I am so surprised this Tweezer does not get more love. One of my top 3 only outranked by NYE MSG 98>99 and Big Cypress 99>00. Inspired jamming so good it almost sounds planned. Rocking first half with fantastic smack bass and percussion underneath brilliantly executed guitar buildup into a soaring rocker that had the crowd erupting in the middle of it - clearly audible at the show and also on the recording. If there was a note or drumbeat that needed to be hit before that part ended, the band played every last little one. And the 2nd half is tear-inducingly gorgeous played with pure tenderness and love. Great use of loops surrounding grand piano, undistorted strumming, swishing drums, and melodic bass. Magical, beautiful, perfect Phish. And then they give us a MOMA Dance to celebrate it with. Wonderful!

Not much to complain about in the 2nd set either. Bowie opener, Guyute, Sexual Healing, YEM, So Lonely. Fun show, great sound, surprisingly cool venue, band seemed to have a great time. I know I did.

This show has the most underrated Tweezer ever !!!!!!!!!! I love the 98 sound just as much as 97. This Tweezer is simply hypnotic. It sounds like what looking into a kaleidoscope looks like. This band never ceases to amaze me. When you possess abilities like they do, songs never age...they just expand, evolve.....morph .
Experimental 94 Tweezers, Rocking 95 Tweezers, Condensed 96 Hidden Treasure Tweezers (11/18/96), Funky 97 Tweezers and this Ambient Melodic Kaleidoscopic 98 Crown Tweezer.

Stay happy, people

This was my first of several trips to the Crown in cincy. while this show was not the greatest in the world, it did feature some notable highlights.

set 1

funky bitch: this was a nice rowdy show opener. having had just played it 2 nights before, this one caught many off guard. very good choice. mike ripped the vocals on this one.

my soul: they kept the bluesy vibe rolling on this one. pretty well-played version.

batr: standard

tweezer: here we go! this was a nice funky tweezer. fishman and page had some really nice playing in this one before they found their way into...

the moma dance: this upped the funk factor after a funk filled tweezer jam.

sparkle: standard

character zero: i usually find this one to be a little cheesey, but they did rock it pretty hard here. still not my favorite tune.

set 2:

david bowie: this is a very strong david bowie. mike, fish, and page, set a very loose spacey background, and trey just dips and dives exploring the outer realms. this bowie may be below average in length, but the playing on this one is exquisite.

something: ah, a nice little beattles cover hot off its debut at the outlandish show from the previous month at the greek theater. check that show out if you get a chance! back to this, nice song, good take, nothing off the beaten path though.

piper: pretty decent piper. page gets nice and rowdy, but they cut it short before they cover any serious ground.

golgi: i was hoping they would play something to stretch out, so i was a little bummed when they played this one. nothing much going on here.

guyute: i love this song. they can play this one every night for all i care. good version. trey came back in for the "darker section" a little extra spooky on this evening. well-played.

hyhu/sexual healing/hyhu: this was the hot '98 fishman song, and we were happy to get it here in cincy. pretty hilarious...good 'ol fishman

yem: this one was kind of a low grade version of the uic yem the weekend before. it was still good though. trey had some nifty moves in the improv section and page really hammered the drums/keys/tramps section.

julius: not really what i was looking for here....

hello my baby: who doesn't like acceppella. good stuff

enc:

so lonely: very cool take on this police classic. I actually like phish's version better, but maybe i'm biased because sting is a tool.

tweeer reprise: ending it rowdy

this setlist was really bland, especially for 1998. there were some interesting choices here and there, but the only "non standard" stuff they did was a couple of covers. so lonely was really cool though. they opened both sets really strong, but then things get a little inconsistent from there. this is not one that i would classify as a must have show, but it does have a few must hear songs.

set 1:
funky bitch, tweezer>moma dance

set2:
david bowie, guyute, so lonely- skip the "something" on this show, it gives you great incentive to track down the MASSIVE show from 10/29/98 greek theater!!!

what can i say about this show. had seats in the arena level but the tapers were blocking our view. i asked the usher at floor level if i could go on the floor and she said yes! show was great. guytue was insane and the so lonely enc was totally unexpected and bliss. this venue has changed names several times since this show but i do beleive trey loves this place, kinda like hampton. sound is great here and it's right on th oh river. never a bad/ average show here. cincy rocks

first time i got inside a show i look back now and see how lucky i was, remember loving bouncing( which later fell out of love ) hyhu int sexual healing was super sweet i mean this guy can acctualy play a vaccume, wow, remember unreal energy and then they came back w/ tweezer reprise and blew me away id never heard of a band kill a song only to pick it up three hours later ( keep in mind all i have is studio albums at this point)super sweet i was totaly hooked , big time i couldent get enough. ps was completly sober

oh yeah, I almost forgot; they played a very strong reba. trey and page were very much in sync on this one.

