11/25/98 Albany, new york, Pepsi Arena


Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 00:33:58 EDT
From: AgentFloyd@aol.com
To: dws@archive.phish.net
Subject: 11/25/98 Albany, new york, Pepsi Arena

        This was my first Phish show, so i was really excited!

Me and a couple of my friends woke up early and took a train to the city.
From there we got on a bus to albany.  we got to albany around two o
clock,
so we had a lot of time to hang out, meet some people, eat some goo
balls,and
party in the eight story parking garage next to the arena.  i happened to
stumble upon some phatty doses at about six o clock so i was set.  before
entering the arena i had a confrentation with a man size uno card.

set 1:  pyite,my soul,roggae,ac dc bag,life boy,david
bowie,sleep,driver,good
times bad times.

set 2:  2001->golgi apparatus,drowned->prince caspian, piper,yem, been
caught
stealin'->llama.

e:  something, guyute, free bird


        by the time i was in my seat i was definately trippin'.  my friend
was also halucinating on phatty fungus.
        i loved pyite as an opener, it had lots of energy, and i love how
phish mixes in the land lady.  my soul was also a great dancing song. and
then it was time to sit and chill while roggae was being played.  i love ac
dc bag so it was a real treat for my first show, and i was surprised to hear
life boy.  now, since ive been to more shows, i think bowie is my favorite
song to hear live.  i love how the end part keeps repeating itself and then
dying down and then coming back again.  i definately had to sit down for
sleep and driver but i was back up for good x bad x.
        at the break i tried going to the bathroom but i got completely lost.
 all i could see were arrows pionting up and down on the walls.  soon i
ended up in the bathroom and then back in my seat.
        i also loved hearing 2001 as an opener.  the lights were outstanding
and the sound of the arena was pretty good.  golgi had almost everybody up
and grooovin'.  i sat down and got lost in the lights during drownded and
caspian and piper.  yem was awesome.  included tramps and vocal jam which
took my mind for a spin.  i was cool to hear been caught stealin'. everytime
i hear phish do a cover i think its better than the original, most of the
time.  llama has probably the most energy of any phish song thats out there.
i went nuts!
        when they came back out i didnt know ''something'' but it was good.
what phish song is bad?  guyute was awesome and free bird blew my mind away.
i had never heard them do it and i was amazed.

        after the show was over i could not believe what had just happened.
then me and my buds had the worst wait of my whole life.  we had to wait in a
bus station for four hours for the bus back to the city.  it was not fun at
all.  but it was worth it.



Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 15:43:06 GMT From: BotchAlism Subject: Albany Review This was my seventh show. First in Albany. Set 1 1. Punch You In The Eye: This is a great show opener because it has tons of energy build up. This was a good version with the band enjoying stretching out the intro. 2. My Soul: My Soul is an all right tune in moderation but certainly wasn't one of my picks for this early in the night. It was completely average. 3. Roggae : I think that the third song of a show is very important. I love Roggae but I think this would worked better when we needed a break. This was a good version. The jam had great interplay but it seemed that during the verses it was a light sloppy groove wise. 4. AC/DC Bag: You got to love AC/DC Bag. This was counted off way to slow though so it was kind of killed early on. They picked it up though in the double time section of course. The outro jam was very intense and and peaked very hard but it seemed to me the band wasn't really grooving as tight as they have. Just a touch off. They raged so hard on it though I would still say it was a slightly above average performance. 5. Lifeboy: Ok if you're gonna do a ballad it's a nice choice to do a rare one and one of my personal favorites. This was well played and enjoyable but I don't think we really needed a slow tune in this placement. 6. David Bowie: I was expecting maze due to the mid set placement. Bowie was great. The composed section was tight and the jam was fantastic. When they started up almost everythin stopped except for Mike laying down a cool few measures solo. There was a point in the jam where they all kind of swiched from the minor chord to it's relative major so the jam had kind of a Hood sound instead of stock Bowie for a while. Then it was back to Bowie for a multi peaking jam before the normal bang your head ending. Highlight of the first set easy. 7. Sleep: jammer, ballad, jammer ballad. This was bad placement of a nice little tune that was over very very quick. 8. Driver: ditto 9.Good Times Bad Times: Very well done. A lot of fun. Page did the Plant high part very well. They got very intense with this one as well sounding alot like their jam on fire. This was a good energetic set closer to an uneven set. Overall a pretty average set yet the PYITE, Bowie and GTBT males me give it a 6. Set 2 1. Also Sprach Zarathustra: My favorite second set opener. This was an audio and visual treat. the fog and lights matched perfectly with the wet drippy funk that the band was playing. Trey was using his toggle switch alot for a onoff effect. 