PHISH
6/30/11
Super Ball IX
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen, NY
My friend Doc drove up from Decatur and we left at 10:15 pm from Geneseo, IL. Our destination was Watkins Glen, NY for Phish Super Ball IX. These were to be my final concerts of my twenties. It felt like the entire 3.0 era and in the larger picture my whole time seeing Phish had led up until this moment in time and space. The sun came up while we were on the Ohio Turnpike just west of Cleveland. I handled the driving until we reached Pennsylvania. The drive to the festival was quite simple with my hometown being on I-80. We took that to Cleveland, OH where we drove on I-90 until Erie, PA where were caught up with I-86. As this point Doc helped with the cruise across the Southern Tier Expressway. This was my favorite part of the drive as the scenary turned to large hills with forests and dairy farms. At the town of Corning, NY we took 414 North to Watkins Glen International.
We were able to keep the vehicle rolling all night long and got to the festival about an hour after the gates opened on Thursday. The private security force that Phish hired did a thorough job of searching the vehicles upon entry. My first impression of the festival was amazement at the lack of traffic especially when compared to the previous two east coast Phish festivals that I had attended which were IT and Coventry. We pulled right up to the gate. No traffic whatsoever! I was not thrilled when they parked us in Oklahoma which was a hike from the race track itself. We were amongst the first wave of people there and they parked us farther away than people who arrived later. That was about the only complaint I had all weekend really and perhaps it worked out for the best because we were in relative proximity to showers and permeanant bathroom facilities as well as the food vendors.
Camp Winning was comprised of my Saturn, the shade tent, and my large red tent. This was our headquarters for Phish's 9th large scale festival. I immediately made friends with the alpha hippie next to us and we had no problems with our neighbors all weekend. There were two small girls that were there with their parents. Though the parents did a great job at keeping the kids occupied I question how appropriate it is to bring children to an event of that nature. Much of our downtime in our campsite was spent listening to the official onsite radio station The Bunny which we enjoyed on my ancient boombox via 1490 AM.
We had been tipped off that the soundcheck was going to start about 4 pm and we arrived during the initial Jam. There was a large crowd of several hundred fans who were congregated on the outside of the track to listen. They were not allowing people inside the track into Ball Square which would be the central area of the festival. A funky extended Undermind was the first actual song we heard from Phish at Watkins Glen. The TAB turned Phish song Sleep Again came next. There were several moments during the soundcheck when they would stop and adjust the various settings. My Soul and Ginseng Sullivan came next. By far the highlight of the first day was the final Jam of the soundcheck. This had a wide open feel to it and was an obvious precurser to the A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing we would hear on Sunday.
During the evening it became quite cool. I slept with a hooded sweatshirt and stocking hat. The temperatures seemed to get warmer over the course of the weekend. It was tough having to wait around until 8 pm when the music started. During the day I took a nice walk to Ball Square and purchased the event T-shirt and the merit badge. It was nice inside the air conditioned House of Live Phish. They had couches and rows of laptops where you could download Live Phish for free. Also, at the end of the tent they had a flatscreen with a Phish DVD playing. I picked up my bib for the Runaway Jim 5k which would take place the next morning. I saw some old friends. The first being Katie from Moline and then Charlie formerly of Tinley Park. It was good to see some familiar faces. Doc and I found our closest spot to the stage of the weekend for the first set. It was cool to see the facial expressions. They were obviously filming the whole weekend for a DVD.
Possum got things started "your end is the road". Friday was my 75th Phish show and my first time hearing Peaches En Regalia. This was a much cleaner version than the one they played in North Carolina in June. Moma Dance really got things going. I had heard Torn and Frayed at Cincy 09. That was a nice nod to the previous festival. NICU continued this energy filled first set. Bathtub Gin was the initial exploration of the night but was limited by Trey's wailing. Life on Mars was another first for me and was a great call. MFMF showcased the compositional side of Phish. Wolfman's Brother was the highlight of the first set. This was extended beyond what most 3.0 versions have been. Roses are Free was standard. Funky Bitch worked as a pseudo set closer. Quinn the Eskimo was a bonus to cap off the set. As the sun set on the festival the real action had yet to unfold in night one. I liked the decision to not use a big screen. This emphasized the work of Chris Kuroda on lights and he rose to the occasion.
