Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 12:47:36 +0100
From: Mark Reilly 
Subject: review

Friday, June 13th.  The SFX theater  Dublin, Ireland

I  Theme from the bottom, Dogs Stool Hiss**, Beauty of my Dreams, Limb
   by Limb**, Wolfman's Brother*>Wading in the Velvet Sea**, Taste

II  La Bamba tease>Tequila(Trey solo), Stash, Maze, Water in the sky**,
    Vulture**, Slave to the Traffic Light, Chaldust Torture>Story of the
    Ghost*, Oblivious Fool**, Character Zero

E:  Stand^>Isabella^

* Jammed out similar to 3/2/97
**  New Songs
^New cover songs.  Stand was originally by Sly and the Family Stone and
 Isabella is a Hendrix tune

    Well folks, tonight was certainly a night forthe new tunes to come
out. With seven brand new tunes being played it was obvious that Phish
were going to experiment on the first night of the tour.  Now, before I
start, I must say that I thought that the band would do something
pertaining to the fact that it was friday the 13th.  A coincidence, i
think not.  Onto the review.  Greaat crowd, i would estimate only about
500 or so people with plenty of dancing room.

First Set

Theme from the Bottom:  I must say that there was no way in hell I could
have seen that coming.  Good version however, with a cool jam coming
between the last verse and the "from the bottom , from the top..."
Adrenaline was flowing

Dogs Stool Hiss:  To be completely honest I can't really remember this
song so you'll have to listen to it on andy gadiel's page.

Beauty of My Deams: A nice little country tune that they started to play
on the spring European tour although I wasn't quite sure why they played
it here.  So far a pretty mellow show.

Limb by Limb: One of my favorite new tunes.  Excellent Page/Trey duet at
the beginning of the song and the compostion is pretty simple...yet
provocative.

Wolfman's>:  When they first started to play this myslef and I think
almost everyone around me moaned... but was Iwrong about what was coming
next.  WHAT A JAM!!!!
I think that they have done this once before but this wsa the first time
that I have seen it and it rocked.  Look out for these tapes.  The
extended jam certainly added a hell of a lot more flavor to the song!

Wading in the Velvet Sea:  The easiest way I can describe this tune: The
new Strange Design.  What a beautiful song and the solo by trey is truly
emotional. (Not as good as Albert Hall though)

Taste:  They have certainly been tweaking this one because the jam was a
pretty good one.

All in all, a good first set with Wolfman's as the definite highlight.

Set Two

La Bamba tease>Tequila:  Cool.  Trey is hilarious

Stash:  A good stash and not too long either.  Most ofthe Stashes I hear
kind of drag in the middle but this one came in at around five minutes.

Maze:  No matter how many times I see this, it still rocks my mind.  The
DAHDAH always gets the crowd going and this maze was no exception.  Now
we were getting somewhere.

Water in the Sky:  Another new song but quite interesting.  These songs
will develop with time

Vultures:  See above

Slave:  I don't see how the rumor about 30 songs being "retired" could
be true because they have already played 3 of them in one set.  A
standard slave (awesome).  I always come out of this tune feeling like
'everything will be OK'

Chalkdust:  Same reaction as Wolfman's but then into...

Story of the Ghost:  Undeniably, without a dubt the very best of the new
songs.  This came perectly out of a slow jam they did during chalkdust
and I will never get sick of this song.  Trey certainly shines on this
one.  Get a hold of these tapes now!

Oblivious Fool:  Good song, but I wish I could remember more of it.
With all of these new songs they kind of blended together.

Character Zero:  Well, they had to play it sometime.  Although this is
turnign into the new Sample in a Jar, it still rocks.  Trey delivers on
this and gets EVERYTHING out of it.

Encore

Stand:  "Everybody stand...STAND...StAnd"  Cool new cover.

Isabella:  Thank god for Pual Languedoc because I had no idea what the
name of this tune was but did recognize the sounds.

