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97 reviews
From Ben.Savage@SouthernEnergy.Com
Thu Jul 24 15:42:12 1997
From: "Savage, Ben" Ben.Savage@SouthernEnergy.Com
7/23/97 Lakewood Ampitheatre - Atlanta, GA
I: Julius, Dirt, NICU, Dog Stole Things, Ginseng Sullivan, Water in the
Sky, Limb By Limb, Split Open and Melt, Billy Breathes, Possum (1:17)
II: Punch You in the Eye, Ghost -> Sample in a Jar, You Enjoy Myself* ->
Rocky Mountain Way^ -> Chalk Dust Torture (1:09)
E: Frankenstein (4.5 min)
* russian folk
jam, similar to the mule duel; fast vocal jam
^ Joe Walsh tune
1st set began with a standard Julius then seemed lacking...a very pretty
NICU was the highlight of the early show; the band was tight but holding
back through Ginseng and Limb by Limb and the crowd was not really with
them--but then the show really started with SOAM; as soon as it started
the crowd got nuts and the boys followed: Split was great and Billy was
actually nicely done--Possum was phenomenal with Trey exploding as the
strobes lit up the park; during the break everyone assumed the second set
would be incredible.
2nd set did not disappoint. PYITE started things rolling and Sample in
a Jar really revealed that Trey was on fire. Then...YEM...they kept
teasing with the crescendos for most of the song and it was great...vergy
tight and as always the "Boy!" set the crowd off for good--it was also the
most intense song of the show, I think. Rocky Mtn. was OK, a letdown
after YEM, but Chalkdust was a great close, again with lightning guitar
from Trey a la the 1st set Possum. Much of the crowd was yelling
for Antelope for encore, since the band seemed to talk about what to play
onstage when they came back out. (There was a lot of direct conversation
during the show, particularly from Trey to Fish.)
Alas, Frankenstein finished the show nicely but not with the same
explosiveness that the 1st and 2nd sets ended with. At any rate, the band
seemed to have a great time and Trey in particular had a great night,
dancing and moving all the time. At the end of the 2nd set he leaned the
guitar against an amp as it kept giving feedback yelled "Pepe le Pew!" No
idea why. Anyone?
************************************************************************
From harber@innova.net Thu Jul 24 16:39:35 1997
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 19:27:50 -0400
From: Doc Harber
Subject: lakewood- atlanta, 7/23/97
in response to the question about why "pepe le pew" was yelled out in
atlanta at the end of the second set ---- Trey was wearing Pepe le Pew
on his shirt and maybe he wanted to dedicate the show to the awesome
presence of that cartoon legend. I don't really know, but stranger
tributes have been made!
******************************************************************
From: Michael A Wall
Subject: 7-23-97 Atlanta Show Review (xtra long)
Date: 24 Jul 1997 15:37:04 GMT
First for the set list.
Scene: Fairly good. I had lawn seats, and most of the people around me
were there to see Phish (i.e. they weren't there to pick-up chicks or be
cool or what not). Sometimes we all really bitch about how rude people
can be at shows. Well, the model Phish fan was sitting in front of me.
When he smoked, he would ask to make sure that his smoke wasn't bothering
others. He offered water to everyone around. At one point while dancing,
he asked my sister-in-law if he was invading her space. A real
considerate right on kind of guy. Hello to all the folks who sat around
me including the generous fellow who I shared my set list with. I know
your
name begins with a "D"
Music:
Julius: good opener Jammed out pretty hard. The whole show seemed to have
some constant themes throughout and one of them started here. The best I
can describe it was a rockin yet bluesy feel
Dirt: new for me. Slow with good lyrics, but average guitar work. Sort of
who they originally played Free. Definite potential for jamming
NICU: I think this was a first for me. Standardly awesome.
Dog Stole Things: second favorite of the new songs. very good harmonics
and fingerwork by Paige. It sort has a blues beat.
Ginseng Sullivan: Standard
Limb by Limb: favorite of new songs. Has a Theme quality to it.
Wonderful rounds of lyrics and cool timing by Fishman. They sort of
jammed this one out nice and slow.
Split Open: I hate the composed section of this song, but love the jam.
In this case the jam section started off very 70's. I felt like I was
watching ChiP's. Great synth work by Paige and funky riffs by Trey.
