Tuesday, August 4, 2009
All good things....
A drive to Denver, some decent vegetarian food with Mike Thomas (slowest service ever at The Watercourse), some u-turns, a nap later and we were off to the show. Young Ben, always full of ambition was determined to win us the same seats again, so who were we to talk him out of it; after all we were sleeping and far too busy to argue. So we headed back up the mountain for the final night of Red Rocks. Phish had come back and rocked the joint the three previous nights so who knew what tonight had in store? The show opened with the return of Phish's cover of Ween's "Roses are Free." Always a crowd pleaser but this version was especially poignant to me because of the lines "push it into third if you know you're gonna climb that hill" and "get in your car and cruise the land of the brave and free." I had no idea what that was about.
It wasn't the craziness of the last three nights but still a great show. A stunning Reba (my favorite), Grind and Waste in the first set made it a reflective one. A great time to look back on what this all means to me. What is it that makes me travel all this way? Is it the music? Is it the friends? Is it the party? I think it is a chance to feel that everyone around me is sharing in a common goal; to have the best time they can. So yes it is the music, the friends and the party. It all comes together to make for the best time on the planet at that moment.
We had been alerted by some crafty friends beforehand to look to the left of the stage and see if we could see under the tarp. On my way down to the bathroom before the first set I saw a cymbal sticking out, so I wasn't too surprised when most of the second set featured Bill Kreutzmann on drums (Undermind>Zero). I wasn't surprised but I was certainly pleased.
I had only seen a special guest with Phish once before and it was George Clinton; in my opinion, not the best. The funky Undermind (so glad this is being played now), pornfunkadelic 2001, and a rip roaring Character Zero all featured a dual drum attack making for some real rocking renditions. Now I am not the world's biggest Zero fan, but I will tell you, that was THE best performance I have heard. When the band came out to encore Jon commented on how lonely he now felt out there with no Billy, and I agreed. This special guest added to Phish by really meshing in and intensifying the flow by being another layer .
The farewell song had to be Slave to the Traffic Light, there is no better way to say goodbye to a long weekend than with its tremendous build and peak. A song like Slave will always lead to reflection and introspection. You think of all the new moments that you will be walking away from this experience with. The new town and venue you now know, the new journey you had getting there, the new music that has filled that adventure, and most importantly the new (and old of course) people that you share those moments with. It is what makes a Phish show the magical thing that it is. While the reward is the show, the journey is an incredible reward in and of itself.
It wasn't the craziness of the last three nights but still a great show. A stunning Reba (my favorite), Grind and Waste in the first set made it a reflective one. A great time to look back on what this all means to me. What is it that makes me travel all this way? Is it the music? Is it the friends? Is it the party? I think it is a chance to feel that everyone around me is sharing in a common goal; to have the best time they can. So yes it is the music, the friends and the party. It all comes together to make for the best time on the planet at that moment.
We had been alerted by some crafty friends beforehand to look to the left of the stage and see if we could see under the tarp. On my way down to the bathroom before the first set I saw a cymbal sticking out, so I wasn't too surprised when most of the second set featured Bill Kreutzmann on drums (Undermind>Zero). I wasn't surprised but I was certainly pleased.
I had only seen a special guest with Phish once before and it was George Clinton; in my opinion, not the best. The funky Undermind (so glad this is being played now), pornfunkadelic 2001, and a rip roaring Character Zero all featured a dual drum attack making for some real rocking renditions. Now I am not the world's biggest Zero fan, but I will tell you, that was THE best performance I have heard. When the band came out to encore Jon commented on how lonely he now felt out there with no Billy, and I agreed. This special guest added to Phish by really meshing in and intensifying the flow by being another layer .
The farewell song had to be Slave to the Traffic Light, there is no better way to say goodbye to a long weekend than with its tremendous build and peak. A song like Slave will always lead to reflection and introspection. You think of all the new moments that you will be walking away from this experience with. The new town and venue you now know, the new journey you had getting there, the new music that has filled that adventure, and most importantly the new (and old of course) people that you share those moments with. It is what makes a Phish show the magical thing that it is. While the reward is the show, the journey is an incredible reward in and of itself.
