Island Tour night 2!
Now this show looks like a mother-f'er!!!
Set 1
Mikes Song - Right out the gate with the classics. Nicely relaxed
tempo on this one - not the uptempo speedster's of yesteryear or days
yet to come. The jam comes immediately, and it's very mellow in a
wonderful way. This is what a studio version of Mike's Song would sound
like if released on The Story of the Ghost - let's put it like that.
Very, very, VERY smooooootttthhhhhh. This is how things go until about
9:30 when the "B" lick kicks in and we head for darker waters. The bass
starts a-rumblin' and we are drifting in those not-so-tranquil waters.
Trey turns on his octaver and starts to solo it up, Fishman and the boys
going nuts behind him. No synth washes here - just dark fire burning!!
With every passing measure, Trey's playing gets more and more demented -
he's just ripping it up like it's Summer '99 and everyone's probably
high as a kite, lol. 13 minutes in and the whale siren is triggered.
Only Trey could make such mindless noodling this awesome. 
The song comes to a weirdly calm-yet-ambient finale leading us into.....
>The Old Home Place - How do you go from that ambient Type II into
friggin' TOHP?!?! Only Phish, am I right? And it's great! But, just,
like....why?! BECAUSE PHISH THAT'S WHY!
>Weekapaug Groove - And like a train without any brakes, as soon as TOHP finishes, Fishman just launches onward into the WG beat. Perfect! And we still have 16 minutes to go!!! 5
minutes in and we are in the typical Rage Zone. Fishman is really going
hard on this sucker. But then suddenly Page busts out some obscenely
disgusting keyboard sounds - you'll know it when you hear it!!! - relegating
everyone else to being his backing band. At 6 minutes Trey introduces
some really pretty chord pattern (is this some tease of something??) for
a bit and the jam gets very dynamic. Raging energy, but they are
whispering it in your ear for now - porno wah and all! THIS IS FANTASTIC!!! Oh yes, busting out that cowbell!! Really great moment at 8:20 when Fishman just slams
on the brakes and Trey keeps going with his wah. This leads to a
latin-flavored rhythm coming out and the jam takes on a new tone.
Freaking sick. ALL HAIL THE PORNO WAH! I'm sorry what else
do you want me to say?! Fishman doing the samba (or something), Page on
the funky keys, Cactus bubbling under, and "Crosseyed and
Painless"-style vocal jamming. I DONT KNOW WHAT THIS IS ANYMORE AND ITS INCREDIBLE! By 11:05 we are in Santana Land (or whatever). AND
THEN AT 12:21 SOME HOW WE TRANSITION PERFECTLY BACK INTO WEEKAPAUG
PROPER AND ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD. THIS IS FREAKING INCREDIBLE!
THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST JAMS IVE EVER HEARD!!! THIS IS MANDATORY
LISTENING FOR EVERYBODY!!! WHAT IS GOING ON!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY WHOLE LIFE
HAS BEEN A LIE!!!!!! MAGIC EXISTS AND ITS NAME IS ISLAND TOUR WEEKAPAUG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Train Song - Thank christ on a cracker for
this...I'm just thankful to get a breather. Holy freaking crap. Oh yea,
Train Song is pretty good as usual. 
Billy Breathes - You might think "oh, man, 2 ballads in a row?!",
but Train Song merely felt like a little transition piece than anything
proper, ala The Old Home Place. Billy Breathes is fantastic as always -
their attempted harmonies...
It's a song I often forget about until I hear it again and then I go
"this song is really good!". Great set placement - really loving Trey's
watery Leslie tone on this. Can't forget the beautiful piano either. All
in all, just excellent!
Beauty of My Dreams - Get it Leo! Harmonies on point! Surprisingly excellent!!!!
Dogs Stole Things - Never my favorite song. I'm fine never
hearing it ever again. That being said it's a fine version and it
actually fits the flow of the set very well! I was expecting this
section of the set to be a derailment, but it's all been very smooth!!
Great Page solo on the organ on this. And then of course Trey shows up
and just annihilates with his soloing
Reba - Oh yes, my 2nd favorite Phish song that I am ALWAYS down for. 
I still can't sing the damn lyrics though - how do they sing them so quickly....
Ooh, Trey kinda sloppy on the composed section to begin with but he
pulls it together. Most of the composed section is good until around 5
minutes in when Trey just completely drops the ball for a full minute or
so. OOF! But that's ok, because into the solo we go!
And, as expected, Trey completely destroys worlds. Inca Roads in
an alternate universe. Frank would be proud. I don't have the attention
span to narrate this BEAST. Just sit back, let it envelop you and then
drift off into blissful heavens of the likes only a '98 Reba can bring
you!!!! A+++++++++++++++++++++++++
My Soul - Oddly enough, while I have no time for DST, I can never
get enough of the annoyingly-catchy My Soul. Love this stupid little
ditty. It's always the same, it always rocks, it always delivers....if
Dogs Stole Things was good enough to get highlighted tonight, then
goshdarnit I'm highlighting this sucker too. Excellent party-rock closer
to one of the most incredible sets of music I've ever heard.
All in all....yea the reviews don't lie!! THIS SET WAS ABSOLUTELY
OUTSTANDING!! The Mike's>TOHP>Weekapaug was beyond insane (Even
for 1.0!!!), the "come down" songs following that were all performed
excellently with extra mustard, and the Reba was 10/10 magical beauty.
And we still have another set to go. Holy crap.
Set 2
Roses are Free - Ok! A 27 minute, all-time-legendary beast I get to experience for the very first time right now!
