(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

This show is an absolute classic from the grand Somerville Theater. This was my first chance to see the Aquarium Rescue Unit, and I was absolutely blown away. But on to Phish"....The first set is highlighted by "TMWSIY" -> "Avenu" and a sick "Tweezer". 1991 was a pretty good year for "Tweezer", come to think of it. But games are always won in the second half, and the same holds true for Phish shows. The "AC/DC Bag" -> "Curtain" -> "Sloth" that opens up this set is incredible if only for the transitions. "AC/DC" just melts away and "Curtain" emerges right tin stride. And the "Curtain" -> "Sloth" baton swap is the mind blower. "Curtain" fades out and "Sloth" fades in with astonishing power. I love this transition. We were also treated with a great Jim and Tela, not to mention the "Harpua" with Jimmy watching the "Bruins kicking the Penguins' ass!" Get this show. I guarantee you will love it.

https://forum.phish.net/forum/permalink/1377934557

From the phish.net Interview with Trey Anastasio - Somerville, MA - November 21, 1991:

"Tonight, I felt -- I had thoughts, halfway through the first set -- sometimes you're feeling, "Well, we've got to get the audience going," that might be something you feel, but I'm just feeling totally and utterly tonight like "I don't care, at all, about the audience," in a way, and that sounds bad, at first. It may sound bad. But that popped into my head. It just seemed like I was seeing the structure of the importance of my life and what was going on, and at the time, I just had no interest in cheerleading the audience in any way, and getting the audience riled up or playing a big hit song or something like that. I didn't care at all. And then we went into Weekapaug Groove, at which point the set had been going on, all these different experiences had been going through my head, and we just completely started going into new areas. At which point I felt completely energized, wasn't tired at all, forgot all about that stuff, but I had gotten to that point through being totally relaxed because I was in Boston, and I knew that the crowd was friends of ours, and we had nothing to prove in Boston, at all. If there's any place we have nothing to prove, it's the Somerville Theater. "

The above quote may strike some as typical Big Red hyperbole, but Phish certainly backed up his claim. At the time of that interview, Phish had just completed their seventh (and final) show at the Somerville Theater in the span of 14 months, from the Lawnboy album release party to a crazy Giant Country Horns show. It was a familiar room, full of familiar faces; an environment where Phish could allow themselves to relax and not worry so much about putting on a great show. And it's no coincidence that the shows where Phish doesn't care at all are the shows that demonstrate Phish at their best.

Trey "One Move" Anastasio was almost certainly watching Game 3 of the NHL Conference Finals between the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins, and if he thought Ulf Samuelsson got away with a dirty hit on Bruins Right Wing Cam Neely, he certainly wasn't the only one. Partly as an expression of sympathy for the injured Neely, and partly as a way to vent the frustration of Bruins fans in the Somerville Theater audience, the band humorously dedicated songs to Neely throughout the show. Another group of local heroes, Aerosmith, get evoked during a hot first set Tweezer jam, but it's the second set that becomes a seguefest, with each song seamlessly dovetailing into the next, holding the audience in rapt attention. It sounds as if the band's former lightman Tim Rogers surprised the band by bringing out the trampolines during YEM, which Trey subsequently referenced during his Harpua narration.

Crispy dSBD available for night 1.

Bouncin’ and a strong Foam get things started. Foam slams into a lively Chalk Dust. Afterwards Trey dedicates Chalk Dust to Cam Neely, his hero. Damn near flawless rendition of TMWSIY. This pairs perfectly with a fantastic Sky. Fish dedicates Fee to Cam Neely, Trey’s hero. Another rock solid Tweezer. They close out set 1 again with an unmic’d Sweet Adeline.

Set 2 kicks off with a sizzling Bag. Curtain is the perfect match. The transition into Sloth out of Curtain is awesome! I’m surprised they didn’t do it more often. Sloth slams right into a nice Landlady. The hits keep hittin’ with Runaway Jim>Tela. When’s the last time they played Tela back to back? Smokin’ YEM! Excellent jam, B&D and vocal jam. Harpua has more Cam Neely fun. Tweezer Reprise closes out set 1 complete with some early Mike bombs for good measure. Dream setlist! The encore is a bit of a cool down after all that, but you can’t go wrong with an A-Train>BBFCFM.

This also isn't a review but is a correction to my prior comment (which was also not a review). The "edit" function isn't working, so here we go. Apparently this isn't long enough to be a review, so I'll keep typing until it's long enough to be a review.

My reference to 5/2/22 in the prior "review" should be 5/2/91.

This isn't a "review" but a response to the comments/notes below the set list above.

The comments/notes below the set list above provide in part the following as of 10/27/22: "Soooo...I gave 5/4 a listen before and after the Hood and there's definitely no mention of the Vermont Dairy Farmers. .net has "Hood was played in support of the Vermont Dairy Farmers." .com has "Harry Hood was dedicated to Vermont dairy farmers." It appears neither of these are correct. That being said, 5/3 has no mention of the Vermont Dairy Farmers either, despite what the submission says."

At the end of the Hood (the 11:00 mark) on 5/2/22 on phishtracks (https://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1991-05-02/harry-hood), Trey discusses Vermont dairy farmers.