This week at Phish.Net, we're counting down the twenty best shows of 1997, as decided by members of the Phish.Net team. We've finally made it to the end, but if you're just tuning in, you may want to start with the posts linked below. Now, without further ado, the top 5 shows of 1997 after the jump... [SP]

Previously:
Honorable Mentions
Shows 20-16
Shows 15-11
Shows 10-6

5. 12/30/97 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY (Dan Mielcarz)

There were some surprises when compiling this list; 12/30/97 scoring highly was not one of them. No matter who you ask, it is seen as an all-time classic. The “Sneaking Sally” opener is one of the all-time great bustouts (a 920 show gap) and not just played for novelty - there is a great little funk jam in there with a smooth segue into a absolutely ripping “Taste.” “Stash” is sneaky good - not the best of 97, but must hear nonetheless! A dark and broody meditation that ends in a very smooth chill-out. Trey shreds the hell out of his “Chalk Dust” solo, and “ADITL” closes out a fun first set.

"AC/DC Bag" -- 12/30/97 New York, NY

But of course, no one who talks about 12/30/97 talks about Set I. On the excellent LivePhish release of this show, you can hear Trey asking the others “Bag?” as he strums a couple licks. They agree, and kick off one of the greatest “AC/DC Bag”s ever. Starts slow and funky, with Page patiently leading the jam on clavinet. The tempo and volume slowly increases. As soon as Trey takes over though, the jam finds another gear. Trey lays down some porno-funk licks but quickly builds to a beautiful anthemic peak. The trip down the the mountain from the peak is just as thrilling, with Mike taking more of a lead. But Trey decides he isn’t quite done, and has a raging final solo that gives the whole band an opportunity to get a bit dark. The jam fades out and into a solid “McGrupp.” Now, if this jam, and the very good first set were all this show had, it would probably still be a top 20 1997 show. But this set just goes on FOREVER. An udderly hilarious “Harpua.” “Izabella”! And an amazing “Harry Hood.” The one misstep - and it is a big one that probably kept this show out of the top three - is the stunning call to segue from the aforementioned “Hood” into one of the worst songs in the Phish catalog, “My Soul.” Not that the segue wasn’t ably executed, but come on, “My Soul”? That’s the type of nitpick we had to make to rank these shows. Anyway, at the show all was forgiven, because they went on to play the best encore ever. Four songs, all amazing, playing until midnight just because they felt like it. It was loose and funky and fantastic, and a fitting capstone to a great year of Phish.

4. 11/23/97 Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem, NC (Jeremy D. Goodwin)

This was my pick for best show of the year. The second set is simply unimpeachable—almost an hour of uproarious hose. Some will complain that the improv doesn’t have enough variety, compared to the twists and turns of 11/21 II or 12/30 II. But how can you complain that the band simply gets it so right and then stays there? I hear this as a more “together” take on the rage jam from the 11/19 “Wolfman’s,” but this set is less face-melting and more focused. The segue in and out of the “Low Rider Jam” adds some extra spontaneity and uniqueness to an unparalleled set with no slow moments.

The first set has one of the better versions of “Stash” in the year (though it would be soundly eclipsed the next week in Worcester) a very nice, if not overly long “Twist,” a smoking “Black Eyed Katy” and a “Fluffhead.” But basically all the first set has to do is give you a keeper or two and not throw up all over itself in order to seal the show as the best show in one of the best years of Phish.

3. 11/22/97 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA (Chris Glushko)

Among the most extreme Phish Nerds (myself included), 11/22/97 has historically been one of the most controversial shows to rank. Its proponents will call it a clear top 5 show of the year, citing the near-perfect setlist and brilliant “Halley’s.” Its opponents make the claim that it’s not even in the top two shows of the weekend. They say the “Mike’s Song” and “Weekapaug Groove” don’t stand out for 1997, and complain about the truncated versions of “Tweezer” and “Black-Eyed Katy.” For more than 17 years of my life, I fell into the latter category.

"Halley's Comet" -- 11/22/97 Hampton, VA

I’m here today to apologize to you, 11/22/97. I had you wrong all along. Instead of celebrating your near-perfect setlist, I used it as an excuse to think others overrated you. Instead of looking at the brilliance of the “Mike’s Song” through “Harry Hood” opening segment as a whole, I chose to break down and nitpick each piece. I refused to acknowledge that closing a first set with “Frankenstein” and “Izabella” likely set fire to the building. I would play your magnificent “Halley’s Comet” and note that it wasn’t as good as the previous night’s “AC/DC Bag.” Instead of looking at the perfect segue from “Tweezer” to “Black-Eyed Katy,” I complained the Tweezer was too short. I had a beautiful forest in front of me, but I couldn’t see it because I was searching for imperfections in each individual tree. 11/22/97, I’m sorry. I hope you can forgive me.

2. 12/6/97 The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, MI (Steve Paolini)

Most of the shows at the top of this list are fairly "balanced," offering highlights in both the first and second sets. This is not really one of those shows. The first set isn't bad per se; the competition is way too stiff up here to allow for that. It has a nice second song "Antelope," a cool segue from "Gin" into "Foam" and one of the better '97 versions of "Maze." But the first set isn't why we're here.

"Izabella -- 12/6/97 Auburn Hills, MI

We're here to celebrate probably the best full set Phish played in what many consider to be their best year. To start, the two minutes before the set-opening “Tweezer” begins make me jump out of my chair EVERY DAMN TIME I LISTEN TO IT. “Tweezer” starts off as vintage ‘97 cowfunk but moves through several themes before raging into “Izabella.” Rather than ending, “Izabella” transforms into perhaps the purest expression of the ‘97 cowfunk sound. When someone mentions cowfunk, this is the music I hear in my head. After a fun but too brief “Twist,” Page leads the band into the first-ever jammed out “Piper.” After 55 minutes of pure heat, we get a “Sleeping Monkey” breather before the “Tweeprise” exclamation point closes the set. Put it all together, and one need not employ any interpretive jiggery-pokery to see this is one of the top shows of the year. An unfortunate byproduct of the age of the MP3 is that I often opt for instant gratification rather than listening to full sets (or shows). But when I put on 12/6 II, more often than not, I play out the full set. I’m not necessarily proud of that fact, but it’s one of the best endorsements I can give this show.

1. 11/17/97 McNichols Arena, Denver, CO (Dan Purcell)

The race for the top spot was a runaway. There were a couple of heretics who hate “Jesus Just Left Chicago” too much to give this show its proper due, but most of us bowed to the inescapable. More distance separated this show in our rankings from our worthy, but very back-end heavy, runner-up than separated Detroit and the rest of the top six. It’s not hard to understand why. On the second of two nights in Denver, Monday evening in an old hockey arena soon to be replaced, Phish delivered possibly the best first set of their entire career, and almost certainly their finest first set to that date, highlighted by a “Ghost” that is arguably the finest ever and for most of us on the panel ranks with Atlanta and Radio City and very few others. It’s not even that long by the relevant standard, just 21 minutes, but that’s all the band needs to take you on a tour of 1997, showing you style after style. The set also has a “Tweezer” opener that starts slow and deliberate but lets loose the juice in the latter minutes, plus a happy, spiraling “Reba” to satisfy your jones for Trey’s labyrinthine compositional achievements.

Set two is not the best second set of the year, and is not close. So that’s an argument against it if you’re looking for one. But it does kick off with a “Down with Disease” that does nothing but generate forward momentum in its 16 minutes before the band jumps without looking off the segue cliff into … well, for 20 seconds or so it’s unclear, could go any number of directions. Finally Trey and Fish come to a consensus on “Olivia’s Pool,” the band’s long-lost jump-boogie tune. It’s over quick, and the second it ends Trey engages the turbo and plunges the band into “Johnny B. Goode.” Phish in 1997 still felt a need to prove their orthodox rock chops; you can see it in how so many big, exploratory jams resolved into “JBG” or “Izabella,” as opposed to something softer. “JBG” takes a couple minutes to feel natural but after that it’s cake, eventually going full-on type II excursionary and no slouch as the second-best jam of the night. The “Jesus” is slow and sleepy and patient and I have no problem whatsoever with it and don’t really get why anyone would. Finally: set-closing “YEM,” and – only 90s kids will get this – this was in the era when Trey used to take a guitar solo before the vocal jam.

