The drive to Vancouver from Portland that morning went smoothly. We got a hotel room just south of the border to leave our valuables stateside. Crossing the border was uneventful. We were excited to be heading to the first theatre show of Fall tour, and my first since the ‘94 Beacon run.

Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre is one of the most ornate venues I have ever seen. The beauty is evident from the moment you step through the door. The gold and burgundy colors were so vibrant. It really felt criminal to be attending a Phish show in such a pristine building.

Ya Mar was a pleasant way to kick off the first set. Perhaps they were showing a little respect to the venue and staff by starting things out in a mellow mood. The band’s playing was spirited and playful. The beginning of Stash doesn’t have the edge it can have, but it fit the room. The jam meanders along for a while and picks up steam toward the end but doesn’t get too crazy. Billy Breathes keeps the show on an even keel and sounds nice in this venue.

Reba starts up to my delight as I felt the show needed a little kick in the ass. The composed section is solid and the jam starts out upbeat with some fine playing by everyone. Trey’s playing very patiently and the band is riding right alongside him. Trey takes it to next level and Gordo is dropping some sweet bass lines. This Reba just keeps soaring and soaring right until the end. Instead of whistling the band comes to the front of the stage with their acoustic instruments.

I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome is played without mics and sounds great. I still smile when I hear Page sing his verse about packing his suitcase to go. “Moses Brown on the mandolin,” says Trey. Rift gets the ball rolling again and delivers as expected. Free follows and is faster than prior versions this Fall. I’m pretty sure this is the first time Trey plays his percussion rack during this song.

Lizards always makes me happy. It was the first Phish song to pique my interest and inspire me to learn about this band from Vermont. Page and Trey do their parts justice. Sample In A Jar closes out a standard first set full of tour staples.

The second set opens with a typical upbeat Poor Heart. The ending transitions into Maze and finally we have some intense Phish. Nothing out of the ordinary for this Maze but it ratchets up the mood. Theme From The Bottom allows the band to showcase their ability to sound as one with no one really stepping into the spotlight. The ending is pretty powerful. The 1st NICU of Fall tour is a welcome surprise.

The 2nd Tweezer of tour (6 show gap) is just what the doctored ordered. Post Uncle Ebenezer Trey immediately jumps on his percussion rack forcing Gordon to assault us with his bass. The jam is similar to Free but not exactly the same. Trey gets back to playing his ‘doc while Page is driving things along. Fishman picks up the beat and Trey buckles in for some serious riffing. The pace slows into spaciness and sparse playing by all. Then it slowly builds back up as Trey leads patiently over the sonic groove then drifts away.

Keyboard Army emerges appropriately out Tweezer. Phish being Phish is great! As the song winds down Trey makes his way to Fish’s drum kit. As Page is hinting at HYHU Trey starts playing the drum beat to Suspicious Minds. And Fishman makes his way to the front of the stage wearing his cape to sing this Elvis classic for the 2nd time. Fish being Fish is great!

Slave To The Traffic Light is well placed and delivered passionately to close out the second set. The encore begins with Hello My Baby sans mics. This venue sounded great and was really, really nice; the ushers were very friendly. A Day In Life was a fitting show closer for such a royal venue.

Overall I was underwhelmed by this concert but it wasn’t below average. We retreated to our hotel across the border to get some rest before the 6+ hour drive to Spokane for the 3rd show of this 4-show run.

Worthy of a listen: Reba, Tweezer > Keyboard Army > Suspicious Minds

#20yearslater

I think there's quite a bit to like about this show, and the current rating seems a bit too low. Also giving this show a boost is the great-sounding AUD, especially compared to other shows from this time, which is available on the spreadsheet. That makes sense, seeing as this show took place in the smallest venue on the Fall 95 tour.

Ya Mar is always a fun way to start a show. Nothing too fancy but it gets things rolling nicely. Stash shows up next in a spot earlier than usual. It's type 1 but Trey's playing is absolutely blistering by the end of the jam. Billy Breathes, also showing up earlier than usual, serves as a nice "breather" (too corny?) after the smoking Stash. It's a pretty clean rendition and the band does a good job of recreating the album version. The following Reba jam is really cooking by the end, similar to the earlier Stash. If you like Rebas with great peaks (and who doesn't?) you'll likely find this to be a satisfying version. I always enjoy a bit of Phishgrass in my listening so I'm Blue I'm Lonesome fits in nicely here. Rift through the end of the set is by the book but it rounds out the set quite well.

Set 1 highlights - Stash, Reba

Set 2 starts with a quick Poor Heart before dropping into a hard rocking Maze. This Maze also has a creepy intro, adding to its psychedelic nature. This Theme from the Bottom didn't strike me as anything out of the ordinary, but NICU does feature some extra thick playing from Mike, which creates a funky kind of feel that continues in the following Tweezer. The Tweezer jam starts with some of that percussive, plodding funk-rock found in late 95 jams that I don't exactly revere, but the jam shifts to a new segment around 9 minutes when Trey gets off the kit and starts soloing some clear direction, which is much more compelling to my ears. The band resets once again at 11:30 with Mike in the lead while Trey lays down some ambient elements. This starts building just before 13 minutes when Trey jumps back in for a final solo before the jam winds down with a > to Keyboard Army. All in all, this Tweezer is not up there with the great versions of Fall 95 (12/2, 11/30, 10/22, etc.), but it features a nice chunk of distinctly late 95 style improv. Keyboard Army is actually very nice here on the heels of the brash Tweezer jam. Suspicious Minds/HYHU are directly as advertised, an opportunity for Fish to ham it up. You've probably heard better Slaves than this one, but it puts the wraps on a pretty enjoyable set. Hello my Baby and A Day in the Life in the encore slot won't win any originality points, but a double encore is always appreciated.