Get up to get down
The day started off with breakfast at the TNT diner in "downtown" Morrison with Don, Jill, and Ben. The meal was decent, but the news we got was great. Young Ben had made the decision that he wanted to run in for seats that night. This entails getting up to the top of the hill by 3:00 in the afternoon and beginning to wait in line. Not too bad, except for the fact it was ninety degrees, and there is zero shade or cover in line at the top. So Ben, the Most Valuable Player, got dropped off at the top with a tarp and a backpack full of water and snacks; while Jill and I found a shady spot near the creek to take a nap. Three hours later, I was awaken by my phone ringing, our long time friend and travel mate for the last leg of tour Mike Thomas was on his way and almost at the Horton House. He arrived in time for the pile in and the climb.
After the run in, we saw what Ben's ambition had gotten us. The row behind the tapers. That meant incredible sound for us as we were above the sound board. We were even with the light rig, but I was concerned because of the mic stands might block our view. Fortunately the tapers kept them down and were of course quite the whole show so after fighting off some squatters we had the best seats in the house.
The show itself was incredible. The spot alone made for a very unique experience, but the way the boys played was jaw dropping. They made a statement, they played Curtain With which was the last song they had played at Coventry, their "farewell" show. The Coventry version was butchered beyond recognition including a restart of the With portion. This version was nailed from start to finish with tear inducing beauty. A lot of people had knocked version 2.o Phish (12/02-8/04) for not rehearsing and even before then Trey had problems remembering words. This show not only addressed the sloppiness but the forgetfulness. Many versions of Esther had complete verses forgotten and it affected the music as Trey struggled to remember. The Red Rocks version of Esther was perfectly executed. Two of my for sure highlights of the weekend. An epiphany enducing Hood, bittersweet Sleeping Monkey and a rousing First Tube wound up the show as we basked in all of the glory of Phish's sound and fury. Dead center.... amazing.
Heather takes it in
First Tube
The rest of the night was tunes on the patio, food on the grill, and catching up on pictures.
Heather and Animal
Animal rockin' out
Animal Catching up
After the run in, we saw what Ben's ambition had gotten us. The row behind the tapers. That meant incredible sound for us as we were above the sound board. We were even with the light rig, but I was concerned because of the mic stands might block our view. Fortunately the tapers kept them down and were of course quite the whole show so after fighting off some squatters we had the best seats in the house.
The show itself was incredible. The spot alone made for a very unique experience, but the way the boys played was jaw dropping. They made a statement, they played Curtain With which was the last song they had played at Coventry, their "farewell" show. The Coventry version was butchered beyond recognition including a restart of the With portion. This version was nailed from start to finish with tear inducing beauty. A lot of people had knocked version 2.o Phish (12/02-8/04) for not rehearsing and even before then Trey had problems remembering words. This show not only addressed the sloppiness but the forgetfulness. Many versions of Esther had complete verses forgotten and it affected the music as Trey struggled to remember. The Red Rocks version of Esther was perfectly executed. Two of my for sure highlights of the weekend. An epiphany enducing Hood, bittersweet Sleeping Monkey and a rousing First Tube wound up the show as we basked in all of the glory of Phish's sound and fury. Dead center.... amazing.
Heather takes it in
First TubeThe rest of the night was tunes on the patio, food on the grill, and catching up on pictures.
Heather and Animal
Animal rockin' out
Animal Catching up
Catching up.
So Jill and I have arrived in San Fransisco and are enjoying some down time. Expect some random posts through out the next few hours; pictures and catching up.
In cold water...