It’s not for nothing that Phish themselves chose this as the first 1997 show released under the LivePhish banner. Perhaps it’s the obvious choice, and we’re crowning the equivalent of the “Guernica” or King Lear or Citizen Kane, but it’s how the numbers added up. I actually like “Guernica” and King Lear and Citizen Kane, anyway. This show offers wall-to-wall heat with huge peaks and at least one all-time top 50 Phish jam. It was the kickoff show of the single best week of Phish of all time, at least according to the voters in this poll. I can’t complain; it was my choice too.

Read more...

This week at Phish.Net, we're going to be counting down the twenty best shows of 1997, as decided by members of the Phish.Net team. We're almost there, but if you're just tuning in, you may want to start with the posts linked below. Now, without further ado, Shows 10-6 after the jump... [SP]

Previously:
Honorable Mentions
Shows 20-16
Shows 15-11

10. 7/2/97 Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands (Jeremy D. Goodwin)

The two summer Amsterdam shows are deep doses of pure ‘97 straight to the dome, birthing the “back of the worm” mythology and featuring two huge second sets and an assortment of first-set goodies. But the second night’s better half is the monster here, with an all-time “Stash” that peaks in an eight-plus minute jamlet propelled by Trey’s eloquent repetition of a gorgeously melodic figure on guitar. (I've at times become obsessed with that guitar phrase and tried, unsuccessfully, to locate it in another Phish jam. But a cousin to it closes the deeply enchanting Great Went “Wolfman’s Brother.”) From there, things wind into one of the two or three summer ‘97 “Llama”s that drop suddenly into deep space, going unfinished and seguing into Trey’s story about avoiding the giant worms in the Amsterdam canals, and a playful AF jam on Steve Miller’s “Swingtown” with words appropriate to the story. If a prominently placed "Wading" ever justified itself, I believe this set-closing version does, particularly because of how nicely it's segued into. A double encore (the band left the stage after "Free"), with only the third-ever encore version of "David Bowie," adds the punctuation mark.

Oh, and by the way. The show starts with the first-ever “Mike’s Song” opener. Yeah, there’s that. [Thanks to @FiddleHead for pointing out that 7/2/97 is not the first "Mike's Song" opener. I'll note that my original claim was not a typo—I've been walking around for 18 years thinking that 7/2/97 was the first-ever "Mike's Song" opener, and that 11/22 was the first on U.S. soil. How did this happen?] That notwithstanding, the first set doesn't have a jam to compete with the many great first-set jams of this year, which is the only sag on the show's rating. Arguably, this is compensated for by the mere fact of the opener...and a show-opening sequence of "Mike's," "Simple" and "Maze" is nothing to sneeze at, in any era.

After some debate, this show placed a very respectable 10 on our list, but I had it as a top-five. For me, it's somewhere near (if not necessarily quite at) the crowded pinnacle of Phish shows, where everything is just tied with everything else because it's all so good.

9. 7/22/97 Walnut Creek Amphitheater, Raleigh, NC (Chris Glushko)

Back in 1997, there was no downloading of shows – no instant gratification. Unless you taped or had a connection directly to a taper, your wait to hear recent shows was often weeks if not months. During the second Europe tour of 1997, rumors started circulating in the U.S. that Phish was different. Yes, there was a fresh batch of new songs, but they were just a minor part of the change. Rather, the band was playing with a whole new approach. But hardly anyone except a lucky few had heard it. The U.S. tour opener in Virginia Beach gave us a glimpse into this new Phish, but it was only a glimpse.

The next night in Raleigh opened up with the most pedestrian of first sets until a storm of biblical proportions blew in during the middle of “Taste” – a storm so fierce that massive explosions from nearby lightning strikes are heard perfectly on the recordings. Then after a long rain delay came one of the single greatest second sets Phish ever assembled – a set that put the full potential of this "different" 1997 Phish on display with an assault rock, funk, soul, and two of the greatest segues in history. From the “Down with Disease” -> “Mike’s Song” to the “Mike’s Song” -> “Godzilla Stomping through Tokyo Jam” -> “Mike’s Song” (ok, I made that up, but it works) and the “Weekapaug” closer to the “Hood” encore, this set is sheer perfection. You may question Raleigh being ranked this high when it has only one great set. And if you do, you should stop questioning and play the second set one more time.

8. 11/19/97 Assembly Hall, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL (Phillip Zerbo)

Given the murderer’s row of shows that precede and follow it, Phish’s performance on 11/19/97 in Champaign, IL is almost easy to overlook, even in retrospect. All of its better known cousins from The Best Week of Phish Ever were officially released, as LivePhish 11 and Hampton/Winston-Salem ‘97. This brilliant show was oddly controversial even within our own supposedly “expert” ranks – one of our editors whiffed, leaving it off his top 20 entirely, while others had it ranked #2, or even #1. Settling in at a composite #8, let’s review the evidence. The first set contains no all-time jams, but it offers more than its fair share of “average-great.” “Julius” kicks off the affair, followed by the highlight of the set, a sixteen-minute “Bathtub Gin” that gets lost in the shuffle only because of the greatness that can be found in other ‘97 versions (see 7/21, 7/25, 8/17, 11/23). The segue to “Llama” seems botched at first, but still comes up Millhouse and turns lemons into lemonade. More than respectable versions of “Limb By Limb,” “Theme” and “Antelope” round out this very good – if not necessarily great – first set. Are there better first sets from 1997? You betcha.

There might not, however, be a better second set. The “Wolfman’s” gets the lion’s share of attention from this show, but first there is the not insignificant matter of the “2001”, a patient yet powerful affair that showcases a perfectly tuned sports car humming along in fourth gear for over sixteen minutes. The “Wolfman’s” is like a mini-suite of 1997 Phish jamming, crystallized in one blissful half hour. You want the funk? Machine-gun Trey? Dark, deep, dissonance? Balanced, ensemble playing with every band member making a distinctive mark on the jam? Sick segue to cap it all off? Check, check, check-mate! A fairly strong argument can be made that there is more jamming meat to this “Wolfman’s” in 29 minutes than there is in the significantly longer Worcester “Runaway Jim.” “Makisupa” adds a hefty dose of fun – stink kind. Had enough? The band sure had plenty more in the tank, with often overlooked yet no less awesome gems in the set-closing taste “Taste” and extended “Possum” encore. Add it all up, the second set and encore is 85 minutes of pure fire. Four song second set. All-timer jam. Goofy stoner fun. Bonus encore. No down-time. To be clear, the person who had this in the #1 slot was me – this show simply has it all.

7. 12/11/97 Rochester War Memorial, Rochester, NY (Dan Purcell)

More like “Rockester,” if you know what I’m saying. *points to guy in crowd* THIS GUY knows what I’m talking about.

In all seriousness, this show may seem like an obscure choice for a ranking this high, but please put it on and listen to it. It’s unrelenting, like a dialed-in batting lineup drilling gapper after gapper against a sweaty, overworked pitching staff. Take the second set, since as per tradition it’s the stronger set of the two: a massive “Drowned” (Larry King’s favorite second-set opener) that Phish somehow manages to segue into a cover they’d never played before. Don’t really know how they do stuff like that. Some people dislike “BBFCFM” but this seems to me terribly misguided. Part of why I love Phish is their willingness to be ugly and dumb (though never stupid) and alienating, to be weird for the sake of being weird. Why not be weird, if that’s what you want, and why wouldn’t you want to be weird at least every so often? The “Ghost” that follows previews the balls-to-the-wall heat of the 1998 versions we would grow to love (think Prague and Phoenix), before veering back into “Down with Disease,” which was played way back in the first set and, now that I mention it, is probably the highlight of the show. The second set ends with the finest “Johnny B. Goode” Phish ever played outside the city limits of Denver, Colorado.

