Tube > Drowned > Jesus Just Left Chicago - Phish
11.02.98 - E Center, West Valley UT

If you are a Phish fan, you know about the 11-2-98 show. In front of a half empty arena, which rarely ever happened after 1996, the boys covered Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, sandwiched in between Harpua. It was complete shock and awe, especially at the show following Halloween. I was lucky enough to be there …

In 1998, one of my closest friends (Woodsie) and I traveled cross country from Washington D.C. to Las Vegas and back, all in 3 weeks. At the time, we just became roommates in Falls Church, Virginia and were about to begin our re-entry into the workforce as IT consultants for Andersen Consulting on November 9, 1998. Both of us had just finished our second stints at Virginia Tech, this time in graduate school.

After a weekend of seeing Phish in Vegas for Halloween, Woodsie and I took a well deserved night of rest on November 1st with an old college friend, Phatback, and his cheatin’ girlfriend at their house in Salt Lake City.

Woodise and I kept a journal during the entire cross country adventure. I wrote this review of the 11/2/98 show in our journal 2 days later so the amazement would wear off …

The lot scene was non-existent, but there was an energized vibe because there were so little people at the place. At 7:37 local time, I wrote in our journal, “we are inside the show and there is hardly anyone here. The floor is filled up and the lower level has only a smattering of folks.”

First set opened great. I dig Tube a lot and I didn’t expect Drowned. Both were jammed nicely. The rest of the set was interesting. I liked the two songs that Trey played on acoustic, especially Driver. I was a little disappointed with the Sample closer, but overall the set was played well and unexpected (with 2 rare songs to open and 4 straight new songs in the middle).

Phish from 11/2/98

Second set is where the shit is. I enjoyed the Disease b/c it wasn’t as jammed out as some other versions I have seen. I was in the mood for a solid Disease that ended w/ lyrics, which we were treated to. Mango Song and Moma Dance were both great selections and YEM is also a bonus. This one was shorter than normal, but that was due to what was to come. Harpua was fantastic. Besides the surprise factor, I thought Phish played the album (Dark Side of the Moon) perfectly. Highlights for me were Time, Us and Them, Eclipse, and definitely Great Gig in the Sky w/ Fishman singing. The encore was almost unnecessary, but Teen Spirit was a funny choice.

Fishman singing “Great Gig in the Sky” from 11/2/98

This show would be a 10 if the scene was like the Ball or Went or even Hampton, but it wasn’t, so I’ll give it a 9.9 out of 10 because of the huge surprise, remaining song choices, and the fact that only about 4,000 people were there.

I know it’s overused, but when you look up epic in the dictionary, there is a reference to this show. I wrote the review above without listening to the tapes yet, or reading any feedback online. It was purely from memory. Now, exactly ten years later, I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on what went down.



With the Tube > Drowned > Jesus Just Left Chicago opener, Phish blew the doors of the E Center at the start. Things calmed down a bit after that, and as Trey told the crowd how he and Mike spent last night at the Dead Goat Saloon, Phatback cringed. He tells us that the Dead Goat Saloon is only 7 blocks from his house. Ugh.


The first half of the Set 2 set list from our journal

I recall hearing the opening notes to Harpua as I was walking back from the beer stand, and my stroll instantly turning into a jog. Meanwhile, as Trey begins to tell the story of Jimmy’s cab ride back from Vegas, Woodsie has fit of rage and almost picks a fight with some crazy woman and her drunk husband because they want him to sit down. That’s just plain idiotic to me. You don’t sit down at a Phish show, but you also don’t get all pissy while Phish is playing Dark Side of the Moon? Plus, it was GA and there were plenty of seats! That’s probably why Woodsie rated the show 9.6 instead of 9.9.


Telling the story of Jimmy during Harpua from 11/2/98

During the first few songs of DSOTM, Phatback and I kept asking each other, “Are they playing the whole bleeping album?”. About the time when “Money” started, we knew the answer. It took a while, but we had big buzzes to support and Phatback is the biggest Pink Floyd fan I know, so this was his wet dream.


Phatback and I at the 11/2/98 show

After the show, my friend Woodsie wasn’t done. He obviously was disappointed that he didn’t throw a punch at that guy, so he decides to throw me down on the ground right outside the ZCMI Center without warning. From that point forward, the term “getting thrown down ZCMI-style” is a well known phrase within our circle of friends as a point of fair warning that someone is about to go down hard.

We properly finish the night at O’Shucks, a local hangout of Phatback’s, and close the place down with the bartenders, drinking peperoncini martinis. Then we head back to Phatback’s and call our friends back east, waking them and their wives/girlfriends just to tell them that Phish played Dark Side of the Moon, the whole bleeping album! Our friends don’t find humor or interest in our call at 4:30 in the morning on a Monday night. Just anger and jealousy, I guess.

Looking back, this is clearly my favorite non-festival Phish show. Not trying to brag, only to provide my perspective, I’ve seen some pretty good ones - Halloween ‘96, the Sabotage breakout show at Merriweather in ‘98, Walnut Creek ‘97, and Hampton ‘97 to name a few. The 11-2-98 show raised a lot of questions (and even anger) in the Phish community back then. Some fans thought that the DSOTM performance occurred for one of the following reasons:

• Phish was saving this performance for the real phans since their Halloween shows had become a circus attracting many from outside the Phish community, or
• Phish was musically flipping the bird to everyone who complained about the Halloween show, and decided to skip Salt Lake.

You Enjoy Myself from 11/2/98

Who knows and who cares at this point?

One thing is for sure, 11-2-98 was a perfect ending to our cross country trip. We left for home the next day, and decided to skip the Denver show on the 4th. There was no way in hell that Denver could top what we just saw. Let’s end it on a high note, and get back to the real world on K Street.



More audio from 11/2/98: Any Colour You Like > Brain Damage > Eclipse > Harpua