LivePhish has announced that its next archival Phish release will feature the band’s 11/27/96 debut at Seattle, WA’s Key Arena. This concert, which took place on the late Jimi Hendrix‘s birthday in his hometown, contains a second set movement many fans have dubbed the “Diseezer”.
Coming in at the tail end of Phish’s 1996 fall tour, the band was already red hot at this point as their popularity continued to grow exponentially. The first set of 11/27/96 hosted plenty of classic Phish compositions, from the opening “Julius” through “My Freind, My Friend”, “Chalk Dust Torture”, “The Sloth”, and more, but didn’t offer too much in the way of improvisation.
The band rolled through the first set, keeping things tight without cracking double digits on any jams. Set one comes to a close with the first tribute to Hendrix of the night with a cover of “Bold As Love”.
While set one saw Phish moving right along, from the opening notes of “Down With Disease” to start the second set, the band quickly settled in for a long stay. The exploratory “DwD” leads the way down south for some Texas blues with a cover of ZZ Top‘s “Jesus Just Left Chicago”. An uncharacteristically lengthy “Scent of a Mule” signaled that this show was going to be one for the record books, only to be confirmed by a “Tweezer” that ripped into a “Sweet Emotion” jam (the third and final time to date Phish has played the Aerosmith cover) before the famous “Diseezer” was born with a segue back into the set-opening “Down with Disease”, which got perilously close to a 30-minute combined runtime.
After the prolonged period of otherworldly jamming, it was time for a cool down and what better cold shower than our nation’s national anthem with an a cappella “Star Spangled Banner”. The final tribute to the late Jimi Hendrix came next with a set-closing “Fire” before the band returned to encore with “Waste” and the explosive “Tweezer Reprise”.
Full-show, soundboard audio of 11/27/96 at Key Arena will be available on LivePhish on Friday. Tune in to SiriusXM‘s Phish Radio on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET for an exclusive preview of the show curated by Phish archivist Kevin Shapiro. Scroll down to see the full annotated setlist as well as hear audio of the “Tweezer” > “Sweet Emotion” jam.
Phish – “Tweezer” > “Sweet Emotion” (Aerosmith) – Seattle, WA – 11/27/96
[Video: dgmaffi]
Setlist [via phish.net]: Phish | Key Arena | Seattle, WA | 11/27/96
Set One: Julius > My Friend, My Friend, Ya Mar, Chalk Dust Torture, The Sloth, Uncle Pen, Free > Theme From the Bottom, Bold As Love
Set Two: Down with Disease -> Jesus Just Left Chicago > Scent of a Mule[1], Tweezer -> Sweet Emotion Jam -> Down with Disease[2], The Star Spangled Banner, Fire
Encore: Waste > Tweezer Reprise
[1] Mule Duel included Brady Bunch theme scats from Trey and some vacuum action from Fish.
[2] Can’t You Hear Me Knocking at ending.
The Mule Duel included Brady Bunch theme scats from Trey and some vacuum action from Fish. Fire and Bold As Love were dedicated to Jimi Hendrix on his birthday. The Disease and Tweezer combo has led some fans to refer to this as the “Diseezer.” The return to DWD contained a Can’t You Hear Me Knocking ending.