R3/W03: 11-11-1998 Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI

[sophist]

11-11-98 Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI



1: Punch You in the Eye, Gumbo*, If You Need a Fool, Sleep*#, Tela, Birds of a Feather, Theme from the Bottom, Julius (1:08)

2: Halley's Comet, Simple* -> Walk Away, Limb by Limb, When the Circus Comes, Ghost (1:13)

E: Contact, Rocky Top, Funky Bitch (0:15)

*Very slow. #Electric; two minutes long.

August will post the lossless source, so if you grab it, be sure to thank him.  I'm about to convert, tag, and upload the lossy files.  So check back soon for the ipod ready version. 

lossy source information:

source:
OTS, DFC Neumann skm-184s (AB, aimed at clusters, 10' high)>
Horizon custom XLRs > Mackie 1202vlz > Straightwire Chorus gold RCA/1/8">
Sony D8 @ 48kHz, Kao Gold master
powered by Galaxy Audio Far-Outlet 240

transfer:
Kao Gold master > Tascam DA-30 Mk II > SPDIF > Digidesign Digi002 Rack >
Pro Tools LE 6.4 (bounced at Tweak Head (highest) conversion rate to 44.1, with fades) >
CDwav > FLAC

taped and transferred by Dave Schall, with help at the show from
Steve Newton, Mark Hutchinson, Jen, and Fran
transferred 8/17/2005

lossy download

Lossless Download, Thanks Again August

[G. Augusto]

Teh lossless:
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=515322

[sophist]

Thanks August!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


General FYI:
I'm @ 48% uploaded with the lossy, so it will be posted soon. 

[Mr Minor]

Fun show, about 15 minutes from my house.  Not a great lot scene, but in the middle of downtown Grand Rapids.

Set I
Solid PYITE opener
Gumbo!!!  Great version, rolling along and kicking jam
Fool- fun to hear
Sleep- longer than other versions I remember
Tela- always enjoy Page belting this one out and it was a perfect fit for it in the set, IMO
Birds- it's Birds
Theme-  oh yeah, great version
Julius- solid jam, got me groovin before setbreak

Set II
Haleys- always a blast and good jam
SIMPLE- sweet stuff here, slow groove keeping it rolling and picking it up to go well into>
Walk Away- a great song, fun and energetic, always like it in concert although for no reason other than it's fun
Limb- solid
Circus- fine, whatever
Ghost- great closer, good jam

E: Contact- my first Phish song I ever heard so it holds a special place in my heart
Rocky Top- always enjoy an energetic rocky top and I thought they were sending us out into the world with this one, but then...
Bitch- love the bluesy rolling tune and always enjoy hearing Mike sing.

Great show.  Solid performance, I believe it to be very underrated, so good pick.  Grand Rapids is out of the way from the normal route across the midwest, so it was refreshing to see a show so close to home.  They put on great shows in GR, whether it was at the Orbit Room or Van Andel. 

[Caravan2001]

I'm psyched to revisit this one again, thanks....I'll review after I get up my week 2 review....Also, I got a soundboard (Pauls' sbd/aud blend) of set 2 from sandsio....does that circulate?

[G. Augusto]

Killer show.
I was torn between this one and 09-12-1999 for my pick.

PYITE - Extended, groovy intro. Crowd is pumped

Gumbo - Blam! Funky start to the jam...when Trey lays down the loop, it takes a turn for the eerie. A very simple version, really.

Fool - A little shaky

Sleep - Still new. Nice version.

Tela - 2nd to last version. Played well.

Birds - Solid.

Theme - They nail the ascending riff before the jam (very important). A little shaky at the end, though. Cool jam.

Julius - Great version to close out the set. I'm a Julius fan.

Halley's - 9:26 starts taking shape. Similar bass line to the 04-03-1998 Roses. Great groove ~13...very Fall '98. Very focused version that slams right into >

Simple - Decent jam. Then they just kinda start up >

Walk Away - Always nice. Short, though.

Limb/Circus - Two songs.

