Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 14:16:28 -0700 From: "David M. Goldstein" DivSky333@snet.net Subject: Review of 8/16/97 Thought I'd take a shot at day one of the Went. Maybe I'll tackle day two later..... I could waste loads of space talking about the whole scene, the camping and the like, but suffice to say, virtually everything went smoothly, the vast majority of people and our tent neighbors were quite phriendly, and the experience would have been better had it not been for the deluge of H2O on Friday night (and the generally shitty weather on Saturday). One gripe, when the hell are heads going to learn that "nugs" simply aren't the end all to be all? Nothing against anyone's habits, but the guy who told me that he traded his 9th row Darien Lake tix for kind nugs has got to get his priorities straight!! Oh well! Here we go. set uno. Makisupa> 2nd half of Harpua, Chalkdust, Theme, PYITE, Ghost (20 min or so), Ginseng, YEM > Train Song > Character Zero, Squirming Coil. Makisupa: I was hoping for a Divided because it's a great song, and the sun was just starting to come out, but hey. Standard Makisupa with some funky effects from Page's new Hancock-esque keyboard. Dank reference was found in "Gooballs!" refering to the growing popularity of "ganga gooballs" I guess (what the hell is in these? besides the obvious.). Part of Harpua: This was appropriate. Unfinished business don'cha know! Basically did the Jimmy/Dad part and everything after. Finished what last year started. Chalkdust: Longer than most with some spacy, Free-esque Trey loops in the middle. The band seemed to get a little carried away and lost in the midsection. This became evident when they totally bludgeoned the ending before the final vocals. Oh well! Still good. Theme: This was much better than either of the 2 Themes I caught in '96. They actually tried to work melodic lines into the jam, and it had an eerie, dark feel to it. Would have been nicer to see at night because the lights were non-existent, and usually make the song for me, but this was a surprising highlight. PYITE: This has the distinction of being the worst PYITE ever! Why you ask? Trey's amp was plagued by some high pitched feedback problems, and Paul spent most of the song trying to figure out how to fix this. Somehow this resulted in an unbelievably slow and sloppy PYITE. You could actually understand all of the lyrics! Can't win 'em all I guess! Ghost: After a long welcome speech from Trey, Ghost kicks in. I really dig this tune. Nice, slow, catchy, Maceo Parker-esque funk. Embarked on a slow, funky, 70's blaxplotation like jam that has seemingly become par for the course with this song. I suppose it could use an actual ending though. Ginseng Sullivan: Standard YEM: Whoa. Composed segment performed smoothly without a hitch with Nirvana being particuarly long and spacy. Lots of dark effects triggered via Page's new 'quipment. The jam, like Phish's jams throughout the entire weekend, was incredibly bass heavy and funky. But above all else, contained a serious GROOVE. I'd have to hear it again for a more thurough look-see, but suffice to say, Mike was certainly earning his keep. A vocal jam that interestingly did not begin with WUFDMTF lyrics somehow dissolved into.... Train Song: Thought they were gonna end with YEM, but they opted to play this. Go figure. Ya know, it was Train Song. This lead into... Character Zero: This is going to close what's already a really long set right? After the composed part, Trey seemed a little lost, a little like he was straining to find a repeating theme he liked. A little messy and noodly, I prefered the balls to the wall RAWK that came from Zero on NYE. Squirming Coil: I thought the set was over with Zero, and I guess Page thought so too because he stood up and began to walk away, but they went for Coil. (why?) Standard Coil with a shorter than usual Page solo because well, I think he was pissed off or something. I don't think he wanted to play the song! This set was about 5 minutes short of 2 hours, and while it contained several highlights (YEM, Theme, Ghost ), ending it with Coil was overkill, and the set seemed like an example of quantity over quality. Kind of killed the set for me. Anyone else agree? Another thing, I don't think the boys played this one with a setlist because they took more time discussing what to play next between songs than the Dead did fixing equipment between songs on their final tour. No such problems with set II though....;) set deux: Wolfman's > Jam > Simple > My Soul, Slave, Rocky Top, Julius Wolfman's Bro: Was hearing great things about this one, so I was pysched. Not dissappointed in the slightest. Normal composed section leads into a monster jam of what seems to be a new phase for Phish, slow, dank, groovy, FUNK. This means Trey using his wah-wah pedals and scratching techniques to the extreme, Page playing more clavinet than piano or organ, and Mike slapping more in one jam than