From: Daisycat@aol.com
Subject: 10-31-94 Halloween review

OKAY OKAY OKAY!!  I've just recovered from Glens Falls, and after reading
everyone else's inspired posts regarding the night, I HAD to come out of
lurking and write my own post about it.

There was Halloween magic all over the place that night.  Sunday night we
went in search of the hotel bar, but it had just closed.  The owner saw us
walking around and basically said "if you're spending money, I'm open!" and
we took over the place, literally.  By the end of the night (about 2 or 3
hazy hours later), Marcie was behind the bar, mixing concoctions like a mad
scientist from hell, and the rest of us were draped across the bar.  So there
was some serious recovering to do before the show on Monday.  We woke up from
our naps to cold driving rain outside - we were bummed.  But by the time we
got it all together and left for the show, the rain had stopped ("Look, the
storm's gone"), and turned into a creepy Halloween mist, a perfect backdrop
to the night.  

We had prepared well, determined to make the most of such a great holiday.
Our costumes were fun to do - we were the Jester, Landlady, BBFCM, My Friend
My Friend, Slave, Kitty Malone, and the Armenian Man.  We had Halloween treat
bags for clever costumers, loose candy for everyone, Silly String and
confetti.  Dawn (hi Dawn!) had cut this AMAZING Phish logo into a pumpkin
(those of you who saw it know how perfect it was!).  On our way to the gate,
she asked a road crew guy if he could give it to the band for her.  He said
he'd make sure they saw it, but that he couldn't guarantee it would get on
stage, which wasn't what she cared about anyway - she just wanted to express
her appreciation to the guys who made this night possible.

We got in with a minimum of hassle - they really were tearing people's
costumes apart.  The guy who searched me was actually very nice.  I had a
duffle bag full of the treat bags, and when he went to search through there I
asked him to be careful, and he apologized and left the bag alone!  We got
our gelt (the chocolate foil-covered coins) and headed for the floor.  The
first thing Dawn and I did was run up to the stage to see if the pumpkin made
it, and lo and behold!  there it was.  (Thank you to whoever made sure it got
up there!)  I heard later somebody saying that there had been someone on
stage in a mask (see below) throwing gelt to the audience.  Wonder Who???
 The floor looked like it was going to be messy and crowded, so when security
gave up on it we headed for the stands.  We were a few rows up directly on
the side of the stage behind Fishman, so we could see all the backstage
goings-on, which was an interesting perspective since so many, um, odd things
were to follow.

You know the set list already.  Frankenstein was perfect - Trey came out
wearing this huge weird mask thing, but ditched it after the first song.
 Simple was great in all its grinding relentless glory.  Simply the best
Divided Sky I've ever heard.  Harpua.  Poor Poster Nutbag got sucked into The
Bowls Of Hell (Poster come back!  Poster don't go out there!!) before ever
actually meeting Harpua.  Barney music played backwards equals War Pigs from
Black Sabbath (hmmm - I'd always suspected.....).  During the set break there
was a scary sound  tape on - a nice touch.

For the second set, THE set, we got a Halloween trick from the band.  Out of
the speakers came this very "One Of These Days" sound, and I knew it would be
Pink Floyd, and I was very psyched (I voted for Piper At The Gates Of Dawn).
 My thoughts were confirmed when they played the beginning to "Dark Side" And
then and then and then!  Suddenly it switches to Ed Sullivan's introducing
the Beatles, and the screaming from the recording is drowned out by the
screaming of the audience.  I fought back a wave of disappointment that
completely disappeared exactly ten bars into "Back In The USSR".  The boys
were, to be blunt, flawless.  I wrote down who sung what for later reference
(see some other post).  It was a bit Trey-heavy: I think I would have liked
to have seen Mike and Fishman sing a few more.  Page had most of the pretty
ballads (Prudence, Blackbird, I Will), but I have to say that Mike singing
"Julia" will make this girl's knees weak for a very long time!  "Happiness Is
A Warm Gun" rocked the house.  Mike got creative with "Don't Pass Me By" and
went the bluegrass route a la Foreplay/Long Time - I can't wait to hear THAT
again when the tapes come out (thinly veiled grovel)!  Fishman, of course,
did "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?" as only he can.  "Helter Skelter" was
absolutely evil and demented, and ended with the boys singing "I've got
blisters on my fingers!" barbershop-quartet style.  Mike's "Honey Pie" -
adorable. A creative "Birthday"/not "Birthday - they played the riffs from
the song (somebody posted it was dirgelike - absolutely right!) while Fishman
gave Brad Sands his birthday cake.  And then,  "Number Nine,  Number Nine,
 Number Nine"  and a cacophany of sound.  Trey's up behind the kit, pointing
with the drumsticks.  Mike's got this cymbal (cause he's in a band), and he's
doing this weird spiral dance with it.  Fishman's got all these evil sounds
coming from the vac, he starts spouting poetry at the audience.  You all know
what happened next.  All hell breaks loose.  Fishman escapes from the dress,
literally, that's what he did, yelling the last lines to the Yoko poem - "And
we become.... NAKED!!".  If I could have one picture in the entire world, it
would have to be one of Page's face when this happened.  It was priceless -
absolute shock.  He put his face in his hands and gave up.  Trey was cracking
up, turned on the bubble machine, which added to the whole weird Midsummer
Night's Dream thing going on on the stage.  Mike just looked pissed - he was
like "I want nothing to do with any of this."  Fishman put a crown on Mike's
head and a banner which said "Good Night" on it, while the original song
comes through the speakers.  Page leaves the stage, stunned.  Mike books off
the stage and came over to right underneath where we were sitting for a
little while, until, finally, Trey and Fishman go backstage.  Utter mayhem.