GHOST - One of the best out there. Great Page solo in the composed part. Jam really h33ts up ~13. TOTAL SHRAGEFEST, DEWDES! Notes out the butt like Whoa! Love how it just fades out to end it. Seems appropriate.

Contact - Always thought that they played this later on when they had a fun night.

Rocky - Killer Page solo! Just when you thought they are done...

Bitch - Boo ya! The triple encore! Actually, quite the smokin' version.

Such a solid show all the way around.
A+
a

[khalpin]

PYitE: Always a good opener to get the crowd going.  Quite a few fills by Fishman during the intro.  Otherwise, pretty standard.

Gumbo: Pretty slow version.  After the composed section, Page gets a funky thing going on the (Clavinet?) around 5:00.  This goes for a while and then turns into a very "nice", mellow jam.  Good to hear something like this come out of Gumbo.

Call Me if You Need a Fool: Nice little rarity.  I never realized actually how rare it is until I just looked it up.

Sleep: Too short for a bathroom break.  Don't want to miss the next song.

Tela: Always love it.  Gorgeous song and the end always rips.

Birds: Nice change of pace.  Pretty rockin' version.  So far, round three of the show club is 3 for 3 with BoaF.

Theme: The jam builds very well and even speeds up a bit towards the end.  Better than average version.

Julius: Good way to finish the set.  Your basic Julius.  Good energy and good playing by Trey.

Good first set.  A little lull in the middle (energy-wise, not performance-wise) bookended by some pretty high energy tunes.  Tough to pick a highlight.  Most all of it was very good, without anything really being great.  A- set.



Halley's: Gotta love a Halley's opener.  I'm expecting something big here.  Sounded like Trey wanted to change keys around 7:15 but Mike wouldn't have it.  "No, Trey.  We're gonna jam this one out."  Sure enough, that's what happens.  Settles down around 11:00 into a spacier jam.  Everyone feeding off each other nicely.  No one really taking control, just adding little bits here and there.  Goes on for a while.  Trey eventually kind of takes over and starts shredding a bit but the jam isn't really going anywhere.  This one's about 6 or 7 minutes too long, IMO.  Finally, the first segue of the evening goes into:

Simple: I don't really like this song, but the jam section is usually pretty good.  This one breaks down into one of those mellow jams.  Particularly nice playing by Page, I thought.  Then Fishman eventually drops out.  Quite the mellow version. Goes into:

Walk Away: As I mentioned in the PNC review, I like this as a cover.

Limb: My attention drifted quite a bit during this one.  Sounded almost like a Carol of the Bells tease in there, but probably not.  Mellows out and then fires back up.  Decent version.

Circus: Bathroom break.

Ghost: A slow one.  They do the funk thing for a while.  Gets really hot around 10:00 in.  Good jam to close out the set.

Contact: Love this as an encore.  And the jam section was pretty good, too.

Rocky Top: Love this as encore, too.  Great way to send the crowd home.

Funky Bitch: This is one long encore.  A nice treat for all in attendance, I'm sure.

Overall, a great show with very little negative about it.  Only 2 throwaway tunes, for me.  But the show really had a little bit of everything.  A-.  Good pick.

[Hicks]

PYITE:  Along with MFMF probably my favorite frequent show opener, with 2001 being my favorite go-to 2nd set opener.  Nice version, even though the Landlady segments are kind of complicated, Trey is just about always able to nail it as he does here. 

Gumbo:  Like PYITE this is one that never fully blossomed until the funk era and this is a great example of its emergence as a great jam vehicle.  As noted it slows down during the jam, its still not as turgid as last week's Cities or the Gin from the week before.  Nice space funk section until Trey comes up with an absolutely gorgeous melodic line around the 8 and a half minute mark.  The jam continues on this theme until it peters out at the end, I actually felt this could have uncovered some more ground if given a few more minutes, but still very impressive for only the second tune of the night.

Call Me:   :banana:

Sleep:  nice early version of a rarely played song.

