phree your mind

The End of Phish 2.0 and the Coventry Disaster

2009-02-14T15:13:00.007-05:00

Where do you start with this one? Well, several months after I gradated from Michigan, a group of my friends took a journey to New Zealand and Australia. I knew it was important to them to see the Phish before they retired, so I made a point to get them tickets to Great Woods and to Coventry. Phish then added a night at Hampton on August 9th, 2004, so we decided to add another show to the trip.

JH had been home from New Zealand for a few days, and made it downstate to my side of town. That first morning, we must have been up at 5am. We scooped up CC and PS, then drove to Ann Arbor to pick up TM who had only been home from New Zealand for a matter of hours. 5 six-foot dudes packed into my 4runner and started off on our long journey to southwest Virginia to make the show that evening.

Our drive was going just fine until we hit a traffic wall midday in D.C. I-95 was a huge mess, and we ended up on some back roads to get to Hampton. We made it to the venue and into the show at the end of the first song. Now Hampton is a cool venue (and I look forward to seeing it in a few weeks), and we hung out on the floor, but musically, the show wasn’t that great. We got up pretty close for the second set which made things a bit better. Here is the setlist for the surprise Hampton show in 2004.

Monday, August 9, 2004
Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA
Set I: Chalkdust Torture, Bathtub Gin -> Runaway Jim, Walls of the Cave, Loving Cup
Set II: All of These Dreams, Limb x Limb, Lifeboy, Crowd Control, Seven Below > Stash ->
NICU, Bug, Contact > Character Zero
Encore: David Bowie

After the show, I took to the wheel and we started heading up the east coast, on our way to Boston to get to the shows the next night. We dropped off PS and CC at the Baltimore airport for a one-way flight home (PS would come to Coventry, but had some commitments to take care of in between). I remember hitting a wall at some point in New Jersey, and had to have TM take over driving. I should have told TM to take the Merit parkway instead of I-95, but I wasn’t thinking. I woke up sometime in Connecticut. We made our way into Boston to crash on the floor of KW’s place for a few hours before heading out to Great Woods.

One side story, on our way to Great Woods either that night or the next, we saw a small car trying to squeeze by on the shoulder past a semi truck. The semi truck ended up pulling to the side and hit the small car. A fight then ensued which we missed, but it was a huge case of road rage. Wicked.

I have to say that the Great Woods shows were pretty good. I saw the Hood milk blimp for the first time as well. JH was especially happy with the song selection, and I’m pretty sure I called the AC/DC Bag opener on the 10th. We had pavilion for both nights, so it was a good time for sure.

Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Tweeter Center Boston, Mansfield, MA
Set I: AC/DC Bag, Heavy Things, Punch You in the Eye, Wolfman's Brother, Theme from the Bottom, Birds of a
Feather
Set II: Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing -> Piper
-> Makisupa Policeman, Dog Faced Boy, Friday, Harry Hood
Encore: Possum

After the first show, we headed back to Boston for a full night of sleep. I remember eating at a really good Jewish deli as well the next day, not as good as Zingerman’s, but definitely good. Then we headed back to Great Woods for the second night.

08/11/04 Tweeter Center Boston, Mansfield, MA
Set I: The Divided Sky1, Suzy Greenberg> Down With Disease> Prince Caspian> Scent of a Mule> Tears of a Clown> Scent of a Mule, Mexican Cousin
Set II: Run Like An Antelope> Also Sprach Zarathustra, Golgi Apparatus, Waves, Tweezer> HYHU2> Terrapin, HYHU, Timber (Jerry the Mule)3, Sample in a Jar
Encore: Bouncing Around the Room, Tweezer Reprise

The show on the 11th was pretty fun too except I was pissed that they didn’t finish the Antelope.

The 2001 really stands out for me as the moment I realized Phish was done and this would be the last time I would hear this in concert. There was something epic and sad about the way Trey played it…something that said to me it had been a great ride but now it was time to go home. And that’s where I think my youth sorta faded away as well – it was time for me to grow up, stop following a band around all summer, and cut my hair. The start/stop jam in 2001 is really neat, and I still get goosebumps listening to this version.

We again headed back to Boston after the show to crash at KW’s place. We took JH to the airport the next morning as he had to get back to Traverse City for the wedding of his buddy Nick and his wife Tera.

There were a lot of reasons why we didn’t go to the Camden show the next night, the biggest being that it meant heading south again before going back up to Vermont. And that turned out to be a smart move given the chaos of Coventry. So TM and I started on a rainy ride through the quiet remoteness of Vermont, headed toward Burlington to see some of the places where Phish had begun. We visited Nectar’s, ate gravy fries, walked around town, then settled into a hotel on the outskirts of town. I recall TM being taken back by the amount of reality TV that had emerged during his year away in New Zealand. America, f*ck yeah.

The next morning, it was still raining, and we knew from the radio that Coventry, Phish’s last festival and final 2 night stand, was supposed to be really wet. It behooved us to buy more tarps and rain gear at the local Home Depot (should have bought some really huge boots). In any case, after shopping, we headed on our journey east back to Coventry. We reached the end of the line to get into the festival at around 5pm under gray rainy skies and uncertainty about when we would get in to set up camp.

The line wouldn’t move much at all that night, and as the daylight faded away, all we could see was a glow in the sky ahead where the concert grounds lay. That night was long but fun. We made friends with people with others in line, and I even ended up running into a girl who I had sold a ticket to at Alpine a few months before. We made the most of it. At some point around 3 or 4am, I had to crash, and fell asleep in the car. As morning dawned, I woke up and it was TM’s turn to crash for a few hours.

At some point, Mike Gordon made the announcement that they were going to have to begin turning away cars because the concert and camping grounds were a swamp, unable to accommodate the traffic coming into the show. We stayed in our cars, hoping that we were ahead of the cut off point. We relayed the message to our friends coming from Michigan through Canada and advised them to take a back way into the area. We were lucky not to be one of those fans who came up I-95, or others who actually chose to turn around (one of NB’s turned all the way around after driving from Minnesota).

When we finally set up camp at around 1 or 2pm, we had been in line for close to 20 hours. As it turned out, PS, JC, BE and others who had come from Michigan after leaving the night before made into the grounds before us. They had to walk in from some point, but not the several miles that people on I-95 had to deal with. NB and his friend Curtis made it in about the same time as well, so we were all camped relatively close to one another.

So not long after setting up camp, we headed into the show. The concert area was a mud pit, everywhere. Someone in JCT and CG’s crew brought a tarp, but it did little as we all sank into the mud for 2 consecutive nights.

08/14/04 Newport State Airport, Coventry, VT
Coventry
Set I: Walls of the Cave> Runaway Jim> Gotta Jibboo, You Enjoy Myself1, Sample in a Jar, Axilla, Poor Heart, Run Like An Antelope2, Fire
Set II: AC/DC Bag> 46 Days, Halley's Comet> Ya Mar, David Bowie, Character Zero
Set III: Twist> The Wedge, Stash> Free, Guyute, Drowned> Jam, Friday
Encore: Harry Hood

08/15/04 Newport State Airport, Coventry, VT
Coventry
Set I: Mike's Song1> I am Hydrogen> Weekapaug Groove, Anything But Me, Reba, Carini, Chalkdust Torture> Possum, Wolfman's Brother> Jam2, Taste
Set II: Down With Disease, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Glide, Split Open and Melt> Ghost
Set III: Fast Enough For You, Seven Below, Simple, Piper> Bruno3> Dickie Scotland3, Wilson, Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: The Curtain With

The music at Coventry was awful, especially the 2nd night. I remember after Trey had butchered some tunes he decided to play Guyute, one of Phish’s most complicated pieces, which he butchered as well. I looked at JCT and we just laughed at how awful the playing was.
The best part of the festival was when they played Fast Enough for You to open the final set, my favorite Phish ballad. It was perfectly timed, and I got a bit emotional. Other highlights include the collective “awwwwww” as people walked through the mud and lost shoes. Another funny moment was seeing some kid sitting in a camping chair in the concert area, passed out and covered in toilet paper and trash. I got a photo of PS with him.

Ironically, as we left the concert grounds to head home, I was laughing. Although the camping and the music was an absolute disaster, I was with all the people I had spent so many years with seeing Phish, and that made up for everything. My legs may have been covered in mud up to my knees, my sandals ruined and lost in the fields of Vermont, and that one puddle I don’t think was filled with water, but I was laughing at the debacle and was at peace with Phish’s retirement.

TM and I and a friend of TM got into my car, headed out of Coventry, across the border into Canada, and home to Michigan. Apparently I drove until almost 1pm the next day, but to be honest, I don’t remember any of it. We stopped for food somewhere just past Toronto, I fell asleep, and even though it was 3 hours, it felt like 15 minutes and we were at the border at Detroit. I got home to my house around 5pm, and slept until 7am the next morning without waking up once.

So that is the story of the end of Phish. We can call that the end of Phish 2.0 now that Hampton is only a few weeks away and the adventure is set to commence again. I’m not sure what to expect when Phish comes back. I know things will never be like 1999 or even 2004, but I will be there for the reunion and I will be sure to make it to a few shows here and there. There is a new generation waiting to enjoy Phish, so I will let them take the lead in enjoying it the way I once did. There will still be trips to Alpine and Las Vegas, and I’m hoping to catch them playing Tela and hope to see them play at MSG, but I’m just happy to see the guys again and have a reason to relive my youth again.

Thanks for reading, and see you at Hampton.

Deer Creek and Alpine 2004

2009-02-14T15:11:00.002-05:00

My goal has been to finish my Phish blog consisting of Phish 1.0 and Phish 2.0 before the beginning of Phish 3.0 which is now less than 3 weeks away. I’m happy to say that NB, JCT, PS along with new friends BPF, old friend BE, Ann Arbor friend CW, and Cottage weekend friend JS will all be at Hampton as well. Special thanks to CC who has decided to give up his ticket to us. We owe you a trip to Las Vegas later this year.

The Sunday after the SPAC show in 2004, we learned that JCT had broken up with his lady, which we know left JCT a little down in the dumps. NB, CC, and PS all went to Deer Creek on Wednesday of that week to catch both shows, but because of my work, I wasn’t able to take that time off. JCT and I originally planned to go to Alpine Valley by driving through Chicago on Friday and Saturday, but I was able to convince JCT that we should leave work early on 6/24/04 and drive to Deer Creek (which is doable if you leave at 2pm or so from Detroit). I think I had scored a ticket via the internet only a few days before the show (a pavilion seat I think), but I can’t recall how JCT got his ticket. In any case, we hit a little traffic on 23 (why we didn’t drive to 69 immediately may have had to do with construction west of Ann Arbor, not to discount the Fred Funk Factor), but made it to the show in time to walk in, find NB, CC, PS, KP and others. Apparently, that crew camped under the same tree at 40 Acres yet again for the 2 night stand.

The June 24th, 2004 show at Deer Creek ranks up with one of the best shows post-hiatus. The choice of songs including classic covers like Timber Ho and Loving Cup along with a raging Tube and Run Like an Antelope made the show great from start to finish.

Thursday, June 24, 2004
Verizon Wireless Music Center, Noblesville, IN
Set I: Loving Cup, Cities -> Back On the Train, Vultures, My Mind's Got a
Mind of its Own, Down With Disease -> Rock and Roll
Set II: Tube, Run Like an Antelope, The Wedge, Timber (Jerry), Prince
Caspian -> Simple, Walls of the Cave
Encore: The Squirming Coil

After the show, we picked up NB and PS at good ole 40 acres campground and drove through the night up to Chicago where we crashed at CG in Lincoln Park. I remember playing the YEM from 12-2-99 in the car and JCT thinking it was pretty damn good. We woke up the next day as we had so many times before, and made our way up to Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. I’m pretty sure I had seats in the pavilion, and that some of us had really good seats (including AW who was attending his first show) but I don’t remember a whole lot from this show. At the time I thought the YEM > 2001 was cool, but it really wasn’t’ jammed out that long. Here is the setlist.

Friday, June 25, 2004
Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI
Set I: Julius, Roses Are Free -> AC/DC Bag, Glide, Anything But Me, David
Bowie, Wolfman's Brother, Golgi Apparatus
Set II: Seven Below -> Buffalo Bill -> Lawn Boy -> Mike's Song -> I Am
Hydrogen -> Weekapaug Groove, You Enjoy Myself -> 2001 -> You Enjoy Myself
Encore: Sample in a Jar

After the show, we returned to Chicago. I think we even stopped at the Weiner Circle before heading back to CG’s house to crash.

The next day, we went back up to Alpine. I remember KP being there with her friend EP, and of course MW was there as well and perhaps NB’s friend Curtis.

The 6/26 show was the only show I’ve ever had a seat on the lawn at Alpine, but I remember rocking out hard. The Boogie On was funky, and NB and MW were really dancing hard. For being on the lawn at Alpine, I had a great time.

Saturday, June 26, 2004
Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI
Set I: Access Me, Scents and Subtle Sounds, Stash, The Moma Dance, The
Divided Sky, Wilson -> Funky Bitch, Character Zero
Set II: Boogie On Reggae Woman -> Ghost -> Free, Friday -> Piper -> Harry
Hood
Encore: Possum

There was a lot of chaos after the show. I had trouble finding people, and we somehow ended up at the Lodge at Alpine hanging with MW and some ladies. I was left to drive NB back to O’Hare airport as the sun was rising. He was half conscious when he got out of my car, and apparently had to be woken up after landing back in Denver. I stumbled into CG’s place for a few hours of sleep before heading back to Detroit.

So as it turns out, this may not have been my final run at Deer Creek and Alpine. It was a memorable time for the lack of sleep and general chaos, and not as much for the music.

Thanks for reading!

SPAC 2004 - A Worthwhile Journey

2008-01-27T21:58:00.000-05:00

I ordered 3 tickets to the Brooklyn Shows in New York, but couldn’t go because of work. Instead, I gave the 3 tickets to long-time buddies JCT and PS who met up with LE (99 shows) and found the fourth ticket they needed. I saw the first night on the telecast out at some theater in Walled Lake with DR and some other peeps (guess dancing is frowned upon in movie theaters). So I instead opted to go to SPAC, but I only bought one ticket and I didn’t know anyone else going. I tracked down someone on that damned message board who hailed from Brighton. Even though he didn’t have a ticket, I found a native Saratoga resident who did have one and sold it to us for face value (she was so cool that she even left the ticket in her mailbox to exchange for our money when we arrived – talk about trust!). And SPAC was a HOT ticket. Kidz were trying to break in the venue from every direction.

So BW, the kid from Brighton, arrived at my house early on Saturday morning. We had a long drive in front of us through Canada, which presents its own challenges at times (see 98 and 00 summer tours). Fortunately, we got through smoothly without any delays.

We arrived at SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center) late afternoon with plenty of time to relax before the show. SPAC is a beautiful, wooden pavilion, surrounded by a state park. Beautiful area. The lawn is small at SPAC, and it was crowded with all the kidz sneaking into the venue.

I had a ticket in the pavilion, but chose to meet up with DR and hang out in the upper level for the first set. The first set was solid – a classic Reba, a solid Wolfman’s Brother. For the second set, I decided to go down to my seat in the main level alone and get a better view.

The set started with A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, something I had not heard before, and it was jammed out for a good 15-20 minutes. You always recall the emotion of the second set opener as the sun goes down, the air cools just a bit, and you are witnessing the greatest concert anywhere in the world at that time. Then, they played Piper…..

The first 12 minutes of Piper are standard and doesn’t sound that unique. Very typical of Piper and post-hiatus jamming. At about 12:30 into the song, the band breaks it down into a light, airy beat. As you listen to the recording, you hear those whistles and screams of a crowd unaware of what they are about to experience. And the build up begins….

I basically divide the Piper into 5 phases
1. The first 12:30 minutes
2. The calm before the storm
3. The build up
4. The echoes of Phish
5. The transition into Jiboo

Even during the “build up” jam, you say to yourself, this is pretty rocking, a very impressive jam in Piper. Then they enter the phase that to me symbolizes the last truly epic jam of Phish that will echo forever. The moment was truly that amazing, making the whole journey to SPAC (and the return trip home) worth every penny and sacrifice. I listen to the SPAC Piper when I go to the gym and it still gives me goose bumps.

After the show, we were hungry. We waited awhile for some burgers, and since BW didn’t have a game plan, I decided I wanted to go back to Detroit. I drove for about 2 hours when I asked BW to take over driving. He lasted about a half hour. I woke up form my short nap and took us the rest of the way home. I don’t think we got home until 10 or 11 the next morning, but we made it home safe. It was worth the sacrifice. BW slept the whole time, but whatever (the kid still owes me for gas money).

So that’s the story of SPAC. It deserved it’s own thread. I drove 10 hours to get there, went to the show, and drove 10 hours home. Quite a reflection of my dedication to this band. I would return to Deer Creek the next Thursday to pick up the early summer tour run there and then go onto Alpine.

Thanks for reading as always.

Saturday, June 19, 2004

Saratoga Peforming Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
Set I: Reba, Runaway Jim, NICU -> Scents and Subtle Sounds, Wolfman's
Brother, Walls of the Cave -> David Bowie
Set II: A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, Piper -> Tweezer Reprise Jam ->
Gotta Jibboo > Limb By Limb, Cavern
Encore: Wading in the Velvet Sea
Show Notes: "Harpua" was teased toward the end of the "Piper" jam.  Trey
forgot all of the words to the third verse of "Cavern," only just pulling
it together in time for "deadly ice calm" line.  He then eked out a quite
self-referential "Purple Haze" tease before coming back in with the fourth
verse.  "Limb by Limb" may have contained some "Disease"-type jamming.

The beginning of the end of Phish

2008-01-27T21:29:00.000-05:00

PHISH – Las Vegas, 2004 – August 15th, 16th, and 17th

This one will be short because as the saying goes, “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” And as for these shows, you almost wish they had never happened.

April 2004 was my first trip to Las Vegas. I flew in on Spirit Airlines as I recall, and waited in a taxi line for about half hour to get from the airport to the strip. Thanks to NB, I would be living up this first trip to Vegas in style, well, kinda. NB got us a room at theHotel at Manadalay Bay which had only been open a few months as I recall. For those of you who have never stayed at theHotel, well, you’re missing out. Flat screen in the sitting room, flat screen in the bedroom, and tvs in the bathroom. The only word to describe theHotel is sexy. The only thing unstylish was having to share the room with 6 or 7 other people. Fortunately, some of those people really didn’t take advantage of the room and instead chose to party the entire time we were there. I slept on the floor for the most part except for one night after a show when the dryness of the desert and partying really got to my head.

As I recall, the shows were on a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The shows in Vegas, musically, were pretty bad. The first night was probably the biggest joke of all, so things could only get better after that, which they did. The second night wasn’t awful, nor was the third night, but I think the cheesiness of the Meatstick Reprise symbolized how much of a joke the music was the previous 2 days. Still, we were in Vegas, so how bad could it be?

After the first night’s show, I decided to lounge by the pool with the future Mrs. NB and take it easy. In fact, I don’t feel that I ever really ventured the strip until my 3rd visit to Vegas. The first two visits were limited to theHotel and Mandalay Bay, which isn’t a bad situation to be in.

