Jam Breakdown - 12/7/97 Tube
Tube is a Phish song that has always had tremendous jam potential. Even in its debut version on 9/13/90 at the Wetlands Preserve where the jam is just a 90-second Page solo, you can sense its future as a vehicle.
On 12/7/97 in Dayton, Ohio, Phish finally began to play Tube as it was meant to be. Their year-long evolution in funk was perfect for this song, and it became a groove vehicle and a staple of their catalogue, where it remains to this day.
While this version may not stray from Tube proper, its deep groove and reprise jam with a perfect segue into Slave to the Traffic Light paved the way for future legendary versions of the song.
To see my thread from July 2020 breaking down important versions of Tube from across the band’s history, click here.
All timings are per LivePhish.
12/7/97 Tube
Trey starts first verse in the wrong key
Distinctly slower than the early and mid-90s versions
First jam features incredible clav work from Page
Trey doing Fall ’97 funk vamp
Page on organ at 1:38, continues soloing
Organ break with ascending notes at 2:27
Trey wah break at 3:31
Page continues awesome organ runs
Atypical entry into blues section
“Want to start that jam again?”
DAYTON JAM
Second jam starts with more guitar funk vamp and Page on piano
Page quickly adds spacey synth
Funk siren activated
Mike and Fish holding down steady Tube rhythm
Trey uses octave down effect and finds repeating riff
Page returns to piano and dances around Trey
Page hits Rhodes at 3:20, jam starts to space out
Trey back on funk vamp
Band flirts with modulation to major briefly
Weird effect from Mike
Trey gradually leads the band into major key and -> to Slave