Then Trey hit some pedal and was doing some funky Peter Framptinesque "my
guitar is talking" stuff. It was really wild and made the first set
allworth while. I was amazed at how well the jam was executed, these guys
get better every day.
Billy Breathes: standard with some nice guitar work
Possum: I screamed for this all three night at the Fox. Finally my
prayers are answered. I just rocked out the first set. Nothing unusual
of outstanding. It just fucking rocked out the first set
Set 2:
PYITE: standard stuff (i.e. great!)
Ghost: this song is sort of Stingish, as weird as that sounds. I liked it
a lot. However, at some point the Sting quality left and they jammed
hardcore. The song lasted 27 minutes! And time has nothing to do with
how good the jam was. It almost sounded composed. These guys were so in
touch with each other, it is amazing. At one point Trey was swinging his
guitar neck back and forth at the crowd real slow (kinda of like one
waters a garden). I don't know what was going through his head, but I was
thinking: hose. Paige played everyone of his keyboards in this jam and
was smoking. If you like Paige get this set. This song established some
more themes for the rest of the set. I swear at times I thought they
were doing a variation on Groovy. That damn song was always there just
hanging out in the mist. The jam went every where fast and funky to slow
and funky, but always funky. I guess you could say they segued into
Sample, but it wasn't to impressive.
Sample: standard crowd pleaser
YEM: this was the least formula based YEM I have ever heard. The begining
was really standard, but the way the "jam" set in was totally different.
At first it started with Trey and Paige doing their ALO Tweezer
circus-style picking thing. Then it went into a Russian folk dance thing.
They and the crowd were having a lot of fun with it. I swear that the jam
was going somewhere else, but when the crowd started clapping in time,
they changed its course. It was really neat. The vocal jam which wasn't
really a vocal jam sounded like a 50's black female group singing with
Phish playing in the background. It was really funny. You could here
Trey laughing in the background. The then segued into Rocky Mountain Way,
but cut it short.
Chalkdust: in the opening guitar work, Trey reintroduced a theme from
earlier in the evening. Chalkdust was not really all that standard. Trey
would let his lyrics descend and get quiet at the end of a verse and then
come back real loud.
Encore:
Frankenstein (a repeat from their last
time at Lakewood)
General commentary: No really good Mike. He just sat back and did his
thing. He never stepped forward and took control. Those damn Burger
Balls made another Atlanta appearence. :) Whoever is stockpiling those
things keep bringing them to Atlanta show. It gives continuity to the
scene. Like I said all the jams were excellently executed. There were
many reoccurring themes. This might be the best over all show I've been
to. I have seen better individual sets. I've heard better individual
songs, but this show was laced togther like magic. Phish is truly
amazing.
*********************************
Michael A. Wall **
wallmic@mail.auburn.edu **
101 Life Sciences **
Auburn University, AL 36849 ** **
Will catch insects for food! *
*********************************
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From: mcgrupp@vt.edu (Jeremy Ferguson)
Subject: Atlanta Review (LONG)
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 1997 17:09:39 GMT
We arrived at the venue about an hour before show time, after
traveling through the endless maze of people charging 10 bux for
parking..which was included in the ticket price!!! I really don't
understand how people fell for this, but many people did!!
Jon had his 5th row ticket waiting at Will-Call, and sold his lawn
ticket for face with no problem at all. There were some scumbags
selling thier tickets for 50 bux a piece...I really hate that shit!
We picked up some of the best Veggie Fajitas I'd ever had (so good we
got the recipe and made some when we got home on thurs!!=)
After last night's drenching, my GF had gotten a bit sick and was
seriously contemplating selling her ticket, and there was no way I was
going to let her stay in that lot alone, so I would have had to do the
same. I talked her out of it, and we made our way in around 7:15 or
so. We made our way to the farthest back point possible, all the way
at the top of the hill against the wall. It turned out to be a pretty
cool vantage point, though you could see trey singing on the screen
before you heard the words;) There was an annoying echo of the
cymbals coming from my lower left, but I could usually tune it out
pretty well. A large group of obnoxious high school kids sat RIGHT in
front of us (not to say that ALL HS kids are obnoxious, but definately
the majority!!). More on them later. MMW was being played before
the show!:)
Julius is a good way to open a show, IMO. This one dropped into a bit
of funkiness that isn't usually there, and I swear they teased
something...making me think they were going to leave it unfinished and
segue, but it didn't happen. This was definately an above average
Julius.
