To me so many of these shows were told by the way one acquired a ticket to enter. Is was as if the band just knew how difficult and hard we had to work or in my case how fortunate we were if we could score a pass to enter into their realm for the evening. We all loved energy, that is why we were there, it drew us from venue to venue. Many of us picked up trash, some begged, and some had money for face value but no ticket in hand. The Midwest was blessed with these theaters, check at the Murat Shows and McCauley theaters if you need some background on the venues. The only let down, was that Phish was starting to press out at the seams. And some of the most loyal fans were getting kept out on some nights. My story was simple, a mob was entering into the front formal entrance and my bredren who had no cash spotted what seamed a mother of some child who could not attend, she took my $15 for a stub and next thing I know, Trey on the megaphone chanting WILSON. Loved this show the whole way, highlights as usual It's Ice, Mango Song and Lizards(although not flawless, but beautiful and always has been my favorite and first Phish song I ever heard). The antelope, Suzy, and Divided sky were all standard at the time, an indication that Phish was playing some of it's strongest older material. It always felt special and back then a funky bitch encore was much appreciated by the die hard phisheads. Overall the venue was A+, difficult getting a ticket 8.9/10, and set list for me 9/10. Thanks Shawn.

This show is not exactly a barn-burner compared to some other shows from this period, but it is not without material you'll want to hear. The opening Wilson has a long intro and the part before Blat Boom is also extended. Reba's jam is average but still satisfying. The set-closing Antelope is extremely hot. It's the highlight of the show if you ask me. The Tweezer in the second set contains several minutes of good jamming, but it's a relatively tame rendition compared to others from the month. It seems to me that this is a 3 star show from the time period. Seek out the Antelope!

More of a story than a review...
I was still a huge noob at this point but by now I had a few tapes and was starting to get to know more songs. There were still a TON of songs that I didn't know though. All I can remember about the show is really liking Lizards and them doing Amazing Graze with no mics at the edge of the stage. I also recall the theater being pretty damn tiny and our seats being in the VERY last row up in the balcony. What I do remember pretty well is hanging out before and after the show with my friend Chris and Nate. Chris is a really "interesting" guy and one of the first people I knew that liked Phish. He was lucky enough to go to the Halloween show that year while I was not because it was on a Monday night and I was in 11th grade. The Erie show was on a Sunday so I guess my parents let me go since I didn't have to miss a day of school and I'm sure I PROMISED that I'd be home at a decent time. Chris had an extra ticket and he wanted to either get a blow job from a hippy girl for it OR light it on fire in front of a hippy to make them cry. Like I said, Chris is an interesting guy. Famous Chris quote from back in the day, "I fuckin' hate hippies but I love their music." I still stay in contact with Chris and even see a show or two with him now and then. The last show I saw with him was at SPAC in the summer of 2010. I imagine he was one of the few people on lot that day who brought their Gloc with them, you know, just in case. Chris also had an extra pavilion ticket that day that he couldn't find anyone to offer him more than $20 for. He wanted, EXACTLY what he paid for it. Down to the fucking penny. He ended up not selling the ticket to anyone and just brought it in with him. He would rather eat the ticket than not get paid full face value for it. Hilarious. Back to Erie, Chris didn't end up making anyone cry that night and I imagine he just sold the ticket to someone that didn't look like a hippy to him. Can't remember if anything else fun happened beforehand, I think we did some nitrous and I think that Chris smoked PCP with some guy in the parking garage!? After the show, I needed to get home ASAP but there was a problem...my parent's car was gone. I guess I parked it in a fire lane. Whoops! I eventually found out where they towed it, hitched a ride to the place, had to have my parents give the guys their CC info to pay for it and then drove BACK to the venue to pick up Chris and Nate. The guy who gave me a ride only had room for me so they had to wait until I got back. So I park, legally, and start walking around looking for the guys. I'm walking down the sidewalk and I saw someone that looked EXACTLY like Page pass me. I turn the corner and there's Mike hanging out talking to a couple guys and Trey standing a few feet away talking to some other folks. Holy shit! I ended up meeting both of them, shaking hands and getting autographs on my ticket stub. They were, of course, super nice and more than happy to talk to a couple freaked out 11th graders. If my car didn't get towed that night I never would have met them. Funny how things work out like that.

Bummed is what I WAS...

POSTED TO REC.MUSIC.PHISH on 11/15/94

Well, it was worth the hike from DC, even though there were many, MANY
repeats from Halloween/Bangor.

11/13/94 The Warner Theatre, Erie, PA

Well, the show was very good (as Phish shows always are), but what really
rocked was the venue! Carpeted halls, LUXURIOUS PLUSH COUCHES, paintings,
detail in the baroque style everywhere (even in THE john!).. red carpet at
the entrance.. the place was just incredible! I think it holds 2500, or
so I was told. It was just an incredible place to see a show.. extremely
nice.. I can't imagine Phish ever playing there again. They could have
sold out the nearby Civic Center, given the number of ticketless people who
showed up. Ok..

The Wilson opener was longer than usual (yes, longer than Charlottesville),
and was played excellently. Sparkle was just as you have always heard it.
Simple was good (I love this tune!! so simple and yet so fun..), but
certainly not even close to the version we got at Halloween.. no groovy
ending jam.

