Editor's Note: Allow me to welcome a new contributor to the mix. Rob Shah is a guitar player from Denver and he's on an ambitious mission to listen to every Phish show in chronological order. He recently finished 1993 and here's his initial thoughts. Enjoy! -- Pauly
1993: The Year of Machine Gun Trey
by Rob Shah
I began an experiment earlier this year in an attempt to better understand what I, at the time, had considered my favorite year of Phish. The helping, friendly Google spreadsheet allowed me to listen to (almost) every note of 1993 from beginning to end, painting a much clearer picture of this special year in Phishtory.
1993 was a year full of raw, unharnessed energy and creativity that was emitting from all four of these ambitious 20-somethings. The first of two tours, the Winter/Spring tour, spanned 71 dates in just over three months, clocking in as Phish’s longest tour ever to date. To put this into perspective, this tour was so extensive that 1 out of every 20 shows from their entire 30-year history comes from these three months. The boys lived and breathed Phish and they didn’t have wives or kids yet to distract them from their ultimate goal of developing their unique brand and style. They were on fire and they seemed to be getting better every night; but I guess that’ll happen when you’re playing 3 out of every 4 nights for extended periods of time.
Although Phish released their iconic concept album, Rift, only one day prior to embarking on this massive endeavor, many fans were already familiar with the material as the songs had all debuted in prior years sans "The Wedge," which was debuted on the first night of tour (2/3/93). Take a listen to an early version of this song and notice the many differences from the version that you’re probably used to. They experimented with “The Wedge’s” structure throughout the 90’s while also periodically shelving it for the first five years of its existence.
This tour marked the final times that Trey would teach the audience “Secret Language Instructions” which explained which musical signals trigger which specific band-audience interactions. These musical signals could be played by any band member at anytime during a show and they would prompt things such as simultaneous squatting (all fall down signal), turning to the back of the venue and cheering (turn, turn, turn signal), or my personal favorite, singing a random note for a measure (random note signal).
Phish generally prides themselves on not fitting in typical, mainstream parameters and some sections of their music can even be described as experimental or Avant-garde. My favorite artsy moment from 1993 happened during a “Big Black Furry Creatures from Mars” encore on 4/18/93. During this song, each band member takes turns pausing and starting up the song. Two minutes into the song, Fishman takes an obnoxious three-minute pause, which was relatively standard at the time, as the band enjoyed tapping into their innate weirdness. One minute later, the band takes another pause that lasts for a staggering 4.5 minutes. This silence, however, was not planned and we find out the next night that Trey had screwed up the order in his head resulting in a second, unintentional, super long pause. The next night, Page took a rare leadership role by taking a few minutes during the middle of “I Didn’t Know” to discuss the awkward encore with the crowd. This special band-audience interaction (starts at 11:30 in the clip) included commentary from five audience members, Brad Sands (balloon tech), Paul Languedoc (sound), Chris Kuroda (lights), Mike and Trey.
Phish has always been vocal about striving to make every show unique. Considering there were 100+ shows in ’93, it’s obviously not feasible to document every special moment but here are a few worth sharing:
• 3/9/93: Trey gets super weird and holds a bend for entirely too long during the open jam section of Reba allowing Mike and Page to take center stage. The note lasts for exactly 100 seconds making it possibly the longest note ever held by Trey live.
• 3/22/93: This show is the epitome of a “sleeper” show. It was a Tuesday night at a half full Crest Theatre in Sacramento, CA (capacity of 932) where Phish dropped into their infamous Gamehendge saga 2nd set. This was only the third time they had done this and they would only perform Gamehendge two more times in their career. The band made an effort to seed the soundboard recording after the show and it quickly became one of their most circulated shows between fans.
• 3/24/93: This 30-second excerpt is an epic ending to a lengthy 8+ minute YEM vocal jam. Throughout 1993, I witnessed a tremendous amount of vocal experimentation from all four guys. This increased vocal presence wasn’t contained to YEM vocal jams, but abundantly spread out throughout sets in the forms of humor, sincere excitement, or just straight up bizarre behavior.