he did on the entire Fall '96 tour. This is a good thing folks. Some people commented that it sounded like a Tweezer jam without the Tweezer, and I guess that's sort of accurate. Segued into... Simple: Slower than any version I heard from '96, and for some reason, a heck of a lot powerful. Maybe I was just high coming off the Wolfman's extravaganza, but this Simple seemed to have a slow, grinding rock power that many lack. The jam never got quiet or spacy as many do, Trey simply kepy soloing over the chord progressions turns it into ..... My Soul: Sure, the basic framework of this tune is 12-bar blues, and it's not going to win any points for originality, but oh my god did it JAM. An example of how powerful the 12 bar blues can be. Trey just kept taking choruses over, and over and over, and the solos became more intense. By the last coda, even the most skeptical head was screaming, M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M! IT'S MY SOUL!! Sweet. Slave: The beginning was slightly botched, but the ending progression was among the best I've ever seen. Trey was trilling like crazy, and fanning the heck out of his guitar. A friend compared the intensity to the titanic coda of Morning Dew from 5/8/77....while that may be pushing it, I can see where he's coming from. Rocky Top: Nice little break. I'd rather hear this than Poor Heart. Julius: They tried to toy around with it a bit, meaning a virtually acapella beginning, a quieter midsection, and more attention to melodic soloing as opposed to the RAWK that it usually is. My advice? Leave it alone. I liked the wank style of Julius better, but this was still good. Maybe I was just annoyed because a rude female fan somehow shoved me from my dancing space, howled the lyics, and then proceeded to concentrate more on smoking her glass piece than watching the show. C'mon people! GET THIS 2ND SET!!!! God forbid NYE '96 set II would've been half this good. set three... I think it went....Halley's Comet > Cities > Llama, Lawn Boy, Limb by Limb, Funky Beeatch Halley's : Oooh yeah. A nice surprise considering they didn't play it much (or did they ever play it at all?) in '96. First one of summer tour. I think they screwed up some of the lyrics, but the jam out was great. Longer than most and contained some of the funk that they had been doing throughout the night as well as some nice tempo changes and eerie "Central part of town" vocal jamming deep into the jam. Segued into .... Cities: A really slow, funky, almost reggae version. Basically the same thing they did in Amsterdam. This was ok, almost a little too slow for my tastes, but I like the song, slow, spacy jam, but then Fishman kicked the beat into double time and Trey scratched out... Llama: Another first on the tour. Llama is usually good, but this one was downright insane. Much longer than usual with Trey using some watery, Free-like guitar effects in the middle of the jam. Page going nuts as well. Nice use of strobes and fog Chris! Lawn Boy: Aaaaawwwww. What can you say? This one is always a guaranteed riot. Page at his lounge singer best. Limb by Limb: Probably my favorite new tune. I like the odd time signature and the jam which evolved was quite nice and reminded me a little of Taste. I think the mid-section needs some work, and could benefit from more Trey/Page vocal interplay, but this one is promising. Funky Bitch: Always a nice down and dirty jam. This was done to the sound of fireworks, but how can you see the fireworks when a large black screen is behind the band? Wierd. I thought this was cut a little short, but still good. Overall, another excellent jam filled set that's worth the cost of an XL II. E: Contact, Loving Cup Contact caught me by surprise, and what's not to like? Cheese to be sure, but lovable cheese nonetheless. Loving Cup was great. An excellent encore choice as it sure is one hell of a powerful anthem. What a beautiful buzz. In closing, the first night was great. Much more jam/improv. oriented than anything I saw on Fall '96, and the funk experiments are sweet. Not the same band you and I saw a year ago...much improved it would seem. Maybe I'll tackle night 2 when I can keep my eyes open.....all I can say about that is Phish needs to lay off the ridiculous performance art and BATHTUB GIN. Buh bye! Dave G. -- "If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me to bury me somewhere I don't want to be, or dig me up, and transport me, unceremoniously, away from the swollen sea breeze, garbage bag trees, whispers of disease and acts of enormity, and lower me slowly and softly and properly, get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy!!!!" -"The Tragically Hip" --------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 19:16:17 -0400 From: Andrew Van Alstyne x0avana@music.stlawu.edu Subject: WENT Review, PT. 1 Hello, This is going to be a voluminous review, so I will be splitting it up into chunks... The Drive: The trip was enjoyable...The more north