From zchisholm@hotmail.com Sun Oct  4 16:50:23 1998
Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 15:40:37 CDT
From: zach chisholm 
To: dan@netspace.org
Subject: Re: 10/03/98 review (on site)

PHARM AID
review by Zach Chisholm

How was the TV & net broadcasts of farm aid for all those sitting at home? 
The show was nuts from a on site perspective. The lot, well lets just 
say there wasn't one and it wasn't the warmest of days. Everybody 
huddled together trying to stay warm. All the kids stayed out side 
for as long as we could but the police started kicking us in to the 
show. So avoiding any confrontation we all went in. 

Everybody was 
getting anxious since we had to sit through four hours of music before 
the boys came out. It was kind of cool to see other people enjoy their 
favorite bands as much as I enjoy Phish, but I still could help the 
usual chatter, what are they going to play, just about everybody had 
Birds, Farmhouse, and Moma Dance picked out but not Runaway Jim or 
all that other craziness. I somehow managed to walk all the way down 
to tenth row center without having my ticket looked at once right 
before Neil went on. The kid next to me had the same luck. We had 
six empty seats around us to boggie in too. 
During Neils set there 
were quite a few people watching him from the side of the stage 
including Trey. Neil played pretty well but it was weird to all 
of a sudden ask for money from those at home. 
Then Phish came out. The 
moment I had been waiting for. Birds of a Feather rocked, we all 
started getting down, we were surrounded by people that seemed to 
have never even heard Phish. They would look at Phish on stage then 
look at how good of time we were having then back at Phish, they 
didn't know what was going on but most stuck around for the grand 
finale. Trey seemed to be having some kind of trouble with his 
glasses he tried cleaning them then he set them down on Page's piano 
and played without them. 
Farmhouse was sweet. Moma Dance was phat and I finally learned 
the Moma Dance, the kid next to me Jeff was in Europe at the Gray Hall 
on 6-30-98 so he taught me the steps. Runaway Jim was good too probably 
the longest song they played. When Neil came out and jammed it got really 
crazy. Neil came out during Runaway Jim and finished off the tune then
they went into Down by the River where Trey and Neil were both going 
off and it turned into feedback 
layered on feedback and all kinds of crazy sounds were coming from the 
stage. At one point Trey and Mike were standing next to each other 
looking at Neil with a confused look. Then Willie Nelson and Paul Shaffer 
came out on stage. Everyone started playing Moonlight in Vermont except 
Trey he stood there for a minute cleaning his glasses. 
I don't know about you but I felt this was the point 
where Phish started to get a little cramped. Don't get me wrong I 
like Willie but the music slowed way down 
and they didn't get to choose any other songs. You could tell they 
wanted to play something different but nobody would follow them. 
Trey was teasing some Hendrix but everyone ignored it. Willie then went 
into Will the Circle Be Unbroken and a group of Native Americans walked 
onstage stood there in front of Page and Paul kind of dancing. Amazing Grace
was pretty good although it took a little while for everyone to match up.
At least they let Trey do his thing for a little while during it. 
An Uncloud Place was good they had their big 
finale, everyone finished and Phish continued playing so they would 
have the last note of the evening.

All the kids walked out of there with the same words coming out of their 
mouths, "I wish they would have played more Phish".


p.s.: if anybody knows a kid named Jeff from Lawrence Kansas that took 
photos of Pharm Aid please give me his email address or if you know the 
person that made those Pharm Aid stickers inside the Phish logo, let
me know.


---------

Date:    Sun, 4 Oct 1998 07:16:12 GMT
From:    Jethro8146 
Subject: My thoughts of Farm-Aid (fairly long...)

First off, to all you people bashing CMT for their coverage, you should be
happy you got what did.  Take it from someone who tried to watch the Allmans on
last year's broadcast, tonight's coverage was unbelievable.  The fact that they
didn't interrupt Moma Dance is amazing in itself...they had already gone at
least ten minutes between commercials, and they showed the entire twelve-minute
funk-fest.  So you missed a little of Jim...big deal.  It's better than missing
all of Moma or some of the meaningful parts of the Down By the River jam.  You
gotta remember, unless they're doing their blugrass thing, Phish is a band CMT
could give a rat's ass about.  I think it's wonderful they stuck it out.  As
for KT and Toby...well, what did you expect?  If it's rock and roll, they're
probably not gonna be very into it.  At least the only thing they made fun of
was their name.

Okay...on to my review of the set itself...

