Part of my full run through of Summer '98, see [url=https://phish.net/reviews/1380008243-batleon.html]here[/url] Moma starts things out, just as fine and funky an opener as it was in Portland three shows earlier. After a fairly standard run through a few more songs, the band launches into the first notable jam of the show in the form of another funky Ghost. This one is very representative of the era; patient groove-based improv, great interplay between Trey and Page, and a fun vocal reprise at the end of the jam. Limb by Limb is still in it's glory during this period and this one's no exception, though it interestingly fades into something seemingly ambient before reforming into Roggae. The YEM closer is fierce with fantastic work from Mike. Overall this set lands, though isn't quite as strong as, say, the last set that had both Ghost and YEM in it (7/2). The second set jumps out of the gate with a Llama that feels almost deranged by the end, with Trey viciously tearing into the jam. This Wolfman has a nice Type 1 jam, though I feel like we are now past the song's creative peak. We get yet another ambient fade and then the band kicks into Piper which is, once again, surprisingly without a jam. Next up comes an interesting version of Tweezer; after vamping for a bit it seems like the jam isn't really going anywhere. Rather than force anything the band seems to accept it, and moves on to another quiet ambient interlude. This one gets bluesy, and instead of fading out surprisingly segues like silk into Jesus Just Left Chicago. It's clear that this is where the band needed to be instead of mucking about trying to make Tweezer work; this is a fantastic version. Page's organ play provides the fire and combusts in Trey's explosive solo. McGrupp is also excellent; aside from the Llama opener this set seems to belong to Page. When the song proper ends the band finally goes deep into ambient territory after teasing it several times throughout the show. It rolls out in the same territory as McGrupp's final notes, with Trey leading and nice interplay from Mike and Page. Fish comes in with a beat that almost gives this an I Am Hydrogen feel, but instead starts to grow more blissful. 14 minutes after McGrupp started, things fade out to near silence before Trey delivers some closing notes... and then Mike delves into an extra swampy intro of Down With Disease. The Disease closer and Possum>Tweeprise encore are not notably unique, but are delivered with a ton of enthusiasm. I suppose this was to be expected after the great Gorge run, the band can't deliver at that level every night. Is this how I felt listening to 12/9/97 after having heard 12/6 and 12/7 back to back? That is to say that neither this nor 12/9/97 are bad shows, but it's hard not to feel a bit down after being that high. For sure this show has a fun Ghost, and the Tweezer > JJLC > McGrupp > Jam sequence is great listening. I can't recall having heard a Jesus Just Left Chicago as good as this one. The band just decided to explore different things this evening than the previous, but the results were still very good.

Pretty good SBD source although the pitch is a hair sharp for set 1. There is some cassette hiss present. I’d guess this is one or two generations from the master. The band seems pumped up for their first fall show on the west coast. A fiery Chalk Dust gets the party started. It may be the sharp pitch of the recording, but Trey in particular sounds really good for this first set. Foam and Jim sound fantastic! Jim’s intro is extended. It’s Ice and Eliza make a great pair. Not sure what happened at the start of Llama but they pull it together for a scorching version. Memories is barely audible. Standard Golgi to close. Set 2 starts off with Trey saying “hey Fish let’s rock out!” lol Smokin’ Brother opener!!! They follow this up with an enjoyable Reba. Solid mid-set Antelope to get the juices flowing. Cool little tease of Take Me Out to the Ball Game at the start of the jam and Destiny Unbound during the Marco section. I Didn’t Know features the master of disguises, Butch Cassidy on vac. Trey points out that Suzy Greenberg is sitting in the front row. lol Trey drops the ball big time in Fee but they recover without aborting. Blistering Groove to round out the second half. The Fire to close out the night slays!

The SBD source for this show suffers from multiple cassette generations but is still pretty listenable. Thanks to Todd for getting this rare recording into circulation and Arty for cleaning it up! The first half of the set is standard fair for this tour. Things begin to get interesting starting with a decent Bag. Trey’s a little rusty in parts of TMWSIY. Another Solid version of Brother. After Brother Trey introduces the song and dedicates it to the guy that offered the band $10,000 dollars to play a different song that night. “Anytime you wanna come up and give us the money we’ll play it!” lol While Mike is changing his bass string they get Henrietta up for a little ditty. Fun banter around Fish’s distain for his Henrietta theme song, HYHU. Fish pulls out his bone for the HYHU outro. At the end of Golgi Trey says “we’ll be right back with more songs that Fish hates, more songs that we love and more songs that people are willing to pay $10,000 dollars to hear!” lol An inspired MSO gets the second set underway. A decent Stash follows. Enjoyable Hood. During I Didn’t Know Trey apologized for Fish’s horrible joke the last time they played in the area at Carlton College. He offered Fish a chance to come center stage for his typical vac/bone solo to redeem himself with another joke. He ends up telling the same joke he told during BBFCFM at The Rink in Buffalo on 9/28. The Possum to end the show rips!

Part of my full run through of Summer '98, see [url=https://phish.net/reviews/1380008243-batleon.html]here[/url] This one starts with a fun Makisupa that begins to get interesting towards the end, but then, in a rare departure from the band's patient exploration during this run, they opt instead to transition quickly into Ya Mar. Anything that we might have missed in Makisupa though seems to get picked up in this Ya Mar jam, which is airy and vibrant (pretty sure Trey even teases Makisupa at one point as well). This Gumbo is great as well; fantastic funky jamming from the band that fits right in with the vibe of this two night stand, and then comes to a sudden stop. The Divided Sky that follows is an excellent version too, rounding out a really powerful opening run to start this show. The rest of set 1 is standard but hits all the right notes after that incredible run. As with night one the band is patiently exploring each jam and the blend of both funk and ambient elements is fantastic and seamless. The culmination of three sets worth of this type of exploration hits home with the set two opener, the longest ever version of 2001. This intro is a slow burn that goes on for 3.5 minutes before the opening beats even start. The band then digs in, with everyone bringing a slow build for the next 5 minutes before Trey starts to take command. The band is in such a groove at this point; it's clear to them that they have all the time in the world and nowhere to go, so they are going to dive as deep into this thing as they can. The funk starts to build at around 12 minutes in (Mike is fantastic) and then finally, euphorically at just about the 14 minute mark the band finally goes into the 2001 theme to an explosion from the crowd. Page is throwing fills in everywhere as the theme crescendos; the first 15.5 minutes of this are just outstanding but then the band starts the SECOND jam. This one feels funkier as Trey and Page lay on the effects and Fish continues to hold the thing down as if his life depended on it. The band finally hits the theme again at just under 23 minutes. The coda is particularly triumphant, punctuating an incredible improvisational experiment. Hard to believe how short versions of this song were in, say, 1993 after listening to this absolute monster. The only way to follow this up are with the opening notes of Mike's Song, which feel even more euphoric. It's hard to completely describe this very unique Mike's Groove, one of the few with no song in the middle. The first Mike's jam very quickly goes off the beaten path, with a menacing beat that feels more like the heavy metal Wilson breakdowns from the previous shows. As this builds the more typical Mike's theme eventually weaves it's way in, courtesy of Page and Fish. The band continues to bounce back and forth between the dark and heavy theme and the proper Mike's theme, everyone holding their breath to see which will win out. At ten minutes this duel crescendos (Page and Fish are stellar here) until we finally hit the peak at around 11 minutes and enter into the second jam. Lead by Mike, the tempo slows down here and then eases into a theme much more joyful and uplifting. Eventually it slows to a near stop, with the rhythm section sitting out and letting Trey and Page bring the blissful theme to a conclusion. I usually don't use the words "beautiful" or "cinematic" to describe a Phish jam, but that's what this Mike's jam is. It amazingly goes from a very dark place to a very bright place and never feels out of place. As the theme slowly drops off Fish starts to come in with the Weekapuag beat, and the band is off to the races. This Weekapaug jam is also amazing, dripping with the triumphant bliss of the 2001 and Mike's that preceded it. Fishman is absolutely filthy as Trey carefully peaks. Trey even flips off the theme from the Taste jam in the middle of this because, why not, they are in complete control. As we get to the nine minute mark the tempo gets faster and faster, Fish will not let this thing go, he is unrelenting as Page jams on the clav. Then they go into start/stop jamming that really whips up the crowd. At 11.5 minutes the jam suddenly alters into a funky strut, and rather than close Weekapaug out the band instead goes into a ripping Character Zero to end the set. Honestly though, they could have just given Weekapaug a proper ending and walked off stage and it still would have been one of the best sets they ever played. For the band to come out and kick off the encore with Punch You in the Eye just makes this feel extra special; the Rocky Top finale is just icing on a very tall cake. When I started this run it was to see if I could prove that The Best Phish extended out to Summer '98. While the Europe run had it's ups and downs, this US tour seems like something else altogether. The Portland opener was good, Gorge night one was great, but this show has to be in the running for The Best Phish Ever. I do love Prague 2 but this show is better in my eyes, and might be better than any one show of the Island Tour either. I still have a long way to go to get to Lemonwheel but this feels like a real peak for the band. Essential listening from start to finish.