"Maze" – 12/11/97 Rochester, NY

This show went relatively unnoticed at the time because of the relentless bombs the band had been dropping for the previous month, and in particular the great Detroit and Dayton shows from the previous weekend. The tapes for those two shows, and the tour-closing Albany joint two days after Rochester, circulated so widely and rapidly and in such great quality, and since these were excellent on their own merits they sucked most of the oxygen out of the room. Our voters believe that is an injustice that should be corrected. A “Waste” encore is admittedly kind of a kick in the stones, but by that point the crowd had gotten more than its money’s worth. This show did not sneak into its high position on our list; it rated highly for nearly all of our panel and earned its rank fair and square.

6. 11/21/97 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA (Phillip Zerbo)

Inexplicably not cracking the top five for 1997 is 11/21/97, Friday night at the famed Hampton Coliseum. Plenty of shows have opened with a popular, unexpected first-time cover songs. Plenty of shows have opened with monster type-II jams. This “Emotional Rescue” gives you both – what band reinterprets a classic rock song as an exploratory jam vehicle, to open a big weekend? Our heroes, The Phish From Vermont. You want some more? Well here’s some more: follow up with a sizzling “Split Open and Melt.” We’re a solid half-hour into the first set before you can even think about heading to grab a beverage. By the time you’ve returned to your seat, we’re back in the high-energy groove with “Punch You In the Eye.” The set closes with a white-hot “Chalk Dust Torture” and a “Prince Caspian” in which even the song’s most strenuous dissenters can still find value, ditching the traditional closing chords in favor of a walk-off fade into delay-loop space. What a killer first set! Take a deep breath... you’re going to need it.

Easily earning Rookie of the Year song honors for Phish in 1997 was “Ghost.” Looking back, it’s still mind-boggling what this song accomplished, slotting version after version into the books of all-time Phish jams – 7/1, 7/3, 7/23, 11/17, 11/28 – in its debut year! Kicking off this four-song second set, the Hampton “Ghost” doesn’t quite qualify for that rarified air, but it still draws from that same well of improvisational greatness. Even at an extended fifteen minutes, this “Ghost” was still just setting the table for the show’s crown jewel, “AC/DC Bag.” This psychedelic tasting menu of ‘97 Phish jamming styles gives you a little bit of everything – funk, ambient space, blister-forming head-banging rock-and-roll. The thing that still blows me away all these years later is the ease and seeming effortlessness in which all these ideas were juggled, like switching channels between the peaks of five different thrillers in rapid succession, always somehow hitting the peak.

“Slave to the Traffic Light” offered the perfect landing strip from “Bag’s” dizzying heights before ascending in a majestic flight of its own, with the always rocking “Loving Cup” taking the set home. If one were to go looking for flaws in the show – and I suppose that’s what some of my colleagues did, for this gig to wind up sixth – I guess you could say that the “Loving Cup” closer and “Guyute” encore ran out of gas? I guess. Perceived imperfections aside, I’m still shaking my head in amazement at this brilliant performance. Ladies and gentlemen, delivering in the clutch, yet again… Phish!

Read more...

This week at Phish.Net, we're going to be counting down the twenty best shows of 1997, as decided by members of the Phish.Net team. If you're just tuning in, you may want to start with the Honorable Mentions and Shows 20-16 linked below. Now, without further ado, Shows 15-11 after the jump... [SP]

Previously:
Honorable Mentions
Shows 20-16

15. 8/10/97 Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN (Dan Mielcarz)

This show opens with a short but strong “Bathtub Gin” that veers into Type II territory at the end of the jam. “Down With Disease” is a pretty straightforward version leading into a very Set I sequence of “Dirt,” “CTB” and “Billy Breathes.” The “Split Open and Melt” that follows however, is phenomenal. An epic version, it contains a full-on “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic” jam and a re-emergence of the “SOAM” riff that kicks all kinds of ass. “Bye Bye Foot” is a pleasant novelty in this reviewer’s opinion, and “Ginseng Sullivan” one of my preferred bluegrass tunes (YMMV quite a bit on those two). But everyone can agree that the “Harry Hood” to end the set was a spectacularly beautiful version that capped off a pretty great Set I.

Set II starts off with what I believe to be the best “Cities” ever. An amazing journey into type II land, this “Cities” covers a lot of ground. Funk, rock, beautiful melodic playing, and a great segue into “Good Times, Bad Times.” A spectacular jam that secures this show’s spot in the top 20. Okay, so maybe the “Rotation Jam” into “Rock A William” isn’t exactly the strongest musical moment of 97, but give it some points for novelty (or don’t, which would put you in concert with most of our panel). The set-closing “David Bowie” is polarizing - some people (myself included) love the extended intro in which the band is screwing around with sound effects and pedals, faking out the audience, taking a quick journey into space, and seemingly having a great time, but other listeners take a dimmer view. If nothing else, Fishman should earn points for his ability to keep a beat on the hi-hat for as long as he does. “David Bowie” proper begins about 8 minutes in, and provides an explosive finish for one of the most interesting front-to-back sets of 1997.

14. 12/3/97 CoreStates Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA (Eric Wyman)

For any show to be considered great, in my opinion, the first set counts. Fall of 1997 is blessed with amazing first sets and this show is no exception. Any time you have three quality jams before the lights come back up, know you are in a special place. 12/3 puts forth the trifecta of “Drowned,” with another amazing funk journey, “Gumbo” > “2001,” a space-y transitional jam that slows the tempo of the set only to crash back in with the party anthem, and a set closing “You Enjoy Myself.” While this version probably sits last amongst the versions from previous shows in the tour, the string of YEM’s over this stretch are top notch.

12/3/97 Set II -- Philadelphia, PA

Having said that, there’s still that second set. 1997 is unique in that there are several occasions where the first set is analytically better and this show may just be one of those instances. And while the first set contains the memorable jams, the second is consistent. The set opening “David Bowie,” begins with the extended intro, rich with teases and anticipation, and blossoms into a very strong Type-II jam. Following the ensuing “Possum,” Trey kicks the band into an impromptu funk jam, which is an indicator of how much he enjoyed playing these riffs. Compositionally, it is no different than the other ‘jam(s)’ of the era and would have been significantly more impressive had it morphed directly from the “Possum,” but none of that can take away from the groove. Both the “Prince Caspian” and “Harry Hood” provide wonderful moments of bliss and the “Crossroads” encore signals a raucous conclusion to the evening. Certainly a great show, but lacks the brilliant fireworks found on other nights.

13. 8/17/97 Loring Commerce Centre, Limestone, ME (Jeremy D. Goodwin)

This legendary show is all about the second set, but that’s quite enough to land it solidly in the mid-table of the year’s best 20 shows. It’s essentially a non-stop love-a-thon between band and audience, and (arguably?) the moment when that relationship was first stated so explicitly from onstage. But that moment comes after an absolutely monster “Down With Disease” (a perfectly good call for best version of the year, and certainly one of the top three) and a spine-tingling “Bathtub Gin” (aka “the Went Gin”) with an intensely driving peak that holds a unique place among the gallery of classic upbeat Phish jams. The second version of “Also Sprach Zaranthustra” (following 8/13) to get taken for a ride at length provides a delirious dance sequence near the middle of the set, the ambient “Art Jam” offers an advance peak of the “Ring of Fire” set at Lemonwheel the next year, an epically poetic “Harry Hood” closes.

"Bathtub Gin" -- 8/17/97 Limestone, ME

Apparently spent, the band came out for the third set firing blanks (after a red-herring breakout of the ultra-rare "Buffalo Bill" to open the set), and the first set is really notable only for one of the U.S. tour’s only two “Tweezer”s and a delightful opener of “The Wedge.” But that second set is a candidate for greatest non-stop musical sequence of the year, and has remained an unforgettable listen. On its own, it provides enough highlights to outclass many of the year’s very good and excellent shows.