in Manie you went, the more beautiful the view was. Breathtaking. My friend Dave and I hooked up with some people that live in Maine so we were able to take backroads most of the way there. (Thatcher from Boston, if you read this, keep in touch). It was nice to see local resident s sitting by the side of the road watching the traffic do by. Everyone up there was so nice...it seemed to be the most excitement that people up there had ever seen. Normally, local people give dirty looks to anyone headed for Phish. One woman had never seen NY license plates before. We arrived Friday night after dark (around 8:30) and worked our way in. My bracelet number was over 31,000. The weather for the drive was gorgeous, but once we started setting up camp, the temperature dropped and it poured all night long. Being intelligent I slept outside in my sleeping bag without a tent. I woke up in the morning and there was standing water in my bag :( My only pair of pants and my only sweatshirt were soaked, but good cheer returned after I bought some coffee from our neighbor. Saturday morning we walked to the gates at 10:30, and waited for them to open. We waited until after two thirty, but it wasn't a horrible wait because there were entertainers (unicyclists, guys on stilts and a band). I was the guy with red hair and a beard wearing my good luck "Wilson Sucks" hand made tee, if anyone saw me. Once the gates opened we ran in and staked out our spot: Page side, but right next to the center split, so we were actually in line with Trey. We were closer to the stage than the Soundboard, and from where we were, the sound was quite clear. Hello to all the guys from Minnesota that were on tour. On to the Show: 8/16/97, Set One Makisupa Policeman > Harpua*, Chalkdust Torture, Theme from the Bottom, Punch You in the Eye, The Story of the Ghost, Ginseng Sullivan, You Enjoy Myself, Trainsong, Character Zero, Squirming Coil *Started @ "Jimmy. Yes Dad...) This set was quite long, and was the best of the day. When the band first came out, the assholes in front of us held up there Tube sign. They couldn't just make one sign, they had to make a sign for each letter. Anyway, they were offended when we asked them to put their signs down, but there reaction when Tube wasn't played was pretty funny...they expected the band to play it because they held up their signs. I called the Makisupa opener, but considering that the band was coming out at 4:20, it wasn't a risky prediction. Makisupa was pretty standard; the buzz word was "Goo-balls" The segue into Harpua was gorgeous...I've never really heard a segue into Harpua before, but considering that the song normally starts with an "Oom Paa Paa," a segue would be difficult. Page sort of teased the Oom Paa Paa part on the key boards, and Trey slowly began playing the Harpu melody that comes before the "Bad News" section while Fish and Mike still funked out Makisupa. Harpua only containe the segment that was missing from last year's ball...so, no story. However, the segue made up for the lack of the story. The Chalkdust that followed Harpua was impressive. There was some solid jamming (Type I jamming, but still enjoyable, especially for a Chalkdust). Easily one of the best Chalkdusts I've ever heard. After Chalkdust, Trey said that they had just finished their soundcheck, and that the show would now start for real. The Theme that followed was decent, but nothing outrageous. PYITE had some problems with the sound, and Trey completely missed the lyrics to the last two verses. Trey played something else (besides the normal Landlady theme) during the Landlady segment, but I didn't recognize it. After PYITE, Trey told the audience that we were the biggest city in Maine... "bigger than Portland and a whole lot cooler, too." Then the band apologized to people from Portland. Trey also talked about the Port a Potty Piaza (sp?) that Fish designed. He also told us about bathtubs that Fish had christened by getting naked. Trey continued "of course that means you wouldn't want to get in them." Ghost followed and was one of the the highlights of the set...so slow and funky. Fairly long, I believe it was in the fifteen to twenty minute range, but the groove was in the house. I can't remember the specifics of the jam, but it was enjoyable (and danceable :) Ginseng Sullivan was as fun as ever. After this song there was a long discussion between the band about what to play next...they seemed to argue. Trey wanted to play YEM, and Fish wanted something else. Right before YEM, Fish said "well if he wants to play it." It was all in good fun, though. You Enjoy Myself...the song that was missing at last years Ball reared its head. The intro was well played, very nice Vibration of Life attempt...the note was standard. The jam segment started out slow and rhytmic, but near the end Trey stepped up and started rocking. Train Song--standard. Charcter Zero rocked as always, but still standard. The Squirming Coil started