After the previous night(s) my expectations were high but grounded. The band did not disappoint. Heavy Things was a good energetic start. WGTYM kept the energy, being new I hadn't had a chance to really make up my mind (ha) about this one....but the groove was solid. Access me? Really? This was a pleasant surprise. Mike doesn't get enough mic time (ha! again) that much anymore so this was fun and bubbly. Myfe was a surprise.....Not gonna lie, not many of the recent versions really do it for me and this one is no exception. The MSO was fun....Page tore that up. LxL had a joyful playfulness about it the way the notes were bubbling up and bouncing all over. Mist is always a welcomed treat. This rendition was solid and heartfelt, the mist dissipating slowly as the song winds down is right up there with the quiet part of WTU in my book. KDF....that got weird...especially right after Trey played the Manteca line a couple times at the beginning of the jam....the synth layers Page added were the icing on the cake....their landing back into the main riff was stupendous. Not gonna sugar coat it, not a fan of Walls.....so it was time to sit down and relax. ER.....I'm always 50/50 on this song. Sometimes the jams within it can be a lil too pedestrian for my taste. They did catch a theme that sounded super familiar to my ears but I can't quite place it.....it was a very Allmans sounding riff.....the jam out was good on this one. Chalkdust. This was a monster. I'm usually not a fan of Chalkdust. That was not the case with this one. This one is a pure musical conversation. Sure, everyone caught that Stash tease.....but who was really listening?.....every review I've seen totally misses the Most Events segment towards the end. No mention of it at all. Listen to it again, after the "delay jam" part.....Fish settles into the beat, Mike has the sound he uses, and Page is even playing it.....They almost started playing it right then.......it was far more than a tease and I really thought at the time they were going to segue into it.......and then back into Chakdust to finish it out. Mercury is always solid. Then Velvet Sea. I really enjoyed how they took their time with it.....allowing the delicate nature of the song to shine. Most Events AREN'T Planned......I'm sorry, but this is one of Page's stronger songs that they REALLY should play a tiny bit more than they do. Trey did a REALLY nice job playing the lines he came up with...they had more bite than usual to my ears. The jam..Page really nailed it..after they shifted gears it was just glorious. 4 song encore.....Waste > Bug......you'd think 2 slower songs back to back like that would be a total bummer.....it wasn't. 8/10 for me. Walking out of the venue I was feeling very satisfied. I came to the shows this weekend with an itch for the jams......my itch was scratched.

Part of my full run through of Summer '98, see [url=https://phish.net/reviews/1380008243-batleon.html]here[/url] The band continues their west coast run with night one at the Gorge. I don't know, maybe it's just me, or maybe it's the excellent sound on the Gorge box set release, or maybe the band was really into the venue's setting, but the band seems to come out with some amazing energy on the Squirming Coil opener. They sound strong and bright throughout the song and it bleeds through on the release. The entire first set seems to carry that energy through. The Stash stays type one but still delivers strong tension via Trey and Page and release via Fish and Trey. This Reba is like day to the Europe version's night; where that one was a trainwreck this is nearly flawless and features a spectacular jam that drifts into a great Fast Enough For You. I didn't even mind hearing When the Circus Comes after that, and then the band delivers it's typical frenetic fury to the Antelope closer. This set is well over an hour but seemed to pass in a heartbeat, and I don't mean that in a bad way. The band was not afraid to be patient and intentional here, and listening to it made me lose my sense of time. This show certainly pulls you in. Things continue in the same vein with the set 2 opening Julius; the band stretches this thing out as if they have all the time in the world to explore. That makes the Moma Dance that follows all the more surprising; this is the best version of the song yet, ripping with energy and packing a powerful punch at the finish. Piper is jam-less (which still feels mystifying after the Prague version) and Axilla is standard, but at the end drifts off into some ambience, which flows nicely into a haunting Bowie intro. It's crazy that a Bowie like this that doesn't even make it into the jam charts still sounds so damn good, a testament to what a beast of a vehicle this song was for the band during the 1.0 era. What gets me about this show is how patient the band is, how they carefully explore every corner of the jam in each performance. The Tube is the perfect example of this, the band jumps from theme to theme here but never rushes and gives each one space to breathe. Again, your sense of time gets lost as you ask yourself how they could possibly have covered so much ground in just under 10 minutes. Slave feels like the perfect choice to close out, as this song has always been at it's best when delivered with a patient build (which it does here). The Sample encore is fine but unnecessary; this show has already delivered. Words like "overshadowed" and "underrated" are used for the reviews on this show, and I'd have to agree. Of the shows in this run I've been listening to, I'd say this is close to the best so far (I'd put just Prague 2 ahead of it really). I imagine the patient, spacious grooves of this show were perfect given their surroundings, and the band and the fans were rewarded by it (particularly in the Reba and Tube) but the band wasn't afraid to show it's rock firecracker energy as well on songs like Antelope and Moma Dance. Just a fantastic setlist too... this one is well worth your time.

Decent SBD source available for this show. The Memories opener is cut from the recording. They follow this up with a pretty standard version of Chalk Dust and Reba for this tour. Nice Sky. During the pause in Guelah Trey welcomes everyone to the Barrymore Theater and offers a warm welcome to everyone there for the Hemp Fest. Trey says “thanks for coming out tonight, we’re right behind ya” Page says “free the weed” lol Tape flip after Sparkle. Unfortunately the beginning of Suzy is cropped. Fun version of Magilla. A smokin’ Bowie closes out set 1! It practically falls off the tracks it gets so chaotic, but they rebound for a smooth landing. Back to back bluegrass songs to open set 2. A really nice Brother follows suit. Beautiful Foam. Pretty straightforward Stash for this tour. Coil segues into a cool little jam again with a Linus and Lucy jam/tease during Pages solo. Tape flip before Mike’s. Decent Groove to close. Adeline is inaudible to start the first encore. The band comes back out for a second encore offering up inspired versions of Love You and Llama. Jason Colton comes out at the end of the tape to announce that Blues Traveler will be playing there the following week and to urge people to pick up any trash they see on the way out to make it easier on the staff.

