Mike's new bass provided an element the band didn't even know it was missing, and this show is the first joyous exploration of that element. If you're a Phish fan you should have the album 'Slip Stitch and Pass,' which is a defining document for the band. The Wolfman's > Jesus, Mike's > Lawn Boy > Weekapaug, and dramatic Cities opener are (unsurprisingly) the must-hear portions; Wolfman's Bro is the slinky, slimy highlight, a first-of-its-kind funk jam that establishes the template for the rest of the year. This is one of those few historically-important Phish shows that remains a great listen, and along with the 'Remain in Light' set it kicks off an astonishing growth period for the band.

this show was immortalized on the album slip stitch and pass, which, in my opinion, is the best single disc phish has released. the album has something for everyone, new and old, but believe me, there is some good stuff in the rest of this show too.

cities is a fantastic opener. obviously, i was very happy that this became a quasi part of the rotation. of course, this version is not as exploratory as the one at ventura, the great went, or deer creek, but what a good break out. nice tight version too. the oh kee pah ceremony is solid,and the dwd in the first is somewhat jammy. it does not go all the way out there, but it does the job. weigh is well-played, and beauty gives these fine german folks a taste of good 'ol american blue grass. then there is this wolfman's brother. this song had never been a vehicle for exploration, but this version breaks the mold. it only clocks in at 13 or so minutes, but they make every second count. this is such tight, funky jamming. this one, after probably 100+ 12-13 min wolfman's have been played, really stands the test of time. it still stands out as a marquee version. especially, when you factor in the nice bluesy segue into a stellar jjlc. page sounds great on vocals here, and trey rips off some nice bluesy solos. they don't slow down here. they fly right into a killer reba. this one was not so frequent in '97, as opposed to the previous 3 years, but this one really soars. hello my baby appears poised to close the set, but then they pull out a best of year candidate possum. this one is over the top crazy. trey wails on some very cool heavy metal jamming in the intro here. this one rocks from start to finish....check it out.

carini and dinner and movie are a nice, funny opening pairing, and they get the crowd poised for a mind blowing mike's groove. this one, like the jams in the first set, is very nice and focused. they ride the mike's song's climaxes oh so well before letting a sense of humor slip in. i love the careful with that ax/the end jam. it goes through a playful arabic section with trey and fish having some enjoyable back and forth. of course there is fish letting trey off the hook with the "mother...." "I want to borrow the car..." hilarious! they eventually land in a solid lawn boy before rising into a mind bending weekapaugh. trey and gordon were sharp, as usual on this song, but check out page's playing on this beauty. he bounces and pings off of trey throughout a send up take of weekapaugh. the mango song provides a nice breather, and they play a lovely and gentle take of billy breathes after that. they bring it up a notch with a very cool theme from the bottom. i wish they would close more sets with this song; i feel it leaves the crowd in a very unusual place....way better than cheesier alternatives like character zero. taste and adeline work well in the encore slot. taste is particularly nimble.

this show is a definite classic. slip stitch will get you by, but you may want to get the rest of the show too. this show has excellent flow, great playing, and a very "phan" friendly setlist.

highlights:
set 1:
cities (for the break out factor), wolf>jjlc, reba, possum (maybe the best song left off the album)

set 2:
carini, mike's>lawn>weekapaugh, theme from the bottom

More a sum of its parts show than a cohesive statement, which makes the fact that it was divvied up into Slip, Stitch & Pass as a single disc rather than just released as a full concert make a bit more sense than it would appear at first blush. But oh golly, how good those parts are - the much-loved return of Cities, which would get taken out for a ride a few times in the year; the extraordinarily exciting Wolfman's, an early blueprint of the masterful "let's ride this wave" funk jams of the summer and fall; a killer segue into Jesus Just Left Chicago, which moves from silence to an explosive peak with tremendous ease; a Mike's Song that Mike's Songs its way along before collapsing into an eerie space and hilariously shaping into The End and then segues (!) into Lawn Boy (?!); and, finally, a typical up-and-atom Weekapaug that morphs into Can't You Hear Me Knocking 10/26/10 style and ends in that manner instead of with the typical Weekapaug close. 2/17 is probably the deeper show, but this has the highest highs of the Winter '97 tour, and if you don't want to hunt Slip, Stitch and Pass down the spreadsheet has a quite nice SBD for your listening pleasure.

it should be mentioned that the rolling stones "cant you hear me knocking" was heavily teased at the end of weekapaug.