2. Golgi: Kind of rare now adays. Very energetic from band and audience alike. The crowds was probably more into this tune than any other except yem. 3. Drowned: I was listening to 12/31/95 on my way to the show and thought it would be nice to hear this. I think Mike sang this better tonight than any other version I've heard them do. His high parts were in tune were they are usualy flat. This had a long angry dissonant jam on the drowned theme. It sounded like Trey was using an ocatve down effect on his guitar. The jam began to slow down very very smoothly and it seemed like page was very willing to get type II switching to his funky boards but trey wasn't into it and started playing: 4. Prince Caspian: This was the same as it ever was same as it ever was. It was stock standard good. Nothing extra exciting. This wen right into 5. Piper: I love Piper. It is almost noe exsistent but there's something very moving about it. usually. The glow stick wars start up and the song goes to hell. Goodbye playting hello watching glowsticks, Goodbye listening hello throwing and cheering glowsticks. I beleive every band member was hit or had their equipment hit by Glowsticks. The song was very below average. instead an emotional peak it just kind of built because it had to. Stop the glowsticks they suck. They hurt the music. That's why I go not to drink puke and chuck goo balls. 6. YEM: It's always a treat to hear this. Great placement. Totally typically great YEM. Tramps. Fun. Great Vocal jam. You've heard it before though. it was a balst as always. 7. Been Caught Steelin: Trey told the tramp man not to bring them out again when he took them away. So we had Page do his Plant, Mike do his Townshend, and now Trey doing his Farrell. I was hoping we'd get to hear Fishman do his Marvin:) Good. 8. Llama: I though for sure that Been Caught Stealin would end the set but we get a bonus average Llama. Encore 1. Something: I think the band new that the first set had been a little lacking so they throw down a great encore. Something was very well played. The audience and the band were loving it. 2. Guyute: Cool another one. Smokin' Guyute a few flubs but they were on the relatively easy parts. Great emotional soaring performance. Trey's SOTG vocal effects are now live in concert too. 3. Freebird: and yet another accapella: Freebird cries everywhere. I was very psyched to hear this. Great stuff. The security guard right in fdron of the stage who had probably never even heard phish looked at them during this with a what the hell are these guys doing look on his face. Now all we need is That Smell Accapella. I'd give the second set and encore a 7.5 This is greatly helped by the fantastic 20 min. encore. 2001, Drowned, YEM all were highlights, Over all i'd give the show a 6.5 Great stuff in there. Probably mind blowing if it was your first show. These guys always deleiver though. They can always get to a level where they are kicking ass even if they aren't breaking new ground or playing best ever performances. Botc hAlism -------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 23:11:13 GMT From: Rurrats Subject: albany review (long?) 11/25/98 Pepsi Arena, Albany, NY I: Punch You In The Eye, My Soul, Roggae, AC/DC Bag, Lifeboy, David Bowie, Sleep, Driver, Good Times Bad Times II: 2001 > Golgi Apparatus, Drowned > Prince Caspian, Piper, You Enjoy Myself > Been Caught Stealin', Llama E: Something , Guyute , Freebird After being shut out in new haven and missing a ghost> halleys> tweezer trifecta I know I would have loved, I was hoping for some high energy phish tonight. The expected punch opener was solid as the crowd surrounding quickly got down to the business of getting down. Not the ten minute intro I continue to wait for, but certainly full of fluid grooves. A brief pause and then, my soul. No surprises here. Noticed most of the front floor was motionless as trey wailed away and wondered what thoughts run through his head in such situations. Thought the roggae that followed may have been the best I've heard. This song is definitely aching to fully open up and came close tonight. Really well paced mellow grooves that you can just let your body slip into. Heightened sense of anticipation as the phish contemplated the song to follow. Sick bags and I have taken to meeting on a regular basis at shows in the past year and I was looking for a little continuation of the burrowing urgency of this summer's va beach bag jam. Bass and drums were locked and this bag felt big from the beginning. Unlike the just mentioned va beach bag they did not dive head first into the darkness but rather allowed themselves to be sucked in by it. Sucking us along with it. This bag just continued to grow, roaring full throated at the frenzied masses of platform dancers. Page digging in and trey chasing after as bass and drums remained unflappable, flat out refusing to be denied. Full on body rocking action. The jam eventually slid into a quick sparer section that led to lifeboy. Not the greatest transition solely because the shift in momentum was a little hard for me to swallow, but smooth nonetheless. It seems to have been some time sing I last saw this one live