“Sabotage” 8/18/98

Last night, Phish kicked off a three night run at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO. The band opened with “Sample in a Jar,” followed by “Sparkle,” “The Sloth,” and “Sweet Virginia.” By the time the group reached its fifth song, “Suskind Hotel,” it was clear that something was up, as the band went on to perform two sets of music and an encore in which each song began with the letter S (if one ignores any pesky “The”). The night saw three bust outs, as the group performed The Who instrumental “Sparks” for the first time since 11/29/96, closed out its second set with an a cappella “Sweet Adeline” last heard on 8/1/99 and then returned to cover The Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” previously performed on 11/21/98.

We’ll predict that Phish will start out with a few songs tonight that begin with the same letter (we’d enjoy some D) and then veer off from there.

The stunt recalled Phish’s November 15, 1996 performance at St. Louis, MO’s Kiel Center. At that show, the members of Phish performed a set of songs with the letter M in their title (Anastasio announced, the set is “brought to you by the letter M (referencing all the second-set songs with “M”-titles) and the number 420.”).

Here is the setlist in all its splendor, drawn from our Box Scores section

Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, CO

Set I: Sample in a Jar, Sparkle, The Sloth, Sweet Virginia, Suskind Hotel, Strange Design, Stash, Sneakin’ Sally through the Alley > Sparks* > Scent of a Mule, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Shine a Light, Split Open and Melt, The Squirming Coil

Set II: Sand > Simple -> Steam > Soul Shakedown Party -> Seven Below > Suzy Greenberg > Scents and Subtle Sounds > Slave to the Traffic Light > Silent in the Morning > Sanity, Sweet Adeline^

Enc: Sabotage**

Notes: *Last time played 11/29/96 ^Last time played 8/1/99 **Last time played 11/21/98

Source: Phish.net