Part of my full run through of Summer '98, see [url=https://phish.net/reviews/1380008243-batleon.html]here[/url] So after the ups and downs of the European stint, Phish kicks off their summer an ocean and a full continent away in Portland, Oregon. This show was chosen for the fourth batch of Live Phish releases way back in the day, so you would expect this to be a good one. The Wolfman's Brother opener is a solid statement with good energy and none of the funk of the previous versions. The band follows with the US debuts of the new Water in the Sky arrangement and Moma Dance. After some banter (I don't remember this much banter in Fall '97 ha) about the venue they deliver a racing Guyute that comes to a sudden stop... and then starts back up again so that Trey can finish his solo. As the band approaches the end of Horn it seems the show has been pretty standard... but then something happens when Horn proper ends. It fades out into yet another ambient jam. It feels almost abrupt but the band is clearly itching to do something so they embrace it. This jam is even better than many of the ambient jam closings the band played in Europe. It stretches for quite a bit, with Trey gently rocking this forward as the rest of the band creates waves for Trey's theme to float on. It moves on in quiet bliss for a few minutes and then starts to ascend with Page and Mike providing the build, reaching it's destination with a rocking segue into Chalkdust Torture. Brian and Robert feels like a nice cool down after that. The run to end the first set is good... it features more banter after Roggae and a Birds of a Feather with a little extra bite. The Limb by Limb to kick off set 2 is excellent, but that's no surprise, the band was routinely killing this song at the time. As the song peters off the band once again goes into an ambient outro very much in the theme of Limb by Limb and winds their way into Simple. While this one lacks the wild jam from the European Tour closer, it doesn't matter, as the band kicks into another great Tweezer. The California Love segment gets all the attention but the fact is, take that out and you still have a great Tweezer jam from a time when the song was really killing it live. It segues nicely into a very unique Free. At the point where the band usually transitions into the jam they instead decide to stay in the space where Trey and Mike slam into the beat. The jam that arises is patient, steady, driven by a constant staccato rhythm held down by Mike and Fish while first Trey and then Page interplay in the space between the beats. This comes to a sudden stop, which actually leads naturally into the Meat that follows. This Hood is stronger than the versions played in Europe, rising to a beautiful peak to close out a set full of songs that had quieter, slow builds. The Wilson > Tweeprise encore feels explosive after this, with full the Wilson being full heavy metal and unfinished. Overall a strong show that feels very much like the European shows and less like Fall '97. This feels like a quick and light taste of what the tour has in store, but it's just the opener... there was a lot more to come. A curious choice for an early release for sure, but still worth a listen for the Horn jam and a really nice set 2 (with the Free being the standout from that set).

Part of my full run through of Summer '98, see [url=https://phish.net/reviews/1380008243-batleon.html]here[/url] Yikes, well this show is a tale of two halves. The first half is plagued by PA and other technical issues that threaten to completely derail the whole show. The band bails basically two and a half songs in due to PA issues and takes an early set break to try to figure things out. I know some are saying Trey screws up this Divided Sky before the PA shits the bed but I have to give him the benefit of the doubt here; Trey's playing is just fine before then and it seems like too much of a coincidence that he starts to crumble right around the time the PA system also gives out. Even when they return the PA continues to be a problem... but that doesn't prevent them from delivering some strong performances anyway. The Halley's set opener starts off with some PA issues and a little shakiness on the band's part. But when the jam kicks in at around 7 minutes the band shows why they are the best in the business at this point in their career; some PA problems aren't going to shake that. Nice ambient loops to start, and then just excellent groove based jamming instigated by Mike that the band rolls right into. The smooth funk is easy to get lost in, until around 12 minutes where Trey starts teasing First Tube and bringing this one home. Nice ambient finish during the last two minutes as well. The band is stretching their musical muscles after the technical issues and the result is a nice jam to kick off the only real set this show has to offer. After a nice Roggae the PA issues threaten to derail again during Sparkle. The band banters a bit again (bringing us full circle back to the first show of this tour) while the crew tries to assemble an acceptable setup. The band then launches into a 45 minute Mike's Groove that saves the entire show. The Mike's Song is solid and segues into Simple. All seems fairly normal as the band jams on the Simple theme until shortly after the ten minute mark... then Page starts to play with the theme a bit, and soon after Trey and Mike follow him. At that point the song starts to deconstruct. Just as it seems they are on the verge of fading out Mike starts to shift the bass line, and instead the band goes into a propulsive dark rock jam that feels like the antithesis of the bright and steady theme of the Simple that spawned it. This slowly edges into triumphant trilling from Trey as the band morphs and bursts into Weekapaug to the delight of the crowd. The Weekapaug itself is great, featuring several shifts to the song's theme and a jam centered around On Broadway before concluding. Standard renditions of Sample in a Jar and Good Times Bad Times brings the set to a fine conclusion. The encore is a microcosm of the entire European run; at times quiet and intimate (Brian and Robert) and other times full of energy and strong musicianship (Taste). This was an unexpected end to a tour that had a lot of peaks and valleys. PA problems not withstanding, the band really rallies here with very strong versions of Halley's and Simple. For sure it's hard to say this run was as strong as the tours that preceded it, but the band that made those tours what they were is still very much here, alive, and pushing themselves further at times. And I feel like I've been remiss in not mentioning the audio recordings from this tour, all of which are stellar. This second set is worth listening to, as are a number of other strong sets from this tour, and the recordings of all of them sound great. Again, if you're tired of hearing the same Fall '97/Island Tour jams you've listened to over and over again there is a lot in this tour that can scratch that same itch in a way that maybe you've never experienced before.

Think this is a much better show that its rated. 1st set is very well played and the Split gets weird. No Man's is fun. And then the Everything's Right jam -- awesome! Yes the caspian ripcord is a bit disappointing, but they play Caspian real well too. Lonely trip greatly executed with Page piano solo. The Harry Hood definitely deserves a listen. Funny playful beginning and an excellent minor key jam before the end! This show is worth the time!

My 14th show, first and only show at Star Lake/Burgettstown. Totally unplanned, last minute decision to roll up from Cincinnati with a small crew for a Tuesday one-nighter. I’ll never forget the energy when Trey started Daniel to open and damn…that lawn went nuts. Highlights are well-covered in the more thorough reviews here. I think it’s the set list fun & diversity for me: Daniel!, other rarity covers, Lots of Fishman vocals, gamehendge, memorable deep jams (crosseyed), tunes I never mind seeing (Timber, fee, brother), standard 1st set summer early 2000s fare (Jiboo), solid set closers… I’ll give ‘em a pass on that encore, because this show was worthy every penny. Always a good relisten!