12. 12/2/97 CoreStates Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA (Brian Levine)

The virtual unanimity of love bestowed upon Phish’s 1997 fall tour makes it awfully difficult to argue that any of its 21 shows is underrated. At the very least, it would take somebody profoundly ignorant to make that claim of the 11th-ranked show (as of press time) in its equally-lauded year, right? If so—well, then consider me that ignoramus. Both nights of the ’97 Spectrum stand have been overshadowed by numerous other shows: Denver, Hampton, Winston-Salem, Auburn Hills, and Dayton to name a few. In the fourteen From the Archives shows, ten Live Bait volumes, and countless Live Phish releases since that tour, not even a single second of either Philly show has been included.

Unbeknownst at the time to the band or its fan base, night one at the Spectrum marked Phish’s 14th anniversary. An extremely enjoyable set one—featuring the first “Buried Alive” opener in over a year, the lone “DWD” -> “Makisupa” pairing to date, and yet another incendiary ’97 “Ghost” dance party—merely served as the opening act to one of Phish’s finest hours. I could go on babbling for days detailing the virtues of set two’s opening, 65-minute “Mike’s Groove,” but with his Jam Chart entry, @Icculus said it best and most succinctly: !@^#$!#$%^@#$#$!&$#*(^&%#@!$%&@#$!@*&*#$@!!!!!

11. 7/31/97 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA (Dan Purcell)

This mild Thursday night at the Jamband Landfill ranks with the most generous and wall-to-wall outstanding full-show experiences of Phish’s career. Just like 1997 itself did, the show starts with a “Ghost,” creeping low-key urgency that lulls you to sleep and before you know it it’s changing keys on the fly and motoring aggressively to a big middle finger of a peak. The band was in no hurry, but they came for business. The ensuing “Ya Mar” would get insanely surpassed in Albany in December but it still has about 12 fake endings and a weird little Type II excursion before rattling to a standstill like a dying engine. “Limb by Limb” is extended and chaotic and the Italian suit-clad Jon Fishman is playing so good that he won’t let go of the beat at the end, prompting Trey to sing his praises afterward. There is some other outstanding content -- a hot “Maze” and 1997’s only “Glide” -- but the meat gets brought by the “YEM” set closer, which shows up an hour ten into the set. It’s the best “YEM” of the year without reasonable question; for God’s sake, even the dadgum vocal jam is worth hearing in its entirety.

The band was loose enough at the start of set two to do a short full-band tease of “Sweet Home Alabama,” which is hilariously tracked separately on the internet. The real set opener is a sprawling, patient “Runaway Jim” that goes 20-plus without getting boring. The middle of the set contains positive setlist choices like “Vultures” and “McGrupp,” both played very well, like everything at this show. The set-closing orthodox “Mike’s Groove” may just be a A-/B+ and is not in serious competition with Philly or even Raleigh, but for me it kicks the ass of many (great) versions from this (great) year, including Vegas and Alpine and the extremely dozy Hampton opener. They can’t play the “Cinnamon Girl” encore at all, but they’d just re-learned it during the three-minute encore break from a CD they’d sent Brad Sands out to pick up at setbreak.

Photo courtesy of Expressobeans.com

So why doesn’t it rank higher? As you might be able to guess, I personally think it should. I was at the show, so maybe that’s why. Other members of our panel disrespected the “Jim,” arguing it’s merely good not really a top-tier jam; some undervalued the “YEM.” Maybe this is part of our regular tendency to undervalue performers who are very good at everything but maybe not great at any single thing, Like the fact that Ozzie Smith is in the Hall of Fame but Lou Whitaker never got a sniff. Even if this show lacks the height of the Denver “Ghost” or the “Tweezabella,” it’s easily the widest show of the year.

Read more...

This week at Phish.Net, we're going to be counting down the twenty best shows of 1997, as decided by members of the Phish.Net team. Start here if you missed yesterday's post announcing the project, the methodology, and a few shows that didn't quite make the cut. Now, without further ado, Shows 20-16 after the jump... [SP]

Previously: Honorable Mentions

20. 8/16/97 Loring Commerce Centre, Limestone, ME (Brian Levine)

This was that show for me. Sure, I’d been obsessed with this band since my first in Buffalo the preceding fall. Yes, I’d even endured 10 hours of solo bus riding to catch the two New Year’s shows in Boston. And hell, just to get here, we’d driven 16 hours in a Datsun with no stereo (all we had was a tiny boombox—de-emphasis on boom—tied down to the center console) to what might as well have been Newfoundland. But at the conclusion of night one of the Great Went, I finally understood the compulsion to attend as many damned Phish shows as the competing obligations of my life would allow.

From the conclusion of the Clifford Ball’s “Harpua” and the greatest (Type I, at least) “Limb by Limb,” to the jaw-dropping “Wolfman’s” -> “Simple” -> “Odd Couple” -> “My Soul” and “Halley’s” -> “Cities” -> “Llama” segue-a-thons, this show contains an embarrassment of riches. The next day features the best set of the weekend—perhaps of Phish’s career—but picking either show above the other is a far more difficult decision to make.

19. 11/29/97 Worcester Centrum Centre, Worcester, MA (Dan Mielcarz)

Normally one reviews a show in the order it was played, but for this show it would be burying the lede. It’s all about the “Runaway Jim.” I was in the room that night. Honestly, when the first riff of “Jim” started I was kind of disappointed. While it had jammed before (most recently at Shoreline on 7/31) it still was more likely than not to be a warm up tune, and I’m not typically looking for a warm-up song to open set II. Following the composed section, Trey activates a spacey delay loop while Mike switches up to a driving bass line. Mike is a true all-star in the first part of this jam. Trey plays some porno-funk licks over some inventive drum fills from Phish, while Page comps along on the clavinet. Each band member has a time where they lead the jam, which felt like a live version of the improvisation exercises that Trey would talk about in interviews. The jam flows through several distinct themes with very little downtime - this isn’t a noodly space jam at all. Describing the entire jam would exceed the space allotted to the 19th-ranked show, but on that night, fifty-eight minutes of extremely inventive improvisation later, with my brain in a puddle on the floor, I tried to comprehend what I had just seen (for an in-the-moment look at my thought process, check out my incredibly hyperbolic review of the show posted immediately following to rec.music.phish). It ends with a thrilling dip into a “Weekapaug Groove” jam followed by a short rocking outro. All of the jam might not appeal to all of the people all of the time, but the entire thing is a simply amazing achievement in the world of improvisational music. Please do yourself a favor and track down the soundboard recording released as part of Live Bait Vol. 3.

"Runaway Jim" -- 11/29/97 Worcester, MA

While the “Jim” towers over everything else they played that evening, the rest of the show is still pretty great. One of the best “Foams” ever, a rare “TMWSIY” > “Avenu Malkenu” > “TMWSIY”, and a very solid “David Bowie” made the first set an very enjoyable affair. As for the second set, playing “Strange Design” after the insanity that was the “Jim” was pretty much the best placement of that song ever. “Harry Hood” was magical, and “Suzy Greenberg” made her first appearance since March. Topping off the show was one of the best encores of 1997, with the fifth-ever “Buffalo Bill,” an amazing “Moby Dick” and a fiery (ahem) “Fire.” The point of this exercise was to rank the best shows of 1997. With a jam as towering as the historic “Runaway Jim,” and the rest of the tunes easily at or above replacement level, this show justifiably squeaks into the top 20.

18. 7/1/97 Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands (Phillip Zerbo)

There is a lot to love about Phish’s performance on 7/1/97, the first of two nights at Amsterdam’s famed Paradiso; there are also challenges. Take the 22-minute plus show-opening “Ghost.” This “Ghost” sets the tone for the whole show, which is among the most mellow in the band’s history. This version is a top-10 “Ghost” for 1997, but probably toward back end of that tally – not a lot really happens here, especially compared to the myriad explosions this song would witness in the years to come. Glass half-full, this is “low gear Phish,” another flavor of top-shelf improvisation, just a different flavor; glass half-empty, this “Ghost” languishes in a cloud of directionless haze. This laid-back approach certainly has its benefits, chief among them in the first set is one of the best early versions of “Limb By Limb,” where the pace really allows the jam to flower. But it is also an approach with pitfalls – the 17-minute “Reba” is just this side of a train wreck in the composed section, before a meandering jam that eventually pulls it together for a delightful peak.

