1997-07-03 Nuremburg, GER

 7/3/97 Nuremburg

Set 1

Piper - The show gets off to a terrible start with a complete nothing-burger of a Piper. Still in it's infancy, they play the "song" at a lazy, midtempo pace for 4 minutes, just repeating the dang words over and over and over again ad nauseum. Boring and pointless. NEXT!

My Soul - Of course, being Europe 1997, they have to shove a My Soul in there! After that terrible show opening, at least we get an actual SONG now! Everyone delivers solid solos and this version is pretty lengthy, nearing 7 minutes. But it never truly impresses or goes that extra mile. It's merely adequate. Such is life. Admittedly, it does start to gather a nice head of steam near the end, but it's too little too late.

>Divided Sky - I guess I'm gonna call that a segue. And into the ONLY Divided Sky of the tour, apparently, what a welcome setlist diversion it is! Compositionally, they nail all of the complex parts just fine and it sounds well-rehearsed! Thank goodness! As mentioned by another reviewer, is there a possible cut in the recording during the "break" section? It becomes ABSURDLY silent. Beyond the usual. Good lord, you'd think this was a Japanese audience! The rest of the song is positively powerful and downright energetic when it wants to be. Not an all timer, but I'd say this Divided Sky has some legs and is worth a listen. Being the only one of the tour, there are a few "loose" moments, but nothing you'd really call a flub. I'd call this a big winner overall! Around the 12:30 mark, Trey absolutely loses his marbles and LET'S IT FRIGGIN RIP! SHRED THAT SUCKER, BIG RED! Excellent Divided Sky!!!!

Beauty Of My Dreams - Not essential, but it feeds off the energy of that Divided Sky and turns in a roaring performance. Good stuff!

Taste - Another very strong Taste from Europe 1997! 11 minutes on this sucker! As expected, they lay hard into this one and deliver a smashing rendition. Page just TEARS IT UP on the piano before Trey comes in all sly and smooth-like, building the jam up quietly again. He takes his time, slowly letting it evolve, until around the 7 minute mark Trey steps on the wah pedal and the thing absolutely EXPLODES! Taste has gone nuclear!!! This is one of the most powerful, melt-tastic Taste's I have ever heard. Absolutely must hear!!!!! Seek this out, PRONTO!!! TREY SHREDS THIS SUCKER TO A PULP!

Train Song - is Train Song

Theme From the Bottom - Excellent version worth a listen. Not much to say, but I thought it delivered. The back section gets very "sonic noize explosion" in the best way. Awesome!

Rocky Top - is Rocky Top


All in all, this set wont win any awards. The Divided Sky and Taste are both must hear and Theme was very good, but on the whole, the word that comes to mind is "average". Not bad, just ok. Solidly enjoyable.

Decent set. Wtf is that stupid opening Piper though..... 

Set 2

Ghost - For a show that's a been a little bit....lacking compared to the 2 Amsterdam masterpieces immediately preceeding it, one can't say they held anything back with this 2nd set opening beast!!!! 30 friggin minutes!!! Is this the longest Ghost ever?! Funky yet rocking as ever, the initial round of jamming, circa 6 minutes in, sees Trey leaning hard into some growly guitar bending, accented by Page's synths in the background. Around the 9 minute mark, this initial "growly" rock jam gives way to a little more spacious and melodic noodling. Page asserts himself more on the piano and Trey's playing becomes more "typical".
---Dead on at the 11 minute mark, as if on perfect cue, the entire band drop down into a quiet area of playing. Still melodic soloing, but they are keeping the "volume" of the jam very low key and quiet. By 12:45, Page begins to layer in backing synths, giving this a bit of a spooky kind of feel. Fishman is keeping the fire going but we are still laying down low. This is sick.
---Over the course of several minutes the start to build the intensity back up, almost returning to "normal" volume, before deciding to keep things low and spooky! By the 15 minute mark, some darkly blissful quasi-ambient kind of jamming starts to emerge. Suspenseful piano chords, Trey repeating chiming motifs, the whole kinda starting to swirl in that way. It's not out of control, but it's heading down that path. It's like a beautifully restrained chaos or something to that effect.
---By 17 minutes the "swirl" is in full effect - Trey has set a looper, Fishman changes up the rhythm, and the blissfulness turns into a some kind of strange, rhythmic jamming instead. This slowly evolves into a strange, blissful-yet-suspenseful, uptempo kind of quasi-latin jam sequence. Huh, this is pretty interesting!!!! By 19:30 it coalesces a bit into something more solid and sounds like a twisted jam off of a Runaway Jim or Buried Alive. Very cool!! They why they are SLOWLY just morphing from one section to another is so satisfying! Zero "ripcording" or forcing of ideas - this is full on GO WITH THE FLOW jamming at its finest!!!
---Around 20:30, the entire band sync up together on this one motif (you'll recognize this when you hear it.). An intense kind of funk rock oddity evolves. Rock and roll soloing ensues like this is the back half of a good Loving Cup or something. How the hell did it morph into this?! That's what I'm talking about!!! Solid rock and roll riffing follows, the whole band rocking the hell out, Trey getting in good with a "classic rock" kind of vibe going on. I think there are even Ghost vocals happenning in the background as well. This is badass!
---Right at the 24 minute mark, the rock and roll jamming slows back down on a dime and they return completely to an ultra-funky, stuck in the murk funk jam!!!!! COMPLETE GHOST JAM REPRISE! LET'S GO! For several glorious minutes, they play Ghost again, slowly deconstructing the song/vamp into near nothingness. They are just getting it on the down-low, ya dig? Absolutely FILTHY Trey and Page during this section complemented by great Gordo fills during the stop-start portion around 27:45.
---And this is how the jam concludes, with each guy slowly deconstructing their part, bit by bit until Ghost is all but demolished. They quite literally laid this one to rest in the finest way possible.



