Date: Sun, 26 Apr 1998 10:22:20 -0700
From: Charles Dirksen
Subject: *Review of Providence Shows*

4/5/98 Providence Civic Center, Providence, RI

I: Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > You Enjoy Myself, Theme From the Bottom, McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters, Bathtub Gin -> Cities, Sparkle, Split Open and Melt

I reallly dig the funky YEM in this set!! Definitely one of the better versions from the last year in this sense! [Note: I don't recall hearing Mike signaling for trampolines moves, so am I right that there weren't trampolines used during this YEM? [Ed. note: Nope - there were tramps. -Dan]] Theme and McGrupp are both very good. Not much of a Gin jam before ->Cities segues into the picture! An excellent jam out of Cities, imo. The SOAM closer is also very good, but not exceptionally so imo. I think this is a set to check out, though!

II: Down With Disease > Ya Mar -> Prince Caspian > Maze -> Oblivous Fool -> Possum** -> Cavern**

E: Bold as Love

Set two opens with an avg. great DWD which somewhat segues> into Yamar. Yamar's jam segment begins as you usually hear it, but eventually segues BRILLIANTLY into a jam quite unlike anything heretofore occurring in Yamar. A gorgeous jam with Slave to the Traffic Light undertones!! =^] This is the sort of Full Band Improv that gets my spirit soaring, and not simply my feet. Phish *can* be soulful! This jam ends after a few minutes and Trey changes the key and masterfully segues-> into Fuckerpants' melodious opening!!!! Ahhhhhhh. Anyone who didn't like that beautiful jam should be thrown up against a wall and shot. One less deaf fan boy. ;)

Caspian is unexpectedly disappointing. Trey just plays rhythm guitar and nothing really happens. (see 12/12/97 for a kickass jam out of Caspian) Maze is pretty blah until it segues-> nicely into what is presumably a reworked, funky "Oblivious Fool."

This version of Oblivious Fool is far less goofy and happy than early versions from last year (and even the 11/17/97 Denver version). I don't know whether this was just improvised on the spot or what (Mike's bassline doesn't sound improvised, though -- it is very melodious.. he also repeats this melody/lick continuously throughout this Fool). Trey ominously sings (well.. more like speaks) the Fool lyrics. Quite a dramatic change from the Fools of yesteryear.

Not much of a jam, though, before Possum ->segues quite nicely into the picture. Possum's jam segment begins very typically, with Trey noodling around over the usual accompaniment from Fish, Mike and Page. A fairly rote Possum jam ensues for several minutes, until it basically stops dead, and Trey starts funkily chording (by himself) for about thirty seconds. This would have been a nice time for BLACK EYED KATY!!!

But nooooOOoOoo, they begin a Funk Groove, and Trey almost immediately starts talking to the audience, thanking them for the run. "For those of you who wanna take off, take off, but for those of you who just want to dance to the funk, you know uh, we're going to stay around and keep groovin... we'll see you guys this summer." Even Fish gets time to funk by himself in this groove.. I can't really get into this funk jam, though. I've heard better in every version of BEK I've heard so far, and in almost all versions of Cities since early 1997, too.

Trey starts singing Cavern in the midst of this funk jam, and the jam soon becomes a slow, funky Cavern. For those who didn't notice, Cavern contains the Original lyrics (e.g., "...dung"). I can see how some were disappointed by the ending to this set. It doesn't rage.. just kinda funks out. The Bold As Love encore is very good, but still not as impressive imo as many of the versions in and around 1995.

All things considered, though, these shows, like the Nassau shows before them, were excellent Phish shows (above average based on all the Phish shows I've heard). I'm extremely excited about Phish's direction and looking forward very much to seeing some summer shows and hearing the tapes! I have to take the bar this summer so it looks like only Shoreline, Merriweather and Lemonwheel for me.

That said, I do disagree with Brian Lipman (who has heard a lot of Phish!) to some extent about the funk. I think the funk is wonderful most of the time, even though there were times in this April run when it was weak and didn't do much imo. I'm also thrilled by the new tunes, Roget and BOAF/Birds, and looking forward to hearing them *live* this summer! I think Phish has definitely taken the funk a positive, improvisational step forward, in light of this April run of shows.

