Sunday, 04/05/1998
Providence Civic Center, Providence, RI
Set 1: The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > You Enjoy Myself, Theme From the Bottom > McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters, Bathtub Gin -> Cities > Sparkle, Split Open and Melt
Set 2: Down with Disease, Ya Mar -> Prince Caspian > Maze -> Shafty[1] -> Possum -> Jam -> Cavern[2]
Encore: Bold As Love
[1] Debut.
[2] Slow, funky version with original lyrics.
Notes: This show included the debut of Shafty. The funky jam in between Possum and Cavern featured some stage banter from Trey about the funk jams the band had been playing. Accordingly, Cavern was played in a slower, funkier manner than usual and included some of the older, alternate lyrics.
This show was part of the "1998 Island Tour."
See an error? Submit a correction!
82 Phish.netters attended.
The most lighthearted night of the run starts off with a great OKP > YEM, teases with a very fine first set Gin > Cities (a faint echo of the same pairing from 7/1/97, of course), and plateaus in Set II with a tremendous run of segues to close. The second set shares some feeling with Worcester '03; you get the sense the boys were out to have a good time, so dropping Shafty into the middle of Maze in lieu of a Trey solo only has to make comic sense. Which it does, as does the goofy trip through Possum to an entirely superfluous (not to say unwelcome) downtempo funk jam - which in turn leads, after a few minutes of boogying, into the sloooow Cavern closer. The previous night in Providence goes deeper, of course, but the Ya Mar > Caspian transition is some serious shit, and the playing is unfailingly skillful and empathetic. You can't go wrong with the Island Tour, which is like a summary version of fall '97 without the feeling of risk-taking and discovery. What it offers instead is the occasional hint of the synthesis to come in summer and especially fall/winter '98.