Tela:  Interesting/weird placement, but always a treat to hear nonetheless

Birds:  still a meh for me, but it does the job of bringing the energy back up

Theme:  Hmmm they kind of seem to be tossing out random songs at this point, but I am a fan of this one though and it's very well played here.  Nice soaring leads by Trey. 

Julius:  Not quite on the level of a 94 style ripper but still good and serves does its job of hammering home the set with a punch.  "We'll be back in five minutes"   :lol:

A bit disjointed IMO, but still a quality first set with only a couple of throw aways, Birds, Call Me.  I give it a B.
Nice OTS tape btw for the lossy. 

Halley's: Monsta version, super sick loop/funk jam at around the ten minute mark that is dominated by Page going nuts on what sounds like the clav which continues until Trey comes in with some leads around the 17 minute mark leading to some shredtastic trill action which almost has a Middle Eastern feel to it.  The jam kinda falls apart around 23 minutes though and just kind of coasts until going into Simple which Mike had hinted at a few minutes earlier.  Still a great ride, but I'm with khalpin, this would have been better if they went into Simple when Mike first hinted at it.

Simple:  We haven't heard this one in a while and it's one of my favorites, kind of a weird version though.  Some really nice Page action and I really dig what Mike and Trey are doing at the end but apparently someone wasn't into it or got lost because it ends pretty abruptly. 

Walk Away:  Kind of like last week's version they use it to bail them out of a musical cul de sac.  Solid version with some more clav. action by Page.

LimbxLimb:  I really dug this one, the mellow/ambient part in the middle was well done and they bring back to the main theme very smoothly, definitely an above average version. 

Circus: why not

Ghost:  Show highlight right here, I think I have this on disc somewhere from the OG DD.  Page is all over the synths for the composed section and the beginning part of the jam very tasty.  As Aug mentioned this one has a big ol' gnarly peak at 13 minutes where Trey goes absolutely bananas!!!! Nice fade out jam with Trey using Leslie style watery effects to good use.  This is how you close a show! 

Contact:  Kick down time, one of only two played in 98!  Great Page action both on the grand and organ nice funk section, another one that benefited from the revelations of 97. 

Funky Bitch:  wow, this is a straight ripper here, pure HOTTNESS maybe my new favorite version?

Second set was definitely the winner here, which makes more for an overall great show, I'd give this set a solid A with Halley's and Ghost going a long way to distinguish the proceedings as pretty frickin' sweet.  I don't usually hand out an MVP award, but Page clearly pwns this show in true 98 fashion, ON POINT!!!! 

Overall a very enjoyable listen  and I would say that it is underrated as well, I give it an A- on the strength of the second set and the Gumbo, thanks fer the pick phan! 

[blatboom]

This show gets a lot of praise from all who hear it but I'm not sure if it's quite enough to do it justice.
I'll never forget the first time I heard the Halley's jam driving one day:  Mike repeats this same little 5-note line 3 times somewhere near the 11 minute mark and I lost it and immediately paused the disc and called my buddy to tell him how sick it was--doing no justice to it whatsoever I'm sure  :-)
I spun this over the weekend driving all over creation so I'm gonna go synopsis style this week (fantastic pick btw Sophist!!)

Despite being basically a totally worked out song, PYITE has never gotten old to me and it's one of the best show openers in the arsenal.  They follow with one of my all time faves in Gumbo.  I think I may actually like the Gumbo jam more than the Halley's jam, that's how good it is to my ears.  It travels from the funk to a little space then just turns straight-up beautiful.  Need a Fool is a nice way to mix up the bluegrass selection for the evening, great tune that should have gotten more run!  Sleep is just a sweet little number that you shouldn't ever hear a bad word about.  What a treat Tela is.  I'm not crazy about the slow pacing on this one but the ending refrain is powerful.  Second to last version ever :-(  Yet another Birds this week, but I'm loving them so keep 'em coming!  I like the placement, & this one is a straight-ahead rocker.  Theme next?  This setlist is almost too good to be true.  Typical fantastic version.  Julius is one of my meh tunes, but of course this one's a beast of a set-closer.

