Festivals

[Walker done done]

So which ones have you been to, which one did you enjoy the most, what happened, etc.  Tell me about your experiences, stories, and song reviews.  Unfortunately, I just realized I don't have time right now to do mine, but I will!

[gratephulphish123]

i never saw any festivals, i got into phish 2 years post coventry so the only one i've heard all the way through is the IT fest. IT's a mixed bag, on one hand day 1 set 3 is one of the worst sets in phish history and on the other hand day two set two has one of the best sets imo, especially that ghost whew boy. but the whole thing is a really mixed bag, i tried downloading clifford ball and the went but my mac recently passed away    hated that thing, utterly failed all torrenting

[strangedesign]

I am glad you started this thread. I am half drunk in the Charlotte airport right now waiting on an airplane. I actually board in a couple of minutes and can't get into detail about my expiriences at these shows but I will when I get back to B'ham. I was lucky enough to make it to Clifford Ball, Lemon Wheel and Big Cypress. I will give you guys some details when I get back home.

...stay tuned

[Walker done done]

I am glad you started this thread. I am half drunk in the Charlotte airport right now waiting on an airplane.

Hahahaha!  Oh I know the feeling all too well!  There's nothing that's feels worse but for some reason feels so right than being drunk at an airport or on an airplane.  It's kind of like \"fuck it....this place sucks, so I might as well get drunk to soften the shitty feeling a little bit!\"  I LOATHE airports, and most people in them.  I once made a comment to my now wife that airports really do bring out the worst society has to offer.  For some reason, people are at their worst in airports.  Rudeness, cleanliness-wise...everything.  Screaming kids, people not giving a shit.....if we existed inside airports alone, we'de run ourselves extinct in no time flat.  So that's why I drink  

When I go on trips & stuff, especially when I went out the Vegoose the last 2 years, we'd get toasted at the airport at like 8 a.m. and then on the plane right out there, sort of like pre-gaming it and prepping for the week that lie ahead.

Well, I don't have the patience to sit at a computer typing for 2 hours or so, which is probably what it'd take to recount my festival journeys, but I'll start with this:

I've been to:

Great Went ('97)
Lemonwheel ('98)
Oswego ('99)
IT ('03)
Coventry ('04)

I guess I'll start w/ The Great Went, also my very first Phish shows.  

I used to keep an extensive archive of all my shows and memories from them, but over the last few years that habit has died off a bit.  But I do have one on the Went, Wheel, and Oswego.  I won't go into all the detail, but I'll give you a quick synopsis:

The Great Went
\"Reaction:  A-   First time I had seen Phish.  They were OK then, but I really didn't know what to make of it all.  Loved the scene (for the most part) and loved the vibe, reminded me of Dead related parking lot, which was comforting.  "Went" with Pete, Sarah, and Tara.  I think I rolled 36 (schwaag) joints in all, I know it was a whole oz., and came home with 5 or 6, if that.  Also had a ¼ of Bill's (the super) and a ¼ of shrooms, so it's safe to say I had an overall great time - except for getting sunburned, that was pretty shitty.  I couldn't move for 2 days, man.  Distinctly recall Makisupa, Julius, Haley's Comet, Bouncin', Down w/ Disease, and 2001, which with the lights I thought was the coolest thing I had ever seen at a show.\"

Hmmm.....I look back at it now and laugh \"they were ok back then\" - YEAH RIGHT!  Luckily I have the show on cd and listening back to it, it was a helluva show, when Phish was on top of their game.  No doubt this is what got me hooked though.  

I distinctly remember walking away from the show area alone at the end of the 2nd night, walking backwards and looking back at the huge fireball that was all the artwork people had done that weekend that they lit on fire with that big ass match and thinking \"that sucks - they should've left it forever there, and if we ever come back we'll see it as a reminder of this weekend\".  It was pretty amazing though, watching it burn while tripping my ass off and having this buzz/glow in my eye.  I even remember what I was wearing at the time.  How weird.


The Lemonwheel
Reaction:  A+   Probably the best Phish shows I've ever seen, but I'm not confident about saying that...I've seen some really good ones.  The rating may be biased due to the incredible g-tabs there that weekend, but what can you do?  I have so many memories (and lack there of) about this weekend.  I wouldn't have even gone if it weren't for Nick buying me a ticket.  That was one of the nicest things anybody's ever done for me...it meant a lot.  I wasn't going to go because I couldn't afford it, and low and behold I get a call a week before the show \"hey, you going to the show\" he says, and I tell him \"dude, you know I can't afford it, and you bugging me doesn't make me feel any better about it, so just cut it out\" and he says \"what would you say if I told you I just bought you a ticket\" and I told him \"I'd say you were full of shit and to stop messing around, it's not nice\" and he says \"buddy, I just bought you a ticket\" and I repeated my previous sentence, to which he replied \"get packed, you're going to the show\"  I couldn't believe it.  It was about $150 or thereabouts, and for a junior in high school back then, that's a lot of money.

Lots o

[Walker done done]

cont.....

\"and you bugging me about it isn't making me feel any better\" and he says \"what would you say if I told you I was buying you a ticket?\" and I told him \"I'd say you were full of shit\" and he says \"well, I bought you a ticket\".  And I said \"you're full of shit\" and he says \"get packing, you're going to Lemonwheel with us\" and needless to say I kinda freaked out.  Very cool.

Lots of friends there: Tim L., Maria, Mika & Amy F., Amanda, Nicole, Harry, Judy, Amy, Derek D., Derek C., Sarah & Pete, Sara S., Jessie & Jody J. & their cousin, Big Tall Tim, Suke, Ainge, Steve, Droops, Ernie, McGuern...that's all I can remember.  I dosed Amy & Amanda for the first time (didn't know it was their first) and Tim L. tweaked on me while I'm tripping, which was startling to say the least, but it ended up ok in the end and we all laughed about it because they were having such a good time.  Mika ended up finding out anyway.  