Jill and I woke up on Friday determined to get some work done. Jill wanted to go swimming at Gabe and Ken's so we dragged the laptop up to Golden in hopes that their hotel's WiFi was not completely jammed up. Man was I wrong, it took close to 45 minutes to upload one page, I can only assume every room in the hotel was downloading last night's show. Oh well. I guess Colorado is the land of spotty WiFi, one week with no strong signal. After a quick dip and a long upload we headed into Colorado Mills for some grub with Jeremy, Gabe and Ken. As luck would have it Don, Savannah, and a new addition to our group, Ben, were already at Mimi's. Some shopping in the rain later and then it was time to head back to the Horton House. Back at the shack with grocieries and booze we ran into the Mayor of Red Rocks, Kenny. Kenny is a good friend of my brother in law and lives in Frisco, CO. He has been coming to the House for years now and has it for every big show tha
t rolls through. Panic, Phish, whatever it might be he has first dibs. He knows where to park, how to bring a bar in, and where to sit. We stocked up our coolers, piled in the cars and left for the show. Piling once again into Don's car we headed on up the mountain to park in our same spot and arrived at the same time. While grabbing the coolers Don said that he had made us shirts for the show. The front says Red Rocks 2009 in a Kansas City Royals logo, and the back has the number 85 for the 1985 Royals (World Series Champs). We ran on up the hill again and this time pulled up right at the top of the stairs on Fishman's aisle. Closer forward, just further to the right, a lot further.
Before the show I had been talking to my friend Mike Liska about meeting up. He had made the long trek from Chicago as well (by plane) and I was excited to finally do some shows with him. He had tried to do Coventry with me back in 2004, but due to prior obligations wasn't able to make it. It is amazing the lengths phans will go to in order to see Phish. No amount of travel is too much and no circumstance too difficult to overc
ome in order to make it to the show. Sometimes you are rewarded for your hard work, sometimes not. Coventry was one of those situations that was not worth the work, Red Rocks however was looking as though it was going to be well worth the wait. The skies where gray and the night air cool, we hoped the rain wouldn't come, but all the hope in the world wasn't holding Mother Nature back.
The first set opened with a pretty standard Runaway Jim, a way too long Time Turns Elastic (not a good new song IMO, a good rendition of it that Gabe, Jill and I all agreed could have been longer), and by time Lawn Boy started up the rain started to come down. Slowly at first, and then it really came down. The rain became too much during Split Open and Melt and I finally had to relent and put on my rain jacket. Set break came and it was time for cover. Unfortunately we forgot a tarp, but the people in front of us were willing to share. My rain gear was already soaked so I held a corner and kept the group dry. The rain let up as I came back from the bathroom (much shorter walk today) and we were rewarded for putting up with the weather with a fierce second set. The one two opener of Drowned>Crosseyed and Painless was awe inspiring. Two of my favorite covers in a row, I was quite pleased. Its always funny that Phish seems to know what the crowd is going through. They knew set break was tough and came on out with the fire. Soaked to the bone everyone started to really boogie. The second set saw a Fluffhead as well, my third one of Phish V3.0. I love how this song has made a reappearance into Phish's repertoire after being shelved for a decade. It's rebirth is akin to Phish's rebirth. They are serious about it this time, and now they are going to do it right. No more flubbing.
The heavens cleared up and it was clear skies for the rest of the night. Two down, two to go. Tomorrow night was to be the Saturday show, always a big deal. Let's see if they would live up to the hype, so far so good.
t rolls through. Panic, Phish, whatever it might be he has first dibs. He knows where to park, how to bring a bar in, and where to sit. We stocked up our coolers, piled in the cars and left for the show. Piling once again into Don's car we headed on up the mountain to park in our same spot and arrived at the same time. While grabbing the coolers Don said that he had made us shirts for the show. The front says Red Rocks 2009 in a Kansas City Royals logo, and the back has the number 85 for the 1985 Royals (World Series Champs). We ran on up the hill again and this time pulled up right at the top of the stairs on Fishman's aisle. Closer forward, just further to the right, a lot further.Before the show I had been talking to my friend Mike Liska about meeting up. He had made the long trek from Chicago as well (by plane) and I was excited to finally do some shows with him. He had tried to do Coventry with me back in 2004, but due to prior obligations wasn't able to make it. It is amazing the lengths phans will go to in order to see Phish. No amount of travel is too much and no circumstance too difficult to overc
ome in order to make it to the show. Sometimes you are rewarded for your hard work, sometimes not. Coventry was one of those situations that was not worth the work, Red Rocks however was looking as though it was going to be well worth the wait. The skies where gray and the night air cool, we hoped the rain wouldn't come, but all the hope in the world wasn't holding Mother Nature back.The first set opened with a pretty standard Runaway Jim, a way too long Time Turns Elastic (not a good new song IMO, a good rendition of it that Gabe, Jill and I all agreed could have been longer), and by time Lawn Boy started up the rain started to come down. Slowly at first, and then it really came down. The rain became too much during Split Open and Melt and I finally had to relent and put on my rain jacket. Set break came and it was time for cover. Unfortunately we forgot a tarp, but the people in front of us were willing to share. My rain gear was already soaked so I held a corner and kept the group dry. The rain let up as I came back from the bathroom (much shorter walk today) and we were rewarded for putting up with the weather with a fierce second set. The one two opener of Drowned>Crosseyed and Painless was awe inspiring. Two of my favorite covers in a row, I was quite pleased. Its always funny that Phish seems to know what the crowd is going through. They knew set break was tough and came on out with the fire. Soaked to the bone everyone started to really boogie. The second set saw a Fluffhead as well, my third one of Phish V3.0. I love how this song has made a reappearance into Phish's repertoire after being shelved for a decade. It's rebirth is akin to Phish's rebirth. They are serious about it this time, and now they are going to do it right. No more flubbing.
