Set One Notes:
The Curtain opens, the first Curtain in the United States in ’97. Always a great opener, Curtain immediately gives way to the opening notes of YEM, a serious 1-2 punch. Dig the placement, always impressive to get a YEM this early. The Pre-Nirvana (?) section is fucking trippy, man, alien signals penetrate the Centrum and its vulnerable passengers. YEM is a song surely suited to that relaxed, wide-open, confident, funk-forward Fall ’97 treatment. The YEM jam here certainly proves that. Liquid Meatballin’ Mike, Trey lays down the siren, Fishman 2000 powering the dance moves, Page on the clav, it’s on… this is the second song?!? Soon, Page and Trey get synthy-weird, and conspire to burrow deep inside the listener’s brain. Once inside, Trey starts letting licks out to bounce around the inside of the listener’s skull, leaving the listener getting the distinct mental taste of Xeyed. At this point, we are inside the quintessential Fall ’97 sound/space, relaxed funking with alien signaling, often pushing for neo-Hendrixian territory. The funky-groove-weirdness-syncopation-chill-dance-space goes deep in this one. I Didn’t Know serves as the vocal jam here, and I like it in that purpose. I wonder though, as this is Henrietta’s first appearance this tour, if Trey sprung a trap to lure Fishman out, a la 8/10/97. Nerdy level of over-analyzation? You’re on .net too. Maze features great patience and tasteful playing by Page, with great tone on his organ. Trey is particularly fiery as well. This has been a great start to the show. I honestly get way into these early Farmhouses, and I think that this one is in the perfect placement. A friend comments, “Trey’s tone here is spot on.” Yep. BEK has me thinking, “This set is sweet.” I’m into this call. They can play BEK in every show in this tour and I’d probably still be into it. Trey reprises that funk riff from the 11/26 2001 (also, 12/29 Tube). This is certainly an engaging BEK. Theme, I’m just going to come out and say it: I don’t really like Theme, the song. I like the jam, but the song doesn’t do much for me. This one is its soaring self in a relatively concise, straightforward version, perfectly suited for its role in this set. Rocky Top comes charging out of Theme’s big ending, a high energy closer. Great first set for me, benefitted from well-balanced and engaging song selection and placement.

Set Two Notes:
I think that Timber is an underutilized song, and that it should get (and should have gotten, throughout the band's career) more chances to go big. Here, it is given that opportunity. The groove gets tangled up, a bit thrown off center. The Timber-pounding continues outward into this jam, with the music becoming increasingly dissonant, then even Stash-esque for a few moments. The band sounds so comfortable as they approach near-meterless territory. Jerry arrives to great the listener, closing the jam, exploratory and crazy-dissonant, but still measured and relatively concise. An intriguing, if not overly deep, take on the song and opening number for the set. LxL has me thinking about the vaguely sinister absurdist lyrical content found across Phish’s music. We get raging Trey over familiar extended-LxL territory, Hendrixian-school guitar work over a stoned-Yes-groove leading a return into LxL proper. Slave arrives next, and this is truly an interesting placement. I discuss with a friend about how we each feel that we are both pretty conditioned to feel like we are at the end of a set when Slave drops. Let’s just see where this takes us, though; one should never assume any show’s progression or where they will be led. Trey runs the brain-scanner ray over the crowd during the “dark, heavy” section. Wow, this is a nice, patient, building Slave. Page’s stereophonic swirl provides pure bliss before Trey pushes to a cathartic peak. Ghost drops, a great call. It is clear that this has been cued up with the intention of being a centerpiece jam, so let’s see… Man, that Slave was nice…. Mike is slappin’ the bass like a madman, driving this lanky, stripped-down cowfunk… sirens start, beats drop-out, Trey is caught in the wah-spotlight, Mike kicks it back in with the fight bell… “Let’s get ready…” – great stop-start jamming emerges, and soon, the first peak is shredded through. The music drops down low, Mike getting sci-fi dancey, bell-ringing when it suits him. The jam continues to descend even further, soon resembling a hushed conversation in a swanky, smoky droid-speakeasy. The push back upward begins, and suddenly, like the rising Sun, fully formed dance-bliss rock and roll segment > Johnny B. Goode. JBG seems to serve here as Ghost’s second peak for me, and they definitely rage it. I do think that JBG is an interesting cover choice for the band. I’m reminded of many instances of Trey giving way to his pursuit of the Rockstar Guitarman on this tour. This era of Phish has a distinct sly confidence and swagger to it, that is for sure. JBG ends a five-song set, one that built on an interesting upward progression, placing its centerpiece jam, Ghost, at the end of its build and set, and going out on JBG’s peaking bang. My Soul continues to haunt 1997, this time in the encore slot. This is un undesirable encore pick for me. I’ll leave it at that.

Should you listen to this show? Yes. You definitely should. Is it the first Fall ’97 show I’d point someone to? No, I’d tell someone to start in Vegas and listen to them all in order. Every show is a piece of a whole, this one is no exception. It’s got a unique flavor, too. Great start to the Woostah run.