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

The first set of Lemonwheel night two feels much like night one, set one. It's a longer set without a ton of standout moments. Ginseng Sullivan is a strange choice of opener, but hey, it's a cover? Fitting to end the last show with another one of those? The Gin jam feels like the band stretching their musical muscles a bit, but without straining them. There are a few more standard renditions before we get to Ya Mar, which goes quiet during the jam, allowing for some interplay between Trey and Mike. AC/DC Bag is fun, and Frankie Says has a particularly spooky ending. The next two SOTG tunes tread no new ground but still deliver as the set approaches a conclusion. Possum has been very strong this tour, and this one is no exception. Again, both set ones from this festival are similar, so not a lot else to say here.

Set two opens with Down With Disease, and while this one jams out mostly in the typical type one fashion, at around 12 minutes the band actually shifts to a low key funk groove in the same key that makes this one unique. This fades out into the opening notes of Piper. This version is on the longer side but remains constrained within the typical Piper structure. The intro to Ghost slowly oozes out, as this version starts particularly mellow and slow. The band doesn't rush out of this either; this jam simmers steadily over the heat of Mike's bass until around the 9 minute mark when Page starts to direct it into a spacier vibe. This drifts on, with the band channeling the spirit of the previous night's ambient set 4, the music picking you up and drifting you away, not even realizing you are floating off, until the band lands on Fluffhead a little after the 18 minute mark. After that we get two standard cooldown songs, and then the band decides to have some fun. Firing up an extended HYHU intro, Fishman teases Terrapin but instead we get another humorous rendition of Sexual Healing to keep up the cover fun. They close things out with another mighty Antelope, complete with Sexual Healing teases.

Set three kicks off with another jolt of cover energy with the second rendition of Sabotage. The song shatters into chaotic noise at the end, and then coalesces into one last great Summer 98 version of 2001. The second jam on this one is very unique... the band really dives into different territory within the theme here, and it's crazy that there is still ground left to cover after all the insanely good versions of this song they hit during this tour, but they find more during this jam. A highlight of the festival for sure. Wilson features an extended ambient interlude that lasts just long enough for you to wonder if the song will go unfinished. The band goes through a run of standard songs, and then gives us one last cover bustout for the tour, wrapping up the third set with an emotional While My Guitar Gently Weeps. The Hood encore is an exclamation point that fades out into one last ambient space, which is strangely punctuated by trombone blasts by Fishman as the festival fireworks show was on display. This resolves in the form of Baby Elephant Walk, a really strange way to end this tour and this journey, but here we are; Phish doesn't always do what we expect.

So now that we've hit the end, did my hypothesis prove correct? Was Summer '98 an extension of The Best Phish found in Fall '97 and the Island Tour? In retrospect I was not positive enough about the European leg... aside from the fest set and the anomaly of a bad show the first night in Prague, these are all strong shows with noteworthy performances and a clear extension or evolution based on the Island Tour that preceded it. The West Coast run is stellar, but from there on the tour is a back and forth affair. Texas is mostly a decline, but the band's infusion of unexpected covers (both bustouts and debuts) is inspired and seems to help them energize. By the time they get to Riverport we're blessed with another really strong run of shows that feature some of the best jams of their career (Riverport Jin, Polaris Cities, Alpine Tweezer, Deer Creek Gumbo) before becoming uneven again (with 8/7 and 8/10 being lows, and 8/8 and 8/11 being very high highs with yet another signature jam in the form of the Star Lake Runaway Jim). Overall the festival shows are very long but not necessarily deep... Gumbo, Tweezer, the Ambient set, Ghost, and 2001 being the highlights. Saying "The best phish is Fall '97 through Gorge '98, but not the Europe festival set or Prague N1," is just a mouthful compared to "The best Phish is Fall '97 and the Island Tour," but it may be more true. In terms of everything that came after that, I really can't say enough about the Riverport to Deer Creek run, as well as Columbia and Star Lake. For sure though I can't say this full tour was wire to wire, but the highs were extremely high and are worthwhile, and Summer '98 seems to have way more of those highs than lows.