Comes A Time

If you weren't there, you might want to start here for the great images of the evening and then here for the realest explanation of what the show was like. In my opinion it was a A+ show for vibe and a B/B- for music. I loved certain moments but I was literally bored at others. The sound going out was a bummer, but I was fortunate enough at that time to be very close to stage and some speakers so I could still hear what little sound there was to be heard. Also, the point in the article about the rotation actually wrecking the flow of the show was a nightmarish scenario I previously had imagined when I saw the lineup, but never really gave too much thought to it until the show. Seriously, they had waaaaay to many people and every time I got excited about the show in the weeks before it, there was that little kernel of negativity in my head (How are they going to practice? How will they pull off the stage configurations?) that I would quickly squash with the thoughts of going to my first show at the Greek Theater and seeing some of my favorite musicians play Jerry's music.

So I walk into the Greek and for the first half hour I just walk around in amazement at how sick the place is. I find Aly and a giggling gang of friends who did not have the luxury of working all afternoon, so, well, you know what white people do when they get bored. Anyway, we are on top of the hill and dead center and the sun is setting and there's this tower and wow it is cool to live here and wow I am hearing the string cheese incident play Dead and it is all good, but immediately there is this tribute band sound to the whole thing. The "liftoff" I am hoping for and had been waiting for for weeks is not there, and throughout the night never really comes musically. They just had this never ending plateau of really awesome music being played really well, pausing at least in momentum for a new addition to enter the fray or for someone to leave it, but never that peak-valley-peak-valley-unbelievable jam-climax-valley-unblievable jam-drums-space-bathroom song-lift-meander-peak-jam-climax-encore that I and everyone else in attendance is used to.

My hope for this concert is that it was a trial run and will continue for years to come and that the musicians will want to do it again. They can convince Phil to get on board next year and because the thrill of the 10 year/first show/initial tribute thing will be over, maybe not as many people will sign on, and then hopefully the core that does can get some practice in and get some really sick jams going and really connect with something other than the spirit of the man. Not that that is a bad thing, but those guys all know what liftoff is, and they want to take people there as much as we want to be taken. Call me selfish because I guess I wanted the best of both worlds- I not only wanted 25 of the best musicians in the world to show up for one night and play some of my favorite music, not just tightly and with a fond love and respect for the materiel, but I wanted them to improvise and take me to outer space as well.

We used to say when Phish was playing an average show that even at their worst night, it was still the best time ever and my favorite place to go to. And as far as vibe goes, this show sybolic nature and the feeling being there alone, even before the music started, was just unreal ("Take this feeling with you!!!" cheered Mickey Hart at the end), so I really shouldn't complain and just be grateful I was there (see what I did there? I am gonna do it again in the next line...). There was a few moments where I wanted Trey or whoever to just go nuts and they didn't, but I just looked around and thought, all things considered this is f'ing amazing and even without the 25 minute jams into interplanetary bliss, I thought there ain't no place I'd rather be. (... see, right there)