A ferocious set one opener. Listen carefully for the subtle, eerie industrial drone effect that Trey uses to set the scene. I would love to see the band take such a careful approach to show openers more often.
A moment when it all came together: My first post-hiatus show and my younger brother’s first show; one of my favourite songs seguing into my favourite song; and a serious left turn into Type II, which moves through many different ideas deftly and assuredly, with some fantastic use of the uncompressed tone. I had tears in my eyes.
1998 is the year when Phish arguably peaked in terms of popularity and intensity. The energy at MSG for the first night of the first four-night NYE run at MSG was therefore off the charts and, after a quick “Axilla” to get the blood pumping, Phish detonated the Garden with this “Stash.” Although musically I prefer the 1997 MSG version, the straight-forward, dark intensity here made for a more memorable experience. Listen to the audience roar at the end of it. Fierce.
Another one where I basically cried. Most of my crew were stuck in the traffic on the way in and it was during this stunning “Tweezer” that they found their way through the crowd and miraculously found me. This was also a summer when Phish’s music provided on-going comfort from some tough personal circumstances. So when they moved into “Have Mercy,” I got a bit emotional.
Both sets this night in Cleveland started and finished off strong, but had some of the worst, most prolonged mid-set lulls I’ve experienced. Miner has highlighted the “Wolfman’s” from set one for its clear Mind Left Body jam a few times, but this “Disease” is worth hearing as well. Very tight Trey-shredding for a good while, which stays in the box but is otherwise unreproachable, followed by a wonderful section of chord-led jamming (sounding almost Dead-like at times), which leads back nicely to the “Disease” theme.
How do you follow up perhaps the greatest jam of 3.0? With not one, but two amazing segues. Then what do you do? You play this. Trey’s solos on Farmhouse throughout 3.0 have been a treat and this version is as good as any (check out Miami ’09 and Woosta ’10 too).
My second “Ghost” of the summer and first one state-side. The band’s sound was developing so fast this summer that this version didn’t sound anything like the first one I’d heard (7/1/97). This one gets so thick and funky that I thought the band had turned into robots at one point.
A controversial version from the final, dark days of 2.0. Some vocal commentators think that Trey’s playing on this version lacks direction and drive, but I hear the jam section before the first “ASZ” theme as a moment of lucidity, with some fantastic slow, considered playing from Trey. Afterwards, he’s clearly out of ideas, but that first solo is very unusual for a “2001” and noteworthy.
“Bowie” with horns. How the song was always meant to be played.
It is my pleasure to introduce the Reader’s Picks from one of the first reader-commenters on PhishThoughts back in 2008—@Matso! Welcome back buddy. All selections and text by Mathias Loertscher aka @Matso “Maze” 12.9.95 I, Albany, NY A ferocious set one opener. Listen carefully for the subtle, eerie industrial drone effect that Trey uses to set …
This is a worthy second jam “Mike’s,” but the “‘Paug” is not to be missed. Mike lets you know this is his song right up front, no questions there. Kenny Powers remastered this show if you’d like a copy of some old school Phish. Get some!
This one gets overlooked by many who bailed straight to Cali and prefer the version a few days earlier due to greater availability/attendance. Nice little first set sequence.
It’s the debut and a nice change up from what we get these days (or even anything since this one). First time I heard this version was Summer ’95. Good for a laugh. Skip it if you’ve heard it or you can’t handle your dairy even in small doses, whiner!
Do you remember where you were when this dropped? That we have this on Vimeo ain’t a bad kick down to those that like this kind of stuff.
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VENTURA BOX SET HAIKU WINNERS!
First off, thanks to everyone who participted! I received 24 sets of haikus, so needless to say that picking three winners—with two strong haikus—was quite difficult. But here we go… Winners please contact me with shipping address. Thanks!
