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Neil and Pegi co-founded northern California’s Bridge School for severely disabled children in 1986. The couple was motivated to improve the life of their son Ben who was born with cerebral palsy. Bridge School Benefit Concerts were held annually from 1986 through 2016 (despite Neil and Pegi’s divorce in 2014 after 36 years of marriage). Phish, like the scores of all-star acts that played the Bridge School School Benefits, performed acoustically at Shoreline and thus “Sleep” was introduced during an “unplugged” set.
Full band acoustic renditions of “Sleep” followed when Phish taped an episode of PBS’
Sessions At West 54th on October 20, 1998, and when the band opened their Fall Tour 1998 a show on October 29 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. “Sleep” went electric during the show on November 11, 1998, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Guitarist
Phish began 1997 by touring Europe in February and March, during which they debuted the first three new originals of what would be a total of 18 to come out that year. The tour also saw Fish donning a tailored all-black dress suit instead of his iconic donut mumu dress, which he would wear onstage through the summer.
The majority of the new material Phish introduced in 1997 came in June during the band’s European Summer Tour. “Bye Bye Foot” was one of those new originals that was first played abroad, as its first time making a setlist came on the second night of the tour, on June 14, 1997, in Dublin, Ireland.