;3
From the main menu on disc 1 use the navigate back button until an arrow appears over the trees then select, if the disc is in your computer you can just move your cursor over the trees until the arrow appears. I âhighlyâ recommend following their directions from that point. Enjoy!
DVD one is sick. I love that the opening music is the Water in the Sky. I enjoyed that one and the Taste. I rewound a few times to hear the thunder, and that version just kicked.
DVD two tonight.
nice, thanks for the knowledge!!!
Iâm stoked that this is getting such positive reviews. I should have it in t-minus 4 hours or so.
Alright, I knew this was in a Phish Update somewhere⌠I think this is what youâre referring to.
found in LETTERS [mike replies] June 1998. I quote:
"Dear Phish: To the right of Fishmanâs drum set is a clear plastic shield. What is that for? Is it in case Page gets a little crazy and decides to throw something at Fish? Just wondering, Evan Wolf, San Francisco, CA
Wolf: The clam/bubble gum pie was the last thing to end up splattering in Fishâs face during a song, and he said âThatâs it - Iâm getting the shieldâ. Actually, itâs because cymbals can be very loud where I stand, and if he is softer, I can be softer. The Neville Brothers used Plexiglass too."
Ha!
Nice!
Just listened to it today. I like it, sick taste, sick DWD. Overall, a really good show, one of the better ones released lately.
I love love love the looks of joy on all their faces (especially Page) once the ->Mikeâs starts to kick in.
Great stuff.
Thanks for the tips on the IT and Brooklyn DVD. I forgot how great a time IT wasâŚ
Um, best DVD to date.
No question about it.
I have been hoping they would release this for 11 years now, and I couldnât be happier than I am with this (well thats a lie, i guess I could be) but itâs still pretty fucking grrrreat!
I watched the first set of this last night.
I hadnât heard 7-22-97 in a long time, so I didnât really know what songs were in the first set. So I loved the anticipation in between songs of what was coming next.
As far as the actual musicâŚyes, the âJim -> My Soulâ is the first set highlight to be sure! The âJimâ jam gets funknasty near the end and the segue is glorious. âStashâ is short but sweet. The âTasteâ is electric but other than that, nothing else really stands out.
I for one really have no complaints as to the camera angles, etc. What was Trey doing right after âJimâ started up? He made a couple of real surprised expressions.
^
Second set is much better 
Oh yeah? Whatâs so good about it?
Huzzah!
7.22.97? is this a joke? worst. release. ever.
::farts in hand and waves it about the room::
Down With Disease through Mikeâs Groove is a nice funk-fest
Anyone notice how incredibly THICK Fishâs bass drum is and how TIGHT he is with Mike? I canât stop watching this show. Life would be so dull without Phish⌠and a few other things.
So, just got back from this showâŚwas too tired and hungover to post it until now, so Iâm about a week behind everybody else. Need the tapes, if anyoneâs willing. begs
All timings are approximate, and represent what TIME a song started/ended, not how long it was. Just to clear that up.
Set I
Runaway Jim (7:18)
The last time they jammed this song out, to my knowledge, was in '95, so even though I was thinking âwhee standard Jim openerâ I quickly changed my tune when Trey busted this into a high gear funk jam, the kind which the band had been toying with in Europe (thanks for the tapes, people who hooked me up!!). Maybe itâs just me but Page was all over this fucking song, jam, and segue. And for the record, it was a FULL ON SEGUE, despite what some might tell you, intoâŚ
-> My Soul (7:28)
Iâm not a big fan of this song, which I guess is the standard âcaveat emptorâ for Phish reviews, but stillâŚitâs a decent cover but have you ever really heard a truly STELLAR âMy Soulâ?? Nope.
Water In The Sky (7:34)
Wasnât really familiar with this new song. Itâs a slow country-ish ditty with a pleasant Page solo. I lit a cigarette during this and noted the incoming rain/thunderstorm.
Stash (7:37)
If I recall correctly, one of the European Stashâs from earlier this year was some pretty hose-y type II material. Which is fine in my book: I could listen to the band play Stash all day long but itâs hard to argue that itâs mostly the same tension/release stuff every time, right?? Anyway, this was a sadly standard Stash and just proves that I shouldnât come to shows expecting anything.
Bouncing Around the Room (7:49)
Normally when I hear a Bouncing in person or on tape, I take the opportunity to do something Iâve been putting off, like take a piss or stretch out my neck. I donât hate this song butâŚitâs Bouncing. Whoopee doo.
Vultures (7:53)
Like most of the new songs Iâve heard, this one is rough but could go places. Reminds me a lot of Taste with that kind of free form drumming and rhythmic stuff. Fishman was going crazy during the ending, dropping all kinds of solos and splashes. Still, the vocals may be a bit too ambitious for their own goodâquite complex and incredibly fast.
