On Wednesday morning I woke in Henrietta, NY and hit the Thru-way. My I-pass works on all the EZ Pass turnpikes on the east coast which is convenient. After a couple hours on the interstate I turned south on country roads for Cooperstown, NY. The scenery became gorgeous the closer I got to the hometown of Abner Doubleday who is generally credited for popularizing baseball. I was surprised how small of a town Cooperstown was. I toured the Baseball Hall of Fame. The highlight for me was finding Ron Santo's plaque. It's a shame he wasn't alive to see the day he was inducted. I spent a lot of hours listening to him on the radio. My father spent a lot of hours watching him as a ball player. RIP Ronnie.
I drove north to Saratoga Springs taking two lane highways. The foliage and dairy farms made for an enjoyable but slow ride. At that point I got onto the highway again heading north to Lake George. This small town was the site of Fort William Henry featured in The Last of the Mohicans. It lies within the boundaries of Adirondack State Park. I stayed at the luxurious Motel 6. Unfortunately Tom Bodette left the light on for the nitrous mafia. I saw them unloading tanks from a shady looking conversion van after the show. After watching some Andy Griffith on TV and grabbing some Burger King I made my way to downtown Glens Falls. Traffic in the small upstate New York hamlet was outrageous. Nobody was moving. I made a spur of the moment decision and parked on the street. It was 5-6 blocks through the downtown to the small arena. This venue reminded me of Wharton Fieldhouse in Moline it was so small. The capacity was around 5,000. I found a spot very close on the floor on the Page side.
There was definitely talk amongst the fans about Phish giving a nod to the 1994 Halloween show which was the last time they had played in this undersized gym. So when they opened with Back in the U.S.S.R. it wasn't a total shock but the energy in the crowd was amazing. It was such an old school vibe. You could tell a lot of older fans from the Burlington area had made the trek and the band was certainly aware of that. A midset Bowie was certainly worthy of praise. This was a better than average version for this era. Gumbo featured Page on his clavinet instead of the piano for the ragtime ending. I thought they would push it into a jam but alas it wasn't to be. Hearing Yarmouth Road for the first time was a highlight of the tour for me. That's a great tune from Gordo/Scott. Camel Walk, Horn, and Limb were great calls I felt. For modern day Split Open and Melts that wasn't a bad version.
The second set used Rock and Roll as its opener but it never developed into a launching pad like it sometimes can be. Instead it was Seven Below that was used as the jamhorse. I've seen most of the definitive version of this song and I enjoyed this take. Alaska worked in that cooldown slot. It's better than Ocelot. Twist was finally used for improvisation again on this night. As the jam wound down you could Page wanted Wading in the Velvet Sea. After stopping briefly that was the choice they went with. This was one of the cleanest versions I've heard this side of The Story of the Ghost. I couldn't help but juxtapose this version against the one I saw at nearby Coventry 9 years earlier. My life and the band are in better places now. I'd seen a Hood milk semi on the interstate earlier. This was a better than average version of one of Phish's most classic tunes. Chalkdust provided a nice rocker to end a cohesive, well packaged set of Phish. The Beatles tune that has stayed in the regular rotation since that fateful Halloween 1994 show was the encore. This was an old school show both in terms of the vibe in the crowd and the playing from the stage.
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