Only been to Landover twice. First time was to see Jerry on 3/17/93. He floored my current GF and myself with a blistering Shakedown, Dark Star, and Lucy in the Sky etc. I knew we were stepping into hallowed ground seeing Phish there for the first and only (?) time. Things got heated first set with a smoking Antelope third song. And they did Fluff next. With a nice arrival at the end. As a whole first set was good but standard for 95.
The second set began with Rift which basically sucks. We caught on to Fishman stopping the beat right away. At the time we felt that he didn’t like Rift either but who knows? They began to play Free. The first 12 to 15 minutes is great, shreddy, type 1 Free jam. Then the walls came down from the song structure and we were left with a crazy jam. From 15 to 20 min, it’s Trey and Fish pounding on the drums and page taking the lead. High energy and sick. At 20m, it becomes this dark ambient jam with Trey playing beautiful leads on his axe. From pretty, dark and slow it culminates to a rocking, hard driving jam. All the way to Trey ripping a few high notes. Then back into a drum jam then gently landing into Llama without the traditional drumbeat intro. Sunrise over turquoise mountains. Trey does the full pressure release during Llama, which felt so good. Then they play YEM. With a white hot guitar solo. Trey and Fish fully locked in. Trey hits a few monster high notes with Fish dropping bombs around it. Shapiro needs to release Free-)Llama and Yem b/c there isn’t any great sounding copies of this around. I laugh at the fact no one reviews a show like this and it has 3.5 stars when a weak 12/31/12 has countless reviews and almost 5 stars. This is why Phish is about the music and certainly not about the Fans. I will begin reviewing shows. Only the ones I went to since if you weren’t there you shouldn’t review it. And my reviews will be quick to read.
Free--) Llama is an all-time jam. For this alone it’s a 5 star show. But to be honest, I gave it 4.

This show contains the single most improvisational version of Free of all time. A symphony with multiple passages that never feels forced, this version is to Free what the 12/29/94 version of Bowie is to that song.

After a pleasant but largely forgettable first set, the band manages only half a verse of Rift before Trey pulls the plug. "“We’d like to credit that last one to our drummer, Mr. Jon Fishman. Let’s hear it for him," Trey quips.

Then it's on to the Free, where Fishman's drumming is solidly out front. At around the 10 minute mark Trey clearly begins teasing the guitar lick to No Quarter, while the band at first appears poised to drop into Simple. Eventually, the band settles into full exploratory "jump off the deep end into the abyss" mode. By 15 minutes they've completely abandoned the Free theme, and are out in serious Type II territory. After an ambient excursion, Fishman begins playing the Bouncing drumbeat, but the band isn't done exploring, with Trey adding some beautiful guitar playing around 25 minute mark. Eventually, the Free theme returns, followed by another Bouncing tease. The song eventually concludes with a percussion jam, with Trey on his mini-kit and Fishman pounding away, together.

Nothing else in this show particularly stands out (though the slow arrangement of Poor Heart is always nice), but this 33 minute Free is Phish improv at its finest and a must-hear.

In the grand scheme of life, in Phish world...(a year with very little not to love)...a very good show will slip thru the cracks, some of the November shows get forgotten in the year of our Icculus ‘95...makes sense: hot last week of October and then a legendary December.

But this show is the king of middle children...as exceptional as the others but ignored

Do yourself a favor and listen

This was my 1st show. I had been listening to phish for years and finally went to see them. 5 hour drive to a venue a year before I saw my first Dead show. I was blown away, could not have asked for a better show. Looking back on it and the set list. Just something that you wont see these days. Overly I'm not a super critical person and I wont tear the band apart for slow tempos missed cues or forgotten lyrics. We are all human and I was just glad to attend this show and it secured my love for the band that has lasted to this day.

SET 1: Cars Trucks Buses: Standard.

Wilson: Standard. >

Run Like an Antelope: Simple Gifts tease by Joseph Brackett Jr. at 1:13 – when I dug in on this tune, I was surprised to see that it had been teased 9 times and one show that I attended, 2.21.03. I listened to the original tune on YouTube, interesting. This Antelope is one that definitely wastes no time coming out of the composed section, right down to business. Fairly strong version, love the placement.

Fluffhead: Wow, back-to-back anchor tunes. They must mean business tonight, right? This is a good version.

Uncle Pen: Standard.

Cavern: LOL @ this version. Trey totally skips this: Just then a porthole pirate, Scourged the evening with his cry, And sanctuary bugs deprived, The monkey of its thigh,A dust arose and clogged my nose,
Before I could blink twice, Despite the stuff that bubbled up, I gave some last advice. Instead, he sings this passage TWICE: Exploding then through fields and fen… 1995 is tight, super tight. But folks that think the band did not flub stuff back then were not paying attention or were wearing rose colored glasses. >

Taste That Surrounds: Standard Some confusion on lyrical responsibilities between Fish and Trey. Wonder if this caused any tension that would later reveal itself in Rift?

