The new Phish live CD boxset called Ventura came earlier thanks to Phish Inc. and it is ready to go to YOUR house !

But it might come with a friend : Star Lake 98 dvd !

For a chance to win, comment this post with the answer of this question : "Where did Phish tour during summers 1997 and 1998 for the last time to date ?"

You can Tweet this to maximize your chance :

Giveaway of the new #Phish 6 CD boxset Ventura on http://www.bouncingaroundeuroom.eu @YomeNetSan

Don't forget to include the link to your tweet in your comment.

The winner will be randomly choosen among comments and tweets made between now and Friday 21th June 13:00 (France time). If the winner wants only one of the two prices or if he choose to let someone else win, I'll pick up a second winner for the remaining prize !

This contest is open to european residents only.

All new 6-CD box set featuring two complete live shows, recorded July 30, 1997 and July 20, 1998 at Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura, California, a general admission dirt racetrack between the Pacific Coast Highway and Surfers Point Park. Bits of the each show's Soundchecks are included at the end of both shows.

The new box set was fully remixed from the band's multitrack masters and mastered for release. July 30, 1997 was Phish's first Ventura stop since Trey learned to surf nearby in 1993. The show featured a number of must-hear performances including a bass-driven, syncopated "Wolfman's Brother" > "Chalk Dust Torture", a deep and spacey "Stash" and "Character Zero" in Set I. A "Free" > "David Bowie" > "Cities" > "David Bowie" combination dominated the show's second half with some of the summer's biggest jams. 

On July 20, 1998 Phish again encountered Ventura's breezy oceanside. Ventura '98 was characterized by some new songs and some bustouts. The first set included a "Bathtub Gin" opener, a new arrangement of "Water In The Sky", the swinging funk of "The Moma Dance" and a "Split Open And Melt" Set I closer. Set II exploded with a bass-and-drums-fueled "Drowned" > "Makisupa Policeman" pairing that utilized Page's synth stylings to seamlessly blend rock and reggae. "Maze" led to a perfectly placed "Sea And Sand". 

Last week, I launch a simple contest to win 2 Phish dvd Star Lake 98.

The answer to the question was quite simple : The summer tour 98 was nicknammed "Summer of covers" because the band played a brand new and unique cover each night.

You were 4 to post the correct answer in the comments here. 2 more dvd were given on my french website Gamusik with the exact same question but there was no answer at all ! So instead of choosing 2 winners among the 4 who entered here, I declare everyone's a winner ! So Robert, Dan, Maui and Marko, you'll get an email from me soon.

Meanwhile, I watched the concert last sunday and it was a pleasure to seen my 3 years old son dancing to the music ! But I must admit he was better impressed by the cover art of the boxset. He thought the bridges was for trains and he tried to put the disc in the player on his own... The disc ended stuck really deep inside the player and I had to open it completely to get it back ! Hopefully the dvd wasn't broken and he really enjoyed the menu with the cars on the bridges !

Oh yeah, the show is great with a 35 minutes Runaway Jim and a marvelous Reba ! The video quality is better than you would expect from a VHS source and it's really band focused with very few full stage view.

I hope you winners will enjoy this dvd !

 

The new Phish dvd release is in the house ! Star Lake 98 came earlier than my regular order thanks to Beth from Phish Inc.

I'll have what might be the first listening party in Europe this weekend at home !

And like it's now an habit, I have 2 of them to give here and 2 more on my other French music and gaming webiste Gamusik.

Feel free to enter on both !

For a chance to win, comment this post with the answer of this question : "How was nicknamed the Phish Summer tour 1998 and why ?"

You can Tweet this to maximize your chance :

Unboxing and Giveaway of the new #Phish dvd Star Lake 98 on http://www.bouncingaroundeuroom.eu @YomeNetSan

Don't forget to include the link to your tweet in your comment.

The winner will be randomly choosen among comments and tweets made between now and Friday 7th December 13:00 (France time). This contest is open to european residents only.

On August 11, 1998 Phish played at Star Lake Amphitheatre in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. This was their second visit to Star Lake of seven to-date starting in 1997 and including 2003, 2009 and 2012 shows previously released at LivePhish.com.