Derek had this whopper of an idea - "You pay for a balloon now, and I'll get one after the show & we'll split 'em!"  So, naturally, I'm all for this idea.  I take the balloon, start huffing it, then I feel it kick in.  Last thing I remember was telling Derek to take the balloon 'cause I was goin' down!  I fell to one knee, then fell forward and smacked my head off the pavement, managing to lose a sandal on the way down and when I got up but still was in a daze, I was saying something in regards to, "Hey! Who stole my sandal?!"  And then realized after someone pointed out to me that it was 10 feet behind me.  Oh yeah, I was toast.  I remember Sarah D. shaking my shoulder waking me up, telling me how my lips turned purple and my face blue as my eyes rolled back.  I vowed never to do nitrous again (that didn't last, but it happened again the next year at Oswego & I've kept my promise ever since - bad stuff man).  

Missed NICU and half of David Bowie - not happy.  2nd set on Sunday was the best for me.  I was peakin' so hard, it was great; I had to share the wealth.  So, off I went on a spree, tapping Amy, Amanda, Big Tall Tim, Tim L., and Harry (twice).  I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. Down w/ Disease, Fluffhead, Sexual Healing (was a fucking riot!), Circus, & Antelope were all awesome.  

Derek and I then got about 30 ft. from the stage (Fish's side) for the third set.  Rockin' Sabotage to open, as was the rest of the set.  We did have another companion, one of Harry's friends, but he tweaked out being that close. I look over and he's on the ground scrunched up in a ball.  I looked at Derek and was like, "Dude, what the fuck, this guy's freakin' out!!!" It bugged me out because I couldn't watch that tripping.  Next time I looked over he was gone.  Weird stuff.  There are certain people you just can't be around in that state of mind, and he was definitely one of them, zapping all the positive energy from the air.

Harry's city was mighty impressive, I have to admit.  He built this friggin' camp of tarps, tents, and cars/trucks in this big circle....sort of.....and when you came upon it from the outside it looked like a fortress.  Inside were these labrynths and mazes that lead to different \"areas\", it was pretty entertaining to walk around in that state of mind.  We had such a good time at the Wheel, though....hope to do that again someday.  It was one of those quintessential \"let go of everything, have as much fun as you can with your 20 best friends, laughing until you explode, listening to your most favorite music in the world with 70,000 other people n my home state.\"  Couldn't have gotten any better.

Anyways, that's the first 2......more to come.

[Erictw83]

I too was too young and missed out on the fun.  Started getting into phish in fall 2003 because the girl is was dating used to tour... unfortunately her touring days were over so i never got out to an '04 show.  Anyways, its fun to read show stories aned try to imagine being there.

i have CB, and GW, I gotta get Lemonwheel if it comes so highly recommended.   What do you guys think of Great Went Day I?  I've listening to it alot lately and is it just me or are they tripping balls on stage.  I think it's evident in their playing since they play schizophrenically, some times awesome, but all over the place.  I was listening to the show and though this but then I heard try talking at the end of a set and thought...'yeah they are definitely tripping.'  With that said Day I is a good show.  Halley's is weird and awesome, and awesome limb by limb.  In general i like the second day better though.

[gratephulphish123]

i'm trying to dl the wheel off nugs.net and it just says i already downloaded the files.  i didnt already download anything and this really sucks, anyone else have this problem?

[Erictw83]

i had no luck getting lemonwheel of nugs either.  It just didn't work. Maybe they pulled it but left the link up.  I tried bit torrenting lemonwheel of bt.etree but it was sooooooo painfully slow I just had stop.  Seriously, the estimated dl time was ~150 days!! Sucks!

[SharinginaWickaboagGroove]

I missed out on IT and BiG Cypress (I don't want to talke about it   ) but I've been to many non-phish festivals in the past couple years.  I have to say, fack bonnaroo, I would much rather go to gathering of the vibes.  I went this year and it was definately one of the best times ive had in a while.  P-funk and Deep Banana Blackout did a sweet James Brown tribute that got the crowd moving.  I had a camel bak full of Jager so naturally I was in the zone.  Next night was even better: Keller Williams - Les Claypool - Bob Weir and RatDog.  I was really peakin during Les, and was doing a crazy funk pit-dance that i couldn't even stop.  Some dickhead put a real damper on the evening when he threw a handle on stage right at Les though.  Everyone was pissed at his drunken debauchery as they should have been. (If you're a person like that, don't ruin shit for the rest of us)

[arkjdfgkjdbf]

i would've been at the clifford ball, but i was 9 years old.  



that concept applies to every show  

[Erictw83]

I was 13 during clifford ball, so i guess I have less excuse then you for missing it lol

[Poster]

i would definently argue big cypress was a much better show IMO, get that, then worry about getting clifford ball

[arkjdfgkjdbf]

yes big cypress was the pinnacle i won't argue that, but back to the ball...

everyone do themselves a huge favor and check this:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mKC2A_o2VaI

whoooo page!

[Erictw83]

I'm super pissed.  I finally got a hold of a copy of the Lemonwheel day 1, everything sounds great except for some reason the file containing the ~50 minute ambient jam is corrupted!!!!  Nearly 3 GB of bit torrenting and the one fucking song/set I really wanted to hear off of it is corrupted!!!!! The ambient jam was the main reason I was trying to get lemonwheel.

[Walker done done]

Eric, let me look to see if I can find my copy & snail mail it to ya.  It's a good set, but it ain't the cat's meow.