off well, but Page's solo seemed especially short. Well, Set one was a great start to the weekend. On the Scott Jordan scale, I'd give it a 7.5. The set was over an hour and forty five minutes long. The segue between Makisupa and Harpua blew me away; Ghost and YEM featured some excellent jamming. Mike is cranked loud in the mix, so thanks go out to the PLM (people for a louder Mike). With the focus on the funk, the loud bass reverberates through the audience. I could feel the bass as well as hearing it. The next review will cover the rest of Saturday's show...stay tuned. Andrew Van Alstyne http://www.stlawu.edu/x0avana:http/home.htm ------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 01:07:29 -0400 From: Andrew Van Alstyne x0avana@music.stlawu.edu Subject: WENT Review, Pt. II Hello all, This review will cover set two of the first night. Thise set was brief compared to the first set, but the quality was there. Just a note on segues (>), they are actual transitions between songs, not start stop segues. 8/16/97, Set II Wolfman's Brother > Simple > "Theme From The Odd Couple" Jam > My Soul, Samson, Slave to the Traffic Light, Rocky Top, Julius Wolfman's Brother has been the comeback song of the year. In the past, this song used to annoy the hell out of me. But now that Phish has been endowed with the FUNK, songs like Wolfman's take on a whole new life. The jam began immediately after the lyrics segment, and grooved. Once again, Mike's bass dropped bombs. The sound at this show was amazingly clear, and if you haven't heard yet, Mike was very prominent (reminiscent of 4/92). There was a clear, clean segue into Simple. his Simple was not as huge a monster as some of the Fall 96 Simples, but the jam at this show was a lot more fun than some of the longer Simples. The Odd Couple Jam came out of a lick that Trey played a few times and then Page picked up on it...Then the whole band kicked into it. This went on for about a minute, and was a lot of fun, when My Soul slowly crept into the picure. I need to preface this by saying that I used to dislike this song. I felt it to be as boring, as bland, and as much of a waste of time as many other people have. However, this My Soul was THE SHIT...I received some serious hose from the end of the jam. This was some serious Type II jamming going on. Unlike some of the other funk that came out this weekend, My soul was fairly upbeat and I danced my ass off. If only every My Soul wwould sound like this.... Samson (I believe is the official name of this) was an extremely brief instrumental that came before Slave. Of all the instrumentals that Phish does, this one is closest to Oh Kee Pah. It's fun to listen to, but is brief and there doesn't seem to be much room for improv jamming. The Slave that came next fit the definition of teary-eyed. The only bad part was that a drunk guy in front of us insisted on performing animal calls during the gorgeous part of slave. He yelled and yelled at the top of his lungs. The Rocky Top that came next was standard, but Mike lost all control over the lyrics. During the last verse, Page tried to bail him out, and Trey and Page ended singing Mike's part. The Julius that followed sucked. (Besides Bouncing) it was the only disappointment of the weekend. The energy simply wasn't there. Compared to the first set (which almost reached two hours) this set was short..under an hour and ten minutes. I'd give it a 7.0 on the Concert Rating scale. The Wolfman's > Simple > My Soul was amazing, and the Slave was above average. I think the first set was the best set of the day, but all three sets are worth listening to. More to follow, Andrew Van Alstyne http://www.stlawu.edu/x0avana:http/home.htm --------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 13:11:04 -0400 From: Andrew Van Alstyne x0avana@music.stlawu.edu Subject: WENT Review, Pt. III Hello, I left off at the third set of the first night, here we go: The Great Went, 8/16/97...Set III Halley's Comet > Cities > Llama, Lawnboy*, Limb by Limb, Funky Bitch Encore: Contact, Loving Cup *Mike bass solo Halley's Comet contained one of the largest (Type II!!!) jam segments that I've ever heard. There was some BBFCFM type jamming in between verses. The band seemed to jam everything they could get their hands on...a nearly fifteen minute Halley's that segues into Cities... The segue was extremely well done. The jam of Halley's was slowed down until the extreme funk appeared, and then the Cities melody came out slowly. If you haven't heard the "new" version of Cities, it is about a third of the speed of the original. The band seems to be concentrating on playing with each other (& with the space between each other's notes). Therefore, the music is tighter, funkier, and contains the groove from hell. Instead of "People sleep, sleep in the daytime," it was "Fishman sleeps, sleeps in the daytime." Also with the new speed, Trey pays more attention to the words, and spits each one out with maniacal