• 4/1/93: On this date, the band played an April Fools prank on the fans by starting a rumor that Neil Young was making a guest appearance. Phish took advantage of the fact that this was the second night in a row they were playing the Roseland Ballroom in Portland which helped facilitate the rapid spread of “news” throughout the fan base. During the first set, Trey finishes setting up the prank by teasing Heart of Gold and Sugar Mountain. Deep in the second set after the Big Ball Jam (the perfect time for a sit-in), Trey looks offstage and introduces “Neil Young,” and the crowd goes absolutely nuts. After minutes of applause and confusion, Fishman emerges and proceeds to gently mock the crowd and then stumbles through a line of Young’s “After the Gold Rush.”
1993 was an absolute killer year for Phish. Come summer tour, they were landing significantly larger venues relative to years past and the quality of their music clearly justified it. This rising trend is partially due to playing larger summer-friendly amphitheaters and festivals, but largely due to the exponential increase in demand to see the band. They were incredibly tight, hungry, and frisky, playing an average of 3+ teases per show. Interestingly enough, they were not always teasing Phish songs but often teasing rare, abstract songs.
Regarding chops, Trey was at the top of his game and I’ve yet to hear Trey clearly rip faster, longer, and more cohesive phrases than in he did in 1993. This was truly the year of “Machine Gun Trey” and it was always be the home of some of my all-time favorite tension-and-release moments.
Of course, technical skills aren’t the be-all and end-all and I have a good feeling that the “best” is yet to come. I thoroughly enjoyed maneuvering through two exciting tours and a NYE run (download 12-31-93, my personal favorite show of the year) and I’ve come to realize that this project of mine isn’t ending here, it’s just beginning.
This review wouldn’t be complete without a “best of 93” mix. I decided to focus my compilation purely on maintaining an extremely high standard of quality throughout each jam. It’s for this reason you won’t see a ton of long, crazy, type II jams on this list but instead, you’ll find jams that are tasty and/or straight-up fire from beginning to end; a best “bang-for-your-buck” if you will. A good majority of these tracks capture “Machine Gun Trey” at his finest and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.
Download Dopecoaster's Best of 93 Mix - Machine Gun Trey
1993: The Year of Machine Gun Trey
by Rob Shah
I began an experiment earlier this year in an attempt to better understand what I, at the time, had considered my favorite year of Phish. The helping, friendly Google spreadsheet allowed me to listen to (almost) every note of 1993 from beginning to end, painting a much clearer picture of this special year in Phishtory.
1993 was a year full of raw, unharnessed energy and creativity that was emitting from all four of these ambitious 20-somethings. The first of two tours, the Winter/Spring tour, spanned 71 dates in just over three months, clocking in as Phish’s longest tour ever to date. To put this into perspective, this tour was so extensive that 1 out of every 20 shows from their entire 30-year history comes from these three months. The boys lived and breathed Phish and they didn’t have wives or kids yet to distract them from their ultimate goal of developing their unique brand and style. They were on fire and they seemed to be getting better every night; but I guess that’ll happen when you’re playing 3 out of every 4 nights for extended periods of time.
Although Phish released their iconic concept album, Rift, only one day prior to embarking on this massive endeavor, many fans were already familiar with the material as the songs had all debuted in prior years sans "The Wedge," which was debuted on the first night of tour (2/3/93). Take a listen to an early version of this song and notice the many differences from the version that you’re probably used to. They experimented with “The Wedge’s” structure throughout the 90’s while also periodically shelving it for the first five years of its existence.
This tour marked the final times that Trey would teach the audience “Secret Language Instructions” which explained which musical signals trigger which specific band-audience interactions. These musical signals could be played by any band member at anytime during a show and they would prompt things such as simultaneous squatting (all fall down signal), turning to the back of the venue and cheering (turn, turn, turn signal), or my personal favorite, singing a random note for a measure (random note signal).