WINNER #1: Edward Smith
The Ventura Box Set
7/30/97
Palm trees and sea breeze
European funk returns
Stateside to blow minds
7/20/98
Mid-July Monday
The faithful bear witness to
Riverport Gin’s kin
***
Winner #2: Ted Rubenstein
7/30/97
Sonic skull massage
Counter-cultural cow funk
Played to perfection
07/20/98
By the Sea and Sand
Nearly Drowned in the Bathtub
Seeing my first show
Winner #3: Bingo’s Brother
7/30/97
I just mowed my lawn
And the neighbors got done too
Ventura Bowie
7/20/98
Spun Ventura Gin
Swimming through molasses deep
Aural soft core porn
***
HONORABLE MENTION:
Jason Mass
7/30/97
California
Sound and light get hotter ‘til
It ends in fire
7/20/98
And begins again
With all us taking a bath
Ending out in space
***
Marc Tosh
7/30/97
four-headed pimp groove
cotton candy tornado
free bowie city
7/20/98
coastal summer tub
diving down for skunky pearls
Buenaventura
***
Matt Tiscornia
7/30/97
Summer Winds Blowing
A Segue That Still Dominates
Blind Side At The Went
7/20/98
Where Is The Joker
Let Me Get Back To The Sea
Central Part Of Town
***
Mark Lecuyer
7/30/97
Tortured song fills sky;
Fun chords signal summer chant
D’oh – said creator.
7/20/98
Sea’s Healing provides
inspiration and focus.
Drummer sings new song.
“Boogie On” 9.18.99 II, Chula Vista, CA The “Boogie ON”! Transcendent trajectory on this one. Know it. *** “Mike’s > H2 > Groove” 3.13.93 II, Boulder, CO This is a worthy second jam “Mike’s,” but the “‘Paug” is not to be missed. Mike lets you know this is his song right up front, no questions …
Today we take a closer look at the Ventura shows from ’97 and ’98.
7/30/97: I: NICU > Wolfman’s Brother > Chalk Dust Torture, Water in the Sky, Stash, Weigh, Piper, Cars Trucks Buses, Character Zero
II: Punch You In the Eye, Free > David Bowie -> Cities -> David Bowie, Bouncing Around the Room, Uncle Pen, Prince Caspian > Fire
E: My Soul
First a little context. Ventura’s ’97 edition unfolded in the first half of the band’s US Summer Tour in about a week’s proximity to their experimental funk tour of Europe. The band was loose and honing in on a new sound they had developed since the previous Halloween. Eager to stretch almost any song into a syncopated groove session, the band had been throwing down spectacular shows in their first week stateside. Virginia Beach, Raleigh, Lakewood, Dallas, Austin, and Phoenix—all monster shows in their own right. And now it was onto Ventura.
This Ventura show—an incredible portrait of Phish in the Summer of ‘97—has never circulated in great quality due to the coastal winds that swirled around the venue, thus this remastered soundboard comes as nothing short of a revelation. The first disc of the set brings us back to an era when first sets meant something. Right away in the second song “Wolfman’s” we hear the loose wah-funk that the band had been exploring all season. After Trey takes a solo over the bands extremely slowed patterns, the band locks into each other’s ideas in a thick dance jam that has nothing to do with the song, foreshadowing the methodical wah-grooves that would come to define the summer. The band surfs this wave without finishing the song with a brief jam on “Take Me to the River” that leads them directly into a “Chalk Dust” that grabbed me on first listen. The utter intensity and creative mini-tangents throughout this jam illustrate Phish taking no prisoners in their live show—even during a first set in Southern California.
The “Stash” that follows contains glorious jamming that smoothly moves in and out of a major key , providing a beautiful middle section to an intense tale. The band closed out the set with a four pack of songs, including a short, old-school “Piper” and a wah-infused “Cars, Trucks, Busses.” Despite the on point playing throughout the first set, this show has—rightfully—always been synonymous with the meat of the second.
