It Was 20 Years Ago Today: Phish, Live at the Worcester Centrum Centre, Nov. 28th and 29th, 1997, Worcester, MA

  Hello everyone, hope you are enjoying yourselves as we approach Thanksgiving. And while I have seen many a Thanksgiving run (Phish 1995, 1998, 2009, WSP 1999, Devolver, too many to count), none compares to what I observed in the fabled Fall Tour of 1997, aka Phish Destroys America. So with no fanfare, here it is It Was 20 Years Ago Today: Phish, Live at the Worcester Centrum Centre, November 28^th and 29^th, 1997, Worcester, MA.

      Having just witnessed the sickness that was Hampton the weekend before Thanksgiving, I was out of my mind in anticipation for the weekend after Thanksgiving. My first show in Massachusetts, the closest shows to Vermont on the Tour, a holiday weekend, and their new found jamming powers???? Peak human experience stuff right there folks.

     Myself, Uncle Patrick (not my uncle, but somebody’s) CC, and JS went up Black Friday morning, checked into our hotel and then hit the Lot. Old school venue, a little bigger than Hampton, right downtown in a post industrial suburb of Boston. OH YEAH!!!

WORCESTER CENTRUM CENTRE

Worcester, MA

SET 1: The Curtain > You Enjoy Myself ^[1] -> I Didn't Know, Maze, Farmhouse, Black-Eyed Katy, Theme From the Bottom >Rocky Top

SET 2: Timber Ho! > Limb By Limb, Slave to the Traffic Light > Ghost  > Johnny B. Goode

ENCORE: My Soul

[1] No bass and drums segment.

YEM featured Crosseyed and Painless teases, did not include the bass and drums segment, and ended with a shortened vocal jam that segued into I Didn’t Know.

You can stream it here

http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1997-11-28

     And did I mention November 28^th was my birthday? And Uncle Patrick’s?  How crazy is that. Got way out that night for sure.  YEM second song? Wow, the crowd went apeshit and this had a nice long jam with some sick teases and then a great transition into I Didn’t Know. All high energy in the first set. Then the second set, Aye Curumba! The Timber has some great jamming as did Limb by Limb but the monster is the Ghost. Just pure 1997 awesomeness. Slave was almost like a breather before we got, I don’t know, DESTROYED by Phish. Like I said, peak human experiences. First real birthday show in the books. Let’s go rest up for night 2!

     Pretty sure this was the night where our seats were right behind some people from Hanover.  Uncle Patrick knew them but I evidently had met them before but just didn’t recall.  We were up near the top on Page’s side. I have seen many shows from that general vicinity, but this was the best.

WORCESTER CENTRUM CENTRE

Worcester, MA

SET 1: The Wedge, Foam , Simple -> The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, The Sloth, Ginseng Sullivan, Saw It Again, Horn, Water in the Sky, David Bowie

SET 2: Runaway Jim ^[1] > Strange Design > Harry Hood > Prince Caspian, Suzy Greenberg

ENCORE: Buffalo Bill, Moby Dick^[2] > Fire

[1] Almost an hour long.
[2] Trey imitated Robert Plant's intro to Moby Dick from the album The Song Remains the Same. 

This Runaway Jim is one of the longest versions of any song ever played by Phish. It ran slightly under an hour and included Beauty of My Dreams, Harry Hood, and Super Bad teases and a strong Weekapaug jam where the entire melody of Weekapaug was played. Buffalo Bill was announced as Fish’s favorite song. Moby Dick was performed for the first time since February 19, 1993 (435 shows) and featured Trey imitating Robert Plant’s intro to Moby Dick from the album The Song Remains the Same.

You can stream it

http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1997-11-29

     The show starts off fine enough.  The Foam is really sweet with jamming within its structure.  Nice variety and flow to the first set. Dipping their toes into almost all the styles of the band and a Bowie to end the first set. Hell yes.

     Then the second set. They open up with Runaway Jim. About 7 minutes into it, they start going outside the structure of the song. Around the 14 minute mark, they find a new theme and start to bring it. Most bluesy and noodle, but still moving places and keeping us engaged. Around the 22 minute mark, another charging jam takes us onward. At some point, I thought that this was going to be the entire second set. Little did I know we were only half way done with Jim. After 49 minutes, they venture as close as they would come from leaving the song. They definitely do a serious Weekapaugh Jam but Phish tracks doesn’t consider it separate and neither does phish.net nor my tape I had back in the day. One side of the J card just said Runaway Jam. When they do finally get to the end of the song, it’s Strange Design for all of us to sit back and try to come to terms with what the hell we just witnessed. The Tahoe Tweezer edges this out as the greatest thing I ever saw because of the audience participation aspect of it. Yes, the Wooing.

