Welcome to the 164th edition of Phish.net's Mystery Jam Monday Tuesday! This week's winner will once again receive an MP3 download courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. To win, be the first person to identify the song and date of the mystery jam clip. Each person gets one guess per day, with the second “day” starting after I post the hint. A hint will be posted on Tuesday Wednesday if necessary, with the answer to follow on Wednesday Thursday. Good luck!

Answer: @jmponder wins his third MJM by IDing the 7/5/98 Fee, a sloppy version in a sloppy show that nonetheless has a few unique jams worth listening to.

I'm pretty stoked to be writing a few words about this venue and equally stoked for the upcoming shows. Sometime by the end of the year, or if the cards don't fall right, perhaps the first part of 2014 Tour, I'll hit my 300th show. Tons of special memories of course. I've seen Phish perform in every place from dorms, college quads, fraternity houses, gin soaked college bars with 15 people attending and deserted clubs to hallowed halls to the country's biggest, grandest and most cherished venues. Yet, of all the special places I've seen this band- the Centrum ranks right up there among my favorite venues. Perhaps I'm one of only a handful of people that would make that seemingly bizarre claim and hold the venue in such high regard. What is it about the Centrum? Who knows. A cocktail of great memories with friends, remembering the band beginning to "hit it big", great musical moments, omnipresent electricity in the air, historical shows, and a large dose of home-town homerism has elevated this venue for me. Regardless of what regard you hold this venue, there's no doubting the importance it has had in Phish history or the many great musical moments that it has hosted.

Who knows: You may not even recognize the Centrum in Worcester, MA when you visit on October 25th and October 26th for the bands fifteenth and sixteenth appearances here. These shows keep this hallowed venue square in the top few of most played venues by Phish (and likewise the second most performed artist here). Let's get a few things straight before we roll up our sleeves. First off, it is, phonetically, "Woo-ster" not "Worchester". And like Deer Creek, The Boston Garden or Great Woods, it doesn't quite matter which corporate behemoth shelled out enough money to rename the joint. It will always be "The Centrum" but feel free to call it the DCU Center if you want. The venue has actually had a few different names over the years. We need to do a bit of house-cleaning here on Phish.net as we actually have the names incorrect. In 1993 when Phish first played here on New Year's Eve and in 1995 the venue was named "Centrum in Worcester". In 1997, it was re-christened "Worcester's Centrum Center" and in the 3.0 era, starting with their performances in 2010, it has been known as "DCU Center".

The venue, with a capacity of 14,500 and situated in New England's second biggest city, has an embarrassingly rich history for not only epic Phish shows, but also for scores of other bands. We'll look at 'Ten Great Moments' in Centrum Phish history after we look to the future. Despite some real high moments musically and historically for the band, the venue has also been marred with complaints. Most notably have been the lack of restrooms, the lack of concessions and the miniscule concourse space to accommodate the always sold-out crowds. So what's changed? Read on for the best of what's to come and the best of what's already been!

Read more...