You’ve Gotta Get ‘Em Good
11/2/98, West Valley City, UT, E Centre
SET 1: Tube -> Drowned -> Jesus Just Left Chicago, Driver, Bittersweet Motel, Limb By Limb, Wading in the Velvet Sea > Sample in a Jar
SET 2: Down with Disease, The Mango Song > The Moma Dance, You Enjoy Myself, Harpua > Speak to Me -> Breathe > On The Run, Time > The Great Gig in the Sky > Money > Us and Them-> Any Colour You Like -> Brain Damage -> Eclipse > Harpua
ENCORE: Smells Like Teen Spirit
As October repeatedly showed, Phish was always a little awkward and ineffective when it came to convincing people to buy their albums. But when it came to selling concert tickets, nobody did it better. When this year got started, I ran down all the reasons why 1998 is special, but I forgot to include a vague allusion to this show, which I’d argue is the greatest Phish prank ever – and the most lucrative. After 11/2/98, no proper Phish fan would ever make the mistake of skipping a show, even – especially – on a Monday night in Utah.
According to Parke Puterbaugh’s biography, the band had only filled about a quarter of Salt Lake City’s E Centre, as most touring fans nursed their Halloween hangovers or drove straight to Denver on the 4th. Crew member* Eric Larson recalled: “Brad [Sands] and I immediately ran to Trey and said, ‘There’s only 3,200 people here! You’ve gotta hurt ’em! You’ve gotta get ’em good! And he said, ‘Well, what can I do?’ And Brad and I looked at each other and said, “I think it’s time for Dark Side Of The Moon!’ And Trey said, ‘Okay, we’ll do Dark Side. Get the band.”
With ninety minutes to spare before show time, Phish rehearsed Pink Floyd’s classic LP, then ran through it again at setbreak. I love to think about the logistics – did Paul Languedoc need to scrounge up a CD to play the sound effects from “Speak to Me” and “Time” over the PA? Did Kuroda scramble some special lights routines or just wing it…surely he figured out something for “Any Colour You Like” at least? After four years of escalating Halloween expectations and preparations, was it a relief to revert back to an impromptu, guerilla version of the musical costume gag?
It’s pretty sloppy, of course, but the fact they could pull it off at all is absurd. They’re pretty much playing it from muscle memory, Dark Side being an album that any teenager born in the 60s or 70s could recite by heart. We’ve talked a lot about Phish carrying on (and subverting) the traditions of classic rock, and there’s maybe no album deeper in that genre’s DNA than Dark Side of the Moon. But it’s more than just remembering the words and the chords, as Phish still manages to capture the smallest of details – everything from David Gilmour’s iconic guitar tone to Fishman doing one of the sound bites in accent before “Great Gig in the Sky” to the correctly timed (on the second attempt) “woah-oh-oh-oh” backing vocal in “Brain Damage.”
If there had been more than 3,200 fans in attendance, it would’ve given 8/9/98 some competition for greatest crowd cheer ever as well. People are already pretty psyched about Jimmy listening to “Speak To Me/Breathe” on his drive from Vegas to Salt Lake City, and maybe a little bit confused during “On The Run” (Phish’s whipped-together cover of the dense, atmospheric track is understandably a little thin). But the roar when the alarm clocks go off for “Time,” and everyone realizes at once that they’re actually doing the whole thing…chef’s kiss. Then there’s two more worthy contenders when they drop right back into Harpua after their brief 42-minute diversion and in the encore, when they preposterously cover “Smells Like Teen Spirit” with what sounds like even less preparation (possibly zero).
Even crazier, you could subtract the Dark Side segment from this show and it would still be one that triggered FOMO in the people who skipped it. The opening Tube – delightfully designated Tube > Tube on the streaming sites – could have been another reprise of the Dayton ‘97 Tube extension. But the return to the jam thumbs its nose at cowfunk, and represents just how far they’ve evolved from 11 months ago, launching into orbit instead of surrendering to the groove.
The following Drowned is superb, making for the best opening half hour to a show since Riverport – it seems that all is patched up after Trey’s emergency exit 40-some hours prior. A gloriously patient Limb By Limb, a potent Mango Song, a languid Moma Dance with a bit of “Monkey Man” thrown in, and a YEM with an ambient section that sounds like it’s never going to end**…this show has all the benefits of post-Halloween relaxation even before the heartbeat sound effects fade in.