Dirt...uhhh we already heard this one! Well, Trey DID say it was his
favorite, so we'll excuse the repeat;)
NICU has cool lyrics, and a nice riff, but I wish they'd jam it out a
bit...standard.
Dog Stole Things...we already heard this, too!! I don't understand
why they didn't play some different new songs (oblivious fool, twist
around, I Saw it Again, etc.) But if they need time to work on the
new ones, oh well.
Ginseng....now this I don't understand. They have lots of bluegrass
songs, why repeat?? I would have much rather heard Uncle Penn, Paul
and Silas, or more realistically Beauty of my Dreams. Oh well.
Water in the Sky...OK this is getting ridiculous!! 4 out of 6 songs
repeats?? Whatever...it was raining I suppose it's appropriate.
Limb by Limb is a pretty cool song, sounds A LOT like Taste. The
beginning is very reminiscent of Taste's wierd rythm structure and the
end jam is very similar. I like it though, probably one of my favs
next to Ghost of course;)
I expected SO&M to be the last song in the set, judging from the times
of the sets the previous two nights, but I was wrong. This was jammed
out pretty nicely, but nothing extraordinary.
Billy Breathes is my favorite slow song that Phish does. I laid on my
back and watched the clouds float by, as I floated upon the air;) I
just LOVE this tune.
The HS kids were all happy to hear Possum, and thier singing kind of
ruined it for me, but this Possum was really great. It was totally
rocked out. The highlight of the set for me.
I talked to some of the kids for a while during the setbreak, where I
learned that Primus (who I had never heard before--outside of the
Vegas Harpua;) was playing over the PA. It may have been a mistake to
become such good friends w/ a couple of these guys, because they had
to comment to me and borrow my pen every song for the rest of the
show, but oh well..they seemed cool enough and shared their dank;)
I called Ya Mar to open set II but I was pretty pleased to hear the
opening notes to PYITE which I had never seen before. I was asked by
4 different people what song it was...Standard version.
Ghost was another repeat, but I'm definately not complaining here!!!
I really love this song, and this was jammed much longer than Va
Beach. Lots more space funkiness, with page playing pretty much every
keyboard he has. During this jam Trey was duckwalking back and forth
across the stage, it was great. He seems to really enjoy playing this
song. By the 15 min mark or so all the HS kids had sat down and
started talking...it was pretty obnoxious!!! Lots of crazy spaciness
around 25 min, with the lights going crazy.
This "segued" into Sample, and at this all the kids hopped up and
started listening again...ugh..
When I heard the opening notes to YEM I was pleased to say the least.
I told my GF that at least 5 people would ask me what they were
saying, and I was right ;) The opening segment was standard (great).
When the jam broke down, and Trey started noodling for a theme, he
stumbled upon a polka/russian/scent of a mule sounding riff that
everyone started clapping along w/. This went into a full-blown jam
along this theme. After a few min of this, they started washufiziing
along with the theme...it was hilarious. The lights started getting
crazy and swinging around and everything like they usually do during a
vocal jam.
I thought they would break out of this and Trey would start wailing
YEM-like, but instead, it segued into Rocky Mt Way (to the bliss of
the HS kids.) This is just a generic classic rock song, nothing real
exciting.
I called the Chalkdust that was to follow. I don't remember a lot
about this, as I was busy trying to give the setlist to the guy
sitting next to me. Seemed relatively standard though..
Frankenstein encore was nice, and the kids really loved it. There was
this one that kept saying "I hope he does the drum solo!!!" Basically
standard Frankenstein.
We got 2 more veggie burritos on the way out and witnessed some really
cool fireworks about 50 feet from our car. Over all, I'd say this was
an average show, with the second set being above average. The 25 min
ghost and the YEM were among the highlights for the 3 shows I saw. It
was nice to catch some shows, but I have to say I was very happy to be
home the next day. I think 3 or 4 show chunks are the best way to see
Phish..that way you don't get too many repeats, and you don't get too
phished out! I'm definately expecting great things from the rest of
the tour, and I'm very happy with the direction Phish is going (SPACE
FUNK!!!!:):):). These 3 shows were probably over all better and more
inovative than any 3 you could pick from all of '96. It would
definately be a challenge to find a better tour opening run.
