I promise this is true. I called a Dead cover based on the date and the jukebox covers. When the encore started and everyone was freaking out, I had to ask someone what song they were playing because I'd never heard Terrapin (which I promptly corrected) and neither had my friends.
I agree 100% with your opinion that '98 is the best Phish year. More variety than 97 with (at least) an equally good groove/tempo/space, cleaner playing than 99/after, new tunes were good, best instrument tones as a whole, etc.
I listened back to the whole show this week and it’s easy to forget just how much fun that show was before… all that. PYITE > Gin > Lizards to open? I was in heaven. My 5th show, and the first time I ever got to see the latter two songs played live. Mid-set Antelope and YEM? A terrific, tidy Bag jam? That gorgeous Waste with the big moon hanging behind us on the lawn? Oh, and also Bowie, Esther, and Frankenstein. No big deal. Sublime stuff!
Phish could’ve encored with something like “Ripple” and it would have been a legendary moment phans would still talk about a quarter century later. But of course they overachieved. Summer 1998 Phish was feeling it, man. My buddy was on a head full, and spent the entire encore with his eyes wide, jaw open, and both hands on his head. It’s still the most stunning, goosebumpy moment I’ve ever experienced at a concert. Hearing the nervousness in Trey’s vocals is so endearing. The band knew this was a big deal. Talk about a perfect song at the perfect time. Unforgettable.
My friends and I departed WNY for Star Lake early the next morning without checking the setlist — maybe because it was already traumatic enough that we missed Sabotage by two shows, but more likely because this was still the last year of the dialup age for us, and logging in was just too much effort.
We had the day to kill, so being the cool college kids we were, with our fingers on the pulse of the local scene, naturally the Pittsburgh Hall of Science was our destination. Found ourselves one of them fancy new Internet stations, and I will never forget the sequence of Gadiel’s page loading, seeing the encore, collectively letting out a string of loud, unintelligible noises, which led the few parents around us to quickly gather their kids to get the hell away from whatever the hell our deal was.
"That crowd roar is relief," — absolutely perfect analysis of this moment. Really great write-up.
Not sure if you forgot or purposefully left it out because it's inconsequential, but there was also the long Happy Birthday tease during Weekapaug along with official Happy Birthday to Jerry banter at the end of the song, "Going to keep his spirit alive through music up through the next decade." And while fans wouldn't know about it until well after 8/9/98, Trey was certainly more than politely deflecting questions about the Grateful Dead to the Todd Phillips' crew during Bittersweet.
Long time listener, first time caller.
I promise this is true. I called a Dead cover based on the date and the jukebox covers. When the encore started and everyone was freaking out, I had to ask someone what song they were playing because I'd never heard Terrapin (which I promptly corrected) and neither had my friends.
I agree 100% with your opinion that '98 is the best Phish year. More variety than 97 with (at least) an equally good groove/tempo/space, cleaner playing than 99/after, new tunes were good, best instrument tones as a whole, etc.
My 3rd show and still one of the best I’ve ever seen. I’ve experienced a lot of special moments, but nothing like that encore.
I listened back to the whole show this week and it’s easy to forget just how much fun that show was before… all that. PYITE > Gin > Lizards to open? I was in heaven. My 5th show, and the first time I ever got to see the latter two songs played live. Mid-set Antelope and YEM? A terrific, tidy Bag jam? That gorgeous Waste with the big moon hanging behind us on the lawn? Oh, and also Bowie, Esther, and Frankenstein. No big deal. Sublime stuff!
Phish could’ve encored with something like “Ripple” and it would have been a legendary moment phans would still talk about a quarter century later. But of course they overachieved. Summer 1998 Phish was feeling it, man. My buddy was on a head full, and spent the entire encore with his eyes wide, jaw open, and both hands on his head. It’s still the most stunning, goosebumpy moment I’ve ever experienced at a concert. Hearing the nervousness in Trey’s vocals is so endearing. The band knew this was a big deal. Talk about a perfect song at the perfect time. Unforgettable.
I felt a little bad not writing about the rest of the show, which I agree is very good. But sometimes it just doesn't fit anywhere in the essay.
Really good AC/DC bag, too.
An essay that meets the moment. Well done, Rob
My friends and I departed WNY for Star Lake early the next morning without checking the setlist — maybe because it was already traumatic enough that we missed Sabotage by two shows, but more likely because this was still the last year of the dialup age for us, and logging in was just too much effort.
We had the day to kill, so being the cool college kids we were, with our fingers on the pulse of the local scene, naturally the Pittsburgh Hall of Science was our destination. Found ourselves one of them fancy new Internet stations, and I will never forget the sequence of Gadiel’s page loading, seeing the encore, collectively letting out a string of loud, unintelligible noises, which led the few parents around us to quickly gather their kids to get the hell away from whatever the hell our deal was.
When you said in your 4/2/98 essay that 98 had the largest crowd roar ever, did you mean Terrapin or Dark Side? Just curious
Now it can be told: I meant this Terrapin! Though there is a lot of competition in just this year alone: Sabotage, Dark Side, 1999.
"That crowd roar is relief," — absolutely perfect analysis of this moment. Really great write-up.
Not sure if you forgot or purposefully left it out because it's inconsequential, but there was also the long Happy Birthday tease during Weekapaug along with official Happy Birthday to Jerry banter at the end of the song, "Going to keep his spirit alive through music up through the next decade." And while fans wouldn't know about it until well after 8/9/98, Trey was certainly more than politely deflecting questions about the Grateful Dead to the Todd Phillips' crew during Bittersweet.