The only thing not to like about 11/2/98 is the theory, quickly circulated online, that covering Dark Side was a “makeup” for choosing the comparatively obscure Loaded for Halloween. It’s assuredly bullshit – anyone with ears can tell that the band’s enthusiasm for the Velvet Underground record left no room for regret, and playing an obvious choice on Halloween (and there was no more obvious fan-favorite choice than Dark Side of the Moon) is antithetical to Phish’s usual decision-making. Instead of a mistake and an apology, the back-to-back album covers are a superb example of Phish inverting the classic rock canon – giving a flawed album the arena-rock treatment it aspired to but never achieved, and making the meticulously assembled and endlessly over-analyzed masterpiece a loose, impromptu gag.
“Greatest prank in Phish history” is a category with a lot of competition, and the Halloween season brings out the best of their mischief; Kasvot Växt, with its pre-planted WFMU and All Music Guide hoax posts, is a close second. But pulling Dark Side out of their pocket is a trick that no other band could pull off, both for technical reasons and for the sheer gall of even imagining it. Fifteen years into their career, Phish proved once and for all that you can’t take them for granted, and our bank accounts have suffered ever since.
* - It’s apropos that the idea came from Phish’s support staff, given that some of the dialogue snippets woven into The Dark Side of the Moon came from recordings of Pink Floyd’s crew and Abbey Road staff responding to flashcard questions.
** - According to phish.net, it makes for the longest “opening segment” of YEM ever.
Great write up — love the angle of "flawed album arena rock treatment/overly-analyzed masterpiece impromptu gag." Very phish-y and never crossed my mind.
The official story of how this night happened really only scratches the surface for me. I think there was a bit more going on and that there's a story behind the story. Something happened in Vegas and SLC the night before that made Trey and the guys open to the suggestion from Brad that "You've gotta get them good." Surely Brad had plenty of suggestions for other shows the band completely ignored.
During the acoustic songs on 11/2, Trey goes off with stories about their night at the Dead Goat Saloon — where Mike and Trey played songs with no Phish fans in attendance, just performers at an open mic...When was the last time that happened and has it happened since? Seems like a pretty special night of rediscovering the magic of music + friendship, no? Particularly after their on-stage passive aggressive musical fighting during the Wolfman's on 10/31 — where I believe you wrote Mike kept doing teases trying to find safety and Trey kept rejecting it. And why exactly were they in SLC on 11/1 — not only there, but there in time to wander around town for an open mic night? Not only did Trey walk off stage on 10/31, they all fled Vegas the next morning.
Then in Trey's Harpua narration there are some hints about what might have been bothering him...Jimmy "wanted to go to a concert but couldn't get a ticket." Weren't there stories of Trey being pissed about how many people got shut out on 10/31? Didn't he even make sure free tickets got handed out or is that lore? Additionally, there's narration about how crowded/busy/terrible Vegas was — I always took this as a reference to Trey not having a great time there. Maybe it was drugs. Maybe something else. But something was off for him...walking off stage wasn't just that he had to poop.
And finally you have the juxtaposition of Trey wearing a mask on stage on 10/31 and walking off, a cold gesture to the audience compared to Trey of 11/2, recounting a story from 11/1...Where Trey + Mike got every performer and waiter and bartender on stage to sing Bittersweet Motel...so there was no audience at all in the Saloon, just everyone singing together. What is the polar opposite to Phish halloween in Vegas? Singing at an open-mic at an empty saloon in a Mormon town.
So sure, the 11/2 DSOTM was a great Phish gag to punish fans and make sure we never skipped another show. But I think part of their willingness to do that was also rediscovering the fun, joy, spontaneity, and friendship of being in a band together. I think you see this happen a few more times in the band's career, notably 7/29/03. But I'd be curious to get the full story behind 10/31/98 - 11/2. Not sure we'll ever get it...but I do enjoy guessing.
This was my first PHISH show. I was a freshman in college. We bought tickets the day of, went to Applebee’s for dinner and then walked into the arena. We walked across the arena floor and sat down about ten people back from the stage. Sat down!? There was no one there. That seemed strange to me. At the time I didn’t understand the significance of the show or all that was going on. My dad was a huge Pink Floyd fan and I grew up with Dark Side of the Moon in the background of my life. He named one of the dogs Arrow. The movie The Point was used to teach me life lessons. So when Phish covered Dark Side of the Moon in the 2nd set, I was floored. To learn it was hastily thrown together is fascinating because in the moment it was perfect. I tell people I never really wanted to be a Phish fan, but that night ruined me. They are musical genius. This show now feels like a lifetime ago as I’m a mother of two young kids and a business owner in Denver.