Expanding on (and stepping back a bit from) my earlier comment:

The first set of this show is awesome and weeeeeird. A 20-minute DwD in the #2 slot? Yeah! Then a delicately creepy segue into Maze, which builds with unusual deliberateness from deep quiet to Trey's sci-fi roar (an engrossing pair of atmospheric solos from Page and Trey here). Trey was apparently in a ruminative mood this first set: check out the texturally-rich downtempo LxL batting fifth. No idea what Rocky Top was doing creeping in there, especially after a first-set Loving Cup. Oh well. Some nights just weave away from the straightline path, and it paid off here.

Actually there's a bit of an early/mid-2003 vibe to this show: lots of odd textures, opioid playing from Trey, quickstep tempos alternating with plodding oddities, a dark dark darkness creeping in around the edges. And of course the powerful stupidity of Roses Are Free, which Phish would later turn into a huge jam vehicle (4/3/98, 12/31/99) but which functions here as a goofy pick-me-up after the bedraggled ambience of Drowned. (Check out how little recognition it gets from the crowd, though! Funny).

The show is indeed outstanding, but not in a *purely* desirable way: the atmospherics are pervasive and strange and the first set must've blown minds on that night, but there's none of the feverish intensity and focus of 12/6, nor the partyfunk vibe of 12/7. The Ghost > DWD quote > Johnny sequence is fine, but Ghost is a straightforward, monotonic version with a solo from Trey that's either bravely restrained or sublimely boring depending on your tastes. Waste is Waste.

Definitely seek out this show - it's a treat to hear SBDs of Fall '97 no matter what the vibe is like. But I'm gonna revise my earlier enthusiasm to a cautious endorsement: this is one of the tour's weirder and (yeah) weaker shows. Its highlights are lovely, but a one-month stretch containing 11/21-11/23, 12/6, the three huge Worcester shows, and those wild Denver outings doesn't require this night to be a classic.

Rochester will always hold a special place in my heart...whether it was the crack dealer who bought us food and smokes to drive him around for what we realized was a crime spree or the lost crack addict (who told us quote, "I'm from the grateful dead!") who lost "his kids" that my buddy and I picked up after the show in our friend's mustang we borrowed to go to the gas station and get some smokes and food...or maybe it was when after the show (before the crack people) I found out someone broke into the mustang and stole his stereo..this bothered him so much he ditched my buddy and I to go back to college in Vermont and left us to fend for our own way to Albany...out of the three of us I was the only one who got in the show that night...don't remember if I had the carphone or not that night, but my buddy from high school passed me my ticket over the gate at the front entrance and "the man" allowed me in...any later and i probably would have missed my ticket...phish came on stage...trey was wearing a winter hat (which cracked me up) and he gazed out into the audience, happy, but serious as I knew they were playing Punch for me (and everyone else) It truly was an epic show...I saw a girl who was a senior (VI) when I was a freshman (III) and I went up and introduced myself...being a freshman once again...thirteen years later I find out we have both moved to the same town...that crazy night in Rochester will live on in my mind forever and I wish there was room to write the whole story. anyway after that night it was safe to say (that) The Roses Are Free!

Holy double dosage of Down With Disease...definitely no tease!!! A sweet show to Taste your mind and please not Waste your time and appease!!!

Wow E Wow! This is a wonderful hidden jem tucked away in the infamous 97 fall tour. This show is known for the first Roses ae Free but trust me this whole show is hot. This is a dark and trippy show. Did I mention it's DARK! The whole show is a must hear but if you must pick a few highlights here they are: DWD(twice), Drowned>Roses, a very scary BBFCFM and an extra funky ghost! This is the show in which I got "it" and after hearing again just now I know why. Get this tape!!!

This is one of the very few Fall '97 shows available in a soundboard recording - and it circulates freely rather than as a download-for-pay, so you have no excuse for not hearing it. And oh, is it a good show? My friend, it's an *outstanding* show that would have been a major highlight of any other Phish tour (but was pretty much par for the course in December 1997). Seek it out 'ay-sap,' as they say.

