On the third night of its now-famous 1998 Island Tour, Phish continued to deliver some of its best improvisational performances as the band traveled to the Providence Civic Center in Providence, RI after two nights at Nassau Coliseum. Each show of the four-night run has been archived so extensively and for good reason. This is Phish at its absolute peak during the 1.0 era.
The Rhode Island portion of the Island Tour opened with a 17-plus minute rendition of “Tweezer”, not straying too far from its roots but still getting into some great musical energy for the performance. The previous show had ended with a surprise “Tweezer Reprise”, making this a predictable, yet thoroughly enjoyable, opening choice. As the band segued into “Taste”, the improvisation really set in, and the group traveled into deeper waters. Set one continued with some classic tunes, rocking through “Funky Bitch”, “Limb By Limb”, and many more.
The second set is more of the great jammed-out goodness, with a set-opening “Birds of a Feather” played for only the second time ever. Of course, the first time was on night one of Island Tour, but this version saw the band go deeper into the music. Then Phish brought out “2001”, much to the crowd’s delight. The spacey uplifting jam moved cleanly into “Brother”—which also featured a short “radio-friendly” reprise, as per Trey Anastasio. The rest of the set reads like a fan’s dream, with “Ghost” into “The Lizards” and “David Bowie” to bring it all home. With “Harry Hood” in the encore spot, there’s no denying that this was top-notch Phish.
Watch the entire April 4th, 1998 performance via the YouTube playlist below beginning with the show-opening “Tweezer”.
Phish – “Tweezer” – 4/4/98
[Video: silverchair97]
Setlist: Phish | Providence Civic Center| Providence, RI | 4/4/98
Set One: Tweezer > Taste, Bouncing Around the Room, Funky Bitch, Ginseng Sullivan, Limb By Limb, Lawn Boy, Character Zero
Set Two: Birds of a Feather > Also Sprach Zarathustra[1] > Brother[2], Ghost -> The Lizards, David Bowie
Encore: Harry Hood
[1] Unfinished.
[2] With short instrumental reprise.
Teases:
· Dave’s Energy Guide tease in Brother
· Can’t Turn You Loose tease in Ghost
Noteworthy Jams: Tweezer (highly recommended), Taste, Birds of a Feather (highly recommended), Also Sprach Zarathustra (highly recommended), Brother (highly recommended)
Average Song Gap: 11.93
Performers: Trey Anastasio, Page McConnell, Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon
Notes: 2001 was unfinished. Brother included a brief Dave’s Energy Guide tease and was followed by a short instrumental reprise, which was announced as the “radio-friendly version.” Trey contrasted this with the normal version, which was deemed un-radio-friendly due to its length. Ghost, which Trey jokingly remarked was also not radio-friendly because it is long and slow, included a Can’t Turn You Loose tease. This show is available as an archival release on LivePhish.com.
The post Phish Opens With “Tweezer”, Funks Out For ‘Island Tour’ Night Three, On This Day In 1998 [Videos] appeared first on L4LM.
