* Birdland tease during David Bowie intro * LeRoi Moore on saxophone(s) for Theme From The Bottom and Funky Bitch * Theme From The Bottom had a full-band, multi-instrument jam Production Credits * Recorded by Paul Languedoc * Mastered by Fred Kevorkian at Kevorkian Mastering * Post-Production by Kevin Shapiro * Technical Assistance by Ben Collette On July 21, 1997 Phish played the opening show of their United States summer tour at Virginia Beach Amphitheatre in Virginia Beach, VA, home of the world’s longest pleasure beach. It was their first show at this newly-constructed outdoor shed opened in 1996 with a capacity of about 20,000. The band had just returned from their second European trek in six months and were primed and ready for the 19 U.S. dates up through The Great Went. Set I featured the public stateside debut of four new songs: Ghost, Dogs Stole Things, Piper, and Dirt – all of which Trey introduced at the bottom of a stupendous Bathtub Gin. Set II was jam-packed with non-stop highlights starting with Wolfman’s Brother > Magilla > David Bowie. Magilla had been dusted off in Europe after a four-year hiatus and Bowie got a jazzy romp with teases of Joe Zawinul/Weather Report’s Birdland. Next came the first U.S. Wading In The Velvet Sea, and a grandiose, full-band, multi-instrument-blowout Theme From The Bottom with DMB’s LeRoi Moore sitting in on saxophone(s) for Theme and Funky Bitch. A dramatic Slave To The Traffic Light followed by a Loving Cup encore set the tone for the beautiful buzz of summer 1997. Virginia Beach ‘97 was recorded by Paul Languedoc to 2-track digital and mastered by Fred Kevorkian. Video from this show was featured on Episode 9 of ‘Dinner And A Movie - An Archival Video Series.’