Probably the fan favourite of the runup to NYE '97, and for good reason. The Sneakin' Sally opener sets the tone: light on its feet, celebratory but not anthemic. And it segues right into the Best Version of Taste Ever Played. This is easily Trey's finest Taste solo: patient, spacious, well-organized, climactic, empathetic, and closing out with a riotous group suspension and crescendo as Mr Anastasio wails on that octave. And yeah: Harpua, ADITL, fine Chalkdust, Tom Marshall, the whole works.

But the sheer scope of the thing is what'll bring you back. The Hood tumbles into My Soul, alas, but prior to that (excellent) segue it's a charming, chiming, complicated performance - a great Hood despite it all. The AC/DC Bag is a top-3 version (maybe you'll take 9/14/99 over this one; maybe I will too), pure late '97 dance-machine badness. Then there's the encore: they were gonna get fined anyhow, so they played a half-hour suite of four songs including, for the love of all that's holy, a Sneakin' Sally reprise to raise the roof. Is this a great BEK I see on the setlist? Heavens no. It's an event: muddy midnight porno-funk to close out a celebration. It's like the joyously unnecessary farewell funk groove on 4/5/98: if you can throw down that kind of nastiness off the cuff, for the sheer unadulterated hell of it, you have permission to rock the stage however you damn well please.

12/29 is maybe a deeper show (check out both SBD releases and decide for yourself), but this is Phish in Cinemascope. Wholeheartedly recommended.

How is there only 3 reviews for this show? first off, proud to say I was there. Yes, I was in the bathroom first set barely avoiding puking until awakened by AC/DC bag set 2...which was one of the greater sets ever played.

In fact this entire show is now widely accepted as one of the top 10 Phish shows ever. Best Harpua ever...Isabella!!!

Come on Phish, bring back Isabella!

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

You know the feeling - � you're on tour, you're running around, you feel run-down, you're grumpy, and you try so very hard to get up but sometimes you don't get there? I was afraid that I was going to be that way when I headed to my seat. I was so tired that I could barely move - � we were out all night on the 29th and ran around the city all day.
So I was afraid. And then the show started with something funky, something that I didn't quite recognize - � it sounds like - � it couldn't be "Sneaking Sally"�! My goodness! There was a roar of euphoria for a song that hadn't been played in over eight years (although "Mustang Sally"� would have been a lot funnier given the location of the net.gathering earlier that day)! By the end of the set, there were no problems in the world. Wasn't I tired? I didn't remember anymore!
Anyone who has ever traveled with tapers knows that there's usually some deck-spinning in the hotel room after a show. On this night, there was a daisy chain of DATs rolling into the wee hours of the morning. Where to put the tape flips for analogs? How to best fit this night onto some kind of recording medium? WHAT HAD WE JUST HEARD?

as i mentioned in the my review of the 12/29/97 show, it is really a tough call to say which of the ny run shows from this year is the top dog. i tend to lean toward this show, but anyone that wants to argue 12/29 or 12/31 ,well, who am i to say. they all have their moments.

this show starts off with one hell of a grand moment. the triumphant return of sneaking sally. this is a nice funky opener. sure, it does not reach the depths of say the one from deer creek in 03 or the gorge in 09, but as an opener and a first time play since the 80's, this one is pretty gravy. this one dips nicely into a surprisingly good taste. this, the second song in, stands out as one of the musical highlights of a pretty stacked show. trey, in particular, is very strong on this one, with some good support from page. the rest of the first set is pretty "high-end standard." stash stands out as a good early show jammer.

the 97 ny run seemed to serve as phish's "best of 97" shows. they repeated a lot of killer grooves and some seques that wowed in the fall and summer tour. this ac/dc bag is a good example of that. they hit some really nice funky grooves. they revisit the past glory of the now legendary dayton show. they tinker with psycho killer here, but they drive past it and go alot further. this is a truly original jam with some friendly nods to the supremely great playing through out the year. eventually, this one finds its way into a very sharp mcgrupp. page really steps it up here for an eery solo. harpua blows the place up. there is an interesting story about a pentagram, which explains some of the "decorations" inside the garden. also, tom marshall comes out for a pretty humorous take on 500 miles. they come out of harpua and blaze into their new "hendrix toy," izabella. this one rocks out and drops right into a vewry nice harry hood. the hood jam just takes off and never comes back home. this might be the most focused jam of the ny run. trey and page expertly navigate through this thick hood jam as they eventually find their way into the most overplayed song of 97, my soul. sure, people griped all fall when this popped in like 3 out of every 4 shows or 2/3, whatever it was, but i have feeling, there was not a lot of bitching when they jumped into this one. most would assume that would close it down, but they give sleeping monkey a quick walk through before kicking into a very nice guyute. this bad boy is flawless, and it closes down a monster set in style. this is another tune that helped make 97 what it was. like fluff head in 09, this one had not been seen for a hot minute, and the times that it did come out were few and far between. then in 97, this song got lavished with attention. being played so much, they really nailed this one night in and night out. good stuff.

