Night Two. My buddy Matt and I marveled, often, at how freaking lucky we were to have scored all 3 nights via the lottery. So many people seemed to have a hodge podge of tickets. Super cool. Again, the vibe in lot was quite subdued, the local constibullory seemed intent on making sure a full fledged Shakedown never materialized but everyone was vibing in a majorly positive way. It had happened. Phish was back. Now we can enjoy it.

Right off the bat this show was a lot looser than the first. BOTT was great, Runaway Jim was tight and solid. I love Brian and Robert and wish they would play some of the songs off of Story of the Ghost more often. Split Open and Melt tore the roff off the room and Heavy Things has a sweet bulbous jam waiting in there somewhere. The PYITE featured what turned out to be a 2009-themed rust that never, truly was removed from this tune. Gumbo(like Halley's Comet) is a song I could probably hear at every show and not be the least bit bummed.

A word on this Reba. I'm writing this after I had a chance to go back and listen to the show and this Reba absolutely soars. Everyone onstage is locked in and feeding off one another. The jamming in this song is like a snap shot of how the band played all year. After years of playing in the murkier waters of their musical journey, Phish 3.0 is as light as air and loves touching the clouds. Soaring is truly the only word that describes how you feel listening to this Reba.

I had been wondering if any songs would be off limits to Phish 3.0, but when the tequilla inspired 'Mexican Cousin' started, I had a feeling that the whole catalog was open for business. I think this was to re-assure the party people that partying wasn't going to be squelched now that Trey had been to rehab and was clean. It also showed the internal strength and fortitude of the whole band to play a song obviously inspired by the same elements that helped drag them down in the first place. Not that we ended up with a slew of Mexican Cousins in '09, but it was nice to hear and I love singin' along to this ditty.

It's Ice featured some missed moments, but this tune simply rocks. Halley's got the joint movin' and was abrubttly abandoned in favor of Beayty of a Broken Heart. They nailed this Page penned tune this night and the crowd really got into it. Now if Phish would just play 'Andelman's yard' off Mike's album, The Green Sparrow!

My first Guleah was epic with a lovely, kinda emotional even

March 7th, 2009 was the middle night of Phish’s triumphant comeback run at the Hampton Coliseum in Virginia, a super-fun sold out string of shows that marked the end of the band’s second hiatus. In addition to spending the weekend attending a trio of great concerts I spent a whole lot of time socializing and meeting m’lady’s US concert buddies for the first time.

And there were a lot of them.

Among the swirl of introductions, handshakes, hugs, and hotel room have-a-beer’s were a number of hey-let’s-get-a-bite-to-eat’s. On one such diversion six or so of us found ourselves at a Hooters restaurant. I have no idea why we went to Hooters; it must have been the closest place. Either that or we were already sick of Applebee’s or were unwilling to shell out the big bucks for a place like The Keg, which should give you an idea of the urban sprawl sort of food options we were faced with in the immediate vicinity of our room at the Hampton Inn.

So anyway, we walk into Hooters and are wearily welcomed by the hostess, a short, stocky seventeen year-old greeter that had unmercifully (for everyone) squeezed herself into her obligatory too-tight orange t-shirt.

“Can I help you?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Table for six please.”

“Sorry,” she said, clearly not sorry. “It’s going to take about an hour for a table, are you gonna wait?”

I pointed to an empty table right behind her that was set up for six and looked ready to go.

“Could we use that table?” I asked, hopefully.

She turned to me with popping gum and a teenaged swagger that was painful to watch and said (if you can believe this):

“How much will you pay me if I let you sit at that table?”

Oh, to have a time machine so I could go back and and ask to speak to her manager! It kills me that I merely gaped in shocked horror and gave her a poisoned, “Are you kidding?!?!” before turning to the group and insisting that we “go somewhere else, now!” I won’t say I walked out of there livid, but I would have if I hadn’t been in such a great mood when I walked in. As it was we merely laughed about it, agreed that she was being ridiculous and walked to one of the many other nearby food chains.

Of course later on we went to the show and had a fantastic time. The band encored with A Day In The Life, which always pleases me. But the one thing that is really permanently burned into my memory from the day is that chubby Virginia hick asking me, “How much will you pay me…”

It makes me shudder with ickiness.

http://www.toddmanout.com

Wow!
I cannot count. 15 songs.

Wow!
This was the best first set of my career. 17 songs including SOAM, Reba, Antelope, It's Ice, PYITE, and many other favorites. A more than noble attempt at a crazy, jammy second set. Thank you Phish lottery!