Phish: new archival release 11/12/94 MAC Center at Kent State University, Kent, OH

Another archival Phish release is available for streaming and download: 11/12/94 MAC Center at Kent State University, Kent, OH :

November 12, 1994 Phish returned to The Buckeye State to play the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center (aka MAC Center) on the Kent State University campus in Kent, Ohio. The MAC Center is a 1950’s wood-floored gymnasium with a storied music history including performances by Duke Ellington, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Bob Dylan and CSNY. When Phish landed at Kent State in 1994, they were in the midst of a 46-date, nationwide fall tour following the release of their fifth studio album, Hoist. The fall shows were recorded on multitrack for what would become A Live One. Kent State ’94 was a Saturday night – Phish’s first show back after a week off and the first major concert in the newly-renovated MAC Center. Kent State students had voted for Phish in an All Campus Programming Board band survey. Tickets cost $18.00 and the show was sold out.

11/12/94 is well known among fans - another incredible night in the Ohio Phish tradition - based on audience recordings and filler from the 2-track tapes released on 12/1/94 Salem, Oregon LivePhish in 2005. The stereo recordings were good but the Kent State ‘94 multitrack mix delivers a full-immersion trip back to 1994. This show’s highlights began in set I with a classic Runaway Jim/Foam opener and killer Maze, Guyute and Stash before wrapping the set with Esther > Chalk Dust Torture. Set II got underway with a Julius opener followed by a top-notch Fluffhead which led to a molten Down With Disease > Have Mercy > Down With Disease combination that set the stage for decades of wide-open experimental DwD’s to come. Lifeboy followed before a three-song acoustic excursion (including fall’s latest cover, Foreplay/Long Time) that previewed the upcoming midwest bluegrass tutorial with ARU’s Rev. Jeff Mosier. Harry Hood drove the set to another emotional peak before the set-closing Golgi Apparatus and Sample In A Jar encore.

11/12/94 Kent State was recorded by Paul Languedoc to digital multitrack and was mixed/mastered by Jon Altschiller.

Setlist and notes from phish.net:

SET 1: Runaway Jim, Foam, If I Could, Maze, Guyute, Stash, Esther > Chalk Dust Torture

SET 2: Julius, Fluffhead > Down with Disease -> Have Mercy -> Down with Disease[1] -> Lifeboy, Rift, The Old Home Place[2], Nellie Kane[2], Foreplay/Long Time[2], Harry Hood, Golgi Apparatus

ENCORE: Sample in a Jar

[1] Unfinished.
[2] Acoustic.
Have Mercy was played for the first time since August 14, 1993 (111 shows). Down with Disease was unfinished. The Old Home Place, Nellie Kane, and Foreplay/Long Time were performed acoustic.

» livephish.com