Woke in Albany. Got a bagel by myself. We where in the same hotel from fall tour & had it 2 nights so went out while M & Holly slept. Found spilled lemonade in the back. Got carpet cleaner and vacuumed it out.
Good Beer store right next to the hotel. They even had a tour extra. weird. We eat $100 worth of Sushi for lunch as a reward for our hard work in Brooklyn. Got to the lot around 4. Busy again. sold out of lemonade and wait till around 7 for Holly's brother. Since Holly & I are getting married I felt way closer to her brother. Once again used fake stubs to get to the pavilion.
6/20/04 Set I
Bill Bailey Page brings out his dad for father's day to sing & tap dance. At one point Page made a signal to Trey to get the hook. Funny and reminded me to call my dad during set break. The first set really lacked. Nothing stood out. It seemed like Trey was looking for the song to take them to the next level but just never found it. After failed attempts on Julius, Waves & a very brief Gumbo it quickly went to the quick hits song. Finally they find it with the set I closer...Drowned. In the same vain as last night's Piper. The improv is focused and moving fast. Many peaks. Chris used the lights on the circle to spin as the energy built. Very Cool!!! At 20+ mins this left us with high hopes for the second set.
Break was mellow. Called dad & hung out with Holly& Scott.
Set II
7 Below > Ghost > Twist YEM
This 4 song set was it. This is why I see Phish and this is what I will miss. Beautiful music. Nice Transitions. The move from Ghost to Twist was awesome. The jam was so deep that I had hardly notice they had went into Twist until the lyrics. At one point during twist the jam had gone so many places I turned to Holly and said they are going to play Twist. Oh wait...that is what they are playing. The YEM, always a welcome song, was standard. Made me realize that Phish is really going places with different songs than they use to. Songs like 7 Below, Twist & Piper have become the launchpads for huge improv, while songs like Antelope, YEM & Bowie have become, for the most part, nostalgic jams. Maybe if the fan base would have recognized this & embraced it, we would still have Phish. Instead people still cheer loudest for songs that have over the last few years been very stale. The maybe the fault of the hiatus. Instead of slowly bring in new fans, the hiatus saw a huge influx of new fans to shows, few with the history or respect of Phish. Instead of meeting older fans to give them perspective, they hang out in huge packs of new fans, all awaiting their favorite song from their favorite 1994 show. Add to this the fact that after the disaster that was Hampton 2003, many older fans never gave the band a chance for post hiatus greatness. So for these reasons, maybe they are becoming or worse yet have become, caricatures of themselves. New phans wanting to see the Phish of 1995, because they were too young to be there, and older phans contend to stay at home with their memories of the greatness that was Phish. As this set shows, there still is greatness to be found, it is just in new places. Sadly most phans are unable to embrace this. Phish as a band, has always feed of the energy of the crowd and unfortunately the crowd has not given the energy to these new monster Phish songs. And for this reason, at this show in upstate New York, I want it to end. I say this sadly but I know this to be true. The last thing I could deal with is for Phish to be the Dead. With fans only listen to tapes from 25 years ago, yet continue to tour. As I walk around Phish lot these final few times I see the faces of people 5-15 years younger than me and remember my early days on Dead tour. The music was a minor reason I was there. I was there as an escape, a different society, a party. I would see older heads and not understand them. How, after doing tour, did they end up like that. Now I know. I wonder if they felt us young kids were responsible for the fall of the Grateful Dead? I know I blame the kids for the death of Phish. But I also blame older phans who would not give them a chance post hiatus. Who wrote them off after a few bad shows. Yet I know Phish must stop before things get bad. All the signs are there. The scene will just get dark. As more & more kids come for the party the scene will fall apart. I have seen this before. So Phish as they see the clouds gather & the sky darken, they quickly pack up & head for shelter from the storm. I too will do the same. I pack all I have gained from the past 10 years & search for sunnier places. With Holly, I know they are there. I can only hope Phish finds the same.
After the show we sold beer and head back to the hotel. We heard Phish is playing on top of the Ed Sullivan marquee. Decided it was not worth dealing with NYC for 3 to 4 abridged Phish songs. Besides we would miss Particle in Deer Creek
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