This is a pretty decent recording of an all ages show at the Front, though there are quite a few cuts between songs.

First set had a nice average Alumni>LTJP. McGrupp was also kind of average and had its end chopped going into the weird transition to Who Do We Do as again the parts of Fluff are taken back apart and interspersed throughout the show. Not sure why the boys decided to do that in the fall of ’89? Anyways…that led awkwardly into an average Golgi. Hood was pretty nice and gave way to another chunk of music with a weird Chase segment. This ended into a nice rocking Wilson. Foam was average; this one is still sort of new and really hard to play. Ya Mar was a nice groovy break, Oh Kee Pa > Suzy is starting to become a regular thing and these were both good. Antelope was a rocking closer to a pretty good first set.

Second Set starts off with a solid Bag. This one is starting to get its signature rock ending. My Sweet One is still new and a little tentative, but good. Wow!! The first version of Reba is really different. The arrangement is all over the place, including a disco segment! Dinner was good and was strangely followed by Bundle of Joy, then into a rocking Possum. YEM was pretty average for this time period, but includes a nice end Jam and great vocal jam. Fish ironically struggles to remember the lyrics to Brain, complete with a vacuum solo. Mike gets a late second set call with a lazy, laid back Contact. Great funky brake down in the middle. Melt was pretty weak, but its still pretty new also. Lizards also lacked a little, but it was late and they sounded a little tired.

A rocking Highway to Hell closes up the night nicely.

Pretty rocking show for fall of ’89, check this one out just for the first Reba!

Part of Mike's You Enjoy Myself vocal jam sounds like like Boing Boom Tschak by Kraftwerk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwPt3U-eDhI />
I like the vocal jams usually, but they have even more appeal when you can recognize (or you think you can recognize) they are very cool.

First off, this is definitely an Audience Recording not a SBD. Set 1 sounds good but has a few Cassette generations in it’s lineage. The second set sounds much brighter as the source tape is closer to the master. Really nice audience recording overall. Unfortunately, there are a handful of cuts throughout. There’s a tape flip in the middle of YEM that cuts out the beginning of the jam section.

Another awesome night of music! It seems the band is really bringing the heat on a nightly basis this tour. The transitions in and out of sections of Fluff Travels has been impressive and has spiced up sets this tour. When they were using these sections of Fluff Travels to transition back in ‘87 it wasn’t as tight. I’m curious why they decided to shelve Fluffhead in order to pull out this old back of tricks again? Reba made it’s debut at this show. I really love this version! I love everything about it. I’m so grateful someone was there with mics to capture this epic debut at The Front!

Highlights: Hood, Antelope, Reba!!!, YEM->Brain

Another Front show I attended, I distinctly remember the Highway To Hell encore played on this night. This is about my forth or fifth Phish show at the Front, which had quickly became my favorite bar in town to see live music. I had a few tapes of the band at this point, and started to have favorite songs that I looked for. I liked Run Like an Antelope from the first time I heard it, and remember this night's version being really good. I'm pretty sure this was my first time hearing Contact and The Lizards, along with the debut of Reba. My girlfriend at the time took a liking to Reba in a big way, and frequently sang the "bag it, tag it" chorus for weeks afterward. This was a solid show for the era, definitely not a 3 set monster Front show, but by no means a sleeper either.