• Gamehendge narration throughout set I
• Stash was released on 'A Live One'

Production Credits:

• Recorded by WGBH Mobile
• Mastered by Fred Kevorkian at Kevorkian Mastering
• Post-Production by Kevin Shapiro
• Technical Assistance by Ben Collette

On Friday, July 8, 1994 Phish played the first of two shows at Great Woods Performing Arts Center in Mansfield, MA near Boston.  It was Phish’s third Great Woods show and first two-night stand at this outdoor amphitheater opened in 1986 by promoter Don Law.  Tickets cost $21.50, the band had hired WGBH Mobile to record the show for posterity, and the local crew captured the performance from the video screens on VHS tape.

Set I consisted of the fifth and most recent live telling of the “Gamehendge” saga from Trey’s ‘The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday’ senior thesis. The lots before the show were still buzzing from the fourth Gamehendge performance – the Charleston, WV “GameHoist” show played two weeks earlier. Having circulated among the community via tapes and word of mouth since 1988, Gamehendge was already deeply embedded in Phish’s DNA, but it had never been performed outdoors to a large audience. Friday night at Great Woods changed all that. After an incendiary Llama opener, Colonel Forbin’s trip to Gamehendge originated in the dentist’s chair during the second-ever live NO2, which featured Trey on megaphone, Mike on electric drill and Fish on vacuum. The Gamehendge song cycle continued with some notable standouts: AC/DC Bag, Colonel Forbin’s Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird, and a powerful McGrupp And The Watchful Hosemasters > Divided Sky ending first adopted during GameHoist. Set II kept up the heat with newer songs like Rift > Sample In A Jar, the only pairing of Reba > Yerushalayim Shel Zahav, a transcendent Stash later selected for ‘A Live One’, and the only You Enjoy Myself > Frankenstein > You Enjoy Myself sandwich to- date. This was Peak Phish and the tapes tell the tale of a truly unique performance. 

Great Woods 7/8/94 was recorded by WGBH Mobile to DAT and mastered by Fred Kevorkian.  Video from this show was featured on Episode 19 of ‘Dinner And A Movie - An Archival Video Series.'