25 YEARS AGO I WENT EURO-PHISHIN' ... ????????????????

PHISH in Europe. PHISH at the Royal Albert Hall ... the adventure begins! After passing some time camping outside London before tour, playing tourist around London and surrounding area (Stonehenge was a cool place to stand and explore the area around the tourist trap that is Stonehenge), then foolishly missing the Ireland shows (had to meet friends, made plans to meet in London at a specific time on the 14th and no cell phones to notify a change of plans, I stuck with meeting my phriends), and then it was finally time to begin the PHISHin' excursion across from the British Isles and across the Continent.
The London show was surreal -- as much of the tour felt to me. I'd been getting deeper into the band for about 5 years at this point but walking out of the Royal Albert Hall, my 13th time seeing the band live since late '94, it felt like I'd just seen a new band, a band I hadn't seen before.

- SET I -
Opening with The Squirming Coil was an oddly beautiful choice that rang out sweetly in the old Hall ... and the night progressed from there into many *new* songs that had debuted in Ireland, and one that hadn't ... Dogs Stole Things, of course, tricked us into thinking we were being treated to Mound ... Taste had become a favourite of mine and we'd hear it a number of times over the coming weeks, and LOVE it every time ... the original slow Water In the Sky plodded along nicely, digging the band writing a tune in this vein and the lyrics seemed cool ... Sample is a tune I can rock to for 4min any time ... I knew Beauty of My Dreams from the few shows I'd acquired from the Winter Euro tour, so it was fun to hear it live ... Theme From the Bottom, like Taste, was a fav so always welcomed that watery groove into the climax ... Chalk Dust was fun and rockin', but the following Wolfman's perked my ears up to some of the new sounds I had on tapes from the Feb-Mar Euro tour (Amsterdam, Marktehalle, for example), I just loved the funked out sounds I was hearing -- the band had found a way to play this tune live without horns! -- it really is a nice little jam and very cool to hear in the development of Wolfman's live and the band's sound at the time ... the set-closing Oblivious fool was a fun romp (10 months later reappearing as the slinky Shafty).
Whew ... it was quite a set to swallow, first for me of the tour and with a small collection of local East Coast Canadians in attendance, 8 of us in total all from home, with only 4 of us moving on after this show to carry on to Amsterdam ... but pre-show the group of us all got together in Hyde Park for some phun and chillin', then we were in different spots inside ... the set break allowed us to chill in this beautiful building, I was with my other 3 fellow Canucks on Fish's side in the lower bowl, about halfway back (2 of us were really into PHISH, one was kinda into them, and for the other London was her phirst show!) ... I was especially glad to still be inside after almost getting tossed during 1st set for following our usual PHISHin' ritual of sparking up, only to be grabbed by an usher, drop the offending item, plead I don't know what he's talking about, and then got to stick for the remainder ... glad I did because 2nd set is where this show grabbed me completely, the power of the band's new sound ...

#dugEuroPhish97 ????????????????

enjoy the grooves,
dug
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