The answer to the question was quite simple : The summer tour 98 was nicknammed "Summer of covers" because the band played a brand new and unique cover each night.

You were 4 to post the correct answer in the comments here. 2 more dvd were given on my french website Gamusik with the exact same question but there was no answer at all ! So instead of choosing 2 winners among the 4 who entered here, I declare everyone's a winner ! So Robert, Dan, Maui and Marko, you'll get an email from me soon.

Meanwhile, I watched the concert last sunday and it was a pleasure to seen my 3 years old son dancing to the music ! But I must admit he was better impressed by the cover art of the boxset. He thought the bridges was for trains and he tried to put the disc in the player on his own... The disc ended stuck really deep inside the player and I had to open it completely to get it back ! Hopefully the dvd wasn't broken and he really enjoyed the menu with the cars on the bridges !

Oh yeah, the show is great with a 35 minutes Runaway Jim and a marvelous Reba ! The video quality is better than you would expect from a VHS source and it's really band focused with very few full stage view.

I hope you winners will enjoy this dvd !

I'll have what might be the first listening party in Europe this weekend at home !

And like it's now an habit, I have 2 of them to give here and 2 more on my other French music and gaming webiste Gamusik.

Feel free to enter on both !

For a chance to win, comment this post with the answer of this question : "How was nicknamed the Phish Summer tour 1998 and why ?"

You can Tweet this to maximize your chance :

Unboxing and Giveaway of the new #Phish dvd Star Lake 98 on http://www.bouncingaroundeuroom.eu @YomeNetSan

Don't forget to include the link to your tweet in your comment.

The winner will be randomly choosen among comments and tweets made between now and Friday 7th December 13:00 (France time). This contest is open to european residents only.

On August 11, 1998 Phish played at Star Lake Amphitheatre in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. This was their second visit to Star Lake of seven to-date starting in 1997 and including 2003, 2009 and 2012 shows previously released at LivePhish.com.

The Star Lake 98 show was the 20th of summer to showcase the loose, experimental vibe of a tour that began in Europe and jumped to the United States enroute to the summer’s ending Lemonwheel festival. The introduction of a never-before-played cover each night earned the tour the nickname “summer of covers” from fans and Star Lake’s contribution was a Trench Town Rock opener. Star Lake also saw the return of Time Loves A Hero which was played for the first time in a decade and segued out of a sultry Wolfman’s Brother. Julius, an extended Fee outro (during which hip Pittsburghians clapped along on the 2 and 4) and deep renditions of Maze and Reba set the stage for set II. The second set featured a super-swinging, ethereal Runaway Jim that foreshadowed 2011’s Storage Jam and an unusual pairing of Meat > Limb By Limb. Local flavor of the Commonwealth was provided by Bittersweet Motel (the title of the Phish documentary recorded during Europe ’98 dates) and Wilson, King of Prussia.

Star Lake 98 is the only full show available as video from summer 1998. The 2-DVD set was created from archival VHS videotapes of the 3-camera lawn screen feed. The audio was mixed from multi-track masters in stereo PCM and 5.1 surround. It will be released on DVD and digital audio download December 11 on JEMP Records.

Phish's Archivist, Kevin Shapiro

I think I have a rather big Phish collection but I don't often show the items I buy. So here are some of the last Phish related vinyls and discs I recently received.

• Marco Benevento - Tigerface

The last Marco Benevento record is as good as the previous ones is not better. Moreover Mike Gordon plays bass and mandolin on Escape Horse, a tune already released last year as a limited 7" disc.

• Jennifer Hartswick - Ocean Floor

Like most of us, I discovered Jennifer Hartswick with TAB, but the girl really need more recognition for his solo work. All of her 3 albums are absolutely great, very jazzy and funky, and her contribution to Everyone Orchestra's first studio album makes it feel like one of her own.

Continue reading...

Just like last year late announcement during the New York webcast, Phish's brand new show from taken from the archives was announced last week for a release this very tuesday.
December 6 1997 The Palace at Auburn Hills is another installment of the famed "Phish Destroys America" fall 1997 tour. livephish.com has already officialy released a lot of shows from this tour like the next day show in Dayton, the one from Denver as Volume 11, last year's 3 shows boxset Hampton/Winston-Salem or 2 concerts from New Year's Run at Madison Square Garden (12/29 et 12/30).

As strange as it may seems, for someone like me who discovered Phish in 1997 and who downloaded countless tapes for the 97/98 era, I'm totally new to this show. I've never heard of the "Tweezabella" from Set 2 before last week, so it's with a virgin state of mind that I woke up this morning at around 6 AM to download my daily phix.