Ventura Sleeve Art
Simply put, 7/30’s “Bowie -> Cities -> Bowie” is one of Phish’s finest jams from one of their finest improvisational years. Having warmed up for a month in Europe, the band hit US turf running, dropping monstrous jam after monstrous jam. But this one was special. Phish hadn’t played “Cities” in the United States since 1989, and the way the band builds into the song is nothing short of masterful. Blending their new-found groove with their intricate, prog-psychedelic roots, the guys dropped a piece of music that set the Phish world afire. Confident, daring, and without hesitation, they collectively tear apart the “David Bowie” jam as a band possessed, each contributing stunning pieces to the puzzle. But deep into the jam, the guys break down the seething music into something far more percussive. On comes Trey’s wah-pedal, and the band begins to migrate from darkness into quickened groove. The following few minutes are the most engaging of the jam as the band dives head first into some very unique funk patterns with Gordon going ape shit. The band is in destruction mode here as the music seems to be playing them as much as they are playing the music. Trey begins working in the rhythm licks of “Cities” and a James Brown concert breaks out! Straight Krush Groove here as the guys liken superhuman robots oozing with soul. “Cities” stays at its original pace throughout, far from the exaggeratedly slow versions that would follow. As the lyrics end, the band takes little time to seamlessly mesh back with “Bowie” in what seemed like an aural hallucination. And the band doesn’t just rush to finish the song, they dive back into the jam for seven minutes—longer than most current “Bowies” altogether—and annihilate the peak of the jam. Just as this sequence stole the show that summer night sixteen years ago, so does it steal the spotlight on this release, despite its mp3 soundboard having surfaced a few years ago. This sounds superior in every way.
After “Punch” kicks off the second set Free” gets the treatment in a version that serves as a signpost for the jam. The band had recently ditched the piano led direction and changed motifs with “Free,” transforming into the bass and guitar driven juggernaut of the late ‘90s. In this Ventura version, we hear the band acclimating to the new milieu, but without really building anything of significance. This would start to change over the summer and more earnestly in the Fall when the song truly started to expand. After such monumental jamming in the middle of the set, the band rode into the sunset with a quartet of diverse, well-played songs that end the show.
7/20/98: I: Bathtub Gin, Dirt, Poor Heart, Lawn Boy, My Sweet One, Birds of a Feather, Theme From the Bottom, Water in the Sky, The Moma Dance, Split Open and Melt
II: Drowned -> Makisupa Policeman > Maze, Sea and Sand, Prince Caspian >Harry Hood
E: Sexual Healing > Hold Your Head Up, Halley’s Comet
Ventura ’98 Promo
While Ventura ’97 stood out amidst its tour, Ventura ’98 most definitely did not. It was a solid show, but coming right after Europe, Portland, the Gorge and Shoreline, the SoCal Monday nighter felt like the West Coast afterthought before it started. But when the band greeted the crowd with a colossal “Bathtub Gin” to open the show, the possibilities opened wide. The Riverport “Gin” that came nine days later is often hailed as the top version of all time. This Ventura “Gin,” placed in a similar show-opening slot, paved the road for the all-timer with a jam that progresses through many similar stages. Check ‘em out back to back. Interestingly, this show all but excludes the chunky, rhythmic style of Summer ‘98, and the “Drowned” opener of set two illustrates this alternate path. Taking the arena rock cover in a direction that The Who might have if they jammed, this excursion was underlined by white-hot rock and roll. Loud, fast and boisterous, this jam is a musical depiction of a hyena going for the jugular of its prey. Once he has conquered and killed, the music shifts to a more down tempo feel as the hyena salivates over his family’s still-warm dinner. As he begins to drag it back to his clan, Trey hits his wah grooves and the music becomes decidedly chilled out in a gorgeous, sinister final few minutes.
Aside from these two prime-time jams, however, this show features unbelievable intensity throughout, allowing the performance to come off totally fine. The second set features the classic pairing of a hearty “Makisupa” and a full-throttle “Maze,” and a big-time bust out in “Sea and Sand” (the set’s second Quadrophenia track about water) paying homage to Ventura’s surroundings. Closing with strong versions of “Caspian” and “Hood,” this show set is carried by the band’s type I creativity and is a very smooth listen the entire way through. A quality “Split” punctuates the first set, while a looped-out “Halley’s Comet” provides the second selection of a double encore (after Fish had debuted “Sexual Healing) and sees the band exit the stage one by one leaving a series of delay loops behind them. The “Bathtub Gin” is the only lasting jam of significance from this night, but the strength of this show illustrates how effective Phish was at doing everything in their repertoire in the summer of ’98—not just open jamming.
