Date:  Sat, 22 Nov 1997 16:48:23 GMT
From:  YodaDoe 
Subject: Hampton 11/21 mini-review!!!!! 

Mini-review because I would barely be able to review this monster WITH the
tapes. This show was amazing, a musical adventure. Who ever said Phish
doesn't take chances anymore?! 

Well, my brother lives in Hampton, so I can post from his computer on my
lovely America Online address, which proves the level of my coolness... 

11/21/97 Hampton Coliseum; Hampton, VA

Set I Emotional Rescue > jam, Split Open and Melt, Beauty of my Dreams,
Dogs Stole Things, PYITE > Lawn Boy, Chalkdust Torture, Prince Caspian >
spacey outro

Set II Ghost > AC/DC Bag > extended jams > Slave to the Traffic Light,
Loving Cup

E: Guyute

Okay, a quick note, I didn't mark all the "jams" because there were so
many of them. And I don't mark something a segue unless it really is a
segue. If the song starts right after the ending chord of the previous
song, it's not a segue... History of me, this is my 18th show... 

Set I Well, they weren't fooling around with us this time. They started
out the show with two stellar jams.  Emotional Rescue (I think that's the
name. Rolling Stones?) was something else. Mike sang half the lyrics in a
falsetto, and the other half in a deep low voice. They jammed out the end
of it very nicely.  This is officially the best opener I've ever seen! 
    Melt was pretty standard up until about halfway through where they
brought the song to several climaxes and a few really evil sounding parts. 
This would be in the top three Melt's I've seen (along with Lyon and Deer
Creek from this summer). I wish I could describe it better... Drat. 
    After those two songs, about 20 or 30 minutes had gone by. Wow! Beauty
of my Dreams was standard. Dogs was a first for me, and I really liked it. 
Nice and funky, with some nice Trey solos. PYITE was standard, although a
little longer than usual.  I'm sure you're all wondering about the segue
into Lawnboy.  Eh? Well, after PYITE reached the final chords, they
started this descending loop jam that eventually built down to Lawnboy. 
Page came out to the front of the stage to work up the crowd while he
sang. Fish had the solo instead of Cactus Gordon. 
    Chalkdust--ah, ending the set so soon? (no) Everyone was in the mood
for this and it felt good. I always like this song at the show, if it's
well-placed, but not really that much on the tapes.  Well, this Chalkdust
was abnormal. The jam in this Chalkdust was an exploratory jam! Wow! I've
never heard them do this on Chalkdust. It was about 10 minutes in length,
maybe? Caspian closed the set, nothing special, but it was pretty. They
left the stage leaving a delay loop space outro. This set is probably the
best first set I've ever seen, except Halloween '96. Set II Ghost! - Here
we go again with the no-nonsense opener. This Ghost really looks like
this, with all the stuff written in: Ghost>typical Ghost jam>space>jam A
very nice Ghost, although probably not the best ever, or anything. But I
know some of the stuff they played was new territory. But the best is yet
to come... AC/DC Bag--yeah, everyone was stoked for this. The jam went
right into an intense tempo, no messing around. After that, I can only
say, GET THE TAPES, because the next 10-15 minutes is indescribable. I can
say that the jam was varied. They flowed from one mood to another, from
trippy space to driving BBFCFM-type insanity. I wish I could do better
than that, but I am not good at putting this kind of stuff into words. I
am not convinced that these jams are really awesome, relatively speaking,
but they are definetely fun and exploratory, and a must hear for everyone. 
    I don't remember how they segued into Slave but I remember it being
pretty smooth compared to most of the akward segues that I'm used to. They
reemed this Slave! That's not a very nice word to use, I guess, but I was
almost crying at the end of this one. Again, everyone's always biased
about songs they see at the show, but I'm sure that this song is as good
as I remember it. They played Slave for all that it is worth. By far the
best Slave I've ever seen or heard on tape. YES! 
    Loving Cup? Wow, I'm soooo glad I skipped class to come up for this
show. After about 2 minutes into the song, the initial "Wow, a rare song!"
wore off and I'm waiting to see what they'll do with it. Well, they did
it! This is also the best Loving Cup I've ever heard. (only one I've ever
seen).  They really did rock this one out with a jam that inspired and did
not lose direction, but went in several new directions. 
 