Having heard Slip Stitch and Pass a few times, I dove into this show not expecting too much of a surprise. I mostly anticipated a few fluffed songs to fill out the sets and figured all of the especially praiseworthy material would be in the SS&P-featured tunes. While the band certainly curated some great highlights from this show for their second official live release, there is plenty left on the table in terms of meaty jams and expert musicianship. Top to bottom this show brings high energy and lives up to the Europe ‘97 hype. I’d highly recommend digging through this whole show (including the super fucking fun Attack on the Bass sound check!!)

[/u]Setlist Thoughts[/u]
- Cities is slightly upbeat and brings a bouncy funk to start the show. I also learned that this was a major bust out that hasn’t been played since ‘94–never realized that on SS&P
- First new track, Oh Kee Pa is short, sweet, and tight. Gets the band fired up for a nice DwD. Primarily Type I, Disease maintains a high energy beat for a while, dips into a funky wah groove, and even ventures for a moment to a rock blues cadence for a bit. I was expecting the band to pull out Johnny B. Goode, but Trey decides to take us back to finish DwD instead.
- Another reminder of the show I’m listening to, it’s interesting to hear Weigh come in before Wolfman’s (as I know it from Slip). This one poses a bit of a challenge for Trey (“Practice,” he reminds himself afterward), who can’t quite nail all the riffs from the studio track. That said, the band pulls a quick audible and Fishman steps in with some sweet drum fills to take up the empty space. Page and Mike are groovy.
- Beauty of My Dreams is one of my favorite bluegrass tunes these guys do. Page owns the keys super well here.
- Ah, here it is. Wolfman’s Brother -> JJLC is a major high point of this show. Wolfman’s settles into some tasty funk and let’s Mike establish some great melodic themes. Trey takes us into a JJLC for the absolute ages. Page is killer on vocals and absolutely lethal on his piano solo. Trey follows suit, first bringing the volume down to literal 0 (you can here his unamplified guitar continue to solo for a minute between woo’s and shush’s). From here, the whole band catches fire and blasts off into another level of the atmosphere with a solo section that makes one say “Jesus.” Only thing they can do from here is pull the plug on a dime and waltz their way into the final verse. And boy do they do that perfectly.
- Boy is it rare to hear me say this, but Reba might be the low point of the set (at least in comparison to expectations). It’s still a great performance: the band navigates the composed section well; Page, Mike and Fishman lay a good backdrop for the jam; Trey begins with light playful staccato licks and works his way up the fretboard to some nice peaks. In my opinion they pull the plug in a weird spot. It feels like Trey has more gas in the tank. But hey, still a good Reba. They cool off with an a cappella Hello My Baby (the third cover song to make it’s way onto Slip)
- Possum wraps up first set with some fucking POWER. Frankly I’m surprised this one wasn’t included on the official release, cuz this tune is HOT. Trey introduces some heavy tri-tone power chord patterns from the second the band hits the drop. This reprises later in his solo, acting as a trebuchet to launch the whole band into orbit to wrap up the tune and set.
- New kid on the block Carini gets a shorter treatment (rare to see this one clock in at less than 4 minutes these days). It’s clear that this tune isn’t yet the anthem it will soon become, but Page gives this one some nice highlights (namely the heavily filtered acid bass synth hits, and some awesome organ harmonization on the final lyrics).
- Dinner and a Movie gives Trey a little bit of trouble, but ultimately still a fine tune to precede the beast that is to come.
- This Mike’s Groove is absolutely beastly. Trey absolutely shreds over the Mike’s jam before the band lands in some ominous, looking space. Page sets the tone with some fugue-like organ notes, and the energy drops to take the shape of a The End-esque groove. Trey keeps a high note swirling in the background, as if to keep a bookmark for the energy that they’ve stored up and will revisit in Weekapaug. But first, Trey takes a really sweet solo, we get some Doors/Pink Floyd quotes, and a nice Lawn Boy fills the sandwich. Weekapaug picks up the pace and eventually evolves into an awesome Can’t You Hear Me Knocking jam thanks to Trey. The band finishes it out as the Stones tune but brings some amazing pep as it does so.
- Not much to note about Mango Song or Billy Breathes, but both are played very well. Trey’s solo on BB isn’t quite as grand as the studio version, but definitely gets where it needs to be. The rest of the band is awesome support. Theme from the Bottom does its usual cacophonous build before bringing it home to close Set 2.
- Taste encore is sweet. Not quite as grand as the thunder-driven version that comes later this year at Walnut Creek, but definitely one for the books. Page, Trey, and Fishman are crazy. Fishman’s drums make it sounds like some sort of tribal ritual for a minute there, very cool.
- The band capitalizes on the small German venue once more for an a cappella Sweet Adeline to finish the show.

