In just two ONE week, Phish will break nearly five years of silence with a three night run in one of their favorite venues: Hampton Coliseum. Over the next two weeks, we’ll give you a little look back at what makes Hampton Coliseum so special to Phish, their fans, and more.

In 1995, Phish announced their fall tour and included an October date at Hampton Coliseum. I’m not sure if the Phish community at large saw this as more than just another show but I certainly did. I spread the word amongst my friends and ordered my tickets. This was a must-see, in my book. We (my girlfriend and I) stayed at the beach with my friend Rob and had a terrific time.

Here’s the setlist:

1995-11-25 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA
1: Poor Heart, A Day in the Life > David Bowie, Billy Breathes > Taste That Surrounds,
Bouncing Around the Room > Rift, Wolfman's Brother, Runaway Jim
2: Timber (Jerry) > Kung, Mike's Song > Rotation Jam > Mike's Song,
My Long Journey Home, I'm Blue I'm Lonesome, Strange Design > Weekapaug Groove,
Harry Hood, Hello My Baby, Poor Heart
E: Poor Heart Reprise, Fire
Show Notes: The first set Poor Heart was the original version.
The second set Poor Heart was the slow, shuffle version.
The Poor Heart Reprise slower, but only a few lines of the song were played.

The thing with “Poor Heart” was pretty crazy. To this day, I have no explanation for that other than the band forgetting that they’d played it. Everything was immaculately played; the feel in the room was incredible; with fans just grooving and having the best time. The “Rotation Jam” was bizarre (and it might not have been “immaculately played” but that’s beside the point) and a real treat to witness. All in all, this was a great start to a long love affair between Phish and the Hampton Coliseum.

That weekend carries with it another hallmark; something that is, personally, more significant than the good Phish show. The next day I learned that I was going to be a father. It was for this that I missed Phish’s next two visits to Hampton.

The first, exactly eleven months after the 1995 show, came in October 1996. This show is good, but not epic. In fact, we’re going to gloss over it almost entirely save for one significant note. Trey made the following announcement from the stage during this show:

Sometimes people ask me what the uh, best rooms that we play are ah, in are. This is pretty much it, for me. Just so you know to answer the question. Good sound. Everyone gets to go where they want on the floor. You can’t beat it.

Not the most eloquent of statements but, it does suggest why they came back again in 1997 and played two of their most renowned shows.

Here’s the setlists:

1997-11-21 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA
1: Emotional Rescue > Split Open and Melt, Beauty of My Dreams, Dogs Stole Things,
Punch You in the Eye > Lawn Boy, Chalk Dust Torture, Prince Caspian
2: Ghost > AC/DC Bag, Slave to the Traffic Light, Loving Cup
E: Guyute

1997-11-22 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA
1: Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Harry Hood, Train Song, Billy Breathes,
Frankenstein, Izabella
2: Halley's Comet > Tweezer > Black-Eyed Katy > Piper, Run Like An Antelope
E: Bouncing Around the Room, Tweezer Reprise

Where to begin? The Rolling Stones’ “Emotional Rescue”? Really? That song, from the album of the same name is the Stones’ disco “effort” but here, after an amusingly faithful attempt to cover the song (don’t let the falsetto vocals scare you off, folks,) Phish stretches it out with an additional ten minutes of cow-funk jamming before landing in “Split Open and Melt”. The “Ghost > AC/DC Bag” is a sublime journey with some phenomenal improvisation that simply must be heard to be believed. The “Slave To The Traffic Light” that follows is spot-on too.

The next night doesn’t mess around either. First set opens with a killer 30+minute “Mike’s Groove” followed by a “Harry Hood”. That’s a pretty great way to spend the bulk of an hour. The fact that set two opened with a 25-minute “Halley’s Comet” does not suck at all. And, when the “Halley’s…” segues into “Tweezer” which then segues into “Black Eyed Katie” also does not even remotely suck. This is awesome stuff, folks. Don’t just take my word for it, check out the reviews at Phish.net: 11/21 & 11/22.

Jump ahead yet another year and Phish (and I) returned to the Coliseum; for two more nights. Accompanying me for our first Phish shows together was my future wife, Amy. what’s better than a worry-free weekend seeing Phish? Seeing those shows with a person with whom you are completely smitten. I won’t bog this down with too much of that talk but, suffice to say, these shows carry a little extra importance for me for that reason. How was the music, you ask?

Objectively, it was probably not as good as the 1997 shows but it was still a pretty great weekend. My friends, Modi and Randi, were there for the first night. We picked a great spot, low on Page’s side, a had a great show. For the second night, my buddy Chris came down from Richmond. He was among the crew that took me to my first Grateful Dead show and we had subsequently attended a few more but, we had not seen Phish together. We picked some seats in the back and danced our faces off.

Outside the 11-20 Show

Here’s the setlists:

1998-11-20 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA
1: Rock and Roll Part Two, Tube, Quinn the Eskimo, Funky Bitch, Guelah Papyrus, Rift,
Meat > Stash, Train Song, Possum, Roggae, Driver, Split Open and Melt
2: Bathtub Gin > Piper, Axilla > Roses Are Free, Farmhouse, HYHU >
Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It > HYHU, Harry Hood, Character Zero
E: Cavern
Show Notes:
Quinn the Eskimo last played 1987-08-10 (970 shows)
Rock and Roll Part Two, first time played
Cavern w/ Carl Gerhard: trumpet

1998-11-21 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA
1: Wilson > Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, Lawn Boy, Divided Sky, Cry Baby Cry,
Boogie On Reggae Woman > NICU, Dogs Stole Things, Nellie Kane, Foam,
Wading in the Velvet Sea, Guyute, Bold as Love
2: Sabotage, Mike's Song > Simple > The Wedge, The Mango Song > Free >
Ha Ha Ha > Free, Weekapaug Groove
E: Tubthumping
Show Notes:
Tubthumping, first time played w/ Tom Marshall: vocals, Carl Gerhard: trumpet

Whenever we returned home from shows, Craig, an old friend who is not a huge Phish fan, would always ask if Phish had played “Quinn The Eskimo”. This was one of his favorite songs to see the Grateful Dead play and, knowing that Phish had played it in the 80’s, he held out an odd optimism that it would return. When they finally brought it back that night, I thought of Craig. I couldn’t wait to call him so he could ask his usual question (which, by the way, he didn’t do.) Later, when the crew laid out poster-sized lyrics sheets on the stage for Fishman, Modi jumped up and down and, before the first bit on music was played, he shouted, “He’s gonna rap! He’s gonna rap!” Sure enough, Fishman took on that Will Smith song and did it a bit of justice. If nothing else, the moment was hilarious.

Don’t just take my word for it; see for yourself:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx-5-KU3bpc[/youtube]

I will add that, personally, I have never been more disappointed by an encore than I was that second night. Some enjoyed it, I just don’t dig the song. Oh, well. Phish clearly enjoyed the shows as, in 1999, they released a boxed set entitled, “Hampton Comes Alive”. The six-disc set features both complete shows. (Check out an amusing and reasonably fair review of the album from Entertainment Weekly here.)

Coming up: Phish leads us into the new century, takes a break, comes back, and breaks up again.