This show is nothing essential, but an okay listen nonetheless. Here we get the first taste of funky Phish. Though the funk hadn't fully developed, the contrast between this show and Fall '96 is striking. The grooves are deeper and, more importantly, Trey has started to back off. This is the first step of Trey's (and the band's) minimalistic journey that would culminate somewhere in the first half of 2000.

There aren't really any highlights in this show, save the Punch. The song Punch You In The Eye itself, is a little sloppy, but the post-jam out of the last big hit is quite tasty and reaches some very nice spacey places. If you include the post-jam in the timing, Punch is almost 17 minutes long. Other than that we've got just decent versions of 2001, Stash, and Bowie in the first set and five debuts sprinkled in for flavor.

In the end, the only thing you really ought to hear from this show is the Punch.

Damn the full star rating system!

This is an excellent tour opener. Chalk Dust just rips right from the get-go. Wolfman in the 2nd slot works well to maintain the energy. 2001 (in a bizarre slot) is also played well. Highlight of the set has to be the fantastic Stash, one of the best Stash peaks I've ever heard. It's just fantastic in every conceivable way. Walfredo is a well played debut. Bowie rips almost as hard as Stash, great finale.

Julius is it's typical set opener self. My Soul gets a solid debut. PYITE is great, as is it's (probably very unexpected) jam afterwards. It starts with some nice feedback until they find their footing that would take them into Slave. The Maze > Rock A William sequence is great, and the well played debut's continue with Rock A William. Hood is above average.

I like the Slow > Fast aspect of the encore. Kind of similar to a Sleeping Monkey > Rock Top encore.

Overall a well played tour opener.

I actually didn't enjoy the Jam out of Punch... I think it could be overrated in part because it's really the only improv the whole night.
As lame as it sounds, my highlight of the show was probably the encore. You can tell the band was excited about the Billy Breathes material and as far as I can tell songs like Prince Caspian are played their best around this time. Caspian definitely hits some great peaks, and JBG is a great way to end the show and rips.
But I definitely agree with the consensus that this show is skippable.

Good tour opener:w/solid playing all around.w/one exception in the 2nd set, this Punch is an alltime favorite of mine..this is an excellent jam that gets overlooked..