Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 14:38:04 -0500 (CDT)
From: Ed c622428@showme.missouri.edu
Subject: review7-25,26

7-26 Austin, South Park meadows

Going to keep this one short. Beautiful GA venue with a nice lawn and
breeze coming from the West.
Set one - the highlight was the YEM > Isabella combo and really the only
thing worth mentioning from the set. YEM was short (maybe 15 minutes) but
the after a few slight flubs, the jam really exploded. Trey led the jam
with some hard riffs and axe-like guitar. Soon the rest of the band
(esp. Page, who looked like he was asleep thru most of the set, and Bob
G., the guest drummer who gave some nice fills to the jam) joined in.
ISABELLA was short, but great. Trey seemed thrilled to be singing and
playing on this one. It came out so smoothly but I can't tell if it was
planned. Grade - 3.5 for the whole set, but a 7 for the YEM closer.
Set Two - This was the best TIMBER HO! I had ever seen. I am glad the band
has chosen to reexamine old staples from their repertoir. BOWIE had a
longer than normal intro (although I didn't go to Va Beach) and ti was
good, not great. I noticed here that Bob was paying no attention to
Fishman, and all of it to Trey esp. during the arranged part. For some
reason, I expected HARRY HOOD to fit in here. It was spacy and getting
very interesting when it got going. The BLISTER IN THE SUN jam was fun, a
real crowd pleaser, but when Trey couldn't figure out how the song went he
quickly abandoned it and returned to Harry. Not for long though, as FREE
soon emerged (quite nicley too). Depsite the Free being powerful and well
read, the Hood rerpise I was hoping for never surfaced. WASTE seemed like
a waste of time, only given a sub-par reading. And JBG was nice but not
quite the show closer I had hoped for. The encores were bad so I won't
even talk about them. Grade - 6.0, with the first half of the set earning
most of that grade. Overall - 4.5; get the 2nd set, skip the encores, and
get the YEM > Isabella as filler.

Eric Edholm
c622428@showme.missouri.edu


------------------------------------------------

From: Terry Greenberg 
Subject: Austin review: Clearing up Confusion
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 1997 18:13:54 -0600

Ok, there have been a couple different setlists and inaccurate reports
coming out after the Austin show on 7/26/97. Hopefully, this post will
clear up that confusion and give my impressions on this interesting
show.  Here's a setlist that was posted earlier that I totally agree
with:

I Limb By Limb, Dog Stole Things, Poor Heart, Stash, Billy Breathes,
CTB, Dirt, YEM->Isabella*

II  Timber Ho!->Jam->Bowie->Hood->Blister in the Sun#->Hood->Free,
Waste, Johnny B. Goode

E: Bouncin, Cavern

*Hendrix Tune
#Just the first verse


  The first set up until YEM was pretty mellowed out.  Which was in
sharp contrast to Dallas' first set.  The band was extremely tight and
really enjoyed what they were playing.  It was just mellow.  After the
amazing Dallas first set, I was expecting a similar type set, as I
suspect many others were.  

  There was a lot of down time in between songs at this show.  Trey was
spending time "teaching" Bob Gulotti on the fly (at least it seemed). 
He seemed to pick up everything pretty damn fast though!

Limb By Limb:  A great opener.  I was expecting this as an opener on the
tour somewhere.  It's very groovy and sometimes sounds a little similar
to NICU.  They jammed it out for a while and then returned to the
central theme.

DST: A good new blues song.

Poor Heart:  Huge audience response!  Probably because it was something
they recognized.  The band acutally jammed it out in a rapid fire
how-down flare.  I can almost say that "It Rocked", but I think I'll
hold my toungue.

Stash:  Long funky jam session in a real solid Stash.  Nothing
exemplary.

Billy Breathes:  Pretty mellow.  Standard.  Tightly played.

CTB:  Extended and jammed out.  Page doing his best.  Bob Gulotti with
excellent fills.  Short drum solos.

Dirt:  Another new good new tune.  This one's got a lot of potential. 
Excellent Trey guitar solo.  

YEM:  Here we go!!  The band was talking for a good 45 seconds before
this started up and then BAM, they started up YEM.  The opening segments
were pretty standard.  Some nice effects during the pre-nirvana
section.  The crowd was on fire at BOY.  The jam was real funky and
hard-edged.  Definitely not like any typical YEM that I've heard.  The
jam kept getting louder and louder and then the repetative rifts of
Isaballa started to take over.