well, phish was already past curfew, so they made the executive decision just to rock out for another hour- hell, they payed for it. after being played heavily in europe, carini had had no love in the u.s. this one really catches the crowd off guard, and it gets them nice and jacked for this very nice extended encore. the black eyed katy that follows, another 97 keeper, really went deep. this was not your average 1st set version. this is the we have played straight until 1am in so long funk! they get so immersed in the funk that they find themselves back where they started, right in the depths of the sneaking sally reprise. the double dose of funk sent the crowd into a frenzy, and the phish threw a nice big cherry on top, frankenstein. once again, this is not your average version. everybody took this one to the absurd deep end making sure to get their hours worth.

this show, despite a somewhat standard 2nd half of the first set, is loaded with unique music and killer jams, even for 97. plus, the fact that this one went well past the curfew gives it some extra cool points.

highlights:

set 1:

sneaking sally>taste, stash

set 2:

bag>mcgrupp, hood>my soul, be katy>sneaking sally reprise

hands down one of the best shows I ever attended...the night before was good and new years eve, the following night, was also good...but this was the highlight of this 3 night NYE run...

Set I

Sneakin Sally was brought out of retirement and it was such a good way to kick of the show...funky start to what we knew was going to be a good night..

Taste...good tune..jammed out nicely

Water in the sky..nothing out of the ordinary

PYITE...always a crowd pleaser...and was really happy to hear this one

Stash...not one of my favorite songs...jam gets a little dark at times..but this seems to be the reoccuring theme for fall/winter 97

CDT...one of my favorites...gets the crowd going..although this place was already rockin at this point...good version of this song

A day in the life...I'm a big Beatles fan..and I thought this was a great tune and a great way to end the first set..

Set II

This is the bread and butter of this show..the meat and potatos..

ACDC bag...my favorite version of this song to date..clocks in around 25 minutes...dark, and funky at times...Trey and the boys really take this one out there...

mcgrupp...great seque into this song from bag...and another crowd pleaser...

Harpua...great story..and at times no one knew where this one was going..trey was really enjoying this one...he even mentioned how he loves playing at the garden, because the place bounces up and down when certain grooves get going...the story was about trey growing up and acquiring different food products to place onto a pentagram behind his school..this caused a tornado...tom marshall comes out and busts into 500 miles..

Izabella...Trey really got the crowd amped up with this one...

harry Hood...really good unfinished version...during jam...all the lights were turned off and trey started catching glowsticks in the pitch black..

My soul...great seque from hood into this song

Sleeping monkey > guyute...seemed like they just did not want to stop playing...and nor did we want them to..

Encore: trey announced they were going to play until it was new years eve and everyone couldn't be happier especially after a four song encore which included Carini,BEK, Sneakin and a Frankenstein with vacuum..

If you have not listened to this show..it's a must have..

One of the finest examples of Black Eyed Katy prior to Moma. The segue between Katy and Sally is as flawless as the 12/7/97 Nutter AC/DC->Psycho. Hood was also a testiment to how smooth the band had began to perform in the late 90s.

I'm pretty sure this is my favorite show of all time, which says something-- I've listened to 400-500 shows including all of 2.0 and 3.0. Sally -> Taste is best ever territory, AC/DC Bag is best ever territory, they play Harpua (!) > Izabella (!) > Hood -> My Soul (crazy Hood!), and then, as if it weren't enough, they played the best encore they've ever played (with BEK -> Sally Reprise?!). If the world really does end tomorrow and you haven't heard this show yet, do EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER to listen to it immediately! You can buy the video on LivePhish.com...