By this time it's 2 a.m. and we're wondering how we can prop up our exhausted
bodies for another set.  "David Bowie" was our answer.  A great final set,
nice encores.  The costume contest was in between encores - the finalists
were Rutherford the Brave, Fluffhead, Bathtub Gin, Tela & The Multibeast,
Mound, Vacuum Boy, AC/DC Bag, and Harry Hood.  Third place went to Harry
Hood, an girl with this huge cardboard Hood Milk creation, complete with
"Missing: (her face) Harry Hood. Where Do You Go When The Lights Go Out?" on
the side.  Her prize was "THIS!" (I have no idea what it was - an odd
sculpture thing).  Second place (very close second) went to the Vacuum Boy,
who actually looked like a giant blue condom if you can imagine that.  He got
a beer stein.  <>  First prize, a giant bowling trophy, went to
Mound, a guy dressed up like a giant Mounds bar.  Then Squirming Coil to end
the night.    It's 3:30 a.m.

Honorable costume mentions:  A huge herd of cows as Vermont's Phinest; The
Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday (he had a sign on that said October 30, 1994);
several angry mobs of joggers, the best ones had shirts that said "Chilly
Lake Jogging Club"; Sparkle; Control For Smilers; Dinner & A Movie (a
cardboard table hanging around his neck with movies and, you guessed it,
dinner); the Helping Phriendly Book. 

Anyway, so that's my story.  Sorry for the length of bandwidth, but I just
had to toss in my two quarters' worth.  Thanks to everyone on the Party Van
(we've got grilled cheeses, cause we've got a van!) - Marcie, Dawn & Mike,
Craig & Irene and Stu.  Thanks to Dean Budnick (we were the Landlady and
BBFCM in line), thanks to Joel and Shawn who opened their bar for us, and
most of all, thanks to Trey, Mike, Page and Fishman.  See you in Syracuse and
till then, happy phishin'!

lizzzzzzzzz


----------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 
Mon, 24 Mar 1997 23:08:24 -0500 (EST) 
From: TSmith1642@aol.com
Subject: one small note... 

About the 10/31/94 Glens Falls Halloween show; 

The show was slated to start at 10pm, so by 10:15pm the place was
packed and people were in that usual "I'm about to see a classic" mood. 

Glens Falls Civic Center is basically a hockey arena.  I and my
costumed companions sat down in our lucky chairs on the drum side about
seven rows from the floor, perfect view of everything.  On the opposite
side of the rink, near center ice, was an ambulance parked at what was
the "Zamboni door", or, a large steel mechanical door that opened to
allow the Zamboni to empty itself (Surely you've seen snow banks behind
Hockey arenas). 

When we sat down we wondered why the ambulance was there, but did not
think about it for but a second.  Then, all of a sudden, for some
reason, all hell broke loose!

The ambulance lights lit up, followed by a large cheer from the anxious
crowd.  That large steel mechanical door started to rise to let the
ambulance leave.  Kids started to rush through that door as if it were
the final leg of a 400 meter relay!  The door was slow, too, so lots of
people stormed through while a hand full of security guards stood
helpless.  The ambulance, lights and all, finally left the arena.  The
large door started to slowly come back down while lads still scuttled
in, jumped the boards and ran full speed toward the other side of the
floor.  Even when the door was five feet from being closed kids were
still ducking in.  Mind you, this was one big steel garage door.  A few
kids did a roll under the door just before it slammed shut...it was
like something I saw on an episode of MacGyver, where he just barely
makes it into a room to save the day.  Amazing, I thought, what some
will do to see this band. 

I'm not sure if there was an injured person in that ambulance, but a
great number of folks saw a legendary performance for free because it
left the venue just before showtime.  I would never advocate gate
crashing, but this particular incident, combined with a jaw dropping
concert, made for a truly memorable evening of phish. 

TSmith