     Nice transition from Hood to Prince Caspian and then Suzy G to finish the second set. But they weren’t finished yet. A short triple encore with Moby Dick. Wow, it was almost too much. Seriously, what a night.

     I know what some of you are thinking; You were up there, why didn’t you stick around for the last night? Believe me, I really wanted to but I think work was the issue. I know I made myself super clear to JS and CC that we were leaving on Sunday. It led to a little bit of drama but oh well. No permanent hard feelings, besides my own anger over missing a sick ass show. But sometimes reality intrudes, even on Phish Tour.  

     So there you have it. While I wish I could have seen more shows on this Tour, like close to home shows in State College and 2 mid-week nights in Philly, I still feel lucky and blessed to have witnessed my favorite musicians peaking out and giving us the pure unfiltered HOSE.

Dave Kemp

BA American Studies

PhD Rock and Roll

It Was 20 Years Ago Today: Phish, Nov. 22nd, 1997, Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA

     Hello everyone. I hope you are staying warm. What’s that you say? It’s not cold where you are at? Isn't that pleasant. High in the mid 20’s today, with a serious wind chill straight from the Great White North of zero this AM up here in Burlington. Part of the price of living in such a cool place. Today I am here to talk about my all time favorite Tour (and lots of other people I imagine as well), Fall 1997 aka Phish Destroys America. It actually said that on some of the official posters. Who knew cow funk at its peak could wreak so much havoc. So let’s chill out on the couch and fire up the laptop and groove to one of the shows that made Hampton Hampton, Phish Live at the Hampton Coliseum, Nov. 22^nd, 1997.

     Of all the show I have attended, I am most proud of seeing three on this historic Tour. You always have high expectations for Halloween, NYE, and festivals. But almost an entire Tour? One can only wish. But Phish did it. After showing some flashes of brilliance on the Summer Tour, they had everything dialed in after 2 shows.

     Which brings us to the Hampton Coliseum, aka The Mothership. I was a yearly stop for the Dead, surrounded by hotels with a very much laid back community. A local told me the locals decided the coliseum was the only economic engine they had, so they should be as welcoming as possible. But it really entered the gallery of all time great venues when the Dead did the Formerly the Warlock shows there on their fabled ’89 Fall tour. Phish had played there in 1995 and 96 but they were just typical Phish shows.

     Now I know what you are thinking? Hey Kemp, Mr. Live Music, why didn’t you do both nights? Honestly, I have no idea. A bunch of went down so it might have been an issue of getting tickets. Or maybe getting days off? Anyway, some of our crew was down there for the first night and were raving about it including an Emotional Rescue. I can still hear CC saying in a high falsetto, “I will be your knight in shining armor”.  We stayed at the semi decent Days Inn, 7 to the room. After this, it was the Courtyard by Marriot Suites all the way.

SET 1: Mike's Song  -> I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove , Harry Hood > Train Song, Billy Breathes, Frankenstein >Izabella

SET 2: Halley's Comet  > Tweezer > Black-Eyed Katy > Piper > Run Like an Antelope^[1]

ENCORE: Bouncing Around the Room > Tweezer Reprise

[1] Lyric changed to "Michael Esquandolas."

Mike's Song and Tweezer both contained BEK teases, with the ones in Tweezer taking place well before the segue into BEK. Fans of stage banter will want to seek out the second set for Trey’s humorous response to the crowd’s Destiny Unbound chant before Halley’s. The "Marco Esquandolas" lyric in Antelope was changed to "Michael Esquandolas." This show was released as part of the Hampton/Winston-Salem '97 box set.

You can stream it here

http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/1997-11-22

     Mike’s to open? YES! Think jamming, a second jam, BE Katy tease, what isn’t there to love? The Weekapaugh has one of the stop starts at the end. Then Hood, with a spooky keyboard lick right before the Harry! part. That is burned in my cranium. Train Song and Billy Breathes allowed us to catch our breath because we were about to absorb a Frankenstein>Izabella for the ages. I love Izabella. Trey gets to unleash his inner Hendrix and hoses the crowd down. Finally, set break so we could gather ourselves for the awesome sauce of the second set.

     Everything flows into one another, always a great sign. The highlight for me was Halley’s.  The Tweezer isn’t too shabby either. The BE Katy just oozes ’97 funk.  You like the old school slow intro to Piper? Gotcha covered. Listening to this show again makes me wish I had the money for the box set lol.

     So there you go, my first experience of the Fall Tour that was 1997. Up next, the old school venue and post Thanksgiving celebration that is the Centrum in Worcester, MA.

Dave Kemp

BA American Studies

PhD Rock and Roll