R7/W01: 08-06-1997 Riverport Amphitheatre, Maryland Heights, MD

[G. Augusto]

Remember when the band would play 15+ minute songs?
This one is the bomb.

Phish
8-6-97
Riverport Amphitheatre
Maryland Heights, MO

Source: Schoeps CMCXY4V > EAA > D100
Transfer: DA-20->Delta Dio 2496->Soundforge 4.5 (48>44.1 resampling on highest accuracy setting w/anti alias filter)->CDWAV->SHN
Transfer by: Brandon Johnston

Disc 1:
Set I:
1.NICU
2.Stash
3.Beauty of My Dreams
4.Twist->
5.Also Sprach Zarathustra->
6.AC/DC Bag
7.Ya Mar

Disc 2:
Set I con't:
1.You Enjoy Myself
Set II:
2.Runaway Jim->
3.My Soul

Disc 3:
Set II con't:
1.Ghost
2.Prince Caspian
3.Cars Trucks Buses
4.Sample in a Jar
5.Run Like an Antelope-> Makisupa Policeman Jam-> Run Like an Antelope
6.crowd noise

7.E: Julius

Lossless:
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=526128

Lossy:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mtdy2wtzyyu
http://www.mediafire.com/?ozizfmtqnnj
http://www.mediafire.com/?xzzjmtzik1g

Enjoy.
a

Submitted Reviews:

August
Khalpin
RJ
Pie Guy
Flow00
MiamiPhish

[VA $l!m]

that 1st set looks nasty.

[rowjimmy]

that 1st set looks nasty.

SER.

Puttin' this in the queue for tonight's train ride.

[antelope19]

Summer '97! 

[MiamiPhish]

Haven't heard this one before, looking forward to it!

[rowjimmy]

Enjoyed listening to this one... (wrote this on my ipod so forgive any typos, please.)


Set one

NICU - cool opener. I've never been ashamed of my love for this song. This version has a lite heat, excellent work from "Leo" and all ofthe standard goodness.

Stash - been a while since I've heard this one but the familiar ring of the opening notes from this aud sure do seem like home. Trey doesn't nail the riffs in between verses- zOMG!!! Phish 1.0 wasn't perfect??  Nice jam out of the MSMN section pretty standard Summer 97, actually. Not quite as beautifully formed as the 7-30 version but it gets nicely hectic with some great work from the entire band.
Great finish too. I'll call this a standard for the era great version.

Beauty of my Dreams - nice harmonies. good git down and boogie tune for a summer set one

Twist - old twist is cool. This one is loose and open early in the jam. It kinda reminds me of a 95 tweezer/ hey hole jam. Theres a lot of listening going on. Things get more organized in a darkening fashion @ 9:30ish that I like quite a bit but you can still hear bits of Twist from Mike now and then until ~10:40. Twist jam turns into Jam, spacier elements come from Trey & Page and Jon & Mike slow it down as we ease

> 2001 - nice transition for the trippers. Fish drops in on the beat, Page engages the Rhodes and we're off. 3:30 before the first build really begins. This is classic stuff and to think I was home with an office job and a kid watching setlists roll in on r.m.p while you guys were gettin down to this stuff. I had no idea what I was missing until the Went. Trey takes a nice solo in the break here but the real feature is the groove. Fish is locked up tight. Trey keeps changing now he rides he top but Mike and Fish have the bottom set in stone. Leading into the next build sequence @ 8:15 Mike is getting swampy with his tone and Page gives us a wash of synth. Nice. Trey's guitar is a spacey version of Meters funk.  Final peak is appropriately grand with Page laying on the organ and Trey wailing before they drop neatly

> AC/DC Bag - nice pace to this one. Nothing too crazy. About 7 minutes in you start to get the feel that they could drop out of Bag altogether as they kind of get loose on the theme and Trey toys with his Leslie effect but then they switch up to high gear and they rip a new opening in this Bag finishing in the traditional manner.