Thanks again to Chris Glushko for the tapes..

two cents
charlie

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Subject: Get Down Party Funk Jam!!
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 10:59:18 -0400
From: "Douglas L. Wertheimer"

4/5 Providence Civic Center
I: Oh Kee Pah > YEM, Theme, McGrupp, Gin > Cities > Barkle, SOAM
II: DwD, Yamar > Trey Soliloquy > Caspian > Maze > Oblivious Fool > Possum > Get Down Party Funk Jam > Cavern (Good Gawd!)
E: Bold As Love

The first set opened -- very surprisingly -- with my 2nd ever Oh Kee Pah. I was hoping that it would jump into a Bag, but alas, 'twas not to be. Nevertheless, a YEM in the 2nd slot is really fun! I definitely prefer 1st set YEMs over 2nd set YEMs. The Theme that followed was typiaclly beautiful, & I always enjoy McGrupp. To my delight, they finished this one, unlike the 12/30 version, & then even slightly reprised it at the end, kind of like what used to happen with Tela.

Gin was up next, making for the 2nd jam tune in the 1st set! It was ok, imo, & segued nicely into Cities, which was also an average version. Cities segued into Barkle, which I kind of enjoyed, for the first time in a long time. The SOAM closer was really nice, especially Chris' work with the lights towards the end of the chaos that was the jam.

Second set opener was a stand-alone DwD... nice version, but nothing mind-boggling. Yamar followed, & was never really finished... it led into something which I originally thought would turn into Slave, but, unfortunately, it was Caspian AKA FUckerpants. However, this pre-Caspian segment was *beautiful*. It felt as though Trey was delivering a soliloquy deep from within his heart. The spotlight was on him, & he came up with something very unique, that was a delight to hear.

Out of the end of Caspian, Maze followed. I thought that Page's solo sucked, but before Trey had a chance to make up for it, it led into a wacked out version of Oblivious Fool... quite haunting, in a Funky sort of way. Kinda like a scene from Thriller. Possum followed, and, once again, remained unfinished.. Trey announced that since Funk had been their theme, that they would continue to Funk out for a while, & whoever wanted to leave could do so... but if you wanted to FUnk out, you should stay. Kind of a weird thing for him to say, I thought. With people hanging on the band's every move these days, no one would leave a show, even if they reinvented the infamous "Poop Jam," by actually pooping on stage. ;)

Anyway, the band indeed did Funk out for a while, it was funk to get down to. In fact, the jam & the ensuing Cavern was some of the most fun I had on the Island Tour. The Cavern was loony & veeeerry funky. It was slowed down, & even included some of the older lyrics, ala 11/26 Hartford: "...I turned the blade back on the bitch and dropped her in the dung!!" Purty kewl.

Encore was the always-pleasing Bold As Love. Fantastic way to close a show, imo. All in all, I had a tremendous amount of fun during the 2nd set of this show, although it was not my favourite set, musically speaking. My favourite two sets were the 2nd sets of the Nassau shows.

Well, this "review" seems kinda haphazard, but I typed it in a hurry, b/c I have to prepare for Passover. To all you celebrating tonight, remember one of the main themes of Passover -- Freedom -- and have a happy Passover.

Take Good Care...
Disco Saul AKA DJ Saul T. Nutz

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Subject: 4/5/98 review
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1998 11:14:09 -0400
From: SeaBass

Well this is my first maybe second attempt at writing a review for a show that others will see. I usually just write a few notes down for my own memories!

4/5/98 Was my 19th and favorite show in my 3 years of phishing. The day started out oh so nice, We awoke early and were pumped yet a little sad that this was going to be the last show for all of us till Maryland this summer. We arrived at Trinity Brewery about 3:00 where I met up with Hal and some of his friends from the Phish.net community and the Phunky Bitches. After a brief stop there we headed out to walk the lots. Our friend Jay was on a 7 show dry streak for Grilled Cheeses, he is the GURU of grilled cheeses. I knew it was going to be a great show when after about 3 minute of walking around he found his grilled cheese. Now it was on to find the lot shirts that both Hal and I had won from the rest of our gang for guessing openers at earlier shows. We never did find nice lot shirts :-( If anyone knows the guy with the blue Ghost shirts please let me know! Anyway we were getting antsy and were ready for the show. We went into the civic center around 7:20, security was so relaxed, and so nice to us! We all settled down and just talked about how nice this run was. Soon the civic center filled, with out a security guard in sight, and everyone just sitting wherever they wanted. It was great! No one was pushing or shoving, and there seemed to be very few problems. I took off my watch as I always do, because I do not want to know what time it is or think about where I am while the show is going on.

