From: john powell
Subject: Phish at Deer Creek -- Friday, August 13th 1996

ok.

Part Two.

        First of all, I failed to mention the ruling status of the campgrounds down 
the road from the venue (approx. 2 mi.) in my review of 8/12. The names of the 
campgrounds were Red Bud, Green Acres, and Stoney Way. ...uh, huh, huh, 
huh....yeah.  The last one is the one we (about 12-15 people, friends of mine 
and people I had just met as well) stayed at. The sign at the entrance read: 

                          STONEY   WAY  
                
                      Greatful Dead   Campgrounds


...or something along those lines. 

        There was a huge white mansion with a hot tub and a basketball goal in back, 
along with a shower, which you had to wait about an hour to use. There was 
always a bunch of waiting people standing in line. The campground was the back 
yard. 2-3 acres?? There was 3 areas of camping, all divided by lines of tees. 
$20.00 per person camping fee. This was the only thing that sucked all 
weekend. 20 bucks for a little plastic red bracelet. hhhmmmm...

back to other stuff...

        Miller High Life was our majority beer. (I had nearly 18 of them before the 
first show; mistake!)  Then Heineken, then Lager...or something. That red 
cooler seemed to be the god of getting phucked up. It was always full. I 
beleive I saw a balloon or two also. I may have even held a balloon or 
two....I'm not quite sure..hmmmm...maybe some smoking apparatus's? 
...hmmmm.... its pretty hard to remember for some reason... 
        I climbed a tree and broke my watch as I was making my way down. ...do not 
climb a tree when you are uhh...wasted. It was rather stupid of me I would 
say. I was real careful, though. I guess thats why I didnt fall. yeah.   
...good thing I didnt get abused by gravity. That was around 3:00pm, just 
hours before the show (Deer Creek '96 Part 2) which was, in my opinion, the 
best run of the the whole summer tour. Driving from the camp to the venue was 
real, real slow moving traffic but it still ruled. Sam and I rode on top of 
Jason's minivan, and like assesed the situation from up top there. Cool was 
it. Many cars were there. I mean, uh... there were many cars and like, 
pedestrians...or something. It is blurry now. Many people were saying things 
such as, "doses!?  tickets for Hershey?? ...need 1!!  Hey man, I gotta hitch a 
ride to Pennsylvania..."   It was cool. 
        
        After the show a fellow came wandering by the minivan with a grilled cheese 
sandwich as we were waiting for the rest of our clan to arrive at our place of 
parking. He was gonna sell it for a dollar but I talked him down to 50 cents. 
It was a real good sandwich. I split it with my friend Jason and we enjoyed 
every bite. They didnt allow water jugs or anything of the sort inside the 
venue and Phish played for approximately 4 1/2 hours.  Hence, HUNGER and 
THIRST.  Those two things didnt bother me though until after the show. Phish 
took away the thought of eating or drinking anything. There was plenty of 
uh....you know,   though.

ok.

Now for the stuff that rules bulletin...

Set I                           Set II

Divided Sky                     AC/DC Bag
Tube                            Lizards %%
Tela                            Mike's Song
Maze                              >Lifeboy      
FEFY                              >Weekapaug Groove     
My Old Home Place                   Somewhere Over the Rainbow #        
PYITE                           Waste *
Llama                           Trainsong *
Glide                           Strange Design *
Slave                           Sweet Adeline **
                                David Bowie

E: Sleeping Monkey, Rocky Top
* : acoustic mini-set    
** : a capella
# : Page on the Theremin
%% : was especially cool
         since we anticipated it 
         after McGrupp the night before
         ...to no avail.
uh....

ok.

        I remember this night twice as well as I remembered 8/12.  yeah. Probably 
also because this show contained within it twice the energy of the first night 
and like, just ruled over most things, in general. And like, I wasn't as 
phucked up. We shall begin...