Set I was about 70 minutes and set II was only about 60, I think, so I was
wondering if we were gonna get something nice for the encore. Yep,

E: Guyute!! A very nice version, solid and fun! 

Anyway, gotta run. We wanna get to the lots before they fill up. Hoping
tonight is as good as last night was!! Everyone have a good day in r.m.p. 
land!  (and anyone who has connections, I'll be needing tapes of this! ;) 

Yoda jhdavis@sc.edu (writing from YodaDoe@aol.com) 

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

Date:    Sun, 23 Nov 1997 15:02:01 -0600
From:    s449631@GETTYSBURG.EDU
Subject: The Hamptons (long)

Yo people

I have just now returned from a jaunt to Hampton.  Have you seen these
setlists?  Needless to say, if I can judge from what I saw this weekend,
Phish in Dec. 97 is going to top all previous eras.  The jamming on both
nights was incredible, and was not limited to funk at all, although there
was definitely an abundance of the funk.  Since there has been a lack of
reviews, I thought I would now share some thoughts on these shows.

11/21 This is definitely a cool place to see a show: just don't go for
the floor if you are under 6 feet tall, or can get in the first 3 rows.
GA really causes a crush.  The joint is really excellent for concerts,
being soooo small and homely (for a hockey arena, of course). THE SHOW:
Emotional Rescue to open: it was hilarious.  Mike made it just as
falsetto as Mick sang it originally.  Trey couldn't stop laughing the
whole way through.  The Jam after ER was fuuuuunk, with some Space Jam
thrown in at the end for good measure.  During Space Jam, Trey yelled
something out, and they all stopped and Fish fired up SOAMelt.  This was
wierd, it contained a slower, more mellow jam in the middle, and took a
while to build to the usual bizarre frenzy.  Beauty and Dogs were next,
followed by PYITE, which the ending flowed into Lawnboy.  Page had fun,
and Trey introduced "Mr. John Fishman" in the middle, and Fish serenaded
us with an unusually boring drum solo.  Chalkdust came next, and Trey was
so full of himself tonight that he forgot to sing the entire second
verse- he just started soloing.  Solo was bluesy, not extremely powerful,
but long.  Caspian to end.  2nd set was pure jamming.  Ghost was da funk
(not the best version ever, not by far), but had some Spooky and other
stuff in it, as well as a theme that appeared in the Raleigh Disease.  I
thought I heard Cities towards the end, but somehow again they managed to
stop-on-a-dime and bring out ACDC Bag.  I like this song, and it was well
done- lots of trilling. They didn't end it- where they usually fade out
they started the funk again. This funk went all over the map, built way
up into madness, had slow spacy jamming, pure funk, and rawk.  This was
reminiscent of old Tweezers in the way it kept changing. At the 45 min
mark of the set Trey started to play Lizards, but that changed into
Slave.  Excellent segue- we were all guessing until it was just Slave.
Well done, good soloing at the end.  Loving Cup to close.  Guyute, of
course was the encore, well played- I didn't hear any flubs, but maybe
its just me and my musical knowledge.  Overall, this was a good show, fun
to be at- they were having sooooooo much fun in the freeform jam.  The
2nd set probably could have used another song, but the COLISEUM HAS AN 11
OCLOCK CURFEW.  Stop complaining.

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

Date:    Mon, 24 Nov 1997 00:44:11 GMT
From:    Yance Davis 
Subject: Hampton Review

Just getting back now from Hampton and I must say it was a fun fun
weekend.  I brought along a non-veteran friend of mine Lynn, so I was
counting on Phish doing their Best so they'd live up to the expectations
I'd built up, andI have to admit that after the first night, I was a
little worried.  We came in in the middle of Emotional Rescue due to all
the traffic and lack of parking spaces.  There were SO many more people
there than had tickets it wasn't even funny.  Looking out on the parking
lot with a good view you'd see this huge sea of fingers sticking out into
the air, and with the few tickets I saw being sold that weren't flat out
counterfeits being priced as high as a Hundred dollars, I felt sorry for
all the miracle seekers.

