8/7/98    Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, Raleigh, NC

 I thought the Water in the Sky into Drowned was appropriate given
   the weather and the infamous 97 show.  Unfortunately, we were
   seated near the back of the covered seats, so a million people
   crowded into our area reducing our dancing space.  Relax was
   next--my first time hearing it--it was nice.  Next, they Stashed
   us--UGH]  It was OK though because it got the show grooving.  I
   have just heard way too many Stashes--at least it was a
   comparatively short one.  Brian and Robert I had heard about from
   my friend who went to Europe--she dubbed it the suicide song
   because it is so depressing.  Foam is always nice to hear and
   Bittersweet Motel was also nice, but I was ready to RAGE]  So,
   when Ghost came on I was very psyched--that is such a funky tune
   and much improved over last year IMHO.  I was completely
   unprepared for the Forbin Famous which came complete with a story
   about the full moon.  It sent shivers racing down my spine (but
   maybe that was just the ecstasy).  Overall, a good first set, but
   too many mellow tunes.
 
   Second set was more my style.  Chalkdust to open the set was
   definitely very nice.  Ever since a friend of mine sang it in the
   tent at the Ball, it brings a smile to my face.  Mike's
   song--always SICK]  Although, we had Johnny First Show next to us
   and he kept asking if they were still in "Nice Guy" during the
   jam.  Simple--Eh.  It is an "S" song (IMO, all "S" songs are kinda
   lame except for Slave; Suzie, Sparkle, Sample in a Jar, Stash
   etc.)  Albuquerque I hadn't ever heard before--I enjoyed it, then
   Limb by Limb--awesome]  I just LOVE that tune and have ever since
   last summer.  Wading in a Velvet Sea is a nice tune, too, but then
   a sick Weekapaug that had me raging in the stands]]  The Funky
   Bitch encore surprised me--I expected Loving Cup.  Overall a good
   show, though, and it started to pour after the show so no beer
   sales]

 A few words about the venue:  Great lot scene/venue.  The band
soundchecked almost all afternoon.  Soundcheck included: Ghost (slower,
less funky version), new country tune (maybe "Call me if You Ever Need a
Fool), Rift(aborted), and an extended jam with lyrics about high school
bands and Deep Purple while Mike played bassline to "Rappers Delight".
Lot was mellow, people hanging out and having a good time, no nitrous.
        Show, set I:  Personal Highlights:  Water in the Sky is a cool
new country/bluegrassy sounding tune, perfect after a short lived rain
shower.  The water theme was in effect for this set.  Drowned is a
rockin Who cover, this was my first time hearing it and I enjoyed it.
Relax is a hypnotic tune with one repeating musical section and a
verse/chorus vocal part.  Lead vocals sung by Page, Fishman plays cool
cow-bell drumbeat to keep the crowd dancing.  This tune has alot of
potential if they add another section to it.  Stash was great, cool and
calm tempo and buildup.  As Trey hit the climax the whole band chenged
key (led by Mike) which was pretty cool.  
        Brian and Robert doesn't really do it for me, but the Foan right
after it got me back on my feet.  Very strange Foam.  During Trey's
solo, the band just kept getting quieter and quieter, to the point where
they just stopped playing, skipping the builup, and continuing the song
after a short pause.  Forbin's and Mockingbird are always a treat, both
played well.
        Set II: I have to leave work now, so I'll send it another time.

                                                        Jamie Bacheller
        
jamiebach@aol.com



If your not really interested in preshow things scroll down a bit, well
ya know!