Part of my full run through of Summer '98, see [url=https://phish.net/reviews/1380008243-batleon.html]here[/url] The show starts off with a comical Carini, where Trey references a stage rushing incident from the previous show. You might think we are going back to the banter-heavy shows from earlier this tour, but you'd be mistaken. This first set has a great setlist. Nothing unusual here, but the Boogie On, NICU, and Melt are all well played. This Meat is excellent, a 9 minute shot of swampy funk that feels fresh after the last few shows. Poor Heart provides a dose of energy, but this set really solidifies with a late rendition of Tweezer that kicks the show up a few notches. After the main theme, the Tweezer descends into a Mike-lead murky funk jam reminiscent of the Meat that preceded it, with hints of the ambient space that has become oh so familiar during this run of European shows. At 9 minutes Page starts to expand the theme and open this up, and then at around 11 minutes Trey seizes control. After the slow build his solo bends and peaks fantastically as the band escalates (Mike even slyly teases Manteca at around 15 minutes). This all crescendos into a peak that contains, of all things, a Wolfman's Brother tease before quietly sinking to it's conclusion. This is a great Tweezer and really puts the cap on one of the better Set 1s from this tour. The second set kicks off with Drowned, which is a great opener. Trey shreds into this one satisfactorily and when finished at around thirteen minutes, the band goes into a nice cool down outro that includes a return to the main theme making this one feel both powerful and complete. The slow down at the end eases nicely into Theme, making this a strong one-two punch to start the set. I'm not a Circus fan but I understand the band's need to pause for a bit after the opening run. At this point the second set delivers something fun and unique without the jams... Scent of a Mule is great and includes a rendition of the Violent Femmes "Blister in the Sun" during the duel section. They then close out with a Harry Hood > Izabella in a weird reverse of 12/30/97. This Hood isn't as strong as that rendition is at any point, and the transition is abrupt, but this still feels like a solid close to a good show. The Chalkdust fits the bill as well, with the return to the Ole chant at the end being a really nice touch. For the most part this is solid Phish with a good setlist of songs. The best stuff is heavy right in the middle of the show with very strong versions of Tweezer and Meat, and a great Drowned. Solid setlist with three good jams feels about right to me for night two of this run... let's see what night three brings.

Part of my full run through of Summer '98, see [url=https://phish.net/reviews/1380008243-batleon.html]here[/url] The show starts off with a comical Carini, where Trey references a stage rushing incident from the previous show. You might think we are going back to the banter-heavy shows from earlier this tour, but you'd be mistaken. This first set has a great setlist. Nothing unusual here, but the Boogie On, NICU, and Melt are all well played. This Meat is excellent, a 9 minute shot of swampy funk that feels fresh after the last few shows. Poor Heart provides a dose of energy, but this set really solidifies with a late rendition of Tweezer that kicks the show up a few notches. After the main theme, the Tweezer descends into a Mike-lead murky funk jam reminiscent of the Meat that preceded it, with hints of the ambient space that has become oh so familiar during this run of European shows. At 9 minutes Page starts to expand the theme and open this up, and then at around 11 minutes Trey seizes control. After the slow build his solo bends and peaks fantastically as the band escalates (Mike even slyly teases Manteca at around 15 minutes). This all crescendos into a peak that contains, of all things, a Wolfman's Brother tease before quietly sinking to it's conclusion. This is a great Tweezer and really puts the cap on one of the better Set 1s from this tour. The second set kicks off with Drowned, which is a great opener. Trey shreds into this one satisfactorily and when finished at around thirteen minutes, the band goes into a nice cool down outro that includes a return to the main theme making this one feel both powerful and complete. The slow down at the end eases nicely into Theme, making this a strong one-two punch to start the set. I'm not a Circus fan but I understand the band's need to pause for a bit after the opening run. At this point the second set delivers something fun and unique without the jams... Scent of a Mule is great and includes a rendition of the Violent Femmes "Blister in the Sun" during the duel section. They then close out with a Harry Hood > Izabella in a weired reverse of 12/30/97. This Hood isn't as strong as that rendition is at any point, and the transition is abrupt, but this still feels like a solid close to a good show. The Chalkdust fits the bill as well, with the return to the Ole chant at the end being a really nice touch. For the most part this is solid Phish with a good setlist of songs. The best stuff is heavy right in the middle of the show with a very strong Tweezer and a great Drowned. Solid setlist with two good jams feels about right to me for night two of this run... let's see what night three brings.

My first show. A lot of songs I’d not yet heard, with only a few live tapes in my library at that point. I was deep into the Fall ‘97 funk and hooked. Got a bit of that in the jam highlight “Cities”. Loved the “Curtain” set 2 opener. Seeing it live created a new appreciation for it, I’ll never forget the stage bathed in that hellish full red by Kuroda… “We follow the line going south!” Great experience, never looked back.

My first show. A lot of songs I’d not yet heard, with only a few live tapes in my library at that point. I was deep into the Fall ‘97 funk and hooked. Got a bit of that in the jam highlight “Cities”. Loved the “Curtain” set 2 opener. Seeing it live created a new appreciation for it, I’ll never forget the stage bathed in that hellish full red by Kuroda… “We follow the line going south!” Great experience, never looked back,

Part of my full run through of Summer '98, see [url=https://phish.net/reviews/1380008243-batleon.html]here[/url] The show kicks off with a smooth Moma Dance, which is welcome given that the previous versions of the tour had been a bit sloppy in places. It seems that the band finally is feeling comfortable with the song and delivers a great version, and that feels like a good place to start. Not messing around, they follow up with an excellent Gin. This one goes on in Gin-ish fashion for a bit with nice rock peaks and valleys. At around 12 minutes it breaks into s sprightly sequence with a jubilant vibe until around the 14 and a half minute mark where it quiets down and gently drifts into another dreamy Europe '98 ambient groove. Overall it's a very fun and different Gin jam and maybe one of the best performances of this European run so far (and that is saying something after the second night in Prague). The band attempts to follow up in strong fashion with Punch You in the Eye; this one has a drawn out intro that at one point dims down to near silence before building up again. Trey unfortunately loses this one in the second verse both lyrically and musically... not sure what was happening here. The rest of the first set is Perfectly Fine Phish with decent songs and a nice close out with Run Like an Antelope. Set 2 kicks off with an excellent version of Wilson, one of those with a long, heavy metal breakdown in the middle (this one with some extra bite). They follow this with a nice but standard Birds of a Feather and Dirt, then ease into Piper. Unfortunately, this one comes nowhere near touching the version from the previous show. Sleeping Monkey is dedicated to a Chilean fan who really wanted to hear it. This second set Ghost comes to an almost complete stop at one point during the end of the verses... while it's planned the band almost loses the song when they come back into it. This version is mostly standard but moves into a bluesy rock jam towards the end... would have made for a nice segue into My Soul but instead the band slams into Johnny B. Goode to close it out. The Julius encore also feels a bit sloppy at times. This show certainly didn't end as strong as it started... This one unfortunately felt like a bit of a snoozer, but it was in the unenviable position of being night one of a three night stand immediately after an all time great Night 2 in Prague. The band couldn't give a lot away during this show... I'm certainly hoping the other two nights are better. That being said, this is a fantastic Gin and feels very unique, positioned here with one of the great ambient jams that seem to be the hallmark of this European tour. The first half of Set 1 is available in SBD so this Bathtub Gin is very much worth your time if you want to listen to some highlights from '98 (might as well listen to the Moma opener too which is quite good).

