At the time this was my favorite of the tour besides 7/6. Solid show. The Carini is comical and started the show off with a bang. I love how Fishman starts yelling when they start saying "Carini's gonna get ya!"
Just an all around solid setlist really but this Tweezer is a BEAST! Maybe my favorite that I have witnessed.... in the first set mind you!

This is the night where they played a lot of one-offs of the tour. Only Carini, only Boogie On, only Drowned, only Mule, etc... Solid Drowned I might add. Also really like this Hood->Isabella better than the one from 11/16/97. The Violent Femmes bit was cool as it was a part where both the Americans and the Europeans could come together on a very familiar sing-along.

This venue was basically a square with a real low over-hanging balcony around the whole perimeter of the flour, maybe six feet deep. There was a bar up there, and stairs that took you up onto the roof where you could stare down through a sunroof onto the dance floor and stage below. Very surreal. We stayed up there awhile and smoke hash spliffs and bullshitted while listening to the music, watching the dance floor, all while gazing at the Spanish stars.

Oh, the memories. Nastalgia will be the death of me.

4 stars

This is a solid show start to finish. The monster jams come almost back-to-back in Tweezer and Drowned.

this tweezer . . . holy crap. starts out funky, with that patient sort of groove that is gonna go places. and go places it does. around 10 minutes fishman starts to propel the beat forward, and trey soon follows suit by playing some licks that start rolling downhill, gathering momentum. Mike is in the pocket, Page isin the background.

after that trey starts heading up the volcano and at 13 minutes it's coming to a boil, similar to the one from 10/30. we get an eruption a bit later that might be the end, but lord have mercy it isn't, page is banging on the keys and the whole band is hosing everyone down without gaining too much speed (the hallmark of a power tweezer imo). they really take their time at the peak of this one and by 15:30 it's holy shit really?? Trey finally gives in to some of his signature licks but they just don't stop until about 17 minutes in. destructive four minute stretch there. the cool-down at the end is welcome and the a capella set closer is well-earned.

sweet jesus that is what a non-exploratory Tweezer is all about.

Listened to this show a couple of days ago. The Drowned is one of the standouts from this Europe run.

This Tweezer is 20 minutes of beautiful, down-stated Funk joy. Definite highlight of the show and one of the highlights of the European tour. Other than that, this is a solid if somewhat unspectacular show. Standard/good versions of SOAMelt, Drowned and Theme. Interesting cover during the Mule Duel and a Hood -> Izabella that looks better on paper than it sounds on tape.

3.5 / 5 based on the power of this Tweezer

PHISH, THURSDAY 07/09/1998
ZELESTE
Barcelona, Spain

SET 1:

Carini: Trey’s story about Carini getting injured tackling a stage crasher at last night’s show is funny.

Boogie On Reggae Woman: Standard. >

NICU: Normal version except they end the song. A few seconds later Trey noodles around for about 20 seconds.

Split Open and Melt: Solid, aggressive version. Hard charging and straight ahead. Good stuff.

Meat: Excellent jam here – has good momentum and pace to it. Cool theme too. Would recommend.

Poor Heart: Very spirited version for sure, everyone playing hard on this one!

Tweezer: The jam kicks off with lots of pornofunk strumming from Trey and Mike coming in loud and dropping bombs throughout all this. That goes on up until the ten minute mark. Just three minutes later and this has evolved into a hard rocker. By the mid 15’s this jam, and the crowd have been whipped up into a full on frenzy. The Wolfman’s stuff starts at about 16:22. Fishman is a beast during this segment! Things are gradually settling down at 17:15 and they are done exactly one minute later. Highly recommended, outstanding version.

Hello My Baby[1] - Standard.

SET 2:

Drowned: Hard core rager that settles at about 13:00 to a very loud ovation. At about 13:15 they find one of the sickest themes. It has a Real Me feel to it. Mike is absolutely destroying his bass! Incredible stuff. They rock that for a minute and a half. Things stay loose and funky for about a minute but then at 15:37 it sounds like Trey would like to get back to Drowned proper or Jesus Just Left Chicago (for a brief moment). This Drowned is an easy all timer and I would highly recommend it. That theme they found at 13:15 is just amazing in the moment, a real nod to their improvisational prowess to be able to pull that off. Curious if anyone sort of hears that Real Me backbone to it? ->

Theme From the Bottom: This version does have some extra mustard, enjoyed this one. Once the last real note is played they create this big wall of sound that they maintain for about 45 seconds.

When the Circus Comes: Outstanding placement! Would have killed to have seen that incredible Drowned, smoking Theme and then have them drop Circus – had to have been amazing in a club this size. >

Scent of a Mule -> Blister in the Sun > Scent of a Mule: The segue into Blister really is amazing, totally out of nowhere. Had to have been practiced. Band and crowd having a BALL during this! Once they go back into Mule, they just crush the hell out of it. Impressive rock and roll. Crowd is going absolutely nuts after this. Would recommend.

Harry Hood[2] Great effects in the intro. The Drowned tease from Trey starting at 11:04 – seems a little forced and kind of unfortunate because this Hood felt like it had legs and this sort of undercut the effort. ->

Izabella: As expected.

ENCORE:

Chalk Dust Torture:

Summary: Strong, short show. They were on fire when they wanted to be. They turned it on when they needed it I guess you could say. Tweezer and Drowned are both all timers. 4.36/5 (75 ratings) is the current rating on Phish.net and seems very appropriate to me.

Replay Value: Meat, Tweezer, Drowned, Scent of a Mule -> Blister in the Sun > Scent of a Mule

[1] Without amplification.
[2] Unfinished.

In the middle of Carini, Trey dedicated the song to Pete Carini and told a story about Carini trying to tackle somebody who ran up on stage during the previous show. Tweezer contained a Fire (Ohio Players) and Wolfman's Brother teases from Trey. Hello My Baby was performed without amplification. Hood contained a Drowned tease from Trey and also was unfinished. Prior to the encore and before the final note of Chalk Dust, the crowd chanted "¡Olé Olé Olé!," leading to a tease by the band before leaving the stage.
SHOW RATING
Your rating:
Overall: 4.36/5 (75 ratings)
JAM CHART VERSIONS
Meat, Tweezer, Drowned
TEASES
Olé, Olé, Olé tease in Chalk Dust Torture, Drowned tease in Harry Hood, Wolfman's Brother and Fire (Ohio Players) teases in Tweezer