Date:    Tue, 23 Mar 1999 23:09:26 -0500
From:    Geoff Gardner 
Subject: Perspectives on 1999: or 11/02/98 revisited

A few weeks ago I received a show for Mike Pelczarski, 11/2/98 Salt Lake.
Thanks Mike.  One of his requests was for people to write a review of the
show, which I decided to combine with a post that Sunil had awhile ago as
to the direction Phish was headed.  I figured, where better to see where
Phish is headed than to examine where they just were.

1998 was a strange year.  11/2/98 sums up Phish in 1998 pretty well.  This
show has a lot of buzz to it.  Naturely this stems from the small cover
they do towards the end of the show.  But the show is a lot more than
that.  Lets start at the beginning.

The setlist reads Tube > Drowned.  It should be Tube > Jam > Drowned. This
first side of the tape is the best part of the show (it is truly
spectacular).  It is the holdover from the 1997 Funk sessions that
dominated fall 1997.  Tube remains its worked over funky self.  the jam
that follows is independent of tube.  The four are really working at this,
performing like a well tuned engine, hitting all the right spots.  The jam
pulls you in and sends you off.  Damn, we've set sail and this is the
first f*cking song!  Just went your out there with them, BAM, the Drowned
rif is inserted so magnificently by Page and we're still clicking.
Drowned is a damn fine cover and the jam out of it is raging.  Then they
easily slip into Jesus left Chicago, another fine cover.  Page again is
dominant. This version isn't as good as 11/17/97 (which is a must hear in
a must have show), but it holds its own.  By the end of JLC, they have
played about 45 min of a first set that could easily be a second set.
The spirit of segues and funk created in 1997 is alive in this set.

The next couple of songs are slower, acoustic numbers, Driver and
Bittersweet Motel.  These slower songs (Brian+Robert, Roggae, Sleep etc.)
became more of a fixture at shows.  Bittersweet Motel is a good song just
for the line "if the only thing you had was a hammer, everything looks
like a nail"

LimbXLimb follows and this version has a more ambiant jam at the end than
other versions.  Wading and Sample finish up the set.  These aren't a
highlight, yet I don't care for either song that much.

Set II is an interesting cookie.  Everyone has heard DSOTM cover, or at
least heard a review of it.  But what about the other songs in the set?
There is a DwD, Mango, Moma and YEM.  I don't really know if they were
thinking about the Harpua at the beginning of the set or not, but the
first part of the set lacks something.  The DwD is standard, not extended,
just textbook.  The Mango continues Phish's pattern this year of dusting
off less played songs and adding new life to them. The Moma was also
standard.  YEM had a long space intro.  The Jam was Mike and Page heavy.
The vocal jam was very short.  A good YEM, but nothing must hear.

The DarkSide is clearly the centerpiece of the show.  They do a real good
job at it to, especially Great Gig in the Sky and Any Colour you Like.  I
won't go much more into it, but it is a must hear for Floyd fans.

The Smells like teen spirit encore is a waste, very sloppy and not fun to
listen to after one spin.  Like running w/ the devil, they should never
play this again.  1998 was the year of the covers.  11/2/98 was the
ultimate cover.  Sure Halloween was Loaded, but this was unexpected.  I
don't think in 1999 we will get nearly as many covers.  I think we will
see more ambiant music, perhaps more of the stuff left off of SOTG.  Or
maybe something totally from left field.  Who Knows (this would be a great
cover BTW).


-geoff


PS  anybody still needing 11/2/98 tapes, I have Daud1 copies for B+P

Date:    Tue, 3 Nov 1998 20:43:51 GMT
From:    wildebeest153@MY-DEJANEWS.COM
Subject: Phish in Utah (DSOTM!!)

I can still barely believe it, and I was at the show.  I was very
disappointed when I didn't receive any halloween tickets-by-mail.  I thought
I would have to settle for just the Utah show on this tour.  I didn't settle
for anything.  The second set was the wildest thing I have ever seen at a
Phish show.  I don't think the show was as jammin as, say, the Gorge shows
this summer, but Holy Shit!  Dark Side of the Moon!!  Who would have thought.
 Last time Phish played at Wolf Mountain (Park City, Utah) I got a chance to
talk to Mike.  He commented on the fact that hey was impressed with Utah.  I
think the whole band must have really enjoyed their stay here this time.
Trey was dancing and strutting all around the stage for the whole show, with
a smile on his face the whole time. It's been a long time since the boys have
played a show-stopper in Utah, and I though my show was complete after
hearing the YEM (nice vocal jam).  Then Harpua!  Holy shit.  Jimmy decided to
take Poster and make a trip to Vegas.  I thought to myself "Havent I heard
this one before?".  Yup.  Trey started talking about the trip to Vegas and he
said "Yeah, many of you have heard this one before, and they met yodelers and
such, but this time was different.  They got to the city and they decided
that there were too many lights and too many people trying to get tickets to
shows (he laughs).  Ju=immy freaked out and decided to hitch a ride to Utah
where the next show was.  He got in a cab and began the 7 hour trip to Salt
Lake."

