Live Phish Release: Star Lake 98 DVD

This is a bit dated, but wanted to archive it on the web.  I wrote this for Surrender to the Flow the independent newspaper in the Phish tour community. It was featured in the NYE edition #36.  

by Mike Akers

The newest DVD release from Phish is a legendary show from the considerably popular summer tour in 1998.  Star Lake 98, recorded live August 11^th, 1998 in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania is archived video from the venue’s three-camera general admission video feed.  Phish’s own label JEMP is handling the release.  In fact, this particular show is the only show released in full by the band for that particular summer.  The “summer of covers” is how fans identify the summer’s diverse one off cover selections the band chose for each stop on tour.   The two-disc set was made available for pre-order in late November and shipped to fans just in time for the holidays.  The set was made available to order directly on December 11^th.  The audio from the show can also be downloaded on livephish.com. 

Fans who pre-ordered the release received a one-disc bonus compilation (So Inclined) of Phish archivist Kevin Shapiro’s favorite selections from past Phish performances in Burgettstown.   A mix of song selections from 1997, 1999 and 2000 were included on the bonus disc.  Shapiro noted, “Star Lake 98 was the twentieth of the summer to showcase the loose, experimental vibe of a tour that began in Europe and jumped to the United States en-route to the summer’s ending Lemonwheel festival.”  The summer ending festival in Limestone would have a late night ambient set to pay homage to this particular chapter in Phish’s jamming catalog.  Shapiro added, “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.”

The video was reformatted from analog VHS tapes to digital DVD.  A three camera shoot captured all the footage from the built in amphitheater camera feeds.  One important thing you should consider when watching the DVD set at home on a high definition TV is to set your video display to 4:3 instead of 16:9 so it does not appear stretched.  The picture quality is nothing incredible, but you will have to remember how far high definition video technology has come in the last ten years.   Looking at it from a production standpoint, the release was an afterthought so you cannot really criticize the video quality.  The re-mastered audio is the real treat here.  A popular show previously circulating only as an audience recording gets a serious upgrade for audiophiles.  Current LivePhish.com remote sound engineer (and Phish studio engineer) Jon Altschiller mixed the audio from multi track analog master tapes recorded by Paul Languedoc to stereo PCM (2-channel uncompressed digital audio) and 5.1-surround sound. 

Artwork is something that always is a critical element to Live Phish releases.  The eclectic style of the Star Lake 98 packaging is nothing new to Landland as they have designed several pieces of artwork for other notable musicians today including Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, Bob Mould and even the Black Keys.   Show posters and album artwork seem to be LandLand’s specialty.

As stated, this tour was dubbed the summer of covers and Bob Marley’s reggae staple Trenchtown Rock surprised fans as a show opener.  Having hooked the crowd from the get-go, they took the song’s momentum and the audience’s into a rowdy Julius.  A highlight heavy set one includes a funk heavy Wolfman’s Brother which feeds itself into Little Feat’s classic from the album of the same name, Time Loves a Hero.  It was the first time in almost ten years Phish tackled the song and they have only busted it out 4 times since the 1.0 era.  Bittersweet Motel made its sixth appearance at this show and got a huge ovation from the crowd after the locals heard the line, “Halfway Between Eerie and Pittsburgh.”  It also earned itself a bit of banter afterwards. The once extremely popular live tune for the band Fee made only its third appearance this year, the first stateside. 

Getting back to the ambient jamming, the set two opener Runaway Jim was only a precursor to what would happen a few days later in Limestone.   The technical preciseness the band displayed here is what Phish fans come to see at a live show.  Meat and Limb by Limb, fresh off of the Story of the Ghost album made a set two appearance and was surprisingly conducive to the experimentation and improvisation.   The Los Lobos tune, When the Circus Comes and Down with Disease make a sound pairing as well.  Another local reference made in the lyrics of Wilson (King of Prussia) got a rousing ovation during the encore. 

Due to the quality of the video, this five star performance will get four stars.  As noted, the audio is the winning factor here and worth the purchase of the set alone.  This only has me wondering, where is the HD release?