4/2/98 Uniondale
I've actually heard this show once before as a new fan checking out
highly recommended gigs, but remember nothing about it, so this might as
well be my real first listen 
Set 1 -
Tube - Immediately, like, within seconds, this is funkier than
every single 3.0 version I've ever heard. How do they do that, haha. And
that friggin Clavinet (what else is it?) solo from Page around 2
minutes in is just nasty!! I'm talkin' 1970's porno
nasty!!! Dang! 4 minutes in now and the whale siren has begun. Page has
shifted back to piano and Trey slides on into the jam. Things are
getting classier now, haha. 6 minutes now and things are edging
themselves towards Type II before Trey breaks out his wah pedal and
returns us to 70's Porno Funk Town. And back into a proper Tube jam we
go. Jeez....how the eff did they do this....A+++++ 10/10 TUBE!!! 
My Mind's Got a Mind of It's Own - In no proper world should we be able
to go from funk supremacy to bluegrass lunacy like nothing, yet here we
are. Since I'm sure I'll ending highlighting the rest of this show, I'll
make this the sacrifical lamb for the review gods. Great version. Every
sounds great. Etc Etc 
The Sloth - A little unsure sounding tonight. Just a very nice little Sloth. Always welcome but nothing special.
NICU - Ah yes, here we go. Great as always but again didn't feel that special.
Stash - What the hell is going on?! This is some black-hole Carini wormhole stuff. Or Dark Star, Miami 1989 stuff, if you prefer The song slowly just dissolves into a gooey, ragey, atonal, abstract mess of noise and insanity. What. AND WE ARE ONLY HALFWAY DONE! It's
10 minutes in and at any second I'm expecting them to launch into
BBFCFM - let's put it like that! By 12 minutes we are heading back into
demented Stash territory again, but....how do you begin to describe
this?! It's like Trey has taken his wah pedal and strangled it around
the throat, making it fight for life. Picture a literal aural struggle
between a man and his pedal. Yo, this is disgusting. But then somehow at
13 minutes we transition into some late-3.0 bliss ambience outta
nowhere. Ok, I guess, lol. Some really, really nice jamming evolves out
of this. Very mellow but still rhythmic and dynamic. Reminiscent of
Theme From the Bottom or a jam that could build into a Free, perhaps.
But the jam ends up slowly dying a beautiful death. I'm pretty tired today - this is a very restrained review of this from yours truly. This was definitely an all-timer.
>Horn - Didn't see that segue comin'!! Freaking AWESOME when Trey kicks in his distortion and they just SLAM into it like it's Free or something. WHAT GIVES?! IVE NEVER HEARD A HORN ROCK LIKE THIS?!?!?! IM LITERALLY HEADBANGING TO HORN. WHAT. From there it goes to normal Horn territory, but that opening minute or two was sick!!! Really, really, awesome Horn!!!!
Waste - Not crazy about the set placement, but my favorite Phish
ballad (and maybe top 5 favorite P song!) is ALWAYS welcome no matter
where it is! Especially if it's got that 1972 Rolling Stones vibe like tonight. Other than Trey SHREDDING inappropriately, haha, this sounds like a cousin of Loving Cup tonight. GREAT!
>Chalkdust Torture - EVEN BETTER - HOLD ON TO YOUR FREAKING SEAT
HOLY CRAP! SHOT OUT OF THE GATE LIKE A BULLET FROM A GUN!!! GET YOUR
SEATBELTS ON, IMPACT IS IMMINENT!!!! From that Horn to Waste and then BAM into this, I feel like I just took a sucker punch to the face out of nowhere! Also, fastest friggin' CDT I've ever heard. Did they need the bathroom or something? As expected, Trey wastes (see what I did there?
) zero time getting down to business. As with Stash, this is "Guitar
Mutilation 2.0". I don't know whether to be terrified or to headbang!!!
And with that....set 1 comes to a conclusion.
My brain has turned to mush. Please send help!
This set in a nutshell:
https://i.imgur.com/CwQOLex.mp4
Ok, let me put my dislocated jaw and shattered face bones back together after that kick in the face that was set 1.
First thing to note - my favorite song opens the set. That's always good
- and the only song I'm not a fan of is Sleeping Monkey. This all bodes
very well for me.
Here we go...
Punch You In the Eye - It's great. Nothing to say. Didn't hit me too hard. Just a fine PYITE.
Simple - Absolutely beautiful. It doesn't end up going anywhere unexpected, but it's just simply gorgeous.
>Birds of a Feather - "Guitar Mutilation, Vol. 3". 'Nuff said. It's
BOAF. It's Phish 1.0. For a debut rendition, they annihilated it. Didn't
really impress me that much if you can believe it, but it was still hot
as hell!
Wolfman's Brother - Your standard, perfect Wolfman for the first 7
minutes. Just perfection. Then for the final few they start heading for
jam land, weaving in and out of Type II, teasing us whether they are
going to take it further or not. Absolutely fantastic version though!!!
>Sneaking Sally - Ok, forgoing a jam to segue perfectly into
Sally is allowed. Around 4 minutes the Wolfman's-Jam-That-Didn't-Happen
appears and we are off to the races. By 8 minutes, things are still
funky, but we are slowly creeping towards ambience. Thankfully we don't
drift into the ether, but things get silky smooth and we are just riding the chill train to chill town. Fantastic.
>Frankie Says - They were heading towards it, but Trey decided to cut to the chase and ripcord into Frankie. I love this song and this is a great version. Great stuff!
Twist - Starts off with the usual rocking bit. By 7 minutes
things get decidedly more uptempo, yet at the same time also get more
chill. Trey doing some cool rhythmic stuff with Page doing synth/key
washes beneath him. We are entering The Zone! By 10 minutes we've
dissolved into Type II Land with Trey doing ambient note sustains on top
of Page's synth washes and the uptempo rhythm set by Cactus and
Fishman. Trey busts out his wah pedal to do so "porno scratching". This
remains the sound and style for several minutes until around 14 in when
the blissful synths turn into darker storm clouds of impending doom!
This just went from "ooh, floating on a cloud" to "oh crap, turbulence
up ahead!!!". Extremely freaking cool jam. 18 minutes in and it sounds
like we are heading straight into outer-friggin' space - surely this
will result in an epic 2001!!!
>Sleeping Monkey - ....alas it is not to be....WELL KILLING THAT TWIST FOR SLEEPING MONKEY WAS A FREAKING SIN!!!!!!!!
Rocky Top - YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Guyuute - I freaking love Guyuute. In an encore slot?? Hmmm. All
in all it's a keeper though and actually works in a triumphant finale
kind of way. Great version! Extra tight! Good stuff!!
All in all, set 1 blew-my-friggin'-mind. Set 2 left me
underwhelmed. The Wolf>Sally>Frankie was great, but nothing too
special. The only REAL MUST-HEAR for me in set 2 was the absolutely
out-there Twist. THAT was nuts!!!!!
Still, totally glad to have had a proper listen finally and the other 3 shows are coming your way, guys
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