Oh, my, good golly. That was one of the finest pieces of music I've heard the boys put down. If that's not in contender for Top 5 or 8 versions of Ghost ever played then I don't know what the hell would be. This was as close to PERFECTION as an improv based jam can get! It was downright orchestral in the way it moved through multiple styles and sections, each given time to grow and expand properly before evolving flawlessly into the next part of the piece. And the way they returned the song proper, only to tear it apart and finish it off like it was being tucked into bed at night....FLAWLESS!

X. FACTOR. MAGIC.

The Nuremburg Ghost, Ladies and Gents.........

 >Cars, Trucks, Buses - So, the Big Daddy Ghost Supreme finishes up and they boys perfectly launch into CTB like it's just the next part of the jam. And this is a stellar reading!! Page shreds the hell out of it and Trey goes nuts with the wah pedal. The extra funk flavor works much better than you can ever imagine and this version feels like it carries significant heft that you would never expect. Fantastic reading!!!

Billy Breathes - Out of CTB comes a much welcome breather. A very strong (what version isnt?!) reading of Billy Breathes is just what the doctor ordered. This one feels very powerful and full of extra spunk. Trey lays into it particularly hard, giving it everything he's got and it ends up being a terrific reading!

Sparkle - Is Sparkle, but in the scheme of this set, even this feels like it has extra mustard to it!!!! And it's a perfect placement to get us up and moving quickly after Billy Breathes. No need to highlight it, but it's an excellent version!!!!! Really!

>Harry Hood - Heck yes, into Hood we go! Reading online, nobody seems too excited about this Hood, but it kills in my book. Not an all timer, but it really shines with the perfect slow-build nature on display. This version is like watching someone take the intensity knob starting at "1" and slowly click it upwards, one number at a time, until they reach "10" and rip it off. I'd say this is worth a listen or two!!!! If you're in the mood for an underrated Hood, check this one out!

Cavern - Is Cavern. Closes the set.

Character Zero - is the sole encore tonight. Hot as ever. Funny to hear Trey complain about his monitors during the final song of the show!


All in all, set 1 was pretty lukewarm - not bad in anyway, but Divided Sky and Taste are what you need. Set felt much more cohesive. The Ghost is an absolute masterpiece. It's 30 minutes and feels like 10 - it just FLIES by! A definite all-timer version well-deserving of much recognition. ESSENTIAL listening for ANY fan! The rest of the set keeps the vibes going and delivers the goods, even if they never manage to get things truly next-level again. That Cars, Trucks, Buses is worth a definite listen and I'd wager the Hood is worthy of attention as well.

I'd call this a strong B+ show with the massive weight of that Ghost looming large over the entire rest of the music played. If it wasn't for that Ghost it'd be among the weakest shows, but thankfully Ghost serves as a great "anchor" for the other songs to draw from. The 2nd set is honestly a much better listen on the whole than you might expect - definitely give the whole 2nd set a listen through!