There is a new kind of Phish fan, no longer as much trustafarian, as it is young self entitled male stoner assholes. I did not like how the band catered to the terrible crowd at Fenway- playing 70% songs I (along with most older fans) could care less about. But it was still a Phish show, and the other 30% of songs were pretty spectacular....
After wandering around Boston for several hours, my girlfriend and I went into Fenway and experienced the first of many, many long annoying lines. There were so many people just trying to get in it was obnoxious. Once we got in, the aisles were full of idiots just standing there, not sure where they should be, which was holding everyone up. Once we found our seats, I went to go get us beers and use the bathroom. I should have forgotten about the beer, as I missed the stage announcements. Once the crowd cheered for phish, I ran out and caught the national anthem from the aisle. I didn't really want to pay $8.75 for a 16oz beer anyway. Complete bullshit on the part of Fenway Park management, they should be ashamed of themselves. for being so unprepared. No ushers telling people to get moving, and the bartender was pouring beer individually, instead of just continuing to pour tons of cups and have someone serve them. Just one fine example of the caliber of characters we would encounter the rest of the show.
The show finally starts and the band opens up with- Sample in a Jar. WTF. Sample? You have to be kidding me. We have been waiting for years to see them and they open up with a set killer. Wow. Lame. Who cares if they played it very well, it's not a hard song, and they are professional musicians, it should be played well. The only good thing was during the solo, a rainbow opened up behind the stage and field as the rain had passed. Anyway, after that, they brought my hopes up with Moma Dance, which was funky and fun, but then crushed my hopes with a Chalkdust. This song can go either way for me, I generally like it, but it started out slow and never really took off. Then Ocelot. A new song that was okay, but it's new. Stash finally brought some rocking to the house, which was nice. It was a great version of this song. One of the few highlights of the set for me.
(I should add at this point that the people behind us were young, and for the most part cool, but they kept singing along loudly, and saying things like "Trey is gonna tear it up" and "this is so amazing!" It was incredibly annoying, and kept me from really getting into the show.)
After Stash, I'm really hoping for something that will get me back into the show, like Harpua, with an excellent story about Jimmy's first game at Fenway park, or maybe a ripping Tube, Sloth, Carini, or Gotta Jibbo. What do we get? Bouncin' Around the Room. What in the fuck? Does anyone even like this song? All the kids are singing along, poorly, and I am wondering if they will be able to recover this set. Thankfully, they do, sort of. Poor Heart was okay, Limb by Limb was great, Velvet Sea is a sleeper, but it was nice, and the last three songs kicked major ass. During Down With Disease, some asshole comes up to me and tells me that we are in his seats. I say we are not, and have been here all night. He says that these are his season ticket seats. I tell him its not a baseball game. He demands to see my tickets. I wanted to break his nose. I show him my seats and ask to see his tickets. He pulls them out and I laugh and tell him he's not sitting here, he's waaaaay over there and point. I had tried to take this with a grain of salt, but I was pretty bothered by it. So if you were the one trying to get into field box 74 row F, go fuck yourself. By this point, I'm feeling really let down. I can't get into the show because the kids behind us are so loud and invasive, despite how awesome the DWD is. How can I get back on track? With a DESTINY UNBOUND!!! HELL YES!!! I love this song, and all the kids didn't know it so they went to get beers. Too funny. They missed the best song of the set. Zero was decent and the solo at the end had me going. I was finally feeling a groove.
SET ONE HIGHLIGHTS: Destiny(!!!), DWD, Stash, Moma
Set Break, there was a guy with a bloody face behind us sitting down and blocking the aisle. He was an older man, probably an old dead head. Apparently he got into a squabble over something petty, and ended up getting knocked to the floor, and getting a concussion. Earlier he had said to Simone to stay in the section, it's not worth leaving for beer because the lines are too long. We should have listened to him. Without getting into details, some asshole decided to give my girlfriend a hard time in the beer line, accusing her of cutting the line, calling her very bad names. This kind of behavior is unacceptable! I was looking for her, and so help me if I had found her I would have undoubtedly beat his ass, and probably have gotten kicked out. We finally met up after the set had started, and made our way back into the venue. It took forever to get to our seats, and we had to kick people out of them. ANYWAY...
I'm pretty upset at this point, but the Tweezer was pretty out there and funked up a little. I was feeling the new song, it kind of put me in a better mood and the people behind us weren't saying much at this point. The Bathtub Gin was awesome. I liked the Hampton version and was hoping to hear something like it, and was not disappointed. It was excellent. I like that Trey is letting the audience sing the "love to take a bath" line. I was not really excited for Bowie, but the kids behind us sure were. Jesus, why in the fuck do you need to sing along with that song, it only has like 3 words. It was decent, long, well played. I'm not a huge fan of this song, but it did not turn me off. I wanted to hear some more songs. Time Turns Elastic begins. I was okay with this one but it's LONG and clocked in at nearly 17 minutes! Wow. That's intense. These are really the words to this new song song:
"I'm a submarine. Submarine sinks below the ground"
Maybe I'm the only one, but I would rather hear fourteen 5 or six minute songs with a couple of long ones for good measure. Basically what happened at Hampton. Songs like First Tube or Possum, or Rift or Horn or NICU in lieu of these long songs. After that, Free was nice, and Curtis Lowe was awesome to see live. I hate Lynerd Skynerd, but that song is great. When they started YEM, I was a little bummed out. I was really hoping to hear Harpua with a something (Cracklin Rose) tossed in there for good measure. YEM is one of those songs that I like, but only managed to feel it about half way through. Mike's solo was amazing. Thanks Mike. Okay, so that ends and we get a standard Cavern-GTBT-Reprise encore, but it had some good energy, so that was nice. Cavern was pretty decent, and GTBT was really great.
As I left Fenway park, I realized that the scene may not change, but the people do. It makes me sad, but I guess that's just the way she goes.
Also There was nitrous everywhere. You people doing it are idiots, and you people selling it are balsy as fuck. Saw no less than 5 tanks getting busted up, and watched as a cop opened a valve and let er rip, instantly freezing it to the ground. We even saw a rouge cop decide to take on the nitrous mafia all by himself. Dressed in full riot gear, we watched him start grabbing peoples balloons, and saw him grab some kids head and grind it into a brick wall. It was fucked. As much as I love the Pats and the Sox, There are aspects of Boston I really can't stand.
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