Ya Mar - standard sweet

YEM - intro, pre nirvana, nice. First note is good, second is nice and long.  BMGS/WUDMTF rocks. Tramps > bass/drums is simply hot; Page smokes on the tramps segment.  Trey's solo is wanktastic but the entire band is up there with him so it totally works. Mike's solo is awesome; just deep deep pocket grooving as Page comps some nice, spacey keys. Then there is a vocal jam.


Set Two

Jim - pretty standard for the first half. A little way into the solo (7:30ish) Trey clearly wants to change it up and lays into a few chords leading the band into a non R.Jim mellow place. Mike is really thumping along at 10:00 and it seems like they're taking his lead, slowly ramping back up. Trey plays some nice melody bits @ 12ish before it gets a little sloppy/crazy for the transition

> My Soul - is what it is. I don't hate it the way many seem to but I'm not unhappy that this is short and done, either.

Ghost - um. I just spaced through the first 15 minutes of this... Starting over. Good groovy jam with an up tempo. Doesn't really go anywhere but it's fun for the dancing.

Caspian - standard

CTB - nice chance for Page to boogie.  Still seems like a 1st set song, though.

Sample - rock song. Doesn't suck.

Antelope - now we're talkin. This sets off and rolls early. By 5:30 were runnin low through the trenches as Trey grinds it out turning some rhythmic comping into a nice soarin melody for a few bars and then back to crunching along yet even faster. I think we may have jumped a gear in there but s'alright. Around 8 they give a nice impression of the whole thing being about to fly of the rails before another gear shift. One more comes before we drop into the vocal bit. Nice dub style from the guys > full blown Makisupa jam?!?! Cool. And then Antelope finishes.

Encore
Julius - rock song encore. Could be worse.


This show was pretty good.
The heat is really in set one for me. Nice Stash. The Twist > 2001 > Bag sequence is excellent and the YEM is tasty.
Set Two doesn't really get back to the same heights. The Jim is ok but nothing spectacular. Ghost, also, is not something that blows me away on tape. Probably a lot of fun at the show though- good dancing music. And then the antelope which is rocking great but not atypical until the Makisupa jam. I'd forgotten that that jam was coming so it caught me by surprise (as you might can tell by reading the above.)

The low points of the show don't suck at all though so, if you really love those particular shorter songs (as I do the ones in the first set,) you will really enjoy this show.

Thanks, aug.

[Undermind]

I just can't get enough of the Twist!

[PIE-GUY]

I got through set 1 - Set 2 to follow, hopefully later today.

Let me also say that summer of 97 I was traveling through Asia with one Phish tape in my possession - set 1 from the 2nd day of Clifford Ball. I had read reports from the European tour about the new funkiness and the new tunes, but I was WAAAY out of the loop at this point. My last show was Clifford Ball... my first show when I got back to the states was 12/29/97. Wow - what a difference a year and a half makes. Thank you for turning the spotlight on a show I have never heard before from an era I completely missed! Now here are my thoughts on set 1:

Phish
8-6-97
Riverport Amphitheatre
Maryland Heights, MO


Disc 1:
Set I:
1.NICU - Lovely opener - esp Leo! Plus, you can immediately sense Mike's new bass. He is so front and center even on this somewhat muddy aud.

2.Stash - Way to dive right in after a fun little opener! I love these Stash jams that start out a bit quiet, but not mellow at all. intense and quiet. Fish just hanging out on the ride and Mike locking into fairly simple tones leaving Page and Trey to meander all over the place. That lasts until almost 10 minutes in!! Finally Fish is off the ride and playing some drums! The peak of this one is nothing earth shattering... a bit odd really. Still, solid Stash that finishes with a whimper.

3.Beauty of My Dreams - Love this tune. plain and simple. Trey tears the solo up, too. Page on Piano ain't no slouch either.

4.Twist-> This jam is just locked in for a long long time with Trey noodling to his heart's content. Page adds so much color, though, that my interest never wanes. I think if I had been there, this would have been a first set highlight, but listening now it just doesn't seem to go anywhere for most of it. The last few minutes Fish changes up the beat quite a bit and Page moves to piano making it distinctly different as it very slowly segues into...