        Well, you can see that Divided opened the first set. hhhmmmm....were  they 
gonna jam? Is it hard to say?....Yes they were. They were not phuckin around. 
It was the first time I had heard this one. Knowing, before the shows that it 
was not played very often, I wasn't expecting it. 
         HHhhhmmmmm... Nor was I expecting (speaking of both shows) Esther, Weigh, 
McGrupp, Tela, (since they played it last year) Llama, or Glide, which I didnt 
even consider. I think it was the only Glide played all year (so far). Glide 
is one of my favorites. Thanks for playing it, Phish.<<---- (should I have 
used a comma here?...hmmm). 
        Tube was a first for me and I dont remember any of it. I just know that they 
played it because I got the setlist (courtesy www.phish.net/current) here in 
front of me. I remember Tela though. It was especially cool since they played 
it last year (6/19/95) at my first phish show. I had memories.
        If I recall correctly, at the end of Maze, where they have that repeating 
phrase, "never get out of this maze" it wasn't extended like it is on the 
album. I mean, where they keep on overlapping the verses there. They only did 
it twice I think. I dont remember hearing three different voices saying "never 
get out of this maze", and overlapping them like they displayed on the studio 
recording.  ....hmmmm.  It still ruled.  Fast Enough For You ruled as well, 
but I dont think it was fast enough...huh,huh...yeah.   Oooh yeah...they 
always keep that jamming going, though. Nice extended jam.  "oooo fast enough 
for you" 
         I liked Old Home Place a lot. When I hear the tapes, I'll remember how much 
a lot was. (It was another 1st for me)
        Punch You in the Eye.   oooohhhh  yeah.  I dont know if last year's Punch 
(6/19/95)  ruled more or not. What is the reason for comparison though, 
anyway? This song jams real intensely. Its really a good, good song. The 
lyrics, those 3 different chord build-ups into landlady. It just keeps on. 
"Soon towards me from the east came Wilson and his men on multibeasts." (Note: 
multi-beasts rule.  I can't decide if Antelopes are cooler, though) 
da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- HEY!!....ooh yeah.   uh...yeah.       
uh.....nevermind.
        
        Llama, like Glide,  was very unexpected. But, alas, I do not recall very much 
of this one. I need those tapes. I have the Red Rocks '95 live recording and, 
well, the Llama on this tape is real, real fast. The tapes will tell if this 
Llama was as fast. 
        Glide kicked much ass. Both Llama and Glide were firsts for me. I really 
can't believe they played Glide. I just can't believe it. hhmmmm. Oh. Here it 
is on the setlist. I believe it now.    ...yeah.  (I recall small amnts.)
         I am decreeing that Slave just ruled. It was only the 2nd time I'd heard it 
(last:10/29/95). Great way to close a set or even to end a show, as long as 
they jam....uh....well, I guess I don't have to ask do I?

Setbreak :  uuuhhhhh... yeah.
        
        ...30-35 minutes???
                who's guessing?

Set two...re- view

cool.

that was cool.

ok.   e-nuf phoolin' around

Here it comes.

        They came out playing some sort of cool jam that, apparantly, was just their 
new, different jam which just had to be in a good key because it felt good 
enough to go into AC/DC Bag. And since they were already in the Gamehendge 
area, I guess they figured theat they would give us the phunk.

