The Daily Ghost #41 10/31/1998 Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV
(Stream is @KernelForbin Matrix, DL is @KernelForbin remaster)
Background (Ghost Position: Set 3 of 3 – Song 3 of 3-Show Gap: 3)
Ghost closes the Halloween Show in Vegas with a fantastic three song set. You can certainly tell how highly regarded Ghost is by the band to give it such an important spot for it’s Halloween debut. There is barely a segue from Piper, so it is not included.
Composed Section (0:00-4:30)
Halloween brings more Trey loops to all those trick-or-treating Phish fans. They ring out for a long period of time before Mike’s bass line makes an entrance at about the 0:45 mark. A relatively slow pace for this Ghost produces some crisp vocals. Fish is noticeably louder during the first couple of verses.
The solo section is a continuation of the slanky Ghost tone that has been set. Page gets a touch rowdy towards the end, but nothing too crazy. The pause is shorter than the previous recent versions and the drop in is actually not too bad. Not quite the Sony Studios drop in, but comparatively speaking to most Ghosts, pretty good.
Jam (4:31-8:37)
This jam begins with the band trying to find a clear direction until they start to section things off. From the 5:00 mark, things drop way down. Fishman gets very quiet, and Trey starts to play a softer bluesy style lick. He finds a very cool tone, that Page builds around with some piano. Mike is moving all around this quiet space, and providing a great balance.
This is a unique sounding jam, and much different than most Ghost jams. I really dig Trey’s playing in the early part of this jam.
@Doctor_Smarty who did the phish.net jam chart, notes the “I’m your Venus” sounding jam. It certainly feels like they could break into that tune at any time, and the jam’s tone echoes it.
This jam reminds me of sneaking around, taking slow steps and creeping around the house. I certainly feel like if I was a spy this could be my theme music.
At the 6:00 mark, Trey sounds like he might take it up a notch, but 
instead falls back into the “I’m Your Venus” jam. Mike is really tearing things up and providing some great higher pitched melodies.
At 6:33, Trey does start to break away and finds a higher pitched tone. Page provides some great piano work giving light to Trey’s playing.
At the 7:15 mark, Fish drops things down, and Page starts to sprinkle some fog and rain into this jam. Gordon brings the dark deep bass into the fold and this jam quickly goes way down. It gets dark and scary very fast, before it fades away into nothing.
Final Thoughts
A short Ghost, and a crazy way to end a Halloween show. I like the uniqueness of this Ghost, and really dig the dark ending. It just doesn’t ever get far enough into anything to really stand out. The Sony Studios Ghost of is only about a minute longer and gets a ton more done.
Score: 8.1
An additional comment being at this show, Trey put his guitar down and seemed to walk off the stage perhaps a little irritated but definitely abruptly ending a set that was rather exploratory to start, but fizzled down the stretch despite the jam monsters on paper. He left the rest of the band to look around in confusion.
I thought I recall reading something about his amp that he was bothered with, but it definitely prematurely ended in my opinion.
In the video you see him grab his beer cup off of his amp, and just step away. Personally, I think he was really frustrated by the music. They latched onto this AMAZING groove right early on, and then for the rest of the jam, you can hear Trey noodle around, trying to find a theme. Its like the jam already peaked.