(super quick recap)

Awesome show!!!

PHISH
August 16, 2009
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saratoga Springs, NY

SET ONE
Llama*, The Moma Dance, Guyute, **Anything But Me, ***Cars Trucks Buses, Chalk Dust Torture, Golgi Apparatus, David Bowie, Cavern, Possum, Ocelot, Run Like An Antelope

SET TWO
Backwards Down the Number Line, Twenty Years Later, ^Halley’s Comet -> Rock & Roll -> Jam -> ^^Harpua -> #I Kissed A Girl -> Hold Your Head Up -> Harpua, You Enjoy Myself

ENCORE
Grind, ^^^I Been Around, Highway To Hell

SHOW NOTES
*Last performed 6/23/04, and only the 12th Llama since 5/19/00; **Last Anything But Me 8/14/04, 11th time played since 1/4/03 debut; ***5th Cars Trucks Buses since 7/26/03; ^First ever Halley’s Comet -> Rock and Roll or vice-versa; ^^10th Harpua since 6/23/95, last played 7/29/03; #First I Kissed A Girl (of course it is … The Katy Perry pop song), ^^^First time played.

okay.. so no Mikes (which we were certain to have gotten).. but it was TAD!!!!!! (totally awesome dude)

first off… this weekend was so tad.. it was awesome hanging out with sara bobby jones jem jan jake courtney joespohn julia mr&mrsMet&friends, tommy and josh!!! so rad!! we had an awesome time… we did manage to get some kickball batting practice in… me, jan, and jake all got home runs. i went for another one.. but got out… we had plenty of beers, good foods, tons of chips, the kickball, and a building with an actual bathroom right next to us!!! the BIG RED DOT spot is the best spot… i even read articles this morning from the TU about traffic congestion and how Route 9 from exit 13 N was a traffic jam… haha.. we didn’t do ANY of that noise!!.. we left at 345 and were parked and cracking beers and eating subs at 430.. took 14 -> union to circular -> 9… pull in dance hall of fame.. drive left past buildings, and park next to the state park police parked cars..http://twitpic.com/78cmp — greatest spot ever.. we even had a picnic table..

anyway, the only thing is.. you have to walk about 2 holes worth to the venue.. which is fine on the way in, but definitely tiring on the way out..

anyway, we walked in and got a spot.. i think we were early cause there was no waiting at the spot to get in.. where as at DMB we walked in right as they were
about to go on.. we got in, and grabbed a spot…

about 10 minutes later it absolutely downpoured on us.. which was a great relief from the rain.. and would have been great if it were about 5 minutes…. but it wasn’t… shit went about 20 minutes and hard… after standing in it for 5-10 minutes we sought shelter under the phellowship tent (google that one)… finally it let up… and we went back to our spot… soaked. now that i’m not soaked, i can definitely say.. that was awesome!!! it didn’t really matter once the music started about 10 minutes after that…

before i talk about the show.. the other things i’ll note are..
#1 and most importantly we used the back bathrooms and it was OPEN and the best ever. in and out, and no waiting.
#2 thank you to everyone we hung with at the show… spohn and julia had pavillion seats, so they remained dry and inside the entire night… but the rest of us were together in a billiards formation. Sara was the 8 ball. I played a lot of defense last night… i think if it were a stat, i had at least 50+ redirects of people trying to walk thru us.. only 1 girl snuck thru the middle of our triangle… u can ask jan about that one… but she was like running… a couple people got as far as spilling beer within our triangle… but it was mostly a night of awesome music but having to pay attention to a few people that will just walk thru us.. and yadda yadda.. just was being aware of it.. i had to explain the strategy to bob jones about 5 times.. but you can imagine,.. and..
#3 hmm.. not sure what #3 was… okay lets talk music.. The SHOW WAS FANTASTIC!!!

from my wish list on the IIWII we did get…. Momadance, Backwards Down The Number Line, Rock and Roll, and Llama… llama hadn’t been played yet since phish has been back…