5.Also Sprach Zarathustra-> what can I say about a loooooong 97 2001? boogie down! Nothing wrong with that. I like that they no longer waste 10 minutes of a set on it these days, to be honest. but boogie down right into...

6.AC/DC Bag - love it - standard fare, but love it.

7.Ya Mar -  more standard fare that would've had me dancing like the fiend that I am. more LEO!

1.You Enjoy Myself -  Already funky as shit pre-tramps - Page hitting the funky clav -  post tramps Trey goes right into that octave effect pedal and lets the funk take hold. Wow - this is groovy shit. When he finally comes out of it at about 14 min he's still cranking a very unique solo. dig it. almost peaks a few times in there but keeps getting into that weird pattern again. Finally, when the other three are playing their hardest - literally like they would be playing at the peak of his solo, he's down at the bottom end of the guitar's register making low-end noise. Then, Mike is starting to funk out and it almost sounds like Trey is teasing Money, Love, and Change (makes you wonder).  Mike funks out briefly before they are vocal jamming. nothing special in the vocal jam.

Set 2 soon!

[MiamiPhish]

Set I:

NICU -  The band, including Cactusssssssss, is clearly enjoying themselves on this one.. great dance number to start off a show, and I like the laid back groove they give this NICU, it doesn't feel rushed at all, this is the pace that all NICUs should be played.

Stash -  Two crowd pleasers to start the show, woohoo!  Lots of noodling to begin the jam, though Page is particularly prominent.  Trey and Fish are just kind of feeling it out for a while, trying to latch on to something inspiring.. beautiful noodling however, at point dissonant, at points downright nasty ala 12/29/95.  Fish starts pounding out 'Timber-ho' like rhythms on the drums and things start to take off from there, with tension building from all sides, Trey and Mike particularly... release from Trey and back down they go, winding and twirling toward.. what?  It's all very spellbinding like a beautiful cacophony.  After a bit of drifting, you might call it, Trey takes over, releases dramatically, and finally leads the band to the end.  Pretty awesome Stash, but I bet it would've been more powerful in person than on tape.

Beauty Of My Dreams -  Nice breather.

→Twist  – (8th performance) Not the cleanest composed section of Twist of all time, but we're still early in the song's history.  Jam starts off with Trey noodling with the Whammy II (dropped octave) and a phase effect, Mike dropping bombs left and right, and Fish and Page pretty much hanging back, adding color to the jam.  The first half of this jam really is about Trey and Mike playing off each other.  Fish and Page become a bit more prominent as the jam continues, but the band doesn't really seem to be able to find a direction to take this one, as a result it comes off a little sluggish, and frankly, a little boring to these ears.  The end jam melds into some quiet space, which is probably the best part of this Twist, imo, and ->

>2001  – Nice segue that reminds me of the recent Deer Creek 'Tweezer > 2001'  This 2001 is an immediate funkathon, with Page doing his best Bob Mayonnaise impression (Hampton '99 anyone?)  Mike is all over this, too.. awesome.  Trey is gently teasing something (or so it sounds), but I can't figure out what it is, oh well.  This one's got me dancing... and I'm laying down.. just a great groove here, colored well by Page's keyboard effect prowess.  I don't think anyone would be upset if 2001 returned to this kind of a long lasting, funk-jam-out vehicle.  This is one of the best 2001's I've ever heard, easily >

AC/DC Bag – 2001 shifts right into a high energy 'Bag, what a first set!  Jam sorta plods along until Trey decides to give up the whammy/phase thickness and finally starts shredding, giving the jam some much needed energy that is nicely boosted by Page's baby grand piano pounding.  Solid Bag.

Ya Mar – Perfectly fitting for this dance-a-thon set.  I'd say this show has had perfect song placement so far.  Zoned out a bit during this one, but it's your usual, awesome, grooving Ya Mar.

