Nothing beats a mid-summer Phish show in your own back yard. No traffic hassles to deal with, minimal preparation time required, friendly familiar faces at every turn"...this is the life. As an added bonus, at the time of this Portland Meadows show, I was hosting a good friend who was seeking a new home on the West Coast. Conveniently enough, he had planned his exploratory visit to Oregon to coincide with the start of the Summer '98 tour. Portland was the start of a great three day run of West Coast Phish. Although the natural beauty of Oregon is certainly enough to justify relocation, I am certain that its influence on the music played a role in his decision, too.

The first set opened with the now familiar funk of "Wolfman's Brother" and "Moma Dance." Following the haphazard run around the Meadows of "Guyute" the racing pig, a smooth psycho-cerebral ambient jam evolved out of "Horn." This first taste of the nebulous and throbbing jam-space that was to be the dominant Phish sound of '98 was quite exciting. It opened up portions of the universe I had previously been unable to visit. I liked these spaces"...a lot.

The second set was all out fun and all about Mike. "Limb by Limb" got things off to a lively start and flowed pretty smoothly into "Simple." The show was then iced at ten on the personal enjoyment scale with the appearance of the "California Love" infused "Tweezer." Since we were in Oregon, this tease could be taken several ways: the band has a disdain for Oregon and prefers California; the band thinks that Portland is in California and has no idea Oregon exists (which is possible considering that Trey seems to think the Gorge is in Seattle); or more likely the band agrees with 2Pac and Dre that the West side is in fact the best side!

Although I could have heard just about anything in the remainder of the show and been happy, what I got was a heavy dose of "Free", several thick slices of "Meat", and a "Harry Hood" which carried me all the way to the rocky twilit slopes of the nearby volcano that shares its name, and back again. The "Wilson>Tweeprise" encore was a growling heavy metal monster, one of the strongest parting shots I can remember from any Phish show I have attended. Minutes later I was rocking in a backyard hammock while staring into space and giggling at nothing in particular with several close friends. Does it get any better than that?

Set 1: The opening Wolfman's sets aside its usual late-90s funkiness for something more bluesy and rollicking, with Page doing some really fine piano work throughout; it's a fine way to start off the summer. The rest of the set is decent enough, but the Horn -> Portland Jam is a legitimate treat, as from an unassuming Horn the band launches into a thick, buzzing ambient jam, not entirely dissimilar to the FYF-ruining Jam out of Farmhouse on 8/31/12. The music doesn't so much flow as it does drift, Trey's guitar work more accompaniment than solo, Fish gently urging the band onward. It is a truly marvelous piece of music, and all the better by the fact that it is played without warning.

Set 2: Limb By Limb kicks things off with a nice understated jam (the sort you often get from LxL), then collapses into another ambient jam (with some terrific rhythm work from Fish). Trey starts working out a familiar riff, and Simple worms its way out of the muck in a lovely segue. Simple books along with a nice Type I jam, then enters the land of loops as the tempo slows to a crawl, then from the weird oxygen-hose noises comes Tweezer. Tweezer is its typical laid-back 1998 self, which makes the California Love jam not much of a surprise (well, I mean, it IS a surprise, but not as much as it ought to be), and once they get that out of the way the actual Tweezer jam is a fine piece of business with another nifty segue, this time into Free. Free, much like the vaunted 11/30/97 version, heads straight for the funk, with Mike really making his presence felt here. Page starts tossing in some organ stings, really giving this jam some added pizzazz. The band's so taken with this jam that they decide not to go into the usual Free ending, instead just coming to a dead stop, then rolling into Meat. The closing Hood is a lovely way to end a great second set, and a surprisingly extended Wilson (with an AM radio-friendly jam) makes for a cool encore.

Final thoughts: I like this show the more and more that I hear it. Summer '98 isn't quite as near and dear to my heart as it is for others (the quality of shows fluctuates more than I'd like from an all-time tour), but the best shows deserve as much attention as anything else, and this is a strong contender for best show of the tour. The second set, in particular, flows incredibly well and easily justifies this show's official release.