The jam out of Emotional Rescue was pretty wild...almost scary.  There
was this wild two hour jam the Friday night of the Clifford Ball so long
ago that was unlike anything I'd heard at the time, and that's about the
same feel that the jam on Friday night had.  Chalkdust had some cool
noodling from Trey and I was pretty into it, and the AC/DC jam was a
little unexpected.  It wasn't precisely an AC/DC jam since AC/DC Bag sort
of reached this point wehre Trey signaled and the music changed all at
once into a slightly different pace from which point they began the jam.
True song jams, in my opinion are those where you can't tell the end of
the composed section from the jam itself, but that's fairly insignificant.
What is significant is that the jam wasn't really that interesting except
for occasional blurbs of sound.  SOAMelt wasn't as exciting as any version
I've heard before.  Ghost was neat at times, and though I love Guyute, it
was flubbed in a few places.  Overall, I won't rate this show.  I Had a
good time, regardless of how I've made this sound, and it looked like
Phish was having a good time too.  My friend Lynn was confused for the
most part, and it doesn't surprise me.  Musically, I'd go out of my way to
avoid ever have to listen to this tape.  Hey, don't flame me for the
opinion either.. I KNOW a lot of people did like the show, just because I
talked to some of them afterwards.  It's just some shows still light me up
like those first shows you see, and some don't.  This didn't.  I wouldn't
say it sucked really.  Well, yeah I would.

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

Date:    Tue, 25 Nov 1997 21:58:56 GMT
From:    PZerbo 
Subject: Yet Another Hampton Review (Both nights, long)

Ahhh, Hampton. My first Hampton Phish shows, though I had the pleasure
of seeing many Dead shows there between '83 and '89, so I had a great
idea of what to expect, and was not dissapointed on any count.

Thanks to some seriously ultimate timing by my travel companions,
Ken, James, and Ann (within 5 minute meetings in Somerville, Providence,
and Stamford, wow!), we traversed Boston to Newport News in about 12
hours, chilled middle-of-the-night ride, great company.

All-day nap, then arrive to the venue about 4pm. Decent scene, all the
usual parking lot wares, and -lots- of ticketless (more on this later).
A few beers, nugs, and 2 hours of other assorted fun later, we're in line
and on our way in. Security was chilled on the way in and otherwise, saw
a few folks get hastled for vending, and smoking inside before the lights
went out (at which point all was cool), but nothing major.

We set up on the floor first night. A mixed crowd, some very cool folks,
some very young and very non-chilled folks, et cetera. Towards showtime,
myself and crew were all feeling extremely, um, funny, and ready for action.

Emotional Rescue was a real treat, I was practically ROTFLMAO, Mike was
so funny on the falsetto, and especially the Barry White-esque slow delivery
"I am here to take you to your emotional rescue...". I'm imagining all the
boys in the hotel, bus or wherever when Mike proposes to play this! Trey
was getting a big chuckle out of the whole thing. It wasn't just novelty,
either, as a non-inconsequential jam emerged at the end. I'm going to guess
that this will be a one-timer, but who knows.

SOAM rocked -hard-, great version. Beauty of My Dreams and Dog Stole Things
were average at best, still good but nothing special. Actually a nice break,
it was pretty damn crowded on the floor, and the energy of the first two
songs created a -hot- environs. PYITE: one of my all-time favorites. I'll
have to hear the tapes to ensure this wasn't simply a "great energy = great
perception of the tune", but it was high energy, tight, crowd was into it
heavy.

I started to lose interest in the show during Chalk Dust. Nice rocker, but
I thought the jam was repetitive, really not going anywhere interesting. Trey
was in full rock star mode, and IMHO, this is where he listens least, and
the collaborative jamming really suffers. I don't hate Prince Caspian nearly
as much as others, but for me it is all about placement: I do dislike it as
a set closer. Short, compact, and in the middle of a set, I think it is a
nice, pretty song. As a "rock anthem", I think it is is trite, and often
fails. It did this night, I think.


Set break on the floor of a GA show can be an adventure, and this evening
did not dissapoint. It went quickly enough, though. Ghost opener was a
pleasant non-surprise. Most setlists claim this is a long Ghost, but I heard
it as a very compact Ghost, followed by a very distinct jam, different enough
to warrant a Ghost -> Jam -> AC/DC Bag -> Jam, but hey, that's just me. I
liked the core of AC/DC Bag, very tight, but the jam went nowhere (again);
in fact, it was eerily reminiscent of the jam in Chalk Dust that left me
similarly bored. The mechanics were there (as always) but it lacked a
comitted direction. Don't get me wrong, this is essential for good Phish
music: they took a chance, and IMO failed. If they don't take chances, we
don't get great improvisational Phish music, it is the price we pay for the
glory (such as the next night). My spirits were picked up by Loving Cup and
Guyute, favorites in any setting.