BOAF--Farily predictable opener...Trey seemed a little petrified at first, he
loosened up as he began his solo.  Great solo.  The final chorus was a little
flubbed due to an apparent frog in Trey's throat.  A little confusion about
when they were gonna finish it (Page jumped the gun), but overall, a good
opener.

Trey then made a speech about how a factory farm in Vermont was shut down by a
grass-roots organization with help from the Farm-Aid foundation.  He seemed a
little nervous (or stoned...maybe Willie had a gift for 'em backstage) during
this as well.  He then introduced...

FARMHOUSE--took 'em a little bit to get everything together, but you gotta
expect that...this was their first public performance since Lemonwheel, so
there was probably still a little rust there.  I thought the solo was a little
more intense than usual, but other than that, pretty standard.

I was expecting a commercial break here, but instead the camera zommed in on
the stage, were Trey, Mike and Page are agreeing on...

MOMA DANCE--Started off well, except for some sound problems...Page was hardly
audible.  Opening wasn't real tight at all...probably the sloppiest I've heard.
 Still, it's hard not to love hearing this song, regardless of the occasional
mistake.  Trey's pre-vocal solo was a little dull and uneventful, IMO.  When
the vocals began, more sound-problems reared their ugly head...this time it was
Fish's mic (Page had since been turned up).  They never quite got the bug out.
Nevertheless, all the lyrics were on-target (gotta like that close-up
enlightment on the "Moma Dance" vs. "Moment Ends" debate...).  Trey then took a
solo that absolutely raged, even though most of it was same melody as usual.

CMT then took a commercial break...from the reports of others, there was a
segue (transition?) into Jim, so I'll take their word for it...

RUNAWAY JIM--I'm am flat-out amazed at this point...gotta be honest; I was
looking for either a bluegrass-flavored set or a blatantly commercial set.  So
far, out of four songs, half of them were "concert" songs, and the other half
were from the "soon-to-be-released" category.  The broadcast came back in at
the chill section between the third and fourth verses.  Trey did a little
impromptu noodling in here that doesn't happen very often.  As the jam began, I
was expecting a farily short, to the point Jim jam.  But, they strecthed out a
little bit, and for a couple of minutes, were dangerously close to losing the
first-timers out there (if they hadn't already gotten lost).  As the Jim Jam
was finishing, I noticed Neil Young back by the amps with an electric axe, and
he appeared to be tuning it.  Mike noticed him and gave a slight grin...Trey
seemed oblivious as he sang the closing chorus.  Neil is now playing with the
boys, and doesn't let Jim end.  He and Trey then embark on a little feedback
journey, a la Crazy Horse.  Fisman seems hell-bent on bringing Jim to a proper
close, as Mike realized this could go on for awhile and just starts running
scales and shit.  I'm not sure what the hell Page was doing during all this...I
was too busy listening for any recognizeable melodies.  Finally, after about
five minutes of noise, Neil plays that unmistakeable lick from Down By the
River...the one that starts the first solo.  After a minute or so, everyone
realized what was going on, and they settle into...

DOWN BY THE RIVER--If I had been on acid, I may have broke down crying at this
particular moment.  Along with Phish, Neil has always been in the top five
music acts in my book.  Just seeing them playing together was more than I could
have ever asked for...but for them to break into this particular song...one of
the songs that got me into Neil's shit (along with Cowgirl in the Sand and
After the Gold Rush)...still one of my all-time favorites...holy shit.  The
first solo was pretty standard (for Neil and C.H., that is...)...longer than
usual, but it pretty much sounded like most good live versions of this tune
that I've heard.  Trey added a little bit that neither of Crazy Horse's
guitarsts could (melody, anyone...?), but it's amazing how Neil rubs off on a
person.  If I remember right, Jimi Page played much like Neil when they jammed
together at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a couple of years ago.  The second
solo was nearly the same as the first, and included a little string-scratching
duel between Neil and Trey, that Fish quickly changed direction with.  There
was a little confusion here...first of all, Neil came in a half-measure or so
too early, which threw Fish off.  Also, I'm not sure if Phish was familiar with
the way Neil goes into the final verse when he plays the song live.  Both of
those factors led to the tune kind fading out after twenty minutes.

CMT then took another break as the sound of feedback again filled the air.  I
didn't care though...they had gone another half-hour with no interruptions
whatsoever.  Mighty cool of them, I though.  When they returned, Willie was on
stage along with Paul Scheaffer (sp?), Neil, and Phish.  After singing a song
about the Moon in Vermont (admittedly, I don't know a whole hell of a lot about
Willie's music...a couple songs here and there...), they broke into Will the
Circle Be Unbroken, which also saw a group of "native americans" come up
onstage (a couple of them had drums with them).  Willie then began singing
Amazing Grace, which was backed up nicely..Trey threw in a very nice solo, and
Paul threw in a, well, cheesy solo.  Big finish...Willie starts singing
something else, and CMT cuts in to say their goodbyes.  We are treated to a big
ending--the traditional blues ending heard in Mango and the Big Ball Jams, with
a few extra hits thrown on the end for good measure.

