[Stream provided by www.phishtracks.com]

Back when I attended this show, I had chalked it up as simply a bad show. Yes, bad Phish shows happen despite what some of the burn outs on tour may think - keep following this blog and you'll read plenty of bad reviews. But now that it's been several years since, and considering this was part of the "Phish Destroy's America" tour, I wondered how bad it could be.  And boy was I happy when I came upon the Simple in the second set. 

We'll get to that Simple later but first things first, how was the first set? 

Download Show (link sourced from The Spreadsheet)

Set 1: Mike's Song > Chalk Dust Torture, My Soul, Stash > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Dogs Stole Things, Beauty of My Dreams, Horn > Loving Cup

Almost a year since My First Show and the difference a year makes in how a song like Mike's Song can be is why we go see this band. After the standard F# minor jamming, they change key and into a funk groove. As mentioned in the 12/3/97 review, this tour brought out the funky side in the band (hence the Phillly Funk jam). Here we get more start/stop funk but unlike the Philly jam, this is short lived. Overall this was no "must hear" Mike's Song. The version from first night of Philly (12/2) or Albany (12/13) during this same tour is worthy of a listen if you have the time. 

The jump into Chalk Dust feels forced but it's hard to not give into the energy from one of the best rock songs in their book. An abnormal slot makes it a fun appearance version to see and hear live. In fact it is only one of two that have followed Mike's Song ever. The other being at MSG on 12/29/2011. 

My Soul as mentioned in my 12/3/97 review is not one of my favorites. The repetitive chorus lines, "my my my my my soul it's my soul, my my my my my my soul it's my soul", always rubs me the wrong way for some reason. The only thing really going for it is the bass line that Mike so eloquent lays down with his modulus bass.   

Then we hit Stash. I have often used Stash has a measuring stick for how well the band is playing at any given moment in their career. If they nail the composed section, build the tension in the jam to a point of utter frustration in the part of the listener only to explode at the right moment, then I know Phish is in a good state of mind. No secret here that Phish in 1997 was in a good state of mind so as to be expected this version has that slowly built tension drawn out to perfection. It's not a long jam. Nothing like earlier versions from this same tour (11/13, 11/23 or 11/30) but still packs a nice punch. It slowly oozes at the end into the H2 section of Mike's Groove. Really nice segue. 

A well played I Am Hydrogen. You'd be surprised how many versions of this song they flubbed, especially in years to follow (especially in 99). With no flubs to mention, it sets up a standard yet funky run through Weekapaug Groove. 

Dogs Stole Things and Beauty of My Dreams add the standard cool down to the first set. Not a fan of the former but definitely of the latter. Wish they played this more often in the 3.0 era (only once so far on 12/31/2010). I love me some bluegrass and the original outfit, Del McCoury Band, is as bluegrass as it gets. 

Horn merely is a setup for the rocking version of Loving Cup that ends the set. A set full of mixed emotions where everything was played perfectly. Nothing was extended and even when things seemed promising, such as with the Mike's funk, they pulled back, which is rare for this era. 

Set 2: Julius > Simple -> Timber (Jerry) > Contact, Axilla > Harry Hood

Encore: Fire

Ending the first set with Loving Cup then opening the second with Julius feels more like the end of a show then the middle but with the high octane energy on display all fall tour, this isn't too out of the ordinary. What takes place next is the heart and soul of this show. 

Simple is, well, a simple song but often it's the simplest of ideas that spawn creativity. This version of Simple does it's thing for about 8 minutes, and right around 8:30 is when they find it; that special moment in a song when the band has completely left the boundaries of the stage and are now exploring where to go next.

This exploration goes on for a few minutes and then around 12 minutes it seems like it could all collapse but then Fishman brings in a dark drum beat that Trey grabs a hold off and then we are off on our first real change from the slow Simple groove and into a brand new space. This new space grows quickly into a kaleidoscope of sounds, with Fishman and Trey leading the charge. This would go on until 17 minutes when Fishman once again leads the band into a new section, with Gordon and Page adding a soft groove to the background with Trey remaining silent until he grabs a hold of what his band mates are laying down. Trey lays on top of the groove some funky chords and we enter into a little bit of very soft, laid back cow funk.

After a few minutes of funk we enter into a spacey section, with Page using his synth and Trey using his digital delay loop, we get a real Star Trekky vibe. At one point it sounds like the song is ending with only the digital delay vamping from the speakers, but they decide it's not over yet. This section is real eerie and it ends with Fishman hitting the standard David Bowie symbols and at this point it's clear they are heading into Bowie. But they keep going and going and going with this eerie intro, especially Trey and his loops. Finally Fishman decides to throw a wrench into the situation and beats on his bass drum like he's an African tribal chief. This tribal beat segues perfectly into Timber Ho and what do you know, we have ourselves a Ho. 

Don't have time to listen to the whole show? Just give the Simple a whirl.

Everyone in the venue is clearly perplexed at this point as preparing for a Bowie is much different from preparing for a Timber Ho throw down. The Timber itself is not the best Timber. While the evilness of the song fit perfectly into the ending of Simple, the song itself fell a bit flat and even when they end the jam and re-enter the lyrical portion of the song the crowd didn't seem too in to the moment. 

They lighten the mood considerably with the always fun yet awkwardly childish song Contact. The best part of Contact, besides the spinning wheel lights that Kuroda throws up on the crowd, is the funk break down where Page rails on his clav and Gordon slaps the heck out of his bass. The energy feels a bit flat, hinting that the Dave Matthews Band type frat boy crowd that is prevalent at Penn State gigs wasn't totally digging what the band was pumping out from the stage. 

Sensing this lack of energy, they rip out Axilla. But it's not clear whether this may be too little too late at this point to revive the lack of energy. After a quick romp, they back peddle into Harry Hood. Another awkward energy stop and once again sensing this energy drop, Trey pops back into the Axilla riff right in the middle of the Hood intro. This is only a short stint back into the song but clearly it was meant to WAKE UP THE CROWD! 

Energy or no energy, it takes a lot to keep a Harry Hood ending from exploding. For a solid 4 or so minutes, this Hood ends very strong with tons of energy to go around. 

They must have known coming back for the encore that anything other then Hendrix was unacceptable for this energy deficient crowd so yeah, they come out firing with Fire! A great cover that has been mostly shelved since this 97 tour, only coming out 13 times since. 

Verdict: 7.5/10 

I would have given this show a 6 or 6.5 due to the lack of cohesiveness and off and on energy if it weren't for the Simple. That jam on it's own bumps this show up a whole point. But the show is otherwise an off night for a band at an all time high in their career in terms of energy and performance.