At this point everything got quiet.  About 30 seconds later, you could start
hearing the heartbeat from "Speak to me/breathe".  A few caught on at first
and then eventually everyone did, and the place went nuts.  There was sooo
much noise coming from such a small crowd (the smallest I've seen in a
while).  I thought maybe they would just play this song, but then, holy shit,
On the Run, Time, the whole f**king thing!

I have to admit that I did sit down for much of this portion.  I was in AWE!
The crowd kept going nuts for the whole album.  I think the highlight was
when Fish came out in front and sang The Great Gig in the Sky.  The fog
machines were in full swing, and the place was goin nuts.  Money was quite
shaky getting started, but they got it going pretty quick.  The whole album
was played almost exactly as PF recorded it, except they threw a Phish-esque
jam in the middle of Us and Them.  This album was the best cover I have ever
seen.

I don't know of anyone here in Utah who taped it, but I will look.  If anyone
can get me a copy, I will trade for other choice shows.

-Jason Wilde
jwilde@powerquest.com

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------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 3 Nov 1998 20:59:00 GMT
From:    yanzlow@MY-DEJANEWS.COM
Subject: run, rabbit run...Thoughts on Dark Side

Ok, at first i was shocked beyond disbelief, and couldn't get into gadiel's
page all day to verify it, but finally, mikey's setlist came in, and now i
beleive it.  This is big. I'm surprised at the lukewarm response on rmp so
far about this show.  Some people are upset that they didn't do this on
halloween? come on.. Its just like phish to do this - in fact, my friend and
i were just talking this weekend about those "diamond in the rough" shows
that no one expects anything brilliant out of, yet wind up being one of the
greatest of all times. If you're a big floyd fan who went to halloween, and
didn't go to utah, don't be upset, think of the people at utah who missed
halloween and got something amazing anyway.  I do understand the generally
tepid response to velvet underground though. I never heard loaded until this
weekend. honestly i wasn't particularly impressed, though i could see how
phish might do cool stuff with the album, as well as the immense influence
that album has had on rock.  what it comes down to is still the same though -
the boys will never stop blowing me away.  that being said, there are still
questions i have that have gone unanswered upto this point.  I hope someone
reviews this show in detail real soon, or at leasts answers a few of these
questions:

1. who did the screaming/singing parts on dark side? 2. did they jam any of
the songs hard? (i can't imagine it really, considering the amount of
material they had already played in that set) 3. how long was that 2nd set?
4. what on earth were they thinking? - i suppose unless someone knows someone
etc. this is a rhetorical question - personally, i doubt it has much to do
with the fans at vegas - remember even w/o phish in town its still a "noisy
place." 5. another rhetorical question: will this ever happen again? - thats
really 2 questions a) will dark side happen again - I really doubt it. and
b)will they ever cover an entire album during a non halloween show? why not!

6. Does anyone have nice copies of this show for me? I thought i'd be the
first to grovel... jeremy yanzlow@yahoo.com



---------

Date:    Wed, 4 Nov 1998 18:09:02 GMT
From:    SCincident 
Subject: my salt lake experience

This turned out to be a rather long story, but here it is if you are
interested....