The Lizards: Standard (awesome).

Sample in a Jar:

Sweet Adeline

SET 2: Rift: “We’d like to credit that last one to our drummer, Jon Fishman, let’s hear it for him.” Aborted at about 45 seconds as Fish just stops playing. Anyone know why?

Free: No Quarter tease by Led Zeppelin and a Bouncing Around the Room tease at 26:00. I love the quiet breakdown that happens around the 15-minute mark. Great patience throughout with band paying close attention to one another. Mike and Fish especially sound awesome. At 21:00 this is sounding like the Nirvana section of YEM. The major chord jam in the mid and late 20’s I think is fantastic, some of it sounds a bit like Ob La Dee? Fishman at 30 and a half is just outrageous – best drummer on the planet. Puts on a clinic. ->

Llama: Standard (awesome).

Bouncing Around the Room: Standard.

You Enjoy Myself: Very average version.

Strange Design: Standard.

ENCORE: Poor Heart: Second ever slow version. Love it!

Frankenstein: Standard.

Summary: Replay value: Antelope, Free (all-timer). Honestly, I get why people have given this show so much shit over the years. Many just cannot digest the Free jam. I personally think it’s great, you have to compartmentalize the sections. But the rest of this show is super meh especially in comparison to everything since 11.9 perhaps with exception to the somewhat tame 11.16.95. I feel like the current rating at 3.78 is accurate and I would give this one a 3.7 out of 5.

This show is underrated. Yes, the Rift was cut short. But the Free alone is worth checking out, as discussed below, and is a major highlight.

The first set too has some nice highlights. I’ll take CTB to open, thank you very much. The Wilson to follow keeps the energy up. The mid-set Antelope is as good as can be expected for the third song in and this one shows no signs of the band needing further warming up. And then they move into a solidly played Fluffhead. After the opening tunes, I have no issues with the remainder of the set, which are solid but not particularly noteworthy.

Back to the Free - this version is the longest to date, which in itself is noteworthy. But length doesn’t always translate into greatness. Here, however, the band keeps things interesting and this version is fantastic, with several distinct segments. While I’m still partial to my favorite version on 6.26.95, this one is a close second even though they’re totally different beasts. The transition into Llama is nice as well. The YEM is fine, but not even close to the version I caught on 12.9.95.

The Poor Heart encore is a slowed down version, which is interesting. The band follows that up with the always-welcome Frankenstein.

Overall, this is a solid show with an extraordinary version of Free. Despite the aborted Rift, there is plenty to like here and this show seems pretty underrated.

Cars Trucks Buses: solid opener choice

Wilson: creepy effects before the BLAP BLOOM part, otherwise normal

Run Like An Antelope: rare early placement. Super high energy version with an ultra long peak

Fluffhead: flawless performance

Uncle Pen: standard

Cavern: Trey lyric flub leads to an interesting section

Taste: average fall 1995 version with the familiar Trey solo

The Lizards: very nice

Sample In A Jar: awesome Trey

Sweet Adeline: acapella to end the set

Free: after an aborted Rift we get a better alternative, the twelfth longest jam of 1.0. After a few minutes of the normal early Free jam Trey leads them away and into type 2 territory. After a bit it sounds like it’s gonna go back into the song but they quiet down significantly and settle into a creative groove that eventually picks up with Trey on percussion again briefly before winding down again with some YEM pre-nirvana like effects from Trey and Mike, along with whistling giving it a Providence Bowie vibe. Fish adds the Bouncing Around The Room drumbeat. It grows beautifully with blissful soloing from Trey and the peak is fabulous. This has strong 7/16/2023 Carini 6-11 mins vibes. Following is a great percussion/drum segment which finally gives way to

Llama: raging

Bouncing Around The Room: Fish’s gets his wish

You Enjoy Myself: MIKE. Bass + Drums yay

Strange Design: Page closes the set

Poor Heart: 2nd of 3 slow versions (all in November 1995)

Frankenstein: one of the best closers in the catalog. Great stuff

Awesome show from Chess Tour. Some treats in the first set and a 5 song second set in 1995 is spectacular. Not to mention the all time jam in it. This is a 7.5/10 show. Highlights are Antelope, Free, and YEM

… and life was never the same again. Thank you, Phish… Especially Paul. I looked down on that stage, turned to my brother and our best friend Jay, and said I’m going to be doing exactly that when I grow up (15 at the time).

I made a promise to myself, my family, and the universe that fateful night… and I will forever ♾️ be thankful. Words will never be able to express my sincere gratitude for the depths of inspiration the band and their crew provided me then and now.