Special mention needs to be made of this Johnny B Good. Its straight whiskey fire. Delivered at breakneck speed, it might not be the tighest but it might be the ballsiest. They couldn't get enough of it, and went for the meat repeatedly, not beating a dead horse, but rather rotating it gleefully over a bed of white hot coals and serving it up with a spicy barbeque glaze.... MMM.

An absolute hidden gem of a show, and a personal treasure. This was the first show I ever saw for these guys in my hometown. So, though I am biased from an overall experience/sentimental standpoint - the music was simply some of the most far reaching and dynamic I've ever heard Phish play. It left and indelible mark on the band, or so it would seem given Trey's comments upon their 1999 return, where he commented "this is truly a favorite room of ours."

The 1st set is pure gold, with excursions on songs you may have a hard time finding elsewhere. The rollicking DWD melts into a mellow jam that leaves you in a trance, and after being hypnotized, the boys eerily slide into an raging Maze. Upon inspection of the set list, one would think things couldn't get higher from that one two punch... well, listen to Limb By Limb, and you will be left stunned. In this phan's humble opinion - an all timer for sure, with simply incredible lead playing by Trey. Hard to find a version that reaches such heights. The set closes as a 2nd set would, with show closers - so its as if instead of "sets" here - there were "acts" 1 & 2... two distinct and uniquely poignant parts of a show, since after the break it was a whole other ball game...

Many fans will recall the first ever Roses Are Free, the debut that made the Bittersweet Motel DVD. This launched a 2nd set that was pure energy and rock and roll. BBFCFM was nuts and as I recall - saw the typically stationary Trey running around, jumping off things. The man was truly possessed that night!

Anyway, without rambling too much here... that's my review, the only one I think I'll ever do - I was compelled to for this treasure. I encourage everyone to dig around for it. X marks the spot.

Back around my sophomore year of high school, when I hardly knew anything about Phish, I stumbled upon this show. At this point I had A Picture of Nectar and Junta and loved both of them, but I had not yet delve into any live stuff. I was a complete live noob, I didn't know the magic that is Fall '97 and I didn't know any songs besides Drowned, Roses (I was, and still am, a huge Ween fan) and Johnny. I had no idea what my virgin ears were in for! Even though I had no reference point for what I was hearing, I knew I loved it!

Fast forward five years: I've got as many years of Phish knowledge under my belt and this show still stands (because of nostalgia as much as anything) as my favorite Phish show. Even though this might not be the "best" show ever, there still isn't a single damn thing wrong with it, it's just so perfect.

I could sit here and list the highlights, or you could look at the setlist (seriously, every take is as near perfect as you can reasonably ask for). The first set boasts my favorite Punch of the tour, arguably the best Disease of the year, and above average versions of Maze, Limb, and Loving Cup. The non-stop second set features, in my opinion, the best Drowned of the tour (yes, better than 12.3), a seriously sick post jam in BBFCFM, a typically energetic Fall '97 Ghost with a DwD Reprise(!), and a rockin' Johnny to close.

Waste is a perfect encore to the craziness, energetic yet still in the "cool-down" category.

I was a lucky noob to have found such a killer show by accident!

This show is smoking through and through. This show is available in SBD format, free of charge. Why the hell aren't you listening to it right now? I can only imagine, if I were there, how hard I would have been jizzing in my pants during the final climax of the Ghost jam that ultimately reprises DWD. You have got to be kidding me! Yes, the second half of the first set *could* be ignored, but you may as well listen to it too just so you don't have a heart attack. As such, your doctor does not recommend skipping from Maze to Drowned. And while you're at it, you may as well go on LivePhish.com and the Spreadsheet and download the following SBD recordings, and listen to them consecutively, over and over and over and over again:

11/17/97, 11/21/97, 11/22/97, 11/23/97, 11/28/97, 12/6/97, 12/7/97, 12/11/97, 12/29/97, 12/30/97.

Do it! I did it, and it improved my quality of life. Once you've done that, go ahead and download all of "From the Archives" from the spreadsheet and listen to the other Fall '97 jams (e.g., Runaway Jim 11/29/97). WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS? GO JOHNNY GO GO GO!

Hey Waxbanks I have a wonderful audience recording on tape where can I score a SBD download? Not enough people know about this show which is a shame. Thanks Bro!