glee.Near the end of the Cities jam, Trey began playing the chords to Llama slowly in a different key. He slid up the frets while accelerating, and the rest of the band joined him when he kicked into Llama. Llama was its normal, high energy self. A nice five minute dance fest. Page stood up, and picked up his mic as the rest of the band began swinging Lawn Boy. Page normally plays up the stage gestures during this song, but with the cameras on him, he was more of a lounge singer than ever before. He crooned the words, and acted them out, placing his hand over his heart at times, and just basically being melodramatic as hell. Mike took a nice bass solo during the song, and it ended normally. Limb by Limb was next. This is a fun new song, but what stood out about this performance was Fisman's solo section at the end. Not only did he pound out the changing rhythms of the song, but he also sang "Limb by Limb by Limb..." along with his playing. Haven't heard this song enough to fully comment, but it has a lot of potential. A fun Funky Bitch closed the set. The Contact encore was pretty boring, and the Loving Cup was as gorgeous as ever: what a beautiful buzz. One of my only complaints about last year's ball was the brief encores: an a cappella song one night, and the aborted Harpua the next night. Both nights featured two song encores, and I have no complaints. The third set was not even an hour long. The Halley's > Cities > Llama was great, but the second half of the set was standard. Loving Cup was a treat, and I enjoyed hearing it. I would give the set a 7.0 on the concert rating scale. To sum up the first show, it was well played and above average. There some surprises, some impressive improv, but nothing extraordinary. I would give the whole show a 7.5. The first set was the best, because of a fun YEM and a Funky Ghost as well as an amaziong transition between Makisupa and Harpua. The My Soul in the second set was the best I've ever heard, and the Halley's > Cities was fun as well. I would advise seeking out all three sets. One question: anyone know if dSBDs were given out this year? Stay tuned for a review of 8/17/97, what may be the greatest Phish show ever played. Andrew Van Alstyne http://www.stlawu.edu/x0avana:http/home.htm -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 16:01:17 -0500 From: Dan Mielcarz Daniel.W.Mielcarz@Dartmouth.EDU Subject: Review of 8/16/97 Setlist first, comments follow: [I don't use Charlie's segue notation because old habits die hard. The segues indicated are all the kind that he calls ->. FWIW I've never considered the start-stop thing a true segue anyway] 8/16/97 Set I: Makisupa> Harpua Chalkdust Torture Theme from the Bottom PYITE Ghost Ginseng Sullivan YEM Trainsong Character Zero Squirming Coil Set II: Wolfman's Brother> Simple> Odd Couple Jam> My Soul "Off to the Carnival"> Slave to the Traffic Light Rocky Top Julius Set III: Halley's Comet> Cities> Llama Lawn Boy Limb By Limb Funky Bitch E: Contact Loving Cup The Scene: With all of the recent complaints about the scene, I expected it to be MUCH worse than it was. I of course saw people abusing (as opposed to USING) all sorts of substances, but it was nowhere near as terrible as I thought it would be from some recent posts. Either it was a lot worse at other shows, or some people are more sensitive to problems with the scene than I am. The locals were the greatest! They were standing outside waving, put signs on their lawns and otherwise acted as if this concert was the greatest thing since the automated potato slicer. Yes, this was potato country - one of the articles I read in the local (from Bangor, ~3 hours away) paper said that the kids got Friday off from school but will have to make it up during the potato harvest recess! This same article said that the local stores had their shelves cleaned out several times. I think this bodes well for a return next year. (And I hope Phish does return, because the surrounding country was beautiful. The sky was SO big. I've never seen anything like it, and I live in New Hampshire which has some damn fine scenery.) That said, I do have a complaint. WHY DOES EVERYONE LISTEN TO THE DEAD AND NOT PHISH? Especially when Phish runs their own radio station for the weekend? Especially when this station is playing choice cuts from the Phish archives (i.e.,. Spock's Brain and Reba from Lowell)? The vast majority of people with stereos were playing the dead. I don't have a problem with the Dead, but Phish had their own radio station. My only explanation that I can offer is that for a HUGE number of people at the Went, Phish is just a replacement for the Dead. Not that this surprises me, I just never imagined the amount of transplanted deadheads. (I don't necessarily have a problem with transplanted deadheads, I just think that if you are going to follow a band around there should be a little more passion involved for the band you are following, not the scene that surrounds