Live in Chicago 12.19.98 at the United Center

Fall 1998 remains, in my mind, the band's greatest tour, and this is among its greatest shows. LAST STOP is killer, among the best of the officially-released performances. DON'T DRINK is magic. #41 strikes a great balance of being short-ish while still making great use of Victor's considerable talent. LIE IN is a vintage Boyd performance (yes, I know it was recorded after the fact; I'll come back to that). I love Maceo Parker in WHAT WOULD; the boppy-ness of his solo always brings a smile to my face. RAPUNZEL is a tight performance; I do prefer it with Butch, but this is great. STAY is among my favorite-ever performances of the song. MAKER is also among my favorite-ever performances of the song, and I love what Mitch and Victor add to it (more releases with Mitch, please). The CRASH > JIMI > SO MUCH run is probably my least favorite part of the show, but that's not saying much. I love a TOO MUCH closer, and this performance delivers the goods. CHRISTMAS is a classic E1 at this time of year, and WATCHTOWER is a great closer. Most songs that appear both here and on Listener Supported are better here, at least in my opinion. I can't quite get myself to rate it a HC for two reasons: first, the audio quality isn't at that level, and second, because of the Boyd re-records. I'm not bothered by it at all when listening (in fact, I think this is among the best officially-released LIE INs), but we should pay a modicum of respect to pure, unedited shows.