11-25-98 Pepsi Arena, Albany, NY
1: Punch You in the Eye, My Soul, Roggae, AC/DC Bag, Lifeboy, David Bowie, Sleep*, Driver*, Good Times Bad Times (1:19)
2: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Golgi Apparatus, Drowned -> Prince Caspian, Piper^, You Enjoy Myself, Been Caught Stealin’ -> Llama (1:14)
E: Something, Guyute, Freebird+
*Acoustic. ^With glowstick war, in which Trey, Page and Mike were all hit with glowsticks. +A cappella.
They just don’t make shows like this anymore
I’m re-listening now for the first time in a long time
Last show they ever played Something
I had a fucking blast at this show, even though I wouldn’t consider it epic musically by any means. We drove straight from Detroit to the show and got to the parking ramp in just enough time to walk in. We were in a hurry (and I was really high) so I don’t remember exactly what was going on, but there was some sort of firework fiasco on one of the levels of the parking garage.
We were sitting straight back from the stage toward the bottom of the lower bowl, and to this day I don’t think I’ve ever sat in a section entirely full of such good people at a Phish show. Lots of good vibes and high fives and the like. I really like the song selection for the first set and there is a gem of a Bowie wedged in the middle there. My first Lifeboy (and only until Cinci '03) was a treat too. I can’t remember if I had any recordings with Driver or Sleep on them or not by this time, but I remember being blissfully stoned and loving them, and also remarking at how cool it was that 15,000 people who were just raging there faces off during the Bowie ending could be so still and quiet immediately afterwards.
In terms of ‘type 2’ jamming in the second set there isn’t much to write home about outside of the Drowned. That was a rarity in them days and I was pretty psyched to see them play it, and they had some awesome grooves going during this one. The YEM was chunky as hell and the rest of the show was full of really cool tunes that I haven’t seen them play many times so that was a lot of fun. Nothing mind blowing but the band was tight and sharp all night and the vibe in the arena was awesome. We stayed in the same hotel as a lot of the crew in Worcester including Kuroda, who said Page had been drinking too much in Albany and was throwing up all during setbreak 