You Enjoy Myself -  *Monster set alert* Composed section nailed.  Beautiful YEM space right off the bat.  Nice 2001 tease from trey during the first "note."  Awesome tramp segment, with Trey still fully abusing the Whammy II, but this time he and Mike are laying down NASTY funk... just wet gooey slimy funk, but also some raging in there too.  This YEM has a fantastic combination of funk and straight adrenaline rock and roll jamming.. sickness.   Lucky bastards that were at this show, a complete hose-drenching in the first set!  This is one of those YEMs where there are so many themes present within the jam that they could've segued into any number of songs, but they don't, and they rear it back for B&D.  An Asteroids video game B&D, if you will, lots of those types of noises from mike/page. "Give me my mayonnaise" vocal jam.. not unlistenable, thankfully.

Pretty damn good first set, 2nd to follow after a J break.


Set II:

Runaway Jim – Hot Hot Hot Jim!!!  I'm a fan of the extended Jim and this one delivers in a big way.  Lots of beautiful interplay between all members, Trey/Page especially in this mix.  The jam was a bit raucous for a while, but quiets down into a mellow but driving rhythmic jam, just magnificent work from Fish here.  I'm hardly noticing Mike, but that's only because he's so deep in the pocket he practically melds into this wall of sound.  Mike is, however, starting to step forward a bit in this jam, dropping some guttural booms and bombs while Trey noodles beautifully and melodically over our I, G chord.  This is a danceasauras-rex right here.  Not the tightest Jam I've ever heard, but maybe the most energy-packed Jim I have ever heard, the boys are just clearly giving it everything they've got and it shows.  Disjointed spaciness... Fish's steady Jim rhythm underneath it always, damn he's good!  Into a swing rhythm now, holy shit.. nice nice nice segue into what sounds like My Soul (wrong key though) sans any lyrics (which I'm assuming it will become) and B.B.Trey absolutely tearing it up.  Rough ->

→My Soul – Getting it back to the key of F was kind of rough, it just happened not so gracefully, but once there, we have liftoff. I love this song, so I'm glad to hear it and with such energy!  This show is just FUN, that's the perfect word for it.  This was a fun version.

Ghost – Crowd goes quiet for this one, surprisingly, as I would've expected a big cheer for a potential face melter.  Jam starts with MIKE dropping a B-52 worth of bombs on the crowd, trey noodling melodically and page surprising us with odd effects every once and a while.  The jam kinda meanders along, Mike very prominent in it all.  Trey and Page start to hook up on a chunky chug-along rhythm and this sounds pretty cool, Trey toying a little bit with the original Ghost theme here, opening it up a little bit, which I think the jam needed.  This is not a bad jam, by any means, but it strikes me as a bit directionless, and so my mind begins to wander away from it from time to time.  Mike is really on fire though, he is quite fun to listen to right now hitting these sweet vibrato bass notes.  Now Page is getting playful, sounding like R2D2..  this is the Ghost R2D2 jam for sure.  Now Trey is going in the Shaft direction, this sounds like a tease of the Shaft theme (last one I heard was 12/9/95 YEM)  Pseudo Tweezer teases, not really but close and start-stop jamming.  Long and not particularly engaging, but kinda cool.  Nothing close to the Denver Ghost I was just listening to in the car.

Prince Caspian – beautiful quiet playing in the pre-into, if you will, just gorgeous.  Standard (read: gorgeous) fare, with Trey soloing magnificently, like a great Waste.  Quiets down to great interplay between Mike and Page, just awesome, great version.  rock n' roll ending taboot.

CTB – clearly a fan favorite, crowd eats it up.  Awesome dance tune, continually great song selection tonight.

Sample In a Jar – Loving it right now, another good choice.

Run Like an Antelope – What a freakin set and show, just over the top, the big tunes just keep coming.  Antelope is one of those tunes where you pretty much know what you're getting right out of the gate and this one comes out a little slow, so I figure we're going for a rather laid back approach to this Lope.  Kinda a-typical right off the bat, as there's no real driving force behind the jam just really cool interplay between Trey (with Whammy II octave dropped) and page.  Trey rips right back into antelope territory quite suddenly and quite awesomely, it's really going for a while and then drops into a slower rhythm and now a ska rhythm, this Antelope is really an interesting listen, I'm reallying digging it – the boys move so easily from experimental coloring to full force antelope jamming that it can take your breath away.  Now they're pretty much doing both at the same time..   this is an incredible Antelope, at time experimental, at times just full force hurricane hose.  Probably top-10, maybe top-5 antelope right here, just incredible!  -> Makisupa Jam, holy fuck what an antelope -> antelope ending.