If anyone made it this far, let me insert my obligatory grovel for
any/all of these 3 shows (or any other summer 97's for that matter.)
I have 500 hours of phish/dead/etc, incl most of spring europe and 2nd
gens of Lille from Charlie's Wonderful Weeeedd;)
Jeremy
Nothin left to do .... :-)=);^D
==============================
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From: "BizarRa"
Subject: Mike's Video and Miracles in Atlanta
Date: 24 Jul 1997 22:48:35 GMT
Instead of posting the setlist I wanted to post some of the incredible
things that happened in Atlanta last night!
First, about 24 hours before the show a friend of ours whom works in the
entertainment industry leaves a frantic message on our voicemail that Mike
is filming a video at The Variety Playhouse for 4 hours before the show.
Naturally, we call back and tell her that we want to be in the video.
Compensation is two free tickets to the show and a backstage pass! Of
course, we want to help Mike in any way possible-- I had to work-- many
projects had to be completed-- but my husband and five others went to help
out.
The instructions? Show up dressed like a cowboy. So all these hippies show
up in cowboy boots and hats. My friends said Mike was pretty laid back and
sort of "directed" but otherwise they just enjoyed themselves while
watching this guy in a red shirt play guitar.
So a group of about 10 of us meet up to go to the show. And the vibe was
happening~!!!! Everybody was so psyched to be in Atlanta. There was much
talk about the new songs, LOTS of calls. I never thought I would hear a
live Ginseng Sullivan!
Well, back to the lot. So 5 people end up with 10 tickets. Naturally, we
wanted to sell the tickets we bought. The free tickets were in the
handicapped section...Excellent view of the band!! So, with all these free
tickets, I decided to Miracle someone with my extra mail order-- but who? I
started looking for kind souls.
Sure enough, one hit my husband dead center. He looked across the parking
lot and said "That guy!" I looked at him and his light was very strong. So
we ran up to him. I looked at him straight in the eye and said "How much do
you believe?" He had this huge grin on his face and opened his arms as wide
as he could and said "This muuuccccchhhhhh!!!!" I absolutely couldn't
resist. I said "Okay!" and handed him the ticket. I've never seen anyone's
face light up so bright! He said "Oh my God!" and threw his arms around me.
He came down all the way from Indiana.
Of course, the show was beyond words. IMHO, the highlight of the evening
was Ghost. It was the first new song that really grooved with me in the
first 30 seconds. It gave me that chilly excited feeling that I got at my
first Phish show, that oh-my-Icculus feeling! I was also happy to hear YEM
in the 2nd set. Right at the peek of YEM when Trey yells "BOY!" about a
thousand plastic balls went straight up in the air from the audience. Then
the crowd exploded and went nuts!
So after the show about a 100 people were invited backstage for the party.
It was very laid back and everyone was very friendly. I met a rep from
Electra, a very nice guy-- I also met Chris Kuroda, and we had a neat
conversation about how he was almost immortalized by the band with the name
of their latest release. Mike spent most of his time just socializing with
different fans. The only thing that we found a little perplexing were
these couple of fans who made a beeline towards Mike and monopolized a
conversation with him. It was as though he was trapped! Sometimes people
tend forget that they are human.
It was after 12:30 when we left, and we were so exhausted that we decided
to leave. I mean, if we're that tired, imagine how tired the guys were!
We just wanted to put a big thanks out to the Phish organization for giving
us the tickets, the passes, and the chance to be in a video. It really made
for a special show.
Peace,
Kirsten, Capers, Mark, Dave, Scott, Ransom, Nya, John-John, and Michael
| --
"You're going to be a genius anyway!"
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From: Uncle Pen <34R6WUX@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Subject: Uncle Pen's Southeast Tour in Review Pt. III: Atlanta
Date: 29 Jul 1997 23:59:33 GMT
Just for reference: I'm pretty sure this was my 31st pHiSH show. I have
about 400 hours of pHiSH on tape and I'm a musician, so I think I know what
I'm talking about. This is all from memory, a description of my impressions
of the show more than a technical analysis. (Did ya ever notice the first 4
letters of analysis spells anal? Coincedence?)