Relaxation was key to having a good time that 2nd night. The show improved, but I remember that our seats were bad all 3 nights. We had a pretty raucous crowd which helped make up for how bad the music was.

I recall eating at the House of Blues, hanging out in the sportsbook, and doing a little bit of gambling. Actually, I recall the last day playing blackjack for 8 hours straight on the same $100, never going up and never cashing out. I don’t consider myself a big gambler, unlike some people I know who seem to be on sports a lot. I just had nothing to do until my red eye flight that night.

The other big highlight of the weekend was Champagne Brunch @ Mandalay Bay. If you’ve never gone, I highly recommend it.

So the best part of the weekend was the awesome hotel. I think we saw Keyshaun Johnson at one point (just throw the man the damn ball) in theHotel lobby. My biggest regret was that I didn’t bet on the Pistons at 18-1 to win the NBA finals.

A few weeks after the Vegas shows, Phish announced that their summer tour would be the end of the band. When was announced, I made sure to gobble up tickets and work out my schedule to see as much of the band as I could. After Vegas, you had to question whether the music would get any better, especially given that Miami was a great 4 night run. But I knew this last run would be it, and I wasn’t ready to let go of my youth right away.

Thanks to MW, JK, NB, Mrs. NB, and everyone else who I shared floor space with. And thanks to whomever gave me the bed to sleep off my massive headache the 3rd night.

04/15/04 Thomas & Mack Center - Las Vegas, NV

1 (1:16): Buried Alive > AC/DC Bag, Limb by Limb, The Moma Dance, The Old Home Place, Roggae, Water in the Sky, All of These Dreams, Stash -> Timber Ho

2: 46 Days, Drowned > 2001 > Down With Disease > Free > Scent of a Mule, Girls Girls Girls -> Scent of a Mule, Secret Smile, Crowd Control, Slave to the Traffic Light

E: Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley > "Coconut" Vocal Jam -> "Sonic Dress" Rap -> Vocal Jam

Notes: Fenton Williams (Dave Matthews Band crew) was at the light board in place of Chris Kuroda. "Girls" is a Jay-Z cover (first time played); with Jen Hartswick assisting on vocals. "Secret Smile" featured a wholly new arrangement (about 7 minutes long). "Sally" led loosely into a vocal jam akin to the kind found in 1980s versions, then a vocal jam around the song "Coconut" (Harry Nilsson song, from his 1971 album "Nilsson Schmilsson"), then into a rap by Trey about Fish's sonic dress (which was not played), and then into a free-form vocal jam.

Thanks to JDG, Erik Swain, ZZYZX, and Phish.com.

04/16/04 Thomas & Mack Center - Las Vegas, NV

1: Seven Below, Rock and Roll, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Back on the Train -> Possum, Strange Design, Gumbo, Brian and Robert, Taste

2: Gotta Jibboo, Twist, Camel Walk > Wilson, HYHU > Love You > HYHU, Waves > Lifeboy, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Loving Cup

E: Harry Hood

Notes: Fenton Williams (Dave Matthews Band crew) was at the light board in place of Chris Kuroda. Toward the end of "Wilson," Trey teased "Little Drummer Boy." "Love You" featured the debut of Fish's Sonic Dress. The fabric of the dress is woven from audiotape taken from Fish's own collection, and Jon uses special tape-head gloves to "play" it. (Some said it sounded much like Fish playing a washboard under his dress.) For more information, see artist-creator Alyce Santoro's website.

Thanks to Erik Swain and Phish.com.

04/17/04 Thomas & Mack Center - Las Vegas, NV

1: Soul Shakedown Party, Halley's Comet > Tweezer, Ginseng Sullivan, Horn, Sample in a Jar, Piper -> Frankenstein, David Bowie

2: Meatstick, Pebbles and Marbles > Prince Caspian -> Simple > Friday, Ghost, You Enjoy Myself -> Tweezer Reprise

E: Wolfman's Brother, The Squirming Coil

Notes: Fenton Williams (Dave Matthews Band crew) was at the light board in place of Chris Kuroda. "Meatstick" included Trey and Mike removing their instruments to do the full dance as usual, and the Japanese lyrics were sung. This "YEM" might better be called "You Enjoy My Meatstick": After the trampolines segment, Trey took off his guitar to do the Meatsick Dance while Fish played a drum solo. The crowd erupted in the Meatstick chant. Trey then did the Dance two more times (first while Mike soloed on the bass, and then Page on the keys). There was no standard vocal jam. "Wolfman's" had teases of "Sneakin' Sally," "Possum, and "Meatstick." The "Tweezer Reprise" lyrics were replaced by alternate "Meatstick" lines ("time for the Meatstick"; "won't you step into the Meatstick").

Thanks to Erik Swain and 'anonymous.'

The rest of the story is to come

2008-01-27T20:38:00.000-05:00

So there are a few chapters left in this saga. Life is busy, but perhaps I can make the last few posts exceptional and more inspired. With the rumor about Phish perhaps making a comeback this July in of all places, Michigan, we may have more stories to make.

I removed the politics from this blog, which is a good thing. I will be starting a separate blog called "Build Detroit" (builddetroit.blogspot.com) which will contain reflections on the city of Detroit, the State of Michigan, and other ideas for people to consider. If we were to concentrate on the politics in Detroit and our differences, we miss the opportunity to unite ourselves and create a better future for our city and region. If we fail to present new ideas to do this institutionally, we place ourselves at a disadvantage in the national and global economy. That's the theme, so we'll see what happens.

Look for the Phish Vegas 2004 post soon, SPAC, the summer shows, and the joyous disaster that was Coventry. Thanks for reading.

New Years 2003 - Phish in Miami

2006-06-14T22:10:00.000-04:00

What else can be said about the New Years 2003 Miami run other than it was an anomaly in terms of post hiatus shows. The Miami run lives with me everyday actually, so I want to take this moment to acknowledge slight hearing loss in my right ear from the late night Particle show. Miami was a great adventure, with PS, JCT, and yours truly making up the core of the group, and JCT’s “lady A” and “Cowbell King” BE meeting up with us later in the run. We took a nice early morning flight on Spirit Airlines on the 28th to Ft. Lauderdale from frigid Detroit. We took a pricy cab from the airport to North Miami Beach where our hotel was located. I don’t recall exactly what shitty chain hotel we stayed in, but it was pricy for the shithole that it was, granted it was approaching New Years. We did find cockroaches in our hotel, but because it was a franchised national chain, we really had no power to ask for any break. The hotel was located on the beach about 1.5 miles north of South Beach. We would make the half hour walk in the sand down to South Beach a few times while in Miami which was a pretty cool experience. This was my fourth trip to South Florida in a four year span, and I have not returned since writing this piece. I hope for the day that the Phish returns to Miami to rock out the town, but that’s a long shot. Besides, this Miami tour serves an exception to the post Phish era because of the quality of music and the sustained energy from start to finish.
We relaxed when we got to Miami. I think the 28th was a Sunday, and it was slow in the neighborhood. We found a pizza joint open and got a bite.
One of the bigger expenses in Miami was not having a car (none of us were 25 yet so a rental was out of the question), so cab rides cost us every time we went to American Airlines Arena. The drive was always around $15 to $20 bucks as I recall. We headed down to the area around the venue early. There is nothing better than seeing Phish in warm places, especially considering the gray, northern winters my peeps are so accustomed to.
The lot scene was rocking, kinda like Albany. Lots of kids slinging goods, all crammed in a small parking lot, and the trash piled up fast. There seemed to be a lot of extra tickets going around for the first 3 nights. Coronas were hot in the lot.
American Airlines arena is specifically built for basketball, so the shape of the arena is more circular than arenas that host hockey games. There are 3 levels, so there is a good view from everywhere you are. The floor is small in comparison to venues like the Palace. Unfortunately, I didn’t have floor tickets any of the nights, but the quality of the music more than made up for that. In fact, 3 of the 4 nights, we sat on Page’s side, about halfway up in the lower bowl, and we never had problems where we sat. The other night, JCT and PS had 2nd or 3rd row, and I watched them rock out from behind the stage.
Here is the setlist from the first night.

12/28/03 American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL
Set I: David Bowie, Sample in a Jar, Tweezer, Bouncing Around the Room, AC/DC Bag, Frankie Says, Llama, HYHU> Love You> HYHU, Tweezer Reprise
Set II: Gotta Jibboo, Suzy Greenberg> Theme from the Bottom, Water in the Sky, Friday, Harry Hood
Encore: Sleeping Monkey, Loving Cup

The intensity of the entire run was established with the first song. The anticipation and the heat of Miami simmered in the intro to David Bowie. This would be the beginning of one of the best sets of Phish I witnessed (other notable sets include 12/6/97 set II and 8/16/98 set III). I am particularly fond of the Frankie Sez jam. It is one of the darker Phish jams I have heard. Fishman running around the stage for HYHU was classic, and this may be the only first set Tweezer Reprise I ever saw.

The second set was solid, and Friday provided a great time to use the bathroom. When I went out into the lobby, I discovered a lemonade vender who I would solicit throughout the run. The rest of the show was overshadowed by the fantastic first set, but it was still great from start to finish. Not bad for the first night of a 4-night run.
I can’t recall what we did after the show except crashed after a long day of travel and music. The next night we would be even longer as we would also take in Particle at an after show.
During the day on the 29th, we would walk down Miami beach a half hour or more to get to south beach where we ate this diner with a bunch of pictures of celebrities on the wall. This was my 3rd visit to South Beach in almost as many years since I had gone to Florida for Spring Break a few times. We hung out around South Beach and took in the scenery before heading back to the hotel and getting ready for the show.
Like the night before, the scene in the lot was in full force. More Coronas, more stinky hippies…classic lot scene. For some reason, there seemed to be a lot of extra tickets floating around in Miami for the first 3 nights although the shows certainly sold out. Here is the setlist for night 2.

12/29/03 American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL
Set I: Piper, Foam, Anything But Me, Limb By Limb, Wolfman's Brother, Poor Heart, Cavern
Set II: Rock and Roll> Twist> Boogie On Reggae Woman> Ghost> Free, The Divided Sky, Good Times Bad Times
Encore: Waste, The Squirming Coil1

I really have not listened to the first set in awhile so I can’t say too much about it. People sometimes rave about the Piper, an interesting choice for an opener to a show. What I do recall as being amazing was the 2nd set. This was some rocking, funky, solid Phish. The best part is at the 6 minute mark of Boogie On where Trey goes from playing a major cord to a minor and the jam gets darker into Ghost. Then came the FREE. Free was rockin funky and featured some dueling between Trey and Mike. The rest of the show was fitting and included close to a double encore as the band left stage between Waste and Coil.
After the show, we walked through some ghetto parts of Miami (bums sleeping on the street) to a warehouse known as the Ice Palace where Particle would draw a moderately sized crowd for their set of Pink Floyd covers. Knowing how late Particle can go, we didn’t stay for the whole show, leaving at around 3:30am. Yet the first set of music was intense, as were the lights, and the sound was loud. I think we all stood a little too close to the right speaker and hurt our ears in the process, but I danced pretty hard. I liked the setting for the show although things seemed a little sketchy there in Miami’s poor area.
We made our way back to Miami beach and crashed hard.
I believe we ventured down to Miami beach the next day and had a different kind of meal at a restaurant more directly on South Beach. I recall drinking Presidente, a beer from the Dominican Republic that JCT raves about. It is better than a Corona, in fact it’s a pretty damn good beer. I haven’t had one since and I’ve asked at numerous places including Sam’s in Chicago. Someday I will have a Presidente again, and hopefully it will be the same day that Phish returns for another run in Miami.
We made our way back to the hotel and took a quick dip in the hotel pool. The hotel also had an outdoor bar but we hardly utilized it. The hotel was kinda dead, filled with randoms including the most high strung, NASCAR-loving redneck I have ever met (this story later).
I can’t recall if it was this day or the next that Lady A and Cowbell King BE arrived. They were both there for New Years and I think Lady A, JCT’s lady, might have been there earlier. We made our way to American Airlines Arena for the show. Here is the setlist from the 3rd night.
12/30/03 American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL
Set I: Wilson> Sand> Shafty> NICU, Weigh, Cities, Strange Design, Scent of a Mule, Bathtub Gin> Also Sprach Zarathustra1
Set II: Tube> L.A. Woman2> Birds of a Feather> L.A. Woman> Makisupa Policeman> Booty Ain't Nothing But a Butt Rap2 3> Give Up the Funk(Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)> P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up), Makisupa Policeman4, Down With Disease
Encore: Contact, While My Guitar Gently Weeps
First set……wow. Another great set with some great segues. I love the version of Sand, I dig the vocals on Cities, the Mule and the Gin are both great, and the 2001 set the tone for the rest of the show. The 2001 started out conventional until Trey started to tease “Play that Funky P-funk, so I can get funked up” a classic funk line from Pass the Peas, a song covered by Bump my 2nd favorite band and hometown favorite. That jam was worthy of a live feed to the Bump kids back in the cold. Parliament Funkadelic was scheduled to play in Miami that night after the Phish show. It turns out that they decided to show up for the 2nd set and rock out with Phish for a few songs. Honestly, it sounded horrible, but it was still cool to see famous guests come rock it out with the boys. Just to think of all the amazing musicians Phish has played with over the years – Santana, Bela Fleck, Kid Rock, BB King, Son Seals, John Popper, Dave Matthews, Les Claypool – you feel like you caught a moment in time when you are lucky enough to see Phish with a special guest.

The rest of the show was fun, including the Doors teases throughout the 2nd set. Musically, the first set was stronger, but the show was another memorable time of my life. Awe, wasn’t that a happy comment. I feel like Forrest Gump.
I don’t’ recall if we did much after the show that night. Most of us wanted to save up for New Years and long day and night that would be ahead of us. We booked our flights out of Ft. Lauderdale in the early morning on New Years Day.
I didn’t make it down to Miami beach on 12/31/03, instead opting to lay back and chill. In attempting to withdraw money from ATMs in Miami, I came to the realization that someone had charged a huge amount on my credit card, something like $300, to some cable company. I had to take out cash on another credit card just to get through the day. I was refunded (thank BankOne), but this is the only time I believe that I have gotten charges on my bill that I did not authorize.
We made it down to the venue, all 5 of us now, and we got our groove on for New Years. I believe I wore a Wings jersey that night, and got a funny picture with a cut out of George W. Bush. Suspecting that there were going to be posters sold at the show, we got to the venue early and got in line. We sprinted half-way around the venue to get the poster which was pretty cool. I framed the poster, but then traded it for tickets during the summer 2004 tour, specifically for my friends who would come home from New Zealand just in time to see the end of Phish.
I had a great time on New Years, but there were some things (that will remain untold) that sorta pissed me off about the night. Let’s just say I’m not a fan of wooks or drunks at Phish shows.
Here is the setlist:

12/31/03 American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL
Set I: Wilson1, Mike's Song> I am Hydrogen> Weekapaug Groove2, The Moma Dance, Guyute, You Enjoy Myself2, First Tube> Tube1
Set II: Stash, Seven Below, Lawn Boy, Chalkdust Torture2> Slave to the Traffic Light> Chalkdust Torture
Set III: Jungle Boogie3 4> Auld Lang Syne> Iron Man3, Runaway Jim, Simple, Reba, I Didn't Know, Feel Feel Feel The Heat3> HYHU, Run Like An Antelope
Encore: Frankenstein

Phish finished Wilson from the night before. The whole show was great and there were a bunch of people from a local marching band on stage at midnight. Good times all around. Musically, I preferred the other nights, but this was still a great experience.
After the show, we slowly made our way back to the hotel to relax a few hours before our flight. We hung out on the beach, listened to the waves, and kicked back. Everybody else tried to get a short sleep in before we left for the airport, but I chose to stay up since 2 hours of sleep wasn’t going to do much for me. I ended up in the hotel lobby talking to a middle aged, fat and balding, truck driver, in Miami with his family including his 18 year old daughter who had mysteriously disappeared with some dude in Miami and not kept her parents informed. This guy was waiting for her to come back so that they could leave and drive straight through back to Toledo, OH (22 hours away at least). He was pissed off, pissed about his hotel reservation, pissed about what he paid, pissed about another hotel shutting him out. He started to go into a rant about hotel problems he had with NASCAR when I brought up my story about sleeping in a Wal-Mart parking lot after Columbus in 1998. He wasn’t a happy camper, and acted like a know it all, but his anger kinda amused me in the early morning hours, especially after some of the bullshit I had dealt with that night. What a night filled with highs and lows, and it wasn’t over yet.
I went upstairs to the hotel room to wake up PS and JCT to go to the airport. It was kinda difficult to get a cab down there, and the cab drivers were a bunch of Carribean, non-english speaking assholes. Not to knock on folks from islands, or wherever this dude was from. So we finally were able to get a cab to come by and pick us up.
Recall that the cab ride from Ft. Lauderdale airport to Miami on the way in was a flat rate of $40. Since this was New Years, we figured to pay a little bit more to the driver or pay a fatter tip. The first offer he came up with was $60. We told him about the flat rate we had got, but finally we agreed to pay him $60 to get to the airport. PS rode in front while JCT and I sat in back.
About 3/4s of the way to the airport, the driver says something to the effect of “you are going to pay $80.” Of course he didn’t run the meter on the cab, so there wasn’t any way to cite it as a way to shut him up. I responded politely but firmly, “No, you agreed to take us there for $60. We’ll pay you $60.” We went on, and we thought that all was well. A few minutes later, he started getting pissed off again, driving erratically, and threatening to get off the highway if he didn’t pay him $80. He kept messing with stuff in his car as his anger grew. Finally, he reached under PS and it looked as if he was going to pull out a gun from under the seats to threaten us. He never pulled a gun, but we were not going to let this dude take us on some crazy detour when all we wanted to do was get to the airport. So somewhere within there, I told him that we would pay him $70 to shut him up and get him moving. I think JCT and PS were a little more nervous that I was. By that point in the night, I wasn’t going to let some piece of shit cab driver tell me what the f*ck was up. Had he not wanted to take us to the airport, he shouldn’t have agreed to it for the price that he did.
We dozed a bit in the airport and then got on our luxurious Spirit Airlines Flight back to Detroit. We got in and I immediately went to bed, knowing that in just a few hours, my good buddy CC would be waking my ass up to watch the New Years Day bowls, including my alma matter Michigan. Sure enough, after sleeping for about 3 hours, he came a knockin and the game was on.
Phish in Miami was electrifying. The run was one of the best ever in Phish’s history, certainly the best run of the post-hiatus era, and the best jamming since hiatus. Miami was a high point, and a great party overall. Most of the Phish community agrees that Miami was off the hook, not to be matched, and certainly better than the shows in Vegas in April. I want to thank my crew who was there – good people – you guys make these memories, remember that.
Until next time………

PHISH'S 20th Aniversary Run

2006-03-11T17:33:00.000-05:00

I’m very grateful that I was able to see Phish in some of the most legendary venues they had played in during the final year of touring. It would lead me to Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, the Spectrum in Philly, the Pepsi Arena in Albany (formerly the Knickerbocker or “the Knick” I believe), Saratoga Performing Arts Center just up the road from Albany, the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, and of course, Hampton Coliseum. (On a side note, a big regret was not seeing Phish at Madison Square Garden). I think traveling to new places gives a person such piece of mind, and I always see myself in a future career that allows me to go new places and reflect back on what I see. At some point, I’m going to buy a huge road map and highlight the terrain I have covered in this great country of ours.

