The sun was rising on Friday morning as we pulled into the entrance of Watkins Glen International raceway with no traffic and no hassle. That is, until they told us the ticket scanners were malfunctioning and we had to wait awhile.
Ah well, nothing to do but crack open a brewski and wait.
Sure, it was 6 a.m., but Marshall and I had been awake for almost 24 hours - he because he had traveled from New Orleans and his flights were delayed arriving in Newark; and I because I worked on Thursday, then ran, then picked Marshall up at the airport after midnight. Somehow, we managed to stay awake throughout the four hour drive upstate. It was beer o'clock for us.
Scanners finally working, we were led to a campsite that was close to the entrance, but 3/5 of a mile from the concert site. We set up our tent, downed another beer, and took an hour nap. We were too excited to get into the festivities.
Inside the concert ground, there was already fun to be had. I checked out the Phish version of "Family Feud" featuring fellow concert-goers as contestants in the Studio X tent; "Glurt factory" art installation; "Monkey Maker" performance art; cornhole beanbag tournament; and the Labratory, an artwork/hangout area with a second level deck from which to view the goings on.
I also found the M Lounge where deliciously boozy specialized cocktails were being served (I had the Cuddly But Muscular).
By the time Phish opened with