     Got into Salt Lake around 9ish on Sunday night.  My friend from Salt Lake
tried to get me to go out to a local bar and play some pool, but I was
exhausted from Vegas and we decided to rest up for the show instead.
     Bad decision.  It turned out to be the bar where Trey and Mike played that
night.  Apparently they got everyone in the bar, including the staff, to come
up onstage and sing the songs with them.  At least that's what Trey told all of
us in the crowd the next night.
     OK, so onto the actual Phish show.  Got to the lot late(around 7:20).  Not
much of a scene at all.  Much, much smaller than last year.  Went inside around
7:50, got a beer and made my way to the seating around 8:00 when they opened
with Tube.
      As I walked in I noticed that the place was sooooooo empty.  I later
heard that there were only 4,500 tickets sold, but I think there must have been
alot of no-shows.  The whole place was GA and the floor was a little over
half-filled.  Only about 1 1/4 sections of seating on each side of the floor
were being used.  I told my friend that I thought something big was gonna go
down and she agreed.
      We made our way to about half-way between the soundboard and the stage
for a fairly solid first set.  Trey talked alot and gave the small crowd an
even more intimate feeling to it.
      Then during set break we moved up to about fifth row in front of Mike's
mic stand.  The setbreak lasted forever and it seemed even longer since we were
being stepped on by people trying to make their way up front.
      Finally, sometime around 10:15, the boys came out and played a smokin'
DWD followed by an average Mango.
     Then came a funktified Moma.  This is when things started to get weird for
me.  It seemed like Trey and I made eye contact for about a minute during this
tune.  My friend noticed it and freaked out.
     I had this big shit-eating grin on my face from being up that close(among
other things), and I think Trey must have noticed it and got a kick out of it,
so I think he played along to see if he could make me smile so hard that my
cheeks bled.  He was bobbin' his head and strummin' away while watching me lose
my shit during a sick jam.  It was hands down my single greatest Phish moment
ever until......
     Trey walks over to every member of the band and chats for a few seconds,
then they start up YEM.  Now keep in mind that I had just gone through a
staring contest with Trey and I was wearing a YEM shirt.  Some guys behind me
started patting me on the back and giving high-fives.  My friend hugged me.  I
thanked God and Trey repeatedly(is that redundant?).
     The intro was incredibly long.  I'd say it was around 15 minutes before
they even got to the Boy, Man, God, Shit part.  They broke into a typical funky
jam which eventually turned into a vocal jam.
     Then right as the vocal jam ended and the lights stopped flashing
everywhere, a glowstick was lobbed perfectly at Trey and he caught it at the
exact second the jam and lights came to a close.  It couldn't have been timed
any better.  He had a huge smile on his face and waved it around laughing about
it with the rest of the band.  He walked around the stage with it for a while
almost like he was doing some sort of touchdown dance before tossing it back
into the crowd.
     Then some asshole whipped another one at Mike from all the way back by the
taper's section.  Mike didn't even try and catch it, and it either just missed
him or pelted him or his bass.  I couldn't even tell since it was going so
fast.  I know it hit something on the stage pretty hard from the noise it made
and the whole crowd booed at the person who threw it.
     Next Trey started talking to the rest of the boys for a while.  It was
11:05 and my friend was telling me that she had seen lots of shows at the
E-Centre before and they were all over by 11:00.  She said she had never even
heard of one going later than 11:00.  We knew something was up.  Then out of
nowhere came, "Ooompa-pa, ooompa-pa, ooompa-pa!"
     When the talking part of Harpua started, the first thing Trey mentioned
was something about us all being at the "E" Centre.  He stressed the "E".  Then
he went on to say how much love he felt in the room and how he was all warm and
fuzzy and tingly.  The place went nuts.  I happened to be able to relate to
what he was saying more than most people that night.
      Then he went on to summarize the Harpua story from the Aladdin and
altered it a bit, and in nutshell, I think he was referring to the band when he
said Jimmy thought Vegas was too crowded, so Jimmy(Phish) headed to Salt Lake
instead.
      They went into Speak to Me and I think I was the first person up close
that recognized it.  Alot of people around me didn't even know the song once it
was in full swing.  I even heard some kids near me ask their father who Pink
Floyd was a few songs later.
      I figured they'd only play Speak to Me and Breathe, go back into Harpua,
and then encore with another Floyd tune.  But instead they played the next
tune, and the next tune, and then those of us that knew the album thought they
were only playing the first side.  But then came Money and they just kept going
and going, and they played the whole damn thing.  I thought I was dreaming.  It
was so surreal.  They ran almost 1 1/2 hours late.  I still can't believe it
and I was there.
      Page and Trey both flubbed lyrics a couple of times and the band seemed
to have some troubles with the transitions in some songs, but they were doing
such a good job otherwise that nobody cared.
     The light show was amazing.  The fog machine fit perfectly.  But like I
said, most of the time I just stood there wondering when I was going to wake
up.
      I think Us and Them was the highlight for me, even though it's not my
favorite.  Either that or when they sang the lines from Eclipse, "And when the
band you're in starts playing different tunes, I'll see you on the Dark Side of
the Moon" since those lyrics fit perfectly into the evening, seeing as they
were covering "different tunes" two shows in a row.  And I have to give it up
for Fishman who belted out, "Any Colour You Like" with style.
      Then came Nirvana?!?!?!?!!?  That was the icing on the cake.  I was
hoping for Comfortably Numb, but Smells Like Teen Spirit was fine by me.
Trey's lyric sheet fell off his mic stand right before they started, so he
messed it up a bit, and they had more troubles with transitions, but it didn't
matter.  Trey joked about it, and it was all good.  I think one verse he sang
something like, "Somebody help me with the words."  I even saw somebody crowd
surfing for a couple seconds as a joke.
      I also think there might have been some meaning behind the lyrics, "Here
we are now, entertain us."  I'm not positive, but I noticed that Trey was
accenting those lines and laughing about it.  The perfect way to end a
surprising show.
      I'm still in disbelief.  Everyone there that had been to more than three
shows in their life left the venue shaking their heads in denial.  I've never
seen so many hugs and smiles in a parking lot.  It was like Christmas for Phish
fans.  Then we all drove home scratching our heads in confusion.
      I never thought I'd see a better show then the ones I saw years ago.
This was my 62nd and it was in Utah and it was the show AFTER Halloween.  Just
goes to show that with Phish, you never know what to expect!