Love Halley's as a set II opener.  The jam is a monster.  Mike blew me away the way he repeated that phrase at ~10:45 and I can't even be sure why..it's just something I felt which is why they're the best band ever.  I love the way they start this Simple!  It's fuckin rockin.  Short jam > into a Walk Away that works 100x better than last week's version from 2000.  I loved it.  Limb x Limb is nice and chill.  I dig just about all the ballads and Circus is no exception.  Trey's voice sounds a lil rough but no problem.  Ghost to close?  Wow.  Hot hot jam reestablishes Ghost by the end as it fades out & the band ends the set with just a killer wall of sound.  Sick
You kidding me with this encore?  The Mike-for-MVP trifecta.  Contact>Rocky Top is classic, but to throw a raging Funky Bitch on an unsuspecting crowd like that just isn't fair!


I love everything about this show.  The setlists look great on paper and sound even better.  High energy throughout with the only short breaks of Sleep & Circus.  The jams are all hot with Gumbo, Halley's & Ghost being the clear stand-outs.  Tela and Need a Fool are your rarities for the night.  Oh year the 3-song encore brings down the house.  Is it OK to give it an A+?


edit: 

"We'll be back in five minutes"   :lol:

:lol:  I meant to comment on that!  "We'll be back in five minutes!  Fifteen minutes!  Twenty Minutes!"   :roll: :lol:

[Caravan2001]

1:
Punch You in the Eye- Great high energy opener.
Gumbo- awesome version.  98 was a good year for Gumbo's (actually, almost every year is) and this is no exception. Great jam and you know the band came to play after this one.
If You Need a Fool- straightforward country-ish tune.  Bonus points for the scarcity factor.
Sleep- always cool to hear. 
Tela- an ok version, they all sound really similar to me.  still, better than sparkle
Birds of a Feather- Awesome, high energy version.  A totally different song from last week's BOAF!
Theme from the Bottom-killer version- this is the dank.  Really good.
Julius- nice closer.  I like it in this slot.  Rocking, rollicking version....

2: Halley's Comet- just awesome.  Show highlight for me.  Reminds me of the Denver '97 Disease, cause the second the jam starts, you know it's ON! Killer, Killer, Killer
Simple- well played, good jam.  nice hi-hat work from Fish.  The drums keep it moving.  Great jam, not the best ever, but nice, and I don;t like this toon normally....
Walk Away- like the transition into this.  WAY better than the version showcased last week.  This one rox!
Limb by Limb- Pretty standard at first, but good.  Then after a pretty standard jam, they slow it down and start the main riff again, like they are about to end the jam, but then instead of ending, it just slows down and keeps going, and then they drag it waaay out, making this an all-time great version IMO.
When the Circus Comes- I like the NYE 97 version the best, otherwise, meh.....
Ghost- starts kinda slow, but builds steady steam and starts cooking for sure.  A great version.

E: Contact- awesome, always
Rocky Top- decent
Funky Bitch- a dope surprise, and I love the way they just lay into it before Rocky Top is even over.  The icing on the cake.  3 (or 4) song encores always let you know the band was feeling it.  They could have come out after this show and just played one of these songs and people would have been happy.

This is great show.  I had one set of friends that flew out to do this and Cincinatti, but I ended up flying out to do Cincinatti and Murfreesboro instead. Boy was that a mistake.  This is a great show, thanks for the pick- I give it an A-.....

[Gumbo72203]

this Ghost peak is fucking NUTS.    UGH!!!!!!!!!  fucking peakk!K!K!K!!!!!!ING!!!

[VA $l!m]

gumbo are you bored today?

[August]

Bump.

this Ghost peak is fucking NUTS.    UGH!!!!!!!!!  fucking peakk!K!K!K!!!!!!ING!!!

[emay]

livephish release of this tomorrow!

[susep]

Lots of great Halley's out there, this one is tops for me.