Phish-y Thoughts

I saw Phish for the first time last night. It was heavenly in so many ways. It was hellish in a few too.

My neighbor got the tickets and his mom works at The Fox. So we after the chaos of the parking lot we made our way in to the venue. People were hyped and ready to go! We walk into the seating and my neighbor takes us to the desk where he sees his mom's boss and starts chatting. She asks where we are sitting and he tells her the upper balcony. She says, "Oh no. I don't think so", and pulls out the seating chart. There were 8 seats highlighted. She crosses out four and asks one of the ushers to escort us to our new seats. My neighbor went to get our other friends and the usher escorts me down to row E. So I was about 10th row left center!!!!! Not a bad way to start the show!!!

Before the show started I had a chance to look around and absorb the scene. A very interesting crowd. You have to wonder where all these people come from. The tension of the show starting, the haze in the air, the buzz of the crowd. Everyone welcome... I think that people are generally looking for some kind of a transcendent experience, or perhaps to be ushered into an altered state of consciousness. Phish did their job to provide it.

Let me just say that musically Phish is playing on a level from another planet! Trey Anastasio was on! He was playing the most complex stuff with seemingly no effort. Mouth open, eyes closed, he channeled Spirit, painting musical colors on an audio canvass for about 4 hours straight. Key changes, tempo changes mid-song, country, jazz, blues, rock. A combination of Zappa, Pat Metheny, Grateful Dead mixed with some rockabilly. The whole thing was musically amazing. I just really don't have words. It was heavenly in so many ways...