On May 17, 1992 Phish played at Achilles Rink – the Union College hockey arena opened in 1975 with a capacity of about 2,500. Schenectady was the second-to-last date on a 53-show spring tour that hit 24 states and the District of Columbia with five shows in Colorado, six in California and seven in New York before wrapping up in the band’s hometown Burlington, Vermont.  Phish’s third studio album and Elektra debut, A Picture of Nectar , had dropped in February.  Fans benevolently plastered promo stickers depicting Nectar’s face from the album cover on toll booths and highway rest areas from coast to coast.  Spring ’92 featured the new Minkin Lexan backdrops, a big batch of new songs that would form the basis for Rift , and the band inviting the audience to share in the Secret Language.  Phish.net (and the Internet in general) was just starting to catch on, there was no official taper’s section yet, and word of mouth was key.  The Schenectady show – with a ticket price of $5 - was a prime example as it was not listed in the Phish newsletter or hotline.  It was a Sunday night, Page’s birthday, and the band was almost home after more than two months on the road.

Highlights of the Schenectady ’92 show included The Landlady > Llama opener, Stash, and Chalk Dust Torture from set I.  The Curtain > Possum kicked off set II with a concentrated barrage of Secret Language and teases of everything from Rocky Mountain Way to China Grove to It's Ice and Divided Sky during one of the all-time far-out Possums.  Brother went completely unhinged and led appropriately...perhaps inevitably to Sanity, before Fish took over vocal and vacuum duties for Syd Barrett’s Love You.  A standout Harry Hood rounded out set II and continued the show’s Outward thrust.  The Schenectady ’92 release includes filler selected from the tour-closing show the following night - 5/18/92 at The Flynn Theatre in Burlington.

5/17/92 Schenectady was recorded by Paul Languedoc to 2-track soundboard cassette and mastered by Fred Kevorkian.

- Recorded by Paul Languedoc
- Post-Production by Kevin Shapiro
- Technical Assistance by Jared Slomoff and Ben Collette
- Mastered by Fred Kevorkian at Kevorkian Mastering