The 12 to 14 minute mark in this jam is loaded with awesome funk. I can't get enough of it

This one's got a nice smoky flavor to it - I actually prefer it to the 8/4/13 version - but IMO works better in the context of 8/31/12 as a full show than as a great stand-alone jam (as compared to the big willies from this show, CDT and Undermind, which work as great stand-alone jams). There are worse lots in life.

The first fifteen minutes or so of this Jim shuffle along in delightfully "Jim" territory, with varying degrees of intensity. After a while, things settle down into a quirky, bouncy, goofy, robot-casino dance beat. Truly weird stuff! Unlike anything I've heard from Phish. The ambient section that follows is distinctively bleak, but strangely cathartic in juxtaposition to the quite silly music that precedes it. The jam is surreal in that way.

I normally don't like the long, groove based jams like this, but this one really is great and unique, and is why I keep digging into late nineties Phish.

Anybody else hear a psycho killer jam in this Jim?

They really used their Runaway Jimmagination on this one. So stellar!

1998, or more specifically, the Summer of 1998 is one of my go-to tours to listen to when I don't know what else to listen to. In some ways, I actually probably *prefer* Summer '98 to Fall '97. But I know that Fall '97 has something that Summer '98 doesn't, but I can't put my finger on it...

Anyway, going back on topic; this Jim was my first exposition to the extended Jim Jam. And I wasn't quite sure what to expect (only other Jim I knew of at that point was Walnut Creek '97, and a few Summer '93 versions). I looked up the song length online before watching my Star Lake DVD (which compiles lawn feeds from this show) and I thought, "so is it 34 minutes of country-rock style jamming?" Haha boy was I in for a surprise.

I can't even count/recall how many twists and turns this jam takes. Just when it calms down into ambient bliss territory, Trey starts shredding a really cool guitar lick. And just when you think that's over, Page plays some weird techno-esque grooves similar to the NYE '95 Jim breakdown.

I will be honest, though. For me, personally, this Jim was something I had to kind of force myself to keep listening to. In other words, I didn't quite get it, or even appreciate it at the time I first heard it. I thought there were maybe too many sections to wrap my head around, or whatever.

But upon MANY listens, I can say that the wait to understand the jam was worth it. And the more I listen to it, the more each individual section of the jam seems to flow together, and now the 34 minutes hardly seems like 10 minutes.

If you're a fan of the ambient style Phish was playing during this period, I think you'll love it (that might have been the problem too. This was also the first or second show I listened to in complete from 1998). The jam contains many intricate and delicate ambient structures and it creates a nice soundscape. The many sections of the jam, along with the Maria jamming make this Jim a personal favorite of mine. But some like it, some are indifferent. I like it. A lot.

But like I said, you may want to acquaint yourself with the '98 sound before delving in. Or just dive in like I did. One thing I love about Phish is that sometimes their big jams take multiple listens to finally pay off for the listener. But if you give them honest listens and keep an open mind, they will pay off, and in a big way. This jam (for me, at least) is one of "those" kinds of jams.

Enjoy the journey.

During the breakdown between verses of this show opener, Trey quietly plays a chord riff that sounds a lot like the acoustic guitar outro to NO2 from the White Tape. Trey plays the riff faster and in a different key than the White Tape version, so I'm unsure that this really was a tease, but considering that NO2 was debuted a week earlier, and would be played twice more by the end of the Summer '94 tour, it might be more than a coincidence...

Not as out there as the charting versions from August 1993, but some nice collective improv from 4:30-6:30 before Machine Gun Trey sets 'em up and knocks 'em down.

The final verse was omitted because Page skipped ahead to the "Whoa-oh" part. You can hear Trey jump in to save him, sort of a "we totally meant to do that" moment. A rare mistake by the Chairman of the Boards!