Ventura Liner Art
The final details to add about this Ventura release are the two soundcheck jams. Each feature extended, instrumental takes on “Makisupa,” with ’97 ‘s carrying a bit more musical depth. The ’98 soundcheck features” jokingly layered lyics from “Venus,” (“I’m your “Venus, I’m your fire…”). Though both are fun listens a couple times through, these aren’t like those crack soundcheck jams we get every now and then—just Phish having fun.
In summation, the Ventura box set is a fantastic release, easily the strongest since Hampton / Winston Salem. (Though 12/6/97 was in there too!) As time moves forward into this Golden Age of Phish, more and more re-mastered releases from their glory years continue to hit the shelves—a welcome trend that is sure to continue. Providing us crisp memories of magical nights gone by, sometimes all we need in a moment and a CD to take us back. And Ventura certainly does that.
Here is the mp3 SBD that has been out. This is NOT the release.
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VENTURA GIVEAWAY!
The Ventura Box Set
I have three Ventura Box Sets to give away for free! If you’d like to be eligible for this contest, please write two haikus—one that captures the essence of eachshow. Email these haikus to mrminer@phishthoughts.com by Wednesday at 8pm Pacific and I will post the three winning entries on Thursday or Friday! Make sure you adhere to proper haiku format or your entry will be disqualified. UPDATE: I’ m getting some really good entries and it will be tough to choose the three winners! Get yours in!
Today we take a closer look at the Ventura shows from ’97 and ’98. 7/30/97: I: NICU > Wolfman’s Brother > Chalk Dust Torture, Water in the Sky, Stash, Weigh, Piper, Cars Trucks Buses, Character Zero II: Punch You In the Eye, Free > David Bowie -> Cities -> David Bowie, Bouncing Around the Room, Uncle Pen, Prince Caspian > Fire E: My Soul First a little context. Ventura’s ’97 edition unfolded in the …
All selections and text by Greg Schneider aka Mr. Palmer
I tried to avoid some of the obvious choice selections while sitting down to do this. I’m sure there are a few that everyone on here knows well and I hope there are a few others that are new to some folks…
One of my all-time favorite shows in an all-time favorite venue. This “Hood,” with a near five minute intro, opened this special night in Philly. And the rest, as they say…is history.
This is a song I have always loved because, unlike most Phish songs, for me, this song is more about the vocal stylings than the music. However, this version is the outlier, and to my knowledge the only one. A Type II Vultures? Indeed. If you are going to blow up the Dirty Bird, it might as well be in a dusty, desert venue, don’t ya think?
This “Antelope” was played in the second slot of the second set this night in Arizona. This was one of only two shows I saw in ’97( I know, I know.) A tremendous overall show after the band returned from their historic and game changing tour in Europe. Not your every day, standard “Antelope.” This one goes deep…real deep.
My third selection from the state of Arizona…yes, this caught me by surprise also. It is my opinion that 1998 was Phish at their peak. Each band member was truly a master at their craft and combined, they brought a fierce, tight sound with incredible ambient textures. This is maybe my favorite Tube with it’s start-stop action. Each band member sounds at the top of their game here. If this version doesn’t get you up and dancing then I don’t know what to tell you.
This was the highlight of the first night of the first four-night stand at Madison Square Garden. Expectations were through the roof for this run and Phish did not disappoint. This “Wolfman’s,” at times, has an eerily similar feel to the version played roughly two months prior in Las Vegas. This NYE run in 1998 is still my favorite run that they have played to date. The consistency and jams from night to night were magical. Let’s do it again this year, huh?
I was lucky enough to have third row seats for this night—right in front of Trey. He was totally “on” this evening. Some nights in ’00 this wasn’t the case. We truly got the hose this night. This “Gin” is all about Trey and his guitar annihilation. Fast paced and precise, a top three version for me and many others as well. Enjoy.
