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

The band rolled into Alpine this year with a full head of steam, the shows preceding it had built momentum and resulted in some of the eras best performances. So two shows after kicking off with one of their greatest jams ever what did they chose to start with here? The band dips back into a bag of tricks from earlier in the tour and debuts a cover instead. The band nails their debut of Led Zeppelin classic Ramble On, much to the delight of the crowd and then, without a blink, starts up Mike's Song. This is another solid version, but as the first jam wraps Page comes in a bit more on the organ and Trey drops out as Page changes the key... and suddenly we are instead jumping into Esther (complete with an All Fall Down signal). The ending of Esther is the perfect fit for a segue into Weekapaug Groove... at the 5 minute mark this one gets VERY funky. Page and Mike really dominate this one fantastically until the 8 minute mark where Trey lights it up. At around 10 minutes the band does the tempo ramp up that is typical of the fine Weekapaugs from this era and the band wraps the opening section of this show up with an exclamation point. Guyute follows as it has at several shows; the composed piece keeps the energy going but gives the band a breather from heavy exploration. Fikus offers a proper cooldown before standard versions Birds of a Feather, Lawn Boy, and Funky Bitch wrap up the set.

Piper kicks this second set off, still mystifyingly jamless (did they just completely forget what happened in Prague to this song?) and is followed by yet another heavy-metal-breakdown Wilson in an early second set slot. This one fades out menacingly and then eases into 2001. There is something different about this one as the second jam kicks off... the band almost seems to have landed in the wrong song for a second, and then they just run with it, lead by Fish and Trey, spinning off into Magilla instead. Page and Mike oblige with vigor, and after a fun version of the song Trey flips into 2001 again for a few seconds before authoritatively bursting into Tweezer. As the jam starts we wade in several minutes of funk, and then at around 7 minutes Page and Mike take this one out in a different direction, a much brighter one. The jam harbors some Theme From the Bottom vibes for a bit before Trey takes control, with the new theme evoking feelings of slowly sailing off on a beautiful, sunny day. They capture some of the same feel of the best jams from the Gorge earlier in the tour; they are carefully exploring yet again, and the vibe is majestic and grand. Suddenly at 16.5 minutes the band starts a furious and dark peak and then peters out into ambience, an unexpected end to another classic performance. Equally unexpected is the transition into Fluffhead, an ambitious follow up. For the second time this show the band nails a compositional piece after impressive improv; this is a fantastic version of Fluffhead with an absolutely triumphant Arrival.

After such a stellar segment the band needs a double cool down in the form of Brian and Robert and Albuquerque. The Chalkdust is rioutous; Trey thanks the audience afterward, and the Frankenstein that follows seems almost unnecessary after everything else that this second set has delivered. The encore though feels perfect as the band debuts yet another cover with style, closing the show out with a fun Been Caught Stealing > Tweezer Reprise that nobody could have seen coming.

We are now three shows in a row delivering signature, "best version ever" contending jams (the 7/29 Gin, the 7/31 Cities, and now this Tweezer) and the band is definitely coming on strong at this point. This evening the swirling elements of the Summer 1998 tour - ambient funk, exhaustive exploration, and energy-infusing and unexpected cover songs - converged into another peak, marking this show as some of The Best Phish.