(above pictures from phish.com)
The Phish Fall Tour 2013 had a off day on Thursday. I chose to drive north to the hometown of Phish which of course is Burlington, VT. This is a pilgrimage I've always wanted to do. The drive was very scenic in upstate NY. Once I crossed Lake Champlain into Vermont it became more flat and the dairy farms were plentiful. I stayed at the Travelodge in South Burlington. During the day I drove down to the Stowe area and visited the Ben & Jerry's factory. For dinner I went to downtown Burlington and had the famous gravy fries at Nectar's. That night I watched the Cardinals and Red Sox in the World Series. It was fun to be traveling through New England with a legitimate reason to be rooting for the Sox.
The drive through Vermont and down into New Hampshire was pretty. Once into Massachusetts I arrived at the extreme eastern point of the journey. From here it was westward ho. I'd seen Phish before at the arena formerly known as the Centrum in 2010. It was good to not have a foot and a half of snow on the ground this time. I stayed at the Motel 6 in Westborough which left a little something to be desired. Traffic was a bitch on Rt. 9. Both nights I was able to park in the garage across from the arena. There was a bottleneck getting inside the first night. My seat was Page side in the balcony. The sound was good and I enjoyed the vantage point.
This show reminded me of seeing Phish in arenas back in 99/00. It conjured up feelings of the old days. Funky Bitch is always fun with it being a cover from the city of Chicago. Wolfman's was a great version. During Wilson Trey mentioned that Rog was in attendance. It was interesting to see them play Curtain With and Rift so closely in the set. I had two noobs next to me that I took under my wing. I had just taught them that Rift came from the With part of Curtain With. When they then played Rift it became obvious for the kids to see what I was explaining to them. Cities was a nice funk interlude in between and it got me thinking about possibilities of relocation in my own life. Great placement for Free. They hadn't played My Mind's since the 2010 Woostah shows. Vultures was great to hear but was marred by the woos. A rocking 46 Days wrapped up a very on point set of Phish. No filler. Setbreak was LCD Soundsystem "Sound of Silver".
Hearing them start up Waves was exactly what I wanted in that situation. This and the Carini that followed contained some of the best improvisation of the tour. They were working to become more than the sum of their parts. Trey's soloing during #Line made that an effective break in the improvisation before returning to the jamming with Ghost. This landed in a poignant, heartfelt version of Dirt which always reminds me of a fallen friend from tour. I was surprised to hear them start up yet another jam vehicle in the form of DWD. A straight forward funk jaunt in Sally led into what appeared might end the set with Cavern. This was appropriate with me having been to Nectar's the evening before. I called the ensuing Antelope. This jazzier rendition put me in the mind of my old favorite from Ames '99. I figured Contact would be a quick one and done. Suzy had to end it, right? Rocky Top is always fun. A tip of the hat to Tennessee. An unbelievable four song encore finally came to an end with Good Times Bad Times (which I heard on the radio immediately after the show). The elated crowd exited into the Massachusetts evening to the sounds of "Who's That Lady" by The Isley Brothers (which I'd heard on the radio immediately prior to the show). Some shows are better than others. On this occasion Phish pretty much put it all together.
A power outage at the hotel during the afternoon forced me to farther than I would have liked to find fuel and food. The night before I'd owned a Domino's Pizza. They really have stepped their game up with their rebranding. I got the poster before the show the second night. I wondered if Phish would be able to be match the heroic effort they had put forth the evening before. Surprisingly they did.
It was funny that my seats where next to the same people as the night before. Phish ticketing obviously filled our orders at the same time. Unfortunately our seats, which were closer to the stage on the Gordon side, had horrible sound underneath the overhang of the top balcony. I chose to move up to the section where I had witnessed the Friday show. It was nice to have seen both shows from about the same spot for continuity sake. I did my moving about during Party Time. Punch You in the Eye served as a second opener. BOTT and My Soul kept the energy going before Trey owned face during Bathtub Gin. The old Deadhead next to me seeing Phish for the first time was impressed. Ride Captain Ride makes me think of the Anchorman soundtrack. Stash, Simple > Bowie was a huge triad. Stash and Bowie with their darker jams sandwiched an uplifting piece of jamming that followed Simple. Zero wrapped up another cohesive, strong first set.
Drowned was one of the best jams of the tour no doubt about. Toward the end it took on a mellow sublime feel to it. Gordo had his envelope filter going. It was a bubbly cloud they were floating along on. Light had an effective jam as well. Sand kept the crowd dancing. Theme from the Bottom was used as the cooldown song. I could feel the Mike's Groove on the way. The decision to use No Quarter was a spooky choice in the middle. They really did a good job with that cover. I'd seen that sequence before at Dick's 2012. Boogie On, Possum was a fun end to an amazing weekend of music. I spent the encore out in the lobby with a number of Red Sox fans watching the end of the game. Postshow PA music was Prince "I Wanna Be Your Lover". Phish crushed Woostah.
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