phish, 8/17 & 8/18/10, jones beach, ny

phish, 8/17 & 8/18/10, jones beach, wantagh, ny


In lieu of a typical bloggy review, I've written up a piece for jambands.com on the recent Phish shows at Jones Beach.

Please hop on over there to read:
Phish, Jones Beach, 2010: Traffic, and Rainbows, and Jumpers- Oh My!

Here are some pics of the fun times that mostly don't appear in the jambands.com article.
DAY ONE!



the beginnings of a clusterphuck.


this was taken on Tues. in section 2, row HH, mid-row. the exact seats the jumper landed in on Wed. (see below) SPOOKY!!


there's some dude on the ground wearing nothing but his boxer shorts...
"get the restraints..." - guy on walkie


DAY TWO





a killer Antelope to close out SET I


during setbreak, some kid jumped off the mezzanine and landed in the seats circled below.



and last, but certainly not least... two handsome fellows on a fine August evening.


SLIDESHOW & HI RES GALLERY

phish, 6/4 & 6/5/09, jones beach, ny

phish, 6/4 & 6/5/09, jones beach, ny
If I've learned anything about Long Island during the 6/4 & 6/5 Phish Jones Beach shows, it's that: a) it's always raining, and b) it always takes 2 1/2 hours to get there. Aside from my traffic woes and said precipitation (and Time Turns Elastic), both the Thursday & Friday Jones Beach shows were pretty great.

I had met up with Weiss who was walking around with Crazy-Tracy^ +1 and then he and I made our way over to the Hern, etc. crew. First impressions were made and I chugged ketel one cintroen & sparkling cherry soda cocktail in a red Solo cup (all class, baby). We heard soundcheck from the parking lot where we were quickly tying it on while hiding from the po' po' before heading into the dry^^ venue. Having 2 possible narcs amongst the running crew made us feel safe. Did I mention it was raining? We were all equipped with appropriate poncho-age.




Mike and I found our seats waaaay up in section 20 and a nervous excitement filled the air (or was that a weatherfront?).


Divided Sky was particularly beautiful, the drizzle had subsided and the sun had set. Approximately halfway through Ocelot Mike gets a text from Crazy-Tracy who tells us to take her tickets cuz they are leaving. We tried talking her down and convincing her otherwise but she wasn't hearing it. So, we ended up in the section behind the soundboard in the sweet spot of the Ampitheater. Thus the nickname, "Crazy-Tracy". Thanks, Tracy- you're crazy.




Squirming Coil, PYITE, NICU, Antelope!!! All fantastic! Awesometacular! SETBREAK.

Set II started out meh, Meatstick was fun, but Time Turns Elastic... it's so... long. Oh Jebus, why does it take so loooong? Our friends dubbed it "Time Turns Molasses" which is pretty spot-on. Much like the worst kind of Saturday Night Live sketch- it needs to be about 15 minutes shorter. YEM literally saved the entire set and it was FANTASTIC. Nice to see the guys are keeping up with their cardio routines. Encore: Rock and Roll. I'm lukewarm on this one.



It was a fun night. We headed to the Golden Reef Diner in Rockville Center, NY and I almost died from a migraine on my drive home. Ya know- the yoosh.


Day 2. Step 1) make sure you eat enough (see: debilitating migraine above), Step 2) get bitch-slapped by traffic at least 5 times, Step 3) assume your $30 EMS poncho will work a 2nd day in a row despite the heavier rainfall, Step 4) enjoy The Phish.


The Herns, etc. and I arrived simultaneously and I managed to run into the VT Crew^^^ within a minute of parking. Of course, I promptly lost them. But the rest of us found jerk chicken wraps on Shakedown Street and maintained a solemn acceptance over the unfortunate weather. Having witnessed much "weather" since then, it sort of fades into jadedness, but I am pretty certain at the time it was pouring fairly shiteously.

I had scored a ticket from livenation (during the great ticket debacle of '09) right near the tapers, but both the VT Crew & the Herns, etc. were all up in section 20! D'oh! Additionally, there was no hope in finding Erika (she's tiny), 'Blingy! was also wandering around somewhere, and Simms was in the front section right in front of Page's giant noggin (it's huge). So, I started the night up in 20 with the Herns, etc., then went down to 7, got hit on by a bosox fan (why is it always the bosox fans?) but was still pretty content with my location and was soon joined by Simms who broke free of the tractor beam off of Page's head. The first set rocked hard. Great setlist- Wilson, Buried Alive, AC/DC Bag, I Didn't Know, My Friend x 2, Ya Mar, Split Open... Fucking awesome, actually. Fun times and good mood. Sweet sound in 7 and killer lights.

During setbreak we ran into the VT Crew and made the executive decision to watch the rest of the show with the gaggle of friends up in 20. Why the hell not? It was special in an "aww" way to watch Phish with my VT Crew, made me smile.



Hey and it even stopped raining for 10 minutes! Oooh that was exciting. DWD-> Twist-> Piper-> Backwards Down the Number Line was pretty cool, much better than Time Turns Molasses, no doubt. 2001 always rules and it is always on my list of WANTS and Slave helped me cope with the traffic ordeals.



I've said it before and I'll say it again- God Street Wine's version of A Day in the Life puts Phish's version to shame.


It was time to race home and get ready for Great Woods. It was also time to return my $30 EMS poncho and replace it with a far superior $40 Campmor full-body-poncho. I ended up buying a hoodie at setbreak just to have something dry to wear. My Campmor rain pants were the bomb-diggity, though. Fuck you, $30 EMS poncho. Totes boo too.

