2-15-99 -- Higher Ground, Winooski, VT

Date:    Sat, 20 Feb 1999 06:53:00 -0800
From:    Bruce Carlin carlin@slic.com
Subject: Higher Ground

I was one of the lucky people that got to see Trey at Higher Ground last
Monday. It was a fantastic event that was the essence of Phish, which
continues to follow one great stunt after another.

I was in my car a few weeks back when a dj on WNCS, "The Point" radio
station announced that Trey was playing the benefit on Feb 15th, that
tickets were on sale right now, but you had to go in person and there
was a limit of 2. I just finished editing a tv spot in Plattsburgh, NY
and heard the news as I drove back to my office. After rearranging my
day I jumped back in the car and drove the 1 hour between here and
Burlington. The fastsest way is to take a ferry boat. This has been a
strange winter here. It has been so mild at times. We have wintery days
now instead of seasons. The sun was bright, it was about 48 degrees and
when it's normally 5-20 degrees- 48 is warm. The whole way over I was
anxious that the tickets would be sold out, but I had hope.

I cranked up fall 98 shows in my car. As I pulled down the hill into the
downtown area and looked at the Flynn Theatre my thoughts were filled
with memories of having lived and worked in Burlington from 84-88.
Unfortunately I was never into Phish back then and I can't believe that
from a few miles where I lived and slept this all happenned and I was
tuned out. Anyway, those are part of life's rich ironies, one's that my
personal encounters with Phish are filled with. Ironies like - My first
Phish show I got way too smashed and passed out in my seat, and my
second Phish concert was the event of a lifetime, as I got to assist the
camera person shooting Page during the Clifford Ball on stage for two
days within 2 feet of the musicians. THE EVENT OF A LIFETIME....that's
another story though.

I saw very little activity at the Flynn Theatre and so I immediately
panicked thinking it was done, I found a parking space close by and
raced over, relieved to see about 10 people inside in front of me calmly
getting tickets.


A small hand written sign announced prices and rules. Tickets were $16
dollars. My number was 641, General Admission. Yes!

Monday roled around and my wife asked me if I was excited. I of course
was, but I had a strange calmness about it. At 4pm my friend Harold and
I departed. I hadn't been to Higher Ground before, I had heard a ton of
good things about it, but had no idea what to expect. I knew it was in
Winooski, which is a small town bordering Burlington, and is home of
Sneakers- a Burlington music scene staple for the last 20 years. On the
way over we talked of Trey and Jerry, we both had read Dark Star
recently and spoke of the joy and sadness of it all, and we discussed
whether Trey possesed Jerry's spirit and we wondered whether this Trey
show would be anything like Jerry's solo work. We compared Burlington
and San Fransisco, which is actually a huge joke because Vermont and
Burlington are so much smaller, and of such different character and
nature, that the ridiculousness parallels the Trey/Jerry comparisons or
Phish/Dead lumpings.

Picture Winooski as a 3 mile road connecting the interstate to
Burlington, it crosses the Winooski river. Higher Ground is in a strip
mall near the river. It might have been a small bowling alley or
something. Inside reminded me of a retro amoeba(sp) cocktail bar lounge
combined with a small gymnasium, kind of like the ones in an elementary
school that double as the cafetaria. I kept looking around and thinking,
ok, this is where a warm up band or something else is going on, where is
the real stage?

I'm a dat trader so I was interested in the taping scheme. They had
positioned some monsterous 6 or 7 mic set-up in the grid above the stage
and were feeding the tapers.

Huge colorful works of art by children decorated the walls. They added
to the "school assembly" feeling to this place.

The mayor of Burlington even came out and introduced Trey and proclaimed
Phish as the reason for Burlington's fame. He was kind of like the
principal of the school coming out and giving a little pep talk.

When the show started I was nervous for Trey, I was ready musically for
anything, having purchased "Surrender to Air" and having listened to it,
and having forced friends to listen to it, I was ready for anything.

