Show #40: 2/24/88

Wednesday, 02/24/1988
Gallagher’s, Waitsfield, VT

Set 1: Funky Bitch, Fluffhead, The Curtain[1] > You Enjoy Myself, I Didn’t Know[2], The Lizards, Wilson > Peaches en Regalia, Golgi Apparatus > Slave to the Traffic Light, Corinna,Fee > David Bowie

Set 2: Mustang Sally[3], Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley[4], Sanity, La Grange, Harry Hood

[1] First known Curtain without “With.”
[2] Fishman on trombone.
[3] John Carlton on vocals.
[4] John Carlton on drums and Fishman on trombone.

Back in the Valley again, we get part of a wild night at Gallagher’s. The tape unfortunately does not include “Funky Bitch” or “Fluffhead”. It instead kicks in towards the end of the first “The Curtain” WITHOUT, meaning it does not contain the “With” section at the end. The show doesn’t really pickup until a very nice “Slave to the Traffic Light”. It has a nice closing jam and shows that the band is FINALLY learning what to do with the song. Second set is where the action is. Trey gets into it with a heckler and tells hime to come sing the song. They play “Mustang Sally” and it’s not that bad. The singer really tries to get into it. The more interesting note is that the only other person to guest on “Mustang Sally” with Phish? The one and only Bruce Springsteen. There’s some Phish trivia for you. Trey then introduces him as John Carlton and that this “man of many talents” will slide over the kit so Fish can “play his bone” on “Sneakin Sally”. Apparently Carlton was in a Vermont band called Blue Rose, according to Phish.com. No other history is available about this band. The result hover is surprisingly good. It’s actually an interesting listen to hear “Sneakin’ Sally” with trombone. I recommend checking it out. How do you combat an insane set of events? With “Sanity”, so the band busts that out. The other highlight here is a very fine “Harry Hood” to close out the recording. So, some highlights in this brief recording but worth a quick listen.