Phish, 6/4 & 6/5/09, Jones Beach, NY: 8.85 HUZZAHS! I have high standards, kiddies. 2nd night's 1st set was fucking stellar but 1st night's 2nd set fell flat (outside of YEM).

SETLISTS (courtesy of phish.net)

06/04/2009 Nikon at Jones Beach Theater - Wantagh, NY

Soundcheck: Twenty Years Later

1: Grind, The Divided Sky, Ocelot, The Squirming Coil, Punch You in the Eye, Dirt*, NICU, Ghost, Run Like an Antelope
2: Water in the Sky, Birds of a Feather, Drowned, Meatstick**, Time Turns Elastic, Waste, You Enjoy Myself

E: Rock and Roll

Notes: * w/ Mike solo. ** with Japanese lyrics

06/05/2009 Nikon at Jones Beach Theater - Wantagh, NY

1: Wilson, Buried Alive, Kill Devil Falls, AC/DC Bag > I Didn't Know, My Friend My Friend, Ya Mar, Theme from the Bottom, Boogie On Reggae Woman*, Split Open and Melt
2: Down With Disease -> Twist** > Piper > Backwards Down the Number Line, Free, Twenty Years Later*** > 2001 > Slave to the Traffic Light

E: A Day in the Life

Notes: * with Ghostbusters tease. ** with Oye Como Va Jam, about two-minutes long. *** debut performance. Also, note variation in segues.

SLIDESHOW! and FULL GALLERY



^ we'll get to the nickname in a moment, Tracy
^^ no, unfortunately not that kind of dry.
^^^ yes, I know not all of you live in VT nowadays, but live with your grouping, will ya?

black crowes, 7/19/06 @ jones beach & 7/22 @ PNC, NJ

okay, i'm running waaaay behind on these reviews. but it's for a good reason- i'm gainfully employed again. woohoo. anyways, let's get to this.

black crowes, 7/19/06, jones beach, ny & 7/22/06, PNC garden state arts center, holmdel, nj

i wasn't originally planning on going to the jones beach show, but liane called me a few days before it happened with a bargain i couldn't refuse. she had 4 phatty tickets in the orchestra section but her ride bailed and she offered me a ticket in exchange for transportation... so since i wasn't working, i said HELLZ YEAH. but then the next day i got food poisoning. ohhhhh, the food poisoning i did have. i had a day to recover but i didn't want to bail because i didn't want her to have to miss the show! i was able to eat a bowl of white rice before the show and that made me happy.

no alcohol at jones beach--- still lame. i mean, i couldn't drink anything anyways, but the whole concept is fucking lame. we made our way to the seats-- and they were AWESOME. they were in the beginning of the raised section of seats- but they were right on the water. literally. on the beach. so every time liane looked at me, i was standing next to the water, and she'd just start laughing. the band was pretty good, the crowd wasn't that great though. the place wasn't packed at all (probably cuz it was a weeknight) and the band had no energy to feed off of. some of the songs were okay, but i definitely wasn't blown away. it was also a "greatest hits" show. they played most of their singles and i enjoy hearing them, but they didn't mix it up enough. the hammerstein shows really spoiled me i think.

however, i also was having trouble standing up... and sitting up. my muscles were so sore from puking for close to 24 hours that it felt like my rib cage was collapsing into my intestines. good times. it's hard to rock out when you need to be taking a nap.

mooooooooooooving on... 7/22 in jersey...

i had these tickets for like 4 months- heinzy and i had been looking forward to the tailgating and the celebrations for about the same time- i think we had planned either right before or right after our simultaneous BC vacations. brett was supposed to show up (but he didn't because he's a lame ass that is afraid of the rain). we convinced mr. cifarelli to join us and he was on the fence until he felt how wonderful the a/c in my car was. we got down to the parking lot and fought off the rainy blues for a while- and i hold firm my contention for the corn cob pipe. why anyone would want to subject themselves to the lacquered flavor headache inducing plastic and corn concoction, i don't know. but i digress.

we skipped out on drive by truckers and robert randolph. i don't know if i've seen dbt, i've heard some good things... but robert randolph (i'm preparing to be scorned) just doesn't do it for me. in all honesty, i get tired of him after about 5 minutes. yes, he's talented, but somehow it comes off to me as more along the lines of "musical wanking". let the flames begin!

we ran into the vh1 crew inside by the beer tent, only got to see them for a few minutes, but fuck it, the show was aboot to start. there was an immediate difference in the crowd (vs. the jones beach crowd). this place was about to erupt with energy. the bandshell was packed and the band was feeding off of it. was it the weekend? was it the sun finally emerging from the clouds and drying up the rain? or was it the BEER? well, the beer was plentiful. i was still afraid to drink cuz my body was still adjusting to normalcy. but the band rocked, it wasn't a "greatest hits" show, but more like a "classic favorites" show. it was more in line with the hammerstein shows from last year. good stuff.

of course always a topic of conversation- when will a new crowes album come out? well, now that chris robinson and kate hudson have officially split, i gotta say- it's quite possible there will be a new and absolutely KICK ASS crowes album very soon. all that emotional rage has to be funneled somewhere! rock it!

so, let's see... jones beach show- a lame: 5.5 HUZZAHS... pnc show- a rockin' 8.5 HUZZAHS!