Phish Announces Virginia Beach 1997 Live Archival Release

By Scott Bernstein Jul 23, 2020 10:52 am PDT

Phish will release official audio of their July 21, 1997 concert at the Virginia Beach Amphitheatre in Virginia Beach, Virginia at midnight tonight via LivePhish.com. The recording can be streamed by LivePhish+ subscribers and will also be available for download.

The quartet’s Virginia Beach Amphitheater debut on July 21, 1997 kicked off a 19-show U.S. Summer Tour. Video of the concert premiered in May via the band’s Dinner And A Movie live archival video series.

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Phish brought over a dozen songs debuted the previous month in Europe to the states with them for the U.S. tour. The quartet opened with four of those new originals: “Ghost,” “Dogs Stole Things,” “Piper” and “Dirt.” After “Ginseng Sullivan” came a standout version of “Bathtub Gin” that gave way to a set-closing “Character Zero.”

The band showed off their “cow funk” stylings during a run of “Wolfman’s Brother” into “Magilla” into “David Bowie” that kicked off the second set. Phish then played the recently debuted ballad “Wading In The Velvet Sea.” One of the more unusual versions of “Theme From The Bottom” followed as the members of the band and special guest LeRoi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band utilized multiple instruments during a wild jam. Moore stuck around for “Funky Bitch” before Phish went at it alone to end the set with “Slave To The Traffic Light.” A “Loving Cup” encore was tacked on for good measure.

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Set 1: Ghost > Dogs Stole Things > Piper, Dirt, Ginseng Sullivan > Bathtub Gin > Character Zero

Set 2: Wolfman's Brother -> Magilla > David Bowie, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Theme From the Bottom -> Jam [1] > Funky Bitch [2], Slave to the Traffic Light

Encore: Loving Cup

The jam during Bathtub Gin featured Trey jumping up and down in time with a syncopated jam, as well as strong Drowned teases. Near the end of the jam, Trey mentioned how good it was to be back home and named the four newer songs that were played. The beginning of Bowie included Radar Love teases from Mike and a Birdland jam and Wolfman’s included a Bathtub Gin tease. The jam out of Theme, as well as Funky Bitch, featured LeRoi Moore on saxophone. The jam with LeRoi included a segment where he played two saxes, Trey played three guitars, Mike played two basses and the Cracklin’ Rosie cymbals, Fish had four drumsticks and Page was lying across his keyboards playing as many as possible. At  one point, Trey grabbed two drumsticks and played them on Fish's cymbals and his guitar before tossing them into the crowd. LeRoi also teased the Woody Woodpecker theme during the jam.


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