and it gave me a moment to consider whether a lit cigarette was worth potential expulsion. Lasted a little longer than expected and received loud cheering at end, not to mention throughout. It felt like time for a bowie. The thought in my head as the intro began was that they were about to "kill bowie". In a good way. In the best of ways. The bag had been mere foreshadowing. They were about to wreck shit up and there was nothing we could do to stop them. In the end, not entirely true, but that was the general feeling vibrating the air. The intro was, in my fairly sobered mind, epic. Just great sound as I attempted to recall the intro to all songs on dark side. Very similar effects in the intro as those in the opening of the utah yem. In the end, a powerful bowie is what I'll call it. It seemed to miss a step at some point. The step to true immensity. But then again, we were still in the first set. Thought for sure that that would end it, but trey decided to step to the mike and get quiet with sleep and driver. Not much to say about those. Decent songs but as music, they will never take me to the points of self discovery and openness that say, a bag jam might. Anyway, rarely ones to end things on a quiet note before the break, I tried to fathom what they might close with. Good times, bad times was, to me, a sick call, and taken to a driving, pulsing level that left me speechless and smiling. It almost seems strange to me to rave about a good times, bad times but it is all I wanted to do at set end. Best ever. In retrospect, it seems as though (perhaps) trey felt the bowie fell a little short of his intentions and decided to slow it back down and then take another crack at ripping our heads off. If so, he succeeded. Setbreak: a frustratingly relentless security type decided to begin a night long stakeout of the platform we had sacrificed our seats for. Apparently a little more dancing going on than he was comfortable with. Anyway, break ended earlier than expected. And 2001 began. Solid but not the HUGEness that we might have hoped for. That we did hope for. Also, not the 2001 > twist I had hoped for but that's beside the point. Golgi continued the momentum and , like vegas, was really enjoyable. At this point, it became clear that trey was visibly excited about things in general. Drowned was the second great call of the night and was suh-moking. Great drowned that worked its way into the full band improvisation that is apparently being referred to as "ambient" due, I hope, out of respect for the sickass beauty of the went 4th set. No real spaciness however, just top notch playing from all four. As complex as it is simple. This eventually landed in the world of caspian. Not my favorite place in the world, but I was willing to visit, clinging to the small hope those final chords might not be a foregone conclusion. At this point I was thinking caspian yem to close the set but am now not sure why. Curiois as to how long that drowned was. Anyway, this was not to be as piper lifted itself from the silence caspian had left behind. Now, due to its triumphant glorious nature it's a bit hard for me to "critique" piper. I have loved this song since first hearing the lille 6-25 tape. The spring piper with the outro jam was like a dream become reality and the merriweather version had by body shivering with joy. The intro section here was so so sweet if memory serves. Other than that its hard to say. It was great. I and the crowd went apeshit. That the nature of the song isn't it? Now the YEM. Fuh-fuh-funky ass yem. Full on 97 start stop fizunk with the 98 thickness taboot. Words will not do justice to the full body high one has no choice but achieving when dancing to this yem. It was THAT good. Hear it. And the fact that been caught stealing followed was just ridiculous. Even the johnny on the spot gave up trying to restrain the mad energy that abounded. Third great call was followed by the fourth as trey screamed llama towards anyone in his general vicinity. Blistering energy that left the crowd simultaneously exhausted and aching for more. Encore: Something. Guyute. Both standard, well played. The crowd seemed to want something more. A natural reaction to the raising of standards as of late. Trey seemed to be dying to come up with something and, basically, looked like a kid at christmas minus the fact that most kids at christmas are not that wrecked. Freebird was, basically, a mess. Unintentionally hilarious. I'll pass on the overall comments but am curious as to yours. Post em. I'll see you at a biscuits show, Patrick ---------------- Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 07:58:25 GMT From: Jekat Subject: albany brief review hey well since i was just thinking that i reviewed all the other shows i saw this fall i guess i should try to do all the rest too..wasnt gonna do albany review but here goes... traffic was a nightmare. drive through the bronx was riduculous. so i was running real late and having visions of last years show where i got into the show just after the funky bitch 2001camel walk opener.. So I got into the parking garage at 8ish only to drive in circles and have to leave to find another garage cause it was full. i walked in to the ending notes to PYITE. Also had to stop to readjust my sock cause they were patting