"[1] On All About Jazz, Doug Collette wrote, "When Phish played the Niagara Falls Convention Center on December 7th 1995, it'd be fair to say the band was hitting its stride with its art and its audience.

Having played together for a dozen years at this point and cultivated a loyal and increasingly large coterie of followers, arguably as idiosyncratic as the Vermont-based group itself, the quirks that endeared Phish to their original followers — like the barbershop a capella chestnut "Hello My Baby" — were morphing into more broad eccentricities (the second of their ongoing giant chess matches continued here to be completed at year's end) that were proving accessible to a larger fan base.

"[2] On Live For Live Music, David Melamed said, "From a band whose storied career spans three full decades, Niagara Falls captures Phish in their prime, at a point where the band was gaining traction… selling out large arenas, expanding and refining a diverse repertoire, and building a strong relationship with their consistently-growing fan base.... Niagara Falls captures the musical essence of 1995, 1.0-era Phish.

From the experimental space jams, the double a cappella set closers, and the pure bliss of the band's original music, this is one joyous slice of fabled Phish-tory.

Phish is the very rare sort of act that performs without a net, and these two sets from a chilly night in upstate New York illustrate the band's widening range of risky moves.