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

Wow, so we only took one show off before we are back to having an official release to listen to. The beginning of this summer run is certainly well documented! This show opens up with a fantastic Bathtub Gin opener (no, not THAT Gin opener, we'll get to that one later). This one starts in the typical rollicking Type 1 fashion until eight minutes when Gordon starts dropping some fun alterations to the theme. Around ten minutes or so things start to pick up, with more action from Page. It's not until about 12 minutes or so where they really break free though, with Trey vamping and Mike really out front driving things. Trey solos for a bit and then at 14 minutes the band seizes on a fantastic groove from Mike and the funk is on. The rest of the jam lives in the upbeat funk space that you'd expect from a Fall '97 jam i.e. this is good stuff, if not untread ground. Finally at 20 minutes Trey starts to tease the Gin theme again and the band comes in for a landing. If you want a funky Gin, this should quench your thirst.

The Poor Heart is extra spicy, with a fun outro full of false endings. It's clear during Lawn Boy and My Sweet One that the band is having fun this evening, with a little bit of band banter and several false endings of their own. At that point Trey seems to respond to a fan request for "something new" and the band launches into another solid Birds of a Feather. Theme, Water in the Sky, and Moma Dance are all standard; good songs, well played. The Split Open and Melt closer is it's typical dark and brooding self (again, good stuff), bringing the set to a fiery close.

Set 2 opens with a rocking Drowned, with another great Type 1 jam. The theme starts to change in the last few minutes with the band getting spacy (not in the vein of other ambient outros from the surrounding shows) and then Trey starts to tease Makisupa... the band winds into the song proper and makes the key change to kick things off. The Makisupa gets extra spacy as well in the wake of the Drowned jam's ending. So what better follow up is there than the spaciest of Phish tunes, Maze. After this stretch the band takes a cool down, but not a typical one, busting out Sea and Sand for the first time since the legendary New Year's Eve '95 show. Caspian has a nice build, with Page really prominent. The Hood jam to close out the set doesn't feel as dynamic as some other versions of the song, but has a feeling of triumph at the peak with Trey trilling blissfully.

The Sexual Healing > HYHU must have felt like such a curveball... HYHU was only played three times in '97, with the previous version having been done more than a year prior. Maybe some felt that Phish might have been done with this kind of comedic performance, but it comes roaring back here. Having scratched that itch, the band wraps thing up with a very funky Halley's jam. At around eight minutes it starts to descend and fade, and the band walks off as the end theme loops. An interesting end to the show. This one was fun, but we still seem to be coming down from the Gorge run. Is this what Summer '98 has in store for me? High highs and bright valleys? On to the next one...