11-09-98 UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL
1: Llama, Horn, I Get a Kick Out of You*, The Divided Sky, Frankie Says, Dogs Stole Things, Poor Heart, Free, NICU, Bold as Love (1:16)
2: Bathtub Gin, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday -> Avenu Malkenu -> The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, Moma Dance, Slave to the Traffic Light, You Enjoy Myself (1:16)
E: Frankenstein, Freebird** (0:11)
*Cole Porter cover; second time played. **A cappella.
Uh holy shit. This Gin is sick nasty. Like a port-a-potty nasty. Funky and quirky. If you like to smile, you’ll want to listen to this Gin. There’s this precisely locked in segment where they’re grooving, Fishman fills, then Mike, then Page, then Trey. They were so locked in I was sitting there predicting the fills. It just shows how well practiced their jams were at this time.
The Slave sounds about 5 years younger, and the YEM is a funking monster. This is a great YEM. Fishman is 
here. You can hear why the band is named after that mother tucker.
It’s also worth mentioning how dialed in this crowd is. I think my source is an audience recording, but it’s almost too good for an aud so I’m not sure. They cheer the band with encouragement at all the right times. They’re excited beyond the set list and really seem to be getting into the jams.
I’ll admit that the first set doesn’t do too much for me apart from a really good Free (which was rare in 1998).
But the second set is just gold. The Gin is a monster and is just so fucking on point. Like Drew said there is a supernatural quality to the musical communication going on between the four of them. While I understood all of the criticisms I heard about the band in 1998 to some degree (mostly due to the lack of ‘energy’/tension and release/‘peaking’), I still just get so blown away by their capability during 1998 and 1999. They really dialed down the in-your-face guitar and drum buildups and just focused on listening to each other and feeling where each was going and letting each member take turns subtly steering things around. Add to that the idea that, in my opinion, 1998 was Fishman’s best and most creative year on the kit, you just get brilliant music. I think the best way to describe it is that it was more cerebral.