------

11/2/98 - E Center, West Valley, UT

i just got back from the greek thru salt lake run, and all i can say is
WOW! the show monday night, 11.2.98, has got to be the most surprising,
unbelievable, thing i have ever seen phish do. halloween (and the 30th)
were excellent, super fun shows and i was completely exhausted after
getting out of vegas (finally!) but this show was well worth the long
haul to salt lake. i don't know what the hell i'm gonna say about this
one but i'll give it a try. i was gonna post reviews for all the shows
but after this show it was obvious that it would be the only one, i
figured there would be lots of reviews for vegas and the greek by now
anyway. first the setlist...
i  tube-drowned-jesus, driver*,bittersweet*, limb by limb, velveeta   
sea, sample
ii dwd, mango, moma, yem, harpua, speak to me, breathe in the air, on   
the run, time, great gig in the sky, money, us and them, any color   
you like, brain damage, eclipse, harpuae  smells like teen b.o.* acoustic
disclaimer...setlist, segues, and lack of segues are as remembered (i.e.
probably wrong), there may be more and there may be less, i didn't check
the setlists section or any other reviews before writing this. just
checked with pholks sitting around us.
first of all, a little about the venue, crowd (lack of), etc. i went to
this place last year after vegas and it was pretty much packed (that was
only the second show of tour and after only one night in vegas, big
difference). this year a lot of pholks skipped this and went to
denver... BIG MISTAKE! the venue was probably 1/2 to 2/3 full and it was
changed from reserved to general, i would say there were like 7-9
thousand there. you could sit anywhere and there was tons of room to
boogie down. the "e" center is horseshoe shaped on the inside like a lot
of places (no seats behind the stage), and the rounded far end of the
horseshoe was almost completely empty! it also seemed like there were a
lot of little kids there too, like sixth and seventh graders. this was
kinda weird and funny (though none were sitting right around us) because
they musta been tripped out during set two, they had no idea what the
hell was going on! we were figuring something cool and special due to
the intimacy of the place, but nothing even remotely close to this...set one
this set started out raging with an intense trio of tube- drowned-
jesus. the tube started the night off in a funky, frenzied fashion. the
jam in the middle started off with the standard 97-98 funk but lead to a
more spacey, less arranged or organized jam reminiscent of wolfman's and
ghost from halloween but not nearly as spacey, fat opener. i was super
stoked to hear my first drowned. after years of listening to 12.31.95 it
was a real treat to finally hear. i was completely impressed with this
tune live, they were totally rocking it out. trey took charge on the jam
that followed (like so many times in jams from the previous three shows,
trey is on fire!) bringing the heavy at times rock-n-roll style jam to a
climax several times while mike was totally thumping along next to him
(i thought mike was really loud in the mix at all the shows, yea!) the
jam rocked on and finally slowed way down and moved gradually into
jesus. page stepped-up and delivered some sparkling solos and vocals on
this one, overall really tight from what i remember. i may be off on
that as our only problem of the night occured during jesus. an aisle
(who knows how to spell that?) nazi cruised up our aisle and proceeded
to snake my bro's glass, it was small but nontheless glass. this guy
looked exactly like the scary bald dude (moustache and all) in indian
jones that gets chopped up by the propeller while he is kicking
indiana's ass! i tried to throw a diversion since i was on the end, but
to no avail, this guy was big and determined. at least he didn't get
arrested huh! anyway we moved on to driver (the third in four shows)
which is nice and bittersweet which sounded beautiful. i think trey told
some funny stories before both, i'm pretty sure this was when he noted
how cool and cozy the "e" center was and how happy he was to play here
(i think everyone felt this way after being in vegas for three days!).
next up was limb by limb. this song grows on me every time i hear it, i
love this tune the vocals with trey and page trading-off are killer.
this was again, very tight and fishman finished this one with his crazy
beat instead of skipping it like he did at the greek. then came the
velveeta sea, i could do without this tune. i thought (wished?!) they
tossed this after summer 97, time to go pee. i caught the end and must
admit i liked it a little as mike was throwing down serious bombs.
sample was rocking and and closed the set nicely. killer set at the
begining that faded in the second half due to mellow choices but that
was ok. the second overshadowed any shortcomings from the first by so
much that it didn't matter. the second half of the first set could have
been sparkle- bouncin', sparkle- bouncin', character zero and it
wouldn't have mattered. on to the second...
opens with a smoking dwd. this got the energy level way back up and the
place was shakin' hard. once again trey steps-up and throws down some
killer solos (what else is new?). not real long but smokin anyway. then
there was a little noodling around and mango delicately and quickly
emerged. can't express how happy i am that this is in the rotation again
, it is such a wonderful song and the guitar rifts sounded so good. nice
though short jam at the end sounded alot like summer versions and i love
it. dwd and the mango got everyone's legs warmed up as the funk was
dropped tough as moma erupted, ah yeah! i wouldn't care if they played
this every set. again mike was dropping the funk bombs at a furious
pace, eat your heart out bootsie, gordo is in the house! page had the
killer organ funkin' out too (whatever the hell that thing he stands up
and plays is called) and trey ripped his solo up as well. when this was
bek it seemed like fishman kind-of lead it but not so much with moma,
everyone breaks it down and then starts up the funk onslaught together.
maybe thats why fish got some vocals for moma. the crowd was lovin' this
as we moved on to... yem, we knew this was due and were totally ecstatic
to hear it. the funk continued as boy! exploded and the house was
high-steppin' once again throughout the jam. i think trey was voicing
out some of his guitar riffs ala frampton but without the voice box,
listen carefully to the tapes, this was stinky tight too. during the
vocal jam some jackass threw a glowstick at trey's head, trey either
caught it kung-fu style or it did hit him i couldn't tell. i love the
glowsticks sometimes but is it that hard to not throw them at the stage?
anyway one hit some of the equiptment behind mike earlier before one of
the sets started and everyone booed so maybe most are getting the
picture. at this point in the show the shit just hit the fan... over and
over. harpua (in salt lake city, are you kidding?) started off the
madness as all the pholks in the house went nuts. the story was funny
and short (actually i think this is  when trey was noting how cozy it
was) about jimmy getting out of vegas cause it was too crazy and getting
a ride with some people going to a "concert" up in salt lake city. he
mentions the harpua narration from 12.6.96 which was funny to hear
again. trey was talking about how beautiful the desert is in southern
utah and getting pretty deep into that, when he says someone puts in a
tape and "this is what was" or something like that. i really couldn't
believe what i heard next as we thought it was just gonna be "speak to
me" (one song then back to harpua) which woulda been sorta weird and
then came "breathe in the air".  i was crosseyed and painless at this
point, simply floored. the crowd was erupting, it sounded louder than
thomas & mack or msg or anywhere else i've seen a show, but there were
only 7-9 thousand people. unbelievable, ultra-tight, powerful, elegant,
sublime are all words that come to mind when i think back on hearing
dark side of the moon. i am still in disbelief as i write this, damn!
money, great gig in the sky, time, any color you like, and breathe in
the air were all highlights, although breathe in the air was my personal
favorite as it always has been more or less my favorite floyd tune. the
whole thing was super-tight, like scary tight, like it was floyd and not
phish on stage if you closed your eyes. especially the vocals (except
great gig and fishman was hilarious) and the sound effects on time and
money, wow! when they started time we knew they were doing the whole
thing as whatever that guy's name is kept bringing up more cue cards.
every phan, head, pholk, whatever was in ectasy throughout. innocent
local mormon kids and parents must have been in awe ( i sure the hell
was) if they actually even knew what was going on! so they finished up
harpua beautifully without a poster/harpua fight (who even cared at this
point). the place was now buzzing big time and hugs ensued all around, i
don't think i could even clap or yell or anything but say wow and holy
shit to my bros. the smells like teen body odor encore was kinda cool
although it sounded ragged (and was pretty much undanceable) like runnin
with the devil and some other covers from summer did. but no complaints
here, i woulda been happy with a sparkle-bouncin' encore. i'm so glad
we went to salt lake city. it was raining and cold when we got out but
the lot was still buzzing hard about what went down. i guess this is why
i (and all of you) don't mind traveling 1800 miles to see four shows.
halloween part 2 (aka; salt lake city show, 11.2.98) will go down as one
of the best ever (definately the most surprising ever) and i'll bet
nobody skips random shows like salt lake in the future! can't wait to
hear these tapes.  how about playing flagstaff next fall!!  
shout outs to matt beck from waterwheel foundation for the positive
vibes from vegas to salt lake (thats why the harpua story was so killer
cause it basically happened to me) and howie the taper for hooking up a
butt-load of tapes for tickets to the salt lakeshow.                        
weekapaugroovin, buck from flagstaff     abs4@dana.ucc.nau.edu


