07-31-98 Polaris Amphitheatre, Columbus, OH
1: My Friend My Friend, Ya Mar, Roggae, Rift, Cities*, Water in the Sky, Stash
2: The Curtain > Free^, If I Could, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday -> Avenu Malkenu > Twist -> Izabella, Julius, Cavern
E: Punch You in the Eye, Slave to the Traffic Light
*“Oye Como Va” (Santana) jam at the end; theme recurred in “Julius.” ^With an “Eminence Front” (The Who) jam.
This show is a beast, one of the best from the tour IMO. My Friend is one of my favorite show openers and that’s followed by a really tight Ya Mar and a blissful Roggae. The Cities jam in this first set though is just amazing, such a tight groove here. The Stash set closer has some good mind fuckery too.
The second set opens up with the first and only Curtain of the summer and transitions into a version of Free that to me transformed the tune into the really good funky/spacey versions they would play over the next two years. I like If I Could here and the first one in 150 shows, followed by TMWSIY>Avenu, which is always a treat. Nothing makes me dance as hard as that fat funky groove at the beginning of Avenu. A rocking Twist->Izabella comprises the rest of the meat of the second set and the PYITE, Slave encore is a great way to end a great show.