Date: Sat, 22 Feb 1997 18:08:04 -0800
From: Jesse Appelman 
Subject: Review:  Firenze 2/21/97

NOTE:  This setlist has been posted on r.m.p as the 2/20 Milan setlist,
but it is definately the Fireze setlist.

Hey netters,
I just got back (Literally, a couple hours ago into the SF airport) from
a week in Italy.  The only show I saw was Firenze yesterday, but it was
one of the best shows I've ever heard.  Here's the setlist:

Set One:  My Soul, Foam, Down With Disease-> Jam, Lizards,
          Crosseyed and Painless-> Jam, YEM

Set Two:  Ya Mar, Antelope*-> Wilson**-> Oh kee Pa-> ACDC Bag->
          Billy Breathes, Reba-> Waste, Prince Caspian    

*Stopped after a roadie walked on stage, then restarted.  Unfinished
**Same lyrics, completely different music.  More on this later.

During the entire show, they all seemed so happy!  Trey couldn't wipe a
grin off his face all night!  I think that they love playing in small
clubs like this.

The show was scheduled for nine, but they started around 8:45.
My Soul is a basic 12 bar blues.  Nice Trey solos, but this still goes
into the Chalkdust/Character Zero category.  Don't get too excited about
this one.

Down w/Disease was no 8/16/96, but I would go so far as to put it above
12/31/96. Trey was on his kit, playing some (new?) technoish electric
drum pads.  It was 20+ minutes long, and got lower and lower until it
ended in a drone.                           

Lizards was typical, but this was a high point of the show for me.  I
was in the second row, and I had my eyes closed during the composed Trey
solo.  Evenentually I opened my eyes and Trey was staring at me with a
huge grin on his face!  Trey seemed thrilled during this entire show.

Crosseyed and Painless.  Wow.  I haven't heard the Crosseyed->Antelope
yet, but this was one of the most amazing things that I've heard Phish
do.  From the beginning of the jam, this was pure golden hose.  This was
just two songs after an epic Down With Disease.  This was still the
first set, so there had to be a throwaway song next.  But no.

YEM!!!  I was expecting this tonight of course (remember the city this
show is in?), but in the first set?  After two amazing hose-filled
jams?  Unfortunately, this wasn't much of a YEM.  The jam was very
short, as was the VJ.  The highlight of this was during the Washa Uffizi
segment.  They sang the words once, and a huge grin appeared on Trey's
face as he realized what he had just sang.  He pumped his fist in the    
air and yelled "This ones for you guys!".

There were entirely too many people packed into the floor at the 500-600
person club.  There was no room to breathe, let alone move.  The place
was an inferno, but the energy produced by heat and a packed crowd can
make incredible music! (See the OJ show).

After the craziness of the first set, I realized that I was witnessing
an epic show, and I couldn't wait to see if they could possibly top the
first set.  Well, they did.

Ya Mar opened.  This song doesn't vary much, but goddammit, it's just
GOOD!  It's one of those songs that nomatter how simple or basic, I
never get tired of it.

Trey hit the opening notes to Antelope, when a roadie walked out on
stage to fix something.  Trey stopped playing, grabbed the roadie, and     
stage to fix something.  Trey stopped playing, grabbed the roadie, and
said "Ladies and gentlemen, lets have a hand for this guy!  One of our
favorite roadies!!!"  The place erupted and the roadie took a bow.
Phish at their nuttiest.  Antelope started up again.  The jam was
crazy.  Tension, release.  Tension, release.  It built up and up until
the end when they were about to bring it down for the Rye Rye Rocco
segment.  Fish started playing that mellow beat when all of a sudden
Trey was playing an extreme metal chord progression!  Heavy distortion,
just one pounding, repeating chord progression.  What the hell is going
on?  Trey walks up to the mic, and I figured that it would be some new
metal cover.  Then he starts screaming.  Fucking screaming: "OUT IN
STONEHENGE I LIVED ALONE!!!  DOWN IN GAMEHENDGE I CHAFED A BONE!!!".
The lyrics from Wilson fit perfectly into this pounding drive.  This
needs to be heard to be believed!  This is by far the coolest Phish
moment I've ever witnessed!  They went through all of the words to
Wilson while staying in this powerful pounding progression.  Eventually
it turned into a wall of feedback with Trey noodling until he found the
theme for Oh Kee Pah.                

Oh Kee Pah was standard and "segued" (If you choose to call OKP->(x) a
segue) into ACDC Bag.  ACDC was awesome, building and building and...
coming back down... very mellow, until it seamlessly slipped into Billy
Breathes.  BB is such a beautiful song.  Played flawlessly.  Perfect
placement here after the raging 'DC Bag jam.

After BB, they started Reba.  God.  We needed some throwaways here!
Just keep packing in those jams, Phish!  Don't give us any time to rest!
;-)
The jam, as always, was soaring and majestic, but this one didn't end as
it usually does with the abrupt stop.  As with the ACDC jam, they
brought it back down low for a segue into Waste, followed by Prince
Caspian.  I won't comment on these last two songs except to say that
methinks Waste is growing a bit of a jam.

The encore was a bit of a letdown with Character Zero.  At the time, I 
thought "C'mon, give us something more interesting!".  Then I realized
that if I was back in the states I would be at school.  Instead, I just
witnessed an incredible Phish show.  I shouldn't complain.

