Hidden Flick: Phish At The Creek

That sense of a mission, a group adventure where having fun with legions of your friends, traveling hundreds, and sometimes thousands of miles, despite the occasional challenge, is apparent within the first notes of a rousing Runaway Jim.

The band charges into the energetic heart of the song with nary a tune up note, seamlessly segueing into My Soul. The comically appropriate new song, Water in the Sky appears both literally and figuratively as a thunderstorm for the ages is about to present one of those “occasional challenges” that the band would overcome and use to their advantage, and, in the process, solidify their place as America’s best live band as the 1990s drew to a close. The Vermont Phab Phour used the apocalyptic atmospheric disturbances like a weirdly ethereal stage prop in this week’s Hidden Flick, Phish – Walnut Creek. The DVD, hidden away in the corners of the vast vault for 11 years, finally hits the streets in August and it’s a beautiful document of the band during one of their peak eras. I wasn’t sure what to expect, looking back at this show from July 22, 1997 at Walnut Creek Amphitheatre in Raleigh, North Carolina, or whether the film would live up to the usual Phish standards. Fortunately, what is so amazing is that it takes you back and the show plays like a surreal wayback machine to that heady period of time. All initial concern is quickly wiped away. READ ON for more of Hidden Flick...