I woke on Sunday morning at the Congress Plaza Hotel. I was able to get an early start and avoid any of the parade traffic. I heard Lido Shuffle by Boz Skaggs on the way down and after the show on FM radio. This was to be one more for the road. Prior to the tour I had expectations for this one. Perhaps that was the problem. Wrigley Field exceeded them. Unfortunately this one did not. I had White Castle for lunch which has become sort of a Deer Creek tradition for me. I met Doc and BC at the Studio 6 Hotel in Fishers. They had a couple younger fans seeing Phish for the first time with them. We parked and roasted under the hot sun. However, the extreme weather was about to continue in the form of a storm that delayed the opening of the doors until 8 pm. The show started about 9 pm. I was able to procure a poster and had a decent seat on the Page side. This was my 135th Phish show.
Sometimes you don't get the show you want but instead see the show you need. I was looking for deep improvisation. Instead we got an early tour show that felt somewhat rushed and was played close to the vest. After how well they were playing at the end of the summer and over the NYE run it was a little disappointing. Perhaps though as I approach 35 years of age that its indeed time to scale back my involvement with Phish. They are only putting in six weeks of work and it shows. The whole thing has become very predictable. Sometimes I wonder if Trey is void of creative ideas or if he simply doesn't want to explore and take risks anymore. Either way I'm satisfied with what I've seen. I don't need to live and die with this anymore. That was the lesson of this show. The first set was pretty much standard 3.0. I did like the debut of the new song. There was a very colorful sunset before more rain come through. Songs that once were interesting are now truncated i.e. Halley's and Tube. Maze was the highlight of the first stanza for me along with the set closing First Tube. It was good seeing Joel Brown on the way inside before the show. For set two I went out on the lawn where it was still drizzling to enjoy some of the show with the Auburn crew: Pat, Keisha, Ryan, and Heather. Eventually I went back down to my original spot. My cousin Dan who teaches at Purdue was at this show but I wasn't able to meet up with him.
Punch You in the Eye was a nice start to this set. I wanted to them jam out BOTT. It was not to be. Light was the only improvisation and even that wasn't anything too outrageous. The rest of the set relied on energy based playing to get the job done. The new Trey ballad Shade was one of my favorite parts of the night. The placement for that was perfect. Possum was appropriate with the fanbase getting back on the road. Rock and Roll reached a nice peak and was an above average encore. After the show I drove all the way home stopping only in Champaign and LP. I enjoyed St. Paul > Chicago > Noblesville. The music wasn't necessarily mind blowing but the experience was enjoyable.
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