The heavens cleared up and it was clear skies for the rest of the night. Two down, two to go. Tomorrow night was to be the Saturday show, always a big deal. Let's see if they would live up to the hype, so far so good.
Monday, August 3, 2009
I'm the man from the mountain....
Just as we do every day, we awoke early and headed out. First stop, some breakfast in Keystone at Haywood's. Jeremy met up with us and when we stepped outside we realized that the crazy weather had given us quite the treat, a rainbow right across Rte. 6. A good omen for the weekend ahead of us for sure, so we beat a hasty retreat back to say good bye to the Q's and then headed down to Morrison to drop some bags off and then off to Denver for lunch with some old friends, Jodi and Matt. The drive to and from lunch gave us almost every weather we could have thought of. Hail, rain, sun, gray skis, you name it we had it.It was
nice to see Jodi and Matt. Jill we be back here next month for their wedding, bound to be a fantastic affair. We arrived back at the Horton House, our home for our time in Morrison and began to marvel at the eccentricity of the place. A normal person with fifty years time could not collect enough chatchkis to fill this house. Don't tell that to Lila the owner of the home. Nothing slows down this lady; besides dealing with tenants like us she
also teaches ballroom dancing and in fact has a studio at the bed and breakfast. Always vibrant and always helpful she took great care of us for the weekend.Jeremy was ruling the roost when we came back and the tenants of the weekend slowly started to trickle in. Don and Savannah were the first two to arrive. This father-daughter team had driven up from Kansas City to join us up on the Mountain. The music of Phish can bring generations together and can be something that a parent and child can both appreciate and share together. As luck would have it, Don happened to be wearing a shirt that we could all appreciate. Next to come on down the line was Heather
and Shawn. I had met them earlier in the year at Hampton and was excited to take in the next round of shows with them. Always bursting with positive energy and quite possibly some of the nicest people on the planet they were a welcome addition to the Horton House family. They arrived relieved to be done with their hellish day of travel from Albany.The location of the Horton House makes it ideal for preshow and post show gatherings, so we invited our friends Gabe and Ken to come on down from Golden and ride on up the mountain with us.
We grabbed the coolers, piled into Don and Heather's cars and headed out to the venue. A quarter mile later, we had turned up the entrance into Red Rocks. A slow windy way up the mountain to the parking lot and then a schlep up the hill to the gate. With all the excitement in the air, it became clear that we had made it. All this traveling and driving was for this, and after we entered the venue it was all worth it. Such a small venue with such a large presence. We set up camp in the middle of the 31st row, smack
dab in the middle of the whole venue. A great place to watch a show except for when you need to use the bathroom. It is very difficult to climb a mountain either before or after having to use the bathroom.It was all worth it though.
Those who braved the walk, the drive, and the cool air were rewarded with a great opener to a four night run. Wasting no time with a big beautiful Divided Sky, Phish ripped through a safe first set, but the good news was they were tight. Everything looked up for the weekend. A dark, funky second set highlighted with a beautiful Billy Breathes and Squirming coil. And of course the closer had to be Loving Cup. Bathed in lights, armed outstretched to the nearby sky, an enraptured mass screamed "Oh, what a beautiful buzz!!!!" No better way to end the first chapter of shows.
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