        Hence, Lizards. I recall that, going into the cool ending guitar theme, right 
after the last contrary "whoa-whoa's,"  Mike's fingers were one fret away from 
the right note. It was awesome. He then corected himself and proceeded to play 
those descending 16th notes (they were real fast, repeating notes), beginning 
on D (as I just now figured out in order to submit an accurate review..  
...yeah) as Trey's guitar filled in the other notes. Thus, you had stuff that 
jams.      yeah.
        See, I have a Gamehendge tape but I am not certain what the date is....(Im 
searching).... Now I am. After going to the WWW Helping Phriendly Book just 
now, I am pleased to announce that one of my 15 live Phish recordings is their 
first Gamehendge performance (Nectar's in Burlington 3/12/88). I didnt know 
that until just now. rule. I don't know why I didnt think of that before.   
hmmmm.... yeah I do.
         Anyway, on that tape, after those last contrary motion "whoa-whoas," when 
Mike starts the bass notes for the last theme there, he doesn't play the notes 
as fast as he played them here at Deer Creek. I liked this version twice as 
much because of this. And being my favorite section of the song, it did rule. 
No...it was beyond the realm of things that rule.
         Mike's song>I'm Hydrogen>Weekapaug is bad ass, and will always be bad-ass. I 
wasn't dissapointed with Lifeboy in there, but I would've settled for I'm 
Hydrogen. I guess that is an open jamming slot, though, right there between 
Mike's song and Weekapaug. hhmmmm. They could put any song in there. They 
could put like....hmmmm...uh...Asse Festival...in there.   yeah.
or no??
        The last Lifeboy I heard was 10/29/95 at Louisville Gardens. But this was my 
first time hearing Mike's and Weekapaug. They rule. THEY RULE!!
"me no are no nice guy"....yeah.
        Page is cool. He likes that Theremin. I just got the new Schvice and he made 
a little commentary on the Theremin. He said you dont even have to touch it to 
play it. It has two antennae. One for pitch (on the right) and one for volume 
(on the left). He plays it by moving his hands closer and further away from 
the antennae which alters the electromagnetic fields surrounding them, 
changing the pitch and volume. This information comes directly from Page. He 
says the Theremin is also used on many soundtracks such as, The Lost Weekend, 
The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Ed Wood as well as, to my surprise, 
Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love and The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations.
        Good rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Page. Stuff that's different 
equals stuff that rules. oooh yeah. It got us listening.
        After this the band took the stools just like they did last year (6/19/95)
 except this time they would not be playing Acoustic Army. They would be 
playing debut songs such as Waste and Trainsong.  I liked Waste. I didnt 
remember how it went, though until I got the Third Ball tape a few days ago. 
This was the world debut for Waste (6/6/96). And listening to it...I can 
remember more of Deer Creek. I like this song a lot. It is the song I would 
have written, if I was an experienced songwriter. My thoughts came out through 
Trey's mouth. As I'm sure many others' thoughts did too. It was incredible. I 
dont remember how Trainsong went exactly, but I remember that I enjoyed it
just as much...I mean, it was just as good of a song. I remember Trey 
introducing it after Waste, "Here's one that Mike wrote..." or something.
        They played Strange Design during this mini-stage portion as well in which 
Page did an exceptional job of dictation. This is the song I remember most, I 
think, because the lyrics were so easy to make out. I liked last year's better 
I think, though since that was the first time I had ever heard it. (6/19/95)
        Then...oooohh yeah.  Sweet Adeline. The usual a capella Phish that is very 
uniform for a kick-ass Phish show at an amphitheatre such as Deer Creek Music 
Center. And as usual the crowd does not know when and when not to applaud and 
scream. Fishman needs to be heard damnit!  They thought it was over when 
Fishman just went ahead with his next solo line anyway...amongst all of the 
ruckuss. For the most part though, I could here him. In my opinion, his voice 
is just as good as the other three's voices. I'm sure they all know that, 
though. I can't wait to hear the tapes.
        Ok. Time to go pick up the drumsticks and close the set. hhmmmmm.
Hihat....???..a couple of little fading chords on the Languedoc here and
there...????....what could it be?????? oooohhh yeah. I don't recall much of 
the Bowie jam  but I know it had to rule to close the 2nd set of this unreal 
show. 
        The band takes a bow.   OOHHhhhh  yeah.    The bow is respectfully 
accompanied/followed by about 25 thousand screaming, happy people. And I was 
one of 'em. I was overwhelmed with Phish. And anticipation of the 
Encore(s)....Waiting for them to come back out...I wanted them to play While 
My Guitar Gently Weeps or something cool like that.  Jason called "Fire" 
because everone had some in their hands (all the lighters). No dice on either 
one.
        The winner(s) were:
 
Sleeping Monkey and Rocky Top.

        Sleeping Monkey was cool. I remember that I liked it much. But I don't 
remember the song at all. It was a 1st for me. I guess they just needed to do 
another one, since they did.
        Rocky Top got me jumping. I went phuckin nuts. I guess Phish did, too, then. 
hhhmmmmm.

another bow.

later on guys.

You rule.

Thanks for being there.


...See you at Rupp Arena. ...And hopefully in Knoxville, Atlanta, and St. 
Louis, too.  I hope to make at least one of those 3 (prob. knoxville).
 
The Fall Tour is gonna kick a large amount of asses I can tell already.

Post-stuff...

Stuff that I forgot: My towel.
         (that was the first night...I'm sure some venue attendant found it and said 
something like, "Those damn pot smokers, they leave their shit here laying 
around for us to clean up." I did leave my shit there, though. It was pretty 
ridiculus, actually. It was a big towel. Hard to forget.  I remember 
forgetting it real well, though. I think maybe it was trampled on and this and 
that during the show and I lost sight of it. I was too phucked-up to remember) 

         > left my toothpaste and brush in my friend's minivan
         > forgot most of the first show.        


Stuff that I forgot to mention:  uhhhh....
                               maybe I'll think of it later.
        Oh yeah. I think that you should be able to go get sound clips of shows on 
the phish.net or www.phish.com, either one. You know, maybe a week after the 
show occurs, post not just a review, but a sound clip as well. I mean ALL 
SHOWS.  Like, Real Audio sound clips. So you don't have to wait for downloads. 
Yeah. That would rule. So like, someone do it.  Now.  

yeah.
Extra stuff:

comments: hope this one isn't too long to post, Dan
notes: none
buds: hmmmm.... none still.
shake: sucks
blunts: tend to choke me up
beer: is cool
Nitrous Oxide balloons: were for breakfast at the campgrounds
other thoughts: my balls itch
more?:  no more


I need to stop.
I'm getting too good at typing and its getting hard...or something.

Jack  

wwwaaaabbbittt@msn.com <<<------again, don't send comments to this guy unless 
you absolutely feel the need to.


signing off.
 date: 9/10/96
over and out