Refreshed, well fueled, morale high, and spirits soaring; Jay and I hit the road once again for what would be the most intense, yet still very enjoyable, leg of the Phish tour. Our first stop was our last one, and this time Grandma Berry met us smiling at the door last Monday afternoon. We caught up over a bison burger dinner and told some stories of all our travels. As the sun set over beautiful Sunrise lake, Jay and I failed at catching dessert off the dock.
We mentally prepared for the adventure ahead over some pool and bourbon in the basement, and hit the hay early. I must admit that it was either the RedBull during the drive, or my excitement, but it was a little hard to get to sleep that night.
The next day we rocked the drive like professionals, and rolled into hilly Pittsburgh in the early afternoon. Wanting to hit the lots and have a long night, we were moving on from the hotel to the venue without much of a break. We welcomed the relatively easy in (and out) of the venue and level of organization at the Post Gazette Pavilion.
After an adequate amount of tailgating and general merrymaking, we moved into "work" mode and McGrupp's General Store was open for business. Glowsticks and Blowpops were the big sellers of the night, and as I counted up the booty it was then I realized I forgot the camera battery... so no photo/video of this show... sorry kids. Check Phish's page for the official photos, and I attached some of them here. The video below is from the next night at Deer Creek, a great 2001 jam with high energy crowd and band.
The show itself was a great welcome back for us. As soon as we found our seats, we spotted new friends Jack & Liz from Colorado, and their posse. It's starting to get freaky at this point how we just keep running into each other at these 30,000+ person arenas!
The music for the night had strong opening numbers with Golgi Apparatus, ChalkdustTorture, a rippin' Wolfman's Brother, and my all time favorite, The Divided Sky. The second set was equally solid with what are becoming the standards of the tour. We heard Page's voice soar during a surprise Walk Away, a favorite cover of mine and apparently the band's. The highlight for me was a goofy encore of acapellas and antics.
After a Grind, Trey said something about redeeming it with a Hello My Baby, and if that didn't work Fishman would sing Bike. The band ended up laughing through Hello My Baby, and they stopped a few seconds into the song. True to form, Fishman gave us "the trainwreck portion of the evening" as he tried to remember how to sing Pink Floyd's "Bike". This kinda stuff is always better live and it was great to see them goofing around on stage and really having fun with the audience.
It was a great way to start off this leg of the tour as we journeyed to the midwest for our next few shows. Next up's Indiana where we rock with Phish at Deer Creek Amphitheater, and meet up with our friends Matt and Nancy in nearby Fortville.
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