The when-in-Rome stoner vibe continues in the second set, with Fish offering... a keyboard jam to open? A unique kickoff to be sure, which is oddly reminiscent of Supertramp. The meat of this show is, of course, the “Bathtub Gin” -> “Cities” that occupies the 40-minute heart of the second set. The “Gin” is fantastic in itself, but where the mellow approach really pays off is in the tantalizing patience of the segue into “Cities.” Turning the frenzied excitement of Talking Heads’ original on its head, this beautiful jam is locked in virtual slow-motion. The jam almost comes to a complete stop at one point – leading some obscure setlist archives to bizarrely label it “Cities” > “Jam” – before resuming on a delightfully aimless path through time and space. The “riding the worm” theme that had woven in and out of the show appears again here, giving the “Cities” jam another distinctive flavor, an icing on the hash-infused cake. This segment is minimalist in structure but is the conduit for a flow of ideas that is highly active and engaging. “Loving Cup” seems a bit misplaced, but the “Slave” is best-of-breed for ‘97 and taps into the night’s pace to brilliant effect.

This show is perfect listening for the appropriate moment and mood, and thankfully it is now available as part of the fantastic Amsterdam box set. This is a tough show to judge – it did not make the top 20 of several ballots – but the composite rating is very fair when you consider the powerhouse lineup of shows that was to come. Read on...

17. 7/10/97 Espace Julien, Marseilles, France (Steve Paolini)

Shows like 7/10/97 normally aren't my favorites. Others call a show "fun" and I'm inevitably the grumpy old man calling it "gimmicky" and asking where the nearest 20-minute "Tweezer" is. But 7/10 is more than just a "fun" show. It's original. I really can't think of another show quite like it in 1997 or any other year really. The first set contains three proto-cowfunk jams (calf-funk?) out of "Bathtub Gin," "Llama," (!) and "Wading" (!!!). The "Wading" actually gives birth to a out-of-nowhere "Lizards" jam, in a different key, no less. It all comes together to form a coherent 50-minute suite of music that we rarely get in a second set, let alone a first.

Photo courtesy of Expressobeans.com

As for the second set, there's admittedly not a single jam you would hang your hat on as among the year's best, but the set is dripping with extra Grey Poupon. At the same time, it maintains a casual atmosphere that, at times, almost fools you into thinking you're listening to a soundcheck. The set opening "2001" is appropriately funky and the "Julius," "Magilla," and "Ya Mar" are all incredibly loose, in a good way. There may not be any meaningful type-II improv here, but these sure as hell aren't typical versions of these songs either. The set closes with an underrated version of "Ghost" that morphs into the second (and, to date, last) version "Take Me to the River." Add it all up, and there's more than enough here to compare favorably with the second tier of 1997 shows. If you can still have fun, that is.

16. 11/28/97 Worcester Centrum Centre, Worcester, MA (Eric Wyman)

While the 1997 run of shows in Worcester at THE Centrum are most remembered for their lengthy explorations in the 59 minute “Runaway Jim” from 11/29 and the 30 minute “Wolfman’s Brother” from 11/30, it is the more even experience from the first night that rises as the best show of that weekend. While it lacks a jam of historical significance with regard to length, what it does have is a continuous offering of solid music. Highlighted by a first set “You Enjoy Myself” and not just a “cool, first set YEM” version, but one that is truly one of the best versions ever. Of course everyone knows about the funk-infusion that built over 1997, but this show is so deliberate in its inclusion. Beginning after the tramps segment in YEM, through (the still new) “Black Eyed Katy” and into the second set “Ghost” this show never feels gimmicky with the funk-ladened vibe. The show has a perfect mix of energy levels and the “Ghost” > “Johnny B. Goode” nearly lifts the roof off the venue. The legendary jams from the ensuing nights have a rightful place in the band’s lore, but one-off jams do not make great shows all the time and this is true for the Worcester run in Fall of 1997.

Coming Tomorrow: Shows 15-11

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Welcome to a rare evening session of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday -- and the 189th edition overall. The winner will receive an MP3 download courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. Good luck!

Hint (Posted 2015-06-23 11:11 am): The venue at which this week's mystery jam was played is best known in the Phish fan community for hosting a particular Phish jam. However, that renowned jam is not the one featured in this week's clip.

Answer: The contestants' need of help this week had the Blog dreaming of its first win in almost two years (MJM #161). However, first-time MJM winner @Lee_Fordham sold that hope out a mere 46 days 33 minutes after the hint was given, successfully identifying the 8/6/97 Runaway Jim.

When Phish announced the release of the (sonically astonishing) Amsterdam box set a couple of months ago, the news started a predictable debate at Phish.net HQ. If you took a poll, a plurality of Phish fans probably would crown 1997 as Phish’s greatest year. Phish themselves might even be said to agree, at least judging by how many 97 shows the band has deemed worthy of an official live release. The year’s overall greatness is indisputable. But in thinking about the boxset, we started asking each other, with so many titanic, colossal, monumental shows in 1997, were the much-loved Amsterdam shows even among the 20 best of the year? What are the best shows of 1997?

There was really only one way to satisfy ourselves. We dusted off Robert’s Rules of Order and proceeded to engage in a civil discussion on the merits. Opinions were shared, everyone was assured their perspective was just as valid as the next, and a list was compiled. We wrapped up the whole enterprise that night before coming to our senses and agreeing that it’s completely futile and stupid to attempt to measure the febrile creativity of Phish’s finest improvisations with something as crass as a numerical rank.

Sadly, it went nothing like that. Instead we spent two days arguing over the proper methodology and insulting each other before settling on the following ground rules:

1. We would start off with the Phish.net users’ top 25 rated shows of the year.
2. We would supplement that with whatever other shows anyone strongly felt deserved consideration (in this case 14 additional shows).
3. Everyone agreed to relisten to all of the shows; we would rank on our opinions of the shows in 2015, not based on old preferences.
4. Each voter would rank their personal Top 20 shows, assigning 20 points to the “best” show and 1 point to the 20th best.
5. There would be no set criteria for how to rank. Each voter was free to use whatever criteria he wanted.
6. Results would be aggregated and, voila, we have a Phish.net Top 20 shows of 1997 (though we should note that not all of the Phish.net team participated in these rankings).

And then the real fun started. Opinions were ridiculed. Aspersions were cast. Accusations were levied. Friendships were strained. People left the room and slammed the door, as much as that can be done in a group-text format. I wish I could say I was joking, or that we came out of it stronger. We almost certainly emerged weaker. But we did listen to a metric ton of fantastic music from one of Phish’s greatest years and we did manage to cobble together a list that we’re reasonably proud of and will be presenting over the course of the week. So all was not lost.

Before we do, though, a word on Why Your Favorite Show Isn’t on this List™. Please understand that these are all magnificent shows that we enjoy listening to. Their omission is not a criticism in the sense of a negative judgment against them. But if we were going to write descriptions of these shows, it seemed only fair to point out their flaws, if only to explain why we might have omitted them. Your list is different; we understand and respect that. [SP & DP]

Honorable Mention (in chronological order)

2/17/97 Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands (Phillip Zerbo)
First among the rest, coming in at #21 in our survey was the 2/17/97 gig from the Paradiso in Amsterdam. The recent official release of the Amsterdam box set made this decision all the more difficult, given the pristine sound that allowed this show to shine in the best possible light. 2/17’s first set boasts the Phish debut of Bob Marley and The Wailers’ “Soul Shakedown Party” and solid versions of Phish classics “Divided Sky” and “Bathtub Gin.” The meat of this show and the lead argument for a top 20 slot is a 40-minute second set sequence of “Down with Disease” into the debut of “Carini.” This combo resonates strongly to this day, but imagine if you were at the show and had no idea who the hell “Lucy” was, or why she had a lumpy head? Woah! The combination of power, patience, confidence and weirdness is in many ways a preview of the musical doors Phish would blast down in 1997. As great as that extended segment was… the balance of the show doesn’t offer a whole lot that you can’t readily find in any other 1997 show. The fact it was edged out for the top 20 (I had it at 18th, sigh) is unfortunate, but ultimately fair and, like all of the shows in the Miss Congeniality category, says more about the incredibly stiff competition rather than any flaws or weaknesses of the show itself.

