PHISH
9/1/13
Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Commerce City, CO
I: A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, Kill Devil Falls, Back on the Train, Rift, Meat, It's Ice, Guelah Papyrus, The Divided Sky, Funky Bitch, Cavern, Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan, David Bowie
II: Carini, Birds of a Feather, Golden Age > Prince Caspian > Piper, Boogie On Reggae Woman > I Saw It Again, Mike's Song > Legalize It > Weekapaug Groove, Show of Life, Suzy Greenberg
E: Character Zero
Last Sunday I was on the road by 6:00 am for O'Hare. I had planned this excursion since the Summer Tour had been announced. I had booked everything through Priceline. The drive to Chicagoland was uneventful. I ate breakfast at the DeKalb Oasis. The Saturn was left in the remote parking Lot F and I took the bus and train to the terminal. I was flying the ultra-low cost carrier Spirit Airlines. It turned out that I had the two seats next to me open for the flight out to Denver so that was really nice. The cab ride from DIA to the Super 8 Stapleton was costly but I knew that was going to be the case. I spent the afternoon eating Sonic and watching the Labor Day Law & Order marathon on USA. At one point I walked across Quebec to the Walmart to purchase some canned goods for the Conscious Alliance food drive that I traded for the 9/1 Phish CO patch. Bobbyluv and his crew picked me up from the hotey and we hung out in the lot behind the venue prior to the show. I used the gate which scanned your ticket and gave you a field wristband prior to entering which cut down on waiting later. For the first set I met up with a good friend of mine from Geneseo who now lives in Ft. Collins. We hung out by the soundboard. Later I found out that's where Justin Bieber watched the show from.
The first set was well played. ASIHTOS to open was unexpected. Many of the songs in the first set were Phish original compositions. Trey was using a pretty interesting tone during BOTT. Funky Bitch had a little more energy than usual. It's Ice could have been a tip of the hat to Heisenberg. That was the first Guelah Papyrus of the year. During the break in Divided Sky people were chanting "We Love Dick's!". I saw the Cavern/Bowie combo to close the set coming having watched the previous two shows on Webcast and knowing what songs in the catalog hadn't been played.
For set two I purchased the event t-shirt and moved down with Bobbyluv and his crew on the Page side. Carini was the intense second set opener I was looking for and this spawned a nice piece of improvisation that included some changes that almost put me in the mind of Two Versions of Me. BOAF kept the crowd moving. Golden Age had some interesting grooves from Gordo but the jam never really materialized. I wasn't happy with the decision by Trey to go into Caspian. This did have a nice transition into a Piper that was the other obvious highlight along with the previously mentioned Carini. Boogie On may have signaled the end of any serious jamming for the night. Fish signaled the transition into Saw It Again. Mike's Groove was sandwich with the first ever Phish rendition of Peter Tosh's Legalize It. A clear nod to Colorado's relaxed laws this worked perfectly in that situation. Show of Life was an introspective moment before a Page led Suzy Greenberg brought the set to a close. This was the second year in a row they encore on Sunday at Dick's with Character Zero. The sounds of Johnny Cash's "We'll Meet Again" sent us off into the night. With me having tickets to Worcester and Hartford the future is promising as we shall meet again in about 40 days. After the show I watched Training Day on TNT. It was nice being able to sleep in before my flight home. I had a nice chat with a cab driver from Ankeny, IA. It was comical when at DIA Suzy Greenberg was paged for a telephone call. This was my 101st Phish show and I really enjoyed flying out to Colorado for the Summer Tour finale.