 Well Raleigh last year was the show to remember the most brilliant
segue
,imo, took place here(DWD->Mike's->simple->H2O w/ HOOD encore)
would this years Raliegh equal lasyt years? would the energy that
was exhibited during Raliegh 97's Taste lighting storm Jam
be present once again? well the wait for 7:30 show "start" was in high
gear
and all anyone could do is absorb the venue.
 Walnut Creek is a nyce place, very "out of the way" and
it is wooded in the parking lot. every concert ive seen there, the
large hill is the place i head to first. very peaceful! In the parking I
saw mike,
and i earlier bought an ice tea and hadnt opened it yet, well i asked
mike if he
wanted it and he glanced at it and  said "no man", anyway its 7:00 time
to go, yes the energy is pulling me in, the closer i get. keep in mind
this
the longest time ive gone without seeing phish, 9 months.
 well right when we get in begins to rain! reminding use of last year.
but it ends before phish comes out, which begins to lead me to believe
that phish has
control of the weather, well more on this later.  Thus begins the bulk
of the
review:

I: Water in the sky > Drowned, Relax, Stash, Brian & Robert, Foam,
Bittersweet Motel, Ghost, Forbin > Mockingbird



 I was guessing a little Gin might be what is served up first but it was

WATER in the sky: which i agree with because of the simple fact that it
got everyone
movin, but i would say that phish must make that opener a song with a
higher
sense of energy. I was thinking that probally until i heard them break
out

DROWNED: Funky Jam good themes and rythems. personally my first in
concert and i
was caught off guard when they broke it out, and i know that almost
everyone around me
had no idea what it was either, needless to say it was enjoyed!

RELAX: broke out this is a newbie and it welcome in my eyes but as you
can see
this set took some time to get off the ground because of the number of
slow song
which personally i was not to fond of.

STASH: every since 93' and 94' i cant not listen to this song it was
over played
nothing interest in this that i could hear, sorry im just not a fan of
this song, i cant
say that about any other song though even bouncin'.

Brian & Robert: yes a slow new song, good but placed horribly.

FOAM: i love this song and pagies slot was well articulated aswell as
trey's
and all out great foam not short and sweet but long and sweet, Sweet!
not to mention
that Chris K. was totally killer in this, yes he was Sweet!

BITTERSWEAT Motel: good new cover, but once again another slow song,
c'mon guys!

GHOST: ok now were talkin', my brother really didnt like this before but
now that it
has morphed he's into it, now it is a lot more grittier and grimier!
anyways its great but
somethings about the new version that are lacking in theme, well you'll
hear what im
talking about soon im sure.

COLFORBAN: well i was kidding around but i told someone i the parking
lot
that we would get Forban and what do ya know? it came true! well the
narrations really long
so i suggest that you ask your friend! yes? well it was about Col forban
scaling this
mountain to meet icculus. but before he gets to the top he looks over
his sholder
and sees a lake and leading to this lake is a zip cord. so he can either
save gamehenge or
or take this zip cord and fall in to this beautiful pond. needless to
say he
takes the zip cord and when he falls in to the water, he realizes that
its acctually a
huge vat of BLUE JELLO! so he tries to defreinciatethis occurance
between reality
and a dream and soon learns w/ MIKE G.'s help its a lucid dream.which is
a dream that you
know your dreaming, and you have the ability to switch dreams aswell.
so Forban turns around
cause thats how you change dreams, to reveal a fest inwhich he is
rotating on some sort of
rotisory or something and all his feeling and senses are exagerated and
he can swell taste
and shit like that. so people start feeding him and feeding him till he
turns into a giant
and begins to bounce untill he is in outerspace!(at this time i was
thinking 2001!) so he starts
revolve around the earth till he sees the sun, and now the people down
on earth are witnessing an
eclipse which is due to forban, "so if any body ever asks you now you
know the truth!-trey"
then trey says "ohh yeah i forgot one thing the Famous moking bird is up
there flying around also"
when trey metioned the moon the moon came out from beyond the clouds
wierd huh?!? phish is mother
earth!

MOCKING BIRD: nyce solos and the ending seemed extented.

WELL that set was really slow and if it wasnt for the colforban
Narration i would give it a 4 but
Ill give it a 6 and 1/2, cause im feeling good right now! I wont mention
what happened inbetween sets
phellows we must clean up our act! please?


II:  Chalkdust, Mikes > Simple > Alberquerqe, Limb by Limb > Velvet Sea,

Weekapaug

E:  Funky Bitch

CHALKDUST: my brother called this good wholesome rip roarin' FUN! is it
not allways?

MIKE'S SONG: interestingly enough i called this and as i was excited to
hear it generally im looking
forward to where they will go with it. trey was on tonight i can tell
you that.

