Here's another nice show from Summer 98. I don't think this show is quite as good as the three preceding it, but it's no slouch either and it's very funky. The show starts out with another good Moma Dance. This one's groove starts out pretty laid-back, but its intensity eventually picks up. Next up is a standard Beauty of My Dreams. Sample in a Jar is played with a little extra punch. Guyute is well-played and I like the placement coming after two lighter songs. Then we've got the first Ghost on American soil of the Summer and it's excellent. The jam starts out with sweet wah funk from Trey while Page takes the melody on the Rhodes. The jam picks up when Page switches to the piano and Trey starts building the melody. When Page hops on the clav, he and Trey get really hooked up in a Manteca-like groove as the jam keeps building. The jam culminates with a rocking peak and a vocal reprise from Fishman as he shouts the refrain. As Ghost dies down, Limb by Limb starts up. I love Limb by Limb so I'm always happy to hear it and this one reaches a satisfying peak. After a brief ambient outro, a nice Roggae is played. Ghost and YEM in the same set is always great, and this is only the first set. YEM is really funky and thoroughly enjoyable. Overall, this is a great first set. Set 2 opens with a raging Llama with Trey sounding like Hendrix as he uses the wah effect for much of the song. Wolfman's Brother is slow and funky. This is a typical Piper for the period with the long building intro and the ending coda. The composed part of Tweezer is really funky, as is the beginning of the jam. However, the jam doesn't really become anything more than a little space funk before Trey plays a few blues licks and the band segues into a good JJLC. McGrupp is nice and there's an unusual ambient jam after McGrupp which segues into DwD. This Disease is a hard rocking, type 1 beast, just what the set needed IMO. The Possum, Tweezer Reprise encore is good, as well.
Overall, I like the first set better than the second set.
Highlights - Moma Dance, Ghost through YEM, Llama, Wolfman's, Jam->DwD.
Score: 3
