Set I: Back On The Train, Runaway Jim, Brian and Robert, Split Open and Melt, Heavy Things, Punch You in the Eye, Gumbo, Reba, Mexican Cousin, It's Ice, Halley's Comet, Beauty of a Broken Heart, Guelah Papyrus, Lawn Boy, Run Like An Antelope
Set II: Rock and Roll, Limb By Limb, Ghost, Piper, Birds of a Feather, Wolfman's Brother, Prince Caspian, Mike's Song> I am Hydrogen> Weekapaug Groove, Character Zero
Encore: A Day in the Life
After maybe the best meal of my life around 1AM at Denny's in VA Beach and a refreshing rest Beth and I headed to our little Mecca for the weekend....SONIC.
I'd never been to a Sonic before and I was, well...full and amused.
We had two Sonic experiences this weekend and the second was far superior. I choose to remember the latter and pretend that that's the only time i've eaten at a Sonic. My stomach is currently reminding me of the damage i've done.
Mini Post: The food we ate since leaving DC:
1. Popeye's
2. Cookies
3. The Soft Pretzel that Saved My Life
4. Denny's
5. Sonic
6. Cookies
7. The Soft Pretzel that Saved My Life
8. The Great Denny's Mistake
9. Sonic
9b. Krispy Kreme
10. The Soft Pretzel that Saved My Life
11. The Greatest Snickers Bar EVER
12. Pilot Gas Subway Sandwich
So we make our way to the lot with plenty of time to chill and start our sign creation process.
It's too bad i don't have pics, because they were pathetic.
In any case, I did not find a trade for my Deer Creek tix (i need jones beach if anyone cares) but we did sell some cookies ("How long do you think the little Asian girl and her friend debated before coming over and asking us for cookies?") and chatted with some new "friends."
With good timing once again we waited on a bathroom line and joined the mob to get in.
Once inside we went back to our "spot" but soon got in touch with "New York Scott" as our friend Vegas Mike likes to call him, and got some good seats with a front view of the stage.
Nerves were doing a bit better this night, but not much. The feeling you get when those house lights go down is still incredible every time.
The first set on this night had highs and lows and left me a bit unsettled. Luckily the second set made up for that, but it was just a weird first set. Lets use that as the word of the night WEIRD.
GBOTT was funky and tight...great opener. I love Runaway Jim (see: Eric diving through Alan's car window and waving his legs circa Summer 2000) but this version was lacking...good energy, but i was hoping the they'd "take off" during the jam, but it never happened.
Sloppy Brian and Robert led to Split Open...at the time it also seemed unfulfilling, but upon the relisten was really tight.
A standard, but tight Heavy Things brings us to one of the best moments of the weekend. You can't hear it on the MP3's, but the "Hey!" during PYITE was one of the most powerful communal singing/shouting experiences i've ever been a part of. It's almost like everyone was waiting for a great high energy song to really take the set in another direction and we got it!
Well...sort of...Trey butchered the beginning of Landlady. They recovered well, but it brought the energy down significantly.
However, this led to a GREAT string of songs. Gumbo (yea beth!), Reba (sickeningly tight upon relisten), Mexican Cousin i can do without, but apparently the crowd was into it. Any song with a tequilla refrain i guess...
It's Ice was OK, good to hear, but not an incredible version.
But then they kicked it into "high gear."
The Halley's was amazing, Page's "Beauty of a Broken Heart" was a tad awkward at first, but i love Phish playing it. They sounded real good on it.
Guelah Papyrus was NAILED, Lawn Boy with Page up front was pure fun and then we got our antelope fix.
It may have been a little sloppy, but the "run run" section (again, you can't hear this on the MP3's) had the place literally ROCKING.
It was a fine recovery for a somewhat sketchy set.
Then we had the best set yet of the weekend...I love Rock and Roll set openers. Heard one at Merriweather back in 2000. Good but short jam led to one of my favs from the weekend, Limb by Limb. Again short jam, but tight.
A rockesque Ghost (not quite as rocky as Vegas 04, but not the spacey cow-funk i was hoping for...) petered out into what could have been a weekend highlight...our red red worm, Piper.
The build up was good, but what the heck was Trey doing when he started singing? No one else was ready...and that jam went nowhere fast, which led to Trey forcing BOAF onto us. This was surprisingly good though.
A comforting Wolfman's gave way to again, a suprisingly good Prince Caspian. I've never been a huge fan of this song (except for the album version strangely enough) but it was good.
Mike's->Hydro->Weekapaug
Always a highlight of any set, but i was left wanting. The build up for the Mike's transition was sloppy, the hydrogen was flubbed, but the weekapaug was tight as all fucking hell.
Gordon's solos all wekeend were a great highlight (see: YEM, Weekapaug).
The encore, again, provided some weirdness. An amazing Day in the Life ended and we thought we'd get another song or two, but the band sort of just shrugged and left the stage.
And that's sort of how we left the venue that night...just shrugging, looking forward to a redeeming show the next night.
Was this the Phish we came back for?
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