It is probably weird to see this date and a song other than “AC/DC Bag” or “Gumbo” attached to it. This isn’t one of those huge “Diseases” with massive improv. This version always grabbed me for Trey’s ferocity. Check the You Tube video of it if you get the chance. Trey is jumping (prancing?) around and really feeling it.
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LAWN MEMO’S “33 in 33”
Perhaps you followed @LawnMemo‘s massive project, “The Daily Ghost” in which he reviewed each and every “Ghost” ever played. The same @LawnMemo is back with another big project, but this time around he is the behind-the-scenes orchestrator of “33 in 33,” in which he invited 33 different writers to chronicle a single jam from a single show from the 33 shows of 2012—all in the 33 days leading up to Summer Tour! The project has been underway for just over a week, and you can check out all the entries so far. My contribution will be posted on Sunday, and chronicles a selection from June 22nd’s show in Cincinnati. It was the first piece I’ve written in quite a while and I had a great time doing it. I’ll link it here when it’s posted, but bookmark “33 in 33” and peep it every day as we countdown to Bangor!
All selections and text by Greg Schneider aka Mr. Palmer I tried to avoid some of the obvious choice selections while sitting down to do this. I’m sure there are a few that everyone on here knows well and I hope there are a few others that are new to some folks… *** “Harry Hood” …
This was my first show and still to this day the best “Bowie” I have heard. When the jam starts up Trey is chanting some pretty strange stuff under his guitar work. This is a must hear for any “Bowie” fan.
What a night this was. Everything about this show was great. The last four songs of set one are also worth checking out, but this is by far the best “Mike’s” from the whole 96 summer tour. For the most part summer 96 seemed pretty tame, but they really let it out in this “Mike’s.”
***
“Theme, Punch, Ghost > Taste” 8.9.97 I, East Troy, WI
97 has so many gems, and it seemed like the bands style would change every show. The first four songs of set one was some of my favorite Phish music I have ever heard. This was my first time seeing them play “Ghost” and what a “Ghost” it was. These first four songs still seem fresh in my memory 16 years later.
For a 97 show this one seems to be overlooked alot, and on paper this might seem like a let down as being the heart of the second set, but this “Julius” swings harder than any Phish song I have heard them play, and then the “Slave” is out of this world.
My friends and me did this whole summer tour and even though the tour opener in Portland was a great show, summer tour really felt like it started this night. What a magical night in the desert.
This “Mike’s Song” is dark, rocking, and just out right awesome but the best part of this show is the “Simple.” This “Simple” is just great. Trey and Pages playing is so sweet and light. This whole second set is worth listening to, but I always find myself enjoying the “Mikes > Simple” the most. I believe this was the first time they played “Bittersweet” too.
From my top ten list it would seem that I really like “Mike’s Song,” and who doesn’t, but I wanted to pick only songs from shows that I was at and I also wanted to pick out songs that are forever my first thoughts when I am asked about Phish, so behold another “Mike’s Song.” I remember CK5 filling up the swamp with the most smoke I have ever seen at a Phish show and this is one dark, electric, rocking “Mike’s Song.” I am sad to say that I feel that this is one of the last true “Mike”s Songs” with a real jam.
For my tenth pick I’m going to have to pick this whole second set. I have thought Phish has played some great shows in their new era, but maybe its’ the openness of the Gorge but to me this show has a feel that you don’t hear very much nowadays. Every song has a pop and a lightness to them. The jams do not seem forced and the “Light” and “Gin” have epic jams for 3.0 Phish. I have not been to a lot of show in the 3.0 era, but have downloaded most of the shows, and I keep finding myself listening to this show the most out of all of the 3.0 Phish. Great Phish music all around.
This was a fun project and than you Mr. Miner for the opportunity to share my memory’s with everyone.
All selections and text by: Joe Bakaitis (a couple audio clips were edited to save bandwidth) “2001 > Bowie” 10.27.95 II, Kalamazoo MI This was my first show and still to this day the best “Bowie” I have heard. When the jam starts up Trey is chanting some pretty strange stuff under his guitar work. …
