Venues

BlueCross Arena

Rochester, NY, USA

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Top Rated Shows

Highest rated shows at this venue by Phish.net users:

Date Rating
1997-12-11 442 votes 4.6357/5
1999-12-05 109 votes 3.5963/5
2013-10-22 264 votes 2.9394/5

Top Reviews

Highest-rated reviews from shows at this venue:

2013-10-22 by AdROC 25
Wow. Felt like stepping back in time walking into the BlueCross Arena last night! Awesome feeling and good vibes all around. But a different era it truly is... on a tough early weeknight following a throw down in Hampton, the boys showed a little fatigue, having a tough time rallying mentally...
1997-12-11 by waxbanks 22
Expanding on (and stepping back a bit from) my earlier comment: The first set of this show is awesome and weeeeeird. A 20-minute DwD in the #2 slot? Yeah! Then a delicately creepy segue into Maze, which builds with unusual deliberateness from deep quiet to Trey's sci-fi roar (an engrossing...
1997-12-11 by uctweezer 20
This show is smoking through and through. This show is available in SBD format, free of charge. Why the hell aren't you listening to it right now? I can only imagine, if I were there, how hard I would have been jizzing in my pants during the final climax of the Ghost jam that ultimately reprises...
1997-12-11 by TheEmu 12
Some really great, great thumping from Mike in Punch. So tight. DwD comes out of the gate on fire. There’s several minutes of absolute flame-throwing, ginger-fueled, face-devastating HOSE, and that’s the START of the Disease jam as part of the SECOND song of the night. Holy crap. This...
2013-10-22 by curtiss 11
That was one of the best 1st sets I can remember. Moma dance, Kill Devil Falls, Timber Ho, Halfway to the Moon and Maze were all extraordinary. They were having a lot of fun in the 2nd set and playing good music. Wish they would have stretched Light or Possum out more, but it was such a...
1997-12-11 by HotPale 10
Rochester will always hold a special place in my heart...whether it was the crack dealer who bought us food and smokes to drive him around for what we realized was a crime spree or the lost crack addict (who told us quote, "I'm from the grateful dead!") who lost "his kids" that my buddy and I...
2013-10-22 by orangeman91 9
The review's might not be kind to this show, but they are right that it was an exhale of a show after 3 sick nights of Hampton. To be perfectly honest, people who were at this show will tell you it was a ton of fun, and it was. Trey might have slips here and there, but considering how on fire...
1997-12-11 by User_25597_ 8
This is, *ahem*, this is the best first set of Phish ever, if not the best single set of Phish ever. A lot of people talk about 12/6/97 or 12/7/97 second sets, and, yeah, they're GREAT, but this is superb. Basically flawless. The only thing I can think of that would even come close is 11/22/97...
1997-12-11 by User_23678_ 7
Wear a cup - Trey will kick your dick off. This is an impeccably and intensely played show with tons of creativity. Definitely check out the copy on the spreadsheet - free soundboard! I wish we still got first sets with this much passion, especially that Down with Disease. Other people...
1999-12-05 by Bob_Loblaw 6
I think many people may have a different opinion of this show than me. Set 1 is absolutely rock solid from front to back It sounds like they really want it. Carini is short and sweet, Trey nails it! Gibbo takes a dip into some serene waters. BOTT is also flawlessly played IMO. Taste has a nice...

Notable Jam Chart Performances

Individual jam chart entries from this venue:

1999-12-05 • Meatstick (14:14) Set 2 Noteworthy
Loosely segues out of "Mike's" and includes a very atypical jam that "goes type II" and RAGES before eventually cooling down, spacing-out, and seguing well into "Hydrogen."
1999-12-05 • Taste (12:55) Set 1 Noteworthy
The closest thing to a "jammed out" version of "Taste" (before 2017), as the band stretches Trey's solo out into a very extended and mellow groove, before returning to more familiar ground.
1997-12-11 • Limb By Limb (10:36) Set 1 Noteworthy
Superlative even among the standouts. The best "Limbs" build to a peak that reaches the stratosphere, then gradually work back down to earth. Listen to this version for a prime example.
1997-12-11 • Down with Disease (19:54) Set 1 Noteworthy
High octane jam flames out at 11:00 into an excellent Page and Mike led minimalist groove which -> to "Maze." There is also a -> "DwD" from "Ghost" later in this show to complete the earlier, unfinished version.
Page solo > Fish on Marimba Lumina in a weird but cool and spacey jam > klezmer > "old school" chanting by Mike > end.
1999-12-05 • Twist (11:58) Set 1
Wild improv in this excellent, thrilling set closer that peaks well.
A strong, prototypical '99 "Gotta Jibboo," with patient and careful Trey/Page interplay at first, a smooth and linear - but predictable - build up in energy and tension, and culmination in an intense, if somewhat short peak. One of the strongest standard '99 "Jibboos."
1997-12-11 • Ghost (16:26) Set 2
Blazing, rocking funk which -> to a "DwD" reprise. [A good, funky jam settles into some low-key grooving, then gradually develops a full head of steam, igniting into a blistering, raging eclipse which -> to "DwD Reprise."]
1997-12-11 • Drowned (21:17) Set 2
The jam keeps up a pretty good head of steam until about 12:00 when it settles into 9 minutes of high quality '97-style space funk/quiet bliss enhanced with delay effects. -> to "Roses Are Free."
Wild version that segues out of Roses Are Free. It's highly improvisational in that after about 3 mins of "normal" (so to speak) BBFCFM, a Sturm-und-Drang, plodding jam evolves and trudges along for a few minutes, and then the band drops out as Trey sustains a note, then a chord, and, well, nothing much happens for a minute or so, and then Trey counts-off and Ghost begins.
1997-12-11 • Maze (15:01) Set 1
-> from DWD, the second in a trifecta of excellent Mazes from December 1997. Page delivers meaty play in the first half of the jam. The tension that follows builds primarily from the push and pull between the speed and adrenaline of the rhythm section led by Fish, and Trey's guitar lines which seem at times to lag and then race to keep up before the final photo finish.


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