TENSION!

Woke around 9. Not too hot in the tent which is rare for June in Indy. Woke M who slept in the car since his tent didn't work. Second year in a row for M. We drove into town to goto Costco, Target for water & a super market. We discover the back trunk compartment is filled with lemonade. SMELLS SOOOO BAD!!!!! We bought carpet cleaner and spent sometime cleaning up. A pain in the ass. We get back to camp & walk to the official campsite. We find D & J. They have found 2 baby rabbits which we name 'Bag It' & 'Tag It' We catch up a little since they are just now jumping on tour because of a festival in their home town. Head back and drive into the lot.

We once again manage to skirt security to set up along the fence down near the end of shakedown. The number of vendors is amazing. We do OK. today selling some beer & some lemonade. The NY days are defiantly behind us. Holly goes in early to grab a poster and stack out a spot on the lawn. I pack up & head in around 7:30. Holly got a awesome spot on the lawn, dead center with a nice view of the screens. The sound is very good for the lawn.

6/23/04 Set I
Very standard first set. A 17 min Bathtub Gin & a 15 min Split were the 2 big jams of the set. Neither really went anyplace. For the first time this summer, it feels like the band is going through the motions with not a lot of emotion behind their playing. NYC & SPAC it always seemed they were searching for those transcendent jams. Here they were just getting through a set of music.

Set II
Halley's opened & quickly went into CROSSEYED & PAINLESS!!! My favorite cover easily. Super happy to hear this. Had not even really thought about them playing this. Fun cause we had been listen to 'Remaining in the Light' in the car the last couple of days. We had been too lazy to change CD's.
This was a good 15 min version. Did not have the multiple sections of the jamming that marked the SPAC shows but interesting music here none the less. As C&P fades, slave starts in. Starting to look we are going to have a monster 2nd set,.right where SPAC left off. A pretty Slave leads into the new song "Nothing'. I am starting to like this song. They go into an interesting jam out of this they did not do the first time they played it.

Then.....THE TRAIN WRECK.
Trey decides to go into 46 days out of this jam. But Mike either does not notice, or more likely does not care. He is doing some cool bass effects & does not follow Trey's lead. Trey actually starts to sing before Mike finally gives up & goes into 46 days. Trey shot Mike a couple of looks & for the first time I am remind that things may not be right in Phishland. This 46 days is so short it could be the studio version. Trey quickly goes into Scents but this also goes nowhere & it is soon apparent that this show is over. As if too add insult to injury, they close the 2nd set with Limb X Limb & cavern. These are the exact 2 songs from the 1st night SPAC. We head to the car to sell while listening Trey sing Waste.

We pull the car down closer to the gates & sell beer. We do Ok. We drive back to our campground & head down to the official campground to hang out for awhile & go see a band called EM2. They are an electronic band. They are a little too in the electronic scene for my tastes. No one ever steps up & leads the band & it is rather monotonous. We go back over & hang with the Kansas Crew. for awhile. & head back to our camp around 3:30am.

There are an unbelievable amount of professional vendors here. Some were the same from Bonnaroo. Clearly these are businesses. They don't go into the shows & simple vend for a living. This bothers me. Vending at shows should be a way to cover tour expenses not to make a living. It is this aspect that draws so many people to shows who only partly care about the music. Plus these vendors care nothing about the band or the scene. It is almost an analogy of little businesses and Wal Mart. The big vendors come in, steal all the business, care nothing about the local community. I am glad I am no longer coming back to Deer Creek. It has really lost the mystic it once had. Plus they are bulldozing a lot of the area around the venue for a corporate park. Since the early 90's the sprawl of Indy has crept closer & closer to Deer Creek. I am glad I will not see the sprawl finally engulf this classic venue.