The atmosphere was extremely cool, you could walk right up, you were
right there. People were respectful during this opener of 'Dirt" and
Trey was perfect. As the show went on Trey got more relaxed and the
crowd sing-a-longs were amazing- I whistled along with Trey to Guyute
flawlessly and it may have been a hallucination, but I don't think it
was, but I swear that in the electric part of the set I heard a jam that
called out for parts of Crosseyed and Painless. I was happy to whistle
them hauntingly back at Trey. I'll have to hear the tapes to confirm
this. But I think I jammed with Trey for about 2 minutes. People around
me saw it too. Some guy behind me was yelling for Freebird a lot, I was
guilty of one yell of "White Room", but I knew that might start heroin
rumors though....
Speaking of drugs, I saw a few people get yanked by security and there
was a definite heavy discouragement of pot smoking...which in an
elementary school assembly might be a good thing, althought the
cigarette smoke was very thick...kind of like the teachers lounge used
to be....
This was the kind of stuff that Trey and the Phish organization are so
cool because of, this is the genuinely fun and good people that give us
so many great times.

Date:    Thu, 18 Feb 1999 22:21:50 GMT
From:    Kentalope 
Subject: Good review of Trey @ Higher Ground

This was taken from Jambands.com - a review by the loveable Jeff Waful.
Since there hasn't been one mention of the show here, and I'm sure people are
as curious as I about the happenings of the evening, I thought I'd post it.
Without further ado..

Roadtrip of the Month
"Thanks Mike"
by Jeff Waful - waful@unclesammy.com

I got the call about two weeks ago. The caller ID box was showing a Vermont
area code and the name Michael Gordon. My friend Mike Blotner lives in
Burlington and his middle name happens to be Gordon. Whenever he calls,
someone at the house always freaks out when they see the name on the caller
ID. Somehow he got a job working at Higher Ground in Winooski and on this  
particular day, he called with some very interesting news. Trey Anastasio was
playing a solo acoustic benefit show at the club and tickets would only be
available in Burlington. Out of the goodness of his heart, he thought to offer
me a pair. Although the show was taking place on the same day I was starting a
new job in Boston, I knew I couldn't pass it up. Thank god I didn't.

I don't own a car and I knew it would be tough to find someone to make the
four-hour trek north with me on a Monday night. Then I thought of Dave. Dave
Sasvavsky is the Venue of the Month editor for Jambands.com and is a live
music addict. He'll drive just about anywhere for a good show. We decided to
make the trip. Dave was psyched. The funny thing is, I wasn't really looking
forward to the show as much as you'd think. I was expecting more of a
logistical nightmare. I knew we'd have to drive back to Boston after the show
and make it to work the next morning. I thought the concert would be
completely over-sold and we'd barely be able to get in the door even with
tickets. I knew I couldn't miss it though. As we made our way onto 93 North,
both Dave and I agreed if it were anyone besides Trey playing, we would
not be going.

The trip to Vermont was effortless. The roads were dry as a bone and because
it was a holiday, there was no traffic. I threw in an Uncle Sammy bootleg and
before we knew it, we were on Route 89. After a short nap, I was surprised to
see that Burlington was just 11 miles away. It was by far the easiest road
trip I've taken in recent memory. We made it to Higher Ground by about 6:30,
about a half-hour before doors were scheduled to open. I was expecting there
to be a huge mob of people mulling around looking for extras and begging for
change. I was wrong.

Vermont is such a mellow place. We were astonished to see that the parking lot
was pretty empty. There were maybe ten people outside when we walked up to the
front door. Through the glass, I could see Trey sound checking inside. I was
excited to see that he had brought his electric guitar. Not only that, but he
had his entire stage set-up: the whole rack system, the two Fender amps and
good ol' Paul Languedoc behind the soundboard. As we waited for the doors
to  open Mike Blotner emerged with a smile. He assured us that our names were on
the list and that we would have no problems getting in.

By the time the doors opened, only about thirty people had shown up. We were
the first ones in and as I was handed my tickets I recognized the lady in the
will call booth as Shelly Culbertson. When I walked in, I spotted Trey
casually rapping with a few friends by the bar. No one paid much attention to
him. I didn't even notice him until I walked by and recognized his familiar
voice. We headed up to the stage to secure a spot. As I looked around, I
realized that the show was a completely Phish-run event. Brad Sands was
walking around with a flashlight. Kuroda was behind the lighting board. Pete
Carini was busy tuning Trey's guitars. Tom Marshall was even there drinking
beers. There were familiar faces everywhere.

I couldn't get over how relaxed the crowd was. I'm used to people sprinting up
to the front at Phish shows as soon as the doors open. An hour went by and
there were still only a handful of us up by the stage. A friendly waitress
kept bringing us drinks as as Paul played Led Zeppelin's "Physical Graffiti"
over the PA. Then a security guard politely asked us to not set our drinks on
the stage. To give you an idea of how intimate the setting was, if I had
spilled my cocktail, it would have gone all over Trey's pedals. I positioned
myself directly in front of Trey's mic stand and waited.

