1997-06-25 Lille, FR

 Had no time this weekend for any Phish listening and my recent dump truck runs have not been conducive to audience recording listening. The next show of Euro '97 looks like a great one and I really wanted to properly listen to it.

So today, out of work early due to rain, I sit in Starbucks once more with my headphones and my laptop.

Onwards to 6/25/97 Lille!!!

Set 1

Olivia's Pool - Very potent version. Nothing special but gets us up and rocking.

Dogs Stole Things - Dogs is Dogs but tonight it works surprisingly great coming right out of Olivia like that. Think we've found the winning set placement! No, ya know what? This is a raging version. The energy is through the roof. This is what it needs to always sound like!!! Doesn't really need a highlight, but it didn't bore me tonight, so that should tell you something.

Taste - Man, is the energy through the ROOF tonight or what?!?!?! This version is absolutely GNARLY. PAGE THE RAGE!!!! PLAY IT, LEOOOOO!!!!! Then it dies down a bit while Trey begins his solo from scratch, patiently building it up note by note from ground zero. He stays down low and chill for a good long while. He takes forever building the solo until eventually you don't even realize that he is tearing it up and melting your face. THIS TASTE IS A NUCLEAR BOMB EXPLOSION!!! KILLER!!

Billy Breathes - A bit early for a ballad, but I will always take a great Billy. It's a good version, but nothing spectacular.

AC/DC Bag - And into a 10 minute Bag! This is gonna be great! Immediately at the 4 minute mark when the lyrics end, things get weird - the standard Type I jam section begins FUNKY!!! They lay it on thick from the start, Trey owning the hell outta that wah pedal, and keep playing the AC/DC themes but in an ultra-funky rendition! FUNKY BAG!!!! THIS IS SICK! At some point the funk slowly drifts away and they move into the standard Bag jamming you expected to get out of the song. Very slick! From here they take their time and just rage it out to a conclusion. And just like that 10 minutes has passed, lol. MUST HEAR!!!! INCREDIBLE!!!

The Old Home Place - Is The Old Home Place

Theme From the Bottom - Hot damn potatoes and biscuits!!! It doesn't begin as anything special, but the grindy outro jam makes this a must-listen. Sonic Noize Destruction. Not anything THAT special, but it's definitely worth a mention!!!

Wading in the Velvet Sea - Man, this song is appearing all over the place in setlists so far, but this comes excellently out of the droning wash of Theme. What a great "landing pad" kind of song if placed correctly! Very fine version but nothing special.

Saw It Again - The next highlight of the set, this version gets going hot from the outset and feels like it has more "substance" than some other versions. It doesn't feel as "slight" tonight as it sometimes does in other shows. And they proceed to just lay the F into this sucker for 5 smash-your-head minutes. Glorious, meltdowny stuff!

Limb By Limb - Very nice. Another strong version but doesn't really distinguish itself.

My Soul - Great, rocking version to close. See Olivia's Pool


All in all, this was a great little set. It won't blow your mind and there weren't many highlights, but go in with no expectations and you will have a great time. It's very "straight to the point, let's just rock". I'd say AC/DC Bag is THE must-hear material. Great energy and the guys sound very enthusiastic tonight, but this definitely had "warming up" vibes about it.
   

Set 2

Down With Disease - Alright! A 32 minute Disease>Piper>Disease!!!! Wow!!! Rages hard type 1 until the first signs of deviation occur around the 7 minute mark. Blazing along at lightspeed, Trey starts to do some more riffy kinds of stuff in his soloing. At 8:45, the jam suddenly slows down to half tempo and we move into a more bluesy kind of swaggering rock and roll area. Sick. Around the 9:30 mark things take another shift - Trey jumps onto the Porno Wah Deluxe and the jam begins it's descent into goopy vamping.
-----Suddenly, around the 11 minute mark, Page comes in on some textural synths! The jam slows down even more into a more laid-back kind of area. Fishman is annihilating the kit like Carter Beauford, but the whole thing is taking on this heavily psychedelic vibe!!! This is freaking incredible!!! This is A+++ jamming!!! Page is coming in and out on the synths, picking his spots, while Trey slowly shreds it up hotter than the sun.
----Then, out of nowhere, at the 13 minute mark, Fishman speeds up the tempo and we launch back into a lightspeed ragefest supreme!!!! LET'S FREAKING GO!!!! There is so much going on, I can barely keep up with the jam as I write this!!!! From here they proceed to BURN DOWN THE MOTHER EFFING HOUSE LIKE A NUCLEAR BOMB!!!!!! SHRED IT UP!!! BANG YOUR HEAD!!!!! I CAN'T RAGE ANY HARDER THAN THIS!!!!! HOLY MOTHER OF NUCLEAR BOMB!!!!!
---Finally, around 15:30, Fishman comes to our rescue once more and slows the rhythm back down for a brief moment, causing the band to follow suit, Trey moving back to vamping on the Porno Wah. That was in incredibly "come down" moment. Wow! And Page comes out with the piano. And into the porno funk we go....They lay into it hard and deep, everyone taking their sweet, glorious time and doing the best funky jamming you can imagine. My god this is incredible.
---Around the 21 minute mark, the funk slowly fades away and a sweet kind of night-time ambience begins to take hold. Surprised there ain't a looper going! Page moves over to the organ and the whole thing just becomes incredibly quiet, like somebody turned the volume knob down.