I personally believe that Phish's performance at the E Center willgo
down as one of their greatest of all time.  I'm not saying that that itwas
the best ever, but defiently in the top 20.  After attending both showsin
Vegas and the one in Salt Lake, I would have to say that of the three,Salt
Lake was the best.  
    The Tube  Drowned opening combo was awesome!  Upbeat and jampackedwith
energy.  Jesus Left Chicago fallowed and featured some excellent work by
Page.  I enjoyed Driver and Bittersweet Motel, especially Trey'sdialouge on
his and Mike's stint at the Dead Goat Saloon.    I'm happy to hear thatTrey
and Mike enjoyed themselves on a Sunday night in Salt Lake.  
    I knew the boys would play some songs of the new album and was
pleasently surprised to hear Limb by Limb, Velvet Sea. and Moma Dancein the
Second set.  I loved the funk when it was Black Eyed Katy and love iteven
more now as Moma Dance. 
    The second set pre-Dark Side of the Moon was killer, especially DWD,
YEM, and the ever amazing Harpua.  I could tell that the band washolding
back a little, saving something for later because these usual huge jamsongs
didn't really go as far as they usually do when they comprise the meatof a
set.  But what they defiently lacked in length they made ten fold inenergy
and intimacy.  The E Center was about 2/3 full and anyone that wanted to
could get way up front.  It was really strage after Vegas and the wallto
wall grooving sea of humanity.  
    The band also seemed to enjoy playing in front of a non sold outshow
(the first time in a while).  Trey kept saying he loved the "EeeeeCenter"! 
Obviously the stage was set for something incredible (no pun intended)
because what happened in the middle of Harpua will go down in Phishhistory.
 After the story about Jimmy heading down to Vegas, finding it toocrowded
and crazy, deciding to head back to his little town in the mountians(Salt
Lake), and getting a ride through the desert while a cabbie played this
awesome album, the Band paused a minute.  Brad came out with cue cardsfor
Trey so I knew some thing wierd was going on but had no idea that theywere
going to cover the whole fucking Dark Side of the Moon!!!  When they hit
those first sweet notes of "Speak to Me" I reached a peak of ectacy that
wouldn't let down until the end of the set.  They were playing one of my
favorite band's best album and one which I myself could play on theguitar. 
The highlights (not like the whole thing was un-phucking-believable)were
"Time", "Great Gig", "Money", and the closing "Brain Damage""Eclipse". 
    After the end of Harpua during the set break I realized that I hadjust
witnessed a truely stellar performance. But the boys didn't stop there.The
hillarious "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Encore left all those except rapid
Nirvana haters with a huge smile on their faces.  
    Prediction: Gamehenge to be played somewhere along the tour!!
Peace to everyone especially Ed Clark at Harvy Mudd,   Will 


