Phish Flies At SPAC July 11, 1994 - Times Union (Albany, NY) by Michael Eck Woodstock '94 may still be a month away, but the spirit of the original festival was easily found Sunday night at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center everywhere from the stage to the back lawn. Burlington, Vermont's Phish returned to the area with their particular brand of retro rock and roll Sunday, jamming out well over two hours of the stuff to a healthy crowd of about 12,000. Phish echoes the flower power era in both its eclecticism and its improvisation freely drawing on country, funk, and esoteric jazz as well as their familiar rock base. Their sound borrows liberally from the period as well, with plenty of trippy songs leading into zippy choruses. Their broad audience mirrors the same blend, marked in Saratoga by a mix of tie-dyed weekend warriors, normal joes, furry freak-flag-flying freaks, and lots of young retro-hippies. The law boasted a veritable circus show. Inside the shed, tapers set up a (sanctioned) little electric forest to capture the show for trading in the parking lot later. Phish cracked open the first set with the hard-charging ''Chalk Dust Torture,'' proving without a doubt that they can not only groove, but rock. And rock hard. Guitarist Trey Anastasio didn't waste any time diving into the first of one guitar solo after another, spiking ''Chalk Dust'' with a high energy race to the finish. Two songs later, the quartet offered a dead-on tribute to one of their prime influences the recently deceased Frank Zappa with a loving take of his mini-pop symphony ''Peaches En Regalia.'' Other first set highlights included ''Stash'' (from ''A Picture of Nectar''), ''My Friend, My Friend'' (from ''Rift'') and the pretty ''If I Could'' (from their latest release, ''Hoist''). ''Stash'' found the audience giving up some Latin flavored soul-clapping in response to Anastasio's intro guitar figure. Page McConnell's driving grand piano pushed the song through one crashing chorus after another, locking in with drummer Jon Fishman and bassist Mike Gordon's impossible groove to create a groove for Anastasio's pyrotechnics. ''If I Could'' opened with a pleasant New Riders of the Purple Sage-like feel; slowly turning from harmony-laden country rock into a chiming jam based on another singing sustain-laden Anastasio solo. The first set closed like it opened, with the aggression of ''Cavern,'' the ersatz title track of ''A Picture of Nectar.'' If the first set seemed a little indulgent, the second one jumped in with both feet, trying to splash the lifeguard. Here, all the jamming just about reached the numbing point, and the band started repeating itself at a rapid pace. Well, c'est la vie. Most folks were too busy dancing to worry. The boys in the band did throw in a few interesting treats though, including a funky instrumental stab at the War classic ''Low Rider.'' About halfway through the long riff, a wave of recognition and applause eased its way through the crowd. Anastasio and Gordon also trotted out their favorite trick: playing while bouncing on trampolines. They don't flip like Nils Lofgren used to, but it's always a lark to see a couple guys boinging up and down. Especially when they're doing it under the mesmerizing spell of strobe lights.