And with that, Disease fades off into....

>Piper - The longest version yet!!! This one is nearly 7 minutes!! But that's not saying much. It's still basically just a glorified intro, though it does begin to build in intensity in a major way the longer it goes. Very slowly, as it builds, Trey begins to go nuts more and more on the wah pedal. By the "end" of it, it's raging as hard and hot as the initial jam in Disease. Speaking of which...

>Disease reprise - Trey sees his spot and perfectly leads the band back into the song for a couple glorious, fire-to-the-face minutes to conclude this epic sandwich, finishing it off with the Can't You Hear Me Knocking riff.

Oh my freaking god, that was one of the greatest Phish jams I've ever heard. Is that Disease known as an all-timer?! That is ESSENTIAL listening!! 

>Meatstick - ...and out of CYHMK and into the debut of the infamous Meatstick!!! The Disease jam technically never stopped and instead they just kept on "riffing around", letting the music move them onwards. Slowly Gordo begins to pop his bass and move us back into a more rhythmic area, though we are still very uptempo. Over this strange, uptempo jamming, propelled by Cactus, Trey randomly begins singing the lyrics to Meatstick!!! Well, the chorus anyways. THIS IS WACKY AS ALL GET OUT!!!!! Near the end, Page begins to slowly reassert himself on the synths, but only just. Picking his spots to come in and out of the jam. Fishman starts playing with the percussion and this thing is one gloriously strange rhythmic kind of...something. I don't even know how to describe this. The jam begins to slow down and take on a much funkier, almost latin vibe about it.....

>McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters - WHAT THE HELL?!?!? FUNKY MCGRUPP??!?!?!?!?! In one of the most astonishing moments in all of Phishstory, Trey begins playing the lead line of McGrupp, but with the wah pedal and the band all funky-like!!! Page even begins to throw in terrifiying snythnesizers atop it all!!! And it's not just the lead lick, they follow it onwards and move into the actual song! X. FACTOR. MAGIC. Let it be known, on this day, in Lille, the Jam Gods graced us with this masterpiece of insanity. Suddenly, once the vocals begin, the jam moves from funkiness and into REGGAE?!?!?! REGGAE MCGRUPP!!!!!! WHAT IS HAPPENNING!!!! The song continues and more strange bass FX and synthesizers come in and out. HE LOOKS TOO MUCH LIKE DAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eventually, by nature of the song, they are forced to move back into the "standard" way of playing the piece. By the time we get to Page's solo, it has all died down to nothingness, and we get an eerie, extra-introspective playout from him. Slowly they awkwardly start to build it back up, coming back in one at a time while the crowd begins to clap along. Finally the ridiculousness comes to a close and Trey fires up his "Ghost intro looper".

>Makisupa Policeman - Alas, Ghost is not to be tonight. Fun as usual, nothing really special, but it gets the highlight.

>Cecilia - Fish vocal on this. Uniqueness factor, lol. Wtf.

>Hold Your Head Up - And into the classic we all love to hate.

>Rock a William - And into Rock a William. Still not a fan of this song.

Run Like An Antelope - Very lengthy version. Does it's Antelope thing and melts your face. Good stuff.

Guyuute - Guyuute is Guyuute but points for it being the encore!


All in all.....the Disease>Piper>Disease>Meatstick>McGrupp is beyond essential listening. You can pretty much throw the rest of the show away if you want, but that sequence needs to be put in the Smithsonian or something. That was once-in-a-lifetime music being played right there. Incredible stuff that everyone needs injected straight into their brain case. My god,.