We went back to our campsite for dinner at setbreak. As we walked back to the stage it was easily to recognize the driving groove of Crosseyed and Painless. After taking that out for a nice ride they settled into a well executed segueway into Chalkdust Torture. We found a spot a little further back by my friend Jason from Massachusetts. Sand was a song that I really wanted to hear. This was another great recent version that had some interesting jazzy licks/grooves. Wedge worked as an interlude between Sand and the Mike's Groove. "Take the highway" I was hoping they would actually put back the second jam that used to be in Mike's but that was not to be. Simple was another song I wanted and when they went that route instead of Hydro I was thrilled. The spacey outro turned out to be the highlight of the night. The campgrounds were abuzz with talk about this version of Simple the next day. I liked the choice of Bug at the end of the space excursion. Horse>SITM worked as in the ballad slot. Weekapaug appeared to be the end of the set. Then they played Joy which would extend the set two more songs with Character Zero being the set closer. Character Zero featured some rock star Trey to end the night and this was perfect. Show of Life continues to get better. The encore on Friday was the best version I've heard. The sounds of The Bee Gees sent us off into the night. This was a strong first offering.
I woke on Saturday and immediately turned my attention to the Runaway Jim 5k. After some warm up jogging and light stretching I made my way to the starting area along with the other large group of runners. Prior to the race I saw a naked guy who was approached by two sheriffs. They made him put on a metalic blanket from a first aid kit. Later I saw him naked again. Before the start of the race I talked to Jim Pollack. I was pleased with my finish during the race. Never at any point did I walk and I was able to kick down a lot of people at the end. My favorite part was just being able to run on a NASCAR track. Obviously this event also brought together the more health conscious element of the festival.
After running in the heat there was a little bit of recovery before we made our way to the field for the afternoon set. During Tube the crowd was covered by huge balls. Unfortunately this was another very short version. KDF got things going. The slinky sounds of Ocelot worked in the larger setting. The pause during Divided Sky was one of the longest I've seen them do. The next four songs were very radio friendly versions. 46 Days got back to the wailing of the night before. I really enjoyed the Phish debut of the GRAB song Suskind Hotel. The jam could be described as being similiar to Birds of a Feather. Circus was appropriate with the masses having converged in Watkins Glen for the holiday weekend. Timber Ho! was a highlight of the first set. BOTT is a song they obviously enjoy playing these days. I thought they were going to end the set in Page's House with Suzy. However, they generously gave us the debut of The Rolling Stones Monkey Man off the Let It Bleed album. Page did a great job with the vocals. This was a lengthy first set in what would turn out to the longest day of Phish music since Big Cypress.
We had a few hours to regroup. The previous night we had Nathan's Hot Dogs on my grill. On this occasion we bought Gyros from the stand near our campsite and it was a huge success. Runaway Jim was predictable with the race having been that morning. They brought out the winners. It's always good to hear McGrupp. Axilla is not one of my favorites. Birds of a Feather had a different sounding jam. Afterwords Trey played The Simpsons secret language tease. Stash was the highlight of this set. Another impressive recent version this was. Sample, Heavy Things, Horn all provide some variety to the set but this definitely felt like another first set. The lights were awesome during It's Ice and the middle breakdown sounded like a metronome clock. Mango and Rift continued this song oriented set. The return of the original intro to Scents and Subtle Sounds was a major highlight for me. A high energy version of Run Like an Antelope wrapped up the set. I got an Italian toasted sub sandwich from a stand on the Fishman side. This was a great decision.