All in all, a very strange show with highlights of Wolfman's,
Chaldust>Ghost and Maze.  The band were certainly having a good time.
Stay tuned for my 6/14 review.

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 14 Jun 1998 08:24:50 GMT
From:    PZerbo 
Subject: 6.13 & 6.14.97, The Anniversary Review (long!)

Can it really have been a whole year ago? While I don't
really have a "favorite" Phish show or run, there are
definately those that stand in a class by themselves, and
for very different reasons. While I've been seeing Phish
shows off-and-on since '91, '97 was a big break-out year
for me and my "relationship" with Phish: going from one of
moderate interest ("moderate" is relative to a long-time
Deadhead, meaning seeing only 3 - 5 shows a year, and
confining my travel to the nearest couple of states :-)) to
where it is now, which suffice it to say borders on "heavy"
(15 shows in '97). Call me a newbie, if you wish.

And '97 Phish began for me on a lovely June weekend in Dublin,
Ireland, 6.13 & 6.14.97. That weekend stands out as one of my
favorites during my short 32 years on this planet. I've been
known to gush about these shows at almost every opportunity,
and then a friend recently pointed out that I had never given
the shows a proper review. The following is my too-long-winded,
probably not-that-interesting, belated attempt to rectify that...

Before the music, first a few words about the venue, and the
general state of the scene.

Venue. SFX stands for Saint Francis Xavier, and I presume it is
a sort of community/church recreation center when not hosting
shows. Everyone reading this has been in a High School gym.
Imagine it with dark walls, remove the hoops, and that is the
whole venue! No longer or wider than the length of a basketball
court, and that includes the stage. When you first walked in the
door at the "back" of the venue, to your left was Paul and Chris's
rig, to the right is the beer stand (fresh Hieneken and Murphy's
on tap, "2 pounds fifty"!) and about 80 - 100 feet TOPS in front of
you is the stage. The tapers "section" was demarkated by 4 pieces
of masking tape, pretty amusing. What few staff members were all
exceedingly friendly, as was just about everyone you would run into
in Dublin.

The scene was, well, INCREDIBLE! Mostly Americans as expected, and
all die-hards, also expected (people do not casually go to Europe
to see shows!). I was supposed to have met some net-heads at a place
called "O'Donohue's" (?) at 15 Merrion Row (I remember -that- :-)),
but I arrived into town kinda late in the afternoon, tried to locate
the place but couldn't so I just gave up. Met a nice young woman named
Alison downtown in a tourist office, we were both looking for the venue
which was in what turned out to be a kinda sketchy neighborhood, and
we made the half-hour walk to the place together. At about 5pm there
were all of about 20 people outside the tiny building. The band
was soundchecking at the time, for what had to have been at least 45
minutes! You could hear it muffled from outside, though none of the
tunes were recognizeable (all new tunes, doh!). Much of the converstion
focused on the new tunes, the rumored "retired" tunes, and what we now
know as "Bradstock" which was supposed to have taken place a week or so
earlier. Anyways, so the people were just so incredibly cool all around;
I saw Phish in relatively small theaters, but even that wasn't anything
compared to this, which was fewer people, among whom I found not 1 person
who was anything but happy and chill. And definately add a few years to
the average age of the crowd, much more of a mid-to-late 20s, early 30s
bunch of folks. More later...

Phish, 6.13.97, SFX Centre, Dublin, Ireland

I. Theme, Dogs Stole Things*, Beauty of My Dreams, Billy
Breathes, Limb x Limb*, Wolfman's Brother* -> Wading in the
Velvet Sea, Taste

II. Stash, Maze, Water in the Sky*, Vultures*, Slave, Chalk
Dust -> Ghost* -> Oblivious Fool*, Character 0

E: Stand* (Sly & the Family Stone) -> Isabella* (Hendrix)
* = First Time Played

Theme was a fitting, mellow opener. This was the first public
performance since the Flynn gig 3 months earlier, so I wasn't
exactly expecting a 30 minute YEM opener! Nothing really special
going on musically, but immediately I was taken by the sound,
specifically the -lack- of sound coming from the crowd! With a
few exceptions this was a veteran crowd that was ready to -listen-
and it was just such a treat. Short, compact, glorious. All the
band members are smiles all around, checking out the crowd,
obviously happy, feelin' the groove..

