Howdy folks, It is finally Thursday here in the big city. I am not sure what it is about Thursday's but they are one of my favorite days of the week. I know tomorrow is Friday and I get to relax and generally we don't cook on Thursday. So today I am a little tired from my whirlwind trip to Chicago on Tuesday to see Phish but nothing compared to my days of partying.
A rundown on the venue, the show, driving to the city from Merrillville where the hotel was and did I mention construction on I-294?
Since my wife Heather is 8 months pregnant she decided to stay home and not chance giving birth while at the show. So I took my buddy Andy, and we headed up towards the city around 1:30 in the afternoon after getting pee'd on by my 16 month old post nap. First stop Merrillville where our hotel was and about an hour from the venue. Got checked in and then headed west on US 30 instead of taking I-65 up to I-294 like we should have and rolled through Merrillville into Schererville where McDonalds messed up my order and up US 41 to I-294 which damn near took us 45 minutes. Next time stay on the Interstate. So we hit a couple of tolls and then realized that even though the GPS told us to exit, the barrier in the highway prevented us from doing so. So on we rolled, got off on the next exit with no where to go except take a U-turn back to the Highway. So we paid an additional toll and followed the annoying GPS ladies instructions and wound up right where we needed to be, only took us a few minutes out of the way.
So there we were at Toyota Park in Bridgeville IL. Home of the Chicago Fire and on August 11th the home of Phish. After paying $15 bucks to park, yeah you read that right. We heard the band soundchecking Time Turns Elastic, Funky Bitch, and a jam which could have been Paul and Silas. We did not want to hear Time Turns Elastic which is a new song I am not too found of and neither was Andy. So we parked and decided to chill for a bit and walk around the gigantic parking lot to find the elusive and ever shrinking Shakedown Street where there was barely a gathering of vendors and bad food. Note to self, never ever eat on the lot unless you brought it. Kinda like tailgating, either bring your own grub or starve. Even though McD's screwed up my order I still ate. So after checking out some kid T's which were overpriced on the parking lot we headed back to the ride to hang out and watch the people roll by. Good times seeing the different people from all over and what some thought would be a sleeper show without a lot of folks turned out to be a sellout with lots and lots of phans waiting on the show to start. After killing an hour or so we made our way to the gates to little security and found our seats. No harassment at this venue, None!
Got to our seats and Wow! I bought these tickets online just a few weeks ago and paid face value on ticketmaster and they were in the front row off the field and 30 yards from the stage. Grate view, good folks sitting near us and nobody in front of us, nobody. First set was very good, with some new songs and an opener of Kill Devil Falls which I have been overplaying in my car from St. Louis. Paul and Silas, first time since 1998! And a Curtain With, this was sick and a supreme highlight of the show for me. First set downer, Time Turns Elastic to close out the set. I utilized that front row seat to relax during the first 10 minutes of this song only to enjoy the jam at the end.
During Setbreak I found my way to the Phellowship table, a place for clean and sober fans, got a sticker and shared in the meeting. It was full of clean heads, and lots of sharing. As a group hug we said the Dude serenity prayer to end it, and I got chills and felt wonderful. I grabbed Catey and Holden (my son to be born in the next few weeks) a t-shirt and a sticker for Heather. And headed for my seat. Second set started up and it was a total smoker! Backwards Down the Number line, into a dark and dirty Carini the set featured great playing from the band, highlights included a 2001>Harry Hood>Squirming Coil with a very beautiful piano solo to end the second set by Page. The rest of the band left the stage as Page laid down the sweet melody stood to overwhelming applause and a huge smile on his face. Time for an encore, I thought we may hear Funky Bitch, but no it was better than that.
A cover of the Rolling Stones Loving Cup! Very very nice way to wrap up the night.
Well, we made our way to the parking lot with the masses, and found the car at the very inconvenient front of the parking lot and it took us all of 45 minutes to get the hell out there. Brought back memories of Deer Creek parking. Turned on our lovely GPS lady and found our way to the highway back to Merrillville for the night. We arrived at the hotel after missing one toll booth...DOH, at 2:30 in the morning and racked out in seperate Queen beds much to Andy's dismay, (better luck next time dude). Slept like a log and from Andy's snoring I think he did too, a morning text from Heather was rise and shine time to clean up and hit the road home. It was a quick trip but damn it was fun. Thanks to my sweet wife for letting me go.
John, you missed a hellava show!
Peace till next time.
