The O.G. Live Phish Series In Review - Vol. 6: 11/27/98 Worcester, MA

 Live Phish Vol. 6

98 11 27 Worcester, MA

Been about a week since I've had time to listen properly again. I've heard this show once or twice, last April for sure I remember. I don't remember much except for the insane Weekapaug.

Excited for this one!!


Set 1 -

Funky B - I love Funky B but at this point I've reached "saturation point", what with it being one of their most-played covers ever (and almost each one sounds the same!). Very nice one tonight though - oddly "chill" vibe. Love how present Mike is in the mix - where is Trey? Great as always, if you've heard one Funky B you've heard most of them. A great version but nothing noteworthy.

Ya Mar - Ooh! Great to have a double Mike opener!!! PLAY IT LEOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Still a bit too chill for my taste, but a rip roaring good time was had by all! It feels extran lengthier than usual (almost 11 minutes) and the guys make great use of the time. Page takes the bulk of the soloing for the first half and then Trey comes in with beautifully uplifting melodic leads for the back half. Great time around the 6:45 mark where you can clearly hear Mike trying to play along with Trey's soloing!!! Then things approach ambient Type II, , just about, for a solid minute or so near the end. Really terrific Ya Mar!!! Wowzers!

Carini - After the sunshine and daisies opening duo, the best thing we can get is a jump into the darkness! Love Trey trying not to laugh during the lyrics. He's totally going "god these lyrics are so stupid" in a good way Good version but pretty short and nothing even happens jam-wise. Not bad by any means but you expect SO much more from a Carini and this one just leaves you wanting!!!!

Runaway Jim - An excellent little Jim. Nothing you haven't heard before, but it's great to hear the guys just giving it a little bit extra that's hard to define. The last few minutes feature, in particular, exceptional piano pounding from Page and Fishman annihilating his cymbals. Trey is doing exactly what you expect. Not quite enough for me to highlight this, but this was still a great Jim!

Meat - Nothing special. I like Meat but this one does absolutely nothing for me tonight.

>Reba - Gotta say, the lightspeed segue into Reba is a blessing. The overly chill vibe tonight and nothing special versions of both Carini AND Jim had me kinda starting to, dare I say, lose interest! Terrific, A+ reading of the composed part of Reba!!! They friggin' NAILED the tough part for about 99 percent of it!!!! WOW!! Didn't expect that from 1998 Love the beginning of the jam - Fishman is doing interesting "drop out"/stop-start patterns to kick it off. Then Trey comes in ever so delicately like a ballerina tip toeing through a room full of set mousetraps! By 9 minutes, the Reba jam is in the typical "Inca Roads" territory we all know and love. Again, Mike is absolutely trying to solo along with Trey and the result is glorious!!! Like getting two solos instead of one!!! And good golly, the band is tight as F, even through a couple of unexpected stop-start moments!!!!! It's like they wrote and practiced this jam or something!!! At 10 minutes there is an incredible 20 second sequence where the guys all sync up on a repeating, stoccato motif, and seamlessly play together like one instrument. Again, as if they had rehearsed this or something!!! Also, Page on the piano is friggin' amazing....so gorgeous!!! Of course by 12:30 Trey and Page are both going bonkers, annihilating worlds. PEAK UPON PEAK UPON PEAK!!!! Take that, Mt. Everest!!!!! A literal 10/10 Reba. This should be at the top of everybody's go-to Reba list. THIS WAS ONE OF THE BEST REBA'S I'VE EVER HEARD. IT WAS PERFECTION FROM START TO FINISH. WE EVEN GET THE WHISTLE TO CLOSE!

Old Home Place - You don't follow up a Reba like that. Just about anything will fail to live up in it's wake! So Old Home Place is a good choice to cleanse the palate with a great bluegrass stomp that isn't either Nellie Kane or Ginseng Sullivan. And the playing is terrific - get it Page!!!!!!!!

Dogs Stole Things - Not my favorite song, but man, since that Reba, it's like the guys finally woke up!!! And by golly do they kill it! Great DST worth a listen!

Vultures - Only the third version of 1998, it's already sliding towards "slight rarity" status. Terrific to hear as always. Includes the "potato to the throat" line followed by stifled giggles from the band. Awesome Vultures! As expected, everybody just goes ham on their respective intruments, like one massive, full-band explosion, ala a good Split Open and Melt! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE EVERYWHERE!!! KILLER!!!!!!!