The lot: Clueless. Got in the show about 45 minutes late 'cause we had to
tow our car from Burlington, NC(onceyoufeexit, drivemetoBurlington; man was
I hoping for a YEM) to Atlanta with a Ryder truck through the remnants of
Hurricane Danny. Then we got to tow the bastard back to MI. I wouldn't
recommend this as a fun summer vacation idea...What madman designed Ladewood?
The small parking lot seems to be for the fairground. We had to park a few
blocks away, but at least it was free. Apparently, earlier in the day locals
were charging people to park on the street. Weird. And there was one exit
on either side of the seating section of the amphitheatre. Getting out was
nice if you're into group gropes. But I digress.
I
Julius: Late.
Dirt:Late.
NICU:Late. Damn!
Dogs Stole Things: Late.
Ginseng Sullivan:Again? Late.
Water in the Sky: Heard it as we were getting out of the truck. Thought it
was one loudass stereo nearby, the sound was just way to clear to possibly
be the show, or so we thought. (The clock in the truck was an hour slow, we
thought we made it on time. Damn!)
Limb By Limb: Playing as we got into the show. Don't remember a thing about it
except I think Fish sang it.
Split Open and Melt: Verrrry dark, but otherwise a typically painfully intense
SO&M. A tad distracted as I was trying to find a spot not in the aisle with
plenty of space and no loud idiots. Sounds easier than it was.
Billy Breathes:This has been developed quite a bit. There's more jamming
instead of Trey playing essentially the same solo he did for the first year
and a half the song was around. Very beautiful, but requires a lot of
patience on behalf of the listener.
Possum:Typically wonderful Possum.
Setbreak:Got to explore the wonderful traffic flow sysytem designed in
Lakewood.:) Got stuck in a traffic jam going into and out of the bathroom.
It was waaaay too humid for this kind of shit. I was drenched by the end of
the show and it never rained. There's a pleasant thought.:)
II
PYitE: Didn't expect to hear this in the second set. pHiSH has become a lot
less predictable than the past couple years. Good Punch. The Landlady section
was a blast! Great way to get the set moving.
Ghost: For once I was ecstatic to hear the same piece twice in the three
shows. I thought the Ghost that opened the VA show was good. This was just
incredible! The jam was extremely exploratory. Lots of mood changes. From
beginning to end it must have been at least 20 minutes, maybe more like 25.
This was easily the best jamming I've seen since NYE '95-'96. Ghost is going
to be a phucking monster. The jam ended with a couple minutes of a noise
jam; no harmony, no lead, no structure, no direction, just bizarre, loud
sounds. I was fascinated, but half the audience seemed to think this was
their cue to scream as loudly as possible. Probably exactly why Trey segued
into-->
Sample:Just seemed to rise out of the noise at the end of Ghost. I was actually
wondering just how long that Ghost was. What's to say; Sample is Sample is
Sample. A powerful song, but I'm glad it was in the middle of the set instead
of the end.
YEM: This is where everything got really weird. The composed sections were
absolutely perfect, or pretty close to it. The spacey segment early in the
song wasn't as long as I had hoped, but I think it's a little longer than
in past tours. Page's solo was excellent. When it came time for Trey's
solo he took the energy waaaaay down, almost a dead stop. It promised to be
a long slowly building jam. Then the clapping idiots popped up. As a musician
I can say that, unless this behavior is encouraged by the band, it is
distracting and annoying. I'm fairly confident that pHiSH feels the same way.
Anyhoo, and this is just my interpretation, Trey starts playing this silly,
childish little ditty that fit with the clapping along, but it seemed like
he was mocking the clappers. Mike jumps in with a hokey country bassline, and
the rest of the band follows suit. The jam never progressed at all, they just
kept playing with this extremely unchallenging theme. They seemed to do
everything they could to lose the people clapping along, slowing down, speeding
up, screwing up the rhythm, but nothing could lose these people. ( I may sound
a little bitter, but I thought it was the phunniest thing I'd ever seen
pHiSH do. I damn near fell over laughing. I've seen plenty of serious YEMs,
it was worth it to see this joke. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.)
