The amazingly beautiful, spacey jam out of Bag is worth a few dozen listens. This 3 show run was not anything exceptional- or had I become way too spoiled by that point, as is the tendency? However, the jam out of bag has always been one of my favorites.

Enjoy.

This was a great way to kick off the three night run. After a first set Mike's Groove sandwich I knew it was on for the second set. The mind blowing Bag to open the second set confirmed that my face would be melted right there on the spot. Next thing I know many moments later after intense jamming I was plunged into the story of the Ghost. Funk grooves took me all the way to complete facemeltedness. There really is no other way to describe what I was experiencing and when it was all said and done we crashed into a sublime finish of Reba and Farmhouse. The WMGGW encore was simply the cherry on top.

Well, I found the second set to be a bit oversold here. The Bag has a few transcendent moments mixed in with a bunch of noise. Noise is nice and everyone likes long meandering jams... but this was a bit excessive, no? Believe it or not, I found that the most interesting moment was the Farmhouse--this song had come a long way in a year.

What got me excited was actually the first set. (Yeah, I was surprised, too.) Both the Mike's and the Weekapaug are very strong: the former features a slow, patient build followed by one of those patented (though recently rare) F-major jams while the latter has two or three absolutely explosive peaks that just keep spilling over. In between is a song-oriented clump that includes an acoustic Brian & Robert where the band strips down an already lean song, revealing some of the quieter melodic elements. (Page's piano counterpoint on the late verses, for example, comes to the fore a bit more when it's not swimming in the muck of sustained Rhodes blanket tones.) The Wedge wants to scream, as was its habit in those days, but Trey's not quite as surefooted as he is elsewhere in the set, falling out of key a few times. He was, however, totally anchored during While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

(PS: Isn't that a Dear Prudence tease in Ghost?)

I would consider this an above average-great show. The sheer scope of the Mike's Groove in the first set is enough to convince me, however often that occurred in 1998 or afterwards. The acoustic-Trey interlude is certainly rewarding. The Wedge and Limb by Limb lend a poignancy to the Groove that might not otherwise be found in setlong Mike's Grooves. AC/DC Bag to open the second set is groovy, if not monochromatic. It modulates before a segue into Ghost, which bubbles under to some degree before the Set conclusion, Reba, Farmhouse. Reba displays some pyrotechnics which might've been expected from the Ghost, but it's a satisfactory close to the set. Guyute, While My Guitar Gently Weeps is a fitting coda to the show.

1st Set--Mike's Song is nice with a Simple like melody as the outro. Rest of the songs played were pretty standard. Weekapaug Groove was actually pretty good and reminds me of 7/17/98 Paug a bit.

2nd Set-AC/DC Bag is where it's at. Nice jamming leading into a Ghost which kinda of drifts around for a bit before Reba starts up. Decent Reba but the ending seemed forced.

SET 1: My Soul: Standard.

Mike's Song: Long one at 11 minutes plus and just super well played and has a sinister edge to it with great loops from Trey. The second jam is serene and beautiful. Definitely a major chord jam and has some bliss jamming. Outstanding version and to open a show this way surely shows intent to crush stuff.

Driver: Standard, seems pretty well received by the crowd. Could be perceived as a momentum killer after that strong Mike’s Song – but actually seems to fit pretty well.

Brian and Robert: Now this one does take the edge off of the momentum. I almost wonder if the band felt the crowd was too amped up in such a small venue and that the whole place needed to cool down? This in effect did that particular job:

The Wedge: The brings back a good bit of the energy that B & R squandered. This one is standard other than the slight difficulty with the intro.

Limb By Limb: The beginning of this jam starts off very quiet. The band gives this one a pretty decent ripping although there was plenty of room for more where that came from, but they let off that gas pedal. Decent version.

Fikus: LOL

Billy Breathes: Well, the momentum is definitely lost at this point – they will have to build it back up from scratch. Trey struggles briefly with the solo at the beginning but recovers and the rest is played as it should be.

