It rained in Raleigh, not like the year before (the famous thunderstorm), but it did rain a little in the afternoon. My phriend and I had seats towards the back of the pavillion so we could see out overhead, and about ten minutes before the show started a huge rainbow appeared directly over the amphitheater! The first two songs with the rainbow overhead is something I'll never forget - such happiness. In fact I couldn't have asked for a more perfect first show, just an all around good vibe. Going back and listening to it brings back that fun and loving time in my life, and isn't that what it's all about?

I will say that I learned very quickly that Uncle Trey tells a heck of a story- something about Colonel Forbin ziplining into a lake of Jello in a lucid dream and eating it(?) and then somehow floating into space and blocking out the sun, hence the lunar eclipse.

First show, rainbow over the stadium through Water in the Sky and Drowned, lost my sh*t...in a good way. Wondering if DeeperBlues was one of my two Phish companions: Matt or Brad. I think all three of us learned to dance like we mean it at this show.

I agree with the other reviewers regarding the up and down first set, but the second set Mike's Groove (almost the entire set) is pretty good. Decent show overall, but not one of the standout performances of the tour.

Happy 22nd birthday to a fun show.
My cousin and I attended the 7/31 show together in Columbus (his home turf) so we figured we’d call it equal if he and his sister drove down for this one. Halfway to the venue my bud remembered he forgot his ticket back in chapel hill. Bummer.
Brief thunderstorm gave way to the opening pairing of water/drowned. I recall good renditions of stash and foam in the first set as well as the big col forbin/mockingbird bust out. I was a big enough fan at the time to know it was a big deal, but not to assess the execution. Thank goodness for @ucpete!
Second set featured an absolutely filthy mike’s jam. Trey went off hard for a minute or two, just tearing up the fretboard.
Bearing in mind they’d played Disease in Atlanta the show before, it was surprising to hear the beginnings of a tease in weekapaugh. It sounds as though Trey caught himself about halfway through the lick and buried it.
This waste is my favorite version of a tune I really don’t enjoy that much. The solo is beautiful.
Listen to the foam, stash, mikes, and paug

Not bad Not Bad

They stretch their legs a little bit during Drowned, more of an exercise jam than anything. Stash is strong as always. Ghost goes into a nice hose jam that kind of swallows you whole then fades out. Col Forbin .Mocking bird at the end of the set? Huge bustout. Extra long narration that reminds me why I prefer these narrations over Harpua, it's way out there. It's obvious it hasn't been played in a while but hey still a nice treat.

Set 2 opens with a peaky and well played Chalkdust. It's followed by a great filthy Mike's Song that doesn't drift very far, but still some great tone and playing by Trey. Very well played LxL. Fantastic Piano segue into Wading. Weekapaug has some really fierce playing in it and is a great cap (man they sure loved playing full Mike's Groove sets in '98 huh?).

Nothing to write home about with a generic Funky B Encore.

Over all not a very memorable show besides the Mockingbird Narration, but that's something I might go back to in the right space.

maybe it was fatigue, but i had a tough time maintaining myself from start to finish....my interest peaked in spurts, but i also sat in my chair just as often. quality songs & jams, but the overall flow was...stuttered, maybe? admittedly, i enjoy listening to the show a little more nowadays 'cuz the actual quality of material is solid...but for the sake of cohesion, IMO the peaks & valleys were a little TOO close to one another...

Cool show, tempo of the first set was up and down. So you had a chill Water, smokin’ Drowned, chill Frankie and so on. Stash was good; the Ghost was great in a slow methodical way. Forbin’s – Mockingbird was tight, and the narration was definitely out there!

Second set flowed like wine! Albuquerque & Velvet Sea helped to keep the up and down tempo theme from the first set, but it worked!