down ankles which sucked. My soul was next pretty good.. this song is ok if placed early in the set. roggae was pretty slow and hypnotic..i kinda like it but its very slow..lights are pretty good for this song, pretty mellow.. ACDC was next..crowd was real psyched everyone singin real loud...this was a pretty raging acdc..not like UIC which was all spaced out, this was like circa 95...real great stuff.. Lifeboy was pretty cool to hear again...the lyrics sorta disturb me cause they sing about god not sure why exactly...good standard version..Bowie next...spacey intro almost like the wheel sorta with trey doing some sort of effect then he started jamming what might have been a real song like vabeach 97..intro is long...rest of bowie was real good...just raging...sleep and driver were next..acoustic...i like driver, sleep i hafta hear again that was my first time hearing it...A majorly Trey led rockin Good Times Bad Times closed the set. set II opened with a nice 2001...not super funked out but solid..golgi was very interesting...ive never seen a crowd so into golgi...the crowd singing was so loud..Drowned next YES! i have never seen drown live before (60+shows) and really want to hear it ..real great version.. i always thought page sang this for some reason.. but apparently it's mike.. page was leading the jam here for a little while..great jam then trey started up his theme song... Caspian was real mellow..was expecting trey to go nuts like madison after the naked guy but it was real calm sorta slavelike..piper next.. basically what happened..as the song starts some people realize it's piper and yell.. also a few people throw glowsticks.. as more people start yelling cause they realize its piper, more glowsticks are thrown cause the people think they are cheering for the glowsticks...i was way up high rear section page side so i saw exactly what happened..thought it would be cool sorta like the nassau antelope glowwar but this was bad.. so many going onstage purposely..trey was in the middle of singing a line when he had to duck left for a second to avoid the incoming and missed the end of the line...good piper..ending not jammed out at all.. YEM..real good opening..maybe trying to top the '95 version trey? they played tweezer in newhaven like '95..bathtub gin at worcester anyone? very mike led jam to start..eventually leading into a people clapping then the band sorta goes with the beat sorta thing jam...pretty good but it seemed like the band wanted to escape the clapping, fishman changing the tempo a lil bit..ok vocal jam...seen a few that were very similar to it.. i prefer the more unique ones... they did that thing where one row of lights swings around the stage vertically doing circles... Been caught stealin was great..people not as into to it as they were UIC it seemed and no trampolines...LLama was a weird choice but it closed the set. maybe had somethin to do with the llama thing they did last year at albany both nights.Encore: Something...this was amazingly great..i totally know this song but didnt know what it was called so I didnt know this was the song they were covering..real great.. they seemed so psyched to be playin it.. page sang real nicely..lotsa beatles stuff lately eh=wmmgw, cry babycry...i bet aditl comes back soon or blackbird...Guyute..standard good stuff..Trey was totally bouncin off the walls while they were setting up for freebird... then they had a presong huddle so i thought they would do something new but freebird was great...crowd was noisy, yet much quieter than the uic crowd for freebird. great stuff...great show...well..off to worcester now...peace...... Lingering slowly melting away, jeff ------------ Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 08:30:44 -0500 From: willjune Subject: Albany rocked! On the way to the Knick, there were two minor 5 car accidents, about a mile apart(NYS Thruway)luckily this was only a short delay. As I'm driving some dude next to me is leaning out the window yelling "Got any extras?" I yelled back "No Dude sorry". AS usual there were so many ticketless at the show. The scene isn't to fun when all you hear are whiny heads screaming for their ticket. You try and talk to someone, but the noises of the ticketless get louder. When I saw peaceful heads just holding a finger up, it was relief from the yellers, especially ratty drunk wookie chicks. If I had any extras I would gladly give it to someone who's mellow and into the music. Anyone else sick of going to shows and hearing that cry? It would be nice if everyone could have a ticket, but thats not the case at most shows. Security was doing a thorough pat down on the way in, but after that they were very lax the wholeshow. It was like they know where sophisticated concert goers who know what were doing once we get their, we don't need their help, and for the most part we control ourselves. My seats were behind the stage, and I sat their for awhile, but decided to move to the upper section, direct center. Right when I found fun seats the lights went off, and the band came out. I could tell instantly it was going to be Punch by Trey's noodling, they built the intro to Punch for 5 minutes seeming to take their time. Getting a feel for things before they dove into the set. Punch was tight fast, got the crowd