Plenty of reviews of this one, but it's a disc(s) that I wore out quite a bit.

Wolfman's Brother opens the show and this is an excellent version. It's not 100% funkified, but has a really cool jam that ends with some great full band peaking. Great start.

Water in the Sky is not noteworthy - but seldom is. It fits ok here.

Moma Dance brings back the heat and is a nice solid '98 version. I enjoy it as well as the placement.

Guyute includes the weird dog racing/pig racing story, which is a nice slice of life for us banter lovers. It's a good call here and plenty of fun. Band seemed thrilled to have a lot of "newish" material to play.

Horn -> Jam is one of my favorite pieces of Phish music ever. The composed horn solo is gorgeous, but the improvisation that follows is melt in your mouth delicious. It's very delicate and coy. It starts off simply enough with some droning loops and nudges along slowly to an incredible reflective space. Trey's melody is assertive and superb without really taking over the jam. It's beautiful democratic music.

Chalkdust Torture brings the energy level back up after the spacey jam.

Brian and Robert and Beauty of My Dreams are both enjoyable.

CTB is nice and funky, without standing out too much.

Roggae is placid and solid.

Birds of Feather always felt notable to me. It's a very good version. It's not anything overly exploratory like some of the monsters from '99, but it's got an interesting jam for sure and I enjoy it quite a bit.

Loving Cup closes set I instead of set II in equally admirable fashion.

Wow - they packed a lot into that set! Overall mighty fine music, particularly Wolfman's Brother, Horn->Jam, and BOAF. Everything else is also pretty good listening to my ears as well.

Set II is excellent.

They open with LXL, which is a cool choice for the set II opening slot. This version contains a nice patient jam, which is plenty of fun on it's own. They eventually move beyond the typical and work out a nifty -> Simple. Very good opener.

Simple is nice and has a good jam as well. I find the combo to have been very good and also quite unique (have they paired these two together any other times?). Simple also finds a bit of ending space and makes it's way to Tweezer.

Tweezer is nice and spacey and they make sure to give this plenty of breathing room. It finds it's way pretty quickly into the funky realm and has an impeccable turn ->California Love, which must have been a very cool moment. The jam itself translates nicely to tape and is certainly fun and satisfying. Not to be resolved by a bit of quoting, this Tweezer works back into a nice jam that peaks well and contains some more great playing before finding an excellent -> Free.

Free is a surefire winner here, as this version gets a good funky workout and the jam is plenty unique and plenty fun. I highly endorse this version of Free.

Meat is up next and is a great call here. Nice version.

Harry Hood is excellent. There are a lot of good versions from this era. This versions stands alongside those. It has a good pretty patient jam. Trey plays really well. He also leads the band to a soaring peak that has some excellent flurries of notes. I'm a big fan, and it closes out a great set in style.

Encore is Wilson>Tweeprise, which is a nice combo indeed and Wilson has a little extra jamming on top as well. Fun fun fun.

Overall classic. 5/5. Highlights are numerous, but the second set to me has not a single missable moment.

Love this show. One of my favorite LxL's. This one really builds and there is this gorgeous moment at around 10:10 where the entire band connects at once and really gets intense. the rest of the show is great and has been summed up very well by the other reviews already here. Also wanted to point out the clear Glide tease by Fishman towards the end of Simple when it starts to fade out

My favorite part of this show is the jam. It is so characteristic of '98 Phish, where the guys were really pushing the envelope as far as morphing notes and chords to get a really unique sound. If you listen to the 1st set's jam, it really reminds me a lot of the Simple from the Hampton Comes Alive release, where the band just falls into this really beautiful blend of harmonics, to the point the song takes on this ethereal change, and peaks, and then the guys just let the notes distribute themselves. Nice work!

