Fanciful Phish Delivers Whopper of a Show April 2, 1993 - Portland Oregonian By Phil Smith Both concerts by Phish Wednesday and Thursday nights had been sold out for days, so when the lights dimmed for the first show, everyone packing the Roseland Theater jumped up to hoot and holler. Four hours later, the capacity crowd of 1,120 was still jumping in ecstasy, quieting down only when the goofy but virtuosic rock quartet from Vermont concluded their encore with -- no kidding -- an a cappella, four-part barbershop rendition of "Sweet Adelide," delivered to a young woman they'd pulled on stage from the front row. Phish is not a band of whom one would say, "They're nothing if not . . ." this or that, because they are this, that, and a whole lot more. At their rock 'n' roll best, Trey Anastasio on guitar and vocals, Mike Gordon on bass and vocals, Page McConnell on keyboards and vocals, and Jon "Tubbs" Fishman on drums tend to play lengthy, awe-inspiring jams with a Southern-rock flavor. It's Phish's style of throwing myriad other ingredients into their spicy musical stews that keeps audiences on their toes. Try to imagine the early Allman Brothers mixing it up with Frank Zappa. In one 15-minute piece, for example, Phish started with a very complex jazz piece, then transformed it into a rock song that had everyone pogo-dancing as the band jammed and sang for 10 minutes. Taking a few technically amazing side excursions en route, they finally ended with a silly little "doop-duh-doop" from what sounded like a cartoon soundtrack. At various times the band would find itself playing jazz, bluegrass, reggae, 12-bar blues, classical piano solos, calypso, new age, falsetto soul and movements that could only be described as having a tender melodic beauty. There were also a few original genres, such as an a cappella jam among all four making nothing but mouth noises. For less-inspiring groups, every key or time-signature change runs a risk of losing at least a few listeners. But Phish has an amazing ability to toss out such changeups continuously, and each one pulls every single listener deeper into the overall groove. Each musician in Phish is a technical whiz on his respective instrument. But they're also great entertainers, not above wowing the crowd with a flashy bit of choreography. Some other visual highlights had the band bouncing on trampolines in mid-song, collapsing en masse, and tossing three, gigantic beach balls out to the audience, which gleefully batted them about. Article © 1993 Portland Oregonian