10/25 (date triple confirmed) Chula Vista, CA. The Phish
Every day that I wake up and get to see Phish is a special day. Better said, every day that I wake up has the potential to be a special day (and fortunately for me quite a few of them are), however when hopping out of bed knowing I am about to see phish basically guarantees that it is going to be a beautiful day. Yesterday when waking up (even hung over from the previous nights LA shenanigans), I had an extra special feeling as I was about to see Phish in my hometown for the first time since 2003. I was also feeling a bit anxious as I had lots of things to take care of to try and make this Phish experience a special one for the people that I was hosting....86 tickets, approximately 1/3 of whom were seeing Phish for the first time. I always want Phish to bring it but I had an extra desire for a good (and accessible for the unfamiliar) show.
We had a big crew meet up and pregame at Old Town Mexican Cafe. It was fun and festive as everyone was getting in the spirit. It also kicked off our Mexican themed experience (more on this later). We hopped on a bus and headed down south for some hometown phish.
Pre show was fun as I was making the rounds, kissing hands and shaking babies. All my friends seemed happy and ready to surrender to the flow. Hopefully phish was going to crush sleep train.
The show kicked off with devotion to a dream. A few sets this year have opened with tracks from Fuego (and yet not fuego). Love it or hate it, the new material is here to stay. To be honest I am lukewarm at best for most of the songs on the album however if it keeps the band engaged and they are enjoying the dad rock then play on. An extra groovy Wolfmans was easily the highlight of the first set (and maybe even the show) so give this one a listen. Destiny unbound was a sweet bust out and the first one I have seen since the gorge in 2.0. Played well although a bit of an abrupt ending. Timber always fun, Moma gets my black eyed Katie going and Tela also first set highlights. One of the few songs I like off the new album is Wingsuit. Wingsuit has a definitive nod (even if unintentional according to Trey) to Pink Floyd at the end. With ezrin producing Fuego and some Pink Floyd elements in phish lately this seems to be a possibility (albeit unlikely one, it's fun to guess but very rare to get it right) for Halloween. Anyway a solid set closing version. With the exception of wolfmans everything was played pretty straightforward. That being said the boys played well and the set had a nice flow. Also a great first set of phish for all of the phish virgins. Checking in with as many as I could at set break, my crew seemed to be happy.
The second set kicked off with free. A bit sloppy however the unusual song placement and free shirt removal with carmine is always fun. Next up Carini...one of my favorite phish songs. I was hopeful this was where the set was going to take off with a deep, dark and dirty Carini. However it didn't go anywhere. For whatever reason after arguably being the song of the year in 2013 Carini has been pretty lackluster in 2014. Anyway this was a sign of things to come. No real deep exploration, everything played standard and not the best flow to the second set. Seemed like they called for the tweezer again late in the second set to save the show. While always fun this was also lacking the deep exploration. Straight ahead rock n roll was fun and good for the noobs. Hearing those first notes of YEM is always a special treat and while very short (yes in the phish world a 19 minute song can legitimately be called "very short") it was played well and so much better than the previous version in Alabama. It was also a nice (even if an accidental) nod to the album that originally got me into Phish and that I spun nonstop in college, A Live One. The YEM from that CD is from 12/7/94 Spreckels theatre in downtown San Diego. Suzy and the greatest 4 minutes in rock n roll with show closing history tweeprise ended the show. A fun show and while not the best deep and dark and dirty and jammy exploratory phish for the vets, it was actually a great introductory phish show. All of my virgins (haha) seemed to really enjoy the show and the experience. I was getting multiple texts, emails, calls, etc about how great the show was, how much better and different than expected, how much fun everyone had. The lesson: go see phish and give it a shot. It's probably not what you think it is.
Post show we had a crew of 22 people roll into Tijuana. We had an organized bus and tour guide take us on a tour of TJ. Let's just say the shitshow went to Mexico....we were having a blast, Valerie started the tequila shots because yeah why wouldn't you do tequila shots in Mexico and Lance somehow had a bottle of 1800 he was pouring down our throats. It was an awesome and extremely unique post phish show experience. Angel Mirón was incredible and helpful and understanding. He took us to a great beer craft bar, a kick ass true Mexican bar off of Avenida Revolución and ended the night with some authentic Mexican street tacos. If you ever want a tour of TJ Angel is the man. He was great.