The Star Lake 98 show was the 20th of summer to showcase the loose, experimental vibe of a tour that began in Europe and jumped to the United States enroute to the summer’s ending Lemonwheel festival. The introduction of a never-before-played cover each night earned the tour the nickname “summer of covers” from fans and Star Lake’s contribution was a Trench Town Rock opener. Star Lake also saw the return of Time Loves A Hero which was played for the first time in a decade and segued out of a sultry Wolfman’s Brother. Julius, an extended Fee outro (during which hip Pittsburghians clapped along on the 2 and 4) and deep renditions of Maze and Reba set the stage for set II. The second set featured a super-swinging, ethereal Runaway Jim that foreshadowed 2011’s Storage Jam and an unusual pairing of Meat > Limb By Limb. Local flavor of the Commonwealth was provided by Bittersweet Motel (the title of the Phish documentary recorded during Europe ’98 dates) and Wilson, King of Prussia.

Star Lake 98 is the only full show available as video from summer 1998. The 2-DVD set was created from archival VHS videotapes of the 3-camera lawn screen feed. The audio was mixed from multi-track masters in stereo PCM and 5.1 surround. It will be released on DVD and digital audio download December 11 on JEMP Records.

Phish's Archivist, Kevin Shapiro

Just like last year late announcement during the New York webcast, Phish's brand new show from taken from the archives was announced last week for a release this very tuesday.
December 6 1997 The Palace at Auburn Hills is another installment of the famed "Phish Destroys America" fall 1997 tour. livephish.com has already officialy released a lot of shows from this tour like the next day show in Dayton, the one from Denver as Volume 11, last year's 3 shows boxset Hampton/Winston-Salem or 2 concerts from New Year's Run at Madison Square Garden (12/29 et 12/30).

As strange as it may seems, for someone like me who discovered Phish in 1997 and who downloaded countless tapes for the 97/98 era, I'm totally new to this show. I've never heard of the "Tweezabella" from Set 2 before last week, so it's with a virgin state of mind that I woke up this morning at around 6 AM to download my daily phix.

The first set starts oddly like a reversed set 2 with Golgi Apparatus and Run Like An Antelope. The second song already sets the tone for the night when you didn't expect it with a 10 minutes improvisation that goes seamlessly from funk to rock.
Train Song provides the first rest before the boys alternate big funky combos (Bathtub Gin > Foam and Fee > Maze) with fast rocking numbers (Sample in a Jar and Cavern).
The quiet little jam out of Fee merges into the intro of a Trey-leaded Maze that goes in every directions and ends in a big peak before coming back to the quiet outro. Roller-coaster style.

Continue reading...

Saturday 17th march 2012 @ 03:00

And I'm back for the last songs from Dark Star Orchestra in the final set of Jam in the Dam 2012. I arrived during the great Not Fade Away sandwich, supposedly the last song of the show. With this one I collected one more song I wanted to catch along with Truckin', Casey Jones and China Cat Sunflower !

But after a thank you speech for the staff, the band came back for one last tune to finish this incredible festival all together.

After the show, I met Stephen one last time before parting ways and I rushed to my hotel to fall in my bed.

 

 

Setlist :
5/10/72 Concertgebouw Amsterdam Netherlands

Set Two :
...
Beat It On Down The Line
Two Souls In Communion
Sugar Magnolia
Ramble On Rose
Sing Me Back Home
Not Fade Away > 
Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad > 
Not Fade Away 

Filler :
Ripple

Notes :
Original Grateful Dead show went "Two Souls In Communion, Ramble On Rose, Sing Me Back Home, Sugar Magnolia"

Saturday 17th march 2012 @ 01:00

It was already late and I didn't want Jam in the Dam to end without dancing my ass off... so I went straight from Dark Star Orchestra second set into Lotus final act and didn't regret my choice.

They were jamming like crazy with their electro-jam-rock style. The groove was intense and everybody was dancing hard. The whole room had entered a big trance party and the light show was gorgeous ! I kept moving my bones until the end of the set, along with my new hundred-or-so friends !

Recording can be found here : http://archive.org/details/lotus2012-03-16.tlm170.flac16

Setlist :
1. Age of Inexperience
2. Kodiak
3. Livingston Storm
4. Wooly Mammoth
5. Massif
6. Disappear in a Blood Red Sky
7. It's All Clear To Me Now ->
8. Lucid Awakening
9. Break Build Burn
10. Greet The Mind
11. Sunrain ->
12. Flower Sermon ->
13. Sunrain

 

Tired but happy, I went back to the end of Dark Star Orchestra show...