And it’s always nice to end the night with a Funky Bitch! Cheers

Part of my full run through of Summer '98, see here

Water in the Sky provides an unusual opening, but I guess it was raining there that night. The Drowned is energetic; it doesn't go off the beaten path bust still feels like a jolt of '98 jam energy i.e. let's explore one theme to it's fullest before we move on. This Frankie Says has a darker outro, and Trey channels some of the Frankie energy into the start of this version of Stash. This Stash is not deep but it rocks hard. Brian and Robert supplies the requisite cool down after that. This is a great Foam as well, quieting down to nearly silence before Trey and company carefully and delicately scale back up to the closing. It's good to hear Bittersweet Motel in a set and not the encore this time around. Ghost feels much the same as Drowned or Stash did, it doesn't go very far out of bounds but it rocks, albeit at a slower pace. Then, because of the Eclipse that was occurring that night, the band busts out Colonel Forbin's > Mockingbird for the first time since the evil David Byrne version from Halloween 1996. It's unusual hearing the narration (explaining how Forbin ended up eclipsing the moon) during a '98 show since that was a schtick that they had mostly left to the past at that point; but overall it's a fun narration and the two songs are well played (the end of Mockingbird feels a bit spotty, that's all).

Chalkdust provides an energetic start to set 2 in an unexpected opening slot. The band doesn't skip a beat and immediately starts up Mike's Song. This Mike's is rocking energy to start, and continues to slowly ramp up that energy as it goes, building great tension. Past the nine minute mark you are dying for a peak but the band seems to be teasing a ramp down instead. By 12 minutes the band has ramped up and down multiple times, taking us on a wild journey. At 13 minutes the band finally ascends the peak to great release and slams joyously into Simple. This Simple is quick and delicate. Albuquerque cool down follows, and we'd expect the show to take back off after this. Instead we get a fairly subdued Limb by Limb followed by another cool off with Wading in the Velvet Sea. The band closes things out with a serviceable Weekapaug, but overall, the band seems to have lost their drive by the end of this set. The Funky Bitch encore does nothing to change that; the band seems tired.

Overall this doesnt' hit as hard after the run that preceded it. It's too bad because just one signature jam here paired with this unique and rare-at-the-time Forbin's > Mockingbird could have been enough to make this show get talked about. This show has a nice Foam and a good Type 1 Mike's Song, don't get me wrong, but neither is enough to elevate this show. Too bad, because the show here the previous year was a barn burner (and a personal fave).

Part of my full run through of Summer '98, see here

After a strong two nights at Deer Creek the band makes a quick stop in Atlanta, with mixed results. The show gets off to a very fun start with Oh Kee Pa > Suzy (the first 1998 version in fact). Roses Are Free doesn't do much for me without a jam, and sadly this one has none. The band continues to nail Roggae on this tour and this is no exception. The run of the next four songs is very standard (and seriously, I feel like they paired Train Song with Billy Breathes frequently during this era ). The band seems to mean business at this point though, kicking into another really great version of Fluffhead. Much like Roggae, this Moma Dance is also as consistently good as this song was all tour. The Cracklin' Rosie bustout is really fun, but in a completely different manner than the Bike bustout from the previous show; the energy from the crowd and the band is high. My Soul is a serviceable closer. Overall it's hard to find much to say about this set. The band didn't go deep, the selections were decent. Moving on.

The Set 2 BOAF opener continues this trend of solid, standard, and fine from Set 1. Then we get to Wolfman's Brother, and this proves we are still in the golden age for this song here. The band seizes on the groove right away and this one doesn't miss a step as the song proper transitions into the jam. Fishman rocks this one in the early going as the band takes this song on a ride, another '98 style exploration on variance in theme. As we get past 8 minutes Mike starts to deviate and things get real quiet for a moment as the rhythm section holds it down. At about nine and a half minutes the key changes as Trey strikes out, and the band follows (and what a fantastically smooth transition it is). Trey sets up a quiet loop in the background and then locks into another breezy theme similar to the previous night's Gumbo. Trey sounds almost bluesy while the rhythm section generates driving rock. Page is there to bridge the gap. The final section has the band petering out while flirting with earlier ambient themes, and then empties out into a surprising version of Talk. Finally this show has given us something to talk about.