Isabella:  An intense, high energy closer.  Great to hear!

Set II.

Timber Ho!:  Wow!  One of the best Timber's that I've ever heard.  An
extremely long jam segment that went FAR away from Timber proper. 
Amazingly and unexpectedly they brought it back around for a Timber
close out.  Which led right into the Bowie high hat.

Bowie:  Very long high hat intro complete with Maze teases (which was
played amazingly the night before) and additional fills from Bob.  The
jam started out REAL slow with beautiful Trey noodling.  The buildup
crescendo's contained lots of feedback and effects from Trey which made
the crowd go crazy!!

Hood:  A very slow, long, funky opening with Bob Gullotti seeing a lot
of action.  Hood was pretty standard until the beginning of the
progression jam.  I think that Mike started the tease of Blister that
everyone caught onto pretty quick and whipped the crowd into a frenzy! 
Trey attempted to do the lyrics and got through the first verse with a
HUGE grin on his face.  That turned into laughter as he bailed out of
Blister before it got too late.  The crowd wanted the whole thing!! 
Back into the Hood progession at which time Trey played the main theme
of Free.  The band followed and initiated a sweet segue.

Free:  Not the album version and not the old Free.  More like a combo of
the two with a really funky jam section that comes back into Free and
finishes strong.

Waste:  Time for the band to bring everyone down a little.  Bob Gullotti
disappeard for this one.  Either he thought it was a bad choice or he
had to take a piss or something.  Trey's solo again was untypical.  It
soared and soared.  Trey turned Waste into a rocking tune!  

Johnny B. Goode:  An excellent version!  Trey just wouldn't let it end. 
A great set closer.

  The encore was 2 pretty standard versions of Bouncin' and Cavern. 
Trey messed up the end of cavern.  He sang the last verse twice, and
realizing he messed up he started laughing.  Fortunately the rest of the
band bailed him out and they got back in sync.

  Overall I think this is a great show, especially the 2nd set.  The
tapes will definitely be worth adding to your collection.  Thanks for
reading this excersize of long-windedness.

Terry

--------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Show Review 7/26/97 Austin, TX South Park Meadows
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 11:01:59 -0600
From: Justin Metz 
Organization: Stuff 4 Stores
To: dan@archive.phish.net

7/26/97 Austin, TX  South Park Meadows
set 1
Limb By Limb, Dogs Stole Things, Poor Heart, Stash, Billy Breathes, Cars
Trucks and Buses, Dirt, YEM>Isabella
Set 2
Timber HO!, David Bowie, Harry Hood>Blister In The Sun*>Harry Hood>Free,
Waste, Johnny B. Goode
E: Bouncin', Cavern

*first two verses
ENTIRE SHOW (EXCEPT WASTE) W/ GULLOTTI ON DRUMS

Nice Venue.  Small Open Lawn, with a cement block (for dancing) in front
of the stage.  Sloping hill toward the back. I was very close 5 feet
from the stage underneath Mike.