Having spent the previous night finally doing it up proper until the wee hours at the DJ pool afterparty, on the morning of February 24th, 2024 it was everything I could do to drag my carcass out of the 5-star floating marshmallow cloud I was sharing with my warm and comfortable m’lady to answer the prompt and cheery 8:45am wakeup call that i had arranged for, but with a selfless, heroic effort I somehow managed to do exactly that. Ten minutes later I commandeered a chauffeured golf cart to take me to the nearby central building so I could get a large delicious coffee before getting delivered all the way to the golf course side of the massive Moon Palace resort, where I had a free massage booked in the large, standalone spa manor courtesy of the timeshare tour m’lady and I had endured earlier in our vacation. Slowly sipping my coffee during the ride through the jungly forest that separates the two sides of the resort provided a Zen-like start to the meditative hour(plus) that I had coming. The “plus” would mostly refer to an imposed bout of relaxing in the large steam room before my massage. There were a few hot tubs in there, a wading pool with a waterfall, a large sauna extension…it was probably the closest I’ll ever get to the Playboy Mansion’s famous grotto, sans the beautiful women (genders were segregated upon arrival). I shunned it all and just laid myself down on a bench, where I relaxed as hard as I could until my number came up. I’d booked a “golf ball massage”. I could easily and gleefully describe to you what my golf ball massage entailed, but I think it would be more fun for the reader to just picture it for themselves. Suffice to say, the experience was glorious. Afterwards there was more relaxing before hitting the shower and blissing myself out of there. Shortly after we started back to my room the golf cart driver made a short, unsolicited detour through the woods which brought us to a secluded bar that was empty, save the lone bartender who was standing there polishing a pint glass; straight out of the movies.. “What’ll it be, sir?” he asked me with a raised eyebrow. I ordered myself two Jack and Cokes and just like that we were back on the trail through the forest. I hadn’t even stepped out of the golf cart. I tell you, staying at the Moon Palace is like being King for a Day, except it’s five days. And Phish is playing. After a solid brunch in the buffet I joined m’lady and a gaggle of friends at the pool until 2pm, at which point I ducked into a jam session that was scheduled on the beach under the same canopy where I had been joining the ohm crowd for morning meditation sessions. The jam was way more fun than I was expecting it to be. I even led a couple: [i]Character Zero[/i], [i]Friend of the Devil[/i], and I kicked off an epic [i]Chalk Dust Torture[/i] jam that eventually ended in a comical [i]Chalk Dust Reprise[/i], the likes of which I had never heard before. After returning to the room to change m’lady and I decided on in a quick dinner at the outdoor steakhouse again. This final show of Phish’s four-night run was slated to start early (at 6pm, which meant they’d actually be playing by 6:30 or so), so we didn’t want to take a chance in one of the fancy specialty restaurants. Our waiter dude brought us the wrong steaks but we didn’t care and they were both delicious. Then we hustled along the beach to the venue, where we joined a group of friends up close on Mike side, just where the playa starts to dip down to the ocean. It was a pretty good spot and the closest we were to the stage throughout the run, but I’d liked the spots we had on the other nights better. No matter, we were in good company, with sand between our toes and a great band playing their butts off just a few dozen feet away. On my first drink run I finally remembered to try out the Volkswagen bus packed with craft beer that I had noticed every night as I was leaving the concert. It was about fifty feet behind the main drink depot, so it had been stupidly easy to miss out on. No more. After tasting all three of their offerings I got what proved to be the last round of their West Coast IPA; my four cups emptied the keg. I stopped on the way back to get m’lady a vodka soda and successfully juggled my booty back to my crew the front. My friend Dave was blown away when I convinced him that the beer I was offering him was not just another bland lager but was indeed an actual tasty IPA. I ended up making that same IPA run countless times over the course of the night (along with plenty of corresponding trips to the bathroom). All they had left at the end of the night were the final dregs of their hazy IPA.. One unforgettable moment during the show was a glorious moonrise that came during the middle of the first set. I turned and gaped at the giant yellow orb rising out of the Atlantic Ocean while Phish jammed out a killer [i]Wolfman’s Brother[/i] behind me. It was a beautiful sight that forebode a chilling run through [i]The Howling[/i], which proved to be the second set opener). Another notable memory came just before that[i] Wolfman’s[/i], when Phish offered up a giggle and a nod to the previous show’s landmark forty-minute [i]Chalk Dust Torture[/i] with a hilarious tear through [i]Chalk Dust Torture Reprise[/i], a song that a) I hadn’t known actually existed, b) Phish had only played five times in the previous thirty years, and c) was, of course, a total karmic nod to the blazing [i]Chalk Dust Torture Reprise[/i] that me and my guitar-strumming brethren had kicked out at the beachside jam session earlier that afternoon. ‘Twas awesome. After a great show we all returned to the DJ pool party and found our way back to the semi-secluded wading pool that we had discovered and commandeered the previous evening. I tell you, a Moon Palace afterparty really is one hell of a shindig. I ate way, way too much one again, and we all just kept drinking and drinking and drinking. All within the very lap of hippified luxury. The next morning the bubble burst as we checked out of the grand and lavish Moon Palace promptly at 11am. I shan’t bore you with our further Mexican escapades (Mexipades?) except to say that they included a couple or three days relaxing and eating tacos in Cancun proper, a straight-up laze that was broken up with a unique scuba diving excursion that saw us exploring the very cool MUSA Underwater Museum of Art just off of Isla Mujeres. So even when we were done seeing Phish we were seeing fish. And statues. Then we flew back to Newfoundland and played with our cat. https://toddmanout.com/

Although staying in a rather uppity all-inclusive resort packed to the chandeliers with highly motivated and generally well-to-do Phishheads can get pretty hedonistic - even for the early-rising barely-partier that I'd transformed into - by day three of Phish Mexico 2024 it was time I treated my body like the temple it is, at least a little. And so it was that on February 23rd I rose with the sun and committed a relaxed walk in and around my end of Moon Palace, coffee in hand.  I joined in on the beach meditation session and followed it up with a visit to the resort gym for a long and sweaty stationary bike ride.  The large exercise room was packed full when I arrived; I was lucky to find a bike available.  Those richippies are go-getters, I tells ya. I spent the rest of the day ferociously avoiding all of the alcohol I encountered (booze was available - nay, pushed - at every turn), not to mention any other smiling pills, friendly posies, or promised precursors that came my way.  I ingested nothing stronger than a chocolate milkshake until just before the first set. I had my first drink at setbreak. That first diversion after a day of abstention came on fast and strong.  My hands were awkward bananas and the band delivered a pretty wacky first set.  Or so I thought at the time; I daren't listen again.  During setbreak I sat with my friend in a circle in the sand and found myself too distracted to notice that I was unintentionally leaning into the stranger who was sitting behind me in his own circle of beach-sitting friends.  He made me aware of my accidental intrusion by suddenly and furiously rubbing my back, which quite freaked me out.   At this point I figured a beer would help settle my soul and I was right.  Most particularly, holding a beer gave me something to do with my bananas. Overall, the second set was much easier on my skandas.  After opening with a relatively chill and definitely groovy [i]Blaze On[/i] Phish waded in to a lacklustre run through their generally-raging [i]Chalkdust Torture[/i].  Though I defy you to find someone who agrees with me, I thought the song was wholly under-performed.  As the song seemed to be coming to a close I nearly leaned into m'lady's ear with a “worst [i]Chalkdust[/i] ever...” but before I did the band started jamming, so I held back.  I remember thinking to myself, “Just you watch buddy, they know that was pretty lame so they'll probably try to redeem themselves by jamming this [i]Chalkdust [/i]out until it becomes epic.”   Forty minutes later they had done exactly that.  And for once in my life I had kept my mouth shut.  Perhaps spending the day living life proper had something to do with it.  Hmmm.  It feels like there must be a lesson in there somewhere, but where?!?!? (I'm sure you think I'm crazy, but I dare you to go back and listen to that [i]Chalkdust [/i]again, but only up to the end of the song itself; stop it before they start jamming  If you do - and if you're really being honest with yourself - I think you'll find that yeah, before they started jamming it was a pretty lacklustre [i]Chalkdust[/i].  I mean, normally that opening riff to [i]Chalkdust[/i] tears out of Trey's guitar like a freight train going downhill, but this one started with the energy of someone strumming an E chord around a campfire.  Sure, the jam was gold and the whole thing was the whole thing, but I'm just sayin'...) [i]Hood[/i] was a great set closer and [i]Character Zero[/i] ended the show on solid footing.  As did I, thankfully. After the show we ran into our Canadian brethren Andre and Dave and we joined them (and our other Dave) for beats, snacks, and drinks at the Nizac pool DJ afterparty, where we commandeered a very pleasant and nearly secluded thigh-high wading pool on the outside fringe of the action and enjoyed the opulent leisure of our predicament in happy, friendly solitude until the wee hours. https://toddmanout.com/

