Set 1 kicks off with a typical churning late-90s Mike's, where they slowed things down and replaced raw energy with tightly harnessed power. Trey does indeed play some more soulful notes than usual, as noted in the chart entry. They then burst into Simple, a fine version that only gets really interesting with some spaciness at the end, and then segue into Maze, which starts as a Page showcase before bursting into ferocious Llama-like rocking (foreshadowing?) and exploding into a typical Maze-esque fireball. The rest of the set is fine, but don't miss out on that opening trio of songs.

Set 2 opens with one of the greatest of Stashes; I like it better than the 11/14/95 version, honestly. Yes, the first half of the version is mainly the usual dark Stash jam with the occasional nod to major key, but the second half kicks off with some sharp rocking (I'm trying to puzzle through what it sounds like), morphs into a beautiful melodic space with Fish tapping away on his trusty woodblock, then goes uplifting and Simple-like as Trey moves back into the lead, and then beautifully dies away as Mike gets a bass solo (!) before they start building up a wall of sound and Trey kicks into Llama (!!). A second-set Llama outside 1992 is enough to celebrate by its lonesome, but this Llama (taken at a slower tempo, so much so that Trey almost trips on the lyrics because he doesn't have to spit them out) dissolves into a fog of noise, which leads into the infamous Wormtown Jam, a number as weird as all the other reviews will tell you it is, and then Velvet Sea comes in to end a very short, but exceptional set of music. A strong, pulsating Free and Bowie (in a second encore spot!) close the night out.

Final thoughts: the first show is more adventurous and has a better first set, which is why I like it more, but this show has the better second set and jam in that astounding Stash. Give both of them a listen, as they represent the fullest flowering of the alternate-universe Phish I talked about in the 6/20/97 review. Maybe the two finest back-to-back shows they ever played.