Woodlands Pavilion, Houston, Texas:

Set 1 :
Moma Dance, Runaway Jim, Bouncin' Around The Room, Stash, My Soul,
Taste, Golgi Apparatus, Loving Cup

Set 2:
Wolfman's Brother>>2001>>Scent Of A Mule>>Ha Ha Ha>>Scent Of A Mule,
Slave to the Traffic Light, Chalkdust Torture

Encore:
Character Zero

A friend and I drove down from Memphis the day of the show.  We left
around 7 a.m. and didn't pull into Houston until 6 p.m.  so we decided
to just head straight to the Venue.  I hadn't seen a Phish show since
Austin in '97 (due to the birth of my first child in the middle of the
summer tour 97) so I was PUMPED to say the least.  The night before we
left I had read a post saying that they hadn't played Runaway Jim yet,
and that they played 4 Moma Dances in the first 5 shows.  I told my
friend they would open with either one of them, depending on whether
they wanted to go with something old or something new.  I was STOKED
when they played both.  The Moma Dance Was DANK!  I like it much better
than BEK, and it gets you into the FUNK right away.  It was the best way
to open up the weekend.  The Intro was naturally funky with most of the
work coming from Mike.  Not much variation from Trey on the intro but
when it came time for him to jam THE MOMA DANCE he did not disappoint.
This Version raged!!  Runaway Jim RAGED HARD.  It kind of reminded me of
a '93 or '94 Jim.  VERY FAST!!  VERY INTENSE!!  after about 10 minutes
of the hard jamming Jim they sunk it down into some PHUNK that really
got me moving.  the phunk ended as Runaway Jim kicked back into full
force and then ended.  Bouncin was next.  I like Bouncin' more than most
people, but it is just standard and nothing special.  I just sat down to
smoke a bowl and take a rest (I WAS DANCING HARD AND IT WAS LIKE 100
DEGREES OUT THERE1!!).  The bowl of nuggets got me in the mood for
STASH.  THIS STASH ROCKED.  It wasn't like the weak version they played
in Austin last year.  IT was more of a conventional Stash, (not like
11/30/98 or 4/2/98).  I read a post that they are playing each note with
precision.  THIS IS VERY TRUE, ANd this Stash was a good example.
Really nice soloing by Trey, and great work by the rest of the band.  My
Soul Came up next. Not much to say - It rocked,  Both Trey and Page are
at the TOP of THIER GAME.  Taste echoed from the stage after My Soul.
This was a good Taste, one of the better ones I have heard.  Page's part
was strong but seemed to lose some luster towards the end, but Trey just
picked it up and carried it forward.  Golgi Came up next.  This isn't
one of my favorites but i DO like it, especially the middle section.  It
seemed like everybody was dancin' for this one.  SO far Moma Dance was
the only new tune, which surprised me, And it would remain the only new
tune throughout the Show.  Loving Cup closed the set.  OH WHAT A
BEAUTIFUL BUZZ!!
Overall a good first set, nothing too intense, but still Each note was
meticulously chosen.

Wolfman's Brother opened the second set and I was stoked.  I like the
normal first set shit, but MAKE NO DOUBT ABOUT IT - I GO TO PHISH SHOWS
TO SEE THEM JAM!!  And jam they did.  NICE phunk.  I was really getting
down for this one.  It was about 20 minutes long and dropped off into
space!!  but the space eventually lead into 2001!!  It was great 2001,
great lights, Really nice work from the band.  Allready the second set
was DANK and we were only two songs inward.  Scent of a Mule came out of
the noise at the end of 2001.  Page had about a 5 minute solo in which
the rest of the band left the stage (probably to puff a bowl of dank :
)  Pages solo was nice, and when the rest of the band came back on Trey
joined him for lest than a minute and then just hit this hard guitar
line that I immediately picked up as HA HA HA!!  it was my first ha ha
ha so that was very dank, and as it ended it just went right back into
Scent of a Mule.  They actually played the Russian folk jam but you
could tell it was a little rusty because some of the notes weren't right
on, and Trey strated Dancing but Mike wasn't.  Then Mike must have
looked over and seen Trey Dancing so he joined in.  Scent finished and
Slave was up.  I thought this would be the closer.  The jam segment was
especially tight and long.  i did catch one Note that was slightly off
early on in the jam, but the rest of the jam flowed very tight and went
VERY HIGH!!!  So high that I thought the show was over!!  BUT NO, WE GOT
A CHALKDUST!!  When this Kicked in I just started thrashing around,
because I love a Chalkdust Closer!!!!   The jam was VERY TIGHT, VERY
HARD WELL PLAYED.
The Character Zero encore kind of surprised me because, to me anyway,
chalkdust and Character Zero seem very similar in the jam section.  But
Character Zero Raged!!  I enjoyed it totally, and it left us on a high
note, I think we were all ready for AUSTIN!!!


Hey Phanatics,
This will be short, but I thought I'd let you know how the Woodlands
(7/24/98) went.
First off, I have to compliment the fuzz.  That's right, compliment.  I
spent my last two years of high school in this Houston suburb, and was
busted 5 or 6 times... I thought Phish plus the Woodlands equaled
disaster... WRONG!  The show was most excellent... flawless playing,
energetic riffs, and a perfect vibe led to the best performance of seen
the boys do.  I've only seen 4 shows, and they were all mind blowing,
but this one took the cake.  Sorry I have no setlist, but my memory
isn't as good as I had hoped.

Happy Phishin,
Robb

The Pavilion is a nice new venue about 35 miles outside of downtown
Houston which provided for an intimate experience with the band for
those who could get up close, and plenty of groove space for those
looking to frolic on the lawn.  As I weeved my way up to my "reserved
seats" during the Moma Dance opener, one couldn't help but notice Trey's
bad ass, bug eyed yellow retro shades.  Security was trying to keep the
aisles clear, but since the row the intended to stick my big butt was
nearly filled, I negotiated some space on the right side of the aisle.
The band seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as anyone in the house
early on and the fun was contagious as they spun through classics
Runaway Jim and Bouncing.  Stash followed with a hard grooving My Soul
(which has been, until Houston, a not so favorite song--but man did they
rock it out!).  Taste was very well done.  The sound seems to improve
tour after tour.  As the sun began to go down, taking the heat of
another blistering Texas summer day with it, Phish dug deep into their
big bag of classics for Golgi, which really got the place jumping.  How
do you rap a fine opening set up and leave the crowd greatly
anticipating the second?  How about a rocking Loving Cup!  It definately
made the set for my homeboy Journeyman Jim Craemer.  Just one sip!

After a refreshing break, Wolfman's Brother opened the second.  Damn.
Long extended jamming.  Seemed to go for about twenty minutes before
going into 2001.  Talk about a funked out groove session.  Hats off to
Kuroda too.  The lights were awesome.  Mike Gordon began banging out
those big bass licks as they went into Scent of A Mule, which was
"tight" for lack of a better word.  The super riff Ha Ha Ha Ha was stuck
in the middle of SOAM.  Slave followed in what could have closed a
glorius set, but no, a rocking Chalkdust finished things off that left
me rubber legged and so very satisfied.

Character Zero for an encore was great.  This song is rapidly making its
way to the ranks of the most preferred, although the way the boys have
been playing in the last two years, I am pleased every time out.

The Woodlands is a great place to see the boys.  Even the mounted police
were chill, except for when I slapped Mr. Ed on the mug.  Sap.

-Park Place Paul