I recorded this show. I have both sets. I wonder if the original recordings people refer to are mine because there was some cuts in the recordings due to my using a two track that required an outlet for power. I was sitting dead center in the balcony with a small table. My extension cord was plugged into the wall behind me, but their was an aisle between me and the outlet. At one point (or two) some girl was leaning against the wall with the outlet and she put her foot on the plug, so the recording cut out. Uggghhh, I was bummed, but what do you do? As for the show, the most amazing part I remember to this day is when Trey came out of his solo in Highway to Hell he used the mic stand as a slide, pushing the neck against the mic stand the whole length of the fretboard just as he started back into the chorus. I can still see this in my mind almost 35 years later. Anyway, I don't really follow the band that much anymore, but my friends from those days still do. Not sure what I would do with my Master recordings from the show considering I seem to be the only person in the world with a recording of the first set. I seem to remember there was someone else recording down on the main floor, but considering I know my recording cut out a few times for reasons explained, the linked show may be my recording. Some day I might get around to digitizing the first set, or giving my masters to someone who might be able to improve the quality if the linked recording is the one I did. Anyway, I'm old now, 53, so I'm busy with lots of other stuff. Still, it seems like people would probably like to hear the first set since it's not available.

Hey there. Was just talking to an old friend of mine who met up with me at this show. We've been friends since elementary school. He remembered that I taped this show and asked if I still have the tapes. I do! Didn't realize this show isn't in the archives so not sure what this might mean to the community. I haven't really kept up with the band very much, but my good friends still love to attend their shows. Anyway, that's my two cents. I remember it was a fun show, but I was pretty nervous because I was only 19 at the time and used fake ID to get in. The bouncers were perplexed by my big bag of recording equipment and weren't going to let me in because they said the band didn't let people tape them. But they eventually let me in. I was at the front of the line before the show too. I wasn't using the most sophisticated equipment, but the show sounds pretty good. I had a two track and an omnidirectional mic. Also had a stand for the mic I set up on a table so it was above the crowd. I was too nervous to get any beer while I was there because I didn't want to potentially get kicked out if anyone questioned my age. I also didn't want to leave my equipment, even though I ran into several friends from Potsdam there who would have kept an eye on it, although they were all pretty plastered. I had driven out from Albany. My first show was at Pauly's Hotel in Albany on May 11th, 1989. I still have the promo poster they put in the window for this show. I recorded some other shows around this time too: Hampshire College and The Chance in Poughkeepsie. Good times. Thanks for reading this. :)

The last show of summer tour and the first show for me and a friend. It was raining, and I was shivering in a T-shirt as I stood on the uncovered grass beside the Delaware River. The boys walked onstage and started playing Llama, and I knew I was in for life. They had made a decision to reflect the current situation. "Cold, steady rain. Rain!" Trey sang. I can still hear his sharp, angry notes as the band opened up the jam (2:10). I was trying to dancing and trying to build warmth, but I was still uncomfortable. The discordant playing resonated. Those upward-facing peaks from Trey in Moma Dance (7:15), with Fish egging him on, communicated to me that the band was ready to have fun and not just coldly grind. Mike said he was ready to party too when he engaged the distorted wah-wah effect (9:24). Moma Dance settled down and Trey picked out the initial notes to Divided Sky, which my favorite song at the time. I knew I was in good hands. My body followed along with the rhythm of the composition. The pause came and the crowd cheered and it did feel like we were all along on a religious trek together and we had to celebrate the moment. Trey's wistful denouement followed. Dirt -- a perfect Farmhouse slowdown song. Seven Below -- okay, I was listening to Round Room before this show and I thought it was a pretty good song. It sounds to me like a good specimen of 2.0 songwriting. The Sloth - a rousing rendition for my first taste of Gamehendge. And then ... Water in the Sky? Boring. Wolfman's came with a fun peak. Possum delivers a little more Gamehedge. Nothing special. Set break. Set 2 starts with Piper, a song from Farmhouse I loved then and still can't get enough of. The downcast jamming from 8:56 to 9:48 stands out, reminding me of the darkness from the beginning of the set. But within two minutes the darkness gave way to a bliss jam as Fish slowed the pace. Trey apparently not sure where to take the jam at 15:53. Mike drops a few fat bombs. Fish picks up the pace and Trey's confidence is building, the familiar distorted tone is back in minutes 18 and 19. Page is adding flourishes on the B-2 Hammond. Just proud rock without much of a direction, which is fine. Mike is back with the wah as the beat slows and Trey backs off the aggression. Page keeps throwing down extended melodic backgrounds. Fish lets the beat peter out altogether. So Trey calls for Mike's Song. It gets a bit interesting at 6:55, when Trey plucks out some discordant higher notes that end up being the setup for a peak. But the improvisation is over in a little over a minute as the band moves on to your standard Hydrogen and then of course Groove. The boys got locked in to a funky/angry chord progression loop at 10:45, with Fish riding the hi-hat, speeding things up and then slowing things down again. Trey backs off and Page playing softly, opening up a void with slow, relaxed drums. Trey sees an opening for Free, plucking his strings till the band catches up. It's a bit of a forced segue. At minute 4, Mike is slapping the alien funk bass as Trey keeps the power chords coming. He leads the band through the logical end of the ballad, leaving quiet. He sings the first words to Friday, a more forgettable Round Room effort than Seven Below. "Why isn't it Friday today," indeed. They do it and they end it, and they reward the crowd with Hood. The jam loses direction at the 14-minute mark, but Trey plays hopeful clear notes that match Fish's pitter-patter. The band collectively digs around in a rhythm-heavy corner until returning to familiar Hood ground at minute 19 and following the path out. No one is going to argue with Phish going to Edgar Winter's Frankenstein for an encore. At 6 minutes, it was fun, but it was over too soon. In the end, the cold didn't matter. The outing changed me. "One of the best nights of my life," I wrote in my journal.

