what a weekend, what a show!! the setlist were rediculous and they matched it with killer playing. of course, this run was later immortalized in the "hampton comes alive" box set.

rock and roll part 2 opens this one up in pretty funny fashion. otherwise, this is a nice high energy set. eskimo makes a nice triumphant come back. tube and funky bitch both soar, and possum and melt add some nice jams to the back end of the set.

then there is set 2. in a year full of great bathtub gins, this one takes a run at version of the year. trey and page are very much in synce on this one, while gordo and fish really do a masterful job controlling the tempo. an earl'ish piper continues the very nice improvisational vibe established early in the set. after it crashes to a close, they crank up a nice rowdy antelope. an always rare roses are free pops up after that. nothing too wild here, but as a giant ween fan, i'll take it. farm house is very blah. then after a rousing hyhu, you would expect standard fishman fair. what a syd barret tune, purple rain...hmm. now, they crank out some real hilarity. gettin' jiggy wit it is good fun. after, that goofiness, they jump into a very serious harry hood. they really space out here before building it back up. along with bathtub, these are you 2 show highlights. i really hate character zero, but i dig cavern so its a push.

great show here. personally, i prefer the second night. the mikes groove is out of this world, but as for single song highlight of the run, i'll take this bathtub. great run. there's a reason it's a box set.

Same deal as the next night: laugh-out-loud fun and completely inessential. On the other hand, Set II is probably the strongest of the weekend, so if you've only got room for one...

(posted 12 years ago at rec.music.phish)

Hello all - first - WHAT A WEEKEND!!! Whew! Honestly, I think this quite
possibly could have been the best weekend of my life. With the exception
of the run-in with the makisupas to end it all on a bad note...

Yes, I woke up this morning, stinky kind in my pocket, and wound up in the
slammer. Oh well....THE WEEKEND WAS THAT GOOD THAT IT CANTT BRING ME
DOWN!!

Ok - so what made it so nice???

Friday November 20, 1998 Hampton Colesium

I: Rock & Roll #2, TUBE, Quinn the Eskimo, Funky Bitch, Guelah Papyrus,
Rift, Meat->Space->Stash!!! Trainsong, Possum, Roggae, Driver, Split Open
& Melt

II: GIN!!, Piper, Axilla, Roses are Free, Farmhouse, Gettin' Jiggy wit'
it!!??!??!?!??, Harry Hood, CHaracter Zero

E: Cavern w/ Carl Gearhardt
-------------------------------
Trust me, that was twice as wierd to type as it was to read. Rock & Roll
#2 is the official name of the tune they play at the Bulls (and countless
other sporting events) games where everybody shouts "Hey!" during the
'chorus.' Or, at least, this was the title of the chart when we played it
in Marching Band.

The TUBE, of course, smoked - no tube jam, tho. QUINN THE ESKIMO?!??
Wow - never thought I'd near that one. The FUNKY BITCH was good - not
great, but I was so geeked to see a show open the way it did, it didn't
matter how they played it.

I labeled "Space" in between Meat & Stash - not like the GD Space,
obviously, but more like 'Phish Space' - whatever. ANyway, that roughly
segued (fell, more like) into STASH, which was VERY GOOD.

The rest of the set was just solid, smokin, and all around good. SOrry
- but my time is nearly up on this machine. I'll need to hurry...

Set II was even better (as they usually are...) with a GIN opener that did
not strech to lengths like this summer (ie Ventura, St Loo...) but was
good nonetheless. PIPER to me seemed to have a bit of a false peak - in
that I thought it came out of nowhere,and too quickly, but was still good.
The highlight of the set was difinately

GETTIN JIGGY WIT IT where FIshman came out with the little
horned-Viking-type helmet he's been wearing to sing & do the little dance.
Quite nice to see, but I think it might have been a better rendition
musically if the backup vocals (Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah) could have stopped
laughing.

HOOD was average...CAVERN with a trumpet is always nice, imo. :>

OK - time up. Day II to follow!!!

There's always a little extra scrutiny that gets paid to officially released shows, especially when they get the super-deluxe treatment the way that 11/20-21/98 did. For my money, it's not really hard to see why this run got the official treatment - the shows are tons of fun to listen to, clearly meant to be events (why else bring in a Giant Country Horn or do the big Tubthumping fooferaw on Night 2?), and still manage to throw in enough musicality to satisfy the die-hards. I've always thought @waxbanks was a tad harsh in his mini-reviews; sure, I'd take 11/22/97 over either of these in half a second, but the nice thing is that you don't have to make that choice, AND there are certainly some tasty musical jams for people that want Fishman to take that stupid Viking helmet off and the band to get down to the Type II already.

Set I is a nice set-up to the run, with some cool covers (I really enjoy Rock & Roll Part 2 for some reason), a dark-as-night Stash, and a host of energy. Set II, though, is where the real meat lies. A really great Gin opens things up, never straying outside the original melody but doing some really cool things within it (Trey's mellifluous soloing is a real treat), leading to a wicked-fast and woefully short Piper, taken at '95-level intensity. The Gettin' Jiggy Wit It is probably my favorite Fish moment ever, made the more fun because this time we don't have to take the song seriously (Trey and Mike laughing through their "na na na" backups is a hoot). Hood takes things down to a nice and mellow level after the composed sections (Page's twinkling notes are a highlight), and then Zero/Cavern close things out on a rocking high. Not an all-time classic set or anything, but fun to blast in the car on a summer day.

Night 2's the better night musically, I'd say, but this show is great fun to listen to. Give that Gin a listen at the least, as well as GJWI if you enjoy a good chuckle during your Phish time.