 

Friday 16th march 2012 @ 22:30

Tonight, Dark Star Orchestra had the longest spot of Jam in the Dam because they were about to perform the Grateful Dead show played in Amsterdam during the famous Europe 72 tour : a 4 hours, 30+ songs orgy !

I was front row again with Stephen for the first set and I enjoyed every minute of it. Evey band member knows his job and I've been very impressed by the female singer.

The only drawback was that I found the sound too loud. Maybe I was a little tired after 3 days but it was too much for me.

Funny note : the bass player had a Guitar Hero II bracelet on the right arm.

Setlist :
5/10/72 Concertgebouw Amsterdam Netherlands

Set One :
Bertha
Me And My Uncle
Mr. Charlie
China Cat Sunflower > 
I Know You Rider
Black Throated Wind
Loser
Next Time You See Me
El Paso
He's Gone
Chinatown Shuffle
Playing In The Band
Big Railroad Blues
Jack Straw
Tennessee Jed
Big Boss Man
Greatest Story Ever Told
Casey Jones

Continue reading...

Friday 16th march 2012 @ 21:45

After a little break to eat a home-made sandwich, we went to The Oude Hall to witness Keller Williams jamming with half of Dark Star Orchestra ! That was the end of the set but the few minutes we catched were grooving.

Recording of his first night shows that he also jammed with DSO band members :
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=554113

Unfortunatly, this seems to be the only recording made in the small room during the whole Jam in the Dam festival...

 

After the end of Keller's set, we stayed there for the big Dark Star Orchestra extravaganza...

 

Friday 16th march 2012 @ 20:00

3 Mike Gordon shows in three days with 2 in a row in less than 24 hours.

The final Jam in the Dam night started with the final Mike Gordon show in Amsterdam. As usual, I arrived early and found Stephen right in front of the stage. He finally got his bass signed the night before ! I was so jealous ! During the afternoon, he listened to the soundcheck and heard two noticeable songs. One of it was The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again that they finally didn't play in the show. He also told me he met Scott Murawsky during the day and also crossed Mike's path with his family. The band didn't show up for the signing session the night before because they have been caught in a tour boat for longer than they planned ! Too bad...

Arriving on stage, Mike started toying with a Korg Kaossilator, asking for a number to choose the sound. Another Door was the first song, followed by Crumblin' Bones, a Tom Cleary original. I didn't know the next one neither so I already had hard time tweeting the setlist !

Each song seemed shorter than the ones from previous nights with less jamming. But the playing was great with nice solos from Scott.

Mike came back several times to his Kaossilator, asking for number (I asked "7" and he heard "17"). He even passed it to a man on my right for him to play ! Later in the show, that's Scott who came on the edge of the stage to hand the pad to several people, including Stephen and myself.

The highlight of the night came with a perfectly played Mound. That was the second song Stephen heard during soundcheck. I really love the way they play those Phish songs with extended parts and new arrangements like the vocal "Time Time" break. Scott was killing in the intro !

Again this night, they gifted us with a new cover : Toys R Us by the Greyboy Allstars. It's good to see that they really wanted to do something special for this festival and we all appreciated.

As the end of the set was approaching, I clearly saw someone backstage give Mike a sign that there was 8 minutes left. But they were already waving and the left early. This was the shorter set of the three nights, the recording is 84 minutes long.

Unfortunately, I didn't catch the setlist to complete my collection but Stephen got Mike's pick.

And that was it. Mike Gordon stepped off stage and I don't know when I'll be able to attend another concert.

Continue reading...

Thursday 15th march 2012 @ 24:00

I have waited 15 years to see Mike Gordon and now I'm about to witness my second show in two days !

Playing the last concert of this second day at Jam in the Dam, Mike had the headlining spot tonight with a late night set starting at midnight. I hoped that, without any band after them, they would stretch their set a little but it lasted exactly 90 minutes.

Starting with Sugar Shack and Can't Stand Still, I felt confident to live-tweet the setlist, thanks to the free Wifi access inside the Melkweg. But I found myself lost as soon as they went through the first cover. No, I don't know every Beatles song... So I did my best and wouldn't even care if I didn't spell the titles right.

But my first goal was to enjoy the music anyway. Since the beginning of the festival, I felt rather lucky with the songs selection (Zelda by Lotus, Meat by Mike and Birds by Keller) and Mike made me another present with Funky Bitch ! I love that tune and Scott Murawsky's guitar was ripping and jamming !

Continue reading...