NICU is a good follow up and, when it comes to versions of Prince Caspian, this one does seem to have the proverbial extra mustard, thanks in large part to some unrelenting force from Page. Mango Song is standard, fun. You can't really expect a long jam from Down With Disease when it's used as a set closer, so this was also fine. The encore is fun though, with a nice Running With the Devil cover and a great YEM (complete with Running With the Devil teases) to end things on a high note.

Honestly not much more to say about this one. Feels like a step down after the Deer Creek shows, but the Wolfman's Brother > Talk is pretty sweet as is the encore.

PHISH, FRIDAY 08/07/1998
WALNUT CREEK AMPHITHEATER
Raleigh, NC

SET 1:

Water in the Sky: Standard.

Drowned: This jam is predicably a high energy rocking affair. At about the ten and a half minute range they slow the tempo down and effortlessly shift gears to delve into a funky atmosphere. Nicely done and would recommend this jam.

Frankie Says: Standard.

Stash: Definitely a solid version. Trey has some pent up angst that he lets rip in the early 11 minute range. Not one that I would revisit but this is version does the middle of the first set good justice.

Brian and Robert: Standard.

Foam: Silent jam before the vocal return is pretty cool.

Bittersweet Motel: Standard.

Ghost: Droning hose jam and then a high velocity full band jam that has a proper ending. Would recommend this version!

Colonel Forbin's Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird[1]

SET 2:

Chalk Dust Torture: Strong version that has a little bit more than your typical CDT. Good way to start the second set. >

Mike's Song: One long jam, no second jam. Very brooding, dark, and intense version. Would recommend. >

Simple: Standard. >

Albuquerque: Standard. >

Limb By Limb: Standard.

Wading in the Velvet Sea: Standard with a small side of Trey getting a little sloppy in the solo.

Weekapaug Groove: Absolutely smokes, great set closer for sure.

ENCORE:

Funky Bitch: Standard.

Summary: Long first set, 91 minutes. They covered a lot of ground there. On paper this show looks super strong. It is solid, but there is nothing truly exceptional here. The current rating on Phish.net is 3.858/5 (>50 ratings) and that seems like an accurate representation of this show.

Replay Value: Drowned, Ghost, Mike’s Song

[1] Narration offered an explanation for the evening's lunar eclipse.

Ghost contained San-Ho-Zay teases from Trey. The long, surreal Mockingbird narration offered an “explanation” for the evening’s lunar eclipse and contained Star Trek theme teases from Page. Mockingbird was played for the first time since Halloween, 1996 (135 shows).

SHOW RATING
Ratings are currently offline.
Overall: 3.858/5 (>50 ratings)
JAM CHART VERSIONS
Mike's Song
TEASES
San-Ho-Zay tease in Ghost, Theme from Star Trek tease in Fly Famous Mockingbird

https://forum.phish.net/forum/permalink/1378019671

The current rating for this show is admittedly not too surprising, as there are a few things to dislike about this show. While all great songs individually, Frankie Says, Brian and Robert, Bittersweet Motel, Albuquerque, and Wading in the Velvet Sea comprise a veritable "Murderer's Row" of set killers. There's also an abundance of monitor feedback at the start of this show, Mike's Song seems to lose its way during the jam, and Trey's playing during the outro of Fly Famous Mockingbird is so painful that he may as well have been wearing a white lab coat and holding a dentist's drill. But Foam, Stash and Ghost all make the first set worth hearing, Chalkdust and Limb By Limb liven up the second set, and Weekapaug tops things off with a fast finish and a Big Rock Ending. And the Water In The Sky, Drowned opener is an appropriate nod to the thunderstorm that affected the show the previous Summer.

This Mockingbird is almost unlistenable... it's clear that it had been a couple years since they last played it... and it's clear why they waited another two years to play it again! I'M LOOKING AT YOU TREY!