Finally, around 9:20 the room had filled up and Trey walked on stage in his
wool hat for the solo acoustic set. I was in awe. I've been in the front row
of Phish shows before, but this was a completely different scenario. There
were no security guards in my way. There was no gap between the stage and the
audience. I was literally two feet from Trey. I could see the texture of the
guitar strings. I could see his hand shaking because of his apparent
nervousness. He opened the show with the song Dirt and as he started to sing,
the room was completely silent. Massive chills ran down my neck and spine. It
was incredible. Words can't describe exactly how I felt. As Trey sang to us, I
felt this weird sensation come over me like I was having an out of body
experience. I didn't even sing along for fear of breaking Trey's
concentration. His eyes were closed for almost the whole song and he looked
very intense. When the song ended, the crowd went nuts and Trey seemed more at
ease. He flashed his familiar grin and seemed more like himself.

The entire acoustic set was comprised of Phish songs. This was a big surprise
to me. After "Dog Stole Things" somebody yelled out "Harpua" and Trey giggled.
It was such a great moment. When Trey started strumming the opening chords of
"Runaway Jim", I nearly screamed, out of habit. I kept it together though.
After he sang, "I had a dog his name was Jim," the audience all sang "runaway,
runaway, runaway" in unison as if it was rehearsed. Trey gave us a look of
approval and seemed amused. Next came "Brian & Robert", which was pretty
standard. I had heard that Trey had played "Gyute" during sound check and knew
he had done it acoustic at The Bridge Benefit. Still, the opening notes caught
me off guard. I was really psyched to see his fingers play the intricate
composed sections up close. I still have no idea how he does it, but it was
amazing to watch. He missed a note here and there, but simply laughed it off.
"Driver" is one of the only Phish tunes that Dave and I had predicted he
might play. By this point I had almost become desensitized to the whole situation
and had to keep reminding myself of the uniqueness of the moment. Seriously,
after a while you become used to surroundings, no matter how surreal they are.
After "Driver", Trey thanked us all for coming and said he would do one more
song before the break and then would be back for another set. He played the
ultimate electric guitar anthem: "Chalkdust." It was typical Trey, always
being unpredictable. He even played a ripping guitar solo on the acoustic. It
was a very different type of solo obviously, but it still maintained the
energy of the song.

Set break was fun. I wandered around and met a lot of cool people. They had a
stand set up with the exclusive purpose of selling Tequila shots. I rapped
with a few people and recognized a slew of Phish crew members mingling in the
crowd. The real Mike Gordon walked by seemingly unnoticed. The taper section
was buzzing with excitement. Paul was busy doing something behind the board.
When I made it back up to Dave in the front row, Brad Sands walked out on
stage. He was taping lyric sheets to Trey's monitor and asked us all of us
to  not touch them until after the show. Then the lights dimmed again and the band
walked out.

Russ Lawton, who plays in Gordon Stone's band, took a seat behind the drums
and Tony Markelis, from The Unknown Blues Band, plugged in his bass. Trey had
his custom Languedoc and I was eager to see him rip his first real solo of the
night. They opened with the Neil Young cover, "Come on Baby Let's go
Downtown." It was a pretty straight-ahead rock tune without any jamming. Next
came "Jiboo". A few minutes into the tune, the lights turned to red and Trey
started playing with his pedals. The familiar sound of his delay loop
electrified the crowd. It was so intriguing to see him solo right in front of
my face. When he shut his eyes and started rocking back and forth he almost
hit us with the neck of his guitar. The jam was funky, but was pretty short
and was just a tease of what was yet to come. The classic, "Ooh Child" came
next and was well received by the crowd. It's always great to see Trey sing a
cover for the first time because he gets so into it. He really plays the role
well. The next two songs were "Chasin The Waste", which is an F-Hole Tune,
and  "Tops Off." I had never heard either one before, but remember one of
them had a blues jam in it and the other was pretty damn funky. "I Can See
Clearly Now" was another treat. Everyone around me was groovin' and had
huge smiles on their faces. It's such an uplifting song. After "Come on
#1", Trey looked over to Tony and said, "let's get a little funky." Did
they ever. "Mozambique" absolutely raged. Russ laid down a hip hop groove
that was so in the pocket, the entire place was dancing. Even Carini was
bustin' a move on the side of the stage with the monitor guys. Tony and
Russ just played the same groove for about ten minutes and let Trey go to
town. It was so infectious. The funk was so deep. It was the absolute
highlight of the night for me. Trey has a way of making his guitar come to
life and speak to you. For a while, he only played 3 or 4 different notes,
but there was so much personality to them. It was so repetitive, yet
brilliant. I couldn't stop dancing. Next, was a great version of "Bell
Bottom Blues." Trey played the solo perfectly. The harmonies were not
so perfect. "First Tube" followed. It's one of the tunes that Trey wrote for
The Eight-Foot Florescent Tubes last year. (Tony was also in that line up).
Then Trey moved over to a small drum kit and he and Russ jammed for a
while. Russ played a very impressive solo, but everyone was paying
attention to Trey. After "Drums", I could have sworn I heard Trey say
"Possum", but was almost certain that they wouldn't do a Phish tune. Sure
enough, Trey started playing that familiar riff. As the crowd erupted, I
looked over and made eye contact with Blotner, who was on the side of the
stage. I mouthed the words "thank you" to him and he gave me the thumbs
up. "Possum" was slower than normal and it was more of a rock-a-billy
version. The solo was short and not as explosive as you're used to, but it
was still great. Tony missed the ending, but Trey gave him a look like,
"who cares" and laughed. "Last Tube" ended the set and feature a blazing
solo by Trey. He was wailing and kicking at all of his effects pedals.
After the mayhem, Trey once again thanked everyone for coming and walked
off stage.

