this show is pretty solid. of course, the encore is what everyone knows about. falling 3 years after the death of jerry garcia, some reference was expected, but this is about the best tribute one could hope for. of course, this performance took place before trey and page's interactions with phil and friends or phil, bobby, or billy sitting in with the band. at this time, phish ran from anything that could link them to the dead. they were seeking individuality and then....

punch opens this one up nicely. page and trey work well in the intro. the band really get it going early in this show with a very strong bathtub gin 2 songs deep in the show. trey and page work back and forth beautifully in this one too. you know, just another great '98 bt gin. the rest of this set is well-paced, has good flow, good song selection, and has some good energy. the set closing bowie really works.

ac/dc bag opens the 2nd set in fine form. as they start working through the bag jam, they start to hit on some really nice sabbath/electric funeral licks. good stuff. i felt that the middle of this set is a little up and down. sparkle is nice and high energy, but it's not the most exciting tune, imo. antelope is nice and firey, but they really kill any momentum with brian and robert, waste, and somewhere over the rainbow. yem picks it back up. gordon sounds good in this one. frankenstein appears poised to close this one down, but they drop chalk dust and hello my baby. then they come out for the encore. as trey strums the opening of terrapin station, the crowd erupts. the whole band really nails this one. page has some really nice moments mixed in here but when it comes time for the "big terrapin climax riff," trey hits a homerun. what a tribute!

all in all, i would say this is a fairly missable show. the gin in the first set is really strong; the rest of that set is pretty solid. ac/dc bag shines to open the set, but the whole middle section of the 2nd set is a touch dull. they bring it home by the end though. if it weren't for the encore, i would say that without a doubt, I would take the merriweather show from the night before, but you know, they played terrapin at this show. hmm, i still probably would take the merriweather show.... bigger jams and you still get sabotage! solid show in VA Beach though with an excellent terrapin station

highlights:

set 1:
gin, moma dance, bowie

set 2:

ac/dc bag, antelope, yem, terrapin station