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

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.