While you, my readers, might be sick of hearing me talk about Phish and jam bands, much to my dismay, this might be the last piece I’ll have new material to write about for awhile.
Labor Day weekend comes and goes at a rate exponentially faster than any of us would like; even those of us lucky enough to attend Phish Dicks this year. All the hype for Friday reminds you to (try to) pace yourself on night one of a three-day run, and before you know it it’s the closing song of Sunday night.
The best way for me to avoid the depression that has inevitably set in since the weekend ended with the “Tweprise” we’d been dreaming of, is to take my best shot at reviewing the three glorious nights I could only dream of doing justice.
After Phish’s three-day festival “Curveball” was cancelled last month due to inclement weather conditions, the band came in REAL HOT Friday night with a dirty “Free.” The opener led into a “Harry Hood” that not only brought me to tears but also had me searching for my jaw on the floor below me.
They Blazed On through a set one that left us salivating with every note, had us “still waiting” with a sixteen minute “Ghost,” into a “Crosseyed and Painless,” and ended set one with a “Cavern” that brought everyone together to yell the closing “Take care of your shoes.”
Set Two picked right back up with a heavy “Carini,” a NINETEEN minute display that I didn’t know I needed, but you freakin bet I did. Set two only continued for three more songs before the encore where I was lucky enough to get my first “Martian Monster,” to which I fell over when I heard it begin with “You have been selected.” While night one had my spaceship blasting off long before she told me it was about to, Friday night was anything but a short trip, and god damn was it a good one.
Night two slowed it down a little with a “Sand” opener into “Down with Disease” that had us all donning stupid grins. They closed set one with a funky “Bathtub Gin” that Page DESTROYED the keys to.
Set two began with “Set Your Soul Free,” and while I wouldn’t typically characterize myself as an emotional person, the ability for this band to bring it out of me amazes me everyday. Trey told us to “roll with the funk now” and damn, did we ever with a “2001,” that had me begging for “More” even after they closed night two with the aforementioned title.
Upon first thought I was dissapointed I never heard Trey yell “Play it Leo,” perhaps in a “NICU,” but on second thought, I didn’t need to. Page has his night on Sunday, beginning with the “Soul Planet” opener.
I was emanating the title to its truest form when I finally got my “Funky Bitch,” and kept it going with a dirty with “My Friend, My Friend.”
The band opened with the “46 Days” I’d been asking for, ironically enough, for exactly that many days since seeing them at the Gorge. A loose “Gotta Jibboo” into “Suzy Greenberg,” allowed for all smiles across the crowd to hide the fate of an end that was approaching all too soon.
I don’t know when the next time I’ll get to see these beautiful people again is, but you better believe I’ll “Run like an antelope, out of control,” when I do. Thanks for a quite literally out of this world three days, Phish; you’ve done it again.