Soon the lights went out and the boys plugged in and bam! Oh Kee Pa, I had only heard this jam on tapes, and I was so pumped!!!!! It was really nice to hear live and just see how smoothly the boys can jam together. As if the Oh Kee Pa was not enough they melted into an incredible YEM, at some point a beautiful vocal jam erupted and I went nutz!!!!! I was really shaking my bones at this point. at one point I was so lost in the light show going along with them jamming that I forgot where I was. I think that Chris must have some new toys, because the things he was doing with the lights were incredible! At this point I was smiling from ear to ear when I heard that first note and bam... Theme from the Bottom. They were right on for this and their voices sounded so crisp. McGrupp was nice, Then I thought I heard Bathtub Gin, ah yes it was, this was so great to hear. The last time I heard Gin was the Went. Cities was nice and everyone was psyched to hear it, I think it is one of those great covers that everyone always enjoys hearing! Sparkle, let me just say....laugh and laugh and fall apart, I was having the best time at this point. I said to myself that this set can't end, but it must be going on 2 hours.....(turned out to be a little less) more like 90 minute when we got a always awesome Split Open and Melt which is a great ol' tune! Wow what a first set......that first set felt like it was a whole show and I loved it!

Set two was about to begin when Karen called Down with Disease, what a great tune to get the crowed rocking! And was it just me or was Mike's base turned way up!!!! Yeah Mike! Hassan agreed with how intense Mike's base was. I had been calling Ya Mar for the last few nights and it finally came out. Prince Caspian is such a great sounding song, their voices were sounding perfect at this point! Maze=HAL! He wanted a Maze and he got his Maze! Oblivious Fool was OK, kinda neat to hear, I think they did this one in Europe maybe. At this point they went into a funky Possum which sounded really sweet! During Possum Trey said something like...If anyone wants to get going they can, but for all of you who want to dance were just going to keep jamming. Everyone erupted with joy and we all danced on. At the end of Possum I was a bit sad, knowing that this spring run was over and I was not going to see my Friends for a while. Possum rolled into Cavern with what I am told were the old lyrics. We clapped and yelled the whole time till Phish came out for an encore (as if they wouldn't come out for one)...... A splendid Axis Bold as Love? It was a nice tune to end a nice mini tour! Overall this show gets on a scale of 1-10 a 9 . A definite show to get on tape.

Scott Boyarsky sboyarsk@hornet.liunet.edu
The Great Seabass
tape list: http://home.earthlink.net/~seabass420

In rec.music.phish on 7 Apr 1998 03:27:07 GMT,, ISKI100 posted:

Hey Pholks, I haven't done a show review in a while, I usually wait and then add my responses to other reviews. Since this was such a big show for me being my 30th show (my first was 7/12/92), I feel that I must do a review. All I can say is this show BLEW SATURDAY AWAY! I wasn't that impressed with the setlist saturday, so I expected a lot for the final show and I'm glad Phish saved the best for last.

Set I Oh Kee Pa>>YEM, Theme, McGrupp, Bathtub Gin>>Cities Sparkle, Split open and melt

My first oh kee pa! That's when I knew it was going to be a good night. Just when I was expecting Suzy, they go right into YEM! Definitly one of the best versions I've heard (12/9/95 being my fav). I am awaiting Charlies review of this one. Very straight forward funky grooves but long, at almost 30 minutes. The vocal jam was something that's been missing as of late. I'm not a big Theme fan but it was a good version. McGrupp was the only lowlight, I'm not a fan of this tune. Bathtub Gin! I've been waiting since the monsterous Went gin to be blessed with another awesome version. I've also heard Winstin-Salem and this was solid but not quite as epic as the other two. A rough but welcome seque into Cities was great, another song I've been waiting to hear since the went (I was at 4 nov/dec shows before saturday). Sparkle was sparkle. The clapping has returned to New England unfortunitly. I have noticed that Page has expanded a bit after the final chorus, I'd like to hear more of this in the future. Split was called by Trey and made a perfect set closer, my first since the Clifford Ball. Rating: the setlist was great how can you turn down a first set YEM. The jamming was average. I give it a 6.5 on the Donny Grieco rating scale.

Set II Down w/Disease>>Yamar, Crapsien, maze>>Oblivious fool>>Possum>>Funk jam>>Cavern.

