oh yeah, i don't know how i forgot to mention this, this was the debut of the "hood" chant. remarkable how they got everyone in on this. way to go phish.netters!!! not only was it a raging success at redrocks, but this has stuck around for 13 years!! only at a phish show....

I love these middle two nights of red rocks. sure, i like the first night of the ball and the second night of the deeer creek run better than anything they did at red rocks, but there are some very notable moments at this gem of a show.

makisupa policeman is an appropriate opener after the "disturbance" in morrison the night before. you can read phish.net notes on the makisupa. rift works well here with a nice little "this is red rocks/this is the edge" quote. suzy greenberg keeps the energy flowing with a nice loose jam in there, complete with some simple teases. very good suzy. simple does its thing before petering into theme from the bottom. now, simple, at this point in time, was not the jam monster it would come in the fall, but this one and the deer creek version give you a good idead of what direction simple was goiing. the rest of this set was well-played but pretty standard. antelope did shine in the set closing slot.

the curtain really rips here in the opening slot before giving way to a very strong tweezer, maybe my favorite of the year. trey really drives home the norwegian wood teases, which are all over this tweezer jam. i'm not a big caspian fan, but it fits well here after a very strong tweezer. they revisit aditl after debuting here the year before. as the rain starts to really come down they work through the bbffcfm and the fishman section. this section of the set is fun, but there is not enough "serious music" in the meat of this set for my taste. from caspian to the end of hyhu, it is a pretty jam free set, but they make up for it. this rain, red rocks harry hood is a beast. trey and page really shine here, and gordo and fishman play with great precision, discipline, and patience. they take this one all the way down before driving it all the way up into tweezer reprise. johny b. is a nice rowdy encore.

overall, i really like the first set, and the second set is front and back heavy. it does lag a bit in the middle, and thats what keeps this from being an all time keeper, based solely on musicianship. although, many consider all 4 nights to be a keeper just because it was the last redrocks run for 13 years.

highlights:

set 1:
makisupa policeman, suzy>simple, antelope

set 2:
the curtain>tweezer, harry hood

this show kicks ass. specially the 2nd set of course with the curtain and tweezer. Hood is also excellent from this show. stand out performance! listen to it. i know the curtain and tweezer just came out for free on live bait 06.

Wow.... this show rocks. I've been on a mission to listen to all of 96 from phishtracks.com listen to this friggin show

Makisupa is a great reference to what was going on at the time with cops. ...Honestly I can't remember my friends wanting a ticket more than these shows. I can't remember how I was getting setlist at the time but when I got the Red rocks setlist I was like , 'these dudes get it!" this show represents that.
The RIFT is fire. Trey is busting out of his skin. He gives us a grear Red rocks this is the edge lyric . They were ready for this night.
THEMe FROM THE BOTTOM!!! Fish carried the band in Europe. This is an example of the guys rising to his level. Listen to this song in Europe. Trey did use the pedals here but it was mostly on top of the other guys as opposed to riding the wave.

On the recording I heard, when antelope starts you can hear some REAL Phis heads grunt in approval. The last Antelope they played was ridiculous. from the first measures you know this is going somewhere ill. Trey and Mike trade a minor figure that is sorta antolpe-ish but sicker. they go back into antelope and its a few men and their instruments for a while and its fun and danceable. listen

SET 1: Makisupa Policeman: Standard. Bobby Brown, lol. >

Rift: Page jacks up some lyrics in the early going, the audience gets a kick out of it. This is Red Rocks; this is the Edge. >

Suzy Greenberg: Standard. >

Simple: Standard.

Theme From the Bottom: Standard. >

The Lizards: Standard.

Dinner and a Movie: Standard.

Horn: Standard.

Run Like an Antelope: Super intense!

SET 2: The Curtain: Great opener, crowd loves it. >

Tweezer: Heaven starts around 10:20, awesome nod to the Beatles amidst a very aggressive version of Tweezer. Fantastic stuff! >

Prince Caspian: Standard. >

A Day in the Life: Standard. >

Big Black Furry Creature from Mars: Standard. >

Hold Your Head Up > Purple Rain > Hold Your Head Up: Standard.

Harry Hood: Pretty good Hood. Another Phish.net collaboration to get the Hood thing going. >

Tweezer Reprise: Standard.

ENCORE: Johnny B. Goode – Standard.

Summary: Can’t agree with the Phish.net rating here of 4.193/5 (83 ratings). Outside of Tweezer and a nice setlist that is well played, what do you have? Think there is some Red Rocks bias here. I would be a player at 3.8/5.

Replay Value: Tweezer