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

Date:    Fri, 5 Dec 1997 19:02:43 GMT
From:    Jeremy David Goodwin 
Subject: *Phish Destroys Hampton* Pt.1

Before embarking on this writing adventure, I've given some thought to the
whole idea of show reviews. Is a show review done for any purpose other
than the author's vanity? Sometimes, I think the answer is no. However,
reviews with interesting information about the scene (venue, crowd, etc),
specific, intelligent observations about the music, and a healthy dose of
good humor are worthwhile, I think. And since I am a very good writer with
at least half-coherent ideas about Phish, I'm going to dig in once again
and do a thorough review of my Wonderful Week of Phish.

        The first person aspect of most show reviews has a lot going for
it, but it carries with it a good deal of risk, also. If someone had an
interesting experience at a show which other people might find interesting
as well, it should by all means go in a review. But if your review is
merely a diary of your day, it's masturbatory and boring. I think that I
can write about both The Show and My Experience Of The Show with enough
searing wit and sophistication to make it worthwhile for a stranger to
read.

        I'm still a newbie by many people's standards: this week I saw my
20th Phish show. I have something like 330 hours of Phish on tape. I've
been *aware* of Phish and generally cognizant of what they were doing
since 91 or so, but I didn't start LISTENING until about three years ago
(a little less, actually).
        I saw six shows in the past ten days, which is six of the seven
that happened in that time period.



*Phish Destroys Hampton* Part 1


        Hampton, baby. Hampton. The buzz was high in the weeks leading up
to the show. Coming on the heels of Trey's onstage claim last fall that
Hampton was his "favorite room" (add that to the list of "favorite
rooms"), the announcement last August of a two night stand in this cozy,
General Admission venue was greeted as a Gift From Icculus by anyone who'd
been to this dandy Coliseum in the past. And on the weekend taboot!
        So this clearly wasn't a run-of-the-mill hometown show for anyone
there: everyone expected Hampton to be an *event*.

        I was overjoyed to find my hotel to be, as billed, within walking
distance of the venue. The lobby of the Holiday Inn was packed with 'heads
checking in late Friday afternoon, and I found that my room, in one of the
motel-style divisions of the place, was right in the heart of the cluster
of hotels which made up the Hampton Encampment. It was like a compound:
five or so hotels all spilling into the same series of parking lots,
almost within sight of the Coliseum itself. There was a palpable feeling
of being on the front lines.

        Before I had time to unpack my socks, my room became a pre-show
party zone of unforseen proportions. No complaints there. I'd love to
attempt an actual list of the wonderful people I met this weekend, but of
course I'll leave people out, so let me just say You Know Who You Are  ;-)
I would like to thank Everyone who helped bring Joy and Goodwill to me at
Hampton-- Phish fans are truly the best! Extra special thanks go out to:
Allison (the Koala Bear) for organizing a splendid rmp Gathering; Jen
Marshall for fulfilling her responsibilities as Tour Historian by
continuing her Book of Friends...it was fully Wentified, with lots of
photos (I'll get you my Hampton pictures sometime soon); Noah Cole for
transporting my buttocks to Hampton, and Rob for giving us those pieces of
prime Page Zone real estate! Everyone else who made me laugh and smile,
thanks so much.

11/21/97 Hampton Coliseum 8:12pm-9:23pm

I Emotional Rescue* (18 mins), SOAMelt, Beauty, Dogs, PYITE->Lawn Boy
->Chalkdust, Caspian

*Drowned teases

        Emotional Rescue was one of the musical highlights of the week. I
got the name of the tune from the lyrics, but wasn't sure if it was
Rolling Stones or Lou Reed (it sounded like some of the material on VU's
_Loaded_). The jam out of the tune was just spectacular. It was incredibly
upbeat and glorious, sounding at one point very much like it was going to
segue into Drowned. The best Drowned jamming this side of Virginia Beach.
During this dramatically uplifting jam I almost jumped out of my skin a
few times: the band was reaching tremendous peaks during the first tune of
the weekend! This rock jam eventually slid into the Fall 97 Mode: Trey
playing like a troll on mescaline while the rest of the band was low-key
and spacy. 18 minutes altogether.

