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1974 was a big year for the Grateful Dead in all ways. Following the success of 1973 and using that to build the gigantic Wall of Sound, the Dead played some of their best, and longest, gigs to date. Today we take a look at one of those. It has been released as a Road Trips but with all due respect, they butchered the production on it. Here it is in all it's glory.

One of the best of a wonderful year. 6-18-74 Freedom Hall in Louisville,KY

The whole band was on fire for this excursion near the Mason-Dixon line. With a rare-ish first set "Eyes" that melts into a "China Doll" and a hard rocking "Around and Around", the whole first set is just magic. I'm not going song by song because this is one of those shows that should be listen to as a whole piece of music because each song has a strong showing by everybody.

Like normal, the meat of the show is in the second set. It really kicks off with a "Weather Report Suite" that Jerry slays during the "Let It Grow" segment and after a ten minute jam melts into "The Other One". After going on a psychedelic bus ride for about twenty minutes the band returned to Pigpen territory with an,"It's a Sin" jam that drifts into an absolutely gorgeous "Stella Blue". The band could have stopped right there but they were on a roll and so they finished up with a "TN Jed" and a "Sugar Magnolia". The Sugar Mags was were they said there goodnights but the real end of the show was when they came back out for the encore and tore the proverbial roof off the sucker with an absolutely breathtaking "Morning Dew" that got the rare call in the encore slot. Jerry didn't pull a punch and the band followed suit. This show is one of the highlights of 74' and listen to Phil during the Dew and you'll yearn for the Wall of Sound.

Set 1:
d1t01 - The Promised Land
d1t02 - It Must Have Been The Roses
d1t03 - Black Throated Wind
d1t04 - Ramble On Rose
d1t05 - Beat It On Down The Line
d1t06 - Loser
d1t07 - Mexicali Blues
d1t08 - Eyes Of The World ->
d1t09 - China Doll
d1t10 - Around And Around

Set 2:
d2t01 - Loose Lucy
d2t02 - El Paso
d2t03 - Row Jimmy
d2t04 - Weather Report Suite ->
d2t05 - The Other One ->
d2t06 - It's A Sin Jam ->
d2t07 - Stella Blue
d2t08 - Big River
d3t01 - Tennessee Jed
d3t02 - Sugar Magnolia

Encore:
d3t03 - Morning Dew

On Halloween in Chicago, after one of my favorite shows ever in Louisville, Phish tried on it's second musical costume, The Who's Quadrophenia in 1995.

After one of my favorite shows ever, that included "Kung" and "Shaggy Dog", Phish took the party to Rosemont Horizon in Chicago. It was in 95' and Phish was destroying America like The Who destroyed it's instruments. After a fan vote to play Zappa, the band decided not to play the fan's choice due to the complexity of the music, possibly offensive lyrics, and Zappa's own wishes not to have those songs played again, Phish went to the second place winner and donned the costume of those mod monsters, The Who, and covered Quadrophenia.

Quadrophenia was The Who's sixth studio album and following two massive albums, including Tommy, was another album of a hugely ambitious scale. It was released in 1973 and was widely considered a great album and has only grown in regard since then. Phish was on a tour that was one of the most amazing fall tour's in their history. They completed the year with a triumphant run at MSG and released an album of the NYE show that is considered one of their best live albums.

The album Quadrophenia is about a mod named Jimmy who searches and struggles to find his identity and make his way in the world. Each of the members of the band had their own theme. For Keith Moon, he was the bell boy. In concert, crew member Leigh Fordham, of ""46 Days" fame, came out and sang the theme for Keith Moon, "The Bell Boy". The Who's album came out after Tommy, so Pete Townshend was looking to make a bigger statement and break new ground. The album, produced by Glyn Johns of Rolling Stones fame, did this in spades. Utilizing new studio techniques and writing some of the best instrumentals of his career, Townshend made an album so good, it almost couldn't be reproduced onstage at the time. Phish took on the challenge and with an all-star horn section behind them, like Dave Grippo, managed to stage it just fine, now that technology had caught up to Pete Townshend.

Phish performed the whole album after a first set of teases and hints, opening the show with "Icculus" and just getting better from there. When the "om-pa-pa" finally rang out, Mike told a wild story about raccoons and then after a "Beat It" tease from Thriller Trey mentioned Jimmy was listening to the Halloween album and then during setbreak they played "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" leaving the fans wondering if they were going to get pranked like last year's Dark Side bells before the White Album. But it wasn't to be, Phish came out and played the whole Quadrophenia album, with the help of a horn section and at the end of the show, during a slower, Phish-ier version of"My Generation" Trey and Fish destroyed their instruments, like The Who used too. This was followed by a crew member bringing out a plunger and after it was pushed down, an explosion went off backstage. Before we go to the tape, this was the time in Phishtory when the band was still playing chess and the costume contest winner, a Wookie, had stage fright and couldn't make the move.

The third set is famous for the forty-minute YEM. It was absolutely one of the highlights of this highlight-filled show and set the bar for YEM's like the Memphish "Tweezer"did for that song. "You Enjoy Myself" was also followed by a smoking "Jesus Left Chicago" and the show went into the books as one of Phish's greatest moments. I'm not a huge Who fan but after Louisville, I kidnapped my rider and made him go to Chicago with me. We bought insanely expensive tickets for a hundred dollars each but we got on the floor and looking back, the scalping situation has only gotten worse but the show made us forget everything. Now for the main event:

Greg Heffelfinger

this is an audio only version but it is SBD and is the whole show

Soundcheck: Guyute, Suzy Greenberg (x2), Jam, Suzy Greenberg, Jesus Just Left Chicago, Jam

SET 1: Icculus, Divided Sky, Wilson > Ya Mar, Sparkle > Free, Guyute, Run Like an Antelope, Harpua[1]

SET 2: I Am the Sea[2], The Real Me[2] > Quadrophenia[2], Cut My Hair[2], The Punk Meets the Godfather[2], I'm One[2], The Dirty Jobs[2] > Helpless Dancer[2], Is It In My Head?[2], I've Had Enough[2], 5:15[2], Sea and Sand[2], Drowned[2], Bell Boy[3], Doctor Jimmy[2] > The Rock[2], Love, Reign O'er Me[2]

SET 3: You Enjoy Myself , Jesus Just Left Chicago [4], A Day in the Life > Suzy Greenberg[5]

ENCORE: My Generation[6]

[1] Narration from Mike about raccoons.
[2] Phish debut; Dave Grippo on alto saxophone, Don Glasgo on trombone, Joey Sommerville on trumpet and Alan Parshley on French horn.
[3] Phish debut; Dave Grippo on alto saxophone, Don Glasgo on trombone, Joey Sommerville on trumpet and Alan Parshley on French horn, Leigh Fordham sang Keith Moon's original part.
[4] Dave Grippo on alto saxophone.
[5] Dave Grippo on alto saxophone, Don Glasgo on trombone, and Joey Sommerville on trumpet.
[6] Phish debut; acoustic.

(courtesy of phish.net)

Also, do yourself a favor and listen to this show as well. My first shows, my mind had a mind of it's own and this was the "one" that I really got it.