Set List
Show Notes
This was an all ages show at a hotel ballroom with a capacity of about 1,400. The show was an Earth Day Celebration that was part of the University Of Oregon’s annual Earth Week. Inflatable globes were thrown into the crowd to set the vibe. Page deftly played Dixie during the end of this inspired rendition of The Divided Sky. During Stash, the audience responded with tribal cheers, possibly to what Trey later acknowledged as the “birth of the Big Ball Jam” (see 3/30/93). This banter-filled set II was especially long for the time, clocking in at a cassette-defying 110min. Glide featured some evil laughing by Trey and some omninous tempo changes. Stash was teased repeatedly by Trey during Run Like An Antelope. The Horse contained the early “Mathilda in between” lyric. Fish added trombone to the extended beginning of Wilson, which led Trey into the Secret Language Instructions, saying “his is a secret. I’m letting you in on it because it’s Earth Day…This is the first time I’ve said anything about this on the West Coast…” He then explained the secret language amid bursts from Page, Mike and Fish (on trombone) while Fish maintained the Wilson theme on trombone. When Trey explained that Fish isn’t allowed to talk in the language because he talks too much in real life, Fish delivered some choice words spoken through the trombone. Trey then ran through the common secret language including The Simpsons, Fall Down and Turn Turn Turn (“this is our favorite, where we pay tribute to two of our favorite people sitting back at the light board and soundboard, Paul and Chris”). He also explained the intention, saying “the important thing is for people who don’t really know about this whole scene to be able to walk into the room and for no apparent reason have the audience fall down and die.” The band quickly illustrated The Simpsons secret language with a David Bowie-esque Example Jam before playing Wilson. During Wilson (before the “blat-boom”), Trey added the Random Note secret language, which he forgot during the main Instructions. The You Enjoy Myself vocal jam began with “salad.” During the Cold As Ice Intro, Fish lamented the fading paint on his “B-AH” clash cymbals “…aw, poor paint.” The paint was eventually replaced with tape. After the Cold As Ice outro, Trey said “that was memorable” and Fish replied “I’ve moved on with my song covering capabilities – I’ve gone way beyond Syd Barrett now to the second greatest songwriter of all time, Mr. Neil Diamond.” When Page harassed Fish for talking too much, Fish retorted “Obviously there’s not enough of me in your monitors.” The Harpua narration was set on a past Earth Day and Trey ribbed Fish for having shaved his beard, asking Paul to turn off Fish’s mic before the story. Fish quickly shouted “Room 623”. Trey went on to announce a party that night in Fish’s room 623 in “that very hotel.” He tried to backtrack a bit but it was too late. Page corrected Mike aka Dad during the “Jimmy” segment, deadpanning “my name’s not Jimmy, it’s Johnny, Johnny Fishman.” Mike shouted out some alternatives to a goldfish, “mackerel” and “halibut”. Though the band had teased it before, The Lion Sleeps Tonight soundcheck was the 1st known performance of the classic song from “The Jungle Book”. Before this show, Fish made time to sit down with Shelly Culbertson to record an interview for the Phish.net.