3/1/97 Markethalle, Hamburg, Germany (Phillip Zerbo)
Spoiler alert! No shows from Phish’s winter jaunt through European clubs made our top 20. By no means does this reflect our views on the overall importance of that tour – one of the many factors that culminated in 1997’s perfect storm that was the fact that they had so many shows under their belt early in the year. The tour offered an environment selected specifically to allow them to recapture something that they were missing in the last few years as their popularity moved them onto the shed and hockey rink circuit in the US. Whatever they were looking for, it seems that they found IT! Among the most popular of those shows is from 3/1/97 Hamburg, Germany. Portions of this show were immortalized on the Slip, Stitch and Pass official release. The 17th rated 1997 show by fans, 3/1 slots at #34 in our list, and frankly even that may be charitable. It doesn’t matter… it’s overrated! It’s a nice show, with a first set that offers more than respectable versions of “Down with Disease,” “Wolfman’s Brother,” and “Reba.” The second set has good – but not great – takes on “Mike’s Song and” “Weekapaug,” along with solid versions of “Theme” and “Taste.” But “nice” and “good” and “solid” aren’t going to play with the big boys that would come later in the year. 1997 was a year where every tour got better, and each tour got a lift on the shoulders of its predecessor. These were the building blocks – the payoff was to come, but not yet.

7/21/97 Virginia Beach Amphitheater, Virginia Beach, VA (Dan Purcell)
U! S! A! U! S! A! The show whose first set really crystallized Phish’s 1997 cowfunk improv style. The show starts with “Ghost” like 1997 in general did, followed by a parade of other new songs, the band showing off the new repertoire it had rehearsed to razor sharpness in Europe. Even better is the insane “Bathtub Gin” where at one point five-eighths of the band is playing “Drowned.” But our voters consistently disfavored shows with disjointed second sets and no real tent-pole jam. Rather than a tent-pole jam, this show has a mid-set “Theme” (okay) followed by a cacophonous jam with LeRoi Moore sitting in on sax for some reason, to make extra noise one supposes. It punches back, closing very strongly, but it couldn’t quite recover to make the list.

8/13/97 Star Lake Amphitheater, Burgettstown, PA (Dan Purcell)
Of all the summer 1997 shows I had on tape, this was the one I played the most. It has great balance. A wonderful little one-off cover to start, done beautifully and then never again. An assertive and credible “Stash.” A “Gumbo” that reinvented “Gumbo” just as Dayton would to “Tube” later in the year. (I know people who would come to blows with you insisting that there is a “Franklin’s Tower” jam in the “Gumbo.”) And a first-set “Crosseyed” > “Wilson” which are you kidding me. But the second set is just good; the band is on, and playing well, and having fun, but it never really takes off the catalytic converter if you know what I mean. I was sad to see it miss the cut, but I didn’t put it in my top 20 either.

12/7/97 Ervin J. Nutter Center, Wright State University, Dayton, OH (Dan Purcell)
This is a wonderful show, a fun show, a show with a brilliant and playful spirit. It’s as good a first tape as you could make for a new Phish fan. It is great right out of the box; even in 1997, the year of the first set, shows usually took a little longer to get going. You know about the “Tube,” which is unimpeachable and standard-setting. But it doesn’t really have a second set. It has two first sets. This field is too strong for that kind of thing.

12/12/97 Pepsi Arena, Albany, NY (Steve Paolini)
This probably isn’t one of your favorite shows, but maybe it should be. What the second set lacks in glamour songs, it makes up for in fiery playing. “Saw It Again,” “Piper,” and even our dear friend “Prince Caspian” are not just outstanding versions of those songs, but outstanding Fall ‘97 jams. It’s also probably got the second-best encore of the entire year. It didn’t quite make our top 20, but don’t make the mistake of judging this book by its cover.

12/29/97 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY (Dan Purcell)
As one panelist commented, this show just keeps hitting singles – one solid base hit after another – but it lacks the extra-base pop that truly sets apart the best of this year. The second set is flashy on paper and we’re not really criticizing it, only to say that there are a handful of better versions of each these songs from this year, except for “Tube,” which is a worthy contender for Dayton’s championship belt. One interesting thing we noticed: many 1997 shows that were historically regarded as classics because they were part of an excellent multi-show run tended to suffer in these rankings. 12/29 was certainly one of these. Unable to get a boost from the superior show the following night, it couldn’t quite clamber onto the list.

Coming Tomorrow: Shows 20-16

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Welcome to the 188th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday! The winner will receive an MP3 download courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. Good luck!

Answer: This week's clip was taken from the 4/22/93 Stash. With his sixth win, @ucpete is now one away from becoming the fourth contestant to earn a pair of all-white Velcro sneakers and a one-way bus ticket to South Florida emeritus status.

Welcome to the 187th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday! The winner will receive an MP3 download courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. Good luck!

Answer: Five-time winner @PersnicketyJim swiftly and impressively identified this week's mystery jam: the 7/23/96 Down With Disease.

Welcome to the 186th edition of Phish.Net's Mystery Jam Monday! The winner will receive an MP3 download courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint. A hint will be posted on Tuesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday. Good luck!

Answer: This week's mystery jam clip was from the 6/1/11 Twist -- a show played exactly four years prior to Monday. Kudos to @GottaJibboo, who picks up his first MJM victory.

An online auction is currently being held at http://auction.mimifishman.org/ with proceeds benefiting The WaterWheel Foundation. You can bid on ticket and CD packages for more than twenty shows, CID Ticket/Travel packages for Atlanta, Alpine Valley and Dick's, or even a Glen Close luxury tent package for Magnaball. The auction ends this Thursday, June 4th, so don't miss your chance to bid on these items for a great cause.

What is WaterWheel?

The WaterWheel Foundation was created by Phish in 1997 to oversee the band’s various charitable activities.

Our primary effort then and now is our Touring Division, though in keeping with our “Local” mission we also support Vermont-based non-profits and others in need. From its debut through the most current tour, the mission of WaterWheel’s Touring Division has been to raise funds for pre-selected non-profits in each community that Phish visits while on tour.

What is The Mimi Fishman Foundation?

The Mimi Fishman Foundation is a volunteer-administered, fan-driven non-profit dedicated to raising funds for a diverse range of charitable organizations that each, in some way, touched the life of our founder Mimi Fishman.

Since 1999, the Foundation has raised approximately $350,000 utilizing an online auction system that provides supporters and fans rare opportunities to win unique pieces of merchandise, equipment and concert experiences.

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Brothers Day (May 24th) is as good a day as any to satisfy a common request in comments about previously posted charts. So, here finally is a Venn diagram with Phish songs that mention brothers. (Another, for "dog shows", will come later.)

Phish has sung the word "brother" live 1,603 times, in 311 song performances at 283 shows. But no shows have included all four songs that use the word ("Brother", "Wolfman's Brother", "Sand", and "Crowd Control"), or even any three of them; and only 28 shows have included any two of the four. There just aren't a lot of Brother Shows (though there are a few more Bro Shows, if we expand to include the slang "Brutha" in Julius).

Including other family roles doesn't help much. For example, no shows have included both of the songs that mention sisters ("Crowd Control" and "Rock a William"). And only one show has included "Rock A William" and any of the four "brother" songs, making 2/13/97 agruably the only Sibling Show (not counting the 13 shows with "Crowd Control", which uses both "sister" and "brother", nor the 73 with "Sand", which uses "siblings".)

BTW, Siblings Day was April 10th and Brother and Sister Day was the last Saturday in March.

