Never Miss a Sunday (Funday Shirt)

Woke up in time to head over to Stardog's Fare the Well brunch at Crepevine in Mountain View. It was great to get together with some of the San Diego Phreak crew (think OB hippy music lovers) to eat, drink, be merry and discuss and dissect last night's show and each of our wild and crazy adventures. One of my favorite parts of multi-show city runs is sitting around with the phamily comparing stories, experiences and the like...future tales from the vault. Everyone in the crew had a really enjoyable evening. Trading tales from Saturday was a perfect way to ease into Sunday. 

Speaking of Sunday, yesterday was the end of a t-shirt era. I obsess over what clothes (especially t-shirts) I am going to wear to a show. It doesn't make much sense because generally speaking I don't care that much about what I wear IRL (in real life). So for the past two years I wore the same red Sunday Funday shirt to concerts every sunday. At Coachella I had a moment and decided it was time to retire the Sunday Funday shirt. This was causing me some stress (as much stress as I have in my chill life) as I always knew that I had at least one outfit always on lock down. Yesterday I found my new go-to Sunday shirt. Please bear with me as I elaborate....

The first actual deadheads I ever met were Bradly, Todd, Pauly, McG, Trey and Wookie. These are some of my closest friends in the world, truly people that are in the most inner circle of my family. We met in college and 5 of them lived together in what everyone at Emory knew as the hippie house. Even though they were young noobs at the time they fell in love with the Dead and would drop everything (shocking to me as more of a square...at the time) to go see shows. Being a Deadhead isn't defined by how many shows you've seen or how long you have been around or how old you are. I saw plenty of Deadheads in Santa Clara that were seeing the core fore for the first time. Embrace the newer and younger people into the scene, the energy and excitement is good for everyone. Love me some noobs, love turning people onto music. And these guys, some of my best friends in the world, are the biggest deadheads I know and were from the first time I met them. 

Anyway, I got to See Todd at the show Friday night. He was glowing from the experience. I will see Bradley in Chicago for FTW. McG, Trey and Pauly have serious business to take care of and couldn't be here. Get er done boys. Wookie couldn't make it either (although he should be here). Being at this show I had lots of friends and loved ones on my mind but that crew of brothers more than anyone. On a trip to Vermont last year Wookie picked up a Nectars shirt for me. I wore it to the show to have my brothers with me in spirit. I will think of those guys every Sunday when I rock my Nectars shirt until it too is retired. 

I also wanted to show some love and respect for Trey who made me so proud Saturday. The guy has put his heart and soul and love into this project. I am even more gay for Trey than I was before. The shirt selection was ultimately cemented by the amount of dap I got for the shirt in the lot from a wide range of people leading to great conversations about Phish, Vermont and Bernie Sanders (go vote). Long story even longer, I have a new Sunday shirt. 

After eating brunch we headed to the lot to experience shakedown for a bit. I have to say shakedown was weak sauce from what I saw. Lots were spread about and getting to the blue lot from the stadium was a hike. Dicks or spac shakedown, for example, blow this one away. 

Got to say hi to some friends, drink a few beers and then head into the show. We were pit left again, including pulling some jedi moves to get Miki into the pit with us. Settled in for the show with Lance, Miki, John, Marc, Casey and Chuck. 

Side bar: This was Johns first experience with the Dead and he became an immediate fan and was making plans to meet me on Phish tour. Like I said one of my favorite things is turning new people onto our scene and he got IT. 

Feel like a Stranger was a solid opener and my initial thought was the band was much more locked in tonight than last night's first set. Some fun sing alongs but the move from fast song to super mellow and back caused for an uneven set flow. Alabama Getaway was crushed and Trey finally shredded with some hose on Hell in a Bucket which was a fun set closer. They finally let Trey open up and the crowd responded with a thunderous ovation. 

They played longer in the first set, were a little more in tune, Trey was turned up and you could finally hear Jeff who was finding his groove. 

The second set started with straight fire as Mississippi and Wharf Rat were top notch. Easily the best music from the night. Really dug the groove they were in. He's gone was not special musically but special for other obvious reasons as 78,000 people were thinking about Jerry. The rest of the second set at times was very frustrating. 50 years of being the Grateful Dead would probably cause anyone's ego to be big however Bobby and Phil are no longer in their primes and need to recognize and acknowledge that the torch isn't being passed... it was passed a long time ago. Eyes of the wWorld is one of my favorite dead songs and Phil absolutely butchered it by taking the lead vocals. What the absolute fuck? Phil shouldn't sing another word. In fact at this point Trey should even take over the donor rap. Even more of a crime at times is Bobby. Bobby you were and maybe are still a great rhythm guitarist who in your own words created space for Jerry to shine and do his own thing. You need to do the same for Trey. You are cock blocking the current greatest lead guitar player in the world. Stay as Bobby, have faith and trust in Trey and he will carry all of you to very special places. 

During during drums (not your father's drums) and space I kept thinking how thankful I was that Phish doesn't waste those 20 minutes every show. Enjoyed the rest of the show after drums but nothing special or monumental. 

A quick shout out to the staff and workers from Levi stadium. The energy and vibe created by them enhanced everyone's experience. And of course the crowd...the vibe and feel and energy provided by most people was loving and friendly and beautiful. Proud of us, give yourselves a hand. 

In conclusion I want to once again reiterate how proud, impressed, blown away and honored I am to be a faithful Member of the Church of Phish. Trey has worked his ass off to get ready for these shows. He set up his own full rig to practice. He traveled to Phil's bar to practice with Phil. He trecked to Bobby's beach house to practice with Bobby. Unlike most people associated with these shows he seems to be the one that is most concerned about respecting and honoring and creating great music versus making money. 

I also strongly recommend that if you have anyway at all possible to get to Chicago do it. These shows were great. However I am thankful they had them before Chicago and should be able to more quickly hit the ground running. The vibe and energy is amazing. If Santa Clara is any indication tickets will be ubiquitous - maybe not free like SC but at or below face. We should also pay our respect to the core four for what they have done. But also as phish phans we need to go and pay our respect to Trey for what he is doing. He spent the last 6 months getting ready for this. He has given us so much and put so much into this experience in the most humble and beautiful way possible. A true jedi at the height of his powers playing an entirely new set and style of music. 

In Trey I trust. If only Bobby felt the same way. Hope to see everyone in the second city.