To begin with, the actual song is a red-hot rendition just oozing with
all the strength and heat of a good Free! Really, really, REALLY
powerful version of the song!!! See Horn from 4/2/98. Going by the
LivePhish release and "separate" jam track, the jam begins out of Roses
as a pounding hard rock smasher, ala BBFCFM or Free. This goes for
several rocking minutes until about 3 minutes in they stumble back into
the funk. Fishman and Cactus are keeping the intensity high while Trey
and Page are providing textural support with the keys and wah pedal.
Cactus pretty much gets a solo spot for a minute or two, actually. The
guys start tossing in some "woo woo" vocal jamming and we are into 70's
Porno Funk Paradise once more!!! This is really Full Band playing at
it's finest!!! This is INSANE!!!! They rage onwards like this
until about 8 minutes in when the mood shifts and things start getting
more chill. Late-night funk jamming now. Shades of '99, ya dig? In come
the synths!! Porno wah still raging, Fishman keeping the cymbals in
check throughout. By 12 minutes Trey starts to play some more melodic
passages and chordy stuff, causing yet another shift. Page picks up on
this and him and Trey share a cool back-and-forth for a bit. We are slooooowwwwwlllllyyyyy
drifting towards dreamland, it feels like. Sick. Throughout this there
is a weird hissing noise for a bit. Not sure if its a sound issue or
Trey signaled some loop. Lasts about a minute. Anywho, by 14 minutes the
funk is mostly gone are we still slowly moving further and further away
from Earth. But things are getting darker and darker - heading away
from the bliss and towards some gray skies!!! Trey's playing gets more
"random", the beat falters at times....but throughout Page has been
playing some beautiful piano work giving a great contrast to the brewing
darkness. The budding storm cloud thankfully recedes and we emerge on
the other side in Blissville. Page, Trey and Mike all attempting to play
together melodically. Awesome stuff!!!! I guess "slowly" is the
word of the night, as they are taking their friggin' time moving from
section to section in this jam. Bear with me overusing that word!!! From
here, by 18 minutes, things start to slowly (!!!) build again towards
the next climax. Considering I can look at the setlist, you can hear the
upcoming Piper coming from a mile away, though at this point they also
could've easily (and awesomely!) steered straight into a Free if they
wanted to and noone would be the wiser! By 20 minutes Page and Trey seem
to be messing around some arabic sounding scales, with Trey absolutely
going MENTAL just tearing it up all guitar-in-a-blender-like. The beat is gone, the piano is a splattering of stray notes, and feedback is blasting from Trey's amps!!! MELTDOWN! And then BAM into Free, right? NO!
Things are swirling mess of sound and feedback and ambience. Very
unusual!!! And would you believe it the jam actually comes to a proper
close!!!!
Ok, I know that was lacking ALL CAPS for you trainspotters out
there, but that was a journey. I tried not to defile the beautiful
majesty and insanity of that magnificent piece of music!!!
>Piper - Again, SLOWLY, the band starts to piece
together the Piper sequence from the ashes of that monster Roses. This
might be the slowest Piper build I've heard yet and it's genuinely a
thing of beauty!!!! Seriously, this opening section is just downright awesome tonight. I mean, crap, it takes a full three minutes of buildup before they are even approaching "normal" speed!!! Gah, Page's piano is just hitting all the right spots tonight - it cuts through the mix so well....4:03 and the vocals begin!!! And for the next 3 minutes we get the usual 1.0 Piper explosion you expect. Then SUDDENLY at 7 minutes they shift gear so FAST (There had to a preplanned cue, no?) and go into a much more calm area. Huh? How did we get here?! According to .NET, the jam on this is based on the coda of early versions of Piper. Let's go with that, shall we? Just lovely! ArouCarnd
9 minutes in Trey introduces some loops, giving some Brian May-esque
harmony sound to things. Cactus and Fishman latch onto a rhythm together
(is this the aforementioned coda?) and we get an extremely weird (but incredibly cool!!!!)
jam that just builds and builds out of the marching drum beat. By 12
minutes in, Fishman is still laying waste to his drums, and Trey
introduces some scary feedback squalls into the mix. Page
jumps on the piano and throws in some minor key action to solidify this
change in direction. From the most beautiful bliss to some
anxiety-inducing "Cave Jamming" (as I'm now coining it!), this is among
the most incredible group improv I've ever heard the boys lay down. This
is mandatory listening! This should be taught in schools and to
everyone who dare to call themselves a Phan! THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!
FREAKING HECK YES THIS IS TERRIFYING AND BEAUTIFUL AND ALL KINDS OF
INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, this 4/3/98 Roses>Piper is MANDATORY listening for everyone! If you haven't heard this 43 minutes of insanity THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE?!?!?!?
>Loving Cup - So that jam ended
with Page doodling on the piano, and good lord if you wanna talk about
greatest segues ever....this was one of them!!! Sent chills down my arms
when he launched into the piano lick for LC. And
holy crap what a Loving Cup it is!!! A+ It's ALWAYS great but this one
DEFINITELY has that extra x factor mustard sauce going on. It's just
stupendously perfect and strong!!!!!!!!
Run Like an Antelope - "Don't let Carini get you!" Don't know what the banter in the intro is about but it's funny. Ok. You narrate this one - I have no words.
WORLD DESTRUCTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then into a weirdo funky reggae jam. What.
Carini - Wacky short Carini with botched
vocals and a whole lot of fun. Nothing special and kinda unexpected.
Also, is Trey playing the riff in the wrong key??!!
Halley's Comet - See Carini. Fun, expected and great as always.
Tweeprise - Oddball inclusion to end an absolutely outstanding show.
All in all...yea, just look at the review.
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