Probably won't get far as I'm extremely sporadic with listening these
days, but to give myself another break from 2012 I've decided to listen
through the officially released shows in order of release.
I don't have a copy of A Live One, so I'm starting wrongly by playing
3/1/97 Hamburg, of which selected highlights comprised Slip Stitch and
Pass 
3/1/97 Hamburg
Set 1 -
Cities - Listening out of "context", it's very weird getting a
Cities opener!! Great stuff, super funky and still very fresh at this
point. I'm listening to a SBD/AUD matrix that sounds great. Nice and
thick. Lots of Cactus for sure! Great little version to open. Sounds darker than some other ones I've heard for some reason.
Oh Kee Pah Ceremony - Weird to get this in a set in 1.0 like it's
nothing when these days it's an uber-rarity. Anyone know why they rarely
play it compared to the other bluegrass songs?
Down With Disease - Not super lengthy by '97 standards yet, but fire and
passionate as we expect. Around 3:30 though we start going into Jam
Land! Blissful piano-led Type 1.5, so to speak. But eventually Page
returns to the DWD theming and for a number of minutes it's just pure
Type I raging. But by 7 minutes or so Trey sounds unsure of what
direction to lead us. Fishman and Gordo are both destroying worlds just
absolutely TEARING IT UP in the back with Page soon matching their
intensity as well. Around 7:30, Trey introduces a little repeating motif
that the other guys pick up on. Once the other guys have latched on,
Trey proceeds to jump onto the wah pedal for lots of porn-inspired funk
vamping. Interesting that Page is still on piano - if this was 3.0 I bet
he'd be on a synth or something. But Trey then gets off the wah and
starts trying to rock out again, yet he still sounds unsure of where to
go, just doing "rhythm vamping". Eventually Page gets on the organ and
everyone locks in and begins to decrease the tempo. This occurs around 9
minutes and it's a wonderful example of everyone listening to each
other and playing as one. But Trey realizes this ship is sinking and
decides to cut the cord, leading the band back into Down With Disease
around 9:30. This was not a success. This was an example of "well, at least they tried". Very underwhelming and uncertain-sounding jamming.
Weight - Great version! God dang Gordo is just RIGHT UP FRONT in
the mix and sounds amazing. The polar opposite of the recent LivePhish
recordings 
Great guitar soloing by Trey that is just exactly perfect.
Beauty of My Dreams - Is Beauty. Is good.
Wolfman's Brother - Isn't this where they say "cow funk" was created or something? Jesus, Cactus laying it down THICK
on this bass-heavy recording!!! Really, really loving the funky wah
pedal guitar fills Trey is doing during the verses!!! Absolutely A+ Type
I jamming around 4 minutes. Sounds like a studio version in the making.
Listen to Gordo popping it up while Page plays with his own wah pedal
and Trey just yanks notes out of his axe. Around 7 minutes things slowly
start to drift sideways. Still blissfully upbeat, Page
and Trey start doing a long stretch of syncopated, rhythmic playing
together. Eventually they separate and we are back to terrific Type I
around 9 minutes, awaiting the natural "death" point of the jam. But instead, Page and Trey lock in once more and around 9:15 we somehow FLIP
right into Type II!! Fishman turns the beat into a different beast,
more cowbell and rhythmic in nature. Page jumps on the Clavinet (I
think) and Page starts doing his porno-wah scratches. Ah yea, here we
go. Around 10 minutes Page starts introducing piano in tight spurts
alongside the keys. Sounds great! Gordo takes center stage for a while
introduces a motif the others jam off of. I swear, Page and Trey are just locked in perfectly in this jam, constantly reacting to one another.
And by 11 minutes Trey is doing his best funky "swells". Fishman starts
accenting on the cymbals while Page does the same with piano. Really,
the whole band is just incredibly locked in as a unit. This is terrific
full-band jamming. It doesn't sound SUPER special in comparison to
later stuff, but I'm aware at the time this was a special jam, no? 13
minutes and Trey turns off the wah, returning to tasteful fills and
rhythm pieces that the other guys latch onto once more. The jam slooooowwwwssssss doooooowwwwwnnnnnn interestingly and turns into a super smooth funky groove for all of 5 seconds before turning into......
>Jesus Just Left Chicago - Killer, killer, killer. Love it when they bring the song down to a whisper! And then Trey tears the roof off the place!
Reba - Absolutely terrific Reba with a nearly flawless composed section. Not classic but still a standout reading, I thought.
Possum - Is Possum. Destroys as predicted. Almost heavy-metal in spots! 
All in all...wow, what a set!!! I'm definitely not a primo "sponge
sucking in the music" mode today (very tired, too much caffeine and
adderall, not enough sleep). I would be raging more on another day. But I
enjoyed the HELL out of this!! I have listened to the Wolfman's a bunch
in the past but not for a long time at this point. Great to finally
hear it in the context of the show!!! Great set! Didn't absolutely blow
me away, but the WB>JJLC is absolutely top-tier, must-hear Phish.
They picked this show for a reason, yo.