When The Circus Comes to Town - Very nice version but every one is the same. Heard one you've heard 'em all. See Funky B. Fine version and nice set placement!

Birds of a Feather - It's 1998, it's BOAF, it's freaking FIRE. It's exactly what you expect and it's GLORIOUS! Fantastic set closer!!



All in all, I was kinda disappointed by the set at first. It really felt "off" for a good while. Then Reba hit HARD and it was like the switch was flipped and from there on out the set became damn-near must hear! Basically, pretend the show begins with Reba and go from there.

Seriously, that was hands-down one of the best, most jaw droppingly outstanding Reba's of all time. Holy hell.

 

Well after 10 friggin' days I finally have time for set 2 of 11/27/98 Worcester
This will be a subpar review - I'm excited to listen but also slightly forcing myself to "just get it over with finally", so this is being played at home while changing my guitar strings and cleaning my room

11/27/98 Worcester, MA

Set 2

Buried Alive - A very STRANGE and atypical Buried Alive to open set two!!! It SCREAMS "1998" Phish! Trey is doing his "porno wah scratching" and the whole thing has a slightly slower, heavier, more MENACING vibe. Like Black Sabbath doing Buried Alive or something!! Lots of Trey doing his weirdo sound effects and string scrapings etc. The whole thing is only 3:37, but it sounds like a perfect "Halloween" version of BA or something! FANTASTIC!!!

Wipeout - Wtf?! They don't segue into it, but they start a random-ass Wipeout performance out of nowhere! Killer fun! "Ladies and gentlemen, JON FISHMAN!!!"

Chalkdust Torture - Immediately followed by the most perfectly placed CDT ever, right away Mike and Trey waste no time immediately inserting Wipeout quotes GALORE. Very funny and the crowd goes nuts! "Can I live while I'm young">Wipeout teases. So perfect. And then around 3:30 Fishman and Mike introduce a great reggae/NICU-style vamp out of nowhere and we launch into an impromptu, glorious, minute of "Mirror In The Bathroom"!!!!! THIS IS WHY I PHISH. THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!!! THIS IS BONKERS AND INCREDIBLE!!!! And then of course they launch right back into a ripping CDT guitar explosion section....Serioualy top-tier A+ CDT. One of the best "shorter" versions ever played. 8.5 minutes of glorious, weirdo FUN and insanity!!! Holy mother of crap....

>Dog Log - MOTHER FRIGGIN DOG LOG!!! WHAT?! WHY?! OUT OF NOWHERE?!?!??! Dog Log is just Dog Log, but that's one of the ultimate rarities so I can't NOT highlight it! On any other night, they would've gone into My Soul, so props to Trey for choosing DL instead, lol. Great piano from Trey! Sounds like "Sweet Home Chicago" from the Blues Brothers film during the jam section. AND THEN THEY RIP BACK INTO CDT TO CLOSE IT OUT LIKE OUT OF NOWHERE! DUDE!! WHAT?!?!??!?

>Sanity - ANOTHER MASSIVE RARITY!!! WHAT?!?!? WHAT IS HAPPENNING?!?!??! What is the deal with this song? It always comes out of nowhere and crushes. This one sounds like Heavy Metal Pink Floyd or something at times. Killer. "BOOOOMMMM!!!!! POOOOWWWWW!!!!" Hysterical and insane. Holy crap.

>Buffalo Bill - EXTREME RARITY THREEPEAT!!!! WTF?!?!?!

Mike's Song - Right away, the jam begins with the whale siren looper. Good golly miss molly listen to Mike absolute FUNK IT THE HELL UP! A few minutes in, Trey starts a second looper that gives the jam a very dark and late-night vibe. Organ stabs throughout with Trey just "riffing" with the occasional lead fill. Trey is soloing it up, but he's milking it, slowly building the heat, not just exploding right off the bat. The band follows suit and we get 10 glorious minutes of some of the best full-band jamming this side of *insert favorite versions here*. Of course the last few minutes explode into the kind of 12/6/97 fiery ridiculousness we know and love. It's a great payoff after some great building. Absolutely 10/10 outstanding Mike's Song

>I Am Hydrogen - Is Hydro. Is great. Lengthy version!!!! Terrific ambient segue out of MS into Hydro. You think it's gonna launch into Simple but instead they ride it out and slowly "dissolve" into Hydro. It's glorious.

