The Daily Ghost #5 06/22/1997 St.Goarshausen, Koblenz, Germany
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Germany Ghost 06/22/1997
Phish.net notes: This single-set performance was part of the WDR Festival that also featured Ezio, K’s Choice, John Hiatt, Reef, Primus, and Steve Winwood.
Composed Section
No segue to lead us into the song and it starts a bit more up tempo that some of the previous versions. Gordon is hammering the bass right from the get go. Fishman’s vocals are a bit louder than normal. Page gets into the clav and throws us right into the funk, with Gordon providing some company. Trey’s vocals are pretty good before the drop in, then he starts to yell it a bit. The pause isn’t too long and they manage not to mess up the drop in too bad…
Jam>Space Funk
3:03 we are already into the jam. The funk has created a great groove right at the start. Page sets the tone with his clav play. Gordon is still slapping pretty hard, he starts to settle back by about the 4:00 mark. Trey starts to take the lead at about 4:10.
At the 4:20 mark Trey starts to play a lick a couple times. Gordon is back for some slap and Page starts to push into space. The Jam goes into a total space direction as Mike picks up his trusty space lasers. He begins alternating between firing lasers and destroying the building with his slapping.
At the 5:00 min mark Page comes firing into space with the clav. Trey gets into a jazzy bluesy solo at about the 5:15 mark. Fishman is brilliant throughout this section, playing a rock beat then into more a jazz beat. Meanwhile Gordon and Page bring the funk. A LOT going here.
Break it down
At about the 5:50 mark Gordon is back to full slap and the jam has been broken down again. Fishman looks to lead them down to the space and they follow. At 6:14 you can hear Trey play a funk lick and BOOM everyone picks it up from there. More FUNK!
At 6:34 Trey takes the lead and plays a great solo. Cutting through the funk and murk Page and Gordon are throwing down. This jam is distinctly Ghost.
Big Red…we are ready….let’s do this
7:55 and Page has moved to the piano (LM gets excited), Fishman is pushing this sucker with some awesome fills and Gordon is back to destruction. Trey has really built this solo and each note is so clear. This is gorgeous soul moving stuff. At 9:04 Fish’s “ooohs” come back while he tares through the festival. He begins to start section things off and more of a whole band throttle is coming.
The Force of the Phish
At about the 10:00 mark the entire band throttles it up. Cactus plays some of the loudest slaps I have ever heard and Fishman is just going ape shit. I am tired from just listening to him. Make sure to watch the video posted below to see just how hard Fish is throwing down as he is the true star here. Page is also hammering down on the keys and Big Red is over there cutting it up. This is a great minute of full band force. They just miss that last little push higher, still great stuff. Gordon fires a few lasers before they give way to Steve Winwood.
Final Thoughts
Ghost closer? You betcha! Second great Ghost in a row. Like the previous version this one has a great Funk>Groove>Fire feel to it. Two great Ghosts in a row…how about a third? I will just say it is easily one of my favorite under appreciated Ghosts.
Score: 8.1 (Very Similar to Ghost #4, I put it just a touch lower)
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http://youtu.be/anz9wz9vmro