it). Sorry, had to get that out of the way. The only other problem was the condition of the Port-o-Potties, and I have no idea what can be done with this. I think it comes down to people being too fucked up to think that throwing trash into the urinal is a bad thing. Also, a lot of people seem to have VERY bad aim. I think that more port-o-potties might help, but a quicker cleaning schedule would probably do more good. (Man, when I think of the poor bastards who have to clean the damn things, I shudder) Enough about the scene, I'm sure there will be MANY more posts about it. On to the music (I'm working off the FMs and my memory, no grovels please): Day 1 I heard a little bit of the Gordon Stone Trio before the first set. They are VERY good. Much better than "Touch and Go" which is the album of theirs that I have (which is still good BTW, and has Mike playing on one of the tracks). Set 1: Makisupa: You can all imagine the reaction from the crowd when the boys walk out at 4:20 and start playing Makisupa. Trey gives a little reminder that Phish can still pull out the locker room talk when he sings "Woke up in the morning...blue balls." A quick little jam takes us halfway into... Harpua: the segue from Makisupa started Harpua at the point where Trey usually says "Look, the storm is gone" He didn't say it this time, but as the sun started to burn through the clouds everyone at the show thought it. They did the goldfish dog stuff and finished out the song in standard fashion. I had finally seen a complete Harpua! The fact that Phish played this song just shows that they really care about us fans and that they felt bad that the encore last year confused some people and left them with a bad taste in their mouths. Thanks guys! Chalkdust: Was damn good, with the exception of some flubs by Trey. He apologized for these afterward, saying that they hadn't had a chance to do a soundcheck and that was it. There was definitely some GREAT jamming in here, if you can ignore the flubs, I heard the NC Chalkdust (must hear) from this summer on the way up, and I think this one is almost as good. Members of PLM will want to check this out! Theme from the Bottom: Was jammed out nicely, with some tasty melodies in the jam. Not the best ever, and it ended in a piercing wail of feedback that lasted at least 3 minutes. Then... Punch You in the Eye: Trey hit the opening chord on PYITE just as the feedback kicked out. It seemed like perfect timing. Then the feedback was back. They jammed over it a little bit (don't get excited the feedback was too annoying to enjoy it) and when the feedback kicked out the rest of the song went off without a hitch. At the end of the song, Trey gave everyone a welcome to the Went, said we were the biggest city in Portland, said Fishman was had been naked in the Portolet Piazza bathtub and that we were going to hear the story of the Ghost. Ghost: This song, of all Phish songs, has the thickest groove. Dancing to it I felt like I was wading through molasses or the tar pits. The bass line just overpowers you and MAKES you move. Mike was spanking the bass like there was no tomorrow. There were times when I felt like they could easily go into Lucy. It's a sweet song, and it's only going to get better. Listen to an early Tweezer if you don't believe me. Ginseng Sullivan: My favorite of the bluegrass tunes. I love to sing along to it. I could have sworn this was the end of the set. But no! YEM: My first YEM!!! It was definitely unplanned; Trey walked around the stage to discuss it before they started up. Having waited 13 shows for my first YEM, I was in sheer ecstasy. It's like going on 13 dates with someone you really like, but not being able to kiss her. And boy are Phish great kissers! :-) Everyone was ON in this YEM. It wasn't the longest version around, but it had some DAMN fine jamming. Mike was LOUD and laying down the funk. Page was dancing on the keyboards (not literally). The tramps came out and Trey and Mike did some stunt moves. They were incredibly tight in the jam that follows the tramps section. It went on for a good 10 minutes. I really can't get over how tight it was. I just can't. I'll lose all faith in our esteemed YEM reviewer if it doesn't get at least an 8.5 (or A- or whatever you use for YEM, Charlie). Trey gets a little bit spacey over a hard, driving bassline. It kicks ass. The vocal jam is short and fits the mood of the last part of the jam PERFECTLY. One of the only vocal jams I've heard that has a steady beat to it. Trainsong: Standard, non-acoustic version. I really like the imagery behind the lyrics of this song, and it was a welcome break from the funk. Character Zero: A loud screaming rocker to close out the set, I thought. Apparently Page did was well, since he stood up to leave the stage. Trey would have none of that, however, and ran around the stage telling people what to play next. Coil: followed, as if to "punish" Page for trying to leave early. It was beautiful as