This is a very fun show. back in the U.S. after some very hot playing across the Atlantic. rumors were swirling that they were going to either open up with a complete set of new music or even a whole show of new music. while, this rumor was not true, they did eat up the good first half of the first set with new tunes making their domestic debut.

ghost gets things off to a nice funky start. this one had a nice jam tacked on, letting all the U.S. fans know what time it was. page and trey were really strong on this opening jam. dogs stole things kept that little funk vibe going. piper, while not as explorative as it would be, comes out strong here. this is a nice loose version. eventually, it peters out into a nice version of dirt. after four straight new tunes, ginseng bops the crowd back into familiar territory. then comes a very nice, well-jammed gin. this one is a rocker, with some drowned teases tossed around here and there. also, trey cranks up a pretty funy usa chant during this one. zero ends the set in standard fashion.

while not a new song, wolfman's certainly had become something quite a bit more since their european touring. this gives the u.s. fans their first taste of the reworked funky wolfman's. after going through some bathtub teases and some other funkier realms, they find themselves in a pretty fun magilla. they eventually get moving into bowie. page has some very well defined bird land teases in the intro. once this bowie gets cranked up, they explore its spacier realms very nicely. while many people think of 97 as a very funky year, phish was also pulling off some very nice exploratory space jams in 97. they boys really loosened up on this one, with trey really leading the jam before moving back around into the bowie coda. after a very nice jamming opening sequence, the boys mellow out with velvet sea. theme from the bottom really picks things up. leroi moore comes out for the theme jam and funky bitch, and this gets everyone going on a "multi instrument jam." leroi gets rolling on two saxes, page playing with hands/feet, trey on 2 guitars, etc. i'm sure this was entertaining but it does not really carry over to tape/disc really well. the slave to the close the set sure does though. nice rollicking loving cup closes this one down.

what a summer u.s. opener. there are some nice domestic debuts, some odd moments, and some damn good playing.

highlights:

set 1:
ghost, gin

set 2:
wolf>magilla>bowie, theme, bitch, slave