Overall, the first one-third of the set  (Birds-->Moma) was nothing to write
home about.  The second part (Jim-->Down By the River) is probably one of those
things that's gonna pop up as filler on half of the tapes you trade for in the
next few months.  Absolutely incredible, unbelievable, amazing...whichever
superlative mows your lawn.  The last part (the "all-star" portion) wasn't
nearly as good as the second, but still one of those one-of-a-kind moments that
are worth hearing at the very least.

If you've read ths far, I'll spin you an analog copy of the show for
B&P...well, the parts that CMT broadcast, anyways...missing the first minute
and a half of Jim, the tail end of Down By the River, and the final Willie
tune.  I'll take as many as I can handle.

Thanks for reading...
-jeff

"Daddy's rifle in my hands felt reassuring....
He said red means run, son, numbers add up to nothing"
-Neil

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 4 Oct 1998 02:54:10 -0500
From:    "F.S. Bulldog" 
Subject: Farm Aid Review

Birds Of A Feather, Farmhouse, Moma Dance > Runaway Jim > Down By
The River, Moonlight in Vermont, May The Circle Be Unbroken >
Amazing Grace, On That Uncloudy Day

Playing a relatively high-profile showcase, and with a new record
coming out soon, they opened with the single Birds Of A Feather.  I
really like this tune, and it's obvious from the recent European and
US summer shows that the boys do too.  I don't begrudge Phish their
shots ay accessibility when they work.  Birds is gaining its road legs
a bit more each time I hear it.  I have not heard the studio rendition
yet.  This comes to a close and Trey speaks:

"Thank you very much.  I've just got to say how happy we are to be
here.  I'm going to add one thing to some of the things that the artists
before us have been saying.  Our home state is Vermont and we had
a successful year last year with Farm Aid.  There's a factory farm that
opened up, and a grass roots group called World Vermont was able,
with the funds they got from Farm Aid, was able to stop the expansion
of this factory farm last year.  And it's the first factory farm in Vermont.
So this can work.  And everthing that Neil was saying about calling up
and donating money, and also hoping that we can change things in
Washington.  We've got Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy who are
doing a great job for us.  Everyone should vote.  Everyone should send
in money and thank you for supporting this.  We really appreciate
being a part of this.  It's just great, so thank you.  And we want to play
a song that we wrote called 'This is a Farmhouse' that we wrote while
we were staying in a farmhouse in Vermont and it kind of hopefully
captures the spirit of the rural farm.  So thank you."

I'm not here to criticize.  Someone once said that there are no statues
of critics.  They were tight throughout the set, but Trey's voice was
kind of broken on this one and the solo lacked any real direction.  Eh,
it was their 'Rain on the Scarecrow' of the night, and not a big number
anyway.

Trey called out Moma Dance and the funk ensued.  Probably the slickest
groove to hit CMT in '98.  I wonder what the hardcore country fans
thought of this, or the set in general for that matter.  They seemed to
warm up a bit here, and things were looking up in the jam department.
A smattering of space ensued and Trey cranked out the 'get ready to
dance' intro to...

Runaway Jim.  Bluegrass meets psychedelic rock.  A nice choice and, if
abbreviated, another pure jam for the folks in attendance, initiated or
not.  In retrospect, the energy build at the end of the tune must have
been influenced by what they knew was coming next.  The final D chord
turned into a free form instrumental interlude that included none other
than a very electric Neil Young.  I nearly fell over when I noticed that
the man was sporting a Doc.  I've heard that not many guitarists that pick
up one of Trey's guitars can really work it, much less control the feedback.
Well, Neil riffed like the pro that he is and they all worked their way into
'Down by the River', the title of which I'm not sure.  Neil sang, and I'm
thinking that I've heard this before and pretty sure it's one of his.  If
anyone can elaborate...  Well, this one was truly something.  If there
have ever been two Docs blaring live at the same time, another detail
I'm unsure of, I am sure that it didn't quite sound like this.  Trey and
Neil swayed and jammed and swayed some more, and I was in heaven.
As a parallel, I've listened to the Trey/Santana collaborations again and
again and always come away regarding them as more of a guitar-duel
style performance than the cohesive mix that Phish brought about with
Neil.  After a deep and touching, classic Neil Young acoustic set, it was
fun to see the old guy really get his 'rocks' off with our favorite rhythm
section backing him up.  Even through the RealVideo (I no longer believe
in TV), I spied a very smiley and fulfilled Trey in the background.  As a
big fan of both of them, I was happy to see them having such a good time.
I found myself thinking that Phish as Crazy Horse was not such a stretch,
and wanting to see a whole show with the five.