Bye Bye Foot (8:00)
As if to reward Fishman for his inspired performance on the last song, here comes this. In my opinion this was a throw away song with no personality, though Trey quoting âComfortably Numbâ to begin his solo was hilarious. No, he did quote it. Go back and listen.
Taste (8:04)
Itâs at this point I mention the nasty rain/lightning storm that was attacking Carolina this night. I suspect itâs why (spoilers) the sets and show in general were pretty short. Anyway, Taste was Taste. Funny that such a big deal was made of the various permutations of this song (Taste, Fog That Surrounds, and all that rot) and it just ended up beingâŚwell, Taste. But Iâm being too harsh, this was actually a great-to-fantastic performance of it, and I seem to remember a particularly strong thunder blast happening during the beginning of Pageâs solo, which mustâve lit a fire under the ass of the band for set II.
Setbreak
Damn, this was a short set break. They mustâve been as scared of the storm as we were. As I was pissing and getting two beers, making my way back to my spot, I remember thinkingâŚthey better bring that thunder back for set II. Set II is when people are drunk, stoned, faced, tripping, and ready and willing for everything to come. I was calling for an ass kicking start to the set, something like a Tweezer or Gin.
Set II
Down With Disease (8:22)
Iâm not even kidding when I say, this second set may be short, but itâs potent like you wouldnât believe. Granted I havenât heard the tapes yet, but IN PERSON this was nuts. Page was the master of this Disease jam, making ample use of his funky Clav and spacey synthesizers. My friends had smuggled in a bottle of rum and by the time I took my third hit of it, I was so engrossed in the jam I had no idea what song had even started this set for a good four minutes straight. I am not a dancing man, being a generally reserved and assholish stick-in-the-mud, but I was going to town on this motherfucker. FULL ON, OUT OF NOWHERE, INCREDIBLE SEGUE INTOâŚ
-> Mikeâs Song (8:43)
Holy shit, what a segue. That kind of thing makes your hair stand on end. I lit another cig to get my mind back together before the band proceeded to shatter it again. If the Jim -> My Soul segue combo was the highlight/meat of Set I, Set II nicely mirrored this with the even more intense Disease -> Mikeâs. GET THESE TAPES AT ALL COST. This Mikeâs went over almost as much ground as the Disease and was equally off the rails, entering new dimensions of strange-ness, space, and grounded funk. If this is the direction Phish is going with their music now, I wish I had gotten tickets for the rest of this tourâŚnot to mention The Great Went. Iâm planning on going through the full Fall '97 tour, so Iâll see yaâll then. AnywayâŚ
/-> Simple (8:57)
I donât know if this was a full-on segue into Simple or not. They definitely brought it back to the usual Mikeâs ending before heading into this, but since I had some doubt at the time Iâll stick with it until I get tapes. A pretty decent Simple though I wish theyâd jam it out like they used to in '96.
/-> I Am Hydrogen (9:07)
Again, not sure if it was a full segue or not, but wow, what a surprise. A Mikeâs Groove with both Simple and Hydrogen?? Awesome.
Weekapaug Groove (9:10)
Mike was TOTALLY carrying this jam for a bit as Trey hung back. A nice funky '97 Weekapaug with an ending that teased the same jam they ended 3/1/97âs Weekapaug with. Somebody told me itâs âCanât You Hear Me Knockingâ but Iâm not familiar, sadly, soâŚAll in all, a great Weekapaug.
Hello My Baby (9:22)
Iâm familiar with this song thanks to âSpace Ballsâ but I was not ready for this to be the set closer. It was a nice treat to see Phish barbershop in action but come onâŚthe first set was not even an hour long, and this was BARELY an hour long.
Encore
When The Circus Comes To Town (9:37)
An OK ballad Iâm not familiar with. Nothing much to say.
Harry Hood (9:42)
Other than Trey playing some crazy high pitched spacey stuff during the Hood intro, this was standard stuff. I always feel like a tool for bitching about encores, since some bands donât even play them, and only play one set taboot, butâŚeh, nevermind. Letâs just say, a good, playful Hood and be done with it.
All in all, I loved this show, though both sets were short and, oddly enough, front-loaded. Seriously, go back and listen: set I opens with a killer Jim -> My Soul, and set II with a Disease -> Mikeâs for the history books. But the rest of those sets was âtypically greatâ Phish. In terms of general concert experiences this is still among my most cherished (and anyway, most bands only play one set of barely an hour and maybe one encore song if that) but I canât help but feel that, as only the second show of this tour, there are much better shows to go.
Anyway, take care of your shoes, and Iâll catch you folks back on the Fall '97 tour. Iâll be the tall nerdy guy whoâs often drunk and smoke cloves.
^nerd