soaring, they segued into MY Soul which was unbelievable, Trey just exploded his solos, and they seemed to extend it, by several minutes.THey segued from their into Roggae which seemed kind of flat, and awkward. I was hoping to see this tune as well, but it didn't have that feel I get from SOTG. After a little discussion on stage Ac/Dc Bag came next, Trey seemed to take solo after solo, just ripping his heart out with every note the crowd going wild in response. The way they ended this tune has to be heard, they were buiding the climax, and it got to this quiet place where it just ended. I've never heard AC/DC end this way before. The band even seemed surprised. Lifeboy was sweet, and peaceful, quite the opposite of AC. After Lifeboy a spacey intro led to a rocking but short Bowie. It seemed to me that the band was grouping 3 songs together,The first 3 were connected the next three were separate, yet totally connected. THe last three were like a mini set. TWo of the three new tunes, Water has a cliched feel to it, though DRIVER is such a beautiful introspective song. I wouldn't be surprised if the next Album is all-acoustic. GTBT was sick, Phish are the greatest cover band that ever lived. THe litltle jams were so trippy, it didn't soung like ZEp anymore. Intermission hallway was like a train ride that stopped and started without any control, it completely swept you up. I loved it. At one point the lines of people I was in just stopped, another line of people moving in the opposite direction went cruising by us very fast we just watched them flow by like some surreal dream, everyone started laughing. Reminded me of that surreal scene in Amistad, when the two ships go by each other, one carrying slaves the other high society types. At one point I noticed I was at section 111, which was where I was headed so I got off the train. SET2- Sat behind the stage on Paige's side. 2001 opened, nice flow got everyone moving, even this conservative woman sitting next to me. Being behind the stage I could see the fog machines billowing out their fog engulfing the entire stage. CK's lights were enchanting on the fog. When Golgi started up the crowd went nutz. It was as if they had just busted out Destiny. I wasn't nearly as excited. THe crowd also was singing so loud, I don't have a clue what inspired everyone, but it seemed like everyone wanted a Golgi, and they got one. Drowned was excellent, I'm not a big Who fan, but I could see how psyched Trey and Paige were to be playing it, and they played it long and thick. Prince Caspian was next, and I felt lt was the only throw away tune all night. I would have been so pleased to hear The Wedge. Pc was so bland. I had a feeling Piper was next, and sure enough they slowly went into it, it took the crowd awhile to know what tune they were playing, once they did glow sticks started popping up everywhere, most of them landing near or on the stage. It was interesting to watch, but came nowhere near the war of 97. Piper was nice as always, but there was no jam. Yem followed and as much as I like this classic, it was standard, and short. Though of course extremely well played, just watching Fishman play his drums on this tune blew me away. HE is such a master, and always seems to be pumped full of energy.And CK's lights were right on the money. Been Caught Stealin by Jane's Addiction and LLama closed out the set. Both were enjoyable, Llama seemed to go by to fast. Encore: 3 songs- Something was absolutely stunning, Paige on vocals, I just stood with my jaw dropped, they sounded just like the Beatles, only better because its LIVE, and its Phish. Guyute was another stunner, beautifully played, so much feeling in their playing. Trey was so pumped when they finished he was bouncing up and down while the others stayed calm. A stage hand brought out a large mic, and I guessed with Thanksgiving an hour away they would do Freebird, and they did, much to the delight and amazement of the crowd. Good show with great moments for me I would recoomend that you try and see a set from behind the stage, and watch closely as they play their instruments, especially Fishman. He'a monster! Scoontar Show #38 ----------- ate: Sun, 29 Nov 1998 01:34:17 GMT From: Guyute25 Subject: *Albany Review* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <{{{{}}}}> Phish - Pepsi Arena, Albany, NY - 11.25.98 Sorry this review is late; I was busy yesterday and thanksgiving and didn't have access to a computer. Anyway, on to the review. We arrived on the lots at about ten to 7, and figured we should get into the venue. Even though we didn't stick around for long, I did see a lot of action in the cramped space outside the Arena, and also ran into some friends. We just wanted to get to our seats ... we found them - floor, directly left of Paul if you're facing the band on stage - and were settled. The show started at about ten after 8. Trey stepped up and started strumming that firmilar teasing lick that starts off AC/DC, Ghost ... you know. He hit it for a *really* long time and I was just about to collapse from anticipation when Punch You finally opened up. I kept thinking it was going to start! Anway, it *rocked* and was completely flawless as far I heard. The intro (before the "Hey!'s") also sounded very stretched out. An excellent choice to