10-31-98 Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV

10-31-98 Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV

1: Axilla (I), Punch You in the Eye, Roggae, Birds of a Feather, Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley -> Chalk Dust Torture -> Lawn Boy, Mike’s Song* -> Frankie Says -> Weekapaug Groove (1:15)

2: Who Loves the Sun, Sweet Jane, Rock and Roll, Cool It Down, New Age, Head Held High, Lonesome Cowboy Bill, I Found a Reason, Train Round the Bend, Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ (1:20)

3: Wolfman’s Brother** -> Piper -> Ghost (0:55)

E: Sleeping Monkey, Tweezer Reprise (0:09)

Set 2 was the “musical costume”, the album “Loaded” by The Velvet Underground. The vocal breakdown for that set is: “Who Loves the Sun” (Trey); “Sweet Jane” (Page); “Rock and Roll” (Page); “Cool It Down” (Trey/Page); “New Age” (Trey); “Head Held High” (Trey); “Lonesome Cowboy Bill” (Fish); “I Found A Reason” (Trey/Mike); “Train Round the Bend” (Mike/Fish); “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” (Page).

*With “Simple” teases. **With a 15-minute Ambient Jam (remniscent of Lemonwheel Ambient set; possibly including “Lifeboy,” “Esther,” “Makisupa” teases; with a glowstick war, lots of fog, and Fish on vacuum; ending with a “Ghost” tease). Then followed a 5-minute funk jam (similar to Traffic’s “Low Sparks of High-Heeled Boys”; ended with a “Sleeping Monkey” tease) and then a quiet jam before segueing into “Piper.” Altogether, more than 22 minutes between “Wolfman’s” and “Piper.”

That third set is a monster. It’s right up there with the SPAC '04 Piper in terms of Phish genius.

I have to ask: I’ve heard some people mention Trey left the stage at one point during the set. Why?

I think the “Ghost” was cut short b/c he was pissed at Mike? He may have even flipped him off (or made some sort of gesture) but I don’t know if that’s true. That’s just what I gather from stuff I’ve heard and read.

I think he played his share of notes, and was done.

Something that has always intrigued me is in Phish’s collector issue of Relix, November '04. Written by Richard Gehr (who has obviously spent some time around the band), I quote:

“I can even tell you all when it all imploded: between sets two and three of the 1998 Halloween night they covered the Velvet Underground’s ‘Loaded.’ I ran into Trey backstage, who was sporting a feral-looking wolf’s mask (“He could lick 'em by smiling / He could leave 'em to hang / Came on so loaded, man.”) The evening’s third set was all dangerous sonic anarchy reminiscent of the so-called techno jam at the Great Went. It was the sound of things falling apart, and it was beautiful in its own apocolyptic way…”

Really interesting that an insider like Richard reserves such disturbance for that night. I can’t even remember the last time I listened to that 3rd set, if at all entirely, but I know that ‘Loaded’ is my favorite of the musical costumes (so far).

Ive never liked this show. Wolfman’s jam has absolutely no body. I’m for some ambience, but only when its used well. In other words i dont like 15-20 mine of ambience. First set is good but rather average. Loaded is pretty cool. I like Rock n’ Roll, Sweet Jane, and Oh! Sweet Nothin’. But this third set to me is what really makes this the worst of all the Halloween Shows.

that third set was really amazing for those who were there… Kuroda landed a giant green spaceship in there during wolfmans and the piper ripped as well. trey was def. the first to leave the stage from ghost which left most of us scratching our heads… a three song set?? on halloween?? the punch and the mikes groove own the first set though…

Yeah. This show has always been the turning point from the Clifford Ball through summer '98 happy, incredible period, to the incredible but different, darker phall '98-hiatus era. Trey is the biggest difference. He looks like he’s having fun before this tour, but this tour til the hiatus it just looks like a job for him based on his body language. I wonder what the deal was that night. I know the pressure for the Halloween show was a big part, but I wonder what the entire deal was.

These shows ruled. I’ll take em over Indio any day of the week! :wave:

10-31 is my favorite Halloween show, and I would probably take 10-30 over it!

I like how for Remain in Light and Loaded the band decided to make the songs on the album more along the lines of “Phish covers” rather than replaying the albums verbatim. Not that I like these two more than any of the other albums they’ve covered, but it needed to happen for these two choices. Remain in Light obviously ushered in an era of funk and Loaded was wrought with some groove-oriented peaking jam reminiscent of the rest of 1998. Anyway, they pull off Loaded well and I listen to it with a certain regularity.

In terms of the third set, from a ‘not-having been there and only hearing the recording’ standpoint it sucks. Boring, uninspired, and incoherent.

Listened to the “Loaded” set the other night after hearing about Lou, and still wanting to keep in the Phish halloween spirit. Haven’t listened back to this in a good while, but it is definitely better than I remember. There is a solid emotion running through this show that is unique to the other Halloween shows, making this album all the more poignant, especially considering the quote from Relix that Dr. Badgely posted above.

“Rock & Roll” was one of my favorite songs during early adolescence, long before ever knowing or caring about Phish. It blew me away the first time I heard Phish play it all the years later.

“Who Loves the Sun” and “I Found a Reason” are overlooked but just as awesome here as the standouts “R&R”, “Sweet Jane” and “Sweet Nothin”

^I did the same thing last night. Great listen!