Phish Announces Virginia Beach 1997 Live Archival Release

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.

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.