Today we are listening to the Reba from The Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA. You can listen along here. https://relisten.net/phish/1993/03/27/reba?source=163183 follow the project @RebaProject or #RebaProject

I feel totally under prepared to talk about this venue and it’s significant to the music scene that we’ve grown to love. Much less talk about the city of San Francisco and how our scene might not exist without it.

So I will start the research and see where it takes me… Forgive me for all of the things that I will most certainly leave out.

The 1960s birthed a cultural revolution that changed San Francisco forever, and it was fueled by the music. From the emergence of bands such as Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead in 1965, to the Summer of Love in 1967, musicians and promoters challenged a complacent society

The music was loud and community oriented. Bands played free shows in Golden Gate Park and at the city's psychedelic clubs and ballrooms. The many bands that formed signalled a shift from one subculture to the next. From this scene emerged our beloved Grateful Dead.

The city itself experience a huge cultural shift and by 1967 100,000 young people who had embraced the counterculture had converged on the Haight- Asbury district. This social phenomenon and revolution is referred to as the Summer of Love. The lifestyle was very much

Bohemian as was the music. This sparked a time where nothing is off-limits musically. In a way, the construct of genres was totally disrupted. Bands could play folk, jazz and psychadelic rock in a single set and the audience was there to soak it all in.

There was no shortage of places to go and see music at the time. The Avalon ballroom, The Matrix, California Hall, the Jabberwok, Straight Theater, The Ark and, of course, there is ground zero for Psychedelic Music; The Fillmore.

San Francisco became home to a thriving music scene… and as time went by more venues opened and gained prominence as a stop for the great touring musicians of the day. The one that we are focused on for today’s purposes is the Warfield.

The Warfield is a 2300 seat music venue that was origionally opened in 1922 as the Loews Warfield. I Later it became known as the Fox Warfield. The Warfield really came to prominence, however, in 1979 when Bob Dylan played the first 14 shows of his gospel tour at the venue.

In 1980 none other than the Grateful Dead played 15 sold out shows there to celebrate their 15th anniversary. These shows featuring an acoustic set and two electric sets. The recordings of which, combined with 8 shows at Radio City Music Hall...

We’re released as two double albums. Reckoning and Dead Set. Jerry Garcia made the Warfield his go to venue in San Francisco playing there 88 times with his solo band.

The Warfield has played host to scores of bands and in 1993 Phish found themselves on Garcia’s stage for the second year in a row.

Today’s version of Reba comes from the second of a two night stand. The Saturday night show. The band played six shows this week taking only Tuesday off.