In any case, I was unemployed and bored out of my mind in the Fall of 2003. Thank God you have good friends like NB there calling you Colorado, motivating you to get to these shows. I have to give a special shout out to him in this thread because he helped me score my NYE ticket to Miami while we were up north at his cottage. Also, in going to these shows, we missed our 5 year high school reunion. BOO f'ing HOO!!!

So we (NB, PS, and myself) took off the night of November 27^th, driving just into Pennsylvania before crashing at some hotel in Amish country. The next morning, I nearly killed us getting on the on ramp of the highway because I was an idiot trying to change the music. We did a 180 in the 4runner and ended up off road, but I got us out and moving toward Long Island. I was really thrilled for NB to see New York City (which I had really only ventured alone in for the first time that year) and I thought that we would get a nice shot of the west side of Manhattan going across the George Washington Bridge. Well, it was so foggy you couldn’t see anything, not even the Trump apartments directly on the other side. So he would only see the city from a distance on our way to Philly the next day.

We stayed at a hotel just a few miles from the venue. It was pretty cold at Nassau, and our seats were not that good, but I was really excited to see the boys that night. Here is the setlist.

11/28/03 Nassau Coliseum - Uniondale, NY

1: Bouncin' Round the Room*, Runaway Jim, Ghost -> Jam -> What's the Use, AC/DC Bag, First Tube, Frankie Says, Bathtub Gin -> Jam, Free

2: Waves, Sample in a Jar, Down with Disease -> Jam!, Walls of the Cave, Two Versions of Me, Crowd Control**, Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove

E: Crimes of the Mind***

Notes: * - with Julius teases;** - new song, with sociopolitical messages ("time has come for changes, do something or else I will");*** - with the Dude of Life on vocals ("Here's to 20 years and for 20 more, ladies and gentleman, Phish!") .

The show was pretty solid. I loved THE DUDE appearance with Crimes of the Mind. Listening to Trey rock that song out is just epic sounding. Too bad the dude jinxed the band when he said he was looking forward to 20 more years of Phish. The show was good overall.

After the show, we got a pizza from Dominoes and crashed.

In the narrow streets of Philly, NB had some employment connections and got us a nice room at a hotel downtown. The hotel was located directly above a mall too. Kinda weird. We met up with his friend DR there and took the subway over to the Spectrum. When we got of the train, I was caught a little off guard to see that all of Philly’s venues are built in the same area; the Spectrum, the First Union Center, the old football stadium, the new football stadium, the old baseball field and the new one. Weird.

Philly was also cold, but a few beers kept us warm in the lot. Our seats were not that good again, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the show. Here’s the setlist.

11/29/03 Wachovia Spectrum - Philadelphia, PA

1: Wilson, Cars Trucks Buses, Limb By Limb, Dirt, Seven Below, The Divided Sky, Fast Enough For You, Julius

2: Twist > Simple, Taste, Makisupa Policeman*, Buffalo Bill**, David Bowie, Strange Design, Character Zero

E: Friday

Notes: * - Trey says this is the official first Phish song (debuted 10/23/84, the only song known to have been performed at the first show where the band appeared as "Phish");** - With Tom Marshall (who co-wrote Makisupa Policeman, Buffalo Bill, and many others) on vocals; tenth performance of this song (debuted 11/21/92)

The next morning before taking off for Albany, we had to indulge in a famous Philly Cheese Steak sub…mmmmm. We then started the long drive north to Albany which would take us through the always crowded New Jersey Turnpike and the NY Thruway. Having traveled along the Pike that summer, I knew that it was going to be bad. Once we got to the thruway, things opened up. What was ridiculously striking to me was the traffic from upstate New York heading back toward New York City which was literally a traffic jam for what must have been over a hundred miles north of the city. Granted this was the end of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I was still taken back by how the line of cars went forever and feeling bad for those folks.

We got into Albany and got a room at some generic hotel where we had a huge meal at some steakhouse, had some beers, watched some football, and crashed.

The next day after dining at the extravagant Denny’s down the road, we headed into downtown Albany to the venue. The lot scene was crazy and compact, and it felt considerably different than the other shows in terms of how many hipsters were just hanging out, slinging goods. Here is the setlist from the show:

12/01/03 Pepsi Arena - Albany, NY

1: Chalkdust Torture, Stash, Guyute, Thunderhead, Sparkle, Wolfman's Brother, Good Times Bad Times

2: Tweezer -> 2001 -> You Enjoy Myself, Camel Walk*, Possum*, Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress**, Run Like an Antelope#

E: Fire^

Notes: * - with Jeff Holdsworth on guitar and vocals, singing tunes he wrote.;** - with Jeff on guitar and vocals, first song Phish ever played, "for old times' sake";# - with Jeff on guitar and vocals; also with Tom Marshall on vocals and bell; keyword was "spleef";^ - with Jeff Holdsworth on guitar

Our seats at Albany were pretty bad again, but I didn’t mind. I thought the show was going well until Jeff Holdsworth came on stage to reunite with Phish and pretended that he knew how to play guitar, or sing, or perform to a live audience. It was pretty pathetic, and I’m glad Trey drowned his sorry ass out.

After the show, we made our way back to the hotel in Albany. The next morning we picked up NB’s friend DR (the dude from the Philly story) which required a bit of running around Albany to find the right hotel.

When we got into Boston, we checked into our hotel which was literally a couple hundred feet from the Fleet Center. We met up JCT and NB’s good friend “Cwook” with the rolling eyeballs. Our hotel room was the size of a closet, and was supposed to house the 4 of us with others roaming in and out. This would make things interesting when we were going to crash later.

It was cold in Boston. I waited outside with NB to meet up with his other eccentric friend while PS and JCT went in and grabbed 20^th anniversary posters. (I later ended up purchasing a poster). The fleet center was huge, and people were pumped for this show. Here is the setlist.

12/02/03 FleetCenter - Boston, MA

1: Harry Hood*, Cavern, Birds of a Feather, Ya Mar**, Horn > Piper, Anything but Me, Water in the Sky, Down with Disease***

Setbreak Video: Half-hour montage of Phish since 1988 or so (practicing "Fluffhead," which ends when Trey breaks a string; Fishman drumming; young Page; Oh Kee Pa video; Halloween, festivals, and NYE footage, etc.; ends with an editor credit, and "We'll be back... in fifteen minutes")

2: Rock and Roll -> Weekapaug Groove -> Tweezer Reprise# > Frankenstein -> Kung## -> Frankenstein, All of These Dreams, The Wedge, Boogie On Reggae Woman > Cities, Maze, Waste

E: Bug

Notes: * - lyrics flubbed; ** - ended with "Banana Splits" theme (presumably after noticing someone with a large banana balloon in the row immediately behind the stage); *** - screen lowered behind band; # - first line of "Mike's Song" ("Trapped in time, and I don't know what to do") sung in place of the first line of "Tweezer Reprise"; ## - mini vocal jam and delay loop; Trey drops to ground each time "stand up" is said; ### - with mini "duel" between Trey and Page during Page's organ solo;

I thought the Boston show was solid. I loved watching the video montage because it reminded everyone the very humble, dorky roots the band came from. These 4 guys who I had dedicated thousands of dollars to seeing were just a bunch of goofballs from cow country who persevered to become one of the greatest bands ever.

After the show, we celebrated with more cocktails in our hotel room the size of a butthole. People came in and out, noise was made, and people started to get tanked. I lied down on the floor around 2am to try and get some sleep. It didn’t work very well. Where I slept was quite close to the door, and I recall the door being slammed on my head a few times as some people in the room continued to rage all night. JC left on a flight early, PS hardly slept because some jackhole was having too much fun. Bright and early, after perhaps an hour or 2 of crap sleep, we had to get on the road again. NB was still awake when we headed out of Boston, but finally fell asleep, and slept in the back of my car for literally 8 straight hours, not waking up once. By the time he woke up, the sun was starting to set on Lake Erie as we made our way back home through New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.

It had been another great adventure in the Phish touring history. The music was average overall, but the experience was like no other. Seeing those shows with PS and NB meant the world to me. It felt as if we had turned the clock back 5 years to Deer Creek when the touring adventure had started. Great times.

Thanks for all your patience in me writing this entry. I know it took awhile to get back on the train. Thanks for reading.

PHISH - Summer 2003

2005-09-17T16:21:00.000-04:00

I will be totally honest when I say that I don’t remember a whole lot about the first segment of shows at Alpine and Deer Creek in the summer of 2003. That summer was a little crazy for me personally, so I'm not surprised that I chose to block out some of it. I know that JH, TM, JB, MG, NB, AJ, JM, CW, JR, and others like PS and JCT were in the whole mix. Once again, many of crashed at AJ’ s place in Chicago (thank you Mrs. J), however instead of immediately leaving for Deer Creek, we took our time getting down there. We camped in our own compound in the middle of the field at 40 Acres, and had a good ole time. I don’t recall much musically that was great about these shows. Phish pretty much mixed a lot of their new stuff with the old stuff, but nothing spectacular like past years at Alpine and Deer Creek. And I recall that it was EASY to find a ticket at Alpine Valley. It was great to see shows with NB again since we had not seen shows together in more than 3 years. All in all, Summer 2003 would not be as crisp in mind as the Summer 2004.

Here are the setlists from all 5 of these shows:

07/18/03 - Alpine Valley Music Theatre - East Troy, Wisconsin

Set 1: Axilla, Rift, Bathtub Gin > Mango Song, Roggae, Discern, I Didn't Know^ > Dust in the Wind^*, David Bowie

Set 2: Down with Disease > Catapult, Bug, Secret Smile, Two Versions of Me, Twist, Character Zero

Encore: Harry Hood

^ w/ vacuum solo; * for Dave, who won the hotline contest

07/19/03 - Alpine Valley Music Theatre - East Troy, Wisconsin

Set 1: Sample in a Jar, Reba^, Wilson, Scents & Subtle Sounds, Maze, Driver, NICU* > Ya Mar*, Rocky Top*, Lawn Boy, Julius

Set 2: Piper > Rock and Roll > Seven Below > Prince Caspian, You Enjoy Myself

Encore: Wading in the Velvet Sea

^ no whistling at end; * all three songs consecutively contained "Play it Leo!"

07/21/03 - Verizon Wireless Music Center - Noblesville, Indiana

Set 1: Cities, Runaway Jim, Meat, Water in the Sky, Stash, My Old Home Place, Vultures, Birds of a Feather > Mike's Song > I am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove

Set 2: Suzy Greenberg > Taste > 46 Days > Tweezer > 2001 > Limb By Limb > Good Times Bad Times

Encore: Loving Cup> Tweezer Reprise

07/22/03 - Verizon Wireless Music Center - Noblesville, Indiana

Set 1: Punch You in the Eye, Beauty of my Dreams, Gumbo, Divided Sky, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Carini > Magilla*, Possum

Set 2: Split Open & Melt > Free > Friday, The Lizards, Walls of the Cave

Encore: Bouncing Around the Room > Frankenstein

* last played 7.4.00"

07/23/03 - Verizon Wireless Music Center - Noblesville, Indiana

Set 1: Scents & Subtle Sounds > Theme from the Bottom, Rift > Sample in a Jar, Sneaking Sally Through the Alley, Billy Breathes, Seven Below, Cavern

Set 2: Down With Disease, Squirming Coil, Makisupa Policeman, Buffalo Bill, Run Like An Antelope*, Thunderhead, Slave to the Traffic Light

Encore: Waste

* dedicated to Greg. Trey begins song by saying: "Don't let it get you down...""

The trip to Maine for IT was a more memorable experience because it was my first and only trip in an RV to see a Phish show. JCT brought together all his college buddies (including the legendary Murph) plus myself and PS for a trip that took us from Detroit to Cleveland to Boston and finally to Maine. In total, we were 11 or 12 deep, and I think we picked up one more for the ride home. We left on July 31^st from Detroit, stopped in Cleveland to pick up some folks, got to Boston pretty late at night as I recall, picked up someone else from the airport, which is when I took over driving for the late night/early morning shift. All the while, it was nice to chill in the RV, play cards, chat with folks, or sleep. I drove the late night shift through New Hampshire to the top of Maine. When we finally stopped the RV not far from Limestone, ME, someone ended up opening the door or moving the car when the steps to the RV were extended and ended up bending the metal on the gas pump. This was a bummer to JCT who put the RV thing together. In retrospect, while the RV was a great way to travel, the cost wasn’t worth it ($200 a piece).

In any case, we spent most of August 1^st at a standstill in traffic into the venue. Luckily, we had enough beer to sit out the day, meet people and relax. I ended up crashing in the late afternoon or early evening and waking up when the sun had set. Everyone else was beginning to crash, so I took over the wheel again for the late night shift.

There is something so surreal about that experience. I sat with a good friend of JCT (I think Phil), while everyone slept and we slowed moved towards the gates of I.T. You see lights for miles meeting at an intersection from 3 directions, filing in slowly to an abandoned air force base at the top of the United States. You feel like you are part of a little colony that has formed in the middle of nowhere. I am glad that I was awake to drive us in.

We settled in the RV area, set up our tent, wandered around for a little while, then crashed under the cool night air.

The next day, we went to explore the colony. We traveled the runways, sipped on beers, and took in the party. We made our way into the show in the afternoon. Here is the setlist from the first night:

08/02/03 - "IT" - Loring Commerce Centre - Limestone, Maine

Set 1: AC/DC Bag, Ya Mar > Runaway Jim, Reba*, Birds of a Feather, Meatstick**, Two Versions of Me, Vultures, Limb By Limb, Cavern

Set 2: Down With Disease > NICU -> Brother, Lawn Boy, Discern, Waves^, David Bowie

Set 3: Rock & Roll -> Seven Below -> Scents & Subtle Sounds^^ > Spread It Round, Bug

Encore: Dog Log, The Mango Song

"Set 4": The Tower Jam#

* with whistling; **Trey: "we'd like to honor that request" (referring to loud crowd chant for the song), and sung with Japanese lyrics; ^ with ambient jam; ^^ with Seven Below teases. #An all-improvised (and unannounced, though heavily rumored) set from the roof of the old air-traffic control tower, taking place about 2-3am, with special lighting by Chris Kuroda. Featured many teases, accompanied by dancers on rappel lines down the tower's sides. Thanks to Cody Schibi, Allan Morris, and PhantasyTour for the info.

After Phish completed the first three sets, we went back to our tent figuring that was the end to the night. I was lucky enough to stay up to witness the Tower Jam set on top of the control tower of the air base. It was quite a spectacle. I remember thinking if someone saw that from space, how crazy it would look. It was truly epic. I feel really bad for PS who fell asleep not long before the set started, and I feel worse for not waking him up. Sorry dude. At least you got a poster.

The next day, we were fortunate to walk into the venue and discover the poster line which had an image depicting the Tower Jam. PS ended up getting 2 posters and giving one to JC. This poster sits in my place in Ann Arbor as we speak. We then got into the show, getting pretty close and I snapped a few good pictures. Here is the setlist.

08/03/03 - "IT" - Loring Commerce Centre - Limestone, Maine

Set 1: Daniel (Saw the Stone), Saw It Again, Punch You in the Eye, Army of One, Chalkdust Torture, Wilson*, Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove

Set 2: Mellow Mood, Ghost** > Mist, Pebbles and Marbles, You Enjoy Myself > Chariots of Fire^, Loving Cup

Set 3: 46 Days, Julius, Lizards, Secret Smile, Run Like an Antelope^^

Encore: Good Times Bad Times#

* - Trey said something to the effect of: "Hey, Kevin, there's a post-able version of 'Wilson.' Ladies and gentlemen, the Shortest 'Wilson' Ever! I'd like to dedicated that to our archivist, Kevin Shapiro... And now: the longest 'Bittersweet Motel' ever - I'm kidding!" Then the crowd started an enormous chant for 'Fluffhead.' After conferring with the band, Trey said, "Mike says no" - and the band launched into 'Mike's Song'; ** - with massive glowstick war; ^ - Phish played the song in the background as the winners from the '100th Running of the First Annual Runaway Jim 5K' were brought up on stage and announced by Trey with photos on the video screen (the women's second-place finisher was actually Trey's neighbor "from right down the road" and the men's winner, from nearby Presque Isle, had a time of 15min for the 5k); ^^ - after the "downshift," Trey thanks the crew and the crowd; when the band returns to the song, they skip the "Rye rye rocco/Marco/Spike" lyrics section; # - with fireworks behind the stage during the close of the song; thanks to James Dean Young, Maria Valiente, and Andrew Saskin for corrections.

I was a big fan of the Chariots of Fire jam when the honored the people who ran in the 5K race. It was one of those feel good moments. The glowstick wars were crazy (newbs love those glowsticks). The fireworks were great and the music was solid. Phish seemed to have made a solid comeback that summer, climaxing with the IT musical experience.

After the show, we immediately departed. We took Canada on the way home which saved some time. At first, we encountered the same crazy fog in Canada, but things smoothed out when we got into Quebec and stopped at a Burger King for breakfast. We got home late afternoon to Detroit, and so concluded another great road trip. Thanks to JCT for hooking up the great ride and all those people that were there. I will miss going to Maine for these festivals.

Peace out.

POST HIATUS PHISH - Winter 2003

2005-08-21T22:07:00.000-04:00

Almost two and a half years after Phish decided to take a break, the band returned for a rare winter tour, making stops in the Midwest. Apparently I could have gone to the New Years show had I known that an extra ticket had come available sooner, but it is just as well I didn’t because I heard the show (and the subsequent shows at Hampton), were not a lot to write home about. So I would have to wait my turn until 2-20-03 at the Rosemont near O’Hare airport in Chicago where I had seen some solid shows back in 99. I hadn’t noticed it before, but airplanes landing at O’Hare fly directly over the arena, probably no more than a few hundred feet above. This seemed a bit strange to me in the post 9/11 world, but I guess if something bad were going to happen, at least I would get to see Phish in my final moments J.

In any case, CC and myself departed good ole G.P. (we were both recent unemployed graduates), made a stop to see a friend in K-Zoo, and made our way onto Chicago where we would crash with AJ. PS, JH, JMc (aka Wooderson), JB, TM, Poochie, and others would also be around for these shows and I think KP was there somewhere too (but you know how KP operates….jk). We arrived at the Rosemont quite early and it was f’in COLD! Tail gating consisted of sitting in the car and pounding beers. Here’s the setlist from 2-20-03.