>Weekapaug Groove - And of course we complete the holy tryptech with the greatest Weekapaug Groove of all time. GET IT LEO!!!! Holy hell, Page is going Bonkers Banana Sandwich on this sucker!!! After a terrific Type I jam of the Gods, we get another damn Wipeout tease/jam before returning to Paug proper. But then, right at 12 minutes, everything dies down!!! Somehow we go from Volcanin Eruption to smoldering ashes of Fukuoka 2000!!!! Wailing feedback looper in the background, spacey synths starting to sneak in, Trey doing his "backwards guitar" effects, Gordo shredding it up near the top of the neck, Fishman constantly changing up the beat, adding different percussion elements.....WELCOME TO TYPE II, MOTHER EFFERS!!! How the HELL did we get here?!?!?! Great moment at 14:30 where Trey and Page sync up, both doing some "whirly" playing in step with one another. Gordo is still exploring the upper reaches of his Modulus and Fishman is going tribal on us. At 15:17 the squiggles appear! By 16 minutes things have gotten DARK. Trey is noodling more than Jerry Garcia in a Ramen shop!!!!! SQUIGGLES!! SQUIGGLES EVERYWHERE!!!! Throughout all this, Page is carefully placing choice notes on the keys and piano, with Mike seemingly playing along with him. Then at 17 minutes Trey begins the BACKWARD SQUIGGLES!!! What in the holy hell is even happenning anymore?!?!? At 18 minutes Fishman reintroduces a more standard kind of drum patter and slowly begins leading us back to "proper" music. Page is plonking darkly on the piano Mike is laying it down thick, dropping heavy bombs. Trey is still in friggin' outer space La La Land. At 19 minutes, Page hits upon a major key chord/note that signals the "Weekapaug" sound to return. Fishman latches on and, while we don't get Paug, he definitely knows the direction we are heading for. By 20 minutes, things become extremely "sparse" and the jam dies a death with no return to Paug. THAT WAS MORE BALL-BUSTING THAN THE CLIFFORD BALL HARPUA!!!!!! Still, absolutely incredible MUST HEAR piece of music!! Definitely one of the coolest things I've ever heard and VERY unique sounding!!!!



>Run Like an Antelope - The lack of climax is forgivable as they choose a great song to lead us out of the darkness with!!! The major key country noodling of the intro jamming is like a breath of fresh air after the claustrophobic cluster-F of that Paug. That's not a knock on Paug but a complement to both! The "launch" occurs much sooner than I feel like many versions do. The ensuing jam before the song proper is very jazzy!!! I mean, you wouldn't really call it jazz but it has a swing to it! Funky and danceable in all the right ways. Very "chicka-chicka" on the guitar front like Steve Lukather has joined Phish for a few minutes. The guys jam it great for a good long while, slowly building. The first standout solo is from Page on piano right around 6 minutes in. But by 7 minutes we reach glorious "status quo" and build to a raging hot, volcanic eruption Antelope peak as expected. And it's friggin' glorious!!! AND THE SONG HASN'T EVEN REALLY STARTED YET!!!!! The volcano erupts until about 12:30 when things "die down" slightly into a funky/jazzy jam leading to "Rye Rye Rocco" etc. Surprisingly the song doesn't last much longer and comes to a conclusion around 15:30. Either way, what was here was out-frickin' standing. A+

Wading In the Velvet Sea - Bring the hate, people. Ha ha, you can't! This one is fantastic and gorgeous and exactly how a great Velvet sea should be!! A+!!!!

Golgi Apparatus - I often think the Junta songs sound "out of place" in 97-98 among all the funky material, but this Golgi fits perfect right here tonight!!!! After the emotional blunt force trauma of that impeccably impressive Velvet Sea, this is the "Suzy"-style party we all needed! Great version free of flubs and loaded with energy.

Wipout Reprise - OF COURSE!


All in all, set one had it's moments with Reba being the CLEAR winner by a mile, but ALL of set 2 is MANDATORY listening of the highest order!!! One of the absolutely best sets ever played, held together as if connected by some unbreakable thread. X Factor Magic from start to finish. A great gig but an INCREDIBLE set. Truly one of the best sets of all of 1.0!!!! Holy moly.....