Julius – shragetastic encore, bleepin' exhausted from dancing under my headphones.


Meaningless Show Grade: A-

[khalpin]

First time hearing this one and am ignoring the setlist, so I'm going in cold.

NICU: I like this as a summertime amphitheater opener. Dance fest! CACTUSSSSSSSSSS. Good way to kick things off.

Stash: Right away into this, huh? I like, I like. Jam was well-played all around. This review is going to be fun after listening to almost exclusively 3.0 for the past couple weeks. Comes to a nice climax/resolve without any extreme fanfare. A bit of tooling around and then back to the outro.

Beauty of My Dreams: Bluegrass time. Nice little solo spot by Trey.

Twist: Pretty slow version. Gets going about 7 minutes in for short while but doesn't really get "there".

2001: This oughta be good. Nicely done, getting to the first verse after about 3 1/2 minutes. In between the first and second verses is where it's at. I'm feelin' this one. Closes out nicely and into:

AC/DC Bag: I like this middle section. Everyone throws something in and backs off for a bit to let someone else throw something in. "Oh yeah, well how about this?" "Yeah, and maybe some of this!" "Don't forget this, too!" Starts to veer away, but they bring it back to a climax, although it never hits double-time. It's not one of those Bags. I dig it, though.

YaMar: Pretty much what you'd want and expect from Yamar. I particularly liked Trey's staccato solo towards the end. Tasty stuff.

YEM: Not perfect, but solid pre-nirvana. Nice 2001 tease by Trey. I probably wouldn't have noticed it if MiamiPhish hadn't mentioned it.  Post-WUDMTF is an effects jamboroo, with Trey, Mike and Page all laying it on thick.  Kinda jumbled at points, but cool otherwise.  Groove gets pretty awesome and then Trey goes back to a normal tone and rocks out at 14:00.  Then the B&D is filled with funk and Mike's tone is similar to his 3.0 Boogie On sound.  Vocal jam closes it out.

Real solid set.  I'm sure everyone in attendance was quite pleased to say the least. 

2nd set tomorrow probably.

[G. Augusto]

NICU - I like it in this spot. Nice shout to Grandma and the Ritz bathroom attendant. Only the second time it had appeared as a show opener to this point.

Stash - Wasting no time! OK composed section. Darkness creeps in ~ 8 minutes into the tune. With 2 minutes left, they pretty much deconstruct it to hit a proper peak. An odd version to get the night going.

Beauty - Trey takes an extended solo. Trey still has some pretty nice chops in '97...

Twist - Pre - "Who!". Spacious funk gets the jam going nicely. Some more darkness rolls in briefly then subsides to the meatiness ~ 10 minutes in. Spaces out appropriately at the end >>>

2001 - FrUNK! Page really stretches out early on. I like how the second time around is actually purposeful. I always like (the rare) one time through versions, but this second half is niceness. Some nice lead work followed by some SER funk chording by Trey and this one gets plain gross. Nice version. >>>

ACDC - This is a pretty beefy trio. This one doesn't really shrage, but it is a nice version in a very sweet spot.

Ya Mar - Always welcome during a Summer 1st set.

YEM - Vicious (weird) jam section. The jam gets pretty noisy (some Jim foreshadowing) but still holds a solid groove. Page gets spacey during the DnB section. A nice close to a solid set.

Jim - They don't waste much time with taking this one out of the standard Jim Jam. ~ 8 in it gets that Summer '97 funk going and then just changes its feel on a dime ~ 13 in. This is when Mike gets evil and you don't even know it. You're scared but don't know why. Just sayin'...This duo is much better than the 07-22-1997 show opener in that it starts the blues jam but stays there for a few minutes. Mike is really the only one hinting at the My Soul riff so when it finally comes it's all like "whoa." >>>

My Soul - They modulate, so the transition doesn't sound super slick, but I find it to be as such. I like when Page takes the first solo...