At approximately 8:30am on February 22nd, 2024 m'lady and I were fully aslumber in the overt extravagance of our kingsize bed at the notably upscale Moon Palace in Cancun, Mexico when the phone rang us rudely awake. "Hello sir," said the phone, "it is guest services calling to remind you that you have a tour of our Grand Palace Resort booked for nine o'clock this morning. Shall we send a cart to pick you up now?" "Huh?!?" I insisted. "Wha!?!?" I continued. "We called yesterday and cancelled the tour," I grumbled. "We don't want to do it anymore." "But sir, are you sure you and your wife would not like to experience what the Grand Palace Resort has to offer? We will give you free spa credit and you will also get $200 towards band merchandise..." "Yeah...no; we don't want to do it anymore," I reiterated in my sleepy gravelly voice before hanging up the phone like an exclamation point. It was true: when we were checking in to the Moon Palace two days previous we had accidentally agreed to do their timeshare-that-they-insist-isn't-a-timeshare tour, and it was also true that the incentives included a couple of free massages plus a $200 credit at the Phish merch table. But the most important truth is that we had indeed called the front desk the day before and cancelled it (I had done the math and figured that attending Mexico Phish was costing the two of us at least $100 per hour, so sacrificing two-plus hours of our resort time for a $200 merch credit seemed like a losing proposition*). But somebody hadn't gotten the memo, and no amount of tossing nor turning was getting me back to sleep no matter how tired I was. So I climbed out of the luxurious bed and into my crumpled hippie shorts and marched my grumpy self straight to guest services where they somehow charmed me out of my complaining and into taking the tour after all. As I sit here typing, I can still hardly believe it. The tour started with a really nice breakfast followed by a slow, relaxed meander through the most exclusive part of the already high-end resort. The closing room was absurd. It was a factory of smiling suits running around trying to pitch lifetime memberships to sleepy neo-hippies at $1.2 million a pop. The price eventually got comparatively low but still remained outrageously expensive. We were even clever enough to opt out of their final offer of prepurchasing a single week in the coming year for $1200 or some such bargain. They would present us with the same offer when we were checking out several days hence. I will concede that it was pretty fun spending $200 at the merch table later that afternoon like we were buying prizes on the old Wheel of Fortune (remember when the contestants would spend their winnings on weird expensive prizes after every puzzle?). I got a shirt and a pair of shorts and a sticker. M'lady got about the same. The rest of the afternoon was spent meeting up with friends and an early reservation for one of our "special" dinners at a chop house. It wasn't very good, or perhaps I just wasn't in the mood. Regardless, just before showtime we went for a whole other supper at an outdoor steakhouse, and it was great. It was like The Keg, only free (or prepaid, at least). When the waiter took my plate at the end of the meal instead of asking if I wanted dessert he asked if I wanted another steak. Give me that over a chop house any day. Plus, I was taught not to play with my food. After dinner it was just a casual stroll along the beach to the venue. Along the way we ran into a posse of our American friends and we spent the show with them, and what a show it was! When Phish started with a raging [i]First Tube[/i] it felt like they had opened with the encore. Trey was holding his guitar up in the air ninja-style at the end of the song and everything. It was the beginning of what was simply a great set, and astoundingly (yet not surprisingly) the second set was even better. I swear I hit up the bar for my standard order of a trio of Jack and Cokes a dozen times or more. At the end of the show I grabbed three more prompting m'lady to eye me in wonder. “How can you still be standing?!?! You must have drunk thirty drinks!” I didn't have an answer, but I did have three more Jack and Cokes. And thus, the pattern was solidified. (Early in the show it occurred to me that I was dressed exactly the same as Trey. When have I ever gone to a Phish concert wearing a plain black t-shirt and beige slacks? It was uncanny, and I quickly slurred the coincidence into a running gag. I kept telling people that for the next show I was going to be dressed the same as Mike***. *Same-same for the time it would take to for us to get massages, though admittedly that would be time getting massages, but I digress**. **Yes, I can digress even within a digression. ***This could only be funny to people who know that Mike's wardrobe invariably costs thousands upon thousands of dollars. Okay, even then it wasn't that funny but seriously, dude wears $800 socks. https://toddmanout.com/

February 21st, 2024 was the first night of Phish’s annual Mexico run, this time a four-nighter at the Moon Palace in Cancun. This was Phish’s seventh time playing on the beach in Mexico, and my third time being there for it (m’lady’s fourth). I had gone the first two years when the band played at a different resort, so this was my inaugural visit to Moon Palace. We arrived at the resort the day before and settled in to the dense luxury of the high-end resort quite nicely, after keeping to a relatively spartan budget during our previous week scuba diving off the island of Cozumel. When we had checked in we were semi-tricked into signing up for a timeshare-esque meeting. We later decided against it so when they called at 8:30am to remind us about the tour we politely told them to get stuffed and tried to get back to sleep. Half of us succeeded. I (on the other hand) took advantage of the early wakeup to find the morning meditation session. Phish & Co. had scheduled tons of activities at the resort every day and I had mentally circled the morning meditation session as a must-do-provided-I-was-already-awake event, and whattya know, I was already awake. I pulled on my shorts and a t-shirt and meandered towards the beach. I found a dozen people meditating underneath a canopy so I sat in a spot of shade on the fringes and joined in. After five minutes some staff members arrived at the restaurant right next to us and began setting up for lunch, which meant dragging heavy steel chairs around on the concrete floor like grotesquely large fingernails scratching on the world’s biggest chalkboard. Screeeee….screeeee….screeeeeee….screeeeeee!!! Dear lord, it was so un-meditative it was all I could do to keep from laughing. And it went on for about twenty minutes. Hilarious. (Imagine my surprise when I learned later in the day that this wasn’t even “the” meditation workshop. I guess I had attended some sort of rogue workshop for the people who couldn’t find the real one. The actual meditation gathering had been in a geodesic dome further down the beach.) Next up was the surprisingly busy gym for a bit of exercise and then finally: coffee. And with all that maintenance behind me I was free to relax beside the pool all day with an ever-morphing parade of friends both old and new (but mostly old) before ducking into the poolside steakhouse for an early pre-show supper. Back when the Barcelo was hosting Phish’s Mexican residencies we fans would gather down by the beach on the evening before the first show so we could hear (but not see) the band run through several songs for their soundcheck. When they moved to Moon Palace the band decided to add a fourth night to the run by opening up the soundcheck to the fans, and that’s what we were in for on this night. Only, it’s not a soundcheck. It’s simply a shortened, one-set show, with all the authenticity of an encore, only in reverse. Phish had done their actual soundcheck the day before, and once again I joined a crowd gathered by the front gate to listen (but not see). Maybe next time they’ll add a fifth night: A soundcheck for the soundcheck set. Regardless, a rose by any other colour is still an extra set of Phish, and it was a good one. And long too, containing a fairly whopping fifteen songs in total from the weekend-opening [i]Back on the Train[/i] to the gritty show-closing [i]Carini[/i]. Special mention goes to the [i]If I Could[/i] they stuck in the middle, one of the few Phish ballads that I really, really like and one they hardly ever play (at least when I’m around; I caught it at my first Phish show and then just twice more over the next three decades of following the band around. This was just the fourth time in 124 Phish concerts that I saw them play[i] If I Could[/i]). Plus I always love [i]Stash[/i] and they stuck that in the middle of the set too (unlike [i]If I Could[/i], they play [i]Stash[/i] all the time. I’ve seen them play it…let’s see now…twenty-four times*, including at my first show). Really, it was a good, fun set top-to-bottom. And how could it not be? It was a gorgeous night spent under palm trees with good friends and a bottomless pit of good food and unlimited drinks readily at hand. It certainly felt like it was the right place to be. The show ended just before midnight and moments later m’lady and I were back in our room, which was immediately adjacent to the concert area. While we were both too tired to go over to the Nizac pool (wherever the heck that was) for the post-show pool party, I figured I had enough wind in me for a good jam so I grabbed my guitar and a couple of beers and set off on a prowl. After a couple of rounds through the barren hotel grounds it occurred to me that the entire resort was either at the Nizac pool or in bed. I joined the latter, in a matter of speaking. *In case you’re wondering how I manage to pull out numbers like this, there is a website called zzyzx where you input the dates of all the Phish shows you’ve attended and it gives you stats on, well, everything. I’ve said it before and I say it here again: Phish is very much a “hobby” band. https://toddmanout.com/

