Hello everyone. I
hope you had a joyous holiday season. So far, so good up here. It is EXTREMELY
cold up here. The high today was 4 and it will be a week of single digits until
we hit the teens. Yes its crazy but part of the price of living in the
beautiful state of Vermont. But as I get ready to celebrate the New Year
tomorrow night at Cabinet, my mind drifts back to one of the more anticipated
NYE runs, 1997. It Was 20 Years Ago Today: Phish, Live at the Cap Centre, Dec.
28, 1997, Landover, MD
The name of the
arena at the time was the USAir arena but I saw nearly a third of all my Dead
shows there, so I am calling it the Cap Centre. I know George and Adrian went
down, and I remember there really wasn’t a Lot scene because it rained.
Soundcheck: Sample in a Jar, Drowned, Black-Eyed Katy, Funky Bitch
SET 1: Julius, Cities > The Curtain > Sample in a Jar, The Old Home Place > Runaway Jim, Farmhouse, Funky Bitch, Split Open and
Melt, Bouncing Around the Room, Character Zero
SET 2: Axilla > Simple, Ghost > Drowned > Scent of a Mule[1], Halley's Comet > Slave to the Traffic Light, Rocky Top > Cavern
ENCORE: Bold As Love
[1] The Mule Duel
contained a slow jam instead of the traditional duel.
The
Mule Duel contained Roundabout teases and a slow jam instead of the traditional
duel. Between Simple and Ghost, Trey talked about feedback problems and the
“ghosts in the machine.”
You can stream it here
First set was great, but nothing that was super epic. My
favorite tune was probably Cities. Second set felt disjointed and the tapes
confirm it. Axilla wasn’t the jam vehicle people wanted and a roar goes up when
the band starts into Simple. Ghost into Drowned is really sick, definitely the
highlight of the show for me. Looking back on it, it almost is like the band and
crowd were so geeked about a multi night NYE run that this show suffered for it.
Still really good, just none of that top shelf ’97 magic.
Have a safe NYE and I will be writing about the 3rd
to last show of NE PA’s Cabinet until their indefinite hiatus.
Dave Kemp
BA American Studies
PhD Rock and Roll
