Of all the bands I’ve gone out to see throughout my life — starting with the Pittsburgh stop of They Might Be Giants’ Apollo 18 tour when I was 15 — Phish is the most wonderful, consistent group I’ve seen. Even if you just listen to any of their readily-available live recordings, you’ll hear that they strive to stretch the bounds of their music and deliver new experiences to their audience. And to rock.
Last night was a fantastic Phish show. The highlights for me were “Sample in a Jar,” “Mike’s Song” segued into “Weekapaug Groove,” “Character Zero,” and “The Squirming Coil” as their encore/closer. I always get chills when Page pounds out the last bars of that one.
I took all these pictures on my Blackberry Storm, so the quality sucks on some of them.
The crowd was thick, hot, and impatient. Bottlenecks going in, and worse bottlenecks trying to get out afterward.
The weatherman called for scattered thunderstorms, but it never rained until well after the show. While I’m glad that we didn’t get dumped on while Phish played, I was actually praying for the rains to come and alleviate the humidity. I was coated in sweat the whole time.
Phish has the best light show. Period. Chris Kuroda is a brilliant lighting designer, and is as much a part of the band as any of the four playing on stage.
Balloon Guy. This hippie kept running through the crowd with ornate balloon animals, and seemed to really like running around the area we were standing in.
Did the crowd smell of patchouli? I saw the Dead, and it seemed the entire crowd was really big on letting you know that patchouli is a great alternative to deoderant. This years Motorhead concert on the other hand, smells like a great combination of woodshop, auto shop, and everything inbetween. Weird Al smelled like a pizza party with banana splits for desert!
I smelled nothing but weed the whole time I was there. Literally. It hung in the thick Ohio air, and all but guaranteed that I won’t be able to pass a drug test for a month or so.
I saw Cypress Hill at the 9:30 club years ago-tiny( but great) venue. Cypress HIll hotboxed the whole room from opening act to finale. They then got so high they ended up playing an 8 hour show. Cool Guys. Got an autographed drum stick.
Can you review Massacre at Central High? It’s like an extended serious version of Heathers. I thought it had a real Russ Meyer feel to it, and then when I read about it I found out the director was a protege of him. I thought it was actually pretty good-I watched that and Rolling Thunder( !!) today while my bathroom is being remodeled. The reason I ask is because when I think 70s teenage revenge films, I think Midnight Corey.