Originally posted 2012/10/17

Download Link Brad Sands Ghost

I wanted to find out a bit more about this private show, so I asked ScottyB if he had any info about this event. He was smart enough to point me in the direction of the party’s host-Brad Sands. Sands was Phish’s road manager at the time. I got in contact with Brad and he was kind enough to shed some light on the memorable evening. Half of the Brad’s remembrance is here, the other half will be at the end of this review.

From Brad Sands..

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Here’s some background on that show. Before the band was to head off to Europe they decided to play a warmup “show” on the back porch at my house where Pete Carini lived also. There was probably about 100 people there, (probably about 20 dogs)and most decided to camp overnight. The band actually played 2 sets that night, both of them being the same set. The tape that circulates is the second of these 2 sets.

Background (Set: 2 of 2 – Song: 6 of 15 -Show Gap: Debut)

Composed Section (1:40-4:56)

Strong and funky for our debut. I kind love the forcefulness of this trail run!

Welcome to the Private Party…

“Light some candles baby!” Like I said some great banter in this show…”Turn it up”

The aforementioned dogs with a bark at the 1:00 mark.

And at 1:40 we drop right in. Much faster paced intro than we would see with the first couple Ghosts in Europe. I love Page’s solo, he gets right after it with some funk and even throws a bit of the Ghost melody in. Very well played, the entire sound is raw which I love. I’m sure the raw sound is due to the venue being Brad’s house. Pretty long pause for this very early version. Lots of pep to this composed section.

Jam

5:00 in and Trey starts to play the “Story of the Ghost” vocal melody on guitar and sings it a bit longer. He gets right into solo mode with Gordo and Fishman in full rhythm mode. Page is way into the synth leading the jam with Trey’s solos.

Foreshadowing?

At about the 6:06 mark the band starts to play something VERY similar a section of the 6/19/1997 Jam in Austria. Listen from the 11:35 mark from The Daily Ghost #3 clip. It is almost the same lick from Trey and that sectioned off start/stop drumming from Fishman. Fun stuff, wow it is almost the same exact thing! It is a very fun section so glad they brought it to the masses!

This would have been me at this party

Finish

At about 7:57 Trey lets out a call, Fishman picks up the tempo and they head to the end. Trey starts to solo with Page providing some crunch. They keep mostly the same theme going to the end with a lackluster ending.

Final Thoughts

A fun Ghost to in part because of the historic value as it was the debut. I feel you can tell how much the band loves playing this song right from the start. Second time they played it in the same night, yet still loving every minute of it.

Grade: 7.1

Here is the rest of the story from Brad Sands…

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A funny story from that night is that Paul needed some extra power to run the PA for the show, so he tapped into my power box and disconnected the water pump (country house off the plumbing grid) that ran all the toilets. Needless to say, that was not a good idea. About halfway through the show all the toilets were backed up, and we had some major plumbing problems if you get my drift. The police showed up after the second set as it was getting late and one of the neighbors called to complain about the music and all these people up the driveway camping out. After the police left the party continued late into the evening but no more live music…….only Grateful Dead (well only Jerry Grateful Dead as we had a strict no Bobby tunes rule at house parties)



Hope this helps. Ghost is one of my favorite Phish songs, being born on Halloween and all.

Brad

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Thank you so much, Brad

A Clip from the 20th anniversary montage video with a clap from this gig at Brad’s (Clip should start right away). Thanks to ScottyB and @westbrook for the heads up.

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