Our host Willie Nelson then took the stage with his weathered acoustic axe
and fronted Phish in a lovely little number and nod, 'Moonlight in Vermont'.
Once again, song title corrections are welcome.  The all-star closer further
took shape with Paul Shaeffer joining in on the Hammond.  My reference tape
at this point is littered with Apple-shift-3 noises (Mac users will understand)
as I captured pics of Paul/Page/Trey/Neil/Willie/Mike/Jon.  It was all good
fun by now.  Willie launched a version of 'May the Circle be Unbroken',
exercising the band's genre-bending prowess.  This began a little on the
uncertain side, but quickly got going once everyone found the progression.
The ensemble, plus a host of extras then moved into a unique Amazing Grace
with all sharing vocals and Trey and Willie providing interpretive solos on
the melody.  The show closed with a verse of 'On That Uncloudy Day' and
a big rock finish from Phish as the others laid down their guitars.

Wish I had been there, but it was fun anyway.  I hear that taping gear
wasn't allowed into the venue, so the VHS dubs will probably be the only
record.  Good night...

------------------------------


----------

Date:    Sun, 4 Oct 1998 08:42:55 -0500
From:    BNmelo 
Subject: farm aid thoughts

Arming Neil w/ a 'Doc is like giving a terrorist a Nuclear Bomb. Neil
Loves feedback, and the 'Doc is the quitar with the sustain!!!! I saw
Neil at the '94 Bridge show and he was playing his acoustic and he would
move up to "tape spots" on the stage and just start feeding back for
minutes. I wonder of he does this at home??? Anyways..
>From what I could gather from the show.....
Runaway Jim was poorly placed within the set. I am a huge Jim fan but
listening to Jim after MoMa didn't do it for me last night.
Moma->Brother->DBTR  would have really done it. But... That's why they
are paid the big bucks and I am writing about it. The small jam in Jim
was nice but seemed not to get stretched out enough to really be
interesting.
Down By the River....I really thought that there was no clue on all the
participants on where this song was going. They seemed to go to ending
three or four times before they found themselves back into the verse
again. Talk about taking the reins of he song and riding it for all it's
worth. Vocally Neil never had it better. The backing Vocals were so
strong I couldn't tell if it was live or tracked in the studio. They had
it almost too much for me to think that they might be covering Neil for
Ween.
I thought the "Vermont" tune with Willy was great. Willy is a wonderful
guitarist and it showed with his playing with Trey. I really, really
enjoyed this!!!
Overall it was a pleasure to see phish being Phish and not a "polite,
Benefit show Phish" I look forward to The Bridge!!!
Let me sidedshift for a sec....For all of those posting "This is what
Phish would sound like with two guitars",,,,, Whatever Pholks. The great
and wonderful thing about Neil Young songs are they are like snow. Even
though it piles up on your driveway you can plow though it and they land
still pure and all similar but completly different.
BTW...7/28/98 or 8/15/98 B&P/Trade offer. Reply to get details
Peace, Scott


------


From Robb_Barrett@cch.com Sat Oct 24 16:25:34 1998
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 07:41:14 -0500
From: Robb Barrett 
Reply-To: Phish WWW workers mailing list 
To: PHISH-WWW@netspace.org
Subject: Farm Aid Review

Since I haven't seen a review of the boys yet, I'll submit mine.

I was there, 13th row on Page's side of the stage.  The crowd sucked,
mostly Phish-heads who were nice (but judgemental on how everyone was
dressed.)  I'll skip the reviews of everyone else, except to say that
Melloncamp ROCKED!
Okay, so Phish came out and I bet my girlfriend that they were going to
open with Birds.  She thought it would be Farmhouse, so we made a bet
(thankfully I won, because I have neither the money nor time to go to the
Carribean by the end of the year!) and when Birds began, we were ecstatic.
Then Trey announced they were going to play Farmhouse, (my first
Farmhouse!) and it was good.  Both songs were really short though, so I
could tell the yhad some surprises in-store for us!

