Subject: brief review of london
Date: 16 Feb 1997 14:36:59 GMT
From: everyshow@aol.com (EveryShow)

    sitting in a 'cafe' in amsterdam, checking the newsgroup, surprised to
see so many errors in the setlists and worse still, no reviews of the new
tunes...   so here ya have it!

    the first one is alfredo.  trey on keys and vocals.  i dont have my
bookwith me so i cant be sure of the others, but i think it was page on
drums, mike on guitar and fish on bass.  it, like the other, rocko
william, can best be described as 'ditties.'  trey mentioned these were
songs written specifically for this tour so that may have something to do
with it.  i was busy fending off drunk brits from slamming into the mic
stands during this one, unfortunately, but from what i heard it sounded
much like the new mellencamp single...  tell me if you dont hear the same
on tape. the tapes, btw, were shipped back to the states the day after the
show - GET ON THIS TREE.

    the other new one is rocko william, fish on guitar and vocals.  funny
little tune similar to rocky raccoon.  another ditty.  the covers are my
soul and didnt mean that much.  i saw it listed as rock and roll.... 
who's calling these setlists in???  fooey.

      well that's about all i've got time for.... cya all - amsterdam
calls.

james
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From: Michael Armstrong 
Subject: euro tour thoughts, pt.I
Date: 26 Feb 1997 13:47:16 GMT

        After sending a message to a friend in the states about the tour,
he suggested I post on the net because y'all ain't heard much about the
shows over here, so here are some thoughts...in no particular shape,
order, or form.
        I am an American studying in London, had seen 10 shows in the
states before this tour - including Halloween '95, the NYE run, and the 4
shows at RR. I have planned to see 10 of the 14 shows on this tour, and I
have 3 left. I was at London, Brussels, Koln, Amsterdam, Firenze, Roma,
and Cortemaggiore...this week-end is Berlin, Hamburg, and Kobenhaven to
close out the tour...because of classes and an internship I have been
hopping back and forth between London and the shows for the week-ends. one
left.
        so, what to say? I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back to
seeing Phish in a big venue after all of these tiny shows. You really get
pampered. as someone else noted, standing in the 10th row of these shows 
is like being front row in a bigger stadium/arena type show. I am not a
good judge of crowd numbers, but none of the shows has been bigger than
2,000, which was in London, and since then all of the shows I have seen
have been half that size.
        now for individual show thoughts...disclaimer (almost
unnecessary): everyone has an individual experience at each show. two
people stand next to each other for the entire show, one has the best show
of her life, one has the worst time of his life...

London- too many Americans, but what do you expect at a Phish show? it was
very strange for me, having been here since sept, but never having been in
such a large group of "my people". the floor was very crowded, pushy, hot,
and clausterphobic (sp?). a german friend of mine who I convinced to check
out the band left at the interim because he was too frightened by the
prospect of being crushed by a mound of screaming dancing sweaty
Americans, who were surrounding him - very unsettling to be in his
situation. not only were there loads of americans there, many of them   
didn't seem to be there for the music, but rather, there were a lot of
americans who are studying here who went as a social commitment of some
sort. to say they saw the band in London, but who probably wouldn't go see
them if they played their own town. I know because I live with these
people. granted, some of them went to see what all the talk is about, but
most went as an excuse to party and socialize with other americans...at
least that's how it turned out. there was an ever-present sorority girl
hiss of chit chat throughout the whole show (that sentence was redundant).
some guys were talking too. so the overall atmosphere was a bit of a
letdown, but I was so jazzed to be seeing the fellas for the first time
since August, I didn't let it get to me until later on in the evening.
        so, the new tunes. Walfredo, possibly Wallfredo. first played in
London. Trey mentioned something about it being related to an ex-drummer
in Santana's band named Raoul. now I don't know if this drummer wrote it,
or one of the guys wrote it, or where it acxtually came from. the lyrics
mention Raoul and a time "...when Phish played the vacuum..." It's a slow,
catchy, Bouncin/Silent-esque type tune. nice chorus, and you get to see 
Mike on guitar, Paige on drums (looks funny), little Fishman on big bass
(even funnnier), and Trey singin and playing guitar.
        is "My Soul" a new song? I didn't know about it until this tour,
and this is another nice, catchy, simple blues based song...with a nice
chorus of "ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma Soul! it's my soul!" which
is repeated a few times. nice opener or middle of set breather.
        "When the Circus comes to town"...this is another I know little
about. I've heard it was a Clapton cover, but the latest and most reliable
info places it as a Los Lobos cover. have they ever played this one?
again, this is another slow, ballady one. none of the new songs, I am sad
to report, are rockers, nor do they have much potential to grow (like Ch.
zero has)...maybe my soul...
        so, in the middle of the second set Maze (which was never
finished), trey took over the kit, fish went to guitar, mike went to
piano, which leaves paige with the 5 string...then they went into a song
which was later known to be called "Rock 'a William". Trey made a point to
clear up the name game hassle when they played Walfredo and Rock a William
again in the second set in Brussels, stating the names clearly for all of
us who care. this song is weird. Fish sings, but it is more like
talk/rap/shout/scream/wail/singing. it is a very slow, driving tune about
some guy named Rock a William with a hammer and the fact that he is ready
to use it. loud chorus of "We didn't want to die!" sung repeatedly. kind
of a lame scary campfire spook story set to mediocre music...but it was
fun to see (the first time), and I always enjoy them playing different
instruments.
        I realize I have said too much and been here too long and must get
away from the electric box.
        one more thing which will be an issue discussed whenever people
talk about this tour...the song rotation. I never leave a show truly let
down or dissapointed, but one of the main reasons I have spent all of the
time and money planning this tour has been because I know I will get my
money's worth. I love the unpredictability of the band more than anything
and not having any idea what may come up on any given night (etc), and it
is pretty sad when you can go to a show and say "well, it's gonna be a 
BB, CTB, Bowie, Slave, Waste night" or something to that affect. the
number of songs they are playing from is surprisingly small, or maybe I'm
just not used to being on a tour. here are the facts: in 7 shows I have
seen

