Twenty Years Later: Phish Teases Ween in Providence

Twenty years ago tonight Phish played the Providence Performing Arts Center in Providence, Rhode Island as the second stop of their cross-country Spring Tour. It’s a show that I’ve listened to often since I received a crispy recording of this memorable performance. The quartet debuted Sample In A Jar that night, but my listening sessions often focus on two fantastic pieces of music from PPAC.

[Photo via Nedstalgia]

Towards the beginning of the second set Phish embarks on what would turn out to be a 25-minute sequence in which they worked The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday and Avenu Malkenu into the middle of their traditional Mike’s Groove song suite. Dubbed “The Man Who Stepped Into Mike’s Groove” by fans, it would be the second time since 1988 that Phish didn’t follow Mike’s Song with I Am Hydrogen following the Mike’s > Auld Lang Syne from New Year’s Eve ’92-’93. Not only that, the band worked a bit of Ween’s Push th’ Little Daises, which had just been released as a single, into Weekapaug. Guitarist Trey Anastasio and drummer Jon Fishman both mentioned their appreciation of label mate Ween in interviews that took place around this time. Here’s remastered audio of The Man Who Stepped Into Mike’s Groove from the first Faux The Archives compilation

Phish also delivered an exceptional version of Harry Hood that evening…

For a first-hand account of Phish’s performance at PPAC on February 4th, 1993, be sure to read HT contributor Aaron “Neddy” Stein’s Nedstalgia piece on it.

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4 Responses

  1. This was my second show… it has been a while since I listened to this gem, but thanks to your write-up I just put the show on… Thanks!

  2. Ahhh, I was going to Providence College and was at this show and it was awesome. It was a smaller venue and was fun to see Fishman mess up the words to the song. These were the days when they could actually sing accapella and you could hear it. Thanks for bringing it back to me.

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