Third Ball with opening act Juan Hung Low 
(Phish at the Joyous Lake, Woodstock, NY June 6, 1996) 
by Brad G. Serling (brad@metaverse.com)

     A few weeks ago Ben calls me from upstate and says he was just up all
night in the studio with Phish-even played Trey's guitar. Cool, I'm
thinking. Maybe I'll head up there and see what's shakin. Last week Ben
calls and says that the boys will be playing at a local bar (there's only
two in Woodstock). Even better, I'm thinking, but we'd better keep this
quiet. This past Wednesday I come home from a smoking Bela Fleck show at
Tramp's to find a message from Ben: "Come on up! Just got back from the 
studio and they're playing tomorrow night. Meet me at Joshua's." 
     After some hummas and beer's at Joshua's (Ben's restaurant in 
Woodstock), we head on over to The Lake. Trey passes us on the way there.
A small bar about two thirds the size of The Haunt in Ithaca or The Living
Room in Providence (old stomping grounds for Vermont's Phinest), Joyous
Lake is starting to fill up. Doors opened at eight and the band's not
coming on till around eleven. Turns out there's an opening act called
"Fish Food" - I think. The Lake's getting more crowded, and they're
carding heavily at the door (thank God!). Fishman's saying he's not sure
who all these people are or where they came from. "There's definitely a
lot of locals, but I don't know who all these other people are. It's
getting pretty packed!" 
     They close the doors around 9:45. Only locals scamming in their
friends now. Whew! 
     Billed as "Juan Hung Low," the opening band is playing a cool set,
but we were too busy savoring the cool breeze out on the porch. It was
rapidly turning into a sauna inside. 
     Ben's asking Page if he can get up and play with them on "Highway to
Hell." "I don't think so! Besides man, we don't know what we're gonna play
till we get up there."
     Page retorts with a smile. A few minutes later, Ben's asking Trey.
"NOT A CHANCE!" says Trey, grabbing Ben's shoulders and laughing. 
     The Lake is packed with anywhere from 250-300 people, it's a
sweatbox, and "Third Ball" opens with Split Open & Melt. We were melting
after a minute of the jam.
     Yowza! What an opener! A brisk Runaway Jim with a raucous jam is
followed by a f-f-funky Funky Bitch. Right on 
     Trey plays slide with Page's beer In the middle section of Scent of a
Mule, Mike's doing some free form vocal excercises and it
gets real quiet.  "Highway to Hell!!!" someone's yelling.
"Highway to Hell!!!!" Hmmmm.... Could this be Ben?
The jamming picks up and Trey grabs a bottle of
Rolling Rock off Page's keyboard and starts doing some
bottleneck slide. Then he grabs a megaphone and
gets some crazy
                                  feedback by rubbing it against the fret
board. Sure
                                  enough, the set closes with Highway to
Hell. Oooooo
                                  baby! Just for the record, Trey made
sure Ben didn't
                                  make it onto the stage (although he did
knock over
                                  Trey's mike stand trying) 


     Out to the porch for a breather during the break. Whew. Drenched with
sweat and
     spilled beer. But feelin' fine. 

     After that smokin' AC/DC number to close the first set, what better
than AC/DC Bag
     to open the second! Right into the thick of it. Did someone stoke the
coals in the
     furnace? 

     Trey looks at Page and says "Let's do it! Let's do it!" - You Enjoy
Myself. 

     Later on in the set we are treated to some new songs. 'Bout time!
They've been
     recording up here for a while and haven't played any of the new tunes
yet tonight. The
     first song, a mellow Trey tune a la "Dog Faced Boy," is very well
received. Trey
     announces that it's still untitled. The next one-lookout!!! Fish says
"It's better than
     Machine Gun." Bold. Very bold. And it ain't no lie, although this
ain't no Band of
     Gypsies. Character Zero is a Hendrixesque rocker with great lyrics to
boot (to boot).
     Can you say big radio hit? 


                    Trey laying it on thick during Theme from the Bottom 

     The shimmering hihat vamp either means Maze, David Bowie, or possibly
NICU. And
     the winner is..;. David Bowie. The Lake is a rain forest at this
point. 

     Fee was a nice treat, and rip-roaring Sample in a Jar closed out the
set 

     We all had an Oh Kee Pa during the Ya Mar encore. Then Trey let us
stand next to his
     Fire 

     Now if I can only stay awake for The Meters at midnight tonight at
Tramps! 
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