, attached to 1997-02-17

Review by waxbanks

waxbanks Tapes of this show provided a wakeup call for stateside fans during the runup to the summer '97 US tour, and it holds up twelve years later. The opening set is a fleet, energetic, standard-excellent hour-plus. Set II goes from strength to strength: strong wide-ranging Disease, fierce Carini, powerful Taste, and a hair-raising Disease Reprise, all connected by loose-limbed, patient segues. If Halloween '96 was the genesis of Phish's funk style, the spring '97 tour provided a lab environment for the band to try out its newfound shaggy minimalism. The playing here is funky, attentive, and finely detailed - a small-venue rethinking of the band's big arena sound, recentered on the rhythm section. The new style flowered on 3/1, but this is a classic transitional show; those second-set segue arrows are no joke, and there's some tasty dark meat on those bones. One of the must-hear Europe shows, though the 7/1 and 7/2 Amsterdam engagements represent a quantum leap beyond even this one.


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