06-25-97 L'Aeronef

Phish Live Shows
#1

Wednesday, 06/25/1997
L’Aeronef, Lille, France

Set 1: Olivia’s Pool, Dogs Stole Things, Taste, Billy Breathes, AC/DC Bag, The Old Home Place, Theme From the Bottom, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Saw It Again, Limb By Limb, My Soul

Set 2: Down with Disease -> Piper -> Down with Disease -> Meatstick[1] -> McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters > Makisupa Policeman[2], Cecilia[3] > Hold Your Head Up > Rock A William, Run Like an Antelope[4]

Encore: Guyute

[1] Debut.
[2] Unfinished.
[3] Phish debut; performed a cappella by Fishman.
[4] Crew introductions and a mention of Antelope Greg.

Teases:
· Can’t You Hear Me Knocking tease in Down with Disease
· Makisupa Policeman tease in McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters

#2

This is my favorite DWD ever and the smoothest -> back into DWD. And wow this McGrupp is fuckin nuts.

#3

This is all about set two. It is like some sort of deep, funky, ooze coming out of your speakers.

#4

I pulled this one out yesterday, and man is it good! This is probably my favorite show of the summer Europe 97 tour. Amsterdam from Feb still beats it, but just by a bit.

The entire second set is fire. Not a boring second in the whole set. The DWD->Piper->DWD looks amazing on paper and is even better in actuality. As mentioned above, these are some of the smoothest transitions out there. Really good stuff.

The meatstick is not what you would expect. This is a proto-meatstick and the only recognizable parts in place are the lyrics and some of that cheesy synth sound that has come to define the song. The synth doesn’t emerge till the end of the jam.

The real oddity of the show is this McGrupp->Makisupa. The McGrupp is Makisupa-ized with reggae upstrokes that recall MP’s main theme. The fishman section of this set is awesome! An a capella Cecelia by Simon and Garfunkle is attempted (even though he doesn’t know the words) and that merges into HYHU and then into a rare Rocko William. The set is capped with a nice raging antelope.

This is one show that every fan needs in their collection. Imaginative stuff from the most creative band on the planet. Be careful, one listen of this set will RUIN your appreciation of 2009 shows!

#5

They did this several times in 97 (see 11-19-97) i think it was before the actual song was written. Quite interesting…

#6

^quite interesting in deed! I really like when you can track the evolution of a song by listening to the shows. Songs like Taste/Fog that Surrounds and Oblivious Fool/Olivia’s Pool change so much over a short period. I like to listen chronologically and track the changes.

Another reason why this band rules!

#7

I’m gonna throw a little nugget of controversy your way: Best 2nd Set of '97.

#8

It’s definitely up there. This set is always high in my rotation. First ones not half bad either. I LOVE this show. . . but yeah i think that 11-22, 11-23, and 12-29 are pretty close for me. Really hard for me to choose my favorite set2 from my favorite year.

#9

I love this second set. Had this gem on tape for a long time so it’s one of those sets that I know every little twist and turn to it, yet it never gets old. Although, I definitely wouldn’t call it the best show of the tour. In fact, I think the 7/10 show is better, mostly because this first set, while good, is not extraordinary, and the whole 7/10 show is :wtf:

And I personally think the Cecilia cover is terrible :sick:

#10

I’ve probably listened to set two near 100 times. It is so good. Set one not as many, and not that it is a bad set.

Olivia’s Pool is an interesting opener. You can actually get a nice feel to the room. Dogs Stole Things is in its “usual” slot and is fine. Taste is fun, much more refined than the '95 Fog/Taste debacle. Billy Breathes comes and goes.

Ac/DC Bag is fantastic though. A big jam after some standard songs is much needed at this point, and it doesn’t disappoint.

Theme from the Bottom is nice, and the Wading uses the room perfectly. It is so quiet at parts I thought something went wrong with the recording. Beautiful. Saw it Again brings the energy back into the room, and Limb By Limb continues that path. My Soul closing out the set is a nice touch.

An above average set, with one big nice jam, that maybe unfortunately gets overlooked (rightfully so) by set two.

#11

I have listened through Piper so far and am thoroughly enjoying this show. The Bag was a great listen; a nice downtempo, almost relaxed version of itself. The jam falls into a funky groove and they take their time building it carefully before it gets crazy. Page owns the first set for me. My Soul is a rousing good set closer.

The DWD is going to merit another listen before I can say anything else besides “it’s great!” Too bad the recording on the Phish OD app sucks and even with the volume all the way up, I have to have silence to hear it well.

#12

Obviously the second set was top notch. I really enjoyed Taste and Theme from set one, and boy do I despise Saw it Again. One of the only Phish songs I could say that about.

#13

Set two, so damn good. A really big DWD to start off that went through at least three or four different themes throughout the jam. Really couldn’t ask for much more, but there is a lot more. The jam so smoothly morphs into Piper, which didn’t have as big a jam, but fits the set perfectly. And Trey bringing in the Disease ending was divine.

But they are not done there. Is it more of a Disease jam or a Piper jam, I do not know. But it leads into a very early Meatstick which is another of example of not necessarily amazing on its own, but within this set it is perfect.

Oh and they do not stop there. A reggae-fied McGrupp just keeps the flow to this set going. A whole lot of Dave’s being bantered about, including some audience call and response. Maybe the style to this McGrupp was all a lead into Makisupa, but it worked wonderfully.

A Fish/Phish version of Cecilia was fun, but musically the low point of the set, only to be redeemed by Rock a William. And then an Antelope to change gears, pun intended, back into the Disease opening rock n roll style.

A mellowish Guyute to close out the entire show, and just wow.

Its hard to think of a better set as far as flow is concerned.

A+

Show highlights for me are AC/DC Bag, and all of set two.

#14

Haven’t listened to this show in a long time so it was really nice to revisit.

Cool way to open with Olivia but then a little bit of a let-down with Dogs Stole Things…never really got into that one.

But they more than made up for it with this Taste. Trey was killing it during this version, driving it the whole way.

Billy Breathes was small compared to this Bag…it was just plain awesome. It had this crazy build-up jam with Trey just leading it the whole way. Old Home Place and Theme were nice choices and well played…they could’ve ended the set there but just kept going. Throw out Velvet and you got a killer set.

This is probably the best Set II we’ve had in a LSD show…I don’t want to ruin it by saying anything. :laughing:

Found a video of it.

http://youtu.be/bCs_ckaKzNA

#15

My basic thought as well. What more can I say that Phish didn’t say themselves? Must have been mind blowing in attendance.