        The SOAM was typically good, perhaps a small notch above average.
I really thought Trey was yelling something about the Worm at the end, but
the sage Mr. Gelman emphatically insisted that it was a vocal reprise of
Rescue, and apparently he was right.

        The PYITE was pretty damn tight, and it dissolved into an
interesting sequence where an obviously jovial Trey played some angry
chords while looking at Page, as if challenging him. Page answered with a
few chords before gliding into Lawn Boy. A similarly interesting exchange
(I really can't remember) provided the -> into Chalkdust. Although the
song choices at this point were standard, the segues showed that the band
was lively and in a special mood.

        Chalkdust was wonderful in light of all past versions, thick and
dark and pleasing. Nothing outrageous, but very satisfying to my ears.
This song has gone from a throwaway to a small treat, to my ears. Caspian
was unfinished...during the slow-down at the end, Trey left a ringing
chord on delay (like at the end of 12/31/95 II), and we never got the
cheesified hard rock ending.

II 10:02-11:16 (including E)
 Ghost (14 mins)->AC/DC Bag* (28 mins)->Slave, Loving Cup
E: Guyute

*unfinished, with multiple teases (including Drowned and The Real Me)


        Was this the first second set Ghost opener? Definately the first
US one, at least. This Ghost was *very* unlike the Summer versions. It was
not the typical funky, textural stuff which marks the least interesting of
the 97 jams. After a brief foray into such jamming, it fell into a
quieter, darker mode, propelled by Trey's gravelly soloing. An out of
nowhere segue into Bag (was it more like a >Bag? Imo, any segue *in mid
jam* is a ->). Overall, the Ghost was interesting as a stylistic departure
and as an opener, but was throwaway in light of what was to come.
        The jam out of AC/DC Bag might have been the best jam I saw all
week, and clearly ranks among the best I've seen personally. At this point
in the week, we didn't know to expect extended jamming out of nowhere, so
I settled in with a good attitude to enjoy the Bag, and hope it would be
standout (7/1/95 was my favorite Bag previously) in its own way. Well, in
the shift to doubletime, Trey just kept soloing faster and faster until he
had collapsed the envelope and was no longer in time with the band. Thus,
the Bag jam melded into improvisation, without concluding the song in the
usual manner. There was a definate point at which it snuck out of the Bag
jam and became improv, but for reasons I'll elaborate on later, to call it
Bag->Jam is to ignore the way Phish plays in 1997. It was, however, quite
stunning and unexpected.
        This long jam had many highlights. There was a touch of
Drowned-like jamming, but imo The Real Me was teased more prominently.
Other teases/near-segues included Lizards, Llama, and at one point Fishman
was clearly playing the drum part to Rocka William. Thankfully, no
instrument switch, though. This jam picked up where Emotional Rescue left
off, but provided more extended peaks and all-around Gloriousity.
        The jam had some quiet phases, including a stunningly beautiful
section, filled with gentle Trey soloing, which recalled the tranquil
beauty of one part of the 11/22/95 Free. After 28 mins, the jam segued
smoothly into a typically well-done Slave. Some folks enjoyed this Slave
immensely; I honestly was spending more time trying to recover from the
historically brilliant AC/DC Bag(!).

        Loving Cup was very powerful (moreso than my previous live
encounter, at the Went, or the one which would follow later in the week).
Trey assumed a very sexual pose during his rip-roaring solo. The energy in
that place was just crackling. The Guyute encore solidifed the fact that
the band was making a real investment in this weekend.

        The crowd at Hampton was just great. Incredibly high energy. And
with good reason.

        An orgiastic feast of Cajun clam dip with Dan "Sugar High" Epstein
and a roomful of revelers provided the exclamation point to the evening.
What a ball. Everyone seemed to be incredibly impressed with the show, and
anticipation (minus tension) for Saturday night was high.




--


                             ---Jeremy


                "I'm going in for debauche" -- AR
-****************************************************************************-
"Black, black, black is the color...of my rhombus. And people throwing
three, three hooked instruments of, with rope. Three hooked instruments
into the air. Onto the, this edge of the rhombus." --Trey Anastasio
_****************************************************************************_
"I can do wheelin', I can do dealin', but I don't do no damn squeelin'."
                                            --James Brown