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New Archival Release: 8/12/98 Vernon Downs Release At LivePhish

A new show from the Phish Archives has been added to Phish’s growing LivePhish catalog. It’s now available for download or streaming via the LivePhish App: http://livephi.sh/ph980812

On August 12, 1998 Phish played outdoors at Vernon Downs – a harness racetrack in the town of Vernon, NY. This was the last regular show of 23 U.S. dates leading up to Lemonwheel, a tour dubbed the Summer Of Covers due to near-nightly bustouts of new cover songs. It was Phish’s only Vernon show and a homecoming for Jon Fishman, who grew up in nearby Syracuse. Vernon’s general admission, open field set the stage for a pre-festival barnburner.

Among set I highlights were the La Grange > Makisupa Policeman > Funky Bitch opening sequence, Possum dedicated to Jeff Holdsworth, and a transcendent Ramble On > Slave To The Traffic Light set closer. Set II was a set-long Mike’s Groove, from a potent Mike’s Song > Simple > Rift through a fiery Loving Cup > Sleeping Monkey > Weekapaug Groove. The Encore featured summer’s last new cover – Phish’s only Burning Down The House (sung as “Vernon Down the House”) followed by You Enjoy Myself at Fish’s request. All in all this was an old-school, rowdy rocker with some serious jams throughout.

8/12/98 Vernon was recorded by Paul Languedoc to 2-track soundboard DAT and mastered by Fred Kevorkian. The show is available 2/13/18 via: the LivePhish+ App and as MP3, FLAC and FLAC HD downloads at LivePhish.com: http://livephi.sh/ph980812