On December 11, 2012, Phish will release “Star Lake 98”, a brand new 2-DVD set recorded live on August 11, 1998 at Star Lake Amphitheatre in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. The “Star Lake 98” show was the 20th of summer to display 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.

“Star Lake 98” is the only full video show available in the Archives from Phish’s Summer 1998 tour. 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 Dolby Digital 5.1 surround (aspect Ratio 4:3, regions 1-6 NTSC) and clocks in at just about 2 hours and 50 minutes.

The introduction of a never-before-played cover each night earned the tour the nickname “the summer of covers” from fans and band alike and Star Lake’s contribution was “Trench Town Rock.” 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.” An extended “Fee” extro and hot renditions of “Maze” and “Reba” set the stage for set II’s super-swinging, ethereal “Runaway Jim” and the 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 the Europe dates) and “Wilson”, King of Prussia.

Everyone who pre-orders the “Star Lake 98” DVD from Phish Dry Goods will receive “So Inclined”, a bonus CD featuring music handpicked (by Archivist Kevin Shapiro) from the three remaining unreleased Star Lake shows, this collection of highlights includes tracks from Phish’s 1997, 1999 and 2000 Star Lake performances, and is included while supplies last.

For a complete tracklist, please click here.