10/31/14 HalloWOW

Before giving some thoughts on last night I would like to expand something from my previous post. I said that during an out there melt that "this is where we lose the women". I am very good friends with and know a lot of women that get Phish/get IT. I travel with some of them. However there are more women (girls?) that don't understand Phish. They will be able to dance and sing along to some songs (sample or bouncing) but it isn't in their blood and their soul like the rest of ours. A deep and dark and dirty and out there melt isn't going to convert any non phan girls until they have had that moment where we finally got IT. There is a reason that the line is out the door at the men's room during set break while women walk in and out no problem. My apologies to the women that do get IT, much love and respect to all of you beautiful phish loving women. 

I flew into Vegas mid-afternoon Thursday. It's always fun boarding plane and talking story with fellow phans. I had a mellow day and evening in Vegas including a nice dinner at the foundation room. I then hit the sack early for some much needed sleep. Some of the crew was a bit too excited to be in Vegas and went way too big for the off day. Expected but somewhat of a rookie move by otherwise seasoned vets. 

Unlike every show on tour thus far, tickets were scarce. Everyone had their finger in the air. We had a few last minute surprise curveballs causing us to scramble for tickets for some in the crew but as usual the Jedi came through. I wouldn't be able to do Phish without my sister for many reasons...her connections, her support, watching the dogs, etc. Thanks for everything Jedi, I love you so much. 

After running around, taking care of errands and eating our one meal of the day at Emril's (bringing us back to the start of the Phish year in New Orleans), we met up in the lobby to head into the show. We did a great with costumes. I was Cactus, Jaclyn as Panda Dan, Bre as a sexy ball room dancer, a crew of gilligans island, Sharon as the queen of hearts, Chachi as richard Simmons, Lance as a Viking warrior with an animal head and the highlight: Carmine and Lisa in full on wedding gear...Carmine being the bride of course in a beautiful wedding gown that he actually wore to his rehearsal dinner at Walt Disney 9 years ago - full circle. 

We walked into the venue and were handed a playbill....Disney's Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House. I had no idea what to expect. The playbill was funny and seemed somewhat tongue-in-cheek when discussing the "genesis" of the album. 

Being in Vegas, I assumed that security would be tight and the floor would be impossible to access. Couldn't have been more wrong...the inmates were loose and running free in the MGM. I think they just locked all of us in the venue, circled the building with security in order to keep us away from the regulars. 

The first set was mostly Halloween, dark themed songs although I don't know where sample and lawn boy fit in. Always love a buried opener, 46 days was smoking and saw it (wolfmans) again in back to back shows. Wolfmans is in the discussion for song of the tour. Always been a safe song however they have really crushed the wolfmans this year. 

Second set. I don't even know where to begin or what to say about last night. As those that have been following my posts know, Phish does a lot of things for me but rarely do they leave me speechless. Last nights second set left me speechless. Phish brought Halloween back. Phish brought an incredible stage production show to the home of enormously produced shows. Phish tackled an album but made their own music....a perfect transition. Walking in I didn't know what to expect, walking out Phish delivered quite possibly the second greatest set of music I have ever witnessed behind big cypress. Some quick observations: I loved the fact they were in a circle looking right at each other during this set exploring the darkness together. The production and chandeliers and lighting and dancers were incredible. The music was perfectly Halloween with some heavy phish influences. It was dark and dirty (in hindsight the second set darkness at BGCA3 now makes more sense). It felt like zombies and werewolves and frankensteins. It was one of the most special nights of music I will ever witness. I really hope to hear these songs again in Miami. Thank you Phish. 

The third set could have been anything and was ultimately a victory lap after the second set of greatness. However I have to mention some critiques (even on this really special night). The punch was better than it had been for the last few but still not nailed. While it was great to finally hear Guyute they were too tired to nail it and Heavy things (like wolfmans unusually played two shows in a row) was not tight despite a nice (if accidental) transition. However the golden age tweezer was great (the energy in the room and spontaneous group explosion were special) and I loved that late set Sand -> tweeprise. We were convinced is this what you wanted was actually a Mike song. Similar to garden party, it was a perfect statement about being back in the haunted house of Vegas that we (the band and the phans) built 10 years ago and a statement about the Haunted House of that Phish we just witnessed. Frankenstein was a perfect closer to a special dark and dirty night of phish. In Phish I Trust.