R1/W12: 08-02-1997 The Gorge Amphitheatre, Quincy, WA

[jedifunk]

ah yeah, again and again!

(can you guess where that quote is from?)

its a hip hop song... can hear it in my head... can't place it... thanks, now i'm gonna go nuts tryin to figure it out.

:-D  perfect, just the effect i was hoping for!

[susep]

Theme>opens the show tastefully w/ nice jam after lyrics>Trey's tone sounds very shark like, jagged but not sloppy>sustain into '95 effect>Leslie?>build-up to>yet another t&r example>spacier return.

Ghost>active jam beginning, mellow Trey riffage, liquid again nice tone>boderline metal-esque jamming, Mike resounding, Page comping well, kind of clunky sounding but interesting>tempo increases slightly, Page adding subtle key motifs>Trey's tone trippy sounding, Fish rocking the cymbal, clav Page>nice jam here>Trey chording, Page clearly listening to Fish>return to riff, more swing>Trey moving up, Page on the B-3, grooving>cool beat by Fish, jam gets trippy>classic Summer '97>this style of improv would expand furthur>Page adding trippy, rave-esque sweeps>Trey simply choosing to riff out w/ the band supplying killer support, Fish's drumming near 15:00 is off the charts, hypnotic>jam fades, Trey dropping out>Fishman was playing amazing stuff.

Sky>near perfect choice>well execution, superb tone, everyone on top of their game, subtle nuances by Page>under water(the Columbia>which has its own set of ecological issues) we go...>Mike, Fish...big school of phish, celebrating>unfolding>sustain into howling stanza>more sustain, Page ripping it up>ending jam contains hits of previous metal-esque jamming>high energy ending(this tune is not a favorite :evil:).
Tension release ex.>

Wolfman's is a nice release from the howling, crying Sky, or is it?> nice synop out of the gate, chill jamming>nice line by Mike, relaxed, Trey back into rock-riff mode>sounds like a TAB set>boring snoring, Page switching, still kind of meandering along>theme reprise, (sigh)>blues riffage, jam around 12:00 min gets interesting but Trey goes right back into Hendrix Late'69 mode.

Melt>jam begins at 4:06, all of Trey's metal-esque tones culminate w/ this tune>bt tension, dark riff, Page's comping adding only light>Trey cries(w/ the Hannaford Nuclear Waste site close by, the energy in this first set was not friendly  :evil:).  At 10:17 the jam uptempos a bit>

Rough set.

[jedifunk]

rough?  in what way?  are you sure you are listening to the right show?  seriously... this 1st set is HUGE!  everything is top notch... song selection is perfection, and the jams are redonk!  divided sky as the sun goes down!  magic...

susep relisten without the total over the top disection... no need for that all the time...  just enjoy a great set

[cactusfan]

yikes, no kidding. please point me to a better SOAM if there is one. this set is frickin ON FIRE.

[fauxpaxfauxreal]

yikes, no kidding. please point me to a better SOAM if there is one. this set is frickin ON FIRE.

Say it with me.

"12/31/99"   :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

[cactusfan]

well if five dancing bananas agree with you, i can hardly say otherwise.

actually i haven't listened to cypress for a long time. my copy blows.

so look at that, there it is on btree. oh man is this ever gonna take forever to grab... the things i do for phish...   :-)

[susep]

rough?  in what way?  are you sure you are listening to the right show?  seriously... this 1st set is HUGE! 

As much good as Summer '97 was, there are aspects I do not enjoy, particularly Trey's clunky, metal-esque all out riff sessions.  I think his tone sounds incredible but some of his meanderings are just plain boring and unexciting to me.  A perfect ex. is the Went Ghost>other the the last 2-3 min the playing is uneventful.

yikes, no kidding. please point me to a better SOAM if there is one. this set is frickin ON FIRE.

10April94 :wink: :-D

[jedifunk]

susep, question for you... when you do your reviews are you taking notes and then doing the write up or are you typing from memory, or typing while you listen?  just curious, since you always give insight with a bit more depth & technicality than most... i enjoy that.

[August]

i used to rock this second set on tape all the time!
never heard the first set until about a year ago.

Theme-love the song, and love its position.this one has the perfect length, and real nice jam.

Ginseng-Ghost-this ghost is great!they are still playing with that euro funk, even though summer US tour, i tend to put in a different "funk" catagory.pretty long version, and well-played.

DST-Sky-the composed part of sky was a tad messed up, but no biggee.the jam was nice.i always like divided sky as a first set summer tune.

Wolfman-super funky and stretched out.personally, there was nothing that really stood out in the jam for me, but it got me busting out some moves while i was washing the dishes!

H20Sky-Split-i like the old H20sky's better than the reworked version.i really do.as for this split, it is sick!great jam portion and a killer way to end a set.

