[direwolf74]

I only have a couple of 96's (henhouse) shows and I do like them. Yes, the band was rockin on all cylinder for sure (really, when havent they?) I Like the Phantom Power shows too. Some decent variety and the crowds, rants and over-all vibe was simply top-notch..

I've said in the past that Phantom Power bootlegs are my favourite... I'm not really sure if I believe that statement myself anymore. I just wish more soundboards from the Phantom Power era existed. 1998-12-12 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin is one of the most amazing performances I've heard, and the sound quality is impeccable. There hasn't even been SOTDs from the Phantom Power tour yet, which I find unfortunate based on the performances available as audience recordings.

They should just release the Wetland's shows in New York in July '98 as a boxset. Those audience recordings tell the story of some very intimate and killer shows, when Phantom Power was freshly pressed and the songs and setlists were still developing for the rest of the 98/99 tour period.
Great stuff.

I was lucky enough to see them four times on the PP tour. The back-to-back shows at the Saddledome in Calgary were awesome. This was at the height of the Hip's Canadian popularity, with both shows selling out in record time, and the crowds were absolutely insane. The setlists were excellent as well, with rarely played gems like On the Verge, Lionized, and Let's Stay Engaged making appearances. The show at the Opera House in Spokane was really cool too. But the crown jewel on that tour for me was their intimate, mind-blowing performance at the High Sierra Festival in Novato, California, just north of San Francisco on the other side of the Golden Gate. The show was in a really beautiful setting, out in the middle of nowhere with the stage set up right beside a small lake. The line-up featured a few local indie bands with the Hip headlining. By the time the boys hit the stage, there were maybe 400 or 500 people there, tops. My buddy and I ran into Paul and Gord S. earlier in the day just wandering around the grounds and chatted with them for a bit. During the Hip's set we stood right in front of Gord D. for the entire show. The crowd was really well behaved too. No drunken douchebaggery, no pushing, shoving, or crowd surfing. Just a bunch of people having a great time watching the greatest rock n' roll band on the planet. I remember lots of great rants and a killer 10-minute version of Meridian to close out the show. To this day it still stands as the greatest Hip show I've ever witnessed, with Sasquatch '06 coming in at a close 2nd.