SIMPLE: i gar an teed a girl this because i told her trey told me he'd
play it for her! well they
played it and they didnt play H2O and Simple wasnt Grand but they went
into

ALBERQUERQUE: my brother love this song because he did live there, nice
placement of this slow song!
thumbs up.

LIMB X LIMB: I like this because it has a rythem similar to taste and if
totally groove
oriented, into

Velvet Sea: put this anywhere and its great!

WEEKAPAUG: OK i was dancing so hard the limbs of my body were NUMB
greatest weekapaug set closer
and this left for the desire of a hood but i woul not get it!!!

Encore

  FUNKY BITCH: well its not often but the guys let me down well kudos to
the WEEKAPAUG
that was my encore although BITCH allways rocks! just not as an encore
when the crowd is so into it.
but someone told me that the encore was short due to curfew.

wel that set was a 7.5 making the show a 7 an average show, i was kind
of disapointed but i think
back on Forban and it makes me Smile. Thanks


   Blake-pdouglas@ccsinc.com

    please forgive any errors in personal judgment and definitly grammar

   i wrote this in a hurry to get to sleep.




I: Water in the sky, Drowned, Relax, Stash, Brian & Robert, Foam,
Bittersweet Motel, Ghost, Forbin > Mockingbird

II:  Chaldust Mikes > Simple > Alberquerqe, Limb by Limb > Velvet Sea,
Weekapaug

E:  Funky Bitch


water in the sky-- this was the new version, it is the 1st time i have
ever heard the new version and i liked it. i really didn't like the old
one and i think they made it alot beter.

drowned--HELL YEAH!! i haven't heard this sence landover and it was
smokin! great jam, great singing, just a great song, i was ready for
this one.

Relax--i don't care much for this tune but it was the 1st time i have
heard it live, it was ok.

Stash--i yelled out that they were going to play this during the ending
jam on relax. i just had a feeling that they would play this. it was ver
intense. i have heard beter stash's but i have heard alot worse ones.

Brian & Robert--the 1st time i had heard this one too, i like this tune.
it was pretty mellow and nice.

Foam--this was the 1st time i had seen this live too. i have been
waiting to see this for a while. a very good song, very tight, and a
good jam.

Bittersweet Motel--1st time i had heard this, good song i liked it,
another mellow tune.

Ghost--this was the new version and it was funked out!!! great jam very
funky at the begining and then got to a big build up into a rockin jam.

Forbin > Mockingbird--HELL YEAH!!!! this made my night. i was talking
about how i wanted to see this the whole way up. very tight great story,
i think he made it up on stage. it was a weird story about forbin in a
big bowl of jello.


set 2

Chalkdust--SMOKIN!!!! 

Mikes--Glad to hear it, rockin jam, not funky, into a gloomy jam.

Simple--they played mike's into simple last year so i was disappointed,
typical simple

Alberquerqe--1st time i had heard it. sounded like a pink floyd song. 

Limb by Limb--i was really glad to hear this, it was the new version
also. great jam with a page solo at the end with page transfering into
velvet sea.

Velvet Sea--I really don't like this song, i new version, still not that
great. but i knew weekapaug was coming.

Weekapaug--great, long mike intro, smokin jam, very great. one of the
best weekapaug's i have ever heard.


encore

Funky bitch--good to hear it, standard version

I am from Greensboro, NC, so Walnut Creek is kind of like my home venue.  It's
such a great place to see Phish, and the lot is pretty nice, too.  Mike was
cruising the lot in his golf cart again, and some of my friends got to talk to
him for a little while.  

SET I

        Just like last year, it rained, and the boys immediately acknowledged
the soaked phans on the lawn with the reworked Water in the Sky (still not
much jamming or anything, but an interesting new take on the tune) and a great
Drowned followed by a funky jam in which Mike starred (as he did much of the
night, IMO).  

