10/29/14 One of the Greatest Days of my Life

I woke up Wednesday morning a bit nervous and anxious....later that evening Phish and the Giants would be colliding right next to each other in the heart of San Francisco. Two of my biggest passions in the world. Two things that have made me who I am. Two of the things that I (probably) care too much about. Two communities that I am a proud part of. Two logos that appear on more of my apparel than anything else. Two things that have helped me bond with friends and family. And the result of one would have an enormous impact on the other. 

I started the day by grabbing a burger with Chuck for our one meal of the day (or so I thought). He's been a great host and I have really enjoyed my time hanging in inner sunset with him...what a very cool part of a very cool city. We stuffed our faces with burgers, onion rings and a vanilla malted milk shake - fuck it, if there was ever a day to live life to the extreme it was today. We then walked over to the viewing deck of the de Young museum. What an breathtaking 360 degree view of the city. The weather was perfect, visibility was super clear...just a flawless fall San Francisco day. 

[Side note: I would like to thank the weather karma Phish has experienced this year. After being "drowned" all of last summer we have had an amazing run of weather for 2014.]

We then strolled through golden gate park for a few miles down to (the other) Ocean Beach. I took some deep breathes in and felt the power of the ocean and the earth. This was the calm before the upcoming storm of worlds colliding. My typical nervous energy before a show was on tilt when combined with my even more nervous energy of a game 7. 

I had decided Tuesday night that I was going to watch all of game seven and not go into BGCA until the game was over. Rather than deal with the chaos at civic center we had a crew gather at a dive bar near the venue (Harry Harringtons) where we could watch and focus on the game. The bar started to empty as a lot of phans and most of our crew headed to the show. Stardog and I watched up until the 9th inning when we then made the strategic decision (albeit controversial because we were afraid to mess with the juju) to watch the last inning on the jumbotron at the civic center. We found a spot on the side of the viewing area closest to the venue to watch the final 3 outs. We convinced ourselves that Phish wouldn't start until the game ended; it was disappointing that they didn't wait until at least the end of the ninth. Anyway, the last out was made, 20,000 people outside the venue erupted and I gave Stardog too big of a hug, we picked up our backpacks and literally sprinted to the venue. It was the happiest and most exciting and thrilling way I have ever walked into a show. 

As we ran and up the steps to the mikes side wedge where my crew was holding down spots for us (respect), I heard what was ultimately the Moma reprise although at the time didn't realize we had missed anything. I was jumping up and down with one of the biggest shit eating grins on my face. Pure joy and ecstasy made even better by all of the hugs and high fives and love felt from my crew. It was only later that I learned how the crowd erupted thereby informing phish that the Giants won the game and stopped mid Moma to play we are the champions. (Note: I was confident enough in the Giants to pick queen's song as my cover in our setlist game earlier that day.) 

The rest of the first set was a bit of a blur as I was on cloud nine taking in the scene, thinking about the Giants and my pops and sister and step mom and appreciating what a special moment in time this was. After the initial excitement calmed down Phish played some boring tunes although I always appreciate taste (and this was a pretty good version) and hearing the wedge with carmine is always a treat. Then phish talked some baseball: Trey gave page shit for being a mets fan. Also Page is apparently a huge baseball fan, which I respect. One time my dad and sister took Geddy Lee from Rush to an Albuquerque Dukes baseball game - he kept score at the game (especially interesting since he's Canadian). I wondered if page did the same and smiled yet again thinking about how baseball and music had come together once again in my life. Page stood up and gave a respectful congratulations to the audience. Page was standing so naturally I assumed we were about to get down but instead of wombat page sat down and they played the line. Meh call in that spot but the good news was they were saving the chairmans legs for a super dope and funky set closing wolfmans. This version was smoking and appropriate because there was a sign in the venue stating "Hunter Pence is the Wolfman's Brother". The first set ended and the lights came on. I made two beautiful calls at set break to my pops and my sister to celebrate with them. Then my brothers Joel and Yoni (family with an F) came over and we got to catch up, always fun seeing those dudes. Such great guys and beautiful people, lucky to call them family. 

At set break you could feel the energy in the room. BGCA was pulsating and bursting at the seams. People were buzzing about talking about the Giants, phish, giving high fives. You could feel and see and hear the energy in the building. This set was going to go off...

Phish came out and opened with the greatest first tube I will ever witness. The MadBum of first tubes if you will. I would be remiss in not mentioning that we have just witnessed one of the greatest sporting performances of all time by Bumgarner in this World Series. Mad respect for my man. Anyway, it was the perfect call in the spot, harnessing all of the energy in the building creating one of the happiest and joyous moments of my life. Another great DWD into theme, one of my favorite mellow phish songs. Not as good as Santa Barbara or AC funkfest but a solid version. The melt went way out there. My buddy Trey once told me during an out there melt that "this is where we lose the women". Well this version definitely had those losing the women moments. It was solid but along with the DWD surprisingly dark considering the joy in the room. Would we have gotten a 60 minute what's the use if the Giants lost? Heavy things w a PYITE tease at the start came next. While not my favorite phish song, especially late in set 2, it was personally appropriate because I was having one of the greatest days off my life and heavy things reminded me of another top 5 all time day - 12/31/99 (or is it 1/1/00?). After that came light, hate the song but as usual enjoyed the jam and a super high energy possum closed the set. The contact (baseball bats make contact?) was awesome and got really funky in the middle. More funk from Meatstick and while I am typically not a fan of the Zero, the celebratory atmosphere in the room separates this one from the pack of Zero encores. I have a feeling upon relisten that this show might not hold up, however because of the time and the place and the experience and the memories that I will always cherish, this show will be one of the most special and enjoyable shows of phish I will ever witness. 

We left the venue expecting to walk out into a city raging a championship. To my surprise, the city was actually pretty quiet. There wasn't much of a party left at the civic center so we walked up to Polk. We were clearly in the wrong spot as we saw leftovers from a huge party including dozens of cops in full riot gear. Not the scene for us so we bolted over to Tommy's Joynt for some drinks and food. That place is awesome. We ran into some more phriends, ate (two meals on show day!) and drank and reveled in the glory of what was one of the greatest days of my life. 

I want to point out the obvious and say what a huge difference the Giants winning had on last nights show. Furthermore, I believe the Giants victory will also have an important impact on the upcoming Vegas run. The energy and excitement and electricity provided by the Giants and picked up by phish will carry us through this weekend. Hope to see you in Vegas!