Interesting vibe coming from this show. Almost like the band isn't trying to do too much. Just going with the flow. Well played.

Reba is well played. Tweezer rocks out for the first half. Trey does some nice work here. The 2nd half mellows out. It almost sounds like they'll go into TMWSIY for about a 2 minute segment and right after Trey is playing the "Crab in My Shoemouth" Manteca melody. Trance like music from the band here. Don't float away while listening.

2nd half Bowie is around 18 minutes and it's well played, though it doesn't go off the beaten path. Piper is short and they eventually get to YEM. A unique and beautiful pre-nirvana segment. Good version of YEM in general.

So Lonely was pure comedy. Check the show out and you won't be disappointed.

kind of an unremarkable setlist, but some stellar playing from the band this night. Just revisited on my ipod today and was presently surprised. Great versions (Reba, Zero!, Bowie, Piper) and good energy all around. The Tweezer has a nice little mellow, funky drop-down before Moma. Trey loops a great little funk riff around 11 min into YEM, and then solos over it, which is kinda cool, though it never really elevates from there, and just ends up funkin' along for a while.

I'd kind of forgotten about this one, think it was sort of erased from my brain by night 1 Worcester a couple weeks later.

SET 1:

Funky Bitch: Solid – first opener of the tour that I would not consider a rocking face melter. But plenty of strong energy, nonetheless. >

My Soul: Standard.

Reba: Solid version, definitely gets the job done. Little sloppy here and there.

Bouncing Around the Room: Standard.

Tweezer: Yes! Mid first set, love this placement. Right around 7:10 sounds like a Whole Lotta Love briefly from Trey. Balls to the wall rager and then a humongous peak in the late 9’s, very impressive. This settles down a good bit. In the early 12’s it almost sounds like they are angling for TMWSIY. I would recommend this version as it has a couple of nuances to it and that huge peak and that spacy 5 minute segment that defines Fall 98. It is a very good version, but not great. >

The Moma Dance: Standard. >

Sparkle: Standard. >

Character Zero: Definitely has something a little extra to it, it is quite ripped.

SET 2:

David Bowie: Rock solid for sure. Like Tweezer, I would call this a very good but not a great version. It does not stray far at all from what your typical Bowie is or does. It is Type I all the way. But that said it does have all the elements you would assign to a strong version. Clean composed section, dark and patient intro to the jam and then a gradual building of tension and ramping up the jam into the trills at the end. It is a good enough version for the era, but I would not ever need to relisten to this one.

Something: Very cool, thought they did a good job with this. Page is good enough on the vocals. Crowd loves it.

Piper: Very short. Very standard.

Golgi Apparatus: Clean version, strange placement.

Guyute: Hate this placement.

Hold Your Head Up > Sexual Healing > Hold Your Head Up: Funny.

You Enjoy Myself: Vanilla version.

Julius: Standard.

Hello My Baby: As you would expect.

ENCORE:

So Lonely: My ears might be broken but I thought the vocals actually sounded pretty good here. Pretty cool cover and took some guts to play this for sure. >

Tweezer Reprise: Standard.

Summary: Pretty strong first set with a solid Reba and that very good Tweezer and some good filler on either side. Pretty long second set, 86 minutes. Phish.net has this as a 3.962/5 (130 ratings) indicating that it is well above average. This show, outside of the Tweezer, and a good Bowie and Reba, and a couple of cool covers – just doesn’t do it for me at all. Two shows in a row since Grand Rapids that just don’t cut the mustard. I will rate this – like Cleveland – as a 3.5/5. Very average Phish show.

Replay Value: Tweezer