Fans netted by Phish's musical brainstorming December 31, 1996 - The Boston Globe By Steve Morse The parallels between Phish and the Grateful Dead have been recited to death. Suffice to say, Phish is carving its own niche more and more, taking its predominantly neo-hippie fans on new, post-Dead adventures that honor the Dead's legacy while expanding upon it. Last night's sold-out FleetCenter show - the prelude to tonight's New Year's Eve bash - found Phish playing with increased confidence and abandon. The music had its own resonance, even if the scene around the Fleet was eerily similar to a Dead show with ticketless fans walking around in a desperate stupor. They clogged Causeway Street and filled the side streets as hippie vendors did their thing and drum music echoed through the darkness. Inside, the 19,000 Phish-heads - lucky recipients of the toughest ticket to land in a while - were caught up in Phish's musical brainstorming. Phish is a more cerebral, more versatile band than the Dead had become in its waning years. Phish's strength is its crescendo-reaching jams, of which there were many last night. Its weakness, however, is its reliance on absurdist lyrics that may connect playfully, but often lack the Dead's soul and depth - hence the reason why some hardcore Deadheads may never come around to Phish. But Phish's musical alertness more than compensates for the lyrical shortcomings. This is a group that listens intently to what each member is doing, versus some of the randomness that often collapsed late-era Dead shows. Phish's musical cast is remarkably consistent, especially keyboardist Page McConnell, who had a stellar night playing block chords on piano and piercing, high-register sustains on organ. His excellence almost gets taken for granted, but he has made keyboards a more central motif than they ever were with the Dead. Phish played two sets (yes, another Dead parallel), opening the first with the jazzy "Yamar," the Cream-vibed "Sloth" and a fast-paced "Llama," with McConnell rocking hard and singer/guitarist Trey Anastasio keeping up with elan. The first set contained a Dead-like space jam, along with two understated tunes from the new "Billy Breathes" album ("Talk" and "Theme from the Bottom"). It also lifted off with the hard-edged blues of "Funky Bitch" and closed with a whomping version of Led Zeppelin's "Good Times, Bad Times." The most unforgettable part of the set, though, was when the PA went out on "Funky Bitch," and the band pantomimed their way through it, with Anastasio playing air guitar and Jon Fishman playing air drums. Many fans thought it was a planned performance art piece, but it was really Phish's comical way of transforming a hassle into a coup. The second set picked up considerably and took a bluegrassy turn. It opened with "Timber Ho," followed by a sleek treatment of Bill Monroe's bluegrass signature, "Uncle Pen." Then came an accelerating jam on "AC/DC Bag," another on "Guyute" and several on the marathon "Tweezer." Here, Phish's lyrical horseplay was most evident, with Anastasio uttering the cartoony line, "Won't you step into the freezer/ Squeeze her with a tweezer." Don't worry, it's not supposed to make any grand sense. The song was shorter than the 35-minute version on Phish's live album, but it was still the longest of the night and was accompanied by intense strobes from the band's mega-size lighting grid. The evening continued with "Life Boy" and more bluegrass with "Scent of a Mule" (bassist Mike Gordon is the ardent bluegrass fan in the group). Deadline pressure forced me to miss the rest of the show, but I'd heard enough to know that Phish is an impressive work in progress, reaching peaks of energy that made you understand their incredible popularity. They need to work on their vocals and their lyrics, but they're already positioned as the neo-hippie band of the millennium; and the rest should come in time. Tonight's show will be taped for broadcast by WBCN (104.1 FM) tomorrow at 1 p.m. Happy New Year. article © 1996 Globe Newspaper Company