Landing right in the middle of an intense touring period, there's virtually nothing distinctive about the band's first performance in Eugene, save the placement of some songs. The recording I listened to seems to have a slight pitch issue, but regardless none of the material performed on this night could be considered a noteworthy version.

The Forbins>Mockingbird contains no story embellishments and Bowie features some machine-gun style, repetitive riffing from Trey that's typical of the era.Not sure what prompted a set-closing BBFCFM or the double encore, but you're not missing much by skipping this show entirely.

This was a fun show, mostly because it was in Eugene, which is a fun town and who I met on the way out. WOW Hall is a sweet little venue with a "ballroom" upstairs that hold 600 people (there were not nearly that many in attendance) and a "bar" downstairs. According to Wikipedia, "the hall was installed with a hard rock maple dance floor to be used for square dancing and ballroom dancing." During the highpoints of the show, you could feel the floor swaying up and down a bit under the 200 or so people there. There were trampolines and vacuum solos. But otherwise, not memorable except that it was early in Phish history and not many people knew the band. I had really only listed obsessively to Lawn Boy up to this point in my Phish relationship and I remember thinking Suzy Greenberg and David Bowie were such great songs. I left a little early and on my way out I ran into the one and only, now deceased Ken Kesey. We chatted a bit about the show and he went on his merry way. According to Wikipedia, on August 14, 1997, Kesey and his Pranksters attended a Phish concert in Darien Lake, New York. Kesey and the Pranksters appeared onstage with the band and performed a dance-trance-jam session involving several characters from The Wizard of Oz and Frankenstein. So Kesey was a Phish Phan.

[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Kesey

Decent SBD source available for this show. There’s some buzzing sound noticeable when the band isn’t playing. Possible loose cable?

Jason Miller with the EMU Cultural Forum starts off the show by introducing the band. A straightforward Oh Kee Pah>Suzy gets the party started. Rock solid YEM with a short but fun VJ…Oh Yeah! Decent Llama. Forbin>Mockingbird features another Gamehendge Rap. Tape flip after Mockingbird. Very enjoyable Possum. A well played Golgi wraps up Set 1.

There’s still some buzzing sound in the background for Set 2. A Curtain>Jim combo gets the set started off right. Solid Bowie! Nice mid set Sky. Mike runs from the messages in BBFCFM to close out the second half. lol Double encore highlighted by a decent Magilla.