Southern California was a blast. That being said we are half way through the fall tour and for whatever reason the band hasn't found IT yet. A few moments and some highlights as always, so much fun with friends and phamily and hosting and visiting new towns, however we are due for a few (San Francisco) GIANT shows. Let's. Go. Giants!!! Let's. Go. Phish!!!!
We had a big crew meet up and pregame at Old Town Mexican Cafe. It was fun and festive as everyone was getting in the spirit. It also kicked off our Mexican themed experience (more on this later). We hopped on a bus and headed down south for some hometown phish.
Pre show was fun as I was making the rounds, kissing hands and shaking babies. All my friends seemed happy and ready to surrender to the flow. Hopefully phish was going to crush sleep train.
The show kicked off with devotion to a dream. A few sets this year have opened with tracks from Fuego (and yet not fuego). Love it or hate it, the new material is here to stay. To be honest I am lukewarm at best for most of the songs on the album however if it keeps the band engaged and they are enjoying the dad rock then play on. An extra groovy Wolfmans was easily the highlight of the first set (and maybe even the show) so give this one a listen. Destiny unbound was a sweet bust out and the first one I have seen since the gorge in 2.0. Played well although a bit of an abrupt ending. Timber always fun, Moma gets my black eyed Katie going and Tela also first set highlights. One of the few songs I like off the new album is Wingsuit. Wingsuit has a definitive nod (even if unintentional according to Trey) to Pink Floyd at the end. With ezrin producing Fuego and some Pink Floyd elements in phish lately this seems to be a possibility (albeit unlikely one, it's fun to guess but very rare to get it right) for Halloween. Anyway a solid set closing version. With the exception of wolfmans everything was played pretty straightforward. That being said the boys played well and the set had a nice flow. Also a great first set of phish for all of the phish virgins. Checking in with as many as I could at set break, my crew seemed to be happy.
The second set kicked off with free. A bit sloppy however the unusual song placement and free shirt removal with carmine is always fun. Next up Carini...one of my favorite phish songs. I was hopeful this was where the set was going to take off with a deep, dark and dirty Carini. However it didn't go anywhere. For whatever reason after arguably being the song of the year in 2013 Carini has been pretty lackluster in 2014. Anyway this was a sign of things to come. No real deep exploration, everything played standard and not the best flow to the second set. Seemed like they called for the tweezer again late in the second set to save the show. While always fun this was also lacking the deep exploration. Straight ahead rock n roll was fun and good for the noobs. Hearing those first notes of YEM is always a special treat and while very short (yes in the phish world a 19 minute song can legitimately be called "very short") it was played well and so much better than the previous version in Alabama. It was also a nice (even if an accidental) nod to the album that originally got me into Phish and that I spun nonstop in college, A Live One. The YEM from that CD is from 12/7/94 Spreckels theatre in downtown San Diego. Suzy and the greatest 4 minutes in rock n roll with show closing history tweeprise ended the show. A fun show and while not the best deep and dark and dirty and jammy exploratory phish for the vets, it was actually a great introductory phish show. All of my virgins (haha) seemed to really enjoy the show and the experience. I was getting multiple texts, emails, calls, etc about how great the show was, how much better and different than expected, how much fun everyone had. The lesson: go see phish and give it a shot. It's probably not what you think it is.
Post show we had a crew of 22 people roll into Tijuana. We had an organized bus and tour guide take us on a tour of TJ. Let's just say the shitshow went to Mexico....we were having a blast, Valerie started the tequila shots because yeah why wouldn't you do tequila shots in Mexico and Lance somehow had a bottle of 1800 he was pouring down our throats. It was an awesome and extremely unique post phish show experience. Angel Mirón was incredible and helpful and understanding. He took us to a great beer craft bar, a kick ass true Mexican bar off of Avenida Revolución and ended the night with some authentic Mexican street tacos. If you ever want a tour of TJ Angel is the man. He was great.
Southern California was a blast. That being said we are half way through the fall tour and for whatever reason the band hasn't found IT yet. A few moments and some highlights as always, so much fun with friends and phamily and hosting and visiting new towns, however we are due for a few (San Francisco) GIANT shows. Let's. Go. Giants!!! Let's. Go. Phish!!!!
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