16 years ago today, I walked into Nassau Coliseum and beheld this monster of a show. 4/3/98 is in my top 5 shows I've seen, and there are some heavy hitters in that category. Set 2 was just ridiculous. It was perfect. I left the show in a complete daze.

It opened with a fantastic Mike's Groove, with The Old Home Place instead of I am Hydrogen in the middle of the sandwich. The first set Reba was great as well, botched in some spots, but soaring near the end.

Set 2, once again, is where the magic really happens. It opens with a Roses Are Free that GOES PLACES! It is a looooong jam, and Trey settles into this sweet groove that the rest of the band embraces, and the trance begins. This groove continues and morphs for quite a while. Pure Phishtrance. The Piper is great as well, continuing with the Phishtrance (which was first explored in the Twist on 4/2/98).

During Loving Cup, a kid dressed in a Tigger costume (who was also at 10/20/98, Sessions at West 54th, in full costume...I was lucky to be at that show as well) ran out on the stage, and Carini ran after him. He jumped back into the audience, and escaped. The crowd went nuts, and you will can hear it in the AUD copy of the show.

This prompted them to really open up with lots of banter in the beginning of the Run Like and Antelope. This is probably my favorite Antelope I have ever seen, tied with 7/16/94 Antelope. Right before the jam begins, glowsticks start POURING down from the back of the venue, stage left. Hundreds of glowsticks. And just as this is happening, Fish says, "Look! Here comes Carini! He's gonna get ya!" Then BAM, the jam begins.

Trey asks Toph to turn off the lights. I think he simply says, "Toph." The venue was pitch black, and glowsticks were being thrown everywhere. The glowstick thing was still fairly new at this point, and seeing this was amazing. The end of the Antelope contains this amazing, slowed down reggae inflected Marco Esquandolas section. I won't even try to explain what happens just before the "Set the gearshift to the high gear of your soul!" section.

All I can say is that it is one of the coolest things I have ever heard Phish do. And at the time, I was completely in sync with them. What Trey did seemed to make perfect sense. It was as if he was reading my mind. I know this sounds hippie dippy, but I was sober, and this was a transcendental experience for me. I was completely tuned into the music. I loved it.

The encore was perfect. Carini (with an appearance from Pete Carini) > Halley's Comet > Tweezer Reprise. Once again, they read my mind. Although no Tweezer was played, nothing made more sense than Tweezer Reprise. I was thinking they need to play it, and sure enough they did.

1998 was a very tuned in year for me. The 11/27/98 Wipe Out show was another show where everything they did made sense. In fact, during the Possum at 12/30/98, I thought they needed to play Wipe Out, and sure enough they teased it. Freaked me out. Anyway, I digress. This show f***ing rocks! You need to listen to it.