So my intro to Phish was in early 2006. After avoiding them for years the buzz at that time of major archival shows being released (New Year's 1995 and Island Tour shows were put out around that time) was too loud to ignore, so I finally gave them a try. I dug in deep over the next year and was rewarded by a lot... I frequently checked the now defunct "Classic Shows" list on this site to get recommendations on what to listen to next. Overall though, the voices were loud about one thing; Fall '97 was "The Best Phish" and a large subset of those voices extended it out to include the Island Tour as well. It's certainly hard to argue that point; books have literally been written about these shows (or at least one book?) and each one has been lovingly described, assessed, and examined over and over again by members of the community.

One thing always confused me though... every time I took a good recommendation to listen to a Summer '98 show I was always left satisfied. And so after a while I started to wonder... why was the cutoff Island Tour? Why not extend it out and say everything from Fall '97 to Summer '98 was "The Best Phish" too? That wouldn't feel wrong to me. To me it seemed there weren't any Summer '98 tours that were measurably worse than what was played during Fall '97 and the Island Tour; in fact in some cases (which I'm sure I'll get to) there are some performances that trump even what was played during those shows. The only thing that was holding me back was the fact that, unlike Summer '98, I had listened to every single note played between 11/13/97 and 4/5/98. So I figured it was finally time to dig in, put my money where my mouth was, and listen to every note Phish played from 6/30/98 to the conclusion of the Lemonwheel festival.

And so we start with a quiet night in Denmark. The band is clearly trying to kick start themselves for a new tour after nearly 3 months off. After very tame versions of Limb by Limb and Ghost (two songs they were regularly elevating in Fall '97) the band opens up to the crowd about their on stage banter in a fun moment. The crowd seems to happily eat up the open notes of the new Water in the Sky arrangement, but the band still isn't ready to launch quite yet. Bouncing and an incredibly tame Tube follow and I was left wondering if my theory was going to go bust on the first show.

At that point though the band finally takes off. This Stash is excellent, grooving in the same vibe as the previous legendary versions, coming apart brilliantly towards the end and then sneakily slipping into Cities with such smoothness that I didn't even know what it was until Trey uttered "Think of London," to kick it off. The rest of the set feels a bit more energized as a result. The band kicks off Set 2 with the first version of the Moma Dance and more on stage banter results as Trey attempts to explain just what happened to Black Eyed Katy. Not too long after they play another version of Wolfman's Brother that fits right in with the four versions of the song played in Fall '97, with another picture perfect segue into a mellow Frankie Says. The rest of the set from Antelope through Weekapaug is all fun energy, though not overly noteworthy.

The encore is emblematic of the show; quiet and intimate. The crowd politely takes it in. The show feels like Phish being Phish; the banter talk is fun if you like the band for more than just their music and enjoy their innate quirkiness. The band may be rusty but they know their crowd, and this feels like a show put on in the comfort of a fairly small group of close friends.

So for sure this does not feel as strong as a Fall '97 or an Island Tour show. But it definitely feels of a piece with them. For sure if you were looking for something with that Fall '97 feel but didn't want to pull out the same old jam you've listened to a hundred times before you could do a lot worse than to listen to this excellent Stash >> Cities instead. Same goes for fans of the Island Tour's Wolfman's >> Sneaking Sally; if you like that then you'll enjoy this Wolfman's >> Frankie Says. Why not try something a little bit different?

For now I will continue on, a bit more doubtful but still undaunted.