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A little over a month ago, PhishNet user @TheRealBurnham (Matt Burnham) began polling Phish fans in order to compile a list of Phish's "Hall of Fame" jams. The results of Matt's survey are below, written in his words, and we hope you find them both useful and entertaining. We also urge you to "Comment" thoughtfully, to help create a record of why you believe particular jams belong in certain "tiers," and to draw attention to why your favorite improvisational versions of Phish's songs matter so much to you. Please, share your Phish story, as it may also be "Hall of Fame" material. -charlie

Thanks to a great user response, I received 291 legit ballots for the Hall of Fame. Some ballots were excluded (were not "legit") due, for example, to people just voting for “YEM” with no date (or refusing to list any version of anything), but overall there was such a great turnout that it lends credence to this being a real, quasi-statistically valid poll.

Were I to design and envision the Phish Hall of Fame, a Phish museum would be on the the first floor. The first thing that you’d see is the Hot Dog from the 1994 New Year’s Eve Show, because we would of course get that back from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The floor would be littered with information on New Year’s Eve and Halloween shows, famous sets and band synopses. There would be information about Jeff Holdsworth, Marc Daubert, Tom Marshall, The Dude of Life, and Chris Kuroda. But interspersed among all this would be snippets about the Hall of Fame voting.

In those 291 ballots, 2769 song versions were voted for (e.g., 12/9/95 YEM), which equates to an average of 9.5 song versions (entries) per ballot. Among those 2769 ballot entries, 494 unique versions were voted on. And 269 versions were voted for only once, illustrating the wide and varied tastes of Phish fans.

Unique versions of songs voted for:

Song	Number of Unique Versions
Tweezer	16
Mike’s Song (Groove)	12
Ghost	11
Bathtub Gin	8
Reba	8
Down With Disease	7
Harry Hood	7

For the purpose of the Phish HOF, I made the decision to essentially count Mike’s Groove and Mike’s Song interchangeably. This may be controversial, but it is what it is. Thankfully, this didn’t have much impact on the overall song versions being entered.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Tweezer was the most voted for song in the group of songs where fans voted for specific versions. Tweezer also received the most votes overall. (If only based on this relatively small poll, Tweezer appears to be the most popular Phish song.) Given Tweezer's popularity, the results of this poll will necessarily be Tweezer-heavy.

Overall votes for songs:

Song	Total Votes
Tweezer	373
Bathtub Gin	243
Ghost	237
David Bowie	141
You Enjoy Myself	127

After the first museum floor (so to speak), the remaining three floors of the Hall of Fame represent three levels or tiers of Phish jams. The top floor (the fourth floor) hosts the top overall vote-getters (the first tier), and all of them were on over 20% of the total ballots cast. Baseball may use a 75% threshold, but no songs were near that total, and 20% works for a good top level and keeps it being the cream.

The third floor is the 2nd Tier, and the selection process used song eras in order to elect the song versions for this tier. These “third floor” songs were inducted based on having greater than 9 times as many votes as the average song from their given era. That may seem (and may be) kind of convoluted and arbitrary, but it is based on the fact that the songs selected for this tier had a large percentage of overall votes from a given time frame. Counting them in this manner also leveled the playing field when one compares, say, 1997 vs 1993.

The second floor, Tier 3, features songs elected on the basis of their individual merit: if a song had greater than 30% of the total votes cast for all versions of that song (and all versions of the song had greater than 40 total votes), then they qualified for this third tier.

All of this information isn’t critical to know, but I wanted to be transparent about how I decided to split them up given the diversity of votes casts. I’m sure that others could come up with different ways to slice-up the data, which I am willing to share with anyone who requests it.

Importantly, the top tier (the first tier) was calculated first and its song values were not factored into the second and third tier calculations. (And the second tier calculations were not factored into the third tier.) This was done to model that the top tier was voted in first, then the second, then the third. Without further ado, here are the results!

TIER 3

Songs	Song Vote %	Tier
1995-11-14 Stash	67.1875	3
2004-06-19 Piper	57.40740741	3
1997-11-29 Runaway Jim	55.81395349	3
1997-12-30 AC/DC Bag	43.58974359	3
1999-09-14 AC/DC Bag	41.02564103	3
2014-08-29 Simple	40	3
1994-06-18 David Bowie	37.5	3
1994-06-11 You Enjoy Myself	37.28813559	3
1995-12-29 Bathtub Gin -> The Real Me -> Bathtub Gin	33.33333333	3
1998-07-06 Ghost	32.96703297	3

The third tier has some of my favorite versions of songs in it, including my all-time favorite, the June 11, 1994 You Enjoy Myself. The giant Orlando 95 Stash had 67% of all Stash votes in the poll, which is a huge number, but indicates that other (spectacular) versions were overlooked (Paradiso 97, for one). The two versions of AC/DC Bag noted above were almost 85% of all AC/DC Bag votes cast. The longest singular Phish jam to date, the Worcester 97 Runaway Jim, is in this tier, as well as the “MLBowie” and “Real Gin.” Very few 2.0 and 3.0 songs made it into this tier: the SPAC ‘04 Piper and the Dick’s ‘14 Simple (coincidentally, the only two versions of songs in the HOF that I’ve seen). And, technically, the last song in this tier, and thus the HOF, is of course the Prague Ghost. I’m not sure I’d want to visit a HOF that didn’t have the Prague Ghost. On a personal level, this may be my favorite tier. My favorite YEM, Bowie, Piper and Ghost. Not bad for being third tier.

TIER 2

Songs	Era % Vote	Tier
2003-02-28 Tweezer	14.53367876	2
1997-11-22 Halley’s Comet	10.86065574	2
2000-06-14 Twist	10.10752688	2
1995-12-31 Mike’s Groove	10.04098361	2
1993-12-31 Harry Hood	9.863945578	2
1999-07-10 Chalk Dust Torture	9.677419355	2
1993-08-13 Bathtub Gin	9.523809524	2
2000-05-22 Ghost	9.247311828	2
1997-12-06 Tweezer	9.221311475	2

As you can see, there are many fan favorites in the second tier. The two oldest versions of songs in the HOF appear in this tier: the NYE93 Harry Hood and the Murat Gin (8/13/93). Two versions of Tweezer appear as well, the Nassau Tweezer (2/28/03), the highest voted version in this tier, and Tweezabella (12/6/97), the lowest voted version. The NYE95 Mike’s Groove did include both Mike’s Song and Weekapaug votes, but that’s ok. One cool thing to note is that most of the songs in every tier have been released on LivePhish or circulate in SBD. I’m not sure if these songs were voted largely because they circulate widely in high quality, or if they’re released because they’re widely loved, but there seems to be a strong correlation one way or another. I was surprised that the Fukuoka Twist (6/14/2000) didn’t make it into the first tier, but it came very close.

TIER 1

Here it is, what everyone came here for. I'm listing each of the versions in descending order, from seventh place to first place, based on the total number of votes cast for each:

7) 1995-12-09 – You Enjoy Myself (68 votes, 23.4%): The Albany YEM, the most cherished version of Phish’s most played song. Thirty-four minutes of great grooving with multiple jam segments and movements. Some of my favorite Phish jamming happens at 12 minutes, and this YEM probably has the finest silent jam in it (which may be damning with faint praise) that is followed by a triumphant return to the groove. It’s amazing that footage of this exists on YouTube, and it is definitely worth checking out. Seeing a silent jam in person seems like a real trip.

6) 1998-04-03 – Roses Are Free (82 votes, 28.2%): Interestingly, the only standalone version of a cover song in the Hall of Fame. This Roses kicks off the most celebrated set in arguably the most celebrated run in the band’s history. It is a monster and is probably the darkest of the Tier 1 songs. More groove-centric than Trey soloing, and its peak is a perfect example of how Phish can stretch and extend any song in their repertoire. Other than the Big Cypress version, this version is the only truly jammed-out Roses to date, and it is easily the more loved version of the two.

5) 1998-07-29 – Bathtub Gin (86 votes, 29.6%): The Riverport Gin. Probably the best first set opener in history and if that were put to a vote, I bet it would be a landslide victory. Just a transcendent version that starts strong and doesn’t stop until it finishes its 24 minutes. Page shines here in all facets. Remarkably, this amazing version of Gin isn’t even the highest voted Bathtub Gin overall.