Thursday, February 20, 2003
Allstate Arena, Rosemont, IL

Set I: Rift > Rock and Roll, Guyute, Driver, Waves > Simple, Gotta Jibboo
Set II: Tweezer > Punch You in the Eye > Fast Enough for You, Seven Below, Pebbles and Marbles
Encore: Golgi Apparatus, Anything But Me, Tweezer Reprise

I have to be honest when I say that this show was a HUGE disappointment for me. While it may not look all that bad on paper, I thought it really blew. Since then, I have listened to the Gotta Jibboo which was actually pretty solid, but I still don’t have fond memories of this show when compared to the following two nights in Cincinnati. A friend of mine (who is much more of a noob) swears that this was a good show, but CC and I both agree that this show was pretty lame and sounded bad. And it’s not that I didn’t like the new songs (except Seven Below, man that song sucks), it’s just that Phish definitely didn’t sound as crisp after hiatus as they did before the break. The Jibboo is a good song to work out to, however.

After crashing at AJ’s house in Chicago, we departed for Cincinnati where the Phish scene would literally take over the downtown. Our crew stayed at the Crown Plaza in Cinci in rooms just across the hall from one another. The Crown Plaza was a great place to party, especially in light of the fire at the Sheraton which forced the evacuation of the hotel at 5am after the first night.

After driving to Cinci, we didn’t have a lot of time to pre-party, but that didn’t matter because the show was spectacular. Here is the setlist from 2-21-03.

Friday, February 21, 2003
U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati, OH

Set I: Wilson > Frankenstein, Down with Disease, Lifeboy, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Run Like An Antelope, I Didn't Know
Set II: Mike's Song -> Free > Waste -> Also Sprach Zarathustra, Harry Hood, All of These Dreams, Possum > Cavern
Encore: Wading in the Velvet Sea
Show Notes: Lifeboy was played for the first time since November 25, 1998 (129 shows). I Didn't Know included some dancing antics from Trey, Page, and Mike, while Fishman took his vacuum solo. 2001 included teases of Stash, as well as Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring."

I sat next to a kid who was at his first show and kept nudging him the whole time about how awesome it was. I remember sitting with CC, lower bowl, dead center. I think the show peaked with the 2001; I still get goose bumps listening to this particularly when the Bach teases end and Mike turns up the base. Listening to the recording, it even sounds like someone is talking a bit during the beginning of 2001, a voice that sounds like Son Seals although it was probably Fishman. This is one of the few shows I have ordered off of www.livephish.com. The rest of the show speaks for itself except for the Wading encore, a bit of a let down even though the Wading Encore would become the classic closer to some great shows (6/19/04, 12/31/99, and others).

After the show, we took over a small bar for some drinks and food and partied into the night at the hotel. I remember we waited 2 hours for a pizza from the hotel, and played cards in the lobby. I think some airline pilots were particularly pissed with the noise the Phish fans were making in the hotel.

The next day, we scoped out parts of downtown Cinci and took our time getting ready for the show. AJ and I took so much time that we walked in after the first tune. None of us were disappointed by the show however. While the music couldn’t compare to the first night of Cinci, the concert was still solid. Here is the setlist.

Saturday, February 22, 2003
U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati, OH

Set I: The Sloth, Dogs Stole Things, Piper -> Weekapaug Groove, Dirt, Scent of a Mule, Walls of the Cave, Mountains in the Mist, Sample In a Jar
Set II: Tube > Bathtub Gin, Friday -> David Bowie, Bug
Encore: Suzie Greenberg
Show Notes: For the first known time, Weekapaug was played without Mike's Song (possibly to bring closure to the Mike's Song a night earlier). Gin included a down-tempo DEG tease.

We had seats in the lower bowl, Trey side as it was then I believe. The crowd really liked the breakout of Weekapaug to complete the Mike’s Groove from the night before. The highlight of the show for me was the start/stop jamming in Tube, and the Bathtub Gin was one of many great Gins played during that tour (2/14 and 2/28 top it IMO). I have lost most of my recording of this show except for the Tube and the Bathtub Gin which became a filler on another disc.

After the show, we again made a light night out of it at the Plaza hotel. While I wasn’t there, apparently some of the U of M kids ran into a kid who went apeshit over the Suzy Greenburg, and from now on, it will be known as Thuzie Greenberg. “Are u therious?”

So this was “theriously” a great little winter run of shows, with nice accommodations and great times with friends. I will remember them fondly. It was nice to see Phish back although I thought the music was less crisp as before hiatus. Still, I would be prompted to see 15 more shows in 2003, and 29 shows post hiatus, so obviously the magic was still there.

Thanks for reading, especially JCT. Sorry you didn’t make this edition; my memory is hazy but I’m sure you were chilling with your Miami folks.

Peace.

Phish in the Year 2000

2005-08-16T23:31:00.000-04:00

Despite the ability to see more than the 6 total shows I saw in 2000, I had become burnt out on Phish, and my priorities just were not straight in life. I ended up skipping some great shows at the beginning of the tour in Tennessee and Atlanta (that NB and PS went to) and where I had a great time the previous year, and I also skipped out on the final two shows of the tour even though I had tickets. To top things off, my car broke home on the way back from the final show I saw in Deer Creek, and after dropping the car off at a shop to get fixed, ended up having my car broken into, probably by the guy who ended up towing us. There I lost perhaps all the tour t-shirts that I had collected so far, some great CDs, my high-school lax shorts (the comfort value), and whatever other stuff that I’ve accepted by now. To top off the summer tour, I discovered that I had a tick on my body, and having been in a place called Deer Creek, I ran the risk of contracting lyme disease. So I made some dumb choices and ended up having some bad luck in 2000 with Phish, but whatever. I feel that some of the great times I had post hiatus (especially in 2004, except for Vegas) more than made up for this lull in my Phish career. This isn’t to say that I didn’t have fun because I genuinely enjoyed every moment except for the bad karma that came my way from not doing it “right.”

We began our journey from Ann Arbor on July 6^th 2000 in KP’s Jeep Cherokee with her dude of the time N (you know, I don’t even remember the dude’s last name, so let’s call him BFW for Bagel Factory Wook), and KP’s now long term dude, my personal hero from Hotlanta, Mr. BB. Of course then all 3 of them were hooked on the patchwork, but we all have phases. Anyways, I made a dumb call in suggesting we go through Sarnia on our way to Toronto. Well, because BWF’s wallet was made out of hemp, and the anal Canuck’s sniffing dog got a crazy scent from the wallet, we were delayed more than an our at the border. (No offense to our neighbors to the north, we think you’re cool, but we just ran into a neurotic agent at the border that never found anything on us because we weren’t that stupid to go into Canada with anything bad.) So we got to Toronto a little late, but the show went on. Here is the setlist:

07-06-00 Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto, Ontario

1: Reba, Dog Stole Things, Taste, Dog Faced Boy, Heavy Things, Moma Dance, First Tube, I Didn't Know, The Inlaw Josie Wales, Prince Caspian > Golgi Apparatus, You Enjoy Myself (1:50)

2: Limb by Limb, Also Sprach Zarathustra, Bug, Piper, Driver, Harry Hood*, Loving Cup

E: The Squirming Coil

*Trey commented on how beautiful Toronto is.

The biggest thing to note about this show is the length of the first set, but also the great choice of songs throughout. I was very impressed by this show, but really have failed to listen to since then. So I can’t really comment on the quality in retrospect although I remember the YEM was a great time. I spent half the show chilling alone until I ran into 99 vets LE and finally NB who I had tickets with. Or maybe that was 99? Like I said in a previous blog, I don’t remember a whole lot about 2000.

We skipped the show at StarLake since it had been a bit of disappointment the year before although on paper the setlist looked pretty darn good. Instead after Toronto we made the long drive back to Ann Arbor and chilled a day before heading to Alpine Valley, or we might have gone to Chicago early…whatever. Let’s just say the regulars were there, CC, NB, PS, and KP. JCT, CC2, JB, and even QB were around by the time we got to Deer Creek. And AJ (shafty) came with us to Alpine and I’m pretty sure we crashed at here place. Alpine turned out to be a great show. Here is the setlist.

07-08-00 Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI

1: Punch You in the Eye, NICU, My Soul, Poor Heart, Wolfman's Brother, First Tube, Llama, Guyute, Run Like an Antelope

2: Heavy Things, Piper -> Rock and Roll, Tweezer > Walk Away, Twist, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Possum

E: Suzie Greenberg, Tweezer Reprise

I explicitly recall calling the PYITE opener, the Antelope was great, and the whole 2^nd set was solid. After the show, we dropped AJ off in Chicago, and me, NB, and PS continued on to Deer Creek in the early dawn, claiming out campsite under the tree at 40 Acres campground from the year before. CC2 (who I recall was in neck brace from a car accident), JB, also stayed at 40 Acres while KP, Mr. BB, and BFW stayed across the way at Dead Creek. Even before the 3 night run of Phish started, we took in the Phil and Friends and Bob Dylan show at Deer Creek. Phil and Friends was brief and Bob Dylan was, you know, a Bob Dylan concert.

Deer Creek was hot as usual, but we definitely found ways to pass the time with cold Sammy Smiths, NB pawning off Red Stripes, trips to Steak and Shake, and everything else there was to enjoy in the middle of corn fields in Indiana. I remember a couple of fun nights down there when the serenity and laughter were truly surreal. The most amazing thing to happen all weekend outside of the great music was sleeping in one morning until 11am, something unheard of at Deer Creek in the middle of the summer.

Anyways, here are the setlists:

07-10-00 Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN

1: Cars Trucks Buses > Wilson > It's Ice > Bathtub Gin, Buffalo Bill, My Mind's Got a Mind of it's Own, Split Open and Melt, Sparkle > Funky Bitch, David Bowie (1:17)

2: Gotta Jibboo > Sand, Twist, Fee > What's the Use > Limb by Limb > Loving Cup (1:07)

E: Run Like an Antelope (0:11)

07-11-00 Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN

1: Ya Mar*, The Moma Dance, Uncle Pen, Drowned > Chalkdust Torture Jam** > Chalkdust Torture, Theme from the Bottom, Cavern (1:09)

2: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Down with Disease -> Moby Dick > Down with Disease > Runaway Jim -> Moby Dick, Back on the Train -> Moby Dick -> Back on the Train, Harry Hood# -> Moby Dick, Hold Your Head Up > Terrapin## > Hold Your Head Up > Moby Dick^ > Hold Your Head Up, Character Zero (1:19)

E: First Tube > Moby Dick > Chalkdust Torture Jam^^ (0:10)

*With Trey on keys. **Bizarre jam, with the words "chalkdust torture" (not the lyrics to the song of that name) sung over it; lasted about 5 minutes; previously played 12/10/94. #With "Moby Dick" teases during the intro. ##Fish introduced as "star of the film Gladiator, Russell Crowe"; with vacuum solo; Fish introduced the entire band; a small cactus was put on stage by Mike's amp; Trey introduces Chris Kuroda. ^With Trey drum solo and Jon vacuum solo. ^^Reprise of the "Chalkdust Torture Jam" from the first set; afterwards; Trey said he hoped everyone who is camping has a good time, announces that "we are the Phish from Vermont," and suggested that if people missed anything that they read the book or see the movie

07-12-00 Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN

1: My Friend My Friend* > The Curtain With > Tube > Heavy Things, Billy Breathes, Beauty of My Dreams > Free, Axilla**, The Squirming Coil (1:12)

2: Birds of a Feather, Piper, Crosseyed and Painless -> Prince Caspian > The Meatstick# (0:58)

E: Wading in the Velvet Sea (0:06)

*Unfinished; no "Mife" or laughing at the end. **With "Axilla [Part II]" ending. #Dance done by Trey and Mike; Trey thanked the crowd for this being their sixth year at Deer Creek, and dedicated the song to the fans who didn't get in.

I have listened to all of these shows at one time or another. Obviously, the second set the 2^nd night will go down as one of the zaniest live performances ever with the crazy Moby Dick jams, and Trey babbling. I was really happy to hear the Crosseyed and Painless on the 3^rd night, and the Jibboo and Sand from the first night were very smooth and spacey. The 2^nd night really overshadowed the other 2 nights. If not for the Crosseyed and Painless on the 3^rd night, I could have seen the first 2 shows and be just as happy (The Meatstick was pretty old by that point). We had seats on the lawn all 3 nights, so nothing like the set up we had for past years.

After the last night, I sold my remaining tickets for Columbus, chilled with my boys, headed to C Bus with them, and was picked up by AJ who had gone back to Ann Arbor after Alpine. She picked me up in my car at a hotel just north of Columbus which is when all the bad karma of leaving tour early set in.

Overall, Summer 2000 was great music and good times, but a bit lost otherwise in my collective memory of Phish. No worries because I have others who remember it better than I who might elaborate on the story someday.

I saw one show in the fall of 2000 at Cuyahoga Falls, just south of Cleveland Ohio. I absolutely loved this venue and ended up getting some pretty good seats close to the stage. If I recall, AJ and PS went to this show with me, and JH might have come along too. The show was pretty average, but I have always wanted to find a good excuse to go back to Blossom to see a show since then. Here is the setlist.

09-18-00 Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, OH

1: Carini, Sparkle, The Sloth, Maze, Guelah Papyrus, My Mind's Got a Mind of its Own, Sample in a Jar > Rift, Sleep, Prince Caspain

2: Boogie On Reggae Woman* -> Twist, McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters, Halley's Comet

E: Axilla -> Taste

*The jam into 'Twist' featured Trey on keys.

The show was good except for perhaps the encore and the fact that Trey seemed very out of sync with the rest of the band. They left him on stage wailing his guitar out during Halley’s, which while is one of my favorite songs, turned out to be messy.

I probably could have gone to the show in Cinci a few nights later and I should have made the voyage with my U of M kids to the shows in Chicago over the next weekend, but the ending of the show at Cuyahoga symbolized my burnout with the music itself. And that was fine because the band was taking a break and I was taking a break from Phish as well, so it worked out nicely. When the post hiatus shows would come around, I would get psyched up again for the whole Phish experience even though there ups and downs post hiatus as well.

Hoped you enjoyed another story in the whole Phish experience. The post hiatus shows should have a few more vivid details and some better times. When you see a band 66 times and balance life with something that you enjoy as much as seeing Phish, you are bound to learn a lot of lessons about life and your priorities.

Peace.

Phish - The Millenium Shows

2005-07-21T22:31:00.000-04:00

It’s been a long time since I’ve shot out some words about Phish. Still love the guys, and hope they come back someday. I expressed some thoughts about it on PT, and it sums it up well.

“They should have become one of those bands that came to your town on the weekend and rocked it out, brought on special guests, took their time, learned their old songs again, and throw in a few more Dead tunes. I think if they had brought in more special guests from the jamband community, it would be cool. That would have kept it new, and Trey wouldn't be bitchin about having to play YEM.

I'm not bitter at all that it's over. If they don't reunite, they left a lot of good music that I haven't even discovered. It never grows old, but I can see how the band (or Trey) thought it was too much of a circus. And if they were to come back, I wouldn't break my back to go see them unless it was Miami or Vegas or near where I lived.

My 2 cents.”

Whatever.

So anyhow, the part about finding new Phish to listen to or rediscovering is very true. I just found the 11-17-97 Ghost from McNichols in Denver, and a Reba from 7-6-94. Always finding great stuff. Right now, I’m really into the greatness of 7-25-99.

Time to reminisce.

BIG CYPRESS – Millenium 2000

It seems like so long since Y2K. A lot has changed in my life since then. I have somewhat bittersweet memories of the whole experience. I think you realize how little choices made in your life can really impact you for the rest of your life. While I had a great time at Cypress, there were things that could have been different. I strive to reject a life that lives in regret. I write down the past mostly for the entertainment of others and to have an archive for my children or perhaps for some book with meaning that 5 people might buy.

Back to the past, a huge group of us made the voyage down to Florida to bring the new millennium in with Phish at the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation. You could not have asked for better accommodations to see Phish and hang out with your friends; hot weather, the condo that PS’s parents provided, and the prime spot we got at Big Cypress.

Our crew left the big D a number of days before the shows over the new year. We arrived at 5am into Bonita Springs?, FL where PS folks had a sweet setup. In our crew was AJ (shafty), BW, NB, CC, PS, KP, JC? LE? RJ, and perhaps others. We hung out a few days in Florida which got a little crazy for me. I almost lost it in conflicts between old friends and new, but things ended up working out.

We spent a day at the beach while in Bonita Springs, then headed down to Alligator Alley toward Big Cypress. NB got in a little accident with the Burban at a gas station, but nothing that was going to stop the trek. We got camping not far from the gates to the venue. I remember the Timber, Curtis Lowe, and What’s the Use soundcheck. I recall seeing EM too. If you were a phan, you were there. The weather was great, the common area a little half ass, but overall great setup. I don’t recall much about the first night, but here is the setlist.

12-30-99 Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation, FL

1: Water in the Sky, Light Up or Leave Me Alone^, Suzie Greenberg, Corrine Corrina, Limb By Limb, +Che Hun Ta Mo*, Big Alligator Song*, Possum, Farmhouse, Ghost, Ya Mar, Character Zero (1:39)

2: Wilson, The Curtain > Tweezer -> Taste, Meat, Golgi Apparatus, Wolfman's Brother, Gotta Jiboo, Harry Hood, Good Times Bad Times (1:35)

3: Chalk Dust Torture, The Moma Dance, Run Like an Antelope, The Sloth, When The Circus Comes, Mike's Song > Simple -> I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove++ (1:20)

E: Boogie On Reggae Woman > Tweezer Reprise (0:10)

^Traffic cover (from the album "Low Spark of the High Heeled Boys"). +Trey announces that the band will play all night, will not leave the stage to go to the bathroom, and will be surrounded by security to keep them on stage, then introduces the guests. *With Seminole Indian Chief Jim Billie on lead vocals and guitar, John McCuen on mandolin/banjo, and someone else on lead electric guitar. ++With "Auld Lang Syne" tease at midnight.

The millennium crazy for me as well. To describe the whole story in detail would be too much of a downer for me and I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. We were in close when the midnight set started. The hot dog that Phish rode in on was 5 feet from us. It was probably the closest I ever got to the band. I remember people trampling about after the music started and a woman with her baby who I was worried about. Then I went back to chill with the lady, and enjoyed most of the show from the edge of the campground. Here is the setlist from New Years.