Breezy, typically "Summer Phish" show, in my opinion, that nonetheless has some meat on its bones and some unusually placed jams. I loved the racing pig narration before Guyute, the Horn -> Jam is probably the only time Horn has been taken for a Type-II ride, and Tweezer -> California Love Jam -> Tweezer is funnily moving to me, as a fan of the 2Pac & Dr. Dre song (as well as the Joe Cocker song sampled, "Woman to Woman," and Talk Box virtuoso Roger Troutman's performance on the sampling version.)

This Wolfman's is not only an outstanding version but I still call it the best tour opener ever!

Every song in the first set is played extremely well. Maybe not best evers best definitely all top notch. I wouldn't call myself a huge CTB fan but I really like this version. Page really goes off. The Birds and Lovin Cup rock out a a very solid first set.

The mind melt of maybe the mothership land is what went down in the 2nd set. LxL is great and segue nicely into Simple which then drops into Tweezer and that's when things really got funky. I can only describe them going into California Love as spaceships landing music. Mike is just dropping bombs during Free and Meat and an awesome Hood to end the set.

Trey goes off on Wilson. Listening to it now it may sound kind of sloppy but at the show I was just blown away.

was just listening to this show, sorry for no full review, but I noticed some Contact teases from Fish at the end of Simple, in the last minute or so when it begins to space out before Tweezer. AWESOME show though! CDT was especially aggressive, Cars Trucks Buses is always fun, this Free is one of the best versions I've ever heard, very nice Hood, loving all the new songs they pull out and the funkiness that comes with them. easily one of the best from '98. LISTEN TO IT!

this is one hot show in one hot tour. wolfman's and moma bring the funk early in the show. a nice little jam out of horn works well into chalk dust. ctb, boaf, and loving cup in the first set in fine form.

then the fire works start. limb by limb gets things going, as this one works nicely into simple. simple does not "tweedle out" like it typically does. instead, it rocks right into tweezer. this tweezer jam gets nice and funky before they break into one of the more unlikely breakouts. they start jamming on tupac and dre's (i believe that's right) california love. surprisingly, they don't get too goofy on this one, and they get back into the funky tweezer mode. then they lift off into a very inspired free. gordon is particularly tastey here, with trey going berzerker on top of him. meat provides a somewhat unexpected cool down before they go into a really deep harry hood. page and trey take the long road while driving this hood jam to climax. wilson>tweeprise closes this one out in fine rocking form. there were some good shows on this quick jaunt up the west coast, but i think this one might be my favorite. don't miss the gorge either.

PHISH, WEDNESDAY 07/15/1998
PORTLAND MEADOWS
Portland, OR
Soundcheck: The Way I Feel Jam

SET 1:

Wolfman's Brother: Killer jam that never strays from the OG theme too much but man everyone is truly firing on all cylinders. For the first time since they came out on LP, I am listening to an AUD, the one that is on Phish.in – Source: Set I : Schoeps CMC64>Lunatec V2>DA-P1 - Set II: Neumann KMi84>Sonosax>SBM-1 - - Transfer & Encoding: Mike Fischer (phishsdank@aol.com) – and I am blown away how good this sounds, tapers rule!!! Thank you Mike Fischer! Would recommend this Wolfman’s – this would be a great way to introduce a new fan.

Water in the Sky: Standard.

The Moma Dance: Standard.

Guyute: lol at the ending, Fish totally cuts Trey off at the knees before he can take his solo, so they redo it, lol!!! And then Trey flubs it, so funny.

Horn: Trey a bit sloppy in spots. ->

Jam: When those loops hit, man that is the stuff. This is such a dank ambient jam. Would recommend! Beautiful jam. Trey starts laying the groundwork for Chalk Dust a good minute before they get there. >

Chalk Dust Torture: Standard.

Brian and Robert: Standard.

Beauty of My Dreams: Standard.

Cars Trucks Buses: Page is great on this one, really jazzes it up.

Roggae: Standard.

Birds of a Feather: Standard.

Loving Cup: Standard.