Golden Age was perhaps the biggest highlight of all on Saturday. That was my first time hearing that TV on the Radio cover. I loved the improvisation that ensued. The pairing of Caspian and Piper puts me in the mind of the JFK Jr. inspired Camp Oswego segue. Piper covered some interesting territory before settling into a very well recieved Tweezer. This was a monster version of Phish's seminal jam. The Tweezer segue into Julius was a reprisal of what was played in Alpharetta this tour. Number Line was a rocking interlude before we got back into outer space with Twist > 2001. Hood was fairly brief but they worked it to a nice peak. It seemed like the set would end with Cavern. Golgi seemed a little out of place. Page extended the ending and took it into A Day in the Life to close things out. Loving Cup, Tweezer Reprise is a pretty standard encore but it worked. I think I heard that encore about a month prior to that in Cincinnati.
We had been back in the campground only about an hour before we saw the spotlights and heard the noises. The experimental USA Storage set was an amazing experience. They had speakers and spotlights going in all directions. It was hard to figure out where Phish was playing from. The jam eventually found its way into a unique version of Sleeping Monkey which sent us off to bed. I felt the improvisation and production of the late night set was a huge success for Phish.
We spent the day reflecting on the enormous amount of music Phish had played on Saturday. It was quite hot once again on Sunday. The late night set was the talk of the festival. Finally we made our way to the race track for the last time. We found a good vantage point on the Page side, about even with the soundboard. For the final day of Super Ball IX everything fell into place for us. I felt the last day was the strongest musically.
This was a first set that could have been played in the 1980s sans ASIHTOS. It's about is as close to a Gamehendge set of Phish that you will probably get in 2011. That was my first Soul Shakedown Party and AC/DC Bag got the show on the road. It was interesting that they chose to play a Curtain without. Forbin's > Mockingbird had an interesting narration by Trey about Watkins Glen that gave this an old school Gamehendge feel. Destiny Unbound was extended and this led into BBFCFM which I felt actually worked in this spot. Wilson was given a little extra treatment than usual. This version of Mound was better than the ones I had recently seen in Worcester and Cincinnati. ASIHTOS was the highlight for me in the first set. The ensuing improvisation was similiar in nature to what we heard during the soundcheck on Thursday. It had a wide open feel to it. At this point the sunset behind the stands in the distance was absolutely beautiful with pinkish/blue hues. This was in addition to the ferris wheel which had cool colors all weekend long. Time Loves a Hero was another old school cover that worked in this set. Reba was the perfect call for that moment with the previously described sunset. I was psyched to hear them do the end whistling. Page flubbed the end part and Trey made light of it. This version of David Bowie was rather short but reached a nice peak to cap off this retro set of Phish. The setbreak had a patriotic theme which ran the gamut from Neil Diamond, Tom Petty, Grand Funk Railroad, Ray Charles, and David Bowie.
Big Balls was very well done by Fishman and was appropriate. Balls held for pleasure are the ones I like most. I was expecting DWD to open this final set so it was no surprise when they started up the opening noises. This was a well connected jam that eventually led into some spacey areas. I picked up on the No Quarter pretty early. A guy in front of me had a Led Zeppelin t-shirt on and he was loving it. Page nailed the vocals. Party Time actually had a little jam tacked on it. Ghost > Jibboo, Light, Waves was the meat and potatoes of the final set. Waves > What's the Use was some powerful music. Meatstick was perhaps a nod to Big Cypress. I was expecting Slave, YEM but perhaps they were hurting for time. Stealing Time may have been a reference to just that. Before the encore break they did a predictable acapella Star Spangled Banner with it being the 4th of July already at that point.
Trey thanked everyone before the encore and started up First Tube to close out the weekend. This put me in the mind of the encore they played on the 4th of July in Alpharetta last year. During First Tube they shot off fireworks and it was cool to see the band play with the pyrotechnics. Finally, Phish wrapped up the song, took their bow, and left the stage for the last time with much of the crowd watching the fireworks in the other direction. The sounds of America by Simon and Garfunkel worked perfectly for that reflective moment. This was the final concert of my twenties. Super Ball IX exceeded my expectations in terms of convenience, quality of music, and pretty much everything else. I must thank my friend Doc for being my wingman on this important journey.