12-31-99 Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation, FL

1: Runaway Jim+, Funky Bitch, Tube, I Didn't Know*, Punch You in the Eye, Bouncing Around the Room, Poor Heart, Roggae, Split Open and Melt** -> Catapult, Get Back on the Train, Horn, Guyute, After Midnight*** (1:46)

2: #Meatstick^ -> Auld Lang Syne, Down with Disease -> Llama, Bathtub Gin^^, Heavy Things^^^, ^^^^Twist Around > Prince Caspian > Rock and Roll, You Enjoy Myself%, Crosseyed and Painless, The Inlaw Josie Wales%%, Sand -> Quadrophonic Topplings%%%, Slave to the Traffic Light, Albuquerque, Reba, Axilla, Uncle Pen, David Bowie, My Soul, Drowned -> After Midnight reprise, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Bittersweet Motel, Piper** -> Free, Lawn Boy, Hold Your Head Up > Love You%%%% > Hold Your Head Up, Roses are Free, Bug, $Also Sprach Zarathustra > Wading in the Velvet Sea, Meatstick$$ (7:45)

Set 2 was played from midnight to sunrise, non-stop. +With marshmallow war, lots of balloons, and aerial tortillas. *With Fish on vacuum. **Unfinished. ***First time played; J.J. Cale cover from the album "Naturally" (best known for the Eric Clapton version). #Set begins around 11:35 pm with Father Time on stage pedaling away at a stationary bike, powering a large clock, with the sound of the gears on the PA (possibly a Siket Disc track?). At approximately 11:50 pm, Father Time collapses from exhaustion and the clock stops. At this time, with appropriate sound effects, a large fan boat entered the field from halfway back, stage right. Soon the sides and top of the fan boat were blown off to reveal the band riding in the hot dog from 12-31-94. The hot dog approached the stage as the band threw leis and other goodies into the crowd. Once the hot dog reached the stage, the band disembarked carrying several meatsticks. They fed these to Father Time, reviving him to drive to clock to midnight. ^Instrumental version, with the band picking up the song from a pre-recorded version played during the hot dog ride. ^^With vocal jam, as Trey, Mike, and Page sang the notes as they played them. ^^^Recorded live for ABC's Millennium coverage; Trey instructed the crowd to chant the word "Cheesecake" after the song (instead of applauding), in an attempt to confuse TV viewers; Trey introduced the band for the recorded footage and offered a message of peace and harmony for the world ("The right lane is for driving. The left lane is for passing. So stay in the right lane unless you're passing."). ^^^^Preceded by "Meatstick" tease (possibly as Central Time hit midnight). %With "Cheesecake" vocal jam. %%Trey solo acoustic. %%%With Mike holding up a voice box, repeating the phrase "Quadrophonic Toppling." %%%%With Fish on vacuum; Fish introduced Page before the song, and Mike and Trey afterwards, and the band as "Phish 2000." $Preceded by a tease of the "Harry Hood" intro. $$No encore; post-show music was the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun."

Hearing Crosseyed was a great moment, as was the Sand. We saw a lot of crazy things that I will remember. We saw one woman who must have been very high on drugs, screaming at the top of her lungs as if she had seen death. It was freaky. But the coolest thing we saw was a guy in a superman outfit, walking in slow motion with a beer in each hand. It was a classic photo seeing this guy go into the concert grounds solo. I heard the whole show (except those 20 minutes in the Burban, sorry Dogg).

In retrospect, I should have stayed in with my peeps instead of taking off with my lady, but it was still memorable. When the sun rose, we watched out peeps return exhausted. KP brought back 2 future boyfriends for a moment, and we were on our way back up north. I drove the first leg, and we stopped for the night somewhere around Atlanta. I fell asleep before I could witness Michigan’s awesome triumph in the Citrus Bowl which we practically drove by on the way home.

So that is the story of the millennium and Phish. Pretty lame. Great music, epic memorable times, cheesecake, but not at the top of my list for shows.

As I embark on sharing the experiences of 2000, I want to warn everyone that I don’t remember a lot from the 2000 shows. I’m not sure why I remember 1999 so much better, but I think Phish was starting to get old in 2000. My heart wasn’t there, and I wasn’t the only one who would suffer. I probably let down my peeps a bit, but at least we had so many other great times together.

Priorities was the lesson of Big Cypress & 2000.

The EPIC Phish Fall 1999

2005-05-07T11:39:00.000-04:00

After coming off the greatest summer of Phish, I was still on a tremendous high about this band. What made things cooler was being able to somewhat introduce Phish to my new roommates from TC when we moved into together at the U. 10/3/99 at the All State Arena in Chicago was my Michigan buddy JH’s first show.

10-03-99 Allstate Center, Rosemont, IL

1: First Tube, Farmhouse, Dogs Stole Things, The Divided Sky, Heavy Things, Horn, Carini, Ginseng Sullivan, Get Back on the Train, Maze, Bouncing Around the Room, Guyute (1:28)

2: Twist Around, Possum, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday -> Avenu Malkenu, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars*, David Bowie, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Harry Hood (1:18)

E: Funky Bitch**, Messin' with the Kid**

*Trey played one verse with his guitar behind his head. **With Sugar Blue (harmonica) and Son Seals (guitar and vocals).

As I recall, it was very rainy outside at this show. I believe CC made his way up from Purdue to meet up at the show and I shafty may have been there too. I don’t remember a lot about the experience except for the Son Seals jam at the end that rocked the house. I have listened to this show since it happened and may even have a copy, but it has truly been quite awhile. I will try to fill in more details later about the experience, but I honestly don’t remember a whole lot.

And then came the December shows…….

The boys decided to start their drive to the millennium in the big D on 12-2-99 at the Palace. This would be Phish’s final show at the Palace and their final in the state of Michigan. This weekend would be one of the greatest weekends of Phish I would see and probably the high point of all my touring with Phish. That isn’t to say that I didn’t like Phish the next 38 times that I would see them. I just think I was fortunate to see them during what I perceive as a really high point of their musical talents, when everything just clicked and they made epic music.

Enough rambling though….

Wow. I think old skool KP, UofM dude JH, and myself left A2 and headed for the Palace. I think it was pretty cold that day. We ran into and chilled with a ton of people from past shows including LE, JG, and the summer tour kids. I believe that this show was the first for a lot of other Ann Arbor folk; JB, and for TM who would be there at the bittersweet end of Phish in Vermont in 2004. I know JCT was there and so was PS.

In any case, I remember not really getting much of a buzz at this show. We had seats on the floor, Mike side (or Trey side as it probably was then) about halfway back from the stage. I remember that the backside of the stage didn’t fill, so they didn’t sell out. Regardless, I will declare it now….

12-2-99 is the most underrated show in Phish history.

12-02-99 The Palace, Auburn Hills, MI

1: Runaway Jim, Farmhouse*, Heavy Things, Roggae, Run Like an Antelope, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Poor Heart, Sample in a Jar, Free, The Squirming Coil (1:18)

2: Boogie On Reggae Woman, Gotta Jiboo, Bathtub Gin** -> Also Sprach Zarathustra, You Enjoy Myself*** -> Little Drummer Boy# (1:19)

E: Bold as Love (0:06)

*With slightly different vocal arrangement (refrain at end). **Unfinished; with "Also Sprach Zarathustra" teases. ***With silent jam. #Basically part of the vocal jam, which ended with Fish alone onstage, standing behind his drums, singing "Little Drummer Boy" (possibly with "vulgar variations" such as "I want to make love to you, ba rum ba rum ba bum bum").

Where do I start?

A sick funky Antelope, a rockin Free, a jamming Boogie On, a solid Jibboo, the most raging Bathtub Gin ever played, a spacey beautiful 2001, an emotional YEM, and a standard Axis encore. (No offense to the Axis lovers, but I heard this song as encore the most of any song besides maybe Squirming Coil) Everyone who listens to Phish should own this show. This show owns serious face in the realms of Phishtory. (Dude, what did I just say?) So the point is here is that you should own this show, and read the book, see the movie, and buy the action figure (Trey is a Jedi).

After the show, JH and KP and I headed back to the big D to get ready for our Friday roadtrip down to Cincinnati. This would be my first venture into Cinci (and my only venture to Miami of Ohio). And I want to send a special thanks out to KP for driving the Jeep, or letting me drive. Sorry about that detour on the way home. You can tell your folks you went to Indiana, hurray!

So the crew going down to Cinci was JH, KP, and longtime Phish vet, my only close friend to see more shows than me, PS. Before we left Detroit, JCT called me saying he was stuck on the side of the road in Ohio, off of I-75, at something like exit 119 or 118. His kidz at Miami were obviously closer to him then we were (1 hour vs. 3 hours away) so we really didn’t think we were really going to be his savior that day. So we noticed exit 118 or 119 about a quarter mile before we took it. A split second decision really made the difference in the decision to see if JC was still stranded.

And who do we see, sitting at a gas station on the corner, waiving their hands and rejoicing at our arrival? None other than JCT and his buddy Murph. We hadn’t spoken in 3 hours, and there they were shivering in the cold, waiting for a miracle. So the 2 of them hopped into the Jeep, one of them in the trunk, and we continued on our journey down to Cinci. (Your welcome, dude)

I don’t recall if we went to Oxford before going to the show, but I know we crashed in Oxford both nights during PS’s semester long adventure at Miami. There was one particularly animated character hanging outside the First Star center who gave us an hours worth of entertainment as he begged for an extra ticket. We met up with CC and one his friends from Purdue (::pumps arm:J) Anyways, here is the setlist from the first night.

12-03-99 Firstar Center, Cincinnati, OH

1: First Tube, Wolfman's Brother, Bouncing Around the Room, Get Back on the Train, Billy Breathes, AC/DC Bag > Possum, Slave to the Traffic Light (1:09)

2: Sand*, Limb by Limb, Bug, Piper, Harry Hood** (1:08)

E: Rock and Roll (0:06)

*With Trey on keys. **With glowrings, and Trey waving his guitar for feedback at the end.

I can’t say that I recall a whole lot about this show. I think we sat Mike’s side (which will become as usual as time goes on) but definitely not on the floor.

After the show, we went back to Oxford (about an hour drive?) and chilled at Miami of Ohio, got Bagel and Deli the next morning, and headed back to the venue. This night, I would have the best seats that I would ever have for a Phish show; second row right in front of Trey (your welcome KP. The bad news was that before the show, I was feeling incredibly sick, like strep throat, dizzy, fever sick. Going into the venue, I didn’t know if I could actually handle the show.

And here comes by shoutout for the weekend – the medical staff at the First Star Center in Cincinnati. They hooked me up with some powerful cold, Sudafed type pills and told me to drink a lot of water. This helped me so much that I can’t thank those people enough. You kick ass in my book.

12-04-99 Firstar Center, Cincinnati, OH

1: Heavy Things, Simple, Ya Mar, Guyute, Tweezer -> Dirt, Loving Cup (~1:00)

2: Down with Disease, Split Open and Melt*, The Moma Dance, Farmhouse, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, When the Circus Comes, David Bowie (1:13)

E: Julius, Tweezer Reprise

*Man jumps on stage, is chased by 2 security guards around, finally jumping on Page's baby grand.

So being in second row and hearing an amazing Phish show, needless to say, I had a rockin time. I got some great photos too. Thank you to the security guards that did not take JCT’s camera. I just got a fresh copy of this show and it sounds sweet. The Moma is very toit as is the Bowie, the Tweezer, and everything else. It was a great finish to this 3 night run of shows. And sitting in those great seats, I quickly tuned out the fact that I was really getting sick.

I feel that this 3 night run from 12.2 to 12.4.99 was my high point for Phish, even with the shows coming up at Big Cypress Seminole Inidan Reservation down in the Florida Everglades. And for Phish, it would be the kick off of a great December tour with great shows in Albany, Philly, and at 12-18-99 at Hampton (great show to own as well).

We went back to Oxford for the night then started heading back to Detroit the next day. We took a small detour that took us to Indiana (thank you very much) but we eventually got back on the right path and headed back to the U. I had a great time in Cinci, a city I have become much more familiar with through other shows and family who live on the outskirts of city.

I want to thank everyone who made this experience so memorable, KP, JH, PS, JCT, Mph, and CC; Thank you from the bottom of my heart. These were the best days of Phish for me, much better than Cypress and more memorable than all of 2000.

THANKS FOR READING. PEACE FOLKS.

The Wailers in the Big D

2005-04-19T21:09:00.000-04:00

Last Wednesday, a group of us decided to make the annual pilgrimage to see the Wailers in downtown Detroit. I have seen the Wailers a total of 3 or 4 times along with Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. The first time I saw the remnents of Bob Marley was at Tastefest in Detroit years back; a free concert in the middle of the city and the people jumping with love for the reggae style.

After getting off work, live music veteran PS picked myself, CC (a huge Marley fan) and the lovely JH (a.k.a. MiniMartha) up and drove us down to Union Street for dinner. Union Street is located directly across from Majestic theatre where the Wailers would put on their show. We drank some tasty Oberons and ate some excellent food (MiniMartha suggested the spinach salad with steak). We can thank MiniMartha for the excellent restaurant choice.

We headed across to the Majestic to take in the opening band called deSol, a latin-sounding, Santana-like band from Jersey. It was good music to set the pace for the Wailers and they even broke out Santana's Oye Como Va. They plugged their CD a lot. It was just funny to hear a bunch of Latin dudes announce they were from Jersey. Maybe I'm outta the loop on that one.

By the time the Wailers started, I had a few more beers and I decided to go back and chill with some of our other acquaintances there from the band Bump (www.bumpgroove.com) including CC2, EN (a.k.a. Ndz), and the Greek. They happen to be hanging out with a legend in his time Skeeto Valdez, the new drummer for Trey Anastasio's (Phish) new band 70VP, or Zooma, or whatever. Anyhow, I shook his hand, told him I looked forward to seeing him jam down in Columbus next month. Cool dude for sure.

The music was good, but there wasn't as much energy at this show as in 2004. And there just were not enough black people - way too many of us white people. So the show lacked a little energy, but we still had a lot of fun. They played lots of the hits we all know by Marley and the Wailers. Overall, a good time.

Jah lives mon!

The “Spread” Comes to the BIG D

2005-04-08T17:41:00.001-04:00

This thread goes out to BB from Hotlanta.

I went to Widespread Panic on April 1^st, 2005 at the State Theatre in Detroit. I have seen Widespread at Bonnaroo as well as at the State Theatre before. I do not consider myself to be a true fan of Widespread Panic – in fact, there are times where I would rather sit in a lawn chair and listen to the music, as we did at Bonnaroo. I hoped that a return to a smaller setting would change my opinion of the Spread. Either way, Spread is definitely not Phish nor was this show as impressive musically as moe. I really liked being at the State Theatre, and having floor seats, and chilling with some great people including my good friend KP and the heady bunch JH, eJ, bJ, and even silly (a kid who I once witnessed accuse every person in the room of being a narc). TW, a kid that I had gone to SPAC with last summer was also there.

I left GP to go down to the BIG D around 6pm. We parked at the CoPa and double-timed it down to the Town Pump. I was greeted by my good friend Bell’s Oberon who I had not seen fresh in many a month. A Jager bomb was downed, acquaintances were made, and we trekked down to the State. The outside security at the State was run by some rude folks, standing in stark contrast to the security on the inside, but whatever. The State theatre is a great party venue, perfect for the true Widespread fans that live it up.

04/01/05 State Theater, Detroit, MI

1: Travelin' Light, All Time Low > Little Lilly > Rock, Wondering > Junior, Mercy > Thin Air (Smells Like Mississippi) > Henry Parsons Died

2: Give > Hatfield > Pusherman > Let Her Cry > Greta > Drums > Papa Legba, Imitation Leather Shoes, Ain't Life Grand

E: May Your Glass Be Filled > Tall Boy

[Only 'Let Her Cry'; Everyone remained on-stage during 'Drums'; 'The Other One' jam after 'Mercy']

Honestly, I had a good time at the show. I was just not very impressed by the music. I didn’t hear or feel enough bass, I didn’t hear enough spacey or funky exploration (my tastes), and I thought the lights behind them didn’t fit Panic. I know they used to have a different setup, but somehow the equalizer lights didn’t go with their southern style. Regardless, I danced hard and had a great time. I ran into some high-school friends as well including SD, his bro, TS, and JW.

After the show, we took our time making the short journey across the street to see Smokestack at 5^th Avenue (a bar attached to Comerica Park). Our group was a raucous bunch – some of them took it upon themselves to take a short nap on a limo right in front of the State. When we finally got across the street, we spent almost 2 hours listening to Smokestack which often sounded a lot better than Widespread. My good buddy KP seemed to be having a good time.

We went back to the Athenium, one of the best hotels in Detroit to chill with some of KP’s friends who had a room there. We decided to hit up Greektown Casino where I didn’t leave a winner, unfortunately. Finally, we headed back to the eastside late and called it a night.

So the concert was fun, but it was a Widespread Concert. It’s not really something I would dish out another $35 for again, but I had a great time partying in the BIG D. Thanks for reading.

Duran Duran @ The Palace March 24th, 2005

2005-04-04T23:20:00.000-04:00

The last time I had been to a concert at the Palace was 1999 when I saw Phish there. I have seen Grand Funk Railroad, Page & Plant, the Dead, Dave Matthews and every Phish show (4) at the Palace. Duran Duran, the show I attended 2 weeks ago, was probably the last show that I thought would break my hiatus from the Palace of Auburn Hills. For this, I thank a kind ladyfriend from work who was kind enough to guide me into the world of Duran Duran.

Let’s get a few things straight first. I am not much of a fan of 80s music and Duran Duran was about as 1980s as you can get. I admire some 80s bands like the talking heads, and later 80s bands like Guns N’ Roses, but other than that, my attention to 80s music is a bunch of one hit wonders or bands that actually were born in the 70s. I am trying really hard to expand my musical horizons, but I’m sorry JCT – those Indie bands are just not gonna cut it. So as my music tastes lie in a funk since Phish ended, I really want to go see new music and revisit those bands that I had not really given a chance (moe. & Widespread Panic) and those bands who I would have discounted as not something that would fit my musical tastes.

In any case, I went to this show with a ladyfriend (CK) from work and her older brother who seemed like that cool concert going kind of dude. We got to the show pretty early and spent an hour or so sipping those wonderful domestic $7 beers and did some people watching. This is your crowd at a Duran Duran show: hot refined chicks, 35 to 40 something ladies with butch cuts or mullets, a few 80s rock stars, some dudes, but the ratio overall was probably 4 or 5 ladies for every one gent. Oh yeah, and DB – your atypical high-school football dude, yeah, he was there too.

There was an opening band, but they sucked. CK tells me they sounded somewhat like the Cure.

The only the song I could connect the title to Duran Duran was Come Undone, but I had not heard the song since the days of MTV. They played it and it was sick – the keyboards and the base were toit and emotional. I wasn’t so high on the soul filled singer they had doing the ladies part, but otherwise it was great. And listening to the album version more closely, you can really hear the great keys and bass.

And I recognized several other songs including Ordinary World and Rio Rio, which they encored with. It all sounded pretty amazing. CK was giving the live feed with her cell to her sister in Texas. Apparently, this was the best Duran Duran show she had ever seen – and this is coming from someone who saw them at St. Andrews Hall in the big D, a much, much smaller venue. The Palace was not filled like it had been for most other shows I had been to, but it was a surprisingly dance-happy crowd at the show. The light show was really cool; it consisted of 5 screens behind the band with Japanimation and other moving pictures along with the other moving lights rising and lowering above the band.

For a self-proclaimed music snob, I was really impressed by Duran Duran. I really appreciate the how cool CK and her brother were that night for introducing me to something not necessarily new, but definitely rocking. Afterward, we made the ride back to the eastside having really been impressed by the music, and I had a very good time on my first quasi-date in awhile.