The first set was interesting. Awesome Llama opener. Moma Dance was good to get funky. Guyute composed section is always a treat to snack on. Anything But Me was probably the last song I wanted there but it’s all good. I’m not hating on it.. but I turned to the random dudes next to us and asked if it was the song they came there to see?.. they smiled, knowing I was joking… and the show went on.. And fast and furious it did with an upbeat jazzy fresh Cars Trucks Buses… maybe a nod to the people who just drove 7+ hours the last 4 nights to catch the last 4 shows in (Darien->Hartford CT->Merriweather MD->Saratoga).. jeeese. Chalk Dust HELL YEA!!! that’s a hit right there boys. Golgi, love the OLD super old style songs… speaking of… is it bowie or maze?? BOWIE.. and a pretty sweet one too!! end of set? nope… Cavern!.. that’s for sure the end of the set.. typically right?? nope.. Trey’s playing Possum… here we go!.. Josh (fluffy) had it locked and loaded that possum was the set closer… tom (elliot) was making space on his notepad to begin documenting set 2.. assuming it’s a lock.. nah.. at least 1 more.. and behold!.. Ocelot… come out and play!! the first “new” song of the night, most likely won’t close the set.. nah.. and it didn’t cause here comes marco esquandoles with his Run Like an Antelope… got any swisssssssss cheese? sweet antelope.. set over! bathroom break…

we thought about getting sara a dry shirt.. phish merch was like 25 dudes ahead of you at the bar, wall to wall.. so i asked waterwheel (google it) people how much for a t-shirt… 35 bucks… but it’s a donation to local organizations and i’m sure it would have gone to a good cause.. but a lot too steep for a t-shirt.. so we pushed thru the day as we were… the weather man/report said NO RAIN… it was so HOT all weekend.. neither of us brought a spare shirt with us to the show.. or a raincoat or long sleeve shirt or anything for either of us… so on to set 2!!

backwards down the number line was awesome! it’s also a “new” song this year… and it’s been jammed out recently. this was no exception. Nice and spacey to start us off for set 2. Sick. For a long long time we were trying to figure out what they would go into after this, or at least i was… jake even thought one thing at one point and i had no idea… for sara, it was an okay lets move on to the next song part.. and for some of you probably as well.. but i dig on it. and was all smiles. Twenty Years Later!!! sweet.. another “new” song.. (which there’s about 10 new songs.. and based on the previous couple nights setlists… we kind of new which ones that we would get Ocelot, Backwards, 20yrs but hell yeah!).. awesome.. wait what’s this?? HALLEYS COMET?? HAHAH!! Awesome!!! Love this tune!! GORDO AND PAGE were so MONEY all night long!! They bust this into Rock & Roll (velvet underground) and I’m stoked!!!… was hoping to hear it and was looking forward to where it would go.. this was no exception either.. Awesome Jam!! WOAH.. and then… Immediately.. Madness!! The song I’ve been waiting to hear since FOREVER… and finally on my kobe bryant show (#24) i get it!! the kobe bryant of phish tunes – HARPUA. so awesome!!! (google it).. Super ASS RARE at this point, Super OLD. Super Awesome… and Trey usually tells a story… he’s a story teller, ya know. this story was no exception.. I’ll write about it later… but Jimmy was confused and depressed and attempted to seek some advice from his spirit god… unfortunately this spirit god was a middle aged over the hill guy who wore a dress (albeit with a tshirt on underneath) and sang songs about kissing a girl… (which he did apologize for later thankfully to us, not to kate perry)… i thought it was funny though… i didnt recognize the song until the chorus part… lots of people around me seemed to know the song immediately.. (WAY WAY MORE than the people who had any idea what the heck was going on when Phish busted out Destiny Unbound at Fenway)… but, poster the cat… died. how about a goldfish? nah… a dog. they took a minute to talk about what to play next after this insanely awesome harpua bustout.. and low and behold.. the michael jordan of phish songs… YEM.. to obviously close this AWESOME set and send us on our way…. Sara and I waited til the vocal jam.. and bee-lined it to the bathroom… we were in and out very quick from the bathroom… and made it back to our spot almost right when the vocal jam ended… YEM is awesome.. but i can take a pee break during the vocal jam. they encored with Grind acapella.. then trey spoke about how special it was to be here tonight and how it was the end of the tour… maybe this was when he mentioned his singer/song writer friend Bruce from NJ (you’ve heard of him right?) was in the audience tonight… and how he lived in Saratoga for a while and how that was awesome… some of this narration could have been earlier during Harpua.. not exactly sure… but then he’s like, oh yeah we didn’t play 1 song from the new album yet.. and page sang this new song called I Been Around (we didn’t know the name… my guess at one point was Down And Around)… it was a good pagey song.. so we got a couple of those tonight… They busted off Highway To Hell and we were out of there… to walk back to the car…

Awesome Show!!