Black-Eyed Katy - Phish
11.22.97 - Hampton Coliseum, Hampton VA

This is the second part of Being There: Hampton ‘97. Click here for Part 1.

The 22nd was my first full day at a Hampton Coliseum show. We arrived late on the 21st, so I finally got to truly soak in the Hampton scene. We got a spot in the lot, and I recall listening to my beloved Hokies lose to Pittsburgh on the radio. Oh well. I wasn’t going to let that damper my spirits. I also recall listening to the JGB double live disc all weekend. Damn, that is a good album.

11-22-97 was one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. Phish delivered an opening round knockout punch with “Mike’s > H2O > Weekapaug” followed by “Harry Hood”. After they closed set one with the cover combo of “Frankenstein > Izabella”, one of my buddies declared that it was a hell of show and began heading for the exit. He was not kidding. It was that intense and that good.



I do recall wondering if Phish would deliver the goods in the same funkified fashion as the night before. Fall ‘97 was only a week old at this point. Of course, they did and second set was another Fall ‘97 classic. I really enjoyed the jam out of “Tweezer”, which is my feature mp3 here. Over time, “Black-Eyed Katy” eventually morphed into “Moma Dance”, one of my favorite tracks from The Story of the Ghost. The set closed with an insane “Antelope”, and the only disappointing musical moment of the night was the “Bouncin > Tweezer Reprise” encore, but it didn’t really matter.

The weekend at Hampton had come to a close, but lucky for us we were making the trek down South for another show at Winston-Salem!

Emotional Rescue > Split Open & Melt - Phish
11.21.97 - Hampton Coliseum, Hampton VA


My first trip to Hampton Coliseum was November 21st and 22nd, 1997. As I get set to embark on my fourth trip to the spaceship, this was by far the best trip of the them all. I’ll be honest here. My memory of this weekend is very very hazy, so this post is going to be short. We had a hodgepodge of a crew and stayed in two different hotels. I recall the drive from Blacksburg being a white knuckle experience. The car I was in only had one working windshield wiper and it was on the passenger side. Of course, we were driving through a torrential downpour.

We missed the “Emotional Rescue” opener, and came in just at the end. Sucks for us. Thank goodness for the tapers. I recall my roommate Kenny passing out cold inside the show. He turned out ok. Can’t recall any other details of the night. It was a good night.



Back to the show opener though. Of course, the Rescue was a complete surprise, but it’s the SOAM that is the highlight of Set 1. This is the best SOAM that I have seen live. Complete mayhem coming out of Trey’s guitar towards the end of the jam.

As most of you know, Fall ‘97 was a monumental tour. The second set from the 21st is a prime example of why. The “Ghost > AC/DC Bag” totaled about 45 minutes, and then Phish segues into “Slave”. Pure sickness, which was the norm in the Fall of 1997. “Loving Cup” and “Guyute” closed the show, which in 1997 were treats as they had yet to reach “often played” status.

Back to my faint memories of the weekend … Sometime during the trip, our crew discovered Harpoon Larry’s. It’s a Hampton dive, and became an instant favorite. Check out their website. It will take you back to 1997. I hope Graham and I have time to swing by there on Sunday. Might be tough though. I *think* we hit Harpoon Larry’s after the show on the 21st for beers and crawdads, but maybe that was the next day before the show. Anyhow, if you want a true Hampton experience, give Harpoon Larry’s a try this weekend.

I’ll post my few memories of the 22nd tomorrow. Enjoy!