Fun summer show at Alpine. Lots of classics ( Rift, Bathtub, Bowie, Hood) plus a Dust in the Wind vacuum solo. Being my second show, I had NO IDEA what was going on. It was just fun! Loved the earmuffs Old School reference. The DWD in the second set with Monster Jam would follow me for years to come. Catapult was awesome. Love when they throw that in.

Fun summer show at Alpine. Lots of classics ( Rift, Bathtub, Bowie, Hood) plus a Dust in the Wind vacuum solo. Being my second show, I had NO IDEA what was going on. It was just fun! Loved the earmuffs Old School reference. The DWD in the second set with Monster Jam would follow me for years to come. Catapult was awesome. Love when they throw that in.

My first Phish show... and what a show! Kind of hanging out in the car before the show with my friend Paul. First time observing lot culture and all it had to offer. Saw a bunch of people go down by having too good of a time before the show. It was an absolute cattle call trying to get into the venue until we walked halfway around the venue to find a less crowded door. Setlist was amazing, especially for a first show. So many classics like Rift, Simple, Tweezer and Golgi. Plus some new things (to me) Rock & Roll, and I LOVE the Round Room songs like Pebbles, Seven Below, Waves and Anything But Me (still do). Great time. Got tickets through the lotto on Mike's side stage.

I’m glad I get to share a birthday with our dearest Tubbs. His 60th this year, my 18th. 93 is such a fun year. So much energy all around. I love the positivity in Loving Cup, lots of love. Trey’s solo in Melt is stunning. Almost hurts to listen to, so heavy. Page’s work in Fee is beautiful -> a hot, hot Maze. Trey and Page both rip it to shreds. Col. Forbin > Mockingbird is amazing. Really fun narration, very solid renditions. Myfe is exceptionally solid, great Trey material. The birthday boy gives us a great drum solo in Moby Dick (dick.. dick.. dick..) -> more excellent Trey material in Bowie. Impeccable energy. It’s Ice is much more unnerving than usual, eerie stuff. Great Page material > Paul & Silas is a pleasant grass performance. YEM has a lot of extra spunk to it. I love the ambient section, and everyone’s solos at the end are all so good. Great vocal jam > Ya Mar. Lots of happy energy in this one, it’ll make you feel like it’s summer out there. Lawn Boy slows down the juice for a little bit, and Page shows off his sexy pipes. Funky Bitch is one of the best versions I’ve heard, Jimmy Herring takes this one to new highs. Phish and Panic in harmony at last. Llama has some excellent shredding from Trey and Jimmy. Bag has great closing energy. Trey is still on point. Page is just gorgeous in this show, the baby grand changes the sound so much. Trey is also on point this whole time; most of 93, really. The guys are havin’ fun out there; this show doesn’t take itself too seriously, which allows small glimpses of greatness to shine through the weird. If you aren’t able to listen all the way through, check out the Moby Bowie, YEMar, and the Funky Bitch w/ Herring.

I was at this show and it was the first time I had seen anything Phish-related since Shoreline 03’. I was never a big solo projects fan, I liked Phish. This show however was the show that made me want to see TAB whenever I could. The Hackensaw Boys were alright but nothing too special. I don’t remember recognizing many songs until the acoustic portion of the show. I recognized Plasma and Caymen Review but wouldn’t have been able to name them. I was so excited to hear a Pebbles and Marbles and FEFY took on a different meaning on acoustic. Trey is right that unless it sounds good on an acoustic guitar, it’s probably not a good song. Would have traded a standard IJW for almost any other song. It really made me excited for the acoustic set at Festival 8, thinking back to this show. Then, in a not so surprising move, he brought out a special guest. And while it wasn’t on the level of Billy and Mickey, he blended better than 3 drummers. As soon as he said two of the most important bands..Jerry Harrison, I went over the moon thinking we were going to get a Talking Heads song but still, Roadrunner was a good choice. Then, Trey went on a run of songs that was like a greatest hits for me. The run from Simple Twist, Jibboo, Ether Sun and Mr Completely was like a shot in the arm for the crowd and people were losing their minds. The encore was another couple of great songs, Come Together, not Rise/Come Together but the real Beatle song and then I Want to Take You Higher. We left the Warfield all feeling great, maybe not as great as Trey because he was pretty high but it wasn’t noticeable during the show. I had forgotten that the night before was the famous show where he scolded the audience for throwing stuff at him. I don’t think it was the first time because I saw another time when it was a beer someone threw. I didn’t even hear him say anything. But I wasn’t really paying attention and he was slurring unless you were up close. Anyway, this show is still one of the best TAB shows I’ve seen. Plus, the Harrison sit in and it was a special show. Much better than the show I saw a year or two later in Memphis. Give it a listen and you can feel the energy go up from the Harrison sit in up through the encore break. Awesome TAB show!!

An absolute shitshow of the highest order. Set 1 was on the lukewarm side of hot with a couple good highlights and a lot of average (though enjoyable) nothingness. Set 2 was utter garbage. No 2nd set needs to open with a type 1 BOTT (no matter how good). Axilla was EASILY the worst version I have ever heard - extreme slop and zero jam. Wave followed suit with 10 minutes of nothing. And Round Room, though amazing to hear, was on the verge of complete collapse throughout. IAWITW was a smokeshow that got derailed for the usual set killer Twist. Blaze On killed but was nothing special at the same time. At least 2/3 of the encore - F Your Face and 46 Days both crushed, but too little too late. Anybody calling this a great show is either high or didnt listen. Whatever you are smokin, I would love to try some. Because this was a TERRIBLE show!

This was a tiny venue in downtown ATL that is now defunct. A small lawn with a decent size stage. Mike was walking around talking to some young ladies during the Duo set. I asked for a pic. he was not amused. Mike said 'No!'. He's not a fan, I get it. I was just excited. The GRAB show was OK. Was good to get out with the crew. Sound quality was decent for outdoor tiny venue. We had high hopes for this one but it fell kinda flat. Trey was a caricature of himself and his sound and playing didn't add much to the show. You could tell the Duo were having the most fun. All in all, not terrible, but not great. Dragonfly....