I recommended it to new phans so often that I ended up giving away my copy! I had to buy it four times to keep replacing my copy. But really, it is a killer live intro that's only one disc and wasn't as intimidating for newbies.
I think that's the greatest official release that they ever put out... That dark space funk sound. They were on another planet that night.
Phish tix in the po'box this p.m.; unlike Lockn where I at least feign roughing it in rolling 4 **** accommodations, I've decided my Outback and bricknmortar lodgings will do just fine on what should be an adventurous run from Hampton to Vegas between 10/19 and Halloween Night in Sin City. I'm only taking one show in Rosemont to facilitate a leisurely slog west, to include a one-night cabin rental in Grand Teton before spending another night in SLC (never visited either!). Near-universal wifi and a mobile workstation have revolutionized my quality of life more than quilted toilet paper, hot water heaters, and Trader Joe's Cookie Butter (though none are indispensable at this point). I've got trail running routes mapped along the way in addition to having identified a couple Y's where I can day pass into lap swimming. I'm a bit nervous about the distance and traveling alone, but a few years ago I hopscotched the Midwest between Phish & DeadCo dates up to Wrigley and met a ton of Phish fans caravanning the tour; so I suspect I'll run in to something of the same this time. Happy!
My friends and I have tix for Vegas Friday & Saturday nights - we're pretty excited, but You Kate have an ADVENTURE ahead of you! How fun!
Looks like I'll only be hitting one night at Rosemont, Saturday night. Life has been hectic (all in good ways!) lately and that's all I can swing, but I'm thankful to be seeing the boys again.
09 03 06 Hampton, VA THE RETURN OF PHISH! Almost done with the fantastic (to my ears) magical opening duo of Fluffhead>Divided Sky I've jumped all over the place in my Phish listening - it's been very, very random. I've heard shows from all periods and have enjoyed all of it. At this point it's down to song familiarity - there's so many songs and I'm still barely able to hum you Fluffhead, Divided Sky or Slave to the Traffic Light - but I'm getting there!!! Point is, I feel "knowledgeable" enough to safely wade into 3.0 for real without "wasting" my time due to lack of knowing the material, ya dig? I like to do marathons or listen to runs. Gonna do this Hampton shebang and see where I go from there.
Was in a local record shop this morning and they had an original pressing of Farmhouse hanging on the wall. Totally took me by surprise. They wanted over a hundred bucks for it (I think it might've been close to 200 actually!) Is it really that valuable?!?!
IWT: My Conventry Adventure, part 1 It started Wednesday night at the San Jose airport. Myself and 2 friends were booked on the 10:50pm red-eye to Boston, arriving Thurs am about 7:15. There we would hook up with 2 more friends and the 5 of us drive up... anyway the flight out of San Jose was running an hour late when we got there, but no biggie, we were leaving a day early anyway. Not so fast, mechanical problems ended up preventing the flight from leaving at all, and we're told to come back in the morning. OK we haven't even left California yet and we're already at least 12 hrs late! Anyway we go to the hotel they give us and come back the next morning. I have to call my friends already in Boston and let them know what's happening. The flight does finally leave San Jose at about 10:30 Thurs morning, gets to Boston about 7pm that night. We're 12 hrs behind our original schedule, but still have plenty of time to get to the show on time. Pick up the rental SUV (Mitsubishi with kickin stereo, and I had the Hampton show already from livephish.com). Pick up the other friends, and by 8pm we're heading North on I93. We stop in Concord NH for some cases of beer and gallons of water, tie a bunch of luggage on the roof to make room for the supplies inside the car, grab some fast food, and get back on the road. Making pretty good time, but as we get near Vermont border start hitting some HEAVY rains... little did we know just how much that rain would end up impacting our weekend... It's after midnight by the time we cross into Vermont, but as far as the roads it was still clear sailing. Shortly after getting off the 93 onto the 91, we pulled into a little town to gas up, found many other Phish travelers doing the same. It's about 1am at this point, and we're close enough to start tuning into "The Bunny." We were having a great time on our late night drive listening to all the old school funk and disco they were playin that night. But then 15 or 20 minutes after getting back on 93, we get to the backup. Signs are saying concert traffic keep right, as is the Bunny. So we pull into the right lane, and just sit there as it inches forward, little by little. Something lets up and it starts moving again, so things aren't looking too bad (yet). But a little while later traffic stops again. But this time not only is the right lane stopped, so is the left! At least partially anyway... what happened is that people in the left would then attempt to merge back into the right, which was already stopped, so they had nowhere to go. A lot of cars ended up kinda half way in the left and right lanes, so then trucks and other non-concert traffic had to squeeze by on the left shoulder.... I got caught in that situation as well, but some kind folks made a little room so I could squeeze in. Others were flipping us off and letting loose with obscenities... quite the scene! We did however merge over and begin the long wait with everyone else... We ended up by a large group that apparently was having a bachelor party at Coventry, and so right there at 2:30am on the side of the freeway they busted out their DJ setup, PA speakers, strobe light, disco ball, inflatable fox or something, portable gazebo, the whole 9 yards! It was classic, instant party on the interstate. For the next 2 hours we partied and danced with all the freaks at this impromptu party. Anyone else happen to see that?? Must've been somewhere