I just got back to my home in Jackson, Wyoming after catching Phish 
in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. Let me preface this review by saying 
that I've been seeing Phish shows since 1992 and it's clear to me that 
the boys are really peaking as a band these days.  Its clear that 
they're tighter, more funky, more experimental and just plain FUN 
lately. If you haven't caught any shows on the last couple of tours 
you're in for a treat.
     Plenty of space has already been devoted to the Halloween shows so 
I'll just say that Friday was terrific and Halloween night was one for 
the ages.  The first set was smoking and the Velvet Underground set 
worked perfectly.  The spacy 3rd set proved that Phish is going to do 
what they want to challenge the listener.  Instead of playing theolder, 
rocking show-busters they entered deep space and stayed there.
    The E-Center was more than half-empty and it seemed like a lot of 
tourheads chose this show as the one to skip (BIG MISTAKE!) I was on  
the floor about 70 feet from the stage and had plenty of room to dance. 
It was that casual.  Security was ridiculously tight entering the venue 
(They made me take off my base ball hat!) but the whole place ended up 
being general admission and pretty loose during the show.
    The first set gave no indication that this was going to be aspecial 
night.  They were just coming off of an unbelievable Halloween show and 
I figured we'd get a healthy dose of the new tunes and maybe a few 
special rarities. SET I
TubeDrownedJesus Left Chicago was a nice start. The Tube was fully 
jammed and is a rare enough tune that I was stoked to hear it.  Drowned 
was good but this version stood well behind the one I caught at Ventura 
this summer. Mike's voice sounded a bit trashed on this one.  Jesus 
never really caught fire for me, it sounded like they were having a 
little trouble getting in synch.
    After this Trey strapped on the acoustic guitar and chatted withthe 
audience.  It was nice to have him acknowledge an intimate crowd (This 
was the smallest show I've attended since the Beacon Theatre in '94) 
telling them about how they showed up for an open Mike night the 
previous evening at a bar in Salt Lake.  Driver is a sweet song, that I 
enjoyed in Las Vegas and even more after hearing it again.  I'm notsure 
how many times they've played Bittersweet Motel but it was fun. Another 
thing I love about these guys is they seem so genuine on stage and 
really appear to connect with their audience.  The last three songs of 
the first set were nothing special and the Sample appeared to be a 
throwaway first set closer.Set II
    This is where it all happened.  I noticed them bringing out some 
sheets of paper for all the bandmembers and I had a feeling something 
might be up.  I hadn't ever really heard of them pre-writing outsetlist 
before, but I had no idea what they'd cooked up.  The DWD opener was 
strong, and Mango is one of my faves that they don't play much anymore. 
YEM finally turned the groove on and at the end I hoped we were goingto 
get some meaty stuff for the second set.  Then boom--HARPUA!  Always a 
great one to hear, night many in the audience seemed to be too excited. 
It seemed there were a lot more locals and less tourheads inside sothey 
probably didn't know the song.
Anyway, in the middle Trey starts rapping about Las Vegas and how crazy 
it was and how this guy was trying to hitch a ride to Salt Lake after 
halloween and he was picked up by a guy in a van. Trey said, "Insidethe 
van, his favorite album in the whole world was playing" (or something 
like that) They then stepped back and began to jam.  I recognized the 
Breathe intro right away, but I figured that it was just a short tease. 
Even when they went into the song and people started going nuts, I 
figured they'd just play it and go back into Harpua. NOPE.  One song 
after another followed as jaws in the audience dropped right and left.
   The performance was quite strong, considering that they'd never 
played any of the songs except Great Gig live before.  Everything you 
heard on the album was in there, the alarm clocks, drum beats 
everything.  "Money" was funny to hear from the mouths of the band Iwas 
seeing before they really had any.  Fishman got a great hand for Great 
Gig (so nice to hear him sing again!)  During "Us and Them" Paige sang 
lead and the other band members did the echoes of the lyrics, to 
occassionally humerous effect.  At the end they went back into the end 
of Harpua (incredibly!).
For the encore who would have expected Smells Like Teen Spirit?  It was 
a little rough, but it was played in a fun, garage band style.
   This concert demonstrated the breadth of Phish's instrumental skills 
while also showing how unpredictable and fun the band still is.  One of 
the greatest jamming bands ever isn't afraid to tackle one of rock's 
most sacred albums note for note--AND PULLED IT OFF!!
I only saw about 6 microphone stands in the taper section, but if you 
read this and have access to the tapes....PLEASE CONTACT ME!!
I'm looking forward to Albany and New Haven, but I have a feeling it 
will be hard for these shows to measure up to the surprise and 
excitement of Vegas and Salt Lake.
Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the tour.  Catch them now, while 
they're on top of their game!
Peace,Mike Pearlman
MSPearl@hotmail.com