always, and the piano solo was a great way to wind down from the 2 hour first set!!! "Stick around" Page said as he finished his solo. I don't think anyone was planning on leaving after a set like that, which so obviously fed off of the tremendous energy of the crowd. I am firmly convinced that this set would have ended with Trey's comments at the end of PYITE if he hadn't felt the power of 60,000 people. [Setbreak music: New Alison Krauss CD (the one where she looks like she is on Melrose Place as my girlfriend puts it)] Set 2 Wolfman's: Starts out as always, then headed into uncharted waters. I don't like to put "Jam" on setlists, but if it was ever justified, this might be the case. The other Wolfman's jams I have heard have seemed lacking in direction, but not this one. It was EPIC. You know how you get the FEELING of other jams in the Providence (12/29/94) Bowie like Hood and McGrupp, but they aren't quite teases? That is exactly what this Jam felt like. I get a YEM feeling, a DWD feeling, a Tweezer feeling. I think I may have to use the word HOSE, which I don't like to use lightly. This is one of those GLORIOUS moments in Phishstory. This Jam felt like it couldn't be improvised. It was just too perfect. You could tell that the Hey Hole exercises were paying off. The listening among the members of the band is unbelievable. At the end of the jam, Trey gives a slide up the neck of the Doc and kicks in with the riff to... Simple: I love hearing this song at shows. It just tells me that the band LOVES what they are doing. Trey did the screaming guitar riff at the we've got be-bop part; I loved it. So, they get to the end of the lyrics, and here I am thinking that they are going to keep it pretty short because of the monster jam they just came out of. But no. They keep it going. Another tight jam. I'm looking at my friends in disbelief. They are looking at me in disbelief. The jam slows down a bit and Trey and Page start to fool with a familiar riff... Odd Couple Jam: I couldn't quite place it at the time, but one of my friends filled me in at the end of the set. This wasn't an all-out playing of the theme song, but they just played with the riff and did crazy things with it. This was not necessarily a space jam, but it was a little out there. Then Trey starts to play... My Soul: The intro to this song has Mike playing the Odd Couple theme still. Then the lyrics start up. All I have to say about this version of this song is that it is as far away from "lame" as almost anything I've ever heard. It ROCKS. It rocks HARD. If you think this song sucks, you obviously haven't heard this version. People were dancing like crazy. Sheer FUN. "Off to the Carnival": Okay, so I named this myself. You know that part on the ALO tweezer where Trey uses some sort of weird effect to make his guitar sound have a circus-like feel? Well, this was about a 5 minute song that was played like this, and I felt sure that it would go into Esther (Hence the name). It's really tough to describe this, and I'll let you all hear it for yourselves. Slave: Slave has usually played second fiddle to Hood in my book, but this version may have just changed my mind. I think it is safe to call this one of the best Slaves ever. An amazing build up; great guitar work from Trey. Rocky Top: FAST!! This felt like it had to be the fastest Rocky Top ever. I'm not so sure anymore, listening to the tape, but it is still DAMN fast. And fun as always, if you enjoy bluegrass Phish like me. Julius: Pretty standard, until they break it down into a quiet little jam for Trey to talk over. He says that they are going to play "a lot more strange and weird music for you" and "to not forget to go to the disco." (WHY DIDN'T I GO I'M SUCH AN IDIOT!!!!!) Then they get back into a normal Julius jam to close out the set. [Setbreak music: Charlie Hunter Quartet "Natty Dread" (Buy this album!!!)] Set 3 Halley's Comet: I thought we got a great jam out of this song at the Clifford Ball. Well, the jam out of this Halley's puts that one to shame. It is, and you won't believe it until you hear the tapes, a Type II jam. They finish up with the chorus (I'm going down...) going over a dark jam rather than the real Halley's. Then the jam keeps going into... Cities: I've only heard one other version of this song, from 3/1/97. Suffice it to say, this version blows that one out of the water. It is slower and funkier and way more improvised. Trey, when speaking of London says that "Fishman sleeps...he sleeps in the daytime" The lyrics seem to come out of nowhere on this song, which I find very cool. I didn't miss the symbolism about finding yourself a city to live in, either, because that's what we all did this weekend. The jam out of Cities starts to sound like... Llama: After a neat segue, this is a pretty typical version of Llama. But the first two songs MORE than make up for one standard song. Lawn Boy: Page stands up with the microphone and croons Barry Manilow style on