JEMP Records has announced the release of “Phish: Niagara Falls”. In stores and online November 12, 2012. This 3-Disc set includes the complete concert plus bonus material including “Poor Heart” from that nights soundcheck and an enclosed download card for the digital MP3 version of the release as well as a sampling of full-track downloadable archival video singles of band’s 12/7/95 at the Niagara Falls Convention Center in Niagara Falls, NY.
December 1995 was a universally recognized high point for Phish. The band found themselves at Niagara Falls – straddling the border between the United States and Canada beside the fastest flowing, highest, most powerful waterfall in North America.
“Niagara Falls” balanced Phish’s bluegrass and barbershop quartet talents with a healthy dose of expansive improvisation, for which this era of Phish is renowned. The show featured standout playing throughout both sets to mirror the breadth and power of the setting near the falls.
This set is available for pre-order now at Phish Dry Goods. Everyone who pre-orders from Phish Dry Goods will also receive a Limited Edition David Welker Niagara Falls screen printed mini-print, created exclusively for this release (while supplies last)
Niagara Falls Setlist:
CD 1/3
1. The Old Home Place
2. The Curtain >
3. AC/DC Bag >
4. Demand >
5. Rift
6. Slave To The Traffic Light
7. Guyute
8. Bouncing Around The Room >
9. Possum
10. Hello My Baby
CD 2/3
1. Audience Chess Move
2. Split Open And Melt
3. Strange Design >
4. Taste >
5. Reba
6. Julius
CD 3/3
1. Sleeping Monkey >
2. Sparkle >
3. Mike’s Song >
4. Weekapaug Groove
5. Amazing Grace
Encore:
6. Uncle Pen
Filler – from Soundcheck:
7. Poor Heart
Niagra Falls Blurb
Fall tour and especially the month of December 1995 was a universally recognized high point for Phish. The band’s songbook had grown to include five studio albums plus A Live One, which had just been released in June. Page and Trey had both expanded their instrumentation that year with Trey adding a Leslie rotating speaker for his guitar as well as a small auxilary percussion kit used mostly during extended jams to deepen the rhythms and open up musical space. The lighting rig was expanded to fill growing venues as Phish became an arena band. The ongoing band vs. audience chess match was underway, bringing a certain intimacy to the shows. It was a time of growth and of boundless onstage experimentation. It was with this background that the band found themselves at Niagara Falls – straddling the border between the United States and Canada beside the fastest flowing, highest, most powerful waterfall in North America.
Niagara Falls has a long history of inspiring natives, travelers, adventurers, artists and romantics. By the beginning of the 20th Century, a series of daredevils sought to test the falls with varying degrees of success by riding over them in barrels or passing over the crest of the falls on tightropes. Toward the end of the 20th Century, on December 7, 1995, Phish played their one and only Niagara Falls show to-date at the Niagara Falls Convention Center. Niagara Falls was the ninth-to-last show on a 54-show tour that had already seen many high points – a handful of which have already been released as live albums including the Lincoln, Rosemont, Orlando, Heshey and Binghamton shows. The Niagara Falls venue was a multi-purpose gymnasium-style arena with a capacity of about 9,000. Tickets were general admission and cost $20.00. It was freezing cold outside and the mist of the falls turned to ice when it hit the ground, but inside the venue the band turned up the heat.
The December 7, 1995 show balanced Phish’s bluegrass and barbershop quartet talents with a healthy dose of expansive jamming for which this era of Phish is renowned. The band opened and closed the show with bluegrass songs and it was the only show to-date where both sets ended with an A capella song. The show featured standout playing with high-wire improv spread throughout both sets that mirrored the breadth and power of the nearby falls. Set I highlights included a hot combination of The Curtain > AC/DC Bag > Demand > Rift, a blazing first set Slave To The Traffic Light and a huge Possum. Among Set II highpoints were a legendary over-the-falls freakout of a Split Open And Melt opener with a nod to Inna Gadda Da Vida, a fast and furious Reba with a soaring jam and an unusual ending that led to a deep swinging Julius with a slight lyrical twist. The set ended with a bone-crushing Mike’s Song > Weekapaug Groove – one of just three times this combination was played. The extended ending of Mike’s Song found Trey on his percussion setup as the music cascaded into Weekapaug Groove. A dynamic jam graced the end of Weekapaug Groove, which ended with a digital delay loop section that almost launched Maze before showcasing drums and keys in a final improvisation as the band made their way upstage for a barbershop finale. Amazing Grace payed tribute to the majesty of the place and time and helped set up the Uncle Pen encore. Niagara Falls was a daredevil excursion through the heights of December 1995 – a jam packed show that never let up, with a flow to match its fury as it churned past the escarpment.
Niagara Falls was recorded by Paul Languedoc to 2-track DAT and mastered by Fred Kevorkian. Poor Heart (the slow version) from the soundcheck was included as filler at the end of CD 3. Niagara Falls will be available as a 3-CD set at stores and for download at livephish.com on November 12, 2013.
