Show Discussion Thread - August 16, 1993 - American Theater, St. Louis, MO

You can find previous entries in this series here.

We're more than halfway through our exploration of the summer 93 tour now, and this is the penultimate show of what I like to call Phish's greatest week. Somewhat surprisingly, the highlight here is the FIRST set. It contains world-class versions of four humongous Phish staples: a wild Possum, an incredible Reba, a Fish clinic on Foam (including a silent jam!!), and a less dissonant but still top-shelf SOAMelt. If that's not enough for you, the second set opening Mike's Groove features an unexpected middle song and has plenty of teases. Unfortunately the AUD sound quality is not great, but definitely listenable. Hopefully worth your time!

###Streaming Links
PhishTracks
Phish.in

###Download Links
Spreadsheet

###Setlist Info (from Phish.net)
Set 1: Axilla, Possum* > Horn > Reba** > Sparkle, Foam^(†), I Didn't Know^([1]), Split Open and Melt^(††), The Squirming Coil
Set 2: Mike's Song^‡ -> Faht^[2] > Weekapaug Groove^(‡‡), Mound > It's Ice, My Friend My Friend^([3]), Poor Heart, Big Ball Jam, Take the 'A' Train > Good Times Bad Times
Encore: Amazing Grace^([4]), Rocky Top
[1] Fish on Madonna washboard.
[2] Fish on acoustic guitar.
[3] Beginning featured Trey on acoustic guitar.
[4] Without microphones.
* Several breakaway moments in this exploratory jam. When it's not moving beyond "Possum," the jam is wild, rocking and intense with incredible playing by Trey. Unusual and spontaneous ending with whistling.
** A magnificent 3-part, type-II improvisational journey with a blistering peak.
† Very improvisational version. Fish is the star here, varying the rhythmic structure several times during Page's solo, and during Trey's solo, which has moments of reggae-like sound, as well as a brief jazz-like swing. Then at 7:10, the band begins a silent jam which continues until 9:00.
†† Superb exploratory playing. While it has neither the dissonance and chaotic jamming of many '94 versions, nor the psychological edginess of many '95s, the overall quality places this "SOAM" in good company among the best.
‡ Wild version, listen for hints of "Simple." "Yield Not To Temptation" jam.
‡‡ Highly improvisational version including jams on "Gypsy Queen" (Santana) and "I Wish" (Stevie Wonder).

Next post will be on Friday . We're continuing to work our way west, little by little.