this one. Hilarious! Mike then proceeds to sit down on his monitor and put his feet up for his solo. This is one thing I love about Phish. They can blow your mind one minute and have you ROTFLYAO in the next. Limb by Limb: Having heard only one other version of this song, I can't make a comparison to other versions. However, it is a damn cool song with a fun jam in the middle. Funky Bitch: This was a fairly standard Funky Bitch, but what made the song was the fireworks during it. Luckily I was in a position to see them. At this point in the show, I was loving life. Encore Contact: I'll always love this song. It was one of my first favorites. And it doesn't hurt that I really did wake up one morning in November and realize I loved my girlfriend :-) It was an amazing sight to see 60,000+ people waving their hands at the request of Trey and Mike. Lovin' Cup: This is my friend's favorite cover song, and it was great to see his face light up when they started playing. I normally don't like it when people sing along at shows, but for this song we all had to. And it was a beautiful buzz. I'll give my review of Sunday night in another post, but I just want to say right now that after this weekend, I have come to the conclusion that Phish is what IT is all about. They have their finger on the pulse of my existence. Their music transcends description, regardless of what I wrote here. Give your soul to Phish. It will be in good hands. -Dan -------------------------- Dan.Mielcarz@dartmouth.edu http://www.dartmouth.edu/~mielcarz/ "Hello, my name is Dan Mielcarz. I sniff lots of glue."-phishow@aol.com Member of PLM-http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/4489/plm.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 11:47:00 PDT From: greg sand chez8@hotmail.com Subject: Went Review set 3 day 1 Hey man I love checking out your review page. I always check it out when I am bored at work. It is very comprehensive and filled w/ good stuff. Do you ever add any of your own? Anyway, while sitting here waiting for my dam fall MO's to show up, I thought I would review one of the Went sets. Day1/III and Day2/II were probably my favorites although all were insane. I chose Day1/III to review b/c I find myself listening to that one most. Halleys>cities(slow)>llama,lawn boy,limbXlimb,funky B E:contact,lovn C The halleys was a genuine surprise's and I was hoping to hear it. This version seemed a little slower then I am used to hearing.(I am still hooked on the jumpy 2001>halleys from 6/24/95) They seemed very patient and concious not to flub it. It sounded great and the solid jam made up for any slowness. The jam went into a slow groove which was cities. I've heard one other version and this one was considerable slower. I still have yet to here the orignal talking heads version. How much/little does it compare??Treys lyrics were dynamic here. He really got into it. The llama was basically insane. I could go for hours about this one. They jumped into it shreding every note and nice guitar work by trey. When it was over I couldn't believe what just hit me. Then came Funky B. This was amazing and kept the crowd going. Solid,Solid,Solid. I think I will compare the rest of my funky bitches to this funky bitch. Complete w/fireworks which were unrelentless. Next came lawn boy which was a treat. It was great to see page come down front and get intamite.(sp) Next came Limb by limb. This song is great. Definatly my fav. new song. The vocals/lyrics/music all blend together nice. I think the song is about 15mins long in "Lyrics>jam>chorus" fashion. If you miss the lyrical intro you may think your hearing Ya Mar at first but then it changes nicely. Then came funky bitch. This was amazing and kept the crowd going. Solid,Solid,Solid. I think I will compare the rest of my funky bitches to this fine young lady. Complete w/fireworks that were unrelentless. This was the first time, at the 'went' at least, that I felt the crowd was there to see the audience and the aud. was there to see the band. Sure they played two great sets before hand but here, under exploding skies, people around me were high fiving, jumping, jigging, and just overall physced. And the set wasn't even over... The first enc. was contact. Once they picked up their instruments and fiddled around it was obvious contact would come up b/c someone played a few disdinct notes. Anyway it was a fun contact. This contact was averg. but alot of energy was still carried over from FB. I though they would end w/contact but then My first lovn' Cup. I have always loved this song and to get to see Phish play it made it even sweeter. "don't you know I play a bad guitar" seemed fitting b/c in treys voice you could tell he meant bad meaning good not bad meaning bad. This truley left a great taste in my mouth. I was singing it all the way back to the tent. I especially like it as a closer............."what a beautiful buzz" ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com