Ghost - It's sweet how the crowd doesn't know what's going on when they start this one up. The last 7 minutes of this is where the piñata innards live. Page is doing his Summer '97 pitch bends all over the place. It sounds like they were going for a Tweezer somewhere in the end. Not a top version, but a purposeful one and rather lengthy.

Caspian - What did they just play? They nail the outro. (This was also played at the next show  :lol:)

CTB - Always a fan of this and it is a good one.

Sample - Actually pretty tight.

Antelope - The jam starts quietly, but soon finds its way into your standard, ripping Antelope jam. There are a few little peaks along the way. Is that a slight Gypsy Queen tease? Maybe...The final peak is pretty much bananas. They don't really "nail" the stop on it, but it works. It kinda dissolves more than anything. >>>

Makisupa - Full on with Page on Theremin and Mike (apparently) on some mini drum kit thingy. Brief "version" that slams right back into Antelope. Cool stuff.

Julius - Shragin'! Like, for real!

Anyhow, not the best show of the Tour by any stretch, but one of my favorites that tend to get overlooked. This one was skipped since it was the lone show in between The Gorge and Tinley. Out of the way and with three off days mixed it, it's a sleeper.
I give this one the meatiest of B+'s out there.
a

[westcider]

I haven't listened to this one in a while, I'll have to put it on later.

This was my friend Mike's first show.  He gave a very simple review when he got back: "you have to go see Phish!!"

My first show was 8/8 at the World.

so 36 shows later, I would say that review was very important to me!  :-)

on second thought, maybe I'll listen to the gorgeous Gumbo8897, and then put on 8/6.

[Hicks]

I haven't listened to this one in a while, I'll have to put it on later.

This was my friend Mike's first show.  He gave a very simple review when he got back: "you have to go see Phish!!"

My first show was 8/8 at the World.

so 36 shows later, I would say that review was very important to me!  :-)

on second thought, maybe I'll listen to the gorgeous Gumbo8897, and then put on 8/6.

http://week4paug.net/index.php?topic=12686.0

[westcider]

I'm not going that far!

[PIE-GUY]

finished set 2:


2.Runaway Jim-> Far from locking into one extended groove like the Twist before it, this Jim is very explorative. They are listening to each other and changing rhythm, melody, everything. I like it.This is a great Jim.  And the jam into My Soul is solid!

3.My Soul - I dig this little ditty. Love the guitar solo and Mike's walking bass line.

1.Ghost - Had to listen twice - kept getting distracted. Overall it's a lesson in sparse playing. nobody  does too much. Mike is brilliant throughout. Trey takes the lead in parts, but never forces too much. Page just colors the whole thing with his keys - I like Page's work especially toward the end when he's back on the B3. Nice! I love the end of this Ghost. perfect.

2.Prince Caspian - Blech. Fuckerpants. Dress it up with an neat intro and outtro all you want, it's still Fuckerpants. Can't enjoy it. Sorry. I am an ass when it comes to this one.

3.Cars Trucks Buses - Fun Fun Fun! More great Leo madness. The piano segment is really nice here!

4.Sample in a Jar - Hard to get excited  - I've see more of these than any other song (well it's tied with YEM and Sparkle, anyway)

5.Run Like an Antelope-> Makisupa Policeman Jam-> Run Like an Antelope - Fairly typical rage up to the breakdown. Funny thing about 97 Lopes - the breakdown is worth waiting for!! This one is so much fun. The Makisupa jam isn't even the first non-lope jam in there. Love it! Then the Theramin! Phish was having a lot of fun with this one! Great way to close out the show.

7.E: Julius  - Long been one of my favorites - liked it from the first time I heard it. Trey really takes his time building the energy of this one. Like he's got all night. Fantastic.

Overall, this was a fun show. Like I said before, I never spent much time listening to summer 97 shows despite all the love people show for them. You can hear them experimenting with the sparse funk that would really take hold in the fall.

Give it a solid B.