(Note: I tried to find a setlist for this show but was unsuccessful. I will keep checking.)

Phish Summer tour 99 part DEUX!

2005-03-28T19:33:00.000-05:00

11 days after returning back to Detroit from the Nashville>Atlanta run, we set off for Oswego, NY on the night of July 16^th. We had a big crew with us for Oswego that included LE, her sister BE, NB2, JG, bigD, and my good friend NB. For those of you who are not familiar with Oswego, it’s not far from Syracuse and Vernon Downs where Phish had played the previous summer. The drive there isn’t bad (6 to 7 hours) and we encountered no problems at either border going through Canada. We arrived at the end of the line of cars at Oswego sometime in the middle of the night, but would not set up our campsite in the dust until mid-morning the next day. I don’t recall if I got any sleep before the show on the 17^th.

I remember the shakedown at Oswego being very vibrant, but the weather was extremely hot. I remember BE getting very sunburned and having major raccoon eyes from wearing her shades. I forgot to mention that PS was there with JD (and maybe someone else) but they spent most of their time in their air-conditioned RV. Pfft!

And now for the setlists….

07-17-99 Oswego County Airport, Volney, NY

Soundcheck: Also Sprach Zarathustra, Blues Jam (about "Mr Sausage", one of the vendors near the 2nd stage; to the tune of "Dear Mrs. Reagan"), Beauty of my Dreams, Carini, (more?)

1: Tube, Boogie on Reggae Woman, Birds of a Feather, Guelah Papyrus, My Sweet One, Roggae, Tweezer -> Have Mercy*, Taste, Character Zero (~1:30)

2: Funky Bitch**, On My Knees**, On My Knees Reprise#, Down With Disease*, Wolfman's Brother -> Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley -> Wolfman's Brother -> Timber (Jerry), You Enjoy Myself

E: The Squirming Coil, Tweezer Reprise (2+E 1:55)

*Trey on keys. **With Son Seals. #Short blues jam played as Son Seals exited.

07-18-99 Oswego County Airport, Volney, NY

1: Punch You in the Eye, This Is a Farmhouse, Water in the Sky, Bathtub Gin, Get Back on the Train*, If You Need a Fool*, I'm Blue I'm Lonesome*^, Beauty of My Dreams*, The Moma Dance, Reba, Chalk Dust Torture

2: Runaway Jim# -> Free, The Meatstick**, Guyute, Axilla##, Llama (1:00)

3: My Soul, Piper### > Prince Caspian > Wilson -> Catapult^ -> Icculus^^, Quinn the Eskimo, Fluffhead

E: Harry Hood^^^ (3+E 1:50)

*With the Del McCoury Band. ^Del McCoury broke a string. **Trey explains the record attempt; Sofi Dillof dances on-stage dancing; Guinness Book of World Records staff videotaping the event; the record was not set. #With "Psycho Killer" jam. ##Entire Part I. ###With glowrings, and Trey on keys. ^Followed by banter and toying, all continuing an E chord from the end of "Wilson" (which was never finished). Trey gabbed about TV, books, and Deep Purple, teased "Smoke on the Water," compared it to "Cat Scratch Fever," and more. ^^Followed by more talking, band introductions, a mention of the fan group CK5, and teases of "Miss You" (Rolling Stones). ^^^With fireworks.

What can I say except that the music was truly amazing. I really commend the band for putting on the festival in the middle of the tour and the location was convenient for Phish’s strong northeast pull. It was really great to hear Have Mercy since I had been introduced to it during a Bowie on a 93 tape I had. I really can’t say a whole lot more about the show since I have not actually listened to the first night since being there. I would love to get a copy of it because the show had so many great highlights. I remember the jam with Son Seals. This was one of Phish’s few concert experiences where side bands like Son Seals and Ozomatli were playing. In fact, I had seen Ozo twice already that summer when they toured with Santana.

I remember much more about the second night for some odd reason. The Free was something that really got me excited along with the Icculus. I have listened to this show since and it is definitely a show to have. The band was having great fun this night. After the show, NB and I got incredibly lost for what seemed like an eternity, but finally located our campsite and enjoyed the cool down. Oswego was a great time.

The next morning, I woke up exhausted and sunburned. Cloud cover and the light rain made for relaxing travel weather as NB, LE, JG drove to Niagara Falls for the night. The rest of our crew headed back to Detroit to pick up the tour later. We found a HoJo to stay at, got some dinner, and visited the Canadian side of the Falls for a few beers.

The next day we headed for Toronto. I remember the venue (Molson Amphitheatre is right on the shore of Lake Ontario with a surrounding park), and that NB and I had some pretty good seats once we found each other. The music was great and I remember the first set as being pretty long. I just got this show recently so I’m going to take a good listen soon. Here is the setlist.

07-20-99 Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto, Ontario

Soundcheck: My Soul, How Long Has This Been Going On, Dream Weaver

1: Chalk Dust Torture, Sample in a Jar, Cars Trucks Buses, The Sloth, The Divided Sky, Waste, Ghost, Wilson, You Enjoy Myself*

2: Twist, The Moma Dance, What's the Use, Train Song, Also Sprach Zarathustra, Misty Mountain Hop**

E: Guyute, Hello My Baby

*With Caribbean "hey ho" vocal jam. **First time played (but played in soundchecks since ~1993); Led Zeppelin tune.

This was a solid show, and it was great to be able to see a show in Canada. I regret not going into downtown Toronto (and still have not), but there was not enough time.

After the show, we really didn’t have a plan of where to stay so we got on the road. NB and I were the only ones of our group to be going on to the show the next night in Pittsburgh, so we sought out a hotel room. Unfortunately, we knew really little about where we were in Canada, and even though some differences are slight between the U.S. and Canada, somehow in the U.S. you never feel too far from civilization on the interstates. We found this horrible little hotel run by an Asian family in the middle of what seemed like nowhere. They didn’t seem too happy when we ended up cramming 5 or 6 people into that little room. It was cozy and every Phish fan has gone through it at some point. They were happy to see us take off early the next morning.

The next day, NB and I got on the road, went back through Niagara Falls, and headed south to Pittsburgh for the show at Starlake. We met up with my good buddy JCT and SK at a Super 8 motel. We headed to the show with high hopes, especially since we saw Mike “Cactus” Gordon for the 2^nd time on lot before a show. Unfortunately, I do not have very many positive things to say about the music that night. I wasn’t very impressed, but every show can’t be unbelievable (just wait until my review of 4/15/04). Here is the setlist.

07-21-99 Star Lake Amphitheatre, Burgettstown, PA

1: AC/DC Bag > Cities, Gold Soundz*, Ginseng Sullivan, Limb By Limb, Funky Bitch, The Moma Dance, When The Circus Comes, Taste, Bittersweet Motel

2: Mike's Song > Simple > My Left Toe > Prince Caspian > Weekapaug Groove, Golgi Apparatus

E: Brian and Robert, Bold as Love

*Pavement cover; first time played.

After the show, we witnessed something pretty bad which added to my negative recollection of the Starlake show. We watched some head get beat up really bad by some other guys back in the parking lot, perhaps for selling fake drugs. Since it was dark, it wasn’t something that drew a huge crowd and we didn’t really do much so not to get involved and get the wooks riled up. I was happy to make our drive back to the Super 8 that night and get a good night sleep. It was great hanging with JCT and SK, but we pretty much had a few beers, played some cards, and called it a night. Our plan was to skip the show in Columbus (taking into consideration our Wall Mart experience from 1998) and instead drive up to West Lafayette, IN to meet up with CC.

If I am correct, CC had not been with us to a show since the Palace in 1997. He was stuck in West Lafayette for the summer taking classes which I imagine to be pretty damn boring. He didn’t originally plan to go with us to Alpine, rather just Deer Creek, but I believe we had extra tickets and he didn’t have much to do. It was nice to get a night off from touring when we crashed in West Lafayette, except that drive up to Alpine from there would be an absolute pain in the ass the next day.

The Midwest in the middle of July is really damn humid, and the Mazda still didn’t have air-conditioning. And the summer time is the prime time for road construction as was the case on the way to Chicago. We (ok, I) made the big mistake of not taking the Indiana Toll Road>Chicago Skyway and we go stuck on 80/90. After not moving in our car for about a half hour, I tweaked and got off the road. We ended up on a road called Indianapolis Ave which runs north-south and is no more than a few miles from the Illinois Border. We were trying to make up time and get to the skyway when I found myself being pulled over by the cops for driving 59 in a 35 zone. Obviously when anyone gets pulled over, you get pretty nervous and these cops totally freaked me out by asking me to get out of the car and get into the back seat of the cop car. I now realize they likely did this so that they could write me the ticket in their air-conditioned vehicle, but I was still a little paranoid. They recognized the name of my home town and asked about an infamous kid from our town who had gotten a lot of press for fooling around with some females that were a little too young. We had a few laughs, they didn’t write me a ticket for reckless driving (I think anything 20 mph over is considered reckless), and they let us go on our way. I paid a hefty fine later and some points were added to my driving record, but nothing worse.

From here on forward, my ex ladyfriend acquaintance will be referred to as “Shafty” although all of us including myself are deserving at the title at some point.

So we dropped my ladyfriend Shafty’s place in Chicago before going up to Alpine. I believe she went to the show, but I don’t know that we stayed at her place after the show. I’ll need a little help. In any case, here is the setlist from Alpine 99.

07-24-99 Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI

1: Guyute, Fluffhead*# > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > Avenu Malkenu > The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday > The Wedge, Character Zero** (1:11)

2: Tweezer* -> Catapult## -> Tweezer, The Mango Song^, The Happy Whip and Dung Song, Waste, Chalk Dust Torture^^ (0:56)

E: Glide, Camel Walk, Alumni Blues, Tweezer Reprise (0:21)

*Trey on small keyboard. #Trailed into a lengthy jam. **Trey waves his guitar to produce feedback. ##Trey and Mike sing "Catapult" over "Tweezer." ^With glowrings. ^^Start/stop jamming; Trey waves his guitar to produce feedback.

This show was great. We got a long Fluffhead out of it, a great Tweezer set, and some major rarities for the encore. I have really good memories of the music at this show, but I remember little else about the experience. We had okay seats I recall. I think that I got incredibly lost after the show (which has happened to me more than once at Alpine). I have listened to parts of this show before, but the recording quality is rarely spectacular at Alpine Valley. There’s always a ton of people you know at Alpine, so you know if you were there.

After crashing at Shafty’s house and being treated to gourmet cooking by Shafty’s mom (sick bacon cheeseburgers), we drove back down toward Deer Creek. This would be our first year camping at 40 acres, under the tree that we would call home again in 2000. CC and NB would end up camping under the same giant tree in 2004. I believe our full crew consisted of myself, NB, CC, then PS and NB’s sis QB came down from the big D. LE, JG, JTC, SK, BE, & NB2 were also there at another campsite. So we had pretty much everyone from the Summer 99 gathered in Deer Creek to see Phish’s final 2 shows of the tour.

I really took a liking to the chill, laid back style of the 40 Acres campsite. For those of you who have never been to Deer Creek, it’s a venue in the middle of corn fields. Drums echoed from the woods, people talking while you sip the tastiest beers and take in life with the fellow heads around you – I was living. Our first year, they even had showers at 40 Acres, although going into one of those icy well water showers after sitting in 90 degree humidity will completely take your breath away. The local folks at 40 Acres sold sweet corn and other good food. It’s hard to describe to people who cool the feeling to be a part of a little colony, living without luxuries, in the middle of cornfields and woods. I felt a part of the coolest get together ever conceived.

^^^Babble tangent^^^

And after a mile of walking to the venue, I witnessed one of the best Phish shows of my life.

07-25-99 Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN

Soundcheck: Mike's Song, Back at the Chicken Shack, Beauty of my Dreams, Day Tripper, (more?)

1: Meat*, My Friend My Friend -> My Left Toe -> Whipping Post**, Makisupa Policeman#, I Saw It Again, Boogie on Reggae Woman, Cavern## (1:03)

2: Birds of a Feather^ > Walk Away, Run Like an Antelope^^, Suzie Greenberg^^^, Hold Your Head Up > Purple Rain### > Hold Your Head Up, You Enjoy Myself+

E: Loving Cup (2+E 1:30)

First time as show opener; bass solo. **Trey on vocals. #Keywords were "gooballs, brownies, stink kind, nugs and kief"; Trey announces lighting director Chris Kuroda's birthday and asks everybody to sing; Trey interrupts "Happy Birthday" to say, "We're going to get you so wasted tonight"; Mike takes a "Happy Birthday bass solo"; Fish says, "You roll up a fat spliff and you don't pass it to no one" (in a Jamaican accent); Kuroda takes a one-minute silent light solo, then thanks the band for the birthday wishes after "Makisupa." ##Trey waves guitar to produce feedback. ^"My Left Toe" teases. ^^"Stash" tease; with glowrings. ^^^With Page start/stop jam; "I Wish" (Stevie Wonder) teases. ###Fish forgets lyrics; improvises. +"Boogie on Reggae Woman" jam.

I am pretty confident that we were in the Pavilion both nights. I had the time of my life at this show. The Meat was a good laugh of an opener until Trey begins My Friend, My Friend into an ambient jam (My Left Toe), the music got dark then Trey started rocking out Whipping Post, a song that my close friends had really grown up on back in the day. Makisupa was a celebration, and the Boogie On was jammed out for a long time. The second set Birds>Walk Away was amazing, the Antelope was amazing, Page was tearing it up on the Suzie, we got Fishman running around like a mad man, a sweet YEM and a classic Loving Cup. I firmly believe this was the best show of 1999 and could be the best show I ever saw. Just absolute fun.

We headed back to our campsite for some late night relaxing. The show was so good that the show the next night wouldn’t be able to top it. I hear people really put down 7/26/99 but I didn’t care that the show wasn’t that special. At this show, Trey mentions how cool the Phish scene was in light of the mayhem at Woodstock. I totally agree, and there was no place I would rather be at that moment in my life. Here’s the setlist from 7/26

07-26-99 Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN

Soundcheck: Birds of a Feather (on tape, from the night before), (more?)

1: This Is a Farmhouse, Get Back on the Train, Vultures, Sleep, Gumbo > NICU, Beauty of My Dreams, Bathtub Gin, Mountains in the Mist, Axilla*, Stash**

2: Wolfman's Brother, Piper, Theme from the Bottom > Down with Disease, Jam# > Split Open and Melt##

E: Woodstock^ > Julius (2+E 1:26)

*With "Axilla (Part II)" ending. **With long intro and glowrings. #Lots of feedback. ##Followed by Trey talking about Woodstock '99, how different the Phish scene is, how happy he is to be a part of the latter rather than the former, etc. ^First time played; unfinished (Joni Mitchell tune).

Nothing too special about this show. I was bummed out that the band decided to go into Split Open and Melt toward the end instead of 2001. Everything else was fine and I wasn’t too disappointed about this being the end of a long tour. I had seen a great amount of music, been to a lot places, chilled with a lot of great people, and would have great memories for a lifetime. It’s too bad that I don’t remember more, but there are other things I choose not to talk about. I want to thank everyone who was there to share these good times – you guys rule.

That’s about it for Summer Tour 99. Considering I went to two Santana shows, a Trey show, a DMB show, an Allman Brothers show, and a few other small gigs, this was a summer to remember. Thanks for reading.

Peace.

PHISH SUMMER TOUR 99 Part I

2005-03-20T22:25:00.000-05:00

1999 was undoubtedly the best year of Phish that I witnessed. I believe that 1995 was the peak of Phish for those who had really grown on them reaching the pinnacle of success in the venues they played, but 1999 was the peak of Phish’s musical endeavor. I saw a total of 16 Phish shows during 1999, the most of any year during my personal career.

Longtime tour staple NB had suggested that we head south for the first few shows of Phish’s summer tour in 1999. While I was not totally on board with the plan at first, I finally agreed to go and I have no regrets whatsoever about going. The shows were solid and I was going to see Phish’s first July 4^th shows ever. And I loved my first venture to the south - really friendly folks down there.

It took us sometime to get out of Detroit due to the traffic associated with the Detroit fireworks, but we eventually got cruising south on 75 toward Nashville. NB and I really didn’t have a plan for if we were going to stop that first night or just get to Nashville early. Well, the car made the decision for us when we discovered the windshield wipers on the Jeep Wrangler didn’t work, so we stopped at a hotel in Middletown, OH – a city halfway between Dayton and Cinci. By the stroke of luck, there was an actual Jeep dealership and shop in Middletown, so we got the car repaired relatively quickly and continued on with our journey the day of the show.

Before heading to the First American Music Center, we sought out some campground in the vicinity of the venue. Unfortunately, everything was full which would later prove to be a good omen. So, without a plan again, we headed for the venue.

The minute we got out of our cars, we saw someone quite familiar cruising around the venue – none other than Phish’s bassist Mike Gordon in his golf cart. NB ran over and got a handshake while I fumbled to find a camera. I saw him for a second before he took off. It’s kinda weird how Mike just likes to cruise around and see what’s going on, but then bolts when a crowd gathers. I suppose I can understand. We also ran into an old friend of ours, FR, with his dog. The weather was warm and beautiful and the people were friendly down in Nashville. Here is the setlist from the show.

07-01-99 First American Music Center, Antioch, TN

Soundcheck: I Saw It Again, Water in the Sky, Brian and Robert, Mountains in the Mist

1: Punch You in the Eye, Billy Breathes, Guyute, Wolfman's Brother*, Beauty of My Dreams#, Doin' My Time#^, Roggae#, Water in the Sky#, Get Back on the Train#, Poor Heart#^ (1:12)

2: Down With Disease, Prince Caspian > You Enjoy Myself**

E: Character Zero (2+E 1:04)

Set 2 short possibly due to thunderstorm. *With Jerry Douglas on dobro. #With Jerry Douglas on dobro, Ronnie McCoury on mandolin and Tim O'Brien on fiddle (and lead vocals on "Doin' My Time"). ^Gary "El Buho" Gazaway on trumpet; each guest took a solo. **Trey on small keyboard before vocal jam.

This show really stands out as a great musical experience for me and really got me hyped for the rest of the tour. I also have an outstanding recording of this show – the first set is especially a show that you can really sit back and listen to with a group of friends and family.

The second set is when things started to get really crazy. Although our seats were in the pavilion, we were on the side and could still get a good birds-eye view of the sky around us. As you can see, the second set was only 3 songs long, but it was one of the most intense moments of Phish that I had witnessed to that point. A thunderstorm developed around us with intense lightning that went along with the beat. By the time YEM had come on, the sky had lit up with lights that seemed to just go along with Kuroda’s lights and the music. It did not begin to rain until the show was finally ending, but by the time we got to the Jeep in the parking lot, we were literally stepping in 1 inch puddles. We made our way out of the venue quickly and got back on the road heading south to Atlanta.

Had we not had the windshield wipers fixed on the car, we would have been in some dire straights after that show. The thunderstorm was very intense. About 15 miles down the highway, we decided to attempt to find a hotel to stay at. We ended up staying at a Super 8 that was incredibly cheap and pretty damn nice. It was a quick solution in the chaos of the rain.

