"25th anniversary release of the Wetlands show from December 27, 1997 and as good of a show from this early era as you'll hear from these guys. Highlights include the What a Show > Basis For A Day (ending) > What a Show and the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy > Little Betty Boop > Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. What a Show eventually became Helicopters but this song was written for this Wetlands show and was really creative the way they jam this out into the end of Basis For A Day, playing just the ending section of the song. But the real fun begins with the jam out of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy going into Little Betty Boop. The sound that they perfected over the next couple years starts making its appearance during this jam to the point where it's hard to believe this is actually from 1997 at times. Just straight up nasty space funk. Listening back it's easy to hear how good these guys were early on and how jams like these gave a glimpse into the early sound of what became known as "trancefusion". It's cool to listen back to these special moments in a show like this where they would always step up and perform really well when expected to. It was a big deal for them to play the Wetlands, especially in front of eager Phish fans in town early for the NYE run at MSG. Many first timers who went to this show that still go see the band to this day 25 years later. But this is as well played of a show I can recall from these early days. Great Pygmy Twylyte opener followed by one of my favorite early compositions, My Lady Survives. Then just an exceptionally well played I-Man for this era. That song debuted early that year in the spring and quickly turned into one of their best songs and fan favorite. Also one of the earliest versions of M.E.M.P.H.I.S. that had only been played a handful of times at that point. And a really fun Frog Legs to close out the set.  What a venue... What a show..." - Rich Steele 

Audio mastered by Rich Steele