SET 2:

Limb By Limb: Huge, and I mean huge payoff in this one. Damn! That’s about as hot as it gets in a Limb climax, they really let it all hang out there. Cool ambient jam after this that stretches for about 90 seconds. 97 had the funk. 98 had the ambient jams. The segue into Simple is bad ass! ->

Simple: Standard. >

Tweezer -> California Love Jam -> Tweezer: Lord have mercy. Right out of the gate, this jam is icky sticky. Big time effects with Mike just destroying it. There is a knowing ripple through the crowd upon Treys first few notes of the California Love piece. This really doesn’t last that long but serves as an ample launching pad for liftoff. Once they get through CL, the jam is very consistent and intentional, really good stuff. The last minute there is a bit of a shift, especially in the last 30 seconds as they get set to segue into Free. Would recommend this Tweezer for sure! ->

Free: This one is straight out of Fall 97 – that icky, sticky funk the whole way through complete with some stop start towards the end, would recommend.

Meat: Standard.

Harry Hood: Nice held note from Trey around 9:30. Other than that this is a pretty standard Hood. They kind of back into the climax – or lack of climax.

ENCORE:

Wilson: Nice heavy metal action in this one. Turns out to be pretty cool and unique, Trey definitely was feeling it during this. Aggressive playing! >

Tweezer Reprise: Standard.

Summary: That first set just wouldn’t end, 93 minutes and 12 songs! Very good show but definitely overrated by Phish.net as the current rating is 4.495/5 (279 ratings). I would rate it as a 4/5. Great way to open the tour though!

Replay Value: Wolfman's Brother, Jam, Limb By Limb, Tweezer, California Love, Tweezer, Free, Wilson

Page teased "Charge!" after Moma Dance. Some humor surrounded the Guyute ending; fans of stage banter will want to seek this segment out. Fish teased Peaches before Limb By Limb and Glide in Simple. This show was officially released as Live Phish 17.

SHOW RATING
Your rating:
Overall: 4.495/5 (279 ratings)
JAM CHART VERSIONS
Wolfman's Brother, Horn, Jam, Birds of a Feather, Limb By Limb, Tweezer, California Love, Tweezer, Free, Harry Hood, Wilson
TEASES
Glide tease in Simple, Peaches en Regalia and Charge! teases

Really fun tour opener. The band sounds like they're having a great time being back in the States playing outdoors. The new SOTG material matches the summer mood brilliantly and Trey even says they really enjoy playing the new songs.

This one has a notable Horn->Jam which is lovely, a rollicking CTB, and the super fun party Tweezer with California Love sandwiched in. Don't sleep on the fantastic Limb by Limb or the uniquely funky Free.
Personal ranking: 90/100

One of the great cases for "setlist flow" making a show. The big highlight of the first set is the post Horn jam that could almost be a Siket disc outtake with its effortless ambient chill. Second set highlight is the Tweezer -> Free. In my mind calling it a "California Love Jam" is a little bit much. It goes on for under two minutes and just sort of interprets the chorus of California Love. At any rate its a standard/great Tweezer with a flawless "->" one of the best Free's there is. Free just gets funkier, slower, and more sparse as it goes. Truly a version to seek out. If you only take two things away from this show it should be the post Horn jam and Free.

Having said all that, this is a curious choice to have been one of the first LivePhish releases. A solid show with a couple of highlights, but there are several still unreleased shows from 98 that are more deserving of the LivePhish treatment (either night of the Gorge, hello?).

3.8/5 Solid B+/A- Phish.

Once again, no full review, as I believe this show already has spoken for itself amongst the all-time shows in the canon, but I forgot to add one thing from my previous lil blurb...

Does anyone hear the Peaches tease from Fish prior to the start of LxL? it's kind of a slow descending roll, but it seems like it's hinting

PS: Noob-Me was a little off suggesting "Contact" teases from Fish towards the end of Simple. I don't quite hear those anymore, so I'm assuming I definitely meant GLIDE !