Relax followed - I was impressed, just as I was by Roget at Lakewood, with
this new tune.  It's typical of the new songs and some of the new covers (see
Albuquerque) in its mellow sound and beautiful vocals.  I was talking to
someone after the show about how Phish's music has changed over the last
couple of years, how they've just matured from playing more.  The guy I was
talking to compared it to Michael Jordan shooting more jumpshots instead of
driving to the basket and dunking every time.  They don't have to Type I jam
out every tune.  

Stash was next, nothing extraordinary, but a solid performance.

Roget was one that I didn't know - I had heard about a song with lyrics about
"staring at your walls" or something, but I didn't know the name.  This song
was outstanding for me, and I enjoyed it even more than Relax.

Foam next - great interplay between Trey and Page the whole time - the ending
appeared to be slightly miscommunicated, but still great.

Bittersweet Motel was very short, but rather sweet.  Make it 3 new slow songs
for the set.

Ghost was the tune that really got me moving.  It has also been reworked since
I last heard it at Hampton during the fall tour.  A great funk jam ensued,
with Trey doing some amazing solo work.  I kept thinking they were getting
ready to break into AC/DC Bag, but the jam finally wound around and closed.
The set to this point had clocked in at around 70 minutes, so I thought it was
probably over, although the first set at Lakewood was close to 90 minutes.
What I didn't expect them to begin was...

COL. FORBIN!!!! - my first live, and it was fantastic.  This one really got
the whole crowd going, especially after Trey's story about Colonel Forbin
having a lucid dream in which he ziplined into a vat of blue Jello, then
turned around and found himself being turned on the sensory spit until he ate
too much and turned into a huge bloated ball and bounced higher and higher
until he floated into space and eclipsed the moon, the full moon which shone
over the Creek.  Wouldn't it be great to be Trey's daughter - you'd get to
hear bedtime stories like that!!  At the end, he added that "Oh yeah, the
famous mockingbird's flying around up there too!"

MOCKINGBIRD melted the crowd and wound the set up at 95 minutes to my count,
although that may not be exactly right.  

During the setbreak, most of the lawn witnessed a dramatic chase in which a
helpless security guard was held back and thrown down, prevented from reaching
his would-be victim by a few kind friends.  I have seen several incidents
between security and phans at Walnut Creek, especially last year when it
rained and everybody was sneaking under the cover.  I think the down-home
Carolina boys are really frightened by the sense of community between
everybody there.  They know they're hopeless against an entire lawn of people.

SET II

Chalkdust - great opener, jam kept rockin' and rockin' till they finally
wrapped it up and slammed into

Mike's Song - I've seen it twice before (last year at the Creek and fall tour
at Hampton), and this was way different than ever before.  Trey had some solos
like nothing I've ever seen, ripping off 64th notes for minutes on end like it
was nothing.  This song was one of several repeats from last year at Walnut
Creek, but believe me, it was a totally different show.

Simple - Again, just like last year at the Creek, Mike's went into Simple.
Maybe the rainclouds two years in a row gave the band a little deja vu that
carried into the music.  Simple was really tight, pretty short, but a good
choice - the crowd loved it.

Albuquerque - a Neil Young cover which I don't really understand; I wasn't
really into this, but some Neil Young fans I was with loved it

Limb by Limb - memories of last summer; a great song - I love the beginning
vocals between Page and Trey.  This was well jammed, and another outstanding
tune for the set

Velvet Sea - UNBELIEVABLE!!  The crowd was mesmerized, from the beginning Page
solo to Trey's soaring guitar during the jam that followed.  This beautiful
mini-ballad reminded me a little bit of Dirt.  I kind-of thought that they had
tried this one out a few times last summer (VA Beach, etc.) and then decided
to bag it, but it was really awesome

Weekapaug- I can't describe how the crowd moved to this song.  It was one of
those moments where everybody there knows that there is no place on earth they
would rather be.  Mike was outstanding, and Trey just kept going and going,
climaxing 5 or 6 or 7 times, it was unreal..

Encore - Funky Bitch - I was psyched to hear this one; one of my friends had
called it.  It was well-done, kind-of slowed down.  I thought that they kind-
of cut the jam a little short though, maybe because they had reached the 11:00
curfew.

All in all, an outstanding night, and I can't wait for another!

Peace,
John Lambeth