open the show. My Soul's faint opening notes cranked out ... I was surprised by this Punch/Soul opening combo as both were played last year at 12/13 Albany. Not much to say about this one although I am not one of the fans who constantly disses this song; I actually enjoyed it throughout. Roggae appeared next and the placement of this one seemed a tad bit odd if you ask me. It was groovy, though, and I am starting to like it more and more. AC/DC Bag gave the set the real kick that it needed. It started off pretty slow, and once the jam set in they diddled around in the funk for a little while, not really seeming to know where they were going. Soon, though, the jam cranked up into Machine Gun Trey!! It wasn't extremely long but was your rocking, classic Bag. Lifeboy provided the needed breather; and although it was a rarity, I would have rather heard Dirt. This one seemed to go on for a while and every time I thought it would stop it started up again. David Bowie ... ahhh. Yeah. This was great - the opening segment was lots of fun, and the jam started off fairly spacey and then just ripped. Trey was highlighted again - he was _on_ the whole night. The Sleep / Driver segment was sort of blah for me ... I wanted to hear the new songs sometime but preferably on tape. They didn't really do much for me at all. GTBT was a strange move to close the first set, as it closed the first set at the last albany show, but was still classic GTBT. It rocked, to say the least. Overall, the first set seemed very rock/guitar oriented ( My Soul, Bag, Bowie, GTBT). It unfortunately, at times, seemed to suffer from a lack of direction. Not at all bad, but a little weird at times. A mixed bag for me. My highlights were definitely AC/DC Bag and Bowie. Setbreak was shorter than I expected - someone said they clocked it at about 35 or so minutes. The second set opened with 2001, and they started to get funky here. Some long, drawn out 2001's bore me as I am sick of the same old delay loops, but this one worked. I liked it a lot - the peaks were great. And the lights, well ... I'll just stick with that quote "An ASZ without the lights is like a grilled cheese sandwich without the cheese." Right on to whoever said that. Golgi slam - segued, if you could call it that, off of the end of Also Sprach. For some reason, the crowd went absolutely _buck wild_. I mean it; they didn't cheer louder for any song that night than they did for Golgi. And they cheered pretty loud. The whole place sang along, especially during the "ticket stub" lines, which was cool. Not too badly flubbed, and nice. Now we were entering that high real-estate space in the middle of the second set. Drowned came out and roared - they nailed this one. The jam was awesome, with the whole band doing great work, especially Trey, who was putting out some sick riffs. This was the hose of the show for me. Golden Hose. My heart sank as Caspian segued out of Drowned (btw, this was the only *true* segue of the show. It disappointed me to see how the band is sort of holding back in this aspect, as opposed to the risky moves they took in Fall 97, morphing their way from tune to tune). I was hoping for a rocking Caspian - like I heard of from the Fillmore show back in October, but this was just your standard Caspian. I was delighted to hear Piper next. The band did a great job with this one musically; the glowsticks came out here. It sort of pissed me off to have to be looking all around, trying to dodge the hard pieces of plastic, instead of concentrating on the music. The band got hit a number of times. Piper ended with no jam, sadly. YEM, my call of the night! I was ecstatic. The opening segment was clearly flubbed a few times. "Wahhhhhhhh Boy!" was tons of fun, as were the tramps. I don't remember too much about the jam except that it was very nice and not too long. The vocal jam was _awesome_ and very tripped out with Kuroda's actions. Been Caught Stealing and Llama were two nice additions to a set that I was sure would end with YEM. btw, if I remember correctly, the band didn't say one word to the audience the entire show. No "we'll be back in 15 minutes," no, "thanks for a good show." Zip. The encores were great - Something, Guyute and Freebird. Guyute was pretty much flawless as I heard and Freebird is probably the funniest thing I have ever heard Phish produce. To see it was completely hilarious. Trey was pulling a great air guitar!!! Overall, I had a great time at this show. The first set was about 80 minutes, and the second set / encore was 95 minutes or something like that. My highlights were AC/DC Bag, Bowie, Drowned, YEM and the encores. They were also fairly generous length-wise which was cool. The only real downers for me were Caspian, glowsticks, and the slight loss of direction from the first set. I would reccomend aquiring this on tape and can't wait to hear it myself ( p.s. - shameless grovel ;-). Alec "Have a good time, and don't do anything I wouldn't do, or else you'll be riding on the BACK OF THE WORM!!!!" - Trey, 7/21/97 11/25/98 - Pepsi Arena, Albany, NY Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1998 00:04:55 EST From: TexRabbit@aol.com To: dws@protos.lifesci.ucla.edu Subject: FALL98_REVIEW 11/25/98 Pepsi Arena, While getting psyched for next weeks run I thought i'd submit a