Phish generally prides themselves on not fitting in typical, mainstream parameters and some sections of their music can even be described as experimental or Avant-garde. My favorite artsy moment from 1993 happened during a “Big Black Furry Creatures from Mars” encore on 4/18/93. During this song, each band member takes turns pausing and starting up the song. Two minutes into the song, Fishman takes an obnoxious three-minute pause, which was relatively standard at the time, as the band enjoyed tapping into their innate weirdness. One minute later, the band takes another pause that lasts for a staggering 4.5 minutes. This silence, however, was not planned and we find out the next night that Trey had screwed up the order in his head resulting in a second, unintentional, super long pause. The next night, Page took a rare leadership role by taking a few minutes during the middle of “I Didn’t Know” to discuss the awkward encore with the crowd. This special band-audience interaction (starts at 11:30 in the clip) included commentary from five audience members, Brad Sands (balloon tech), Paul Languedoc (sound), Chris Kuroda (lights), Mike and Trey.
Phish has always been vocal about striving to make every show unique. Considering there were 100+ shows in ’93, it’s obviously not feasible to document every special moment but here are a few worth sharing:
• 3/9/93: Trey gets super weird and holds a bend for entirely too long during the open jam section of Reba allowing Mike and Page to take center stage. The note lasts for exactly 100 seconds making it possibly the longest note ever held by Trey live.
• 3/22/93: This show is the epitome of a “sleeper” show. It was a Tuesday night at a half full Crest Theatre in Sacramento, CA (capacity of 932) where Phish dropped into their infamous Gamehendge saga 2nd set. This was only the third time they had done this and they would only perform Gamehendge two more times in their career. The band made an effort to seed the soundboard recording after the show and it quickly became one of their most circulated shows between fans.
• 3/24/93: This 30-second excerpt is an epic ending to a lengthy 8+ minute YEM vocal jam. Throughout 1993, I witnessed a tremendous amount of vocal experimentation from all four guys. This increased vocal presence wasn’t contained to YEM vocal jams, but abundantly spread out throughout sets in the forms of humor, sincere excitement, or just straight up bizarre behavior.
• 4/1/93: On this date, the band played an April Fools prank on the fans by starting a rumor that Neil Young was making a guest appearance. Phish took advantage of the fact that this was the second night in a row they were playing the Roseland Ballroom in Portland which helped facilitate the rapid spread of “news” throughout the fan base. During the first set, Trey finishes setting up the prank by teasing Heart of Gold and Sugar Mountain. Deep in the second set after the Big Ball Jam (the perfect time for a sit-in), Trey looks offstage and introduces “Neil Young,” and the crowd goes absolutely nuts. After minutes of applause and confusion, Fishman emerges and proceeds to gently mock the crowd and then stumbles through a line of Young’s “After the Gold Rush.”
1993 was an absolute killer year for Phish. Come summer tour, they were landing significantly larger venues relative to years past and the quality of their music clearly justified it. This rising trend is partially due to playing larger summer-friendly amphitheaters and festivals, but largely due to the exponential increase in demand to see the band. They were incredibly tight, hungry, and frisky, playing an average of 3+ teases per show. Interestingly enough, they were not always teasing Phish songs but often teasing rare, abstract songs.
Regarding chops, Trey was at the top of his game and I’ve yet to hear Trey clearly rip faster, longer, and more cohesive phrases than in he did in 1993. This was truly the year of “Machine Gun Trey” and it was always be the home of some of my all-time favorite tension-and-release moments.
Of course, technical skills aren’t the be-all and end-all and I have a good feeling that the “best” is yet to come. I thoroughly enjoyed maneuvering through two exciting tours and a NYE run (download 12-31-93, my personal favorite show of the year) and I’ve come to realize that this project of mine isn’t ending here, it’s just beginning.
This review wouldn’t be complete without a “best of 93” mix. I decided to focus my compilation purely on maintaining an extremely high standard of quality throughout each jam. It’s for this reason you won’t see a ton of long, crazy, type II jams on this list but instead, you’ll find jams that are tasty and/or straight-up fire from beginning to end; a best “bang-for-your-buck” if you will. A good majority of these tracks capture “Machine Gun Trey” at his finest and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.
Download Dopecoaster's Best of 93 Mix - Machine Gun Trey
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