Thank you Phish, for an amazing night.
-Jesse                                      
--------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Phish in Firenze 2/21 (YES!!!!!!!)
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 1997 08:11:04 -0600
From: [email protected]

Oh my God, I'm really agree. I'm italian  and I live in Firenze. So you
can imagine what joy I had to see Phish playing an incredible concert,
for me one of the best they ever played (It's second to Amsterdam only
-7.12.96 ). Trey was so motivated because he lived in Firenze at early of
80's. Gianni (a good friend of mine) met Trey just 4 hours before concert
and he went to drink something. He called me by mobile phone but when I
arrived Trey was just gone, left my friend in same situation after
smoking Marjuana. Gianni told me "Oh, I cannot believe is true!" He just
know that Trey should have sing You enjoy Firenze, that tell of an old
story happened to Trey near to the UFFIZI, one of most important museum
in Firenze and all over the world. Before concerts we were all ready: our
tapes, our dats, all feeling was good. I was just parking at front of
Tenax (venue of concert) and I smelled in air something like a burning
gums: I told to Aldo: "Do you smell you too?" After finishing it I
watched down and from my jacket's pocket went out smog and flame: My long
hour battery was burning and me too!!! ( the first case of a cocked
"Phishead" in the world) While I was calling down all saints of heaven
and Lucifer too, Aldo was laughin' like a crazy. It was lucky because
Aldo got another dat deck so we could have a second chance again I want
finish with my thanks to  Aldo, Gianni, Mike, Steve and other phriends of
Taper's sect. I was in Rome too yesterday (2.22.97) A quite flat first
set (maybe they are tired) but it was following from an attonishin second
set, with a killer blues version of Jesus left Chicago and a BEAUTIFUL
Harry Hood. PHISH is the Best name of American music, but what's
important his fans are in same kind of lovely  joy of life and friendship
Alfredo

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----------------------------------------------------
From: Michael Armstrong
Subject: requested Firenze review; thoughts pt.2
Date: 27 Feb 1997 17:18:21 GMT

        hello all. I was aked to give a review of the Firenze show by a
fellow netter, so here is what I remember from my perspective today, right
now...

atmosphere: London all over again. lots and lots of Americans who study in
Firenze who went to socialize, party, and meet other americans. the
"sorority 'oh my god, no way' hiss" was in full effect all night long.
very scary for most of us doing a portion or the whole tour. very
frightening.

venue: excellent, as usual. very small floor with ample space along sides
and back for people to dance and still see fine. stage up high enough to
get good looks at everyone. one small balcony level. when the show started
the front half of the floor was wicked crowded. I think I had 2 butts, 3   
arms, 2 legs, and a breast rubbing up against me throughout most of the
first set...there are a number of people who feel like they have to be as
close as possible to the band no matter how small the venue is, and there
seemed to be a lot of these people in Firenze. I don't understand it. when
you can read trey's lips from anywhere in the venue, there is no need to
crowd the area in front of the stage, unless you really want to touch one
of them or something.

music: by now, I was getting a little less excited for the shows because
of the whole "well, we know what's coming tonight feeling", which is very
foreboding. people who saw only this show or a few may have really dug it
more than me, whic is great, but this was my 5th show of the tour, and
they weren't stretching too far...

first set: "My Soul" I like this tune alot, and it worked brilliantly well
as an opener. good pace and catchy. then my first "Foam", which really
came out of nowhere abd smacked me upside the head...but I couldn't really  
get down to it as much as I wanted because I couldn't really move. I
should have vacated the big mass, but I was too awe struck being so close
at the time. then another one of this tour's smokin DWD. they are easy to
predict because they always go into them from a spacy jam with Mike
slapping the bass around, beating up the neck, etc. I don't know if this
is common because I've never been so close or watched them so much
before...in spite of knowing what's coming next, I have not been
dissapointed by any of the DWDs...they are really rockin booty with them.
after that, another shocker..."Lizards". good to hear, but still too
crowded. the C n P and YEM duo was really smokin. they jammed both of
these pretty hard, and what looks like a short set on paper is actually
pretty long, close to 90 min isn't it? trey broke a string before the
vocal jam, and switched guitars, as if anyone cares. and you can't really
complain when they play a YEM in Firenze. definitely the best one I've
heard, and if I remember, Mike's solo and playing in general was
hellicious, if I can use that word.      

2nd set: always happy with a "Yamar", and I had moved towards the back of
the floor so I had LOTS of room to boogie down...then the bobbled start of
Antelope. someone posted something about them saying something about it,
but I do not recall hearing anything, but I couldn't really see at that
point because some nutty Italians were dancing on this big square in front
of me...anyway, in retrospect, this antelope-->crazy heavy metal Wilson
was definitely one of the highlights and has to be heard to believe. this
is phish at their finest...exploring, jamming, improvising and coming up
with somehting new and fresh right in front of your eyes, seemingly out of
nowhere...they didn't finsh the antelope, having bailed on it before the
rocco/spike segment, then fell into the Oh Kee Pa ceremony...the rest of
the set just kindof rolls downhill quickly after such a solid start. a
nice bag, then Billy Reba Waste and Prince..which I had already seen
enough. I didn't get to take full advantage of my newly found dance space.
then the encore, which was pretty predictable, but always rocks "Ch Zero".
so after the oh kee pa, 4 of the last 6 songs were from BB. I expected to
hear 2-4 BB songs every night, but it was as if they realized they hadn't 
played any in the first set, and it was getting close to quitting
time...better flush some of the new tunes on the crowd...

so I'm wondering what's happening? it's not the end of the world, but I
just saw the munich list, and it isn't surprising...I'm feeling a little
cheated, and I certainly didn't expect to. phish is value for your money.
one of the few things left that are, but I dunno...

flames, kisses, questions, comments, requests all gladly accepted

michael armstrong ([email protected])