8/10/97 Deer Creek Music Center; Noblesville, IN
  GinStats: Set I OPENER  Total time: 12:11

  In a rare gesture, Bathtub Gin opens up not only the set, but the show
as well.  This is only the sixth time in Phish history that this has
happened.  Interestingly enough, the Gin beofore this one (8/3/97 -
The Gorge) was also a show opener.  Before that, however, it had been
SEVEN years, (since 1990, when they played three) since Gin opened a
show, and the only other one was in 1989, the song's first year out.
(Thanks for these tapes, Mike!)

Opening, fairly standard, except of course that *nothing* precedes it
other than the lights going out, and some minor tune-ups.

Page jumps in at 0:16 -> 0:49 with some gin-nastic warmups.  And I do
  indeed mean "warm-ups" since that is about all that's happening here,
  at best.  Pleasant enough...Typical times.

Lyrics Segment: 0:49

Page Fill 1: 1:22->1:40  Page, you never told us you wanted to be a
  gymnist...oh, you mean a GINNIST. Well then....oh look, he's in a
  tight pink LEOtard with martini glasses on them, how cute :)

  Fill 2: 2:14->2:31  The most ominous and dark take on Rhapsody In
  Blue I've ever heard and I mean it man.  A sign of things to come
  perhaps....or else a sure sign of the impending apocalypse

  NOW!! :)
 

FAUCET: 2:48  Fairly clean! Less staccato, on Trey's behalf, than
as-of-late and more or less a return to the days of old.  One of the
better Faucet sections I've heard from '96 or '97 actually!

SINGING W/THE FAUCET: 3:31  Indifferent...

WATER FROM THE FAUCET: 4:45 Starts off typical enough, Trey continues
the old-style sustained-note faucet lick and mills about in the
Classic Faucet Region, while the others funk slowly beneath, right on
target.  At 5:33 Trey takes us on a short climb that leads right back
to....you guessed it! The CFT!  But in a much lower key.

   By 6:15 this ominous swirly pattern
forms, somewhat resembling a cross between the Dark But Psychedelic, and
the Outright Lethargic...6:44 shows some real promise, as if this is
lethargy isn't sleep deprivation at all and thus not the climax of the
Gin but rather the slow crustation of a glorious jam to come, the
building blocks so large, and as Trey's notes slowly start to show
some real direction, at 7:22 Trey returns to the CFL, with no real
shift in the mood, tempo, key, etc. letting us know that this has all
been one long extended Classic Faucet Theme jam.

  In a shot of redemption towards the 8 minute mark, Trey spouts
forth some rather glorious licks, still at the restrained pace, but
glorious none-the-less, and by 8:30 Page plays a nice Faucet oriented
chord solo, Mike and Fish funk unsuspectingly beneath, diverting
attention back to Trey who is by now, right before the 9 minute mark,
climbing up the 'doc, creating some rather melodious jams.  This
period between 8 and 9 minutes is actually...well...splendid!
Seriously, this minute does contain some wonderous, enchanting jams.

  At 9:31 the double-time Faucet Lick takes effect, the rest of the
band seems unsure where to go, but Fish picks up the beat just in
case.  It sort of stumbles here for a second or two, knocked
off-balance almost, but all four of them adjust accordingly and roll
with it, communicating with each other quite nicely.   Trey
tentatively sets up for a stomp, but Page trills briefly on the higher
end of the keys, and Mike funks out underneath.  Trey resorts to
some understated, subtle wah-wah.  By 10:31 he seems
to have hit a Classic Rock Anthem lick but instead of going anywhere
with it, he abandons it for the "throwing out the notes, one at a
time" jams a la the Landover MD Free when it hits bottom, and some '96
YEM jam segments when he decided to try to show off some blues licks.

  At 11:27 this jam starts to sink into a bottom-of-the-water space,
Fish has found a groovy beat but gets softer with it until he's
practically limp.  Not barren...just limp :)   By 12:06 you can
hear Trey start to bring something up slowly over-top of Fish and the
Under-Water others, and by 12:11 Sparkle takes effect fully.  Sure, I
may not have chosen Sparkle to come out of this if it were up to me,
but it is a nice segue all the same.  (Mockingbird Setlist Police take
notice: "->" and not ">")

"BATHTUB GIN" REFRAIN: None, following in The Path Of The '97 Gins.

ENDS AT 12:11

Rating: 79 Proof. C+
 
Keep in mind that 75 Proof should be the average, typically great
Gin and this is 79. The Faucet Lick was cleaner than it has been for
some time, and there were some pleasing melodious licks spouting forth
from Trey in there.  On the whole though, this was an average Gin,
thus rating in the 70's.   It wasn't UNpleasing, by any means and at
the time I enjoyed it quite nicely, but like I said, it is only a few
notches better than "typically great" especially when compared to
other Summer '97 versions - in light of those versions, which are its
time-line peers, this version would actually fall far below average.

Btw, I would recommend this entire show to collectors.  The
Cities->Jam in the second set is one of my favorite moments from the
summer, hands down, a MUST-HEAR Phish moment by all means, and the
SOAM in the first set is also a MUST-HEAR, (and, as a bonus, it
contains a Third Stone From The Sun tease!)

Walk with light my friends,
Benjy