Minutes went by. We saw no signs of
progress in making our way to the venue. Many people began to give up and start
walking the rest of the way. As we moved, Dylan would occasionally ask a
passerby how much farther we had to go. Once an hour had gone by, we began to
get worried. We were worried that we may miss the beginning of the show. By the
time we reached the parking lot, it was a little after 8:00! We parked as soon
as we could and hurried inside the venue. Fortunately, all of our tickets went
through the scanner. Dylan was hoping to score an event poster from the
merchandise stand, but was not able to since we arrived so late. Our main goal
was to get to the grass area. As we made our way up the hill leading to the
grass area, we could hear excited Phish fans shriek and the first notes of the
song “Tweezer” ringing out.
Dylan told me many times before
that there is no moment quite like walking into The Gorge for the first time.
You walk up a steep hill and once you get over the crest, you see a stage surrounded
by an amazing backdrop of hills, water, and incredible shadows cast by the
clouds. It really was a great view. Phish took the stage at about 8:15, when
the sun was just beginning to set behind the hills in the west. In the far distance, I could barely make
out the figures on stage: Trey Anastasio on guitar, Mike Gordon on bass, John
Fishman on drums, and Page McConnell on keyboards.
That night, I was introduced to the
unique community that was Phish phans. They reminded me very much of the type
of audience Arcade Fire attracts: young, lively hipsters in the full pride of
youth, smoking joints and dancing around. This audience was a bit older, but I
got a similar vibe. I also noticed something that I have only seen at one other
concert in my life: the absence of phone usage. As far as I could see, not one
person had their phone out. I had not seen that since King Crimson in 2014. The
only difference here was that the band did not plead with us to “embrace the
moment” like King Crimson did. I guess that makes sense though. I imagine it
would be hard to maintain control over 20,000 people as opposed to 2,000.
Throughout the show it became very apparent to me that Phish were capable of
playing multiple genres of music. I heard them play prog, jazz, and even
country at some points. However, the first set seemed a bit slow. Everyone in
my group as well as people around us seemed put off by the lack of energy
exhibited by the band. Peter felt that the band was doing that intentionally,
just to mess with us. I hoped so. I did not want my first Phish concert to be
low-energy. Throughout the first set I recognized a few tunes, such as
“Wolfman’s Brother,” “The Line,” and “Rift.” Phish were the only band I knew of
that could manage to play a unique show every night. No two shows are ever the
same, from what I’ve heard. Not only that, they also manage to go all out with
their songs. A song that is originally 5 minutes can become 20 minutes when
performed live. They take live shows as an opportunity to show off their
wonderful improvisation skills. During intermission, I took an opportunity to
run to the merchandise stand and pick up a vinyl copy of Phish’s latest album, Fuego. I was hoping they would have it
available in orange vinyl, but from what I understood, that version of the
album was pretty scarce, practically out of print. On my way back to our spot,
I lost track of where my group was amidst the sea of Phish fans. I was soon
able to locate Dylan, who was wearing a flashing glow-in-the-dark vest. We just
happened to find that vest at his house when we were packing for the campsite,
and it turned out to be a lifesaver. He thought it would be fun to wear at
nighttime, when all the glow sticks started coming out. Without that vest, I
probably would have had a much harder time finding my way back to the group.
Finally, the lights dimmed for the
second set. That is, both the natural and artificial light disappeared. The
band reemerged and began what turned out to be a much more fun, energetic, and
enjoyable set. They began with a cover of the Talking Heads song, “Crosseyed
and Painless.” I had not heard the original version of that song, but they
really took it to another level musically. John Fishman actually sounded just
like David Byrne. It was at that moment the glow sticks began flying through
the air. It almost looked like a glow stick fireworks display. For a while, the
sticks were landing everywhere, except where my group was standing, but
eventually, a few sticks hit me in the head, and I was able to participate. I
would save up my sticks until I had a massive handful. Then, I would release
them into the crowd.
Then Phish began a fun jam called
“No Men in No Man’s Land.” I think that was where I really started enjoying
myself. Apparently, this song was not off of any of their albums. In fact, many
of the songs in this set have never appeared on any studio albums, such as
“Meatstick,” “Wilson,” and “Makisupa Policeman.” There were a few audience cues
that I was not aware of, such as the claps during “Stash,” or the exclamation
of the song title during “Wilson.” Well, now I know them for next time. After playing “Meatstick,” the band
transitioned into a cool jam of the theme from the movie 2001. It was during this jam that I finally realized that Phish
were a special band, and grossly underrated band. It was this jam that made me
wonder why this band never gets talked about in Prog magazine, or why they don’t seem to ever tour outside of
America. I was aware of the lack of American prog acts represented in Prog magazine, but it just seemed
especially wrong to overlook a band like this. I personally don’t see anything
about Phish that international audiences would not enjoy.
Finally, the band closed with the
song “Good Times, Bad Times.” Before we knew it, it was time to head back to
the campsite, and my first Phish concert was completed. One night down, one to
go.
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