3b) 1997-08-17 – Bathtub Gin (95 votes, 32.6%): And that’s because the Went Gin ended up with 9 more votes than the Riverport Gin. (It also tied with the Providence Bowie, hence why there is no “4)”, no fourth place, in this list!) In my opinion the voters got this one right, because the Went Gin is probably the best example of high energy, frenetic HOSE that exists [Editor’s Note: other than the New Haven Tweezer, which did not even make the “Hall of Fame," but apparently just missed Tier 2. –charlie]. From about 9 minutes until the end of the song, and especially at 12:30 onward, is why I listen to Phish and why I go to concerts. The fact that the band can turn on a dime and develop multi-faceted jams that are so melodic they sound like you’ve heard them 10,000 times before. It’s something that not many other bands can do.

3a) 1994-12-29 – David Bowie (95 votes, 32.6%): The Providence Bowie is the earliest song historically in Tier 1, and it’s clear why. Many people view it as the culmination of 1994, which was the first real exploratory year for Phish. This jam has multiple deep movements. Dark, but still oddly compelling, the playing is superb. It really illustrates the band’s yearning to push musical boundaries and psychological limits. It is also the only song in Phish’s history that I know of that has “Lassie whistling,” which is nice.

2) 1997-11-17 – Ghost (103 votes, 35.4%): The lynchpin of what is among the greatest first sets in Phish history, the Denver Ghost is a funk machine that is the perfect example of Winter ‘97 Cowfunk. I was honestly a bit surprised that this was so highly rated, but I can’t find fault in its position either. It is yet another relentless masterpiece with multiple hose peaks. If it is really Trey’s favorite part of the Phish Destroys America tour, then it definitely belongs in the 1st Tier.

1) 2013-07-31 – Tweezer (124 votes, 42.6%): The famous, the infamous, Tahoe Tweezer. The birth of Phishmaps. The highest vote-getter of any song in the Phish Hall of Fame. The creator of the start/stop Woos. Probably the most loved by some and hated by some (somehow) version of any Phish song, but the people have spoken. It is definitely worthy of Tier 1, as it is a great journey into different sectors of music which is unique in many ways. Particularly of note is the post-Woo section at 27:20, where Trey plays with such ferocity, clarity, and joyful exuberance that I’d put it on par with any 1.0 peaks.

So there you have it, the Phish Hall of Fame. Will songs from 2015 make it in one day? Since one song from the last two years made it in, there’s certainly hope, and I should note that the Dick’s Light (9/1/12) was one of the closest songs to not make the HOF. Most years were represented from 1993 on, too, which shows the consistency that the band has, and fans’ appreciation for that consistency as well. We do not forget! The best thing overall about an exercise like this is that it illustrates the great diversity across all levels of fandom.

Thanks very much to all of you who participated in this survey, and if you like what you’ve read, be sure to check out other things I’ve written about at http://soundandphission.blogspot.com.

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Registration is now open for the “Philosophy School of Phish,” a special section of PHL 360: Philosophy and the Arts, at Oregon State University. The class merges the experience of Phish’s live performances with the study of theories about art, aesthetic judgment, community, and more. It is designed as a philosophy of music class, and will incorporate live Phish performances as case studies.

Along with readings from philosophers such as Kant, Tolstoy, and Nietzsche, students will be required to attend concerts during the band’s 2015 summer tour in person or via webcast and analyze their experience in written assignments. Class begins on June 22nd and runs for eight weeks. It is a distance education course offered online through Oregon State University Ecampus, and enrollment is not limited to Oregon State students. Phish fans from all over the country can participate in the course.

Additional information, including instructions for registration and details about last year’s class, are available on the course’s public website. And for information about OSU Ecampus, please visit http://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/. (From Professor Stephanie Jenkins)

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Phish.Net user Matt Burnham (@TheRealBurnham) is in the process of taking votes from fans on Phish's "Hall of Fame" jams. Surely you've listened to a lot of Phish over the years, yes? They're a highly improvisational band, as you are well-aware, and their versions of certain songs (as attested to ad nauseum in this site's Jam Charts) can differ in spectacular ways----harmonically, melodically, rhythmically, hilariously----week to week and tour to tour. You probably wouldn't be reading this if you didn't already have thoughtful opinions on The Greatest Jams In Phish History, right? Here's more information about what Matt is up to, in Matt's own words, and how you can help determine which jams should be in the "Hall of Fame":

"A Hall of Fame is a symbol of a truly upper echelon of achievement. I love all sorts of Hall of Fames because they separate the dichotomy of 'best' and 'favorite.' For instance, I've grown up a Red Sox fan and, as a 31 year old, I can say that (until last year) Derek Jeter has pretty much been my nemesis in all things baseball-related. However, if I had a 'Baseball Hall of Fame vote,' Jeter would have to be in the first ballot easily. Although he's not my favorite, he was clearly one of the best of his time period. And if I was being truly honest, I'd have to select him over anyone other than Pedro Martinez on those fun Red Sox teams, even though they were filled with some of my favorite players. But that's me. Others may choose to just select their favorites, and that's fine too.

"So,naturally, this led me to start thinking about a Phish Hall of Fame. Specifically, for all versions of songs, are there any jams that are so universally acclaimed that they would be elected on a first ballot? And would those jams reach a 75% threshold like there is in baseball? What other fair ways are there to slice the data to try to determine what jams (and to what extent) are loved by everyone? Are there any jams that are incredbly underrated? How many jams from 2.0 and 3.0 should be included? Is everyone going to vote for only 1997 songs? What attendance biases will be put into play?

"Personally, I don't think that using that high of a bar (75%) will allow for any songs to get in. But how low does that bar need to be in order to let in 10 songs? Or 15? To be elected into the inaugural class, a high criteria should be met, of course, but no-one likes a Hall of Fame with no members. So to that, I created a simple poll for the voters (that's all of you) to fill out with up to ten (10) songs/jams that you feel are Hall of Fame worthy. If you don't have ten songs, that's fine. Just leave the remaining spots blank. Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1R-6lltffyHvx_Mib0W8jzaVNpldLO5YRPCA8nytvNYg/viewform?usp=send_form

--Matt Burnham

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Phish.net lists 871 songs written and/or played by Phish, but that includes 22 that were "only" teased or jammed, 42 unperformed originals, and 533 covers, of which 289 weren't played beyond their debut. Of the 274 originals left, 42 were only played once and most were written decades ago.

But don't discount the band's originality yet, as there's good evidence of two forms of overlooked balance. You can see them both in today's chart (the next in a series), which involves several variations on a population pyramid (a.k.a an age-sex graph, a variation on a paired-bar graph).

This chart treats Phish's repertoire of songs as a population, disaggregates them by age (measured by year of debut, with the oldest on top), and distinguishes originals from covers (rather than male/female, as is typical). Further,

the bars for each age are segmented ("stacked") to differentiate songs that were only performed once (the lighter tips of each bar) from those performed more than once (the darker root of each bar). Finally, to help understand growth in the repertoire, rows are labelled with studio album releases and musical costume albums performed in the given year.

Halloween performances, as well as the cover-rich summer of '98, help explain growth in the repertoire, often with songs never performed again. But they also belie a relative balance in material: The number of originals and covers played more than once is nearly the same, at 232 and 244, respectively.

And, yes, the band's introduction of new original material has slowed since their prolific early years. But setting aside years when Phish didn't perform any public shows, the slowdown isn't as dramatic as you might have expected. The number of debuts in four recent years is only a minor reduction from the '90s, during which (Halloweens aside) new material was already slowing down from the '80s - but so, gradually, did the number of shows. And the reduction in shows over the last 20 years both partly explains the lower rate of debuts and, as a control variable, reduces its difference.

When they do play, surprises continue - and, arguably, at a comparable rate. But the biggest factor in repertoire expansion has of course been time off, including the "hiatus" and "breakup". With no fall tour, it'll take another debut-rich summer for 2015 to compare even to recent years.

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