Sample in a Jar

Okay so I'm writing about this a little late, but on Tuesday, I had the pleasure of going to my first Phish show. ((FINALLY!!!))  Our day started out pretty slow; we kind of took our time doing the things we needed to get done before we left, so we ended up getting on the road pretty late.  I went with my girls Ashley and Lindsay, which was a great idea!  Lindsay decided to come at the last second, and I couldn't have been happier that she decided to come along!  Well...we hit the road on the thruway since the show was in Canandaigua which is about 45 minutes away from where we live.  

We definitely left late.  As we got onto the main road where the show was, it was wayyyy backed up with traffic.  I think this made all of our anxiety go through the roof because we were cutting it close to showtime, which was 7:00.  We didn't want to miss a thing.  I knew I had never been late to a show, and this wasn't going to be my first.  Lindsay did her best to cut through parking lots and side roads to cut off some of the traffic we were sitting in, which ended up being a good thing because it probably saved us about 30 minutes overall!  In a panic, we paid $10 to park in a lot right across from the venue, and grabbed a few beers to chug as we ran to the gates.  Luckily, as we were running, a security guard told us not to worry and that Phish wasn't actually going on until 7:30, despite what our tickets and any event site on the internet said.  We cut it close; at this point it was about 7:20!!

When we got in the venue we didn't waste too much time getting to our fantastic seats!  (We were 6th row, and boy, oh boy was it worth it!!)  As soon as we made it to our seats, Phish came on the stage and started playing!!  Now before we had gotten to the show, I have a habit of keeping an eye on previous set lists to see if there is a trend for particular songs, and I had an extremely strong feeling that they were going to do my favorite song, Down With Disease as one of the first ones.  I WAS RIGHT!!!  Second song in, they played Down With Disease, and did an amazing extended jam smack dab in the middle.  I was in heaven.  Right from that, they led into Sample in a Jar.  I couldn't believe it .  Third song in and as this point, I knew that so far, this was FOR SURE going to be the best investment I had made all summer!!  First set was unbelievable.

After the first set was done, we decided to take a walk up to the lawn to see some of our other friends and mingle for a little bit.  It was pretty nice up there and to see some of our other friends who were at the show as well.  We laid on the grass for a bit and just chatted with some people.  I had also been looking for my friend Paul, who was with about 5 or 6 of our other friends.  Well, we spent just about half the second set looking for them to no avail, and then just said forget it.  We wanted to get back to our seats so we could enjoy the rest of the show.  

One of the other incredibly fantastic moments was when they covered I Am the Walrus (originally by The Beatles.)  Holy shit did the cover the crap out of that song!  Ashley and I looked at each other in disbelief because we knew this was either a rarity or it had never been played before!  (We did find out that they had NEVER played it before.)  It was completely surreal.  They nailed it and certainly rocked it out, not to mention how ridiculous their lights look once it actually gets dark outside.  I don't think I could have ever predicted that cover, and I don't think there could have been a better one for them to pick!  I was ecstatic!  

Even though the view was a bit more restricted, for my first show it was really nice to go up and experience the lawn as well, so I didn't mind the fact that we boycotted our awesome seats for a bit to see what was going on up there.  It was worth it!  It was a lot of fun to see the people in the lawn having a blast and the glow stick wars which are of course common.  By the end of the night I had a countless number of glow sticks in my hair.  (Totally typical for me.)  Eventually, we did make it back to our seats so we could rock out to what was left of the show.  At one point I did let Lindsay take my ticket for a song or two to go check out the view from where we were.  It was interesting because after unfortunately hitting up the port-a-potties and then just hanging out, I managed to watch two guys who were clearly off their rockers get detained by security and completely lose their minds once security was restricting them.  I wasn't surprised!  It was quite a sight and those guys certainly made a spectacle, although I'm sure at that point they weren't really controlling their actions as they were all sorts of messed up on something!  

They ended the second set with Golgi Apparatus, which was amazing too because I know if there was one song Ashley wanted to see, I'm sure it was this one.  They rocked the encore with First Tube, and then it was over.  Shit.  It was a night I never ever wanted to end.  What a great show.  They kept the energy level up and totally rocked it.  My only regret is that I hadn't actually made the time to go to Phish shows before, since they've been around for so long.  This definitely won't be my last first show.  This is going to be the first of many and many more to come!  Anyone out there Phish fans?  I put the Canandaigua, New York, June 29th set list below for those who care :-)

Set One:
1.  The Connection
2. Down with Disease

3. Sample in a Jar
4. Ocelot
5. Reba
6. Horn
7. Funky Bitch
8. Undermind
9. The Ballad of Curtis Loew
10.  David Bowie

Set Two:
1. Possum
2. Mike's Song
3. Simple
4. I Am the Walrus
5. Weekapaug Groove
6. Limb by Limb
7. Joy
8. Harry Hood
9. Golgi Apparatus




Encore: First Tube