review for the only show I got to see this fall. After last years Pepsi Shows (especially 12/13) I was very excited and new this would be a great show. The anticipation was high amongst me and my friends as we tried to figure out what we wanted to hear the most. I was also excited because it was my friend Josh's first show. Then the lights dimmed and out came the boys. PYITE-Josh had called this one and it was great to hear them open with despite being a repeat from last years shows. The Landlady parts were great and it seemed like the reprises at the end went on forever, which was ok with me. My Soul-Was kind of dissapointed to hear this one. It wasnt as strong as last years at the Pepsi but it wasnt drawn out either. Roggae-I was glad to hear this one and I had been hoping to hear it. Its one of my favorite songs off Ghost and this version I thought was done pretty well. Trey seemed very peaceful in the end of the jam and seemed like he would be content playing it forever. AC/DC- I was really glad to hear this one and it got the crowd moving!! The jam was great and lasted quite a while. An excellent bag!! Lifeboy-I wasnt expecting this one at all and I don't think anybody was. It was nice to hear and I thought I heard some Rift teases before the last verse but nobody else seemed to hear them. Guess i'll have to listen to the tapes to see whether or not I was hearing things. Bowie-Good to hear but Bowie has never been one to really get me going like it does for most. I much rather would've heard Divided Sky. Sleep & Driver-I enjoyed Driver much more than Sleep. They seemed like good tunes but I was in the mood to rock out. GTBT-And thus I did. An excellent GTBT. Better than last years. The jam was incredible but I new it would end the set and it did. Overall- A typical first set, with more jamming than usual. Probably about a 7. Highpoints IMO were PYITE and AC/DC. The only real low point was My Soul. Set II 2001-I loved every minute of this one. The lights and fog for this were great two. I expected the boys to really let this set out in the open but going into GOlgi that really didnt happen as early as I would've liked. Golgi-Typical Golgi, nice to hear but not a lot of jamming. Drowned- I had totally forgotten about this one before the show and wasnt expecting it at all. But this version was extremely tight and the jam was the best of the night in my opinion. Josh went nuts during this one which helped me to enjoy it even more. Caspian-A letdown after such a great jam but it was good to catch a breath too. Piper-Always great to hear, and the glowstick war was great too. Some of the band members got pegged but they kept the beat pumping. YEM-I was expecting this one and it was great to hear. Mike and Trey bought out the tramps and seemed to be having fun. A bit shorter than most YEM's but the light show for the vocal jam blew my mind. BCS-This one really got the crowd going and it was a fun song to hear. Llama-Dissapointing after such a great BCS. This version seemed sloppy too. Not a great close. Overall- This set I enjoyed quite a bit. I give it a 8.5. Highpoints were Drowned and BCS. Lowpoints were Caspian and Llama. Encore Something-After keeping up with the nightly setlists I wanted to see how Phish handled this one. In fact they handled it very well. Trey sounded great playing Harrison and Page sang it very well. An excellent cover. Guyute-This one didnt really get me going as its growing more common than it used to be, but it was good to hear nonetheless. Freebird-Hadnt heard the way they did this one before and I laughed my ass off. I loved every minute of it and it was a great closer I think. Overall- A pretty solid show. I dont think it was as good as last years 12/13 show but good nonetheless. I give it an 8. Peace, Seth Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 04:34:43 -0500 From: Jeffrey Pollock JLPOLLOC@mailbox.syr.edu Reply-To: jlpolloc@syr.edu To: dws@protos.lifesci.ucla.edu Subject: FALL98_REVIEW 11/25/98 Pepsi (KNICK) Arena, Albany, NY I. PYITE, My Soul, Roggae, AC/DC Bag, Lifeboy, Bowie, Sleep, Driver, GTBT II. 2001 Golgi, Drowned Caspian, Piper, YEMBeen Caught Stealin', Llama E. Something, Guyute, Freebird. This show was the first that I've seen since the Lemonwheel due to that adult stuff like jobs and college educations. I had been keeping myself updated on what the boys had been up to leading up to this showso I knew that I was in for a good time. One thing that I noticed in Albany was that the security was real tight and there were a ton of young "phans" However, this did little to deter my enjoyment of seeing Phish in my own backyard. PYITE was a great opener that got things going right away. I recognized the opening licks by Trey that is similar with recent versions of this song. It was a slight suprise since they played it last year in Albany, but this fact would be repeated throughout the show. Still, who could complain with this as an opener? My Soul brought everyone back to earth. It was the standard version, and again was a repeat from 97. Roggae is probably my favorite new tune of the batch. I heard the versions from Vernon and Lemonwheel but I thought this one topped them both. The little jam at the end is what makes this song and has great possiblities of going places. By now I was