The first set starts oddly like a reversed set 2 with Golgi Apparatus and Run Like An Antelope. The second song already sets the tone for the night when you didn't expect it with a 10 minutes improvisation that goes seamlessly from funk to rock.
Train Song provides the first rest before the boys alternate big funky combos (Bathtub Gin > Foam and Fee > Maze) with fast rocking numbers (Sample in a Jar and Cavern).
The quiet little jam out of Fee merges into the intro of a Trey-leaded Maze that goes in every directions and ends in a big peak before coming back to the quiet outro. Roller-coaster style.

Continue reading...

• After Trey Anastasio's Bar 17 and Phish's Party Time, the next Trey studio album Traveler (announced for the 16th october 2012) will be the third studio album to feature the song Let Me Lie. Each version is different and you can listen to the last one here : http://diffuser.fm/trey-anastasio-let-me-lie/

• The cover art for Trey's 7" vinyl Scabbard and next LP Traveler can be repeated indefinetly like a wallpaper ! The right border continues on the left side and it's the same for top and bottom. I can't wait to see the bonus 7" !

• It's the first time that a cover (Clint Eastwood) appears on a Phish or a solo studio album, if you don't count Nothing and Heavy Things that was played by Tom Marshall's Amfibian and Let Me Lie (I wouldn't call them "covers"). Mike Gordon's collaborations with Leo Kottke and Steamroller Wheelies did feature covers but they're not technically "solo records".

• The album's title track isn't featured in the vinyl version of Traveler while it's in the CD. The full length music shouldn't fit on one disc and that's why there's a bonus 7" disc with this song and Greyhound Rising.

Traveler, Trey's newest studio album, was co-produced with Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Jónsi) at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT. Musicians include Trey Anastasio Band, Mates of State's Kori Gardner, The National's Bryan Devendorf and Matt Berninger, and Icelandic percussionist Samuli Kosminen.
Pressed on gold colored 180 gram vinyl, the album comes with a Traveler bonus 7" as well as a download card for an MP3 version of the album.
All pre-orders containing the new album will receive one Limited Edition Traveler Lithograph. The print measures 8"x5" and is signed by Trey. All orders will be shipped to protect the LE print.


Track List:

Side A:
Corona
Let Me Lie
Frost
Land of Nod
Pigtail

Side B:
Scabbard
Clint Eastwood
Architect
Valentine

Bonus 7"

Side A:
Traveler

Side B:
Greyhound Rising

Source : http://treyanastasio.shop.musictoday.com/Dept.aspx?cp=943_57958

Remember when I wrote about a comment on the Headphones Jam that mentions Phish as a "Virtual Band" ? I couldn't recall where was the original post on the Internet but I just had a flash !

Actually, it was just before my eyes because it's the first review on livephish.com ! I don't know how I didn't think about it before...

TheSpaceman  (1/16/2007 9:31:15 AM)

I would be happy if Phish got together every now and then and recorded new jams like this for livephish.com

If touring is going to be an unworkable situation for the band...they should do this stuff on their own. Be a digital band. Screw the tours, screw the major label hassle...if the only way Phish can come back is by being radically different, while still moving forward, i think this is a great answer. No 3,000 person guest list, no lot scene...just new, great music with no pressure.

I would dig it and I bet they would end up making some great music.

p.s. - this jam is very cool.

Here are the results of the Chicago '94 give away !

Congratulations to Eric who will receive the 6 CDs boxset in his mail box in the coming days.

Thank you for your participations !

And by the way, don't forget to join the facebook page for european fans (EU Phans) and to subscribe to our RSS Feed.

Chicago '94 includes, as its name suggests, two concerts played in 1994 at the UIC Pavilion in the université of Chicago, in a 5 month interval, on june 18th and november 25th.

43 tracks, 4 sets over 6 discs and even the soundchecks of both nights are presents! All of this in an illustrated box by Jim Pollock.

The boxset will be released on July 31th and you can already pre-order it on Dry Goods and livephish.com, where both shows are available separatly : 6/18/94 and 11/25/94.

And for a lucky one, I have a copy for you to win just by leaving a comment here to tell why you're interrested in this boxset.
You can also tweet the following line to double your luck :

Win the new @Phish Chicago 94 Boxset at #BouncingAroundEuroom http://tinyurl.com/BouncingChicago94 @YomeNetSan

The winner will be randomly choosen among comments and tweets made between now and Friday 3rd August 13:00 (France time). This contest is open to european residents only.