Directly into Dogs Stole Things. Everyone was fully expecting new
tunes, here is the first. I love the lyrics on this tune, but at
the time of course you are just absorbing the new tune, which
isn't spectacular, but nice vibe. KB starts to waft, people
are settling in, groovin'. This tune moves quickly, and then Trey
steps to the mic, very, very relaxed fitting the crowd, and
says a few words, paraphrased:

"Thanks everybody, great to be starting off our tour here. So we
wrote about 15 or 16 new tunes over the last 6 weeks and were
going to play a lot of them for you tonight, and that one was
called Dogs Stole Things. And now we're going to play a Dell
McCoury song called "Beauty of My Dreams""

Beauty of My Dreams. Not really much to say, you all know the tune
now. As far as new tunes go, two in a row very mellow, not very
jammed out tunes, OK, all is cool, I don't mind being a guinnea pig :-).

No more than 10 seconds and into Billy Breathes. This tune works
-so- much better in a small, intimate setting. Trey gently sways
and really seems to be enjoying this opportunity for subtle
interplay on the harmonies. The difference between hearing this
tune in such a chill setting, versus the current US situation where
this becomes a prime chat opportunity, is amazing. To me, this
was my introduction to this tune, and to this day I submit it
has a ton of potential to fit into a 2nd set ballad & jam slot
to break up the Caspian monotony, but it may indeed by too subtle
for US hockey rinks and sheds. We shall see.

Limb by Limb. While I've subsequently (especially after the Went
version where I -really- fell in love with the tune) placed this in
my personal favorites, I can honestly say I was seriously hip to this
from note one. I have the most vivid mental image of Mike basked in
a subtle green and purple light mix (great work Chris!) "and I
am taken far away...". Hypnotic, melodic, the crowd is clearly
devoting total attention, and the smiles tell the story. As opposed
to the first few new tunes, this is no composed run-through, but
rather lying the foundation for a serious jam. Back into the chorus,
and then to a rather abrubt ending (in retrospect).

Quickly into Wolfman's Brother. This was a bathroom/beverage song
for me. Let me say it WAS, before this version. So I bail to the
one Men's room at the "back" of the joint, and then into the rather
long beer line (long in this context meaning 10 people or so). First
I'm saying to myself "how cool is this, I'm waiting in line for a beer,
and if this was in the states, It would be as if a beer stand was set
up in about the 20th row on the floor :-) So, they move through the regular
song section, and then dispense with it and break into a
totally kicking jam. I am almost to the front of the beer line and
become so captivated by the jam I slowly meander out of line, towards
the stage directly in front of Fishman and let the boogie take me. So,
I am a firm believer in the direct correlation that "Mike is having fun
= good jam" and this tune develops a 9.5 on the "Gordon Scale", he is
just -down- with this and drives the whole deal into a realm where
Wolfman's has never before been, or if it had, I'd like the tapes, please.
If I had the patience and analytical skills of Dirksen when it comes to
Phish, I could tell you the exact point where this tune goes into serious
overdrive, but alas, I can only say it was at "that" point. Get the
tapes. Show me a better Wolfman's, I'd be thrilled to hear it, but I
don't think it exists.

A quick wind-down, into a nice Page solo, which quickly becomes
the glorious harmony of "Velvet Sea". It was just such a treat to
hear this in such an intimate setting, where people give due respect
and shut up! Just stunning, delightful harmonies. I didn't catch any
of the subsequent US performances, it comes off nicely on tape from
the Gorge show, but I suspected, correctly, that they would shelve this
as it doesn't really fit an arena setting well, IMO.