between exit 23 and 24... At about 4:30am, cars started moving again, and so did we. Many drivers were asleep at that point. Snooze you lose. We were making semi-decent progress, staying in the right lane when possible but moving to the left to get by parked cars etc. A lotta stop and go from 5am to 6am... at around 6am the whole interstate was gridlock. Regular Friday morning local traffic was starting to get on the road, and left lane or right, it wasn't moving. State troopers were doing their best to get people out of the left lane, but at that point it was pretty hopeless. As the driver I made an executive decision to not even bother trying to get to the festival site anymore, as it was looking pretty dire. The next town North of Coventry, Newport, looked promising. Even so, we still had this interstate gridlock to deal with..... I was doing my best to follow an 18 wheeler, but when he stopped with nothing but stopped traffic ahead as far as the eye could see, I started to drift off.... Here we are in the "fast lane" of the interstate, but after not moving for at least 1/2 an hour, everyone in the car, including the driver, passed out. We all got a good laugh talking about it later: being woken up in the fast lane of the interstate by a state trooper! Yep, while we were all dozed off, a state trooper knocked on the window and woke us up. Not that traffic was moving or anything, but still, a pretty funny scene.... Eventually the left lane starts getting freed up, and we slowly start moving. A little further up the road, a trooper waves us to stop, and asks if we're going to the concert. "We're going North" I tell him, this traffic is simply too ridiculous, we're all tired and hungry and at this point getting to the show is secondary to getting some food and some rest. So we want to go North, beyond the concert, and then play it by ear. Well the trooper is super cool, seems to empathize with us, and says "Yes, Newport is probably your best bet. Go on up there, get some food, rest up, and it will probably be much easier to get back to the show from the North anyway, as nobody is coming in from that direction." And then he adds, "but I'm not telling anybody that, OK?" At that point the left lane was finally "open" and soon we were flying by the Coventry exit, which thousands were still waiting at, and heading North to Newport. What a relief! We still didn't know what were were gonna do, but we did know what we weren't gonna do: wait in traffic anymore! Part 2 to follow...
I sold mine for $300 a couple of years ago (still in the shrink wrap). As much as I liked having the record, when $300 was waved in my face, I took it.
First pressing, out of print, still in the shrink... but yeah, I'm not sure why the strong "demand" but was ok with letting my copy go.
HOLY HELL! As a trucker myself, I gotta say the northeast has the worst congestion - by far - of anywhere I've been (all over). That story about the bachelor party guys is hilarious. That reminds me of when I was 10 or 11 and my dad and I took a road trip (family from CT, but I grew up in FL, long story). We were in gridlock at 11:30 at night waiting for 2 hours to get over the G.W. bridge in New York. Traffic was at a standstill for 2 hours. 4 cars all pulled over together, put there under-car strobe lights on (purple and green), cranked up their stereos, pulled out a cooler and some lawn chairs and had a legit curbside fiesta. It was the coolest thing my little mind had ever seen, haha. Only in New York...
I prefer the outdoor venues, such as Harvey's at Lake Tahoe and of course The Gorge. That said, yes we are lucky here in the area to have a great indoor venue like the BGCA - probably the smallest (capacity) venue that Phish still plays in.
Now that I'm in a job where I'm making good money ($1200 for 5 days on the road!!!) I can't wait until next year to attend a show or two or 12. I'm 2 hours from Charlotte, 4 hours from Charleston, 2 hours from Alpharetta.....
That Cow Palace show in '96 was one of the worst sounding Phish shows I ever attended. The playing wasn't bad but man did it sound sh.tty - my own "fob" recording is barely listenable, and believe me, we were in what should have been the sweet spot, dead center, half way between soundboard and stage... That ARCO show the next night was much better...
Of course the album I was thinking of was The Story of The Ghost, not Farmhouse. Either way, 3 bones is 3 bones!
About to finish up 3/6/09 Hampton The first hour or so of the show, up to about NICU, was very good but seemed very hesitant (understandably). From there on out the magic returns however and the ENERGY is back! By the end of the show its like they never left us. Awesome gig! That being said, I'm very much looking forward to the next show - setlist wise, it's almost perfect in terms of songs I "want" to hear.
My first show of the 3.0 era was #5 of 2009, at Jones Beach (my one and only time at that venue). Killer show that harkened back to the heyday while looking forward at the same time, Runaway Jim > Foam opener, a la '94, with debut performances of Stealing Time from The Faulty Plan, and Kill Devil Falls. (Does Stealing Time remind anyone else of Embryo?) Anyway a great show that might be underrated but I loved it live and it is still one of my '09 go-to shows.
Enjoyed 3/6/09 so much I carried straight on into 3/7 Up to Punch right now. I'm not gonna get much further tonight, but it's a good head start to pick up from tomorrow. The guys sound like they are speeding through everything so far, like they drank too much Mountain Dew or something, lol.
That was fun. I was about 10 people back between Trey and Mike. Last night of that run was my 30th birthday. Sanity opener
The sound might have actually been better further back where I was in that particular case. Anyway, Arco was a better sounding venue but I liked the show itself at Cow Palace just as much, if not more. Sparks Who cover might have skewed me in that direction, though. The Arco show was fun, though, somehow wound up with a backstage pass but mostly spent that time talking to Peter Apfelbaum who was high school friends with my then-housemate.