Beauty of My Dreams: Standard.

Weekapaug Groove: They rip this solo ever so briefly and some nice trills from Trey, but I wouldn’t say that this is a notable version – it seems fairly average to me. But wait! There’s more…In typical Phish fashion instead of ending this one after the fairly standard solo they turn it over to Page and slow it way down and he gets a chance to get them into the funk zone. After that Trey thanks everyone for coming and lets us know how special it is to be back at UIC. Then, they give this one a proper ripping. At this point, I have changed my mind and would say that yest – this is a notable version. They play that second solo at basically double speed.

SET 2: AC/DC Bag: I would say we are officially type II in that mid to late six-minute range. In the late 13-minute range it almost sounds like they are about to go into Caspian. In the 15-minute range they are relying on heavy effects for a deeply psychedelic sound. At 18 minutes or so they come out of that effects laden segment and into what seemingly will be a triumphant, upbeat finish. This is a fake out as they never get back up to speed – this one just slowly peters out and into loops signaling the beginning of Ghost! ->

Ghost: Check out the backwards delay effect from Trey at 11 minutes and 20 seconds is this one of the first instances of the effect that was so heavily in rotation the following year? Sounds like it could have gone into Makisupa in the late 13-minute range. I really cannot describe this Ghost as notable – I believe it is below average to average.

Reba: Seems like kind of an average version to me – the peak sounds good from Trey but somehow the whole thing doesn’t seem as synced up as usual or as coordinated somehow in what we would see out of an above average or great version.

Farmhouse: Sounds awesome, very clean version. Enormous ovation from the crowd after this one is over with. Odd to close out the set with this though.

ENCORE: Guyute: Really, really strange placement in the encore slot IMHO. Little bit messy at the end.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps: In the second lyrical section Trey’s bungles the lyrics. Other than that this one is standard.

Summary: Well this was quite a show. I really love the Mike’s Song and feel like it is an all timer, quite frankly. Solid version of Weekapaug and that has replay value as well. AC/DC Bag is definitely very notable certainly for the length, but it just does not have what some of the great can offer such as 12.30.97 or 9.14.99. The jam is fairly subdued. I would rate the show as a 4.3 out of 5. Some serious jamming at this show! This was a great start to the three-night run.

A very solid show from front to back.

Mikes song has a gorgeous little jam very similar to an early Simple jam. Billy Breathes also stands out a little bit as a very good version. Weekapaug although not the typical shredtastic type is very cohesive and inspired, a great cap to the set.

Bag gets very deep and is a great example of a 98' ambient jam, it features some fantastic work by Page and great layering by Trey. Ghost has a jam that doesn't meander all that far but is still very good, it also features a good little outro jam similar to the end of the Halloween Wolfman's Brother just a week or so before. Reba again comes back into the second set, and although it does not trail off into space like 10/29/98 it features great work by Trey in his solo section.

One of my favorite fall 98 shows.
My Soul- solid opener, standard.
Mike's Song, very improvisational throughout begins to fade and transform into a little space- like jive before ending. 14 plus minutes.
Driver and Brian and Robert- standard versions.
Wedge- fikus- limb by Limb, beauty of my dreams good, nothing to out there. Great version of Weekapaug 4/5 set 1

Bag- one of the giant jams of the fall, transforms into a momental jam with Trey sending shivers through spines.
Ghost- sick 1998 circa play, great version
Reba- good.
Farmhouse- nice

Encore- guyute > Beatles, awesome! Great show with some really captivating jams including Mikes, bag, Ghost, paug

About the amaaaaaazing Ghost... I would swear that the tease was Dear Prudence, as opposed to WMGGW, which would also have been a great foreshadowing of the encore. But I may be wrong...

What a ridiculous second set tho!! Just found this on my "office trip phishows" 1998 run, the day they released Live Bait 9. Excited for 2013 Chicago shows!!