10/29/98 LA Greek- Fairly well known for it's atypical and exceptional Reba. It gets a bit spacey in the middle of the jam and then they tighten it up into this evil driving force that slowly evolves into the first Walk Away since the Bomb Factory 94.

The sound at the Greek is some of the best outdoor sound I have ever heard. It is surrounded on all sides by pines so the music shoots past you and is absorbed by the trees. Very clean sound, and you can hear it on the tapes. The slow songs seem to fit well here. I enjoyed Driver and Albuqurque in the quaint atmosphere. It's only 8000(?) people I believe. The Moma is so deep, thumping, and funky. Page's piano solo during McGrupps sounds really great here too.

Sidenote: i was still searching for my Halloween ticket when I showed up in LA. Well, for parking they stack cars on this sweet wooded lawn in Griffith Park next to the venue. Makes for some equally quaint tailgate for the show. Anyways, drinking beers I came across a guy with an extra. Haggled with him for a while and got the ticket for: 1 new bubbler, an extra for tonight(10/29), and 50 bucks.
He got me good, but man were those Vegas tickets a bitch to get back in the day. It was a good show. I partied hard and drove past the 11/2 Dark Side show on my way home. Broke and meek.

D'oooooohhh

this is one of my all time favorite shows. the second set is just phenomenal. the first set is a little up and down, but the second set more than makes up for it.

julius is a pretty solid opener. not my favorite song, but hey... roggae is played well, but this one still does not do it for me. especially 2 songs into the show. llama picks everyone up, and the band sounds sharp on this one. trey sounds even more nimble in the limb by limb that follows. driver, sleep, and frankie says slow things down a bit. i really like frankie says, but not so much after driver and sleep. birds picks things up for a minute before they jump into a very good version of mcgrupp. now we're talking. page sounds wonderful on this one, as he always does. zero, like julius, is not my favorite song but hey...

after pretty much playing a throw away first set, with the exception of mcgrupp, they come out blazing in the second set. a nice deep bluesy possum really rocks to open up. trey sounds great in possum, and he shift gears nicely into the moma dance. this one gets deep, nasty, and funky. not super long or anything, just an exceptional version. then they jump into a rediculous reba. this one leaves any semblence of reba far behind. they hit some nice spacey realms before storming back up into a seriously rocking jam. this jam really starts to turn onto a familiar street. is it...could it be...bammo.. walk away! page really belts this one out. after teasing in champaigne the year before, many fans were waiting for this one to make its full throttle return. there is a quick jam after walk away that turns into a very nice simple. this simple does its thing as it peters out into alburquerque. this is a perfect spot to drop this recently added neil young cover. then a nice quick but very introspective david bowie goes on to close this one. trey and page work together really well to build this bowie jam. then they drop the debut of something on the crowd. they play this song so well. i caught it a couple of weeks later in cincinatti. either way, this show is all about the reba jam!

highlights:

set 1:
mcgrupp

set 2:
reba>walk away>simple(must hear reba!)

Like Ben above me, this is one of my favorites also. You probably already know about the Reba>Walk Away>Simple segment, but if you don't please stop reading now, download it, and get going!

No, the Reba is incredible, builds into a jam that is simply other-worldly, then slides into a Walk Away that is joyous rock and roll, and the Simple's pretty sweet as the cherry on top. Really good Bowie to close the set too.

The first set definitely has a "opening set of the tour" feel to it, but if you like what Phish was doing in the fall of 1998, you'll really like this set. The two acoustic tunes are a real treat, and if you like stage banter, listen to Trey and Page after Driver, and the "men in their heads."

Oh, one other thing. Brand new Beatles song as an encore!

I didn't attend this show, but I imagine if you were there on that Thursday up in the hills above LA in Griffith Park, you were pretty pleased.