Show #19: 3/6/87

Friday, 03/06/1987
Goddard College, Plainfield, VT

Set 1: Funky Bitch, Good Times Bad Times, Corinna, Golgi Apparatus, Quinn the Eskimo > Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley

Set 2: Free Bird^[1], Happy Birthday to You^[2] > Harry Hood, Tell Me Something Good^[3] > Possum,Freeworld^[4], Wilson

Encore: Slave to the Traffic Light

[1] First known Phish performance; Ninja Mike on vocals.
[2] To “Sue and Debra.” Long, reggae-influenced version.
[3] First known Phish performance; unidentified female lead vocalist.
[4] First known Phish performance; Jim Pollock on vocals.

So close to reviewing this in the 27th anniversary! Oh well, good thing it’s not a very notable show. The sound quality on the recording leaves much to be desired. Almost felt like a recording of Phish at the BBC in 1963. Not much to write about this one all the fun’s in the 2nd set. It features Phish’s first attempt at Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” with Ninja Mike of Ninja Custodian on vocals. It’s actually pretty fun as at the 2:20 mark, Trey drops the long slow buildup and the band just tears into the jam, shredding it to pieces. We then get a reggae version of “Happy Birthday to You”, which segues nicely into the opening of “Harry Hood”. Also, after months of teasing by Mike, we finally get a full band version of “Tell Me Something Good” by Rufus. It also had an unidentified female vocalist. It’s quite good and also has a fun segue into “Possum”. “Freeworld” is a bit of fun nonsense as Jim Pollock (yes, THAT Jim Pollock, poster artist) spouts lyrics over a raging 12-bar blues. You can’t really make out what he’s saying but it sounds fun. This is the only known performance of that tune. The recording closes with another early “Wilson”. Hopefully more in the next show. Thanks for reading.