On July 13, 1994, while the Grateful Dead drew a reported 60,000 fans to northern Vermont, Phish performed five hours south at Big Birch Ski Area in Patterson, NY to a much smaller crowd who were treated to the musical risk-taking and on stage antics that Phish was slowly becoming known for, barely into their second decade of existence.
Big Birch Ski Area – now known as Thunder Ridge Ski Area – is located in the rural town of Patterson, NY, close to Connecticut border in the northern reaches of Putnam County. Big Birch would host concerts each summer at the base of the mountain hill, with parking at the top of the unimposing slope. Tickets would be purchased at the Lift Ticket window, only $18.50 for tickets at this time.
With a capacity of 6,000 and chill biker security, Phish had played Big Birch previously in 1992, opening up for Santana, but this day would be a vibe check on the growth of Phish in the greater Northeast, especially when the Grateful Dead are playing 45 minutes north of the band’s home.
Phish had started summer tour out west, similar to the Dead that year. Stretching from Utah to Virginia over the course of June, July was an all-Northeast affair, with shows in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Maine, a pair of shows in Ottawa and Montréal, Great Woods, SPAC, FLPAC in Canandaigua, Jones Beach and finally, Sugarbush in North Fayston, VT.
With such a big show and crowd expected at Highgate, some looked at the show in Patterson as the better option with fewer in attendance and the band rewarding those who made this decision. This small out of the way hill could have easily been overlooked in 1994 for the glitz and glory of all that Dead tour had in store, let alone in such a remote part of Vermont in the middle of the summer. While one band’s star was setting, the other’s was rising, but you might not know this looking subjectively at attendance (despite a capacity of 6,000, there are unconfirmed reports of only 1,000 at this show.) And for Phish, when you snooze on a mid-week show, history shows, you lose.
But for those who attended, they knew to never miss a Wednesday show. A venue that had no permanent seating under the tent did have folding chairs lined up in the front of the venue, zip-tied together. What happened next – well there are two takes on this. First, from Phish.com:
“Fans in the front dissembled the rows of zip-tied folding chairs and stacked them to maximize dancing space.”
or you can take the first hand account of user SoundBoy1 on Phish.net:
“Inside the venue had set up probably 1000 or so folding chairs in the front of the stage. They may have been ziptied together but in no way permanent. As soon as the show started the chairs went flying in every direction including the stage. There were piles of chairs in random spots through out the crowd. They were also being thrown on stage and the band was dodging them. I remember Brad Sands standing a bit offstage and corralling what he could… It took awhile for all that to settle down. During It’s Ice you can hear some feedback and Page sounds like he’s fidgeting around a bit. I think that was due to chair chucking. So first set was totally solid but no real hint of what was to go down.”
Either way, Phish fans weren’t going to be seated for this show or have dance space impeded by meager folding chairs. The first set was playful, with a “Buried Alive” right out of the gate and a burst of energy from the “Poor Heart” that followed. Hoist, having been just released in April that year, found “Sample in a Jar” early in the set, followed by two live show staples, “Foam” and “The Mango Song.”
A light jam emerged from the still new “Down with Disease,” Trey sang on megaphone during “Fee” and a pair of Rift songs – “It’s Ice” and “Fast Enough For You” – added to the consistent flow of the show. “I Didn’t Know” would feature Jon Fishman (Greasy Fizeek) on trombone for a change, shifting smoothly into a “Split Open and Melt” that ended the set.
This first set is truly smooth flowing with a big cap ending in the “Melt,” but Set 2 was the treat the fans who followed the lines going south, instead of north. Opening with an unrefined “Possum,” the jam gets weird and stays that way, as the loose jam almost falls apart but is salvaged nicely. “Cavern” started with the typical drum intro, but when the lyrics arose, “Wilson” was sung instead by Trey, leaving the fan (and band?) confused for a moment. A rare mashup for Phish, they weave in and out organically of the two songs, never perfectly but just enough to make this mashup a must listen.
The still new “NICU” bridged the gap to a “Tweezer” that seemed to open up with that part of a “Tweezer” jam right after the lyrics, but moved into the natural progression of the song after that, dialing in after following what could be considered a clumsy entry. Jazzy noodling at the end led into into a slow jam that found its way into an unsuspecting “Julius.” The “Tweezer” jam just seems to keep going if you aren’t watching the time tick from track to track. This isn’t a Bomb Factory “Tweezer” but the slow return would feature a few teases, including “I Know a Little” (Lynyrd Skynyrd) and make way for a country/western version of “Big Black Furry Creature From Mars” that took its time finding the ending of “Tweezer,” eventually.
An ample “Mound” seemed to fit the venue nicely, with “Slave to the Traffic Light” starting very airy with a patient build towards the peak, the “Suzy Greenberg” that followed featuring “Slave” teases from Anastasio. The encore of “My Sweet One” and “Tweezer Reprise” capped the night, maintaining the energy of the first set and the cacophony of the second, a treat for the fans who made the call to see this show in southern New York.
The band would pack up and head west for Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center in Canadaigua (now CMAC), then Jones Beach the night after. Traversing the state for these shows, plus the finale at Sugarbush was prime 1994 Phish, was a treat if you were able to see it in person.
Listen to the show on PhishTracks or download from Etree.
Setlist via Phish.net
Phish – Big Birch Concert Pavilion, Patterson, NY – July 13, 1994
Set 1: Buried Alive > Poor Heart > Sample in a Jar, Foam, The Mango Song, Down with Disease > Fee[1] -> It’s Ice > Fast Enough for You, I Didn’t Know[2], Split Open and Melt
Set 2: Possum, Cavern -> Wilson[3] -> Cavern > NICU -> Tweezer -> Julius -> Tweezer -> Big Black Furry Creature from Mars[4] -> Tweezer -> Mound > Slave to the Traffic Light > Suzy Greenberg
Encore: My Sweet One > Tweezer Reprise
[1] Trey sang verses through megaphone.
[2] Fish on trombone.
[3] Played to the tune of Cavern.
[4] Unfinished; Played bluegrass style to the tune of Scent of a Mule.
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