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Date:    Wed, 2 Sep 1998 12:08:55 -0500
From:    Christian McKee 
Subject: "Jams I Like" Pt.4: 11.23.97 Disease

Hello friends,
        I've gotten a few comments on these reviews, and at the very
least folks don't seem to hate them.  Sooooo, I'll keep posting them for
a while, at least.  I just got tapes of both nights at the Gorge, and
I'll try and get at least one tune from those shows in this.  Perhaps
the Reba, or maybe the Gumbo.  Anyway, today we look at the second half
of one of the better sets from '97.  Here's the setlist:

I: My Soul, Theme From the Bottom, Black-Eyed Katy, Sparkle, Twist
Around, Stash-> NICU, Fluffhead, Character Zero

II: Bathtub Gin->Down With Disease->Low Rider Jam->Down With Disease,
Bold as Love    E: Julius

General comments:  BATHTUB GIN!  This might get it's own review.  It's
amazing.  There are kind of two parts, the "regular" gin jam, and then
the rock jam towards the end, where they just go nuts for many, many
long minutes.  It's *really* intense.  First set isn't bad, but it's dog
shit compared with the second.  The Fluffhead isn't great, and nothing
else really stands out, except maybe the Stash.  BEK is cute, though.
Here's the review, times start with Mike's solo line, because there's a
lot of space (cool stuff with big growling sounds from Mike) twixt Gin
and Disease.  That said, read on...

0:00  The opening is FAST.  Faster than I remember Lemonwheel being, to
give you some perspective.  They just can't wait to the jam, I guess :)
Trey's got a lot of feedback in here, and it doesn't sound like he wants
it there.  Oh well.  There's not too much to say about the _song_, they
just play it really charged and quick.  the jam starts at

2:35 Trey comes frying over the top, and the crowd cheers Chris's
lights.  at 3:06, Trey plays a big descending line off the Disease
theme, and begins to noodle, searching a bit.  The band is backing him
up nicely in here. Page is a little lost in the mix, but you can hear
him on the piano from time to time.  To be honest, Mike's stuff is not
*that* interesting right now.  John is really full of energy, though.
Great back up work from him, and awesome fills.

5:00 Trey continues to solo, in typical DwD fashion, and the boys behind
him are doing fine.  At about

6:20 Something begins to change.  Trey finds a little loping theme that
he seems to like, and plays with that a while, noodles some more, and
then returns to.  Hmmmmm, this *is* interesting.

8:20 The jam has lost its high energy, sort of petered out at this
point.  It's quiet, and Trey is playing solo lines that don't really fit
with the backing he's getting from his pals.  He begins a pounding set
of chords at 9:15, and they all start going crazy again by around ten
minutes.

10:00 Trey is playing fast rhythm guitar here, with his wah pedal,
instead of single note soloing.  This leaves some good room for Page,
who takes advantage nicely

11:20 Trey plays the Low Rider theme for the first time just as part of
his solo,  immediately realizes what just happened, and continues to
play it.  In response, at 11:30, John changes the beat.  It really
sounds like Trey was surprised when he heard what he had stumbled upon.
It takes John and Trey a while to convince the others that they really
*do* want to play this song, but eventually, they slow the whole thing
down, and at

12:23 "Low--Ri--Der..."  Trey and fish sing this one, but I can't
understand a thing that John says.  Page is trying to play the main
lick, but he can't quite get it right.  Now, this is not DwD->Low
Rider->DwD as the HPB says, it's really just a Low Rider Jam, although
there's a significant portion of the song in here.  Sooooo cool!  Page
does get some good organ licks, regardless of what might happen with the
theme.

14:41 At this point they are more or less done with the Low Rider, and a
mini-funk jam comes out of that.  Funk-ish beat from John, Trey on the
wah, Page getting good licks on the organs.  Around fifteen minutes,
John starts to pick up the tempo, and his beat starts to lose its funk,
becoming standard-ish phish phare.  Mike is great at 16:45, taking some
"lead bass" licks.  Wish he'd do that more often, but it's not really
his style.

17:25 Trey finds a chorded theme that he plays out for a while, and the
tempo gets faster, with fish hitting the crash some for good measure.
Page is still backing on the organ, with an almost wah sound :)  I love
that effect.  at

19:00 It's clear that we are headed for the end of DwD,  19:25 brings us
the first half of the DwD lick, and at 19:35, we've heard the entire
thing.  It takes them a few times to really get up to speed and clarity,
they don't seem to all lock into it as they could.

20:20 YEAHHHHHH!!!  The band has been playing DwD now for a while, but
this is the REAL DEAL.  They really hit the theme fast and furious.  The
"post jam-jam" is now raging, as Trey hits the theme in between solo
lines, and Mike has some big bass bombs in here.

21:36 "Waiting for the time..."  and the crowd goes wild.  The tune
finishes in typically awesome fashion, perhaps a bit more passionately
than usual.  IMMEDIATELY after the final chord sounds, the entire arena
begins to stomp and cheer, and you realize that they have not stopped
playing crazyKRAZEE jams since the beginning of the set, almost 50
minutes ago (counting the Gin).  What's even more astounding, is that
this set really only contains FOUR songs, including the encore.  1:
Bathtub Gin, 2:Disease, with LR jam, 3:Bold as Love, 4:Julius encore.
WOW.  Sell your children for this set, you won't be disappointed.

Total Time: 22:14  Subjective Rating: REALLY REALLY FUCKIN' HOT

This is my favorite Disease.  Sadly, it's also the only Disease I've
heard that may fall in to the "epic" category.  I've not even heard
SPAC, for God's sake.  so, let that give you some perspective.  In any
event, even the most jaded fan would love this.  Trey sounds really good
the whole time, and so does John.  If I were to pick the most important
folks that night, I think it would have been them.  I didn't really hear
Page or Mike take the lead at all, the way both Trey and fish did.
(Ummm, what I really meant is that I think Page and Mike both suck, and
should leave the band so Trey and John can play without being held back
by their incompetence.  Really.  No fooling.)  Anyway, the entire set is
hot.  And, after doing this, I feel I should review the Gin, although I
don't want to step on Benjy's toes (you won't be offended, will you?)
Again I say: get this set if you can, it's HUGE.

Thanks for reading, always love to hear your comments, corrections,
questions, etc.  peace.
--


Taboot, Taboot,

Christian

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Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket    ~
fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who     ~
hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. ~
        -Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953                             ~
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