The show at the E-center just kicked ass.  Iv've been to many Phish
shows and this one had to top the list as one of the best!!

First off hardly anyone showed up.  The E-center is roughly the size of
the Thomas & Mack Center but was only half as full.  Where did all you
heads go?  There had to be thousands of tickets left!  Which left the
show more personable than any show I've seen since 93.

Tube into Drowed really rocked, very high energy. and mellowed out into
a jam that proceeded into Jesus... Trey then got to talking to the crowd
about how he and Mike spent Sunday night at the Dead Goat Saloon, on an
open mike night and jammed with some Utah locals.  This floored me, I'm
a Utah native and that is my favorite bar.  All I could think about was
that I was home sitting on my ass when Mike and Trey were at the bar (my
favorite bar) with only 20 people at the most. They dedicated the next
two songs (Driver and Bitersweet Motel) to people who jammed with them
night.  Before motel Trey told the audience that they and the few people
at the bar singing this all night long. If you are ever in Utah check
out the Goat it really is a great bar! especially on monday nights
(blues night)! I couldn't belive Trey, he was going off on how much he
loved Utah and the E-center.  It was great, Utah has a pretty bad
reputation. I love it here, when me and my buddies go on tour and people
ask where we are from, Utah, most people say sorry or kind of cringe.
They don't realize the mountains and desert and snow they are missing,
but maybe Trey realizes.  Sorry about the Utah tangent, I just thought
I'd go off.

        The set continued with limb by limb which was pretty mellow for that
song.  I wanted badly to hear peaches at this point and was kind of
disapointed with Velvet Sea, but that's just me the crowd seemed to be
into it. (I just haven't seen peaches in a LONG time). The energy
skyrocketed from the mellow jams to a high energy Sample.


        The second set was fucking amazing. DWD was pretty much the same as
I've always heard it.  Mango was fun to hear and got the crowd into the
groove.  I totally dig the Moma Dance everytime I hear it (remeber last
summer when they played it four shows in a row!).  Then a classic YEM. 
which ended by a fucking glowstick hitting Trey in the head (you can all
read the glowstick debates on this page it's kind of funny). This ended
the vocal jam, which was a complete bummer, however Trey shrugged waved
his finger at the crowd then laughed it off. After shaking it off and
giving the signal to the rest of the boys, the UM-PA-PA's were chanted. 
At this point I went ape-shit!! my god I love Harpua!, the story about
jimmy was short but brought up the story from Vegas 96 (the four elvii,
primus etc.) and how Vegas is too crowded so jimmy took a cab to Utah
and the cabbie was playing an album, one of Jimmy's favorite.  There was
a pause of silence for a while and the pounding started I turned to my
buddy and said "man I think they are going to play Dark side of the
Moon" (which is what my call for halloween was).  They proceeded to play
the whole fucking album.  It was totally insane they used the alarm
clock, money, etc. sound effects in the album. Fish was hilarious during
the screaming part. The whole time I couldn't belive they were doing
this after Haloween was over and in my home town!!   The end of Dark
Side "Eclipse" was sick, the crowd went nuts, for a crowd half the size
of Halloween they were twice as fucking loud!.  They ended Harpua
without the FIGHT!!!! but Oh well, I'm not complaining.