Set 2 highlights Maze, Tweezer>Keyboard Army

This show doesn't represent the best of the highly-praised Fall 95 tour, but it isn't the worst of the tour either. Overall, I think this show's rating could stand to be slightly higher. Around 3.5 seems right to me.

Originally posted to rec.music.phish
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 19:27:47 -0600
From: andy jacobson [email protected]
Subject: 10/6/95 review

This was my 4th Phish show and all I can think about is how small it
was. 2,900 people got to see this, because this was the tour when
Phish was reorganizing their mail order system, and I was able to phone easily for 12th row center. This show and the next night(Spokane) were the most intimate shows I imagine I'll ever have the chance to see:-(

A crystal chandelier(sp?) hung above us in the anteroom and the
ushers showed us to our seats with flashlights and gloves. It would
have been rude for them to search us... Highlights of this show would
bethe Yamar opener,billy breathes,stash,NICU->Tweezer and a very comical deal where trey and mike walked to the beat across the front of the stage like people in a koo koo clock. The whole show I could have
yelled something to the boys and they would have easily heard it. One
time during maze I yelled so loud with excitement(I do that being from
Wyoming) that I thought that everyone in the place was thinking about
me. Musically I think that the next night is far superior but I am glad to be able to say that I was able to see Phish in a royal
Canadian opera house, where royalty go to see concerts:-) 28 and still
showing... Andy

1995 Stashes new fail do they? The early rendition of Billy Breathes is pretty great as well. Reba is perfectly executed and just gorgeous. Free has a nice little evil section in the middle with some great work by Page.

Maze is standard Fire for this time period. Theme is also exceptionally strong. Tweezer is very cohesive throughout and although it doesn't go anywhere too deep or weird it is a great example of the guys firing on all cylinders.

All around average/above average show. Its right there.

https://forum.phish.net/forum/permalink/1377941594

Is Fall '95 overrated as a tour? Probably not, but it is interesting to note how the peaks of December 1995 (Niagara Falls, Binghamton, NYE) affect fans' opinions of the tour as a whole. 12/95 was certainly an exceptional month in the history of the band's live performances, but it took many shows over the previous 9 weeks for Phish to build up all that momentum. When listening to the beginning of this tour, I found that the first ten shows of the tour (9/27-10/8) ranged from "okay" to "meh", with the single exception of 10/6/95 Vancouver.

Burlington, VT is less than an hour's drive from the U.S./Canadian border, and the band began playing international shows for their northern neighbors very early in their career. Border crossings are always complicated for a large touring group, but between 1996 and 2000, Phish began having particular difficulties making it to their Canadian shows. The first show North of the border in Phish 3.0 was also postponed due to flooding. Regarding the legacy of Canadian Phish shows, it seems that the East coast bias is evident with our Northern neighbors as well: Ontario and Quebec shows tend to have higher ratings, while the band's shows in Vancouver generally appear to be underrated.

@westbrook's fine appraisal of this show covers the majority of the highlights; I like the sound of Trey's staccato picking during a typically awesome and underrated Reba, an aspect which would become a catalyst for the 10/7 Hood and the 11/14 Stash, among others from this tour. This very clean AUD recording provides a remarkable representation of the acoustic bluegrass and a capella numbers performed without microphones, which the band would soon no longer be able to do at concerts in North America. A swinging Tweezer is followed by a delicate Keyboard Calvary with an attentive listening audience, who are subsequently rewarded with a gorgeous, pensive Slave To The Traffic Light set closer. And the lone soul requesting an 11-year bustout of St. Stephen prior to the encore would only have to wait three and half more years for the request to be fulfilled! @Jempphan, was that you? )

SET 1: Ya Mar: Solid opener.

Stash: Total face melter, this really rips.

Billy Breathes: Standard.

Reba: This Reba is fantastic. Perhaps not the tightest towards the end but the energy is unbeatable. Can’t beat a mid-set Reba of this quality.

I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome, Rift > Free, The Lizards, Sample in a Jar: Standard.

First set summary: Loved that Reba and would revisit. The rest, not so much. Very average set.

SET 2: Poor Heart > Maze, Theme From the Bottom: Standard. These reads like a first set, not a second set.

NICU: Mike’s bass is liquid, very cool and unique sounding for NICU. Kind of like you would hear from him in a 1999 version of Free. NICU doesn’t belong in the middle of the second set >

Tweezer: Mike sounds amazing in this intro. It’s the Cactus show in the early going as Trey is doing his think on the percussion rack. Around ten minutes in this thing shifts to an almost jazzy sound. From there it gets very upbeat with Trey showing the way. Never really heard a Tweezer like this, very cool. By 11 or so things have gotten very spacey with Mike in the lead, Trey hanging way in the back. Trey is back at 13:15 and ramping things up. That Tweezer was a lot of fun. >

Keyboard Army > Suspicious Minds > Hold Your Head Up: Standard stuff here.

Slave to the Traffic Light: Good Slave, nothing too crazy.

ENCORE: Hello My Baby, A Day in the Life: Standard.

Second set summary: This show basically had two first sets. They definitely took a step backwards from the strong showing in Portland. Unfortunate based on how cool and intimate this venue in Vancouver was. Oh well. On to Spokane. I would rate this show a 3 out of 5. My least favorite of the tour so far. I would go back to Reba and Tweezer, but nothing else to my ear has replay value.