The next morning, we got up early to try and get a decent place to camp down in Atlanta. I remember the drive through the smoky mountains of northern Georgia quite vividly. We arrived at Stone Mountain campground midday on July 2^nd. Stone Mountain is a campground/resort-like area not far at all from downtown Atlanta. There are small streams that run through the campground, and we were lucky enough to get what seemed like one of the last spots left. We happen to set up camp near some other cool phans who were in town for the shows.

NB didn’t bring a chair. He tried sitting on my tripod chair until it broke on him and nearly stabbed him in the groin. It was hot in Hotlanta.

We chilled the first night at the campground, making some friends around us and getting a nice buzz on. We had some fireworks too and fireworks were going off all over the resort. And, Stone Mountain puts on a laser light show on the mountain, so we were able to see that from a distance. Oh, and NB bought a nice chair for himself.

The next day, we visited NB’s aunt, uncle, and cousins in a northeast Atlanta. We were able to get a nice shower and meal in before heading down to the venue on the southside. Kudos to NB’s family for taking us in that day and the next day before the show and allowing us some nice chill time in their beautiful air-conditioned home.

All I can really remember about Lakewood Amphitheatre is that’s it’s in a bad area of Atlanta. The lot seen was okay, and the southern ladies looked quite fine however. We had pavilion seats for both nights of Atlanta. Here are the setlists from the shows.

07-03-99 Lakewood Amphitheatre, Atlanta, GA

Soundcheck: What's the Use, Rock-A-William, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Wading in the Velvet Sea

1: Chalkdust Torture, Gumbo, Sparkle, Cavern, Taste, When the Circus Comes*, Tube, Funky Bitch, NICU**, Waste, The Meatstick (1:21)

2: Twist -> Piper, The Moma Dance, Mountains in the Mist, Run Like an Antelope, Contact, Little Drummer Boy (1:03)

E1: Little Drummer Boy#, Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey^ (0:08)

E2: Harry Hood^^ (0:14)

*Unfinished. **Trey on small keyboard. #Fish on snare, solo; with alternate lyrics. ^With Page's father, Dr. Jack McConnell, on vocals and kazoo. ^^With glowrings.

07-04-99 Lakewood Amphitheatre, Atlanta, GA

Soundcheck: Wading in the Velvet Sea, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Rock-A-William, In a Hole, (more?)

1: My Soul, Ya Mar, This Is a Farmhouse, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > AC/DC Bag, The Wedge, Vultures, I Didn't Know*, Fast Enough For You, David Bowie (1:23)

2: Ghost -> Slave to the Traffic Light**, The Horse -> Silent in the Morning***, What's the Use, Wilson^, Mike's Song -> Sleeping Monkey -> Weekapaug Groove

E1: Carini^^, The Meatstick^^^

E2: The Star Spangled Banner#

*"Vajonna (Flagina?) Fishman" vac solo (wearing only stars-and-stripes boxers). **"What's the Use" and "Dark Star" teases. ***"Little Drummer Boy" tease and glowrings. ^Trey flubs the lyrics; plays "air guitar"; swings guitar, using his effects pedals and feedback to manipulate the sound. ^^With Pete Carini; lyrics mention Mia Hamm (Trey was wearing a Mia Hamm jersey). ^^^Chorus-only reprise; with crew and fans on stage doing "The Meatstick Dance"; after the song, others leave Trey and Mike on-stage to do the dance alone. #A cappella; band in stars-and-stripes (Fish: boxers; Trey and Page: pants and vests; Mike: tank-top underneath, revealed during the song); ended with eruption of fireworks.

Both of these shows were amazing. Not a lot stands out from the first night except the Meatstick. This was the beginning of the Meatstick. I actually liked it a lot more before they added that cheesy dance to it. The Moma Dance was good, and the Hood, and the Slave for the Traffic Light. The Fast Enough for You from the second night is one of the most emotional versions I have ever heard. The highlight of the whole experience was the great encores, especially the July 4^th double encore with the acapella version of the Star Spangled Banner followed by the most unexpected and amazing fireworks display I had ever witnesses. I was literally cheering at the top of lung in awe of how amazing the experience felt. It was truly one of the top 5 Phish moments of my life.

After the show, I met up with my good friend KP who we ended up driving back to Detroit. She took us on a long tour of the Lakewood area finding her car and saying goodbye to her friends. We walked back to our car to find NB letting off some mortars. The drive home was long, but it was worth it to drive through the night and get back to Detroit, which we did just before noon the next day. KP slept the entire drive home. In retrospect, I should have made the same trip down to Atlanta the next summer, but I was beginning to get burned out with Phish by 2000.

So I hope you have enjoyed Phish Summer Tour 99 Part I. The second half of the summer tour would resume for us at Oswego, NY two weeks later. Thanks for reading and stay tuned…

The Phish from Vermont in Chicago 11/7 & 11/8 1998

2005-03-14T18:29:00.000-05:00

I was fortunate enough to go see 2 Phish shows in the city of Chicago in the fall of 1998. I had just begun school at Michigan, so we got a few Michigan folks together including PH who was with us at 12/6/97., and AK whose father picked us up on a snowy highway after my car crash on the way to Grand Rapids 96, and I believe AK's ladyfriend AK also joined us. In fact, I believe we stayed with someone associated with AK's girl AK (older brother perhaps) that put us up in a high rise near Wacker and Michigan. This would be my first official trip to Chicago in my life. I would end up traveling to Chicago a lot and I even lived there briefly. In any case, the setup we had was perfect for my first visit, despite how ridiculously cold it was. And here's the setlist.
11-07-98 UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL

1: My Soul, Mike's Song, Driver*, Brian and Robert*, The Wedge, Limb by Limb, Fikus, Billy Breathes, Beauty of My Dreams, Weekapaug Groove (1:13)

2: AC/DC Bag -> Ghost, Reba, Farmhouse (0:56)

E: Guyute, While My Guitar Gently Weeps (0:14)

*Trey on acoustic guitar.

11-08-98 UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL

1: Taste, Carini*, Love Me, Ride Captain Ride, Fee, Paul and Silas, Roggae, Water in the Sky, Stash**, Cavern# (1:06)

2: Chalk Dust Torture, Meat, Rock and Roll##, Down With Disease^ -> Piper, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Run Like an Antelope (1:08)

E: Been Caught Stealing^^ (0:04)

*Trey added verse about the streaker from the 11-06-98 Prince Caspian. **With "Fikus" bass tease by Mike during the jam. #Trey messed up the lyrics while tapping guitar pedals, and laughed at his mistake through the rest of the verse. ##Velvet Underground cover (from Loaded). ^Ended with a 3/4 minute Ambient Jam (with a Baba O'Reily-type sequencing loop and spacey synths from the "Cold As Ice" intro). ^^With trampolines.

The Been Caught Stealing Encore was the highlight, great Mikes & Ghost, and a sweet Antelope with a reggae beat ending ala 12/29/97. Phish played really, really well both shows and I'm disappointed I didn't stay for the 3rd night. In all honesty, I remember more about visiting the city of Chicago for the first time than really much about these shows so I'll be ending my 1998 Phish experience very shortly.

Phish in 1998 was a true adventure, a time when everything was still new and I had shown how ridiculously far I would go to see this jamband from Vermont. Phish is addicting because of the energy this band exudes in 3 hours of your life each time they play. I really regret not going to the show in Grand Rapids on 11-11-98 because of my chance to see this song called Tela. It would be a long 8 months before I would see Phish again and make my first official road trip south to Hotlanta.

Thanks for reading.

PHISH SUMMER 1998 Part II

2005-03-08T18:30:00.000-05:00

A week or so after we returned to Detroit from Deer Creek, we set out again to see the last leg of Phish's 1998 Summer Tour. Unlike the first leg, we weren't cruising in a spacious air-conditioned Suburban but rather my royal blue 89 Mazda MX6 (which I have long sold but still see driving around with the Run Like an Antelope sticker still on the bumper). The crew of people with us consisted of longtime tour staples NB and PS for the entire journey and I also recall cruising down to Pittsburgh with others but the only person I can seem to remember is Scalpy (To'R). So we embarked on the drive to Pittsburgh which normally takes no less than 5 hours to get to from Detroit. Unfortunately, there was a huge car accident on the interstate no more than a half mile ahead of us that required helicopters to treat those in need. In the meantime, some trucker in front of us had just gotten his new ride and rig so he showed us that. Pretty lame, huh? What else do you do when it's 90 degrees, you're in the middle of eastern Ohio, your car doesn't have AC, and you can't go anywhere because the road has been shut down?

Anyhow, here is the setlist from Starlake 98.

08-11-98 Star Lake Amphitheatre, Burgettstown, PA

1: Trenchtown Rock* > Julius > Wolfman's Brother, Time Loves A Hero**, Bittersweet Motel, Reba, The Sloth, Ginseng Sullivan, Fee, Maze, Sample In A Jar

2: Runaway Jim#, Meat, Limb By Limb, When The Circus Comes, Down With Disease

E: Wilson, Golgi Apparatus

*First time played (Bob Marley cover). **Little Feat cover. #With "Maria" (from "West Side Story") quote.

My good friends NB and CC are some of the biggest Bob Marley fans I know, seriously. For NB who was at the show, this was a great way to open the show. And that may be one of the only thing I remember about this show was remembering NB with a big smile and a "hey hey" when Trey started singing "One good thing about music....when it hits, you feel no pain." If you look at this show besides the Marley tune, it is about as average of Phish show you were going to get. Of course I had a great time because Phish was still so fresh and new to me, but I was still waiting to hear tunes like 2001 and Mike's Song, some of the great Phish staples and fan favorites.
After the show, about 6 of us (including Scalpy) crammed into a little hotel room somewhere in the Pittsburgh area. And for those of you who don't know Scalpy, you will soon when the guy has his own HBO stand-up comedy special. Scalpy couldn't come with us to the show in New York the next night and instead traveled home to Detroit. He ended up going to Maine for the final shows of the tour, but we never ended up finding him up there. Sorry Scalpy - the days of post it note message boards was a tough era man, but the method will always work better than a Nextel phone.
So the next morning, NB, PS, and myself ventured north toward Syracuse, NY. The actual show was in a town called Vernon. The show was set up on a horse track, so not only were we stepping in mud at points, but there might have been a little dooky in their too. We arrived to show slightly late, but only ended up missing one song. Setlist.
08-12-98 Vernon Downs, Vernon, NY

Soundcheck: Runaway Jim, The Old Home Place, Ginseng Sullivan, Treat Me Like a Fool

1: La Grange, Makisupa Policeman*, Funky Bitch, Possum, Roggae, Character Zero, Ramble On, Slave to the Traffic Light (1:10)

2: Mike's Song > Simple** > Rift, Loving Cup, Sleeping Monkey, Weekapaug Groove, The Squirming Coil

E: Burning Down the House+, You Enjoy Myself++

Apparently this show was close to Fishman's hometown (Syracuse), and they were urging him to sing a song. *Keyword was "Burnin' Down" (see encore). **With "Jesus Just Left Chicago" tease. +First time played (Talking Heads cover, from the album "Speaking in Tongues"); with alternate lyric "Vernon Down the house." ++With "Hold Your Head Up" and "Mission Impossible Theme" teases; alternate lyric "drive me to Vernon."

This show was unf*ckingbelievale. Great weather, cool location, general admission stage (so we got close), and a spectacular setlist. I downloaded this show months ago and really relived how great it truly was. I use a lot of the songs from the first set when I put together mixes for people. Everything about this show was unbelievable and I finally got to hear my Mike's Groove. The covers were great, especially that Ramble On in the first set.
We took our time after the show not knowing if we were going to get a hotel or start heading toward Maine. It's too bad that we didn't get to pre party before the show because the scene was very cool at Vernon Downs.
We got back on the road and started heading directly north from Syracuse toward the Canadian border. Now, I don't want to be cocky, but we were all decently smart kids even though this was our first real road trip unsupervised, and we were only 18. We know that when you go into a foreign country, you best go across as a law abiding citizen. Well, the mounties found something that had the remnants of something that they tested and determined was something...long story short, we spent over 2 hours at the Canadian border AND we were strip searched. Of course, we had absolutely nothing to hide so they eventually let us on our way.
At this point, it was 5:30 in the morning. I had been driving and I needed to get some sleep which I did while someone else drove up the St. Lawrence River, into Quebec, heading for the top of Maine. I woke abruptly to realize I was in Montreal, we were in the middle of morning rush hour on a weekday, people were driving on our ass at 75 mph, and when you want to change highways, you have to cross about 10 lanes in 10 seconds to do it. You Quebeecs drive like a$$holes! (sorry, had to say it). It was a beautiful morning of driving up the St. Lawrence River, a part of the world I had never really seen. Canada is definitely our chill neighbor to the North.
We arrived in Limestone, Maine around 1:30 in the afternoon and again our car was searched going into the U.S. The advantage of taking Canada to Maine was to avoid traffic coming up from the South, and the route itself is somewhat more direct than taking the U.S. After crossing the border, we found a small hotel, got some pizza, and crashed hard. I am almost positive that that day, which started in Pittsburgh 30 hours earlier, was the longest day of my life to that point. We got a good night of sleep in before heading into the campgrounds at Loring Air Force Base the next morning.
We got into the campgrounds and set up our spot midday on the 15th. We geared up and headed toward the gates to make a dash toward the front of the stage. Since I was the chubby kid with my 2 skinny buddies, my job was to carry our gear in while NB and PS made the run. Well, PS made it in pretty close but nearly passed out when he got there. NB ended up hurling half way to the front, but made it there soon after. We would get extremely close for all 6 sets of the 2 night tour finale which made the experience that much more memorable. Here's the setlists for these shows.
08-15-98 Loring Air Force Base, Limestone, ME

1: Mike's Song > Simple, Beauty of My Dreams, Roggae, Split Open and Melt*, Poor Heart, The Moma Dance, The Divided Sky, Water in the Sky, Funky Bitch > Cities** > Weekapaug Groove (1:51)

2: The Wedge > Reba, Gumbo^ > Sanity, Tweezer > The Horse > Silent In The Morning, Chalkdust Torture, Slave to the Traffic Light^^ (1:25)

3: NICU > David Bowie, Strange Design, Limb by Limb > Brian and Robert, Loving Cup

E: Halley's Comet > Cavern, Tweezer Reprise (3/E 1:20)

4: Ambient Jam+ (0:55)

Lemonwheel Day One. *"By request, for a little boy named Sam." **Third verse was about "The Garden of Infinite Pleasantries," instead of the normal verse about Memphis; with "Sneakin' Sally" teases. ^Jam out of which sounded very much like "Tweezer Reprise." ^^With glowstick war. +After Tweezer Reprise, Trey explained that the band wanted to do something to combine ideas from The Clifford Ball and The Great Went, going into detail about the band/fan artwork from last year, and announced that the band would do a free-form ambient jam (lyric-less; nearly an hour long; "in the Brian Eno style of ambient music"), surrounded by candles that were made by the audience throughout the day. There were no other lights used during the jam (the band used only the light from the candles), which Trey explained is similar to the idea of what happens during a glow-stick war, with the light for the band coming from the fans. Because candles were placed throughout the stage, Trey explained that they were in fact playing in a "temple of fire" (as advertisements for summer tour shows had announced). After finishing the jam, the band picked up tiki torches, lit them using the candles, and lit a small stone (?) temple (which was left burning overnight and throughout the band's performance on Sunday).

08-16-98 Loring Air Force Base, Limestone, ME

Soundcheck: Jam, Ginseng Sullivan, Back At The Chicken Shack, Jam, She Caught The Katy, Dog Log, Blues Jam/Instrumental, I Gave My Love A Cherry, Please Send Me Someone to Love

1: Ginseng Sullivan, Bathtub Gin > Rift, Punch You in the Eye, Lawn Boy, Ya Mar > AC/DC Bag, Frankie Says, Birds of a Feather, Guyute, Possum (1:38)

2: Down With Disease -> Piper -> Ghost* > Fluffhead, When the Circus Comes, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Hold Your Head Up+ > Sexual Healing++ > Hold Your Head Up, Run Like an Antelope# (1:41)

3: Sabotage > Also Sprach Zarathustra, Wilson, The Mango Song, Character Zero, Bittersweet Motel, While My Guitar Gently Weeps (0:55)

E: Harry Hood*, The Baby Elephant Walk^ (0:25)

Lemonwheel Day Two. *With glowstick war. +Long and drawn out; Fish introduces "his band": Trey Anastasio on drums, Mike "Cactus" Gordon on bass, "Chairman of the Boards" Page McConnell, and himself as "Bob Weaver." Fish introduces the next song as "a love song about a turtle" (which would have been "Terrapin"), but instead he performed Sexual Healing ("a much better song anyway") after "his band" finally ended "Hold Your Head Up." ++Includes "Sounds of Love" vacuum solo. #With "Sexual Healing" teases in the intro. ^Henry Mancini cover; see 12-01-92. Trey lit a tiki-torch (that looked like a "giant fake doobie") and used it to light a fuse which ran up Page's side of the stage, across the backdrop, down Fish's side of the stage, along the fence to a giant elephant-shaped structure near the stage, which came to life as fireworks went off both above it and from behind the stage. Fish made elephant noises with a trombone. Then, as they played the song, the elephant blew water out of its trunk (while smoke came from underneath it) and led the crowd towards the campground.

The Lemonwheel was quite an experience. It is kinda funny how you can fall into your own little world with 70,000 people around you jamming out to the music. I was really impressed with the sound quality of putting on a show that big. There are so many great highlights to the shows including the Mike's opener, meaning there was a Mike's Groove in back to back sets. The Gumbo on the first night was superb, and the glowstick war during Slave was unbelievable. We were so close and in the center - we were literally showered with glowsticks. And to witness the Ambient jam with the stage lit in candles to cap off a great night of music...I truly felt part of something special. I know this too sounds quite cheesy, but I felt community with the experience of Phish and I realized these would be some of my fondest memories for the rest of my life.
The second night of Lemonwheel was energizing, especially with the Sabotage opener in the third set and my first 2001. I think this version of 2001 has some really cool movements, perhaps the best 2001 I personally witnessed.
To top of the night, Phish lit a fuse and blew up this huge elephant (like an elephant you might see at a parade) that led us out the gates of the concert venue toward our car for the long drive home. The festival was a great time spent with great people, listening to great music. The whole Summer Tour in 98 was such a novel experience for me in my life. We saw parts of the country I had yet to see, I got to see my first outdoor shows of Phish, we camped, and I learned more about traveling to foreign countries.
The drive home was fast. Of course we had our car searched AGAIN going into Canada, and then I was forced to drive in the most dense fog I had ever seen. We were literally driving 25 mph on the interstate because of this fog. 6 years later when I would make the same trip home from IT, we would drive in the same fog. We did not get searched coming into Detroit (because they are cool) and we got home safely.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my Summer 98 tour experience. I would see Phish again in the fall during my first of many trips to Chicago. Peace yall.

