On Friday, April 23, 1993, Phish headlined Colgate University’s Spring Party Weekend at Cotterell Court in the Reid Athletic Center, the same room the Grateful Dead had played in 1977.
The performance marked the band’s second time playing Colgate (1988) and the only show with a known setlist. The show was the first in New York of the Spring 1993 tour, one that saw Phish perform in Potsdam at Clarkson University the next day, then back to SUNY Geneseo two days later. All this, before a handful of Northeast shows, capped off by two shows in Albany at the Palace Theatre in early May.
Already the 58th show of 1993 for Phish, the Vermont quartet would play 70 shows total by mid-May before they’d take a short break, before heading west for a few shows at Laguna Seca Raceway. They band would take off June and half of July, then embark on a summer-spanning tour, followed by a four-night four-city New Years Eve run.
If you’re a Phish fan familiar with the 1.0 era, this was the “We Win In Our Gym” show (more on that in a minute). It was also Spring Party Weekend, where students celebrate the pending end of the school year, look ahead to summer and/or post-graduation plans, and kick back while enjoying music from an up-and-coming band, in this case, the Phish from Vermont.
Taking place on the Colgate University basketball court in the Athletic Center, the 2,500 capacity room offered a similar capacity for other shows this spring. With tickets only sold to students, getting into the show took an extra effort. Jens Rodenberg shared her memory of getting tickets, saying “So the day they went on sale, I drove to Colgate and found a student who wasn’t going to the show, and asked them to buy tickets for me. That was an epic tour with five shows within a four-hour radius of Rochester.”
In attendance at this show was future rapper Mr. Lif, then a freshman at Colgate University. He would adopt his stage name at the show after ingesting psilocybin mushrooms, creating his persona that would become an influential force in underground hip-hop. When in the show this happened is a mystery, but follow along and stream the show below, and maybe you’ll figure out when this switch was flipped for Mr. Lif.
Opening up the show with “Runaway Jim” to get things started, the college crowd was treated to a set full of originals found on the band’s early albums, saving any covers for the second set and encore. A furious “Split Open and Melt” followed a pair of Rift tracks, with “Fluffhead” bringing Fluff to New York – something you might hear at Madison Square Garden shows more than anywhere else. The ending of “Fluffhead” had Trey Anastasio switching to acoustic guitar, a rare but similar offering found on “Fluff’s Travels” on Junta, which was re-released in October 1992.
The acoustic guitar ending would segue into the intro of “My Friend, My Friend,” which later segued into “Divided Sky.” Following a standard “Guelah Papyrus,” the band took time (individually) to dedicate the next song to drummer Jon Fishman’s parents, Mimi and Leonard, who were in attendance this evening. A light-hearted moment of on-stage hilarity, Page McConnell performed his lounge lizard tune, with the set closing out with a rocking “Chalkdust Torture.”
The second set opened up with “Golgi Apparatus” to get the crowd dialed in again, followed by a wonderfully furious “Maze.” The first cover of the night, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “The Ballad of Curtis Loew” was a notable bust out, rare still today and found on the shelf from August 1993 until 2009 (aside from the Big Cypress soundcheck). “It’s Ice” kept the focus on McConnell, while elsewhere on the stage, Anastasio and Mike Gordon were “skating” on Slide Board Balance Trainers (perhaps found at the gym). “Paul and Silas” would bridge the energy of “It’s Ice” to a “Big Ball Jam” where the band unleashed various bouncing balls onto the crowd, with the band incorporating their movement into their improvisation.
“Mike’s Song” was frenzied, aided by a fog machine that malfunctioned near McConnell, leading to the Chairman of the Boards to be engulfed in the ensuring smoke. “I Am Hydrogen” and “Weekapaug Groove” would follow in their traditional spots, still a year before “Simple” would begin making its way into the trio.
With the organ notes of Argent’s “Hold Your Head Up,” Fishman stepped out from behind the kit, and was joined by his mother, Mimi, who took over vacuum solo duties for this show. Fishman began singing the ever so short “Lengthwise” while Mimi entertained fans with her vacuum playing skills. While this was happening to a confused/elated crowd, the rest of the band held up cheerleading banners found in the athletic center that read “When You’re Through Playing, You’re Through,” “WE WIN IN OUR GYM” and “Winners PLAY HARD.” All this, while the drummer and his mother performed the odd duet.
Closing the set were “The Squirming Coil,” which again had McConnell shining with the typical set closer, but the band held back with one more song, AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” a perfect rocker for a college crowd. For an encore, the band went with Hendrix’s “Fire,” but were forced to play with the house lights on, as they had gone over time. A weird ending to the night, but memorable nonetheless for the college crowd in attendance this Friday evening.
Listen to the show on PhishTracks, Relisten, Phish.in, or download on Etree.
Setlist via Phish.net
Soundcheck – Horn, Buffalo Bill, Funky Bitch
Set 1: Runaway Jim, Weigh > Sparkle, Split Open and Melt, Fluffhead[1], My Friend, My Friend[2] > Divided Sky, Guelah Papyrus, Lawn Boy, Chalk Dust Torture
Set 2: Golgi Apparatus, Maze, The Ballad of Curtis Loew, It’s Ice > Paul and Silas > Big Ball Jam, Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove[3], Hold Your Head Up > Lengthwise[4] > Hold Your Head Up, The Squirming Coil, Highway to Hell
Encore: Fire
[1] Ending featured Trey on acoustic guitar.
[2] Beginning featured Trey on acoustic guitar.
[3] Included atypical, jazz-laced jams.
[4] Mimi Fishman on vacuum.
The ending of Fluffhead and the beginning of My Friend featured Trey on acoustic guitar. My Friend subsequently contained a Baby Elephant Walk tease from Page. Lawn Boy was dedicated multiple times by each band member to Fish’s parents, who were in attendance at the show. This Weekapaug included atypical, jazz-laced jams. Lengthwise featured Mimi Fishman on vacuum and band members parading around the stage with cheerleading banners proclaiming: “Winners PLAY HARD” and “WE WIN IN OUR GYM.” There was an unusually long break before the Fire encore.
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