Part of my full run through of Summer '98, see here

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.