12-11-97 War Memorial, Rochester, NY
1: Punch You in the Eye-> Down With Disease-> Maze, Dirt, Limb By Limb, Loving Cup, Rocky Top
2: Drowned -> Roses Are Free*-> Big Black Furry Creature From Mars-> Ghost-> Down With Disease (Reprise)-> Johnny B. Goode
E: Waste
*Ween cover, from their “Chocolate and Cheese” album (first time played).
just relistened to this show for the first time in awhile. used to be a favorite of mine. listening to that ghost again, blew me away, a must listen to version no doubt
Splendid opening trio of PYITE->DWD->Maze. The first 10 minutes of Disease is a shred fest, and then the jam mellows out considerably, towards the end everyone else contributing some splashes of weirdness. Fishman starts up that high hat and Next is Dirt, offering a few minutes of rumination before a well played and joyful LxL. A standard Fall 97 Loving Cup and Rocky top close out the first set.
Page kicks off the second set with Drowned’s signature piano lick and things get moving. Like Disease, Drowned slows down considerably into a very spacey and not funky jam, eventually sliding into the very first Roses Are Free. This non-jammed Roses is played tight and energetically, and then out of left field Trey’s riffing crashes into Big Black Furry Creatures from Mars. The dirty, gloomy, psychedelia after BBFCFM yields to the Fall '97 heavyweight, Ghost. The jam is as thick as Fishman’s fingers, sloooow, but definitely danceable. As a reward for your patience, Trey builds and builds his riff into a wild shredfest culminating in a DWD Reprise!! Always welcome in my book. DWD Reprise stops on a dime into Johnny B. Good to end the set, and Waste to encore.
This is one of my favorite shows to listen to when I’m feeling kind of gloomy. It’s mellow and lends itself to introspection, but it has some peaks (dwd, ghost>dwd reprise, drowned, jbg) that keep you from sinking too far into a pit of self-pity. Not the most jaw dropping or stand-out show of Fall '97, but not one to skip either.
Listened to the second set today for the first time in ages. The Drowned is absolutely awesome. Phish works Drowned into the abyss. Talk about jumping off a ledge and letting the improv flow.
This whole second set is the poop. One of those sets that feels like a whole journey.
Happy 12-11 day everyone! Make sure to give this one a listen!