Meanwhile, here are the setlists with 3 excerpts for each show for your listening (and downloading) pleasure !

French version here :
http://gamusik.netsan.fr/post/2012/07/27/Concours-Gagne-un-coffret-Chicago-94-de-Phish.aspx

I was in Bellport on the 12th July 1997 when someone played a song that changed my life.

It's only very recently that I found the words to express why I love Phish jams.
While many bands can play inventive improvisations, they sound like if someone pressed the Pause button to let the guy play his solo and the music starts again where it left off.
With Phish, the jam moves on, travels, goes forward. At the end of a jam we're not where we were some minutes ago. We've been in a natural voyage and we arrived far further.

Anyway, a lot of things happened in 15 years.
The band evolved, went on hiatus, came back, broke up, came back again...
Meanwhile, I grew up, built my life, met my wife, learnt a lot, worked as much, bought a house, changed a lot but stayed the same in a way.
I often feel like I'm still 17... and then I look at my little boy...

In 15 years, I gathered a lot of Phish-related memories...

I remember trying to figure out what they were saying in You Enjoy Myself.
I remember writing to Eric about how I love Junta and the french talk in the background of Dinner and a Movie.

I remember spending nights reading setlists in the Helping Phriendly Book, a RTF file compiled by Phish.net. This was before the Phish Compagnion books (coincidentally, a Third Edition has just been announced today).
I remember translating the lyrics of Esther and Kissed by Mist into french poems.

I remember playing Sample in a Jar in a concert with my band, although I'd rather forget about it.
I remember trying to write down Trey's spoken diatribe in Icculus before realizing I could find all lyrics on the Internet.

I remember bouncing around the room when I recognized the beginning of Weekend at Burnsie's, the Simpson episode in which Phish play Run Like an Antelope.
I remember being amazed by my first mp3 CD player which cost 990 francs at the time (about 150€/$), very expensive for my student girlfriend's wallet).

I remember receiving my first ever Internet order : the Live in Vegas dvd.
I remember buying so much promo CDs on eBay for my collection that I couldn't even tell which one I had or not.

As I recently wrote, Internet is my only link to the band. With Phish, it's the thing that has actually changed my life the most in the last 15 years. I could not live without Internet today, just like I could not imagine living without Phish and all that ensued.
And for the first time, the Virtual Band became a little more real this year thanks to Mike Gordon visiting Amsterdam for Jam in the Dam. A disturbing experience.

Speaking of "all that ensued", the amount of new music I discovered thanks to Phish is quite astonishing. No other artist got me into so many other artists. My musical horizon is much wider now thanks to them.
Obviously, the first band that I think of is the Grateful Dead, which introduced me to Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia & David Grisman, Bob Weir & Ratdog...
While I was looking for Phish mp3, I quickly came upon Nugs.net with its great NugsCast and Free Stash. Bands like Widespead Panic, String Cheese Incident, Gov't Mule, Lotus, moe. were new to my ears and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't know them by now if I haven't heard Fee on that saturday night in Long Island.
I also heard for the first time about Talking Heads, Little Feat, Deodato or Frank Zappa with Phish covers.
The many side projects are an endless source of discoveries... Vida Blue, Pork Tornado, Oysterhead (which introduced me to Les Claypool), Trey's solo bands (who got me into the great Jennifer Hartswick) and Mike's collaborations like the Benevento/Russo Duo which leaded me to Marco Benevento, Garage a Trois, Everyone Orchestra...
And finally there's the musicians the band played with like Dave Matthews and Medesky, Martin and Wood, whom I had the pleasure to see in concert at Jazz à Vienne in 2005.

All of these artists are now regulary featured in my playlist, my turntable or my Playstation 3.

Everything started with Junta so I would have loved to celebrate this 15th anniversary with a listening session of the Pollock Edition vinyl but, well, you know...
Instead, I think I'll play a big Phishy concert full of covers with Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Set 1 : Sample in a jar > Chalkdust Torture > Down with Disease, Wilson > Scarlet Begonias > Llama, On the Road Again,  Stash > Bold as Love, Psycho Killer > Fire
Set 2 : Crosseyed and Painless > Tweezer > Space Oddity > Cold Rain and Snow
Encore : Frankenstein, Tubthumping

See you in 15 years phans !

But with mkdevo's HD videos, official Vimeo channel, the livephish Android App, webcasts, a cool poster from Ben Whitsell and my 3 years old son, it's becoming quite amazing !