The disease intro is getting longer and I've never failed to call this one before the bass line begins. This version was phat, very welcome since I haven't heard it since the went (a common theme tonight). Crapsien was a big let down. I thought there was a chance they would pass it up on this run. I can't beleive how many people get into this song, it was the only time I sat down all night. what happen next saved the night. Maze completely jammed! Again some annoying people felt it was necessary to clap during the quiet intro (Ugg! as Linus would say). Best version I have heard (I need to listen to some other tapes to be sure). Again, lots of communication on stage as Trey motioned to mike who motioned to Fish to go into Oblivious Fool, or part of it. I've never heard this song before last night so I've heard it wasn't a complete version. Anyway, I like it better than some of the other new songs and I hope it makes the upcoming album. Then the seque into Possum iced the cake for me. Possum is my second fav song (after mikes) and I haven't heard it since the Clifford Ball. Not as good as some other versions but always a welcome treat. Then they just did a funk jam while graciously inviting those of us to dance while they lay down the funk. This set gets a 7.5 (by comparison, sat night second set, I give a 4) My standards are high.

E: Bold as Love

Always a treat.

The only non-musical bummer about this show was the disgusting couple who SMELLED LIKE SHIT and happened to be dancing next to me for most of the first set. It was a rude awakening for my girlfriend who was at her first show. I understand that some of you don't get to shower on tour but at least use deodorant. The Civic Center has got to be one of the easist places to exit. The employees were very cool, almost too cool as the floor looked overcrowed. Looking forward to the summer and unlike almost everyone who reviews shows here, I am not requesting tapes!!! I'll get them eventually.

Donny - looking forward to my next 30 shows!

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From: Rob Winkler[SMTP:rwinkler@instrument.com]

Sent: Thursday, April 09, 1998 4:25 PM

Subject: 4/5/98 review

Rob's Review of Sunday, April 5, 1998 - Providence Civic Center

The scene outside was much mellower than on Saturday.

Set 1

Oh Kee Pa - Cool! I wish they'd play this more often. It was a great way to lead up to...

You Enjoy Myself - Another bomb of a set 1 opener. Nothing really stands out, and I think it was a pretty standard version. I doubt that it approached 30 minutes as one review suggests. Mike was really subdued during the Bass/Drums section.

Theme From the Bottom - Another standard version, with great placement out of the YEM vocal jam.

McGrupp - Again, great placement, standard jam.

Bathtub Gin - Page was going NUTS on the intro. Yes, he always does, but I think it was even nuttier than usual. The jam didn't ever get too crazy, and as soon as it began to stray away from the Faucet theme, the opening chords to Cities began to develop.

Cities - Good fun. The jam at the end was really mellow, with very little soloing and what I think was lots of delay loop action. It went on for awhile, but imho it kind of dragged before finally petering out.

Sparkle - Picked up the energy level of the crowd considerably.

Split Open & Melt - Great version. Very pleasant jam, not overly dissonant.

Set 1 had a fantastic set list, but I thought the jamming was mostly not that inspiring.

Set 2

Down With Disease - Got things really going, and I thought it had one of the best jams of the night. The opening was nice, but not as crazy as the Gorge version. The jam stayed in standard DWD territory for awhile before wandering through some phunk and finally some spacey psychadelic territory. After the spacey jamming ended, there was a pause, then

Ya Mar - This was a really crazy version. It was standard up until Trey's solo. Then, somewhere in Trey's solo, he began to take it into some other territory. It soon became a rather mellow, floating sort of jam, and immediately Trey started playing something that sounded to me like they were about to segue into Tela. I was really psyched, but the segue never materialized. Several times Trey teased us with slight variations of that descending progression of notes that characterizes Tela, then he decided to explore the mellow, floating jam for awhile. Eventually, after about 4 or 5 minutes, he teased Tela again. Then, just as I was thinking that we might actually get to that special, lovely region of Gamehendge, Trey abruptly shifted gears and launched into the opening chords of...

Prince Caspian - Uggh! I don't unconditionally hate this song, but I thought the placement was just terrible in this case. I didn't really care for the way it was played, either. Trey didn't solo at all, but pounded about 5 minutes worth of repetitive power chords down our throats after the last chorus. The only other thing worth noting was the absence of the mellow intro section. I looked around several times during this and did not see ANYONE getting down to this song. This was definitely the lowlight of the whole run.

Maze - Started pretty much right after the end of the Caspian. Standard Page organ solo, but as soon as Page's solo ended, Trey started up this groove where his solo would normally start. It was a kind of mellow, loping, R&B sort of groove. As it turns out, this was no longer Maze at all, but what I would have to say was a re-worked version of...