three times: Chalkdust, Walfredo, Waste, Prince Caspian, Johnny B. Goode,
DWD, and My Soul.

four times: Character Zero, Billy Breathes

granted, most of these are BB tunes, and technically they are touring to
promote the album, which is the first to be released over here, but the
majority of the people at the concerts are not going to hear BB. don't get
me wrong, I love the new album, and I don't mind expecting a CH zero
because it really smokes (and they know it), but I have been a bit
dissapointed in hearing so many of the same songs. but as soon as I start
to complain about anything, I check myself, because they're still the best
live band in the world...but there's my two cents for the moment.

flames, comments, questions welcome

michael armstrong (ex601ma@gold.ac.uk)    

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Kevin Shewan kshewan@dial.pipex.com
London - Shepherds Bush Empire 13/2/97 

This was only the second time I'd been to this theatre, the previous time
was to see Phish last July. The theatre itself is quite old, a traditional
English theatre which until a few years ago was used by the BBC for live
TV shows such as Wogan. When the Beeb moved out Rock'n'roll moved in! 

I'd arranged to meet some Internet friends in the pub next door before the
gig, only problem was - I'd sent them a description of me but no one had
sent me a description of themselves. I therefore had to wait until someone
came up to me and said "are you......" 

Anyway I'd almost given up on finding anyone, due to the crowded nature of
the bar - I'd forgotten that the last show was in summer and everyone was
outside - when this girl (Bill's sister as it turned out) said the magic
words. It was lucky really as he'd come all the way from Long Island with
some tapes to trade with me. We had a beer, exchanged tapes, talked for a
while and then decided to head into the show. 

As Bill and his sister decided to go and get something to eat, I went in
alone and fought my way to within 6 feet of the front. After about 10
minutes Phish came on opening with Chalkdust Torture which is one of those
songs that I can never put a name to even though I know it oh so well!
They followed this with Wolfman's Brother, 2001 and Stash before playing
the first new song of the show. The band all moved one instrument to the
right - Fish played bass, Mike guitar, Trey played keyboards and Page took
over on drums. The song Walfredo was introduced as being about a member of
Santana's band. It includes the immortal line "And fish played the vacuum
and ruined your set". Returning to their own instruments they played two
songs from BB, Taste and Waste before playing Poor Heart and another song
from BB - Character Zero. Peaches and Regalia followed, a popular choice
then a new cover which we think was called Treat me like a fool and the
first set finished off with David Bowie. 

I fought my way out of the crowd to go to the toilet but one look at the
queue and I gave up.  I bought some water from the bar (driving!) and
headed back down the front. I found Bill and his sister and we manoeuvred
ourselves into a much better position. 

The band came back on and started with Julius and then went into what I
first thought was a jam but soon turned out to be Cars, trucks and buses
from BB. This was followed by another new one called My soul (Ma ma ma ma
ma ma ma my soul!). Punch you in the eye followed then a jam into Slave to
the traffic light and another new cover When the circus comes to town -
apparently a Los Lobos song. (At some point during the second set my need
to visit the toilet became too great and I had to go. When I returned I
gave up on the idea of fighting my way back down the front and stood over
near the now closed bar - the view wasn't as good but the sound was
better!). This was followed by a storming Maze and then another new song
with another instrument change. Trey took over playing drums from
Jon in mid song, Jon then picked up the guitar. Meanwhile Mike and Page
swapped too. The new song Rockawilliam (as in Rockabilly, Trey would later
explain in Brussels) is a dark song with Fishman singing lead vocals. The
set concluded with Hood which jammed into Frankenstein. 

The band encored after quite a delay - I imagined the venue management
telling them they'd gone past the 11.30 curfew and therefore couldn't play
anymore! They played Prince Caspian and a long Johnny B. Goode. 

I staggered out onto the Bush suffering from dehydration and went ot find
my car. I got home at 1.15 knowing I had to be up at 6 am to get to the
airport to catch a flight to Nice. 

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