Two songs into Phish‘s June 13th, 1997 show, guitarist Trey Anastasio claimed that the band had written between 15 and 16 songs during its eight-week break from the road. This sounded like a lofty claim, but the band lived up to its word at that very show at Dublin, Ireland’s S.F.X. Centre, debuting seven new originals and two new covers over the course of that one night. More debuts followed as that European tour kicked off with six new songs at the second show and one more on the third.

Among these new songs were some gems that would appear in setlists for many years to follow. On that first night alone, fans witnessed the debuts of “Ghost”, “Limb By Limb”, “Dogs Stole Things”, “Wading In The Velvet Sea”, “Water In The Sky”, “Vultures”, and “Olivia’s Pool”, as well as the Phish debuts of Sly and the Family Stone‘s”Stand!” and Jimi Hendrix‘s “Izabella”.

The evolution of these musical gems has been notable. A song like “Ghost” has gone through many iterations throughout its history, while the Page McConnell-led “Wading In The Velvet Sea” sounds much like its debut version.

There’s really only one way to experience these debut Phish performances; listen to the full audio from the 6/13/97 show from Dublin, below.

Phish – The S.F.X. Centre – Dublin, Ireland – 6/13/97

[Video: fromtheaquarium]

Setlist: Phish | The S.F.X. Centre | Dublin, Ireland | 6/13/97

Set 1: Theme From the Bottom, Dogs Stole Things[1], Beauty of My Dreams > Billy Breathes, Limb By Limb[1], Wolfman’s Brother > Wading in the Velvet Sea[1] > Taste

Set 2: Stash, Maze, Water in the Sky[1], Vultures[1], Slave to the Traffic Light > Chalk Dust Torture[2] -> Ghost[1] -> Olivia’s Pool[1] > Character Zero

Encore: Stand![3] -> Izabella[3]

[1] Debut.
[2] Unfinished.
[3] Phish debut.

Teases:
· Tequila tease
· Jean Pierre tease in Character Zero

Notes: Phish continued their tradition of breaking out new songs at the beginning of a tour; Trey announced after Dogs Stole Things that the band had written 15–16 new songs in the last eight weeks and that they would be debuting many of them at this show. The show featured the debuts of Dogs Stole Things, Limb By Limb, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Water in the Sky, Vultures, Ghost and Olivia’s Pool as well as the Phish debuts of Stand and Izabella. Stash was preceded by a Tequila tease. Chalk Dust was unfinished. Character Zero included a Jean Pierre tease from Trey.

[Originally published 6/13/18]