        BUT I COULDN'T THINK OF A WORSE ENCORE, I KNOW THEY PROBABLY DID IT FOR
HUMOR. BUT NIRVANA WHAT THE FUCK, NOT AFTER PINK FLOYD.  I HATE NIRVANA.
This fucked with my friend Lincoln he was pretty steamed at the encore. 
We both got over it in the parking lot realizing we just saw the hottest
show on the tour.

Halloween (both nights) was probably one of the funnest times I have
ever had, and were great shows.  All of the costumes were fun! (I was in
the kick ass dog costume)  But This show topped them, less people better
sound.  Phish definately had more energy.  Plus this calabur of a show
in my backyard was fucking amazing.

        My search is on for this bootleg, if anyone can help (cash or trade)
PLEASE! E-mail me!

Bryan "super-freak" Scriven
b.scriven@sarcos.com
P.S. FISHMANN!!!!!!!!!!


The show at the E-center just kicked ass.  I've been to many Phish shows and 
this one had to top the list as one of the best!!

First off hardly anyone showed up.  The E-center is roughly the size of the 
Thomas & Mack Center but was only half as full.  Where did all you heads go?
  There had to be thousands of tickets left!  Which left the show more 
personable than any show I've seen since 93.

Tube into Drowed really rocked, very high energy. and mellowed out into a 
jam that proceeded into Jesus... Trey then got to talking to the crowd 
about how he and Mike spent Sunday night at the Dead Goat Saloon, on an 
open mike night and jammed with some Utah locals.  This floored me, I'm a 
Utah native and that is my favorite bar.  All I could think about was that 
I was home sitting on my ass when Mike and Trey were at the bar (my favorite 
bar) with only 20 people at the most. They dedicated the next two songs 
(Driver and Bitersweet Motel) to people who jammed with them night.  Before 
motel Trey told the audience that they and the few people at the bar singing 
this all night long. If you are ever in Utah check out the Goat it really is a
 great bar! especially on monday nights (blues night)! I couldn't belive Trey,
 he was going off on how much he loved Utah and the E-center.  It was great, 
Utah has a pretty bad reputation. I love it here, when me and my buddies go 
on tour and people ask where we are from, Utah, most people say sorry or kind 
of cringe. They don't realize the mountains and desert and snow they are 
missing, but maybe Trey realizes.  Sorry about the Utah tangent, I just 
thought I'd go off.

The set continued with limb by limb which was pretty mellow for that
song.  I wanted badly to hear peaches at this point and was kind of disapointed with Velvet Sea, but that's just me the crowd seemed to be into it. 
(I just haven't seen peaches in a LONG time). The energy skyrocketed from the 
mellow jams to a high energy Sample.


The second set was fucking amazing. DWD was pretty much the same as
I've always heard it.  Mango was fun to hear and got the crowd into the groove. 
 I totally dig the Moma Dance everytime I hear it (remeber last summer when 
they played it four shows in a row!).  Then a classic YEM. which ended by a 
fucking glowstick hitting Trey in the head (you can all read the glowstick 
debates on this page it's kind of funny). This ended the vocal jam, which was a
 complete bummer, however Trey shrugged waved his finger at the crowd then 
laughed it off. After shaking it off and giving the signal to the rest of the 
boys, the UM-PA-PA's were chanted. At this point I went ape-shit!! my god I 
love Harpua!, the story about jimmy was short but brought up the story from 
Vegas 96 (the four elvii, primus etc.) and how Vegas is too crowded so jimmy 
took a cab to Utah and the cabbie was playing an album, one of Jimmy's favorite.
  There was a pause of silence for a while and the pounding started I turned to
 my buddy and said "man I think they are going to play Dark side of the Moon" 
(which is what my call for halloween was).  They proceeded to play the whole 
fucking album.  It was totally insane they used the alarm clock, money, etc. 
sound effects in the album. Fish was hilarious during the screaming part. The 
whole time I couldn't belive they were doing this after Haloween was over and 
in my home town!!   The end of Dark Side "Eclipse" was sick, the crowd went 
nuts, for a crowd half the size of Halloween they were twice as fucking loud!.  
They ended Harpua without the FIGHT!!!! but Oh well, I'm not complaining.

BUT I COULDN'T THINK OF A WORSE ENCORE, I KNOW THEY PROBABLY DID IT FOR
HUMOR. BUT NIRVANA WHAT THE FUCK, NOT AFTER PINK FLOYD.  I HATE NIRVANA. 
This fucked with my friend Lincoln he was pretty steamed at the encore. We 
both got over it in the parking lot realizing we just saw the hottest show 
on the tour.

Halloween (both nights) was probably one of the funnest times I have ever had, 
and were great shows.  All of the costumes were fun! (I was in the kick ass 
dog costume)  But This show topped them, less people better sound.  Phish 
definately had more energy.  Plus this calabur of a show in my backyard was 
fucking amazing.

My search is on for this bootleg, if anyone can help (cash or trade)
PLEASE! E-mail me!

Bryan "super-freak" Scriven
b.scriven@sarcos.com
P.S. FISHMANN!!!!!!!!!!