DWD-Tweezer_DWD_JBG-the disease is cool.i especially like the intro, where it is obviously gonna be DWD, but they are just making some noise.radikal jam>tweezer.they kinda forget where all the changes were on this one!but the jam was flowing.i think it went on a little too long for me, but it was still good>disease....ehhhh....good effort but not silky smoove, but that is all good, you can tell they had energy>JBG.i used to hate JBG.i remember walking out of NYE 95 thinking that it was such a drag that they closed the show with it, but have since come around.this is one of the better versions of this...almost sounded like they were gonna go into oblivious fool at first.....

Sparkle-Velvet-and the old version of velvet sea i like, too.the intro with the "N20" sound (which is really just a flanger pedal turned all the way up and looped)...but i like how the solo at the end just eases out of the song (much like the old L X L's)

Cup-Reprise-this cup rocked a little more than others

Hood-would have been cool to see the first? "kill the lights...at least i saw 2, and they are special.this is a great version and super lengthy.

great pick, jon
i give this show a solid A!

a

[jephrey]

Theme - Nice, nothing off the hook but a good opener.
Sullivan - Typical
Ghost - Cool, but not amazing.  Not as intense as I would have liked but good nevertheless.
Dogs - I've never loved this song.  Page is rockin it though.
Divided - NICE.  Soaring, but not over the top.  A very good one.  Quality.
Wolfman's - Proving that this is a jam vehicle is easy with this version.  I liked the jam near the end better as I thought it started kinda aimlessly.  But the smooth return to the theme yielded another little neat jam.
Water in the Sky - Never really dug it but never hated it.  It's been so long since I've even heard it.  I don't even know if I like this one or the reworked one.\
SOAMelt - Split jams are some of my favorite.  Just rockin' with that theme of the song sneaking through every now and again.  Nearly every version reminds me of the car chase in the album version.  This one is no slouch, but maybe a tiny bit unstructured for my tastes.  It's my set highlight.

Good first set, although I may not rate it that high.  I'll just give the one overall after second set.  and susep...

susep relisten without the total over the top disection... no need for that all the time...  just enjoy a great set

I think the dissection is great.  It allows you to really compare two things that are top notch (Like every show).  I think that if you didn't disect the show, you'd be saying, "that was awesome" to every show.  And that's cool actually, when you're there, but I like the analytical approach when rating a show based on the tapes.

Anyhow.  Set 2 later this week

Jephrey

[susep]

susep, question for you... when you do your reviews are you typing while you listen?  just curious, since you always give insight with a bit more depth & technicality than most... i enjoy that.

exactly>thanks for the compliment, being a musician has given me another language and a keen ear(pun not intended as my mom is a Keene) :-D

edit:

and susep...

susep relisten without the total over the top disection... no need for that all the time...  just enjoy a great set

I think the dissection is great.  It allows you to really compare two things that are top notch (Like every show).  I think that if you didn't disect the show, you'd be saying, "that was awesome" to every show.  And that's cool actually, when you're there, but I like the analytical approach when rating a show based on the tapes.

Thx for the feedback>"hearts and ears"

[Gumbo72203]

still waiting for this to finish downloading....  but from all of your guys' reviews, im pretty stoked to check this one out.  Can you believe this was almost 10 years ago??  wtf!  lol

[August]

9...but who's counting!  :wink:
a

[jonyem]

9 years ago today....

I can still see the purple sky during the lights out section of Hood.

[jephrey]

DWD - Nice.  Around 14 minutes, it's sounding Vida Blue-ish.  I like this kind of jam.  Slow and groovy.  Great slow transition into
Tweez - A little off timing in the beginning, but leading to some great effects interaction between Trey and Page over Gordo's solid bass.  At like 24/25 minutes, it's funk tronic.  Totally my style.  Digable.  This is the kind of shit I could groove to forever.  Trey starts ripping it up at the end to go back into
DWD - which was not really even there, more like a tease which went well into
Johnny B. - I always love this rocker...  Reminds me of Michael J. Fox playing  behind his head.
Sparkle - Nice old school tune to slip in after that funk-rock fest.
Velvet Sea - Totally welcome here, but let's get back into the shizz!
Loving Cup - I'm not a huge fan of this tune and unfortunately, the set's coming to a close.  On the bright side, I really liked this version, and I thought it rocked.
Tweeprise - I love this to close a set.  Diggin' it.
HoooooooooD - Good song as an encore.  I feel good.  Mt.Hood!

For some reason, this set seemed to go real fast.  To me, all the greatness was jammed into the first songs but that didn't take away the good quality of the rest, although I then expected to hear more of that killer funk.

Set 1 and 2 combined, I don't think I can give this a "very good" rating.  There was definitely some greatness, but most of it was just damn good.  4.2112 even.

Jephrey