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11.21.97, Hampton, VA

Friday, November 21, 1997

Hampton Colliseum, Hampton, VA

Set I: Emotional Rescue* -> Split Open and Melt, Beauty of My Dreams, Dog Stole Things, Punch You In The Eye -> Lawn Boy**, Chalk Dust Torture, Prince Caspian***

*debut, Rolling Stones cover, **w/anti-drum solo, ***w/digital delay loop ending

I'm sure that this set made my top ten as soon as I heard it. I remember going for a long drive, intent on listening to the set as a whole the day I got it from the trader downtown. The whole show is unreal, but I'll review the first set alone.

The first song is a must.hear. Period. What can be said about this jam, but wow. Much ground is covered, everything is shifting with multiple member and seam.less individual leads. The Hose from final refrain to segue. One of the best two song combos in Phish history develops out of this jam and jam following the flawless composed section of SOAMelt. The Split jam itself is fantastic, then melts back to the basic image set forth in ERescue. From there the build up is tremendous as the band takes the energy to the limit, red lining into the Split finale. The ERescue refrain sung in the closing buildup probably made some heads spin on Hampton's gen ad floor. I was blow away the first time I heard this.

The BOMD and DSThings are great. They might served as a cool down that night, but as stand alones are tight and aggresive. Trey solos the whole time in BOMD, which is very rare. The little touches in the intro to DSThings cues the crowd to more dancing. The PYITE here is one of my favorite versions of my favorite songs. It is raging and exact with a great intro and even better segue into Lawn Boy, during which Fish gives an 'anti-drum solo' (nice!). The CDTorture that follows is once again intense and very active. Its one of the best versions of the year and really could have served as the set closer. However, one of the more interesting Prince Caspians closes the set. This versions composed sections are right on and develops a great pace. As the jam builds, the key changes slightly as Trey tells the audience they will be back over the top of the jam. What was the jam disappears into fades and loops. As little pops wane, two loops are set as the band walks off stage to an electric curtain of repeating notes and low lights.

Scale of 9.5 to 10: 9.5

Note: If you haven't listened to the first two on this j.card in a while, do it tonight.