Oblivious Fool - After about 2 minutes of this groove, Trey started singing the lyrics "The terrible thing about Hell..." over top of the groove, and I turned to my friend, astonished, and said "It's Oblivious Fool!" She of course didn't believe me until the chorus. FWIW, various posts have suggested that this was not a complete version, or maybe even just a tease. However, I'm quite sure all of the lyrics I've ever heard were sung (1 verse and 1 chorus). The new arrangement had a really laid-back sort of feel, completely unlike the upbeat, Julius-style groove it used to have. It reminded me a lot of a tune called "Just Wanna See His Face" on the Stones "Exile on Main Street", as a point of reference. The new arrangement was also much looser, and gave them an opportunity to jam out on the song. Trey used a lot of wah-wah action during this 4 or 5-minute jam, while I think Page phunked around on the clav. Then, the jam began to pick up in tempo and quickly segued into the opening chords of...

Possum - No one-note-repeated piano opening that's found in most Possums. The jam built nicely and reached a pretty cool climax after a few minutes. Then abruptly, they "broke it down". Basically, everyone stopped playing except Trey, who kicked out this funky, James Brown-style riff with the wah-wah pedal. When the rest of the band kicked back in, they were in serious funk (not phunk) mode. Here, Trey made the announcement that went something like "It seems kind of weird that this is the last show of the run...we'd love to keep playing...we're going to close out the show with some more funk jamming, so you'll know that we didn't forget about it...if you want to leave now, go ahead - we're just going to stay up here and play some funk-jamming for awhile." The funk jam went on for about 5 minutes, with a lot of stop-start action. Then, subtly, Trey softly played over top of the funk groove the opening chords/notes to...

Cavern - Much looser than most versions, with a slower than normal tempo. I think the tempo gradually sped up as the song went on, and at the end, it was pretty much at normal tempo. I'm told that they sang the old lyrics, but I didn't notice.

Encore:

Bold as Love - Very powerful live. I love Page's vocal delivery. How come he sings so rarely these days?

Overall, I thought the second set was mostly great, with much more jamming than the first set. I enjoyed the non-standard versions of Oblivious Fool and Cavern, although I wish they'd more thoroughly jammed on the Maze and Possum themes. They never even came close to finishing these songs, which was a little reminiscent of the Melkweg (Amsterdam) show (except much better played). However I don't think the jamming at this show ever really reached the incredible height of the jamming in Saturday's second set. Then again, I think that Saturday second set ranked up there with some of the best I've ever seen, including 12/31/95 set 3. Check this one out if you get the chance!

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Subject: Island our Highlights - Damn Long
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 19:26:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Hutchison

Sunday 4/5 -

Oh Kee Pah! Yes! This means Suzy Greenburg...the horns must surely be coming out right now...

I don't think I'd ever been more dissapointed at the starting notes of You Enjoy Myself. That feeling quickly went away, though, and my only frustration was that resulting from the fact that I felIt like I'd been "had" by the band. Ah well...this show would prove to be as awesome as the other three.

The Gin -> Cities was not expected, and they pulled it off nicely. To tell the truth, I don't remember anything really stellar in any of the songs, except solid jamming and typically excellent playing. The sloppiness of the first two nights was all but gone as they gracefully flew over the old composed pieces like YEM and McGrupp. The Melt and Maze jams I remember being particularly intense, and the segues from the second set were all very nicely done. DwD->YaMar especially.

The second set ended kind of weirdly, with a song segueing out of Maze that I'd never heard...probably a reworked version of Oblivious Fool (for the new album?) and then a Possum that raged as usual, into a Cavern that was incredibly funky and had the same alternate lyrics (whatever the heck they were) as from Hartford last fall.

The Axis: Bold as Love encore was a bit of a letdown after the previous night's all having jaw-dropping encores, but one can't complain. There was really nothing left for them to play. To tell the truth, I'm having a hard time coming up with songs that would have fit better in that spot...Fluffhead is really the only thing we didn't hear. (Although AC/DC Bag, Forbins>Mockingbird, Ice and Harpua all would have been nice to hear at some point on the run...) But there were alot of worse things they could have put there. All in all, there's no complaints from this Markah.

Well, sorry I took up so much bandwith and stole so much money from my University since i typed this while I was supposed to be working, but I hope you enjoyed it either way, if you even read this entire monstrosity. Take care everybody, and I'll see you in 92 days at Portland!

Take care,

- Mark