Phish heads up a highly rated people pleaser April 7, 1994 - The Toronto Star by Lenny Stoute Gone Phishing. They could have hung that on the Concert Hall doors way before showtime last night. With snow blowing outside, 1,800 kids went Phishing for diversion, and not ice fishing either. With the hall's furnace blasting and the neo-hippies who make up the bulk of the Phish Heads up and dancing from the first lick, BTU-wise this could qualify as the first summer show of the year. Phsh are oceans away from the slacker ethic of shoddy musicianship and so-so to boring shows. They are well enough schooled in their instruments to attract the collaboration of eclectic talents as far apart as Bela Fleck and Tower Of Power horns. Bela wasn't around last night to add his unique banjo picking to "Scent Of A Mule", a tale of country girl meets UFO that's a synthesis of Phish's main driving wheels. On the one side, there's a psychedelic approach to roots rock; on the other, an appreciation for the foot stompin', yahoo style of country music. As well, they share with Cracker and The Beautiful South a tendency to extend roots music along unexpected lines and a sense of humor rooted in life's stark absurdities. Other songs that share this skew are "Julius" and "Down With Disease", whose punny title tells it all. But the kids playing air guitar, drums and keyboards as they swished and swirled didn't come for lyrics. At least not those they didn't know. Fuelled by more reefer than a Cypress Hill show and who knows what other mind-bending ingestion, they were intent on catching a wave. Even by their own admission, Phish's songs on the Rift and A Picture Of Nectar albums are loosely structured and often building on extended jams. Live, they tend to extend the jammy stretches even more, all the better to work up that hypnotic groove the dancers pursue. Great, if that's why you're there; too much of a good thing if you were there to dig on the actual playing. A lot of bands would give their last blunt for the degree of rapport singer/guitarist Trey Anastasio and his crew have with their audience. The barest nod or mumbled word brought cheers and sudden heavings in the crowd. Some indication of their cross-audience dilemma was shown by the decision to play most of the songs off the current Hoist album faithful to their excellent recorded versions. No useful purpose would have been served by inserting a jam section into say, "Sample In A Jar", and Trey saw this up front. In terms of pleasing all of the people most of the time, Phish rates high marks for this one.