The first song of the encore was "Ribot". Apparently, it's a Marc Ribot
tune, but I head never heard it. It was pretty mellow and funky. Then came
the big treat. Dave nearly lost it when Trey played the opening notes to
"Row Jimmy". I had tears in my eyes a few times. A couple of the roadies
on the side of thstage were really digging the song and had peaceful
smiles on their faces as they sang along. It was an amazing moment
reminiscent of the Virginia Beach encore last summer, except on an
intimate level that I can't describe.
Once again, chills ran down my back and I got an endorphin rush. I thought
for sure it would end the show, but instead Trey opted to finish off the
night with "Pistol". It was a bit of an emotional let down, but I kept
reminding myself to take in the moment, because chances are, I'll never be
that close again.

After the show, I walked up to Mike, gave him a hug and once again thanked him
for hooking us with the tickets. It was an experience that I will remember
forever and I'm glad that I was sober so my thoughts are vivid. It was not
the Road Trip of the Month. It was the road trip of a lifetime. Thanks
Mike.

peas,                                                                         
       \\ k e n t a l o p e //
                               

Date:    Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:22:02 GMT
From:    LiliElf 
Subject: Trey's solo @ Higher Ground

         People seem to be fiending for this info, so w/o a setlist here
are my impressions of the evening.

         Punctual as always I got there straight from NYC at around 8:30 after
a 7 hour drive (very pretty). There were maybe 20 or 30 kids who came w/o
tickets anyway outside, I guess it dosn't really hurt anyone to hope. Inside it
was nice and warm and a pretty nice vibe, although a little less pumped than I
would have expected. There was no warm up band for the crowd, but it was all
good anyway. Before Trey came out there was an announcement that money from the
show would go to support arts programs for underprivilidged Vermont kids (go
Trey!) plus they were selling artwork made by the kids. That put everyone in a
pretty good mood. Then Trey came up (alone) with his acoustic guitat (sp?) and
started off with Dirt, which we were all very happy to hear. It was pretty slow
and mellow to start off, which was cool. Later on the buzz was that Trey had a
pretty wicked fever that night (102*), but I was amazed when I heard
because you couldn't tell at all, especially after the second (electric)
set. Speaking of the second set, Trey put down his guitar in the middle of
it and went over to his drum set and played a wicked jam with the second
drummer. But I'm rushing. The set break was nice and long, nice because
the lines at the bar were wicked. On the other hand, there were some
really messed up people in the crowd during the second set and they got
kinda rowdy. Several elbow-chest blows into the second set I decided drunk
people are very poor dancers. I can't really blame them though, Trey was
rocking out, we couldn't help but do the same. I think the best element of
the show was the intimacy of it. I've never seen Trey in such a small
venue before, and it was great! Too bad not to see the other guys, but
this show was totally proof that Trey can pull off solo shows. I can't
wait for Carnegie Hall!

        LiliElf

ps. if you saw me I was the girl in the red Dick Tracy shirt in the front
row 


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