After four or five minutes of stupidity the vocal jam started. Sort of.
They started singing the opening lines of the vocal jam to the tune of that
stupid theme Trey was playing with, instead of the usual tune. Actually,
I think Trey started it and the rest of the band followed suit. Then they
started playing their instruments again while still jamming vocally and
the lights are going like they usually do during the vocal jam, only white
light and very chaotic. Everything just kept getting more intense until
it sounded a lot like the end of Ghost earlier. Then Fish starts playing a
beat that sounds a lot like Mound but was actually-->
Rocky Mt. Way!:There was a town in between VA and Raleigh called Rocky Mt.
I believe this was the first time pHiSH has played it, maybe the only time.
I think they only did one verse and chorus. Anyway, I don't think they did
the whole song. Too bad Trey doesn't have a talk box. It was great anyway.-->
Chalkdust: This was the harshest Chalkdust I've ever heard. I'm positive
that Trey was trying to get the message across that they don't appreciate
people clapping along uninvited. He was putting particular emphasis on certain
lines, i.e. "Come stumble my mirth beaten worker" (mirth beaten=laughed at,
supports my theory they were mocking the clapping idiots), "Confuse what you
can of the ending, And revise your despise so impending, 'Cause I soak on the
wrath that I (I think Trey sang, "I", it should be "you") didn't quite mask",
"But who can unlearn all the facts that I've learned" (we've learned that
it's perfectly acceptable to clap along and disrespect the band at rock
concerts, which is what most people think a pHiSH is). As I've said before,
this could all be in my head, but music is about communication and that's
the message I got. This Chalkdust was different in other ways too. At the end
of each line, right before the riff kicks in, Trey would let the vocals just
kinda fade out, mumbling the last couple words if singing them at all. It made
the riff much more powerful. The solo was very different, not the happy, upbeat
exuberant solo we're used to. It was incredibly dark and dissonant, very
interesting.
E:Frankenstein:Angrier than most Frankensteins, very powerful.
That second set was the most incredible mindphuck I've ever been exposed to.
I may have misinterpreted the YEM; a phriend of mine said the one in Austin
was really screwed up too, but he only mentioned that the vocal jam wasn't
a vocal jam. I can't wait to see what happens later in the tour when they're
getting bored and the shows get even more insane. Thanks for reading if you
made it this far without getting bored. Feedback always appreciated. Keep an
open mind and listen carefully.
Peace,
Pen.
P.S. For anyone who has tapes of the first three shows and is willing to
trade, I have over 700 ours of live music on tape, mostly pHiSH.
-------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 17:29:31 +0100
From: Brett Hartzfeld
Subject: 7-23-97
The drive to Atlanta was a bitch and it was through some of the worst rain
I have ever had to drive through.
I Julius, Dirt, NICU, Dogs steal things, Ginsing Sulivan, Water in the sky,
SOAM, Billy, Possum.
II PYITE, Ghost, Sample, YEM, Rocky mnt. Way, Chalkdust
E: Frankenstein
Julius- this was the encore at my first show so it was a great way to start
this one.
Dirt- I love the lyrics to this one and it remind me of theme.
NICU- Great jam
Dogs steal things-I love this new one and I love to jam out
Ginsing Sulivan- Third time I heard this one this tour.
Water in the sky- If they wanted to sing about the weather I would have
preferred Purple Rain w/vaccume solo
Soam- Standard
Billy- like the rest of the first set not as much energy as the night
before
Possum- this is when the show started for me
II PYITE- I didn't see this coming but I was hoping for a little MWSIY.
Ghost- if you get the tapes the second set is what you want. I mean they
jammed on this for a half an hour
Sample- sweet but the best came up next
YEM- I have heard Yem live twice before but this was the best yem I have
ever heard. The vocal jam was a wizzufizzedrivemetofirenza jam and the
lights were awesome. This song was enough to keep me wired until deer
creek.
Rocky Mnt. way- short and sweet
Chalkdust- Trey left off the last couple of words on every verse but I have
heard him screw up the lyrics before on other chalkdust's
E: Frankenstein- I wanted to hear Freebird maybe in Deer Creek. see you all
on the rest of the East Coast dates.
Y>E>M>
Hartz
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