I'm not sure how much I can add, except that after listening to this whole tour front to back, this show stands out as having one of the best setlists, THE best jams, and the best overall flow and phish-iness.
Wolfman's is THE jam of the tour, and the Weekapaug (first of tour!!!) is one of the better type I james.

5/5

This is probably my favorite single show that I've ever seen (not counting festivals) and was the highlight of the 3 shows they'd performed in Germany on that European tour. The venue was amazing and it felt like we were right up on stage with the guys and, afterwards, Mike was out milling around signing autographs and talking with us. This was the first time I'd ever heard Possum and the Careful With that Axe, Eugene teases sent me through the roof. My only complaint was the shusshing of everyone when the guys tried to sing a cappella.

Anyone else hear a What's The Use tease at the around 5:20 mark of taste?

Check out the Manteca tease by Page during Carini. Great 2nd set!

PHISH, SATURDAY 03/01/1997
MARKTHALLE
Hamburg, Germany
Soundcheck: Attack on the Bass

SET 1:

Cities: Standard. >

The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony: A little sloppy.

Down with Disease: Short barn burner.

Weigh: Seemed like they really enjoyed playing this.

Beauty of My Dreams: Standard.

Wolfman's Brother: Great staccato playing from Trey in the early going, dude is definitely picking and grinning! Things get 97 funky from there and then they slow it way down and perfectly segue into Jesus. Would recommend! ->

Jesus Just Left Chicago: Seems like a normal version to me.

Reba[1] -- Very strong playing – energetic and bouncy throughout but doesn’t quite have a signature moment.

Hello My Baby: Standard.

Possum[2] - Strong, very strong and coupled with two heavy metal segments, pushes this one over the top. Would recommend.

SET 2:

Carini: Standard.

Dinner and a Movie: Standard. >

Mike's Song: Inspired first jam. On point and played with clear intent, to destroy minds. The second jam is creepy and spacy. With all the eventual The End and Careful with that Axe stuff and the screaming – it’s a lot to handle. All timer and highly recommended. ->

Lawn Boy: Standard. >

Weekapaug Groove[3] - The Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ stuff is a hoot and a half. Very fun version.

The Mango Song: A bit sloppy. >

Billy Breathes: Standard.

Theme From the Bottom: Interesting set closer.

ENCORE:

Taste: Standard.

Sweet Adeline: Standard.

Summary: Great show and the release certainly has helped it’s popularity over the years. 4/5.

Replay Value: Wolfman’s Brother, Possum, Mike’s Song

[1] No whistling.
[2] All Fall Down signal and heavy metal-style intro.
[3] Unfinished.

The week-long trend of breaking out songs continued with the show-opening Cities, which was the first since July 5, 1994 (223 shows). Trey teased Under Pressure in DWD. Wolfman’s included a Dave’s Energy Guide tease. Reba did not have the whistling ending. Possum included an All Fall Down signal and a heavy metal-style intro. The jam out of Mike’s featured teases and vocal quotes of The End (The Doors), and Careful with That Axe, Eugene as well as the Jim Morrison poem "Dawn's Highway." The End (The Doors) was subsequently quoted in Lawn Boy and Weekapaug. Weekapaug was unfinished and ended in a Can't You Hear Me Knocking jam. Portions of this show were made available via the Slip, Stitch and Pass release.
JAM CHART VERSIONS
Wolfman's Brother, Jesus Just Left Chicago, Possum, Mike's Song, Weekapaug Groove
TEASES
Dave's Energy Guide tease in Wolfman's Brother, The End (The Doors) and Careful with That Axe, Eugene tease & quotes in Mike's Song, The End (The Doors) quote in Lawn Boy, The End (The Doors) and Can't You Hear Me Knocking quotes in Weekapaug Groove, Under Pressure tease in Down with Disease

One of the greats! I would listen to the Taste everywhere i could when S,S & P came out. I'd sneak listens at work and school like an alcoholic with a flask, I would know.
But, there's one thing I do wonder- do you think Trey's quoting Dawn's Highway because of the poem or because those 2 lines are used in their song Peace Frog? I'd like to ask him if y'all could arrange that.
Thanks phish dot net! Love you

The Manteca tease by Page in Carini should be noted. He plays this instead of the usual main riff. Really cool stuff here!