great Woods Performing Arts Center, in Mansfield, Massachusetts, during the second set on July 8, 1994. The version was reviewed by the band and chosen for inclusion in the release.

June 28th and 29th featured shows at Jones Beach Music Theater in Wantaugh, New York, a venue the band had first visited in July of 1992 while opening for Santana. They had returned there as a headline act each summer since, and followed up the release of A Live One with this two-night stand in the metropolitan New York area. June 1995 in Phish history ended on the 30th with a concert at Great Woods, another venue first played by Phish during their July, 1992 opening stint for Santana. Like Jones Beach, the band had returned there each summer since and in 1995 they were back for two nights, the 30th of June and July 1st.

Summer tour finished up with two shows at Sugarbush North in Fayston, Vermont, as the band began preparation for a television appearance (their second on Late Show With David Letterman), some photo shoots (including one for Rolling Stone) and preparation for the upcoming fall tour.