A very nice Taste to end the set, and "we'll be back in 15 minutes". I
usually don't like long set-breaks, but it was just fine in this setting
as everyone was just so super-friendly, and the new tunes provided cool
conversation fodder. Probably a 45 minute (?) break, and here we go...

A short bit of noodling led into a very nice and longish Stash. This
is a very solid version, but the highlight for me was Trey's expression
at the first set of audience claps: he looked genuinely surprised! Well,
perhaps surprise is not the word, but he just got this huge shit eating
grin and was like "OK, cool". It was some pretty crisp clapping, I
guess :-).

Maze is not my favorite tune, but this one is not without merit, most
particularly some really tasteful and extended Page solos. Water in the
Sky, well, OK, the new tunes were going to keep coming! There isn't much
to this tune, and nothing special about it stands out on tape. The Vultures
though, whoah! Very cool, but man was it hard to keep up with the lyrics,
there is just so much going on here, it was almost hard to get a groove
on the song! I like the tune now, but at the time it was just slightly
disconcerting ... at least it was challenging, the song really forces
your attention!

No offense to you Slave to the Traffic Light fans, but this is not one
of my favorites. That said, I think I can appreciate a good Slave, but
alas, this is not it. Perhaps someone who has a more positive initial
outlook can provide a less biased viewpoint on this version. The Chalk
Dust, OTOH, is just *wonderful*! Far from the stereotypical set-ending
rocker, this meanders into a really interesting, melodic, swaying funk.
It has a lot of the same underlying groove of the Wolfman's that was so
kick-ass in set 1. Very balanced, no dominating presence, a very nice
example of the "egoless" collaborative jamming that is often stated as
a goal of the band.

In retrospect, the Ghost intro is cued by a series of Mike bell-kicks
(or are they a cymbal, I forget), but at the time it just seemed like
a natural outgrowth of the Chalk Dust jam. Then the first chorus comes
in, time for another new tune :-). Again, in retrospect, I can think of
5 or 6 Ghosts off the top of my head that are more exploratory and ass-
kicking than this, but the first public dislplay of this tune more than
holds its own and is frankly underrated, as I -never- see this in
"favorites" lists. Ghost fans, give this a good listen! Especially how
far they "take it down" before the "I feel I've never told you" chorus,
nice expansive dynamic range.

Oblivious Fool as fine, new, it actually reminded me of the Water in the
Sky earlier in the set, just faster. Frankly, I like the 4.5.98 treatment
of this tune more, it seems to fit the lyrics better, IMHO. Character Zero
took a very standard treatment, meaning it just kicked booty, Trey was
given lots of room to maneuver to which he took full advantage. Trey really
puts on a show, and interacts so much with the crowd, just really
satisfying, kick-ass rock-n-roll!

Before the encore Trey says a few words, "so its really great to be
starting off the tour here in Dublin, we've been here for a few days,
the last two days and (pause, followed by audience cheers) so, thank you";
the pause is where Trey does a beer mug lifting motion, hence the
cheers :-)... Stand -> Isabella. Well, the bag of new tricks is pretty
deep tonight, eh guys! Sly & the Family Stone is a resevoir of covers
that totally fits the new funky style, all the more surprising that this
tune was immediately shelved after this one-time appearance. What's up
with that? I hope our friends reconsider, at least give it a few shots
in front of a US audience! A really nice segue into Isabella, one of
my favorite Hendrix tunes, and a fine, if short version. I found it odd
at Hampton in the Fall that so many people didn't know the origins of
this outstanding tune...

At this point I had been up for about 40 hours! so I bailed on a
number of very compelling partying offers and used my last bit of energy
to kick the half-hour walk back to the hotel in the Temple Bar area of
downtown for a nice, long sleep (plus, it was a nice and far too expensive
hotel, I might as well enjoy it, I'm thinking. Ahhhh... yes, I slept well,
thanks for asking!