begging for a pick me up, and... AC/DC Bag did just that. This picked up where Punch you left off. This was a serious version, as Mike and Fish took centerstage on this one. The fifth member, Chris also did his part as the lightshow was incredible. It didn't jam out like I had hoped, but a bag is a bag, nonetheless. Lifeboy gave us a chance to catch a breath. It was debut for me, and was cool to see. A brief pause and then Fish started tapping that hi hat, and the boys backed him with some spacey shit that could only mean Maze or Bowie. I was hoping for a Bowie, and boy did I one. One of the best versions that I have heard aside from 12/29/97. This featured some intense jamming that was without a doubt the highlight of the 1st set. I could have sworn that I heard Weekapaugh teases, but no one around me seemed to notice. A stellar version that brought smiles to the sold out crowd. I knew that there was a chance that I'd see some acoustic, since it was popping up regularly this fall. It was nice to see them do Sleepand then Driver, but I could have done without it. Still, I could not complain since I thought the set was over with Bowie. I knew that they wouldn't end it with an acoustic song so it meant at least one more. GTBT was a great way to end this set. A rocking tune that was also a repeat from the year before, but it was a much better version. Page's "I know what it means to be alone" always gets a loud cheer from the crowd. Some nice work from Trey at the end led us to the setbreak very content. -Overall it was a good first set. Personal highlights were the PYITE opener, Roggae, AC/DC and Bowie. Personal low was getting told by a group of 14 year olds that we were in their seats. Oh well, I didn't need them once the lights went out. 2001 got things going for the last set before Worcester, and I hoped they wouldn't save everything for that upcoming weekend. It was another repeat from last year, but like PYITE, it didn't matter. I could seesongs like these 20 shows in a row and not have a bad thing to say. I don't remember anything special, but a great way to open the set. I figured that this would go into something, but the last thing I expected was... Golgi Apparatus. I was excited to hear this. It's one of my old time favorites that led to like this band. Though Golgi's usually don't lead to mindblowing jams, it's a song that's short and sweet and picks up the crowd. Good choice in my opinion. An even better choice was Drowned. This was highly unexpected and only increased the energy that 2001Golgi had built up. I felt fortunate to have caught this, as it is not played as much as it should.I was beginning to this we were in for a real treat until the first chords of Caspian were heard. Not one of my favorites, especially since it was another repeat. I did catch myself groovin a little to the solo by Trey, But all in all I was eager for the next song. Piper slowly emerged, and if memory serves correctly this version took longer to finally build up to its fast pace. While it was another repeat, it is another one of my new favs. Still have no idea what they sing in the chorus, but it doesn't matter. YEM came next, and had most of hoping they would try and top that epic 95 version. Though that may have been asking a little much, this was well played. I have noticed that recent versions of this song have been much shorter, and this was no exception. Though short, it featured some nice work by Chris and a very entertaining vocal jam at the end. They brought this into... Been Caught Stealin.' In a year in which Phish has focused on its variety of covers( Terrapin Station, Ramble On, Gettin' Jiggy... and of course Dark Side, Why Not BCS? I didn't really pay attention if they made any major flubs, I was too busy smiling at the fact that they were playing Janes. I thought this was a real treat and thought it was encore time, but... They decided to play Llama. This confused me, due to the placement and the fact that it was another 97 repeat. It was pretty sloppily played, I would have been happy if they had ended it with BCS. E. Something is a slow Beatles tune. I don't really remember much about it. I was psyched to hear the opening to Guyute, always a crowd favorite. The band has aknowledged this by recording it and playing more these days. It seemed like a standard version, but still good to hear. However, they would have to pull off something huge to top the Guyute/ Antelope encore from last year. Then they brought out the accapella mikes to the front which kind of dissapointed me. I'll take an instrumental tune over any accapella any day. Unless that song would happen to be FREEBIRD. A huge suprise, even though it had shown up on a few recent setlists. The band did laugh throughout, but if they were having fun then I definitelty was. The ending vocal section sent us all into the streets of Albany with a serious case of premagrin. * For the show, personal highlights were PYITE, Bag and Bowie in the 1st, and 2001Golgi, Drowned, and Been Caught Stealin' and Freebird in the 2nd and Encore. Hopefully I'll see you at MSG. -- JLP Date: Tue, 1 Dec 1998 08:00:44 -0600 From: "Gallant, Pat" Pat.Gallant@westgroup.com To: "'dws@protos.lifesci.ucla.edu'" < <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <> <>< "It's so stupdendous <> <>