SET 1:

Buried Alive: Killer opener as always. >

Down with Disease: This is a type I rager all the way. Big old loops at the end. Unfinished. ->

Makisupa Policeman: Crowd goes crazy for this one when it starts up. Great placement! Woke up this morning, pot. LOL.

Chalk Dust Torture: Trey teased Lazy (I don’t know what Lazy is, just found this in the Phish.Net notes). Trey DESTROYS this one. Wowzers. Would recommend!

Ghost: Page shines brightly on this one. Drives the funk bus big time! When Page stands up we get down!!! Lots of stop start action starting at 10:20 through the end (couple of minutes worth) >

Divided Sky: At first this sounds like Slave. Just momentarily. First and only of the tour. LTP 8.2.97 (Gorge), 23 show gap. Trey is rusty in the early going (tramps). Get past that, and this is a rocking version.

Dirt: Exceptional placement! Trey crushes the solo. Soaring is an understatement. >

Taste: Close to the Edge by Yes at 6:31. Good Taste with some excellent trilling at the end.

The Star Spangled Banner:

SET 2:

Mike's Song: Big ol’ loops to kick off the jam, love that! Wish they would bring that back. Awesome work from Fishman ratchets the energy up a notch at 6:28, guy is such a beast. Love the subtle mellowing at 8:42 in preparation for the second jam. But instead of going for that second jam, things get a bit funky. By the 12 minute mark they settle this down again into a Trey led jam. Things get quite dissonant in the late 15’s as Trey opts for that weird summer 97 tone. This doesn’t last too long. Shortly after this things are ramping up BIG TIME with Trey wailing like a fiend. Super intense and in your face. Rock and roll!!! With just a minute and a half or so left, Trey manages to ramp up the intensity even more with some severe note bending. Phew! That doesn’t last too long but it surely served its purpose. These guys were such rock stars. They finally head for Simple at 20:52. That Mike’s was incredible. EASY all timer and highly recommended! ->

Simple: The Trey/Page musical duet is very cool. Things get pretty crazy in the late 8’s as it takes on a SOAMule sort of feel with Mike and Fish joining back in around 9 and half. Mike and Fish actually drop back out fairly quickly, and Page and Trey create some gorgeous stuff that segues exceptionally well into Dog Faced Boy. That was amazing stuff!!! Highly recommended. ->

Dog Faced Boy: They basically jam the opening of this for a good while before actually going into the song proper, super cool stuff and the crowd starts a loud clap along. When they do finally go into the actual song, it’s played a good bit faster than typical. Was played for the first time since August 12, 1996 (109 shows). ->

Ya Mar: Crosseyed And Painless by Talking Heads at 10:51. Fun play on the actual lyrics, granpoodie!!! They jam this sucker for 8 minutes! Out of the jam gate Fishman is masterful. This jam is so sick – 4 headed monster! Mike is very prominent, so many bombs being dropped on the Spectrum. This is completely Type II by the way. Trey dialing up the intensity at the ten minute mark taking great runs. But let’s be clear, Fishman freaking owns this jam, dude is incredible. Listen to Mike just destroying America at 13:35 as he guides the band into Weekapaug about 25 seconds later. Incredible! What a finale this ends up being. My goodness, EASY all timer. That was so sick. Incredible segue into Weekapaug!!! ->

Weekapaug Groove: Mike is absolutely raging in the early going of this jam, so loud! Around 5 and half things are super funky. They almost take a slight reset or restart and briefly it sounds like they are going to take a hard left into Cavern. By the mid 8’s things settle out of that funky groove into a Trey led romp, this is fairly fast paced. By 9:15 Trey has pushed this thing into overdrive. By the 10 minute mark, the crowd is responding to this and goes berserk. Huge traditional Weekapaug peak at 11:50! Instead of hammering that, Trey takes it back into a funky section at 13:00. Crazy stuff from Page in here. This goes on for a minute and then they get back into a typical Weekapaug wrap up. Scintillating version. EASY all timer, highly recommended! According to Phish.net at some point Trey teased Izabella but I never heard it.

Bouncing Around the Room: They could have played anything at this point. Frankly, I think this is awesome placement. After all that came before it in this set, this feels right to me.

Character Zero: Played a little slower than usual through the composed section.

ENCORE:

Ginseng Sullivan: Not seen in the encore slot since 11.24.96 and this was the last time it was placed in the encore slot. >

Sample in a Jar: Standard.

Summary: Wow, what a show! First set is tame for this tour’s standards. But second set packs a Mike Tyson right uppercut to the jaw type of impact. Loved basically every minute of it! I feel this rating currently on .net is a great representation of what this show is: 4.542/5 (301 ratings).

Replay Value: Chalkdust Torture, Mike's Song, Simple, Dog Faced Boy, Ya Mar, Weekapaug Groove