This was my 16th show, and it was BY FAR the most mediocre show I have
ever seen.  I was expecting something bigger after the dallas show which
was very HOT, especially in SET 1.  I was talking with some people
before this show and we all expected a Reba or An Antelope. Either one
would have spiced this show up a bit, but as it stands this show is just
OK.  Their playing is nothing exceptional.
Lets Jump In.
I actually called the Limb by Limb opener.  I loved the song in Atlanta
(it is one of my favorites now), and remarked it would be nice to here
it as an opener.  I really wasn't expecting it though, but when I heard
Trey I got excited.  This is a great version of this song.  about 15
minutes long and really beefed up by the extra drum.  The whole band
takes the jam down a bit before finishing it out.
next was Dogs Stole Things- another new one that i enjoyed in Atlanta, 
Not bad to hear again since it was only the second time I heard the
song. Poor Heart was the best version I've heard,  but thats not saying
much.  Treys part was about twice his normal length and FULL of energy
but it was still just Poor Heart- a great dance tune nothing special. 
When I heard the opening notes of Stash I was stoked.  I had not heard
it since my 5th show and wanted to hear it again BAD!  However, this is
one of the most awkward Stashes I've heard.  The Jam starts out slower
than normal and builds like it normally does, but then They all start to
go all over the place until finally they are at a low spacy point and
they just finish it off.  IT wasn't very smooth at all.  I think The
extra drum threw their jamming off a bit for this one.  So they tried
something slower and easier- Billy Breathes.  I like this tune, but do
not like to hear it so often.  They played a much better versioin in
Atlanta.  A good song, but would like to have heard something else in
its place.  Cars set in and I was ready to dance again.  Straight up
this was the best version of CTB i had heard (at that time).  The extra
drum really adds to it and Page takes it all over the place really
nicely.  But it isn't anything special either.  Still waiting for a song
to really just break out.  But that won't happen yet. Dirt-  A sweet
gem.  No room for much jamming but a great song to hear anyway.  also
heard this one in atlanta, didn't mind hearing it again.  You Enjoy
Myself- yet another repeat from atlanta, but at this point i was looking
for anything that had a jam coming off of it.  this yem was pretty
standard (compared to atlanta which was ABSOLUTELY PHUCKING NUTS!)  the
jam was normal yem phunkiness that segued into Isabella.  I had never
heard the song before and really enjoyed it.  this one has potential-
great closer.  overall the most mellow set I've ever heard, live or on
tape. 
set rating = 5
set 2
Timber Ho!- i called this one for the second set opener, And thank GOD
BECAUSE THIS TIMBER HAD TO ROLL! This was the 5th Timber i've heard and
it was the best!!  25 minutes is the jam which starts out very
timberlike but slides down a hill very slowly and with A VERY DARK
MELLOW MOOD until we are at another spacey point.  I was sure they were
going to segue into something, but 30 seconds later here comes trey
bringing back the opening Chord slowly building until they are singing
Timber Ho! again. 
Bowie- very long spacey opening (5-7 minutes) then Bowie.  Standard
Bowie Jam nothing Great.
Harry Hood- Ok- i did not expect to hear this one because of the encore
in Raleigh but I was not disappointed to hear it. The Opening was good-
lots of Mike with some Bob and Fish behind him.  Standard hood until the
Jam.  the jam started out really beautiful, but after about a minute or
two, Trey comes in with this riff and as soon as he does fish picks it
up, and they are playing Blister In The Sun by the Violent Femmes. 
needless to say the crowd went nuts! but only two verses and we are back
in Hood again.  only about a five minute hood jam, and then it gets very
hard for a few minutes until it segues into Free.  This was the first
time they played the new version of this song on U.S. soil and boy was
it a treat.  The old version was getting old and wasn't going anywhere. 
This version has A Ton of potential.  A good version, alot of repetitive
jamming but that isn't a bad thing.  Free finishes and they stand around
for a few seconds, then bob gets up and walks off stage as they start
Waste (you don't like the song either, huh, Bob?).  I don't disagree
that it was maybe time to slow down, but not with Waste.  I tried to
give this song a shot early on, but i Just don't enjoy it that much
anymore. I Would have much rather heard lifeboy in its place.  Then
Johnny B. Goode- I knew they were going to close with this when they
kicked into it.  One of the best versions of jbg i've heard, and I think
Phish plays the best version of this song EVER.  However, I'm just not
that big a fan of this song, call me a Rock Heretic, But I would rather
hear Antelope or chalkdust to close the set.  The jam was very strong
and full of energy, though. 
when they came out for the encore- I heard fish and i knew it was
bouncin'.  This was my first Bouncin'.  Imagine that 15 shows and not
one Bouncin' around the Room.  Well i was glad to hear it, because i
knew it would be a double.  Bouncin' was Bouncin' and now i hope i don't
hear it for another 15 shows.  I like it, but it is too standard.  In My
Opinion Cavern is one of the strongest closers- Hard, Short, Sweet. I
called this one too, but to close set 1.  Trey fucked up and repeated
the last verse, and when he realized it he lost himself and just looked
over to Page and Everyone on stage started laughing.  They just jammed
it a little bit then went righ int othe picture of nectar part.

All in all i think this was the worst show on the U.S. summer 97 tour. 
Nothing really happened.  A couple good combos like yem>izabella and the
hood>free combo, but the rest of the show is either standard or weak. 
It was just Phish up there doing their thing, and having a great time
doing it (as mentioned by Trey at the end). However, I am not
disappointed or pissed about this show, like somne may get after seeing
a weak show.  Phish had a good time and so did I.  I've seen better
shows, and I will see better shows in the future.  But I was just happy
to be there to watch them one more time, regardless of whether or not
they set it on Fire.  Thats the experience of live Music.  Sometimes its
hot, sometimes its not.  Once you accept that, you are in the groove
from head to toe, and boy man- IS IT PHUN!!!