Then MOMA Dance, not only the first time I've ever seen it, but I haven't
heard it yet either, so I didnt' catch it off the start. Fish sang it
beautifully, but again it was short.  Really nice Runaway Jim, teased out
at first, then delivered.  And towards the end is when the whole show was
lost.  Neil comes in with his over-bearing ego and HE wanted to finish
Runaway Jim.  Trey and Neil had it out for WAY TOO LONG before it was over.
Then Neil does Down By The River, and decides that he wants to hog the
stage and the show, since Phish was getting too much attention from the
phans.  He tries to beat Trey in the soloing competition, but Trey has to
prove the old man wrong, so what it listed as "Space Jam" to me seemed more
like Trey -v- Neil in the battle of the ego's.  Then finally old Willy came
out to prevent Neil from making  a complete ass of himself.

They did their thing with Willy, and then Willy started Amazing Grace
(which I'm pretty sure Phish wanted to do by themselves.)  Our boys started
to sing it a little, then just quit singing all together, those Indians
were on stage, but no one knew why (they played a drum for a few minutes
durring Grace,) and Willy liked taking all of Phish's appluase, so he
finished their set.  Several times it looked like Trey was really
frustrated at being ousted from his performance by Neil and Willy.

Security guards were better this year, and let us all run up to the front
row during Phish, but those Indianswere kinda in the way, and no one could
figure out why they were on stage in the first place.  When I got home,
Sarah and I discussed the show with  her mom who is a HUGE Neil Young fan
from back in the day.  She was the one who brought light to the fact that
Neil thinks way too highly of himself, and that's why he can't keep a band.
She agreed that he got jealous of the attention Phish took, and he wanted
to claim it for himself.

So my review, summarized: Phish was Great, Neil is too egotistial, and
Willy tried to be the peace-maker, but the spotlights made him forget his
set was over with.

Now, for this nice review, does anyone want to offer to (begin grovel) spin
it for me?  My dad "forgot" to tape it for me (end grovel.)


--------


Date:    Mon, 5 Oct 1998 20:38:28 GMT
From:    kaufmak@MY-DEJANEWS.COM
Subject: Farm Aid from an attendee, part 2

Part 2.  Neil and Phish

After the Vegas act from Mellencamp, Neil Young came out with an acoustic
guitar and harmonica and blew him completely off the stage.  The guy next to
me wouldn't shut up about "The Cougar" and how great he was, but after I
stopped talking to him and pretty much completely ignored him to concentrate
on Neil, he finally got the point.  Not to overemphasize, but Neil brings
more to the stage than most performers.  Him alone with his acoustic has as
much energy as most bands with a full band.  Anyway, after Neil's powerful
set...

Phish!!  What, you were expecting something else?  After being at Farm Aid
for the better part of six hours, what struck me immediately about phish is
how DIFFERENT they really are.  It was like I had been doing one exercise all
day, and then, WHAM!!, I had to use a completely different set of muscles.
Birds of a Feather just sounded so freaky after hearing all that other music.
 It was a fairly tight version and I really see this song taking off in the
next couple of years.  Then came Trey's little speech, and I'm glad that he
took the time to give a personal connection as to why they were there.  Also
unlike alot of the acts, Trey, like Neil Young, mentioned that this was a
fundraising event, an event about change.  Launching into a very pleasant
Farmhouse.  Not much else to say here, but I find this song incredibly
pleasing to my ear.  Just a great image is created by this song.  I really
feel like I'm walking into a farmhouse and looking around.  It kind of
reminds me a CSN's Our House.  From there a lovely Moma Dance insued. This
definitely scattered the un-phish crowd.  The guy who wouldn't shut up about
"The Cougar" left(thank god) and I saw a pretty steady stream of folk
leaving.  Which leads me to say that phish fans, for the most part, are much
more open minded.  A lot of the heads I saw were willing to give Willie a
chance and Mellencamp, and most of the acts.  The other folks had already
made up their minds about Phish.  Also if the things are little off the
beaten path, most people run for the familiar.  So, kudos to the phish fans
for really being good sports at this show.  I think we were well represented.
Anyway Moma wrapped up and Runaway Jim came through which was great!  I think
for the most part, if this mini-set was all some people were going to see of
phish, it was a good starter set.  Especially when Neil came out to join in
the jam.  I think in a lot of the non-phish fans minds this added a certain
legitimacy to the Phish set.  It kind of said "Oh, if Neil plays with them,
then they must be good."  Sure enough, the Down By the River was the song
that brought the house down.  Just a fantastic moment.  I'm extremely glad I
was there to be a part of it.  After that, the Willie songs were a lovely
little way to wrap up a great evening.  Pace, Kevin K.

------------------