One of the hottest tour openers for one of the hottest tours--if not the absolute peak of the band's career. CDT opens things up real hot right out of the gate. The crowd dies down quickly, unsure what they're listening to as the band heads straight into the debut of BEK. It's really fun listening to the increasingly excited crowd reactions to this tune as the tour goes on and people become more familiar with the tune. This version is pretty strong, if typical. Give it a week and it'll be the stuff of legends. The Set I YEM features some extremely catchy riffing from Trey and impeccable funk grooving. Though there's technically no B&D section as we know it, the final segment features some damn sweet chorused-up Mike while Page/Trey take a more ambient backseat.

Set 2 opens with a rich, dark, and textured Stash that explores the deepest corners of the tune and the comes seamlessly back up for air to close out. Really strong PYITE and Caspian follow, but the highlight of the show, in my opinion, is the Mike's Groove. Notwithstanding some navigational issues in Hydrogen, the two tunes on either side among the best versions of each. First jam in Mike's rocks per usual, but the subdued, groovy, rolling second jam is some of the most peaceful and uplifting Phish I've ever heard. I could listen to this on loop for hours. In contrast, the Weekapaug burns white hot...I mean jesus christ the sheer speed at which they play this tune is ridiculous. Fishman drives this one up a wall, but the rest of the fellas absolutely keep up. Crazy to deliver something like this on the first night of the tour...but then again, it's Fall '97.