Set 2
Carini - Super weird again to hear it with the original lyric
structure!!! Only the 5th Carini ever played and quite short. Barely
passing 4 minutes, it pales compared to the monster we would soon know
it to be, but it's still a young tyke at this point, so it gets some
slack. Love Page's organ/piano mix during the outro "CARINI HAD A LUMPY HEAD" refrains!!! VERY cool!!!! All
in all nothing special, but a unique little version. Could be good if
you were compiling a non-album songs compilation or something.
Dinner and a Movie - First one since Red Rocks '96 and the very last one until Las Vegas 2000!!! A true rarity, it's only been performed, to this day, an additional ten times after this version. Unfortunately
it's nothing special beyond the rarity. Trey is doing his "I'm not
totally nailing this so I'm gonna play real quietly" thing. A+ for
effort though and ALWAYS great to hear!
>Mike's Song - Slamming right into the main riff out of DaaM,
the song goes as planned until the first jam begins around 3 minutes.
Super funky sexy jam supreme, yo. As expected, everyone is laying it DOWN THICK, with Trey choosing his spots to tastefully shoot out spurts of fire when appropriate. Some nice pinch harmonics even!! Fishman is annihilating the kit. He's
really locked into what Trey is doing! This takes that Wolfman and
blows it out of the friggin' water!!! Trey is making his guitar just MOAN in orgasmic delight!!! Ugh, this is some 12/6/97 Tweezerbella stuff..... I'm only 6 minutes into the track and already it's one of the greatest jams I've ever heard! IT'S INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!! This
goes on for a few minutes, everyone just riffing off each other,
spewing volcanic heat like it's the Yellowstone eruption. By 9 minutes Trey
is just MURDERING us!!! AXE ANNIHILATION DESTRUCTION!!!!! And Page
ain't doin' too shabby either - holy crap listen to him tearing it up
throughout. Just nuts. Around 9:45 the guys hit upon a weird
Egyptian/Halloween-sounding vibe somehow. The flaming volcanic fire dies
down to an ambient trickle, cymbal tapping to keep the time. Trey turns
his "repeater" on and Gordo is laying it down nice and thick. Trey is
doing his best "we are in Egypt" vibes. Type II Egypt Jam. That's what I'm calling this. It sounds like it's 3 am and we are sailing down the Nile staring up at the starry sky contemplating our existence. And then Trey comes in and tells us he's actually thinking about India and ghosts instead, haha. "CAREFUL WITH THAT AXE, EUGENE - SHRIEEEEKKK!!!!" Holy hell what is going on?!?!?! As we are drowning in the mire, Trey and Fishman start doing some rhythmic vibing and kill the jam. This
is the kind of stuff we live for - this Mike's jam. Stuff that's crazy
and unexpected and ridiculous. "How did we get here?!". The moments are
rare, but they keep us coming back, that's for sure!!!
>Lawn Boy - Talk about a song I didn't expect out of that weirdo
excursion!!!! Very nice. LB is LB. This ain't the Baker's Dozen. 
>Weekapaug Groove - Absolutely barnstorming,
world-destroying version!!!! Exactly as you expect in the best way!!!
Are they quoting something in the jam near the end when they all start a
motif for a bout a minute? Even ends with a Can't You Hear Me Knocking
bit. Terrific Paug!!! A++
The Mango Song - Always a treat to hear! A nice cool-down after Paul that still keeps the party raging! Really great Page soloing!!!!
Billy Breathes - Gorgeous as always. Perfectly placed. *chef's kiss*
Theme From the Bottom - Doesn't seem very special to start, but the jamming is so damn powerful!!! I
mean, it's majestic, almost!!! Just balls to the wall sonic intensity
pulsating out of the speakers. Everyone doing their absolute best Type I
raging like it's 2011 or something. FANTASTIC!!!
Taste - Cool to get Taste in the encore slot! Fantastic Page on
the piano! The jam just build and builds and builds. Finally around 4:15
Page lets Trey take over and the band bring the mood down a little bit.
I can just picture dimmed lights - loads of atmosphere. Trey tastefully
(no pun intended, I swear) picking his spots again. Plucking those
"right" notes out of the air at the perfect moments. *chef's kiss* But soon enough this evolves in to the as-expected Machine Gun Trey explosion of notes and fire Incredible Taste all around - EVERYONE was freaking killing it. Holy hell, best Taste ever?!
Sweet Adeline - Is SW
And with that I complete my first full listen-through of 3/1/97,
Hamburg, the source of Slip Stitch and Pass. I can definitely see why
they cherry-picked the show for that release as this was a show without
any major lows, but the highlights were OBVIOUS, ya know what I mean?
Nothin' wrong with that! You know it's a good show when Down With
Disease was the worst thing played! On the whole, I think set 1 was more
uneven than set two and felt as if the band was faltering for a while,
trying to figure it all out. Things didn't really gel until Weigh showed
MUCH promise, but the Wolfman>Jesus Just Left chicago is the obvious
must-hear portion of the set. Reba too if I'm being generous. Set 2 on
the other hand was damn spectacular from start to finish, ESPECIALLY
once that MAGICAL Mike's Song began!!!
Awesome show. Don't miss out!
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