REBA WAS FANTASTIC!!! Though shorter than the Halloween Reba by two
minutes, it was a cheerier, more joyous Reba (not a dark and spooky one..).
Just fantastic! They are playing this song much better than they did a few
years back.. in general. The kiddies went nuts for Axilla (I was pissed to
hear this quickly after an excellent Reba.. Axilla is such a tremendously
lame tune in comparison). Axilla was played exactly as it always is, so
far as I know (listen to the CD). I love Axilla Pt 2's ending jam, that
Beatles-esque groove.. I wish the whole song was based on this creative
theme. Ice was well done, with Page just wigging out during his solo (Page
was HOT all night.. I mean REALLY hot.. there was smoke rising from his
piano..). Fish did a little silent dance during Ice at one point.. pretty
funny. I thought this meant we'd get a vacuum tune in the 2nd, but, alas,
we did not, to my extreme disappointment.

Vibration of Life came after Ice, and IT WORKED!! At least for me..it was
really cool.. I've caught this a few times now, and each time Trey has
talked about it, and each time I never felt anything weird happen. This
time, Trey didn't say a word about it, and it WORKED.. they were clearly
doing it, so, don't believe any setlist that doesn't list it. They went
right into Horse at the end of the Vibration, and did that and Silent as
they regularly do. Nothing weird. Antelope was a mere 13 minutes long,
but DAMN WAS IT HOT!! Halloween's was excellent, of course, but this one
didn't have the screw up after "Bid you to have any spike" and also had
thunderous applause for Marco "Mike Gordon" Esquandolas.. Fish was
screaming "Marco" and numerous other things during the end jam.. It was a
real great version, folks. I highly recommend it. A lot of fun.. I was
psyched that the first set weighed in at over an hour! I had heard that
there was an 11pm curfew and was concerned.

Suzy opened the second and it was very good. I imagine it was better than
bangors, but I missed the first few songs at Bangor so wouldn't know.
Judging from what I heard though, this one probably was better. About 5
and a half minutes or so. Divided had a few little mistakes (Trey), but
it was STILL very well jammed, and I could tell a lot of the LOCALS (they
were at this show IN FORCE.. lots of people sitting down right before
serious jams were to begin..) really dug this one. Frankly, though, it was
a typically great Divided, though not perfect.

LIZARDS WAS TREMENDOUS.. there were no people crowd surfing (for one), and
the boyz clearing were loving it. The audience really got into it.. at
least where I was (Page side twenty rows back). I liked Bangor's, but it
wasn't as together as this one... Tweezer was a mere 14 minutes (which is
probably average length for this year about), but with hints of RocknRoll
Hootchie Koo, it was tighter and better jammed than what I remember about
Bangor's EPIC version (would someone please hook me up with a copy of this
show??). It was a good Tweezer, but certainly not one of the best or
better versions. Mango was sweeet as always, with the ending jamming being
especially calypsotic. BBFCFM saw the same damn trey microphone waving
during the strobe lights crap that he did at Charlottesville (I thought we
got a treat at Charlottesville.. if Trey is going to keep doing this..
whatever).

This version of BBFCFM was much better than the one at Charlottesville,
though, thanks to a brief but wild drum solo a la Zeroman. I am
forgetting something else that was cool about this version.. oh well.
Amazing grace a capella without mikes came next (this appeared to surprise
some of the older people in the audience.. there were many more older folks
at this show than any other I have ever seen.. locals with I guess nothing
better to do, apparently un-accompanied by their kids.. it was weird).
Amazing Grace went well, with only a token amount of assholes-screaming.
Squirming Coil was as good as, if not better than, the Halloween version.
Page nearly made me weep... it was tremendous.

I was of course shocked and delighted by the Phunky Bitch encore. It was
my first one, even though I know it was played a lot last year.. this year
it was played at the fox 4/23 show and I think 7/6 as well but i am not
certain. Anyway, like Icculus at Charlottesville, I was fucking PSYCHED to
hear this one.. The wheat were separated from the chaff when phish SMOKED
this tune! It was a great version.. Tweezer Reprise was standard (no long
final chord jamming as at Charlottesville).

All and all, a very decent show. Highlights were definitely Reba, an
un-narrated Vibration of Life, and Antelope in the first set, and the
Lizards and Coil in the second. It wasn't a life-changing show, like
6/30/94 Richmond or Halloween, but nonetheless very good. I went with a few
first-timers, and all of them were very pleased!

Please remember, this is just two cents..

hey, can someone tell me what that damn mike-stand-like-thing is that Mike
Gordon sometimes brushes his bass strings up against?? He did this shit on
Wilson and Coil for a little while, and I know I have seen him use this
thing before.. what is this .. device?

oh yeah, and I almost forgot... to all you "Western PA Phishnetters"..sorry
your "Confusing Phriendly Plan" to "Help Surprise Phish" failed so
miserably (at least where I was). There were WAAAAAAY too many phirgins
there for something this nuts to work. I mean, seriously, "Animal Noises"
at the end of the first set before they leave the stage? Oh well, nice
try..

charlie

A bit of a letdown after the preceding show but there’s some interesting stuff here. In particular, the Antelope to close set I is excellent. In this version, the band seemingly comes roaring back to life with a vengeance in what was something of an up and down set. It’s also worth noting that this set’s version of Simple is the last one before the big one, on 11.16.94, when the song changed forevermore and became a jam vehicle from that point.

I also really liked the Divided Sky, which seems to have benefited from its placement in the second set. The Tweezer a few songs later is pretty nice as well, although the bar is very high for this tune this month and it doesn’t approach the same level as some of the other fantastic versions on this tour.

It’s also worth noting that Funky Bitch made its tour debut in the encore slot, last being played on 7.6.94. Overall, this is a fine show but I like many others on this tour better.