PHISH SUMMER 1998

2005-03-02T18:17:00.000-05:00

I had just graduated high school not two months before I officially "toured" with Phish for the first time. I can say that I "went on tour with Phish" but I didn't see the whole tour. To say that you have "toured" with Phish, you have to at least have gone to 3 locations or seen more than 4 shows in a run. That's pretty standard IMO. Whenever Phish would do a short tour like Island tour in Early 98 (2 shows on Long Island, 2 in Rhode Island) you saw four shows which would be a standard short tour. Most of Phish's tours were at least 10 shows other than an occassional improv performance here and there.

For those of you who have absolutely no idea what Phish is, here is Phish in a nutshell and what it has meant to me.

Phish developed out of Vermont in the early-mid 1980s. They evolved into the huge grossing touring act they left as when they hit big arenas and amphitheatres in 94 and 95. They have a bit of east coast bias, especially when it comes to the final shows of an extended tour of 10 or more shows. I saw my first show in 1995 at the ripe age of 15. Phish can play just about any kind of music they want: rock and roll, blue grass, techno, funk, jazz - what would be collectively be known as cow funk (see Vermont). The people touring with Phish are an interesting and diversely or conversely or inversely minded crowd who share a common love for Phish's improv jams, a great party, and maybe a little of that hippie togetherness. By the end of all of it, it was just great to be with the people you had partied with and survived the long drives with over the years.

Phish would decide to break up in May of 2004 for God knows why. But really, I'm not going to lose sleep over not seeing Phish ever again. I accept it as a part of my youth that will stay with me for the rest of my life. And that is why I want to memorialize it on this blogspot.

Back to business. The Summer of 98 went down in history like the Summer of 94 and that rockin Fall of 97. (what did I just write?) The first Phish show I saw that year would be in Columbus, OH at the Polaris Amphitheatre. It would be my first outdoor Phish concert. Here's the setlist.

07-31-98 Polaris Amphitheatre, Columbus, OH

1: My Friend My Friend, Ya Mar, Roggae, Rift, Cities*, Water in the Sky, Stash

2: The Curtain > Free^, If I Could, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday -> Avenu Malkenu > Twist -> Izabella, Julius, Cavern

E: Punch You in the Eye, Slave to the Traffic Light

*"Oye Como Va" (Santana) jam at the end; theme recurred in "Julius." ^With an "Eminence Front" (The Who) jam.

This show was amazing. There was big crowd of us down at this show including NB, CC, PS, PH, JK, LE, and even my “bro” JF. I remember sitting with NB & LE on the lawn at the show. The version of Free could be the best Free the band ever played, and the rest of the second set rocked too. I had not listened to the first set until recently, and you discover the first set was perhaps as good as the second. The Cities played in the first set is arguably the best version of Cities Phish ever played. A great musical experience to say the least.

After the show was a little bit more crazy. While we had traveled down to Columbus from Detroit in a packed suburban, some of the crew decided to make a dash for the Alpine Valley (Wisconsin) show the next night. NB and I were more content with taking our time until Phish would play in Deer Creek (Indianapolis) two nights later. (Just keep in time, at this point in time, we were newbs and didn’t know that we could have driven straight to Deer Creek and set up camp late at night). So NB and I were quite awake after the Columbus show so we started driving toward Deer Creek. We had planned to get a hotel not long after we left Columbus, however as we got farther away from Columbus and closer to Deer Creek, we realized we were not going to find lodging or camping anywhere. Why you say? NASCAR and the Brickyard 400.

The fans of NASCAR had booked every single hotel room within 120 mile or more radius of Indianapolis. There was no place to stay. Finally, after driving until 5 in the morning, a kind woman working at a hotel informed us that we could sleep in our cars in the Wall Mart parking lot down the road. Yes, I slept in a car in a Wall Mart parking lot AND I ate White Castle for breakfast. Let’s just say it was not the most comfortable sleep ever, but it would have to do. To make matters worse, only an hour after getting to sleep, someone began operating a machine to clean the parking lot that was ridiculously loud. The machine would approach the car, get louder, drive away and then repeat. Lets just say, we got some shitty sleep.

The next morning after White Castle, we would sit in the longest traffic jam ever as NASCAR descended upon Indianapolis. We would see other “heads” in this traffic jam as well, one who would have their mini van run into by a NASCAR fan. And lest we forget that it was like 90 degrees out plus the heat from the cars.

We finally arrived at the on-site camping at Deer Creek around noon or 1pm and set up camp near some trees. We had a whole day and night to relax until the show the following night. I was particularly taken back by the size of the “shakedown” (the local hippie marketplace) at the campground and little did I know that we were only 1 of several campgrounds hosting fans down in Deer Creek. In later years, we would migrate to other camp grounds around Deer Creek. The next morning, JK, PH, and PS would arrive and set up camp near us as well.

There really isn't a lot to say about the 2 Deer Creek shows except that they were awesome, particularly the Divided Sky, David Bowie, Rhinocerous, Ride Captain Ride, and the Antelope. It was all really amazing music to me at the time. I remember that we had pretty good seats (pavilion) for both nights I believe. Here are the setlists from the shows.

08-02-98 Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN

Sound Check: I Can't Turn You Loose, Better Believe It Baby, If You Need A Fool#

1: Roggae, The Divided Sky, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Too Much of Everything, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Reba*, Weigh, Birds of a Feather (1:10)

2: Possum, Ghost -> Lifeboy > David Bowie^, I Get Kick Out of You^^, Loving Cup (1:03)

E: Harry Hood+, Bittersweet Motel (0:18)

#Played several times. *With whistling. ^With "Possum" and "Divided Sky" teases. ^^First time played (Cole Porter cover from "Anything Goes"; made famous by Mel Torme; also performed by Frank Sinatra, Ethel Merman, et. al.); Mike on vocals (introduced by Trey as "Captain Gactain"). +With glowsticks, and "Ramble On" (Led Zeppelin) tease by Mike..

08-03-98 Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN

1: Rhinoceros*, Halley's Comet, I Didn't Know**, Ride Captain Ride***, Cars Trucks Buses, The Moma Dance, Strange Design, Character Zero (1:05)

2: Gumbo, Axilla, Limb by Limb, Meat, Hold Your Head Up > Bike^ > Hold Your Head Up^^, Tube, The Wedge (0:54)

E: When the Circus Comes > Run Like an Antelope+ (0:25)

*First time played (Smashing Pumpkins cover); allegedly has been part of soundchecks for years. **With vacuum solo. ***Blues Image cover; last played 12-30-92, 486 shows earlier. ^With a second vacuum solo. ^^After which Trey calls Fish "Bob Weaver." +With lyric "Bid you to have any spliff."

These would be my first 2 of 11 shows at Deer Creek, a venue located in the middle of corn fields for those of you who have never been. In any case, the shows rocked and we got back to Detroit safely. We would head out to see Phish again in another week. The story gets even crazier as we go on.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.

Reliving my days of Phish: Part II

2005-02-24T21:00:00.000-05:00

Before reliving the glory that was 12/6/97, I wanted to give a shout out to Sho_nuff for putting together some great Soundboard mixes and sharing them with the community. Really amazing stuff.

1997

12-05-97 Cleveland State University Convocation Center, Cleveland, OH

1: Ghost, Wilson, Funky Bitch, Black-Eyed Katy, Sparkle, Runaway Jim-> My Friend My Friend, Ginseng Sullivan, Limb By Limb, Character Zero

2: Stash, Bouncing Around the Room, Julius, Slave to the Traffic Light, Lizards, Loving Cup, Chalk Dust Torture

E: Bold as Love

As I recall, I went to this show with my boy NB, and PH and JG who we would end up chilling with the next night as well. We also met up with RC who I ended sitting with while NB chilled with another tour staple PS. This show would be my first out of state Phish show. We stayed at a pimp hotel downtown where there also happened to be some Greek formal with some hotties from John Carroll U. So I had some bad seats for this show, Page side, second level and I had to stand next to possibly the worst dancer I had ever seen in RC. He looked like a complete jackass dancing, seriously, probably as bad as Elaine from Seinfeld. To top it off, I had an expensive and cool Fitch sweater that was stolen. Oh well, shit happens.
Musically, I thought the show was good but nothing really stands out. Obviously, Phish was bringing the 97 funk at this show with Ghost, Black Eyed Katy and such. And I got to see the first of way too many Axis: Bold as Love encores. Definitely not a show I would put in my top 25, but eh, we were learning the ropes on tour.
After the show, we walked in the cold for miles like lost children, searching for our hotel.
The show the following night at the Palace of Auburn Hills would affect me deeply in how I relate to Phish.

12-06-97 The Palace, Auburn Hills, MI

Soundcheck: Dog Log, AC/DC Bag, Ginseng Sullivan, Black-Eyed Katy

1: Golgi Apparatus, Run Like an Antelope, Train Song, Bathtub Gin-> Foam, Sample in a Jar, Fee, Maze, Cavern

2: Tweezer* -> Izabella** -> Twist -> Piper -> Sleeping Monkey -> Tweezer Reprise

E: Rocky Top

*Trey teases the music from the the segue that comes out of "1983...(A Merman I Should Turn to Be)" (Jimi Hendrix). *With the start/stop funk jam that repeatedly surfaced during the Fall Tour (may have oringinated in the 11-28-97 Worcester "Ghost").

First of all, somehow my buddy NB was able to score 5 3^rdrow tickets to this show Page side. The day he got the tickets was the same day I took my SATs and also the same day that Michigan beat Michigan State in football where Charles Woodson made the greatest interception in football history. The catch was so amazing that to this day, Michigan State will not allow the release of the film and photos. Michigan would go on to win the National Championship at the Rose that season and I would be admitted to enroll at the U the following fall.
Back to 12/6/97. We sat 5 in the third row, NB, CC, JG, and PH. The Golgi opener would just get the crowd fired up for the funky Antelope that would rock the house next. The first set rounded out solidly with great Phish staples like Sample in a Jar, Fee, and my first Phish song, Maze.
The second set makes my top 5 moments of Phish ever. The intro gets your heart thumping with Fishman’s drawn out beats until the rest of band breaks into the goodness of Tweezer which would rock out for 20 minutes. Tweezer would lead into Isabella, a song which I was unfamiliar with but could tell was a Jimmy Hendrix tune. An amazing Twist would follow and segue into a beautiful Piper that took a lot of time to build. When I hear these songs, I feel like they were so much more refined than later versions. These songs were really entering the Phish repertoire around this time and these are some really great versions. So nearly an hour of jamming fades away into a beautiful Sleeping Monkey and an exhilarating Tweezer Reprise. Looking back, we probably witnessed one of the best Phish sets ever that night, and we were lucky to have been so fortunate to see it that close.
Rocky Top rounded out an amazing night of music. This show and the way it invigorated me would influence the years of ahead of on and off touring with Phish. I recommend everyone have a copy of the second set at the very least, and I would happy to send one to you if you happen to comment on this post. Thanks to PH for taking some good photos of this show and giving me a copy.
I would not see another Phish show until July the next year in Columbus, OH in what would turn out to be a very long and memorable day. Did you know that you can sleep in your car in a Wall Mart parking lot?
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the story of my 4^th and 5^th Phish shows. 12/6/97 was amazing and, even though I didn’t attend, the next night in Dayton is also a legendary performance. Thanks for reading and Jah bless.

Reliving my days of Phish: Part I

2005-02-21T22:29:00.000-05:00

First, a quote:

"I'm looking for a good cowboy."

-George W. Bush (Feb. 21st, 2005) when asked if relations were strong enough that Chirac would be invited to his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

This series of threads is an attempt to relive all 66 glorious nights of Phish that I was fortunate enough to witness during my lifetime. I can recall that the first song I ever heard was Maze from some tapes given to my by BW.

My first show:

10-28-95 The Palace, Detriot, MI

1: AC/DC Bag, Mound, Timber (Jerry), Uncle Pen, Sample in a Jar, Lizards, Billy Breathes, Acoustic Army, Prince Caspian, Run Like an Antelope

2: Maze, Theme From the Bottom-> Scent of a Mule, You Enjoy Myself, Strange Design, Frankenstein, Chalk Dust Torture

E: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

The first thing I can recall about this show is not having a ride and having to convince an older friend of my girlfriend at the time to give us a ride out to the Palace. I remember that we were stuck 4 or 5 people in this piece of crap car with by boy CC, my ex, and 2 other people. I really didn't know much about Phish before this, yet this first concert experience would make a lasting impression on my youth and beyond. We had tickets on the floor, about halfway back from the stage, on Fishman's side as it was set up then. I remember hearing the lyrics to Run Like an Antelope and thinking they were saying "Run like an animal" so of course I was the kid singing along with the wrong lyrics. I also remember the ghost-like white lights of the YEM vocal jam which I thought was fitting considering we were only a few days from Halloween. And of course, just to make me happy, I got to hear Maze. I can't recall a whole lot about this show except for most of the people I would tour with for years to come, this would also be their first show and the first of 4 at the Palace.

More than a year would pass before I would go to my 2nd Phish show at the Palace on 11-9-96.

11-09-96 The Palace, Auburn Hills, MI

1: Buried Alive, Poor Heart, The Sloth, The Divided Sky, Horn, Tube, Talk, Split Open and Melt, Lizards, Character Zero

2: David Bowie, A Day in the Life, You Enjoy Myself, Taste, Swept Away-> Steep-> Harry Hood

E: Julius

I can remember a few more things from this show, but still not as much as I would like. I know we had seats on the floor, Page side, about two-thirds back. I remember very little about the music and how it sounded compared to other shows except that Phish played a lot of Bill Breathes which had recently been released. Why I remember this so vividly is because my girlfriend of the time, KW, loved the song Character Zero, so much so that I had to endure the embarrassment of a bunch of rich drunk, J Crew wearing Grosse Pointe girls screaming out the lyrics to this song while dancing around daddy's SUV. It would be hard for me to pin down the other girls there besides KW, but I know CC was there again enduring the same embarrassment I was. So unheady! The song "A day in the Life" by the Beatles stood out most from this show.

2 nights later, I would see Phish again at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI but this show would not be my most fond memory of my days of Phish.

11-11-96 Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI

1: Chalk Dust Torture, Guelah Papyrus, Cars Trucks Buses, AC/DC Bag, Sparkle, Brother, Theme From the Bottom, Axilla, Runaway Jim

2: Timber (Jerry), The Divided Sky, Gumbo, The Curtain, Sample in a Jar, Tweezer, Swept Away-> Steep-> Maze, Contact, Slave to the Traffic Light

E: Waste, Cavern

Well, for starters, I only saw the 2nd set. Before I left for Grand Rapids (a 2.5 hour drive) after school that day, I realized I had lost my Drivers License. This didn't stop me from requesting that I use Mom's car to drive to the show, taking along my good friend NB, JT, and JT's girlfriend of the time, CC. This would be the first time that I would make a significant road trip of more than an hour since attaining my license in April of that year. This night happened to be the first winter storm to hit the region, and I was ill prepared to drive in it. About halfway to Grand Rapids, a car stopped abruptly in front of me. I followed suit, slid on black ice on the roadway, and hit the car in front of me going about 40mph. Luckily, nobody was really hurt in the accident and I was completely sober. The car crashed perfectly. The air bag deployed, the car was totaled, and we were stuck in a snow storm in the middle of nowhere.

Realizing the car was totaled, we proceeded to walk off an exit ramp to a gas station in the middle of this snowstorm. Quick thinking by someone in the group helped us get hold of AK's dad (thank God he had a cell phone in 1996) who was driving AK and another player from the hockey team (BW?) to the show after practice. They managed to pick us up, drive us to the show and home, but we missed the entire first set. However, the second set of the show was absolutely rockin - great Timber and a funky/spacey/ Tweezer. We would have good seats on the floor too. I would listen to this tape non stop for months.

But that isn't the end of the story. Because I had lost my license before I left for the show, NB had taken the rap for me, something his parents got really, really, really, really pissed about because of the ticket and points that ensued. So we had to go back to city of the accident a few weeks later and straighten everything out. I was faced with a ton of points and potentially losing my driver's license, but the officer took pity on me because of a letter written by my mother and dropped some points. Thank you Mom, sweet move, you rule.

We all make mistakes, even George W.

So that's a wrap up of my first 3 nights of Phish during 95-96. Everything was new to me in these shows, so all the music sounded amazing to me at the time. The story gets better and better as we go on, especially when we hit 12-6-97. These first few shows would be a buildup to 12-6-97 when Phish went from a once a year hobby to a much bigger obsession.

Friends who read this, please feel free to comment on the other PG and PG-13 related details of these experiences.

So I saw the band moe. for the first time last night....

2005-02-20T01:21:00.000-05:00

Well I was going to make my second post about Phish, because it is both in the title of this blog as of this date and because it is the band that no longer exists yet I frequent a message board dedicated to their cause. But instead, I am going to be posting about the moe. concert that I went to last night in Ann Arbor.

So my original gameplan this weekend was to visit some good friends in Chicago (sorry guys), but my mind took a little detour in Ann Arbor on the way and I ended up staying in Ann Arbor with my fellow alum. Now, Phish was the ultimate jamband, at least of my era. I know that moe. has always been there, and was really bass heavy, and had the potential to get repetetive which it did some. I am a bit of a Phish snob, and coming from someone with inate musical abilities, I am very open to other music, it just takes a kick in the ass sometimes. I will never follow a band ever again like Phish (until the BUMP Worldwide tour 2007), but I have been too burned out and reluctant to discover newer music to fill it's void. Having seen Widespread Panic, String Cheese, Umphrey's, Particle, Brother's Past, and a host of other small jambands, I have to say that moe. was quite an impressive experience.

Well, actually, I did see moe. at Bonnaroo in 2003, but at an unappreciative distance.

So we get to Ann Arbor, I grab a few Arcadia beers, we chill at a place around the Michigan theatre, then make our way down to the 5th row at the show. I remember both set openers and closers rocking hard, and the encore as well, and I only counted about one time that they went into one of those Umphrey's-like tangents. The bass was heavy, but I was very impressed by the grooves that moe. could create. I think that is what made Phish a great band; they were able to create such anticipations and moods in the music that it made the show an emotional experience. Yes, I know this sounds ridiculously flowery and cheesy, but good bands create that kind of emotion. I am not saying that other jambands can't do this either, I just seem to admire those that do so more. That is what moe. did and what String Cheese and Widespread Panic failed to do. Maybe I just saw bad nights, or maybe I just saw a really good night of moe.

By the way, I bought Widespread tickets this morning for a show in Detoit. They are getting a second listen for a close friend.

So, like I was saying, moe. created grooves, anticipation in their music, no bordem the whole time. moe. is a band worth seeing for sure. I will never follow a band like this or get really deep into collecting their music, but moe. is worth seeing if they're coming to your town to help you party down. Here's the setlist.

2/18/05 Michigan Theater - Ann Arbor, MI
1:	Bullet, Brent Black, Opium, Seat of My Pants, Lost Along the Way
2:	Head > 32 Things, Disembodied Head, McBain > Down Boy, Hi and Lo > Timmy Tucker
E:	Godzilla