I left on Monday morning and headed east. For the first day I didn't have a hotel reservation. The plan was to drive until I felt tired. It was overcast as I drove through Illinois and onto the turnpikes of Indiana and Ohio. In Cleveland I turned off I-80 onto I-90 toward Buffalo. I made it to Erie, PA and decided to call it a night at an antiquated Super 8. I ate fresh at Subway.
On the morning of the Rochester show I made the short drive from Erie through Buffalo to Niagara Falls. It was cold but sunny as I approached the falls for the first time. I won't attempt to describe the natural beauty of this special place. I'm not a fan of heights so going out of the ledge was nerve racking. After the visit to Niagara Falls I made the short drive to Henrietta where my Microtel was. I ate Wendy's before the show. I got lost in the maze of side roads my outdated GPS took me down. Finally I found a parking garage across the river from the arena. It was general admission in the entire arena and unfortunately way too many people attempted to squeeze on the floor.
I was happy with the first set. It was song oriented but had a consistent rock energy that the Hampton first sets had been lacking. This was a cohesive first stanza. Unusual placement for the Meatstick. Hey-0! Kill Devil Falls was the highlight of the set with a much better than average version. Scent of a Mule seemed like Fishman went a little too long playing with his new instrument. Timber Ho! was great to hear. Those two songs were a Mule team. Halfway to the Moon is a new Page song that I really like. During the setbreak I saw a guy being restrained on a stretcher being taken out of the venue by EMTs and Police. Bad vibes. The PA music during setbreak was The Talking Heads 77 and then they opened the second set with Crosseyed and Painless. I wonder if that was by coincidence or not.
They never seem to lock in during this version of C&P. I heard Trey teasing the shit out of Light long before they stopped and actually started up the song. When they finally got a funky rhythm going Trey inexplicably started singing Golden Age over top of this. It made for a unique version but it unfortunately did not lead to any jamming worth mentioning. When they followed up Birds of a Feather with Halley's Comet it became clear they were waving the white flag on the set. The tour's first Possum actually was a lot of fun on this occasion. The placement reminded me of Hampton 3/6/09. We were on the road and it felt good. Bug was a great call at this junction. Really poignant playing from Anastasio. Heavy Things was well played but probably should have been played in the first set instead of deep in the second. I was calling Bowie but the tour's first YEM ensued. Joy, First Tube sent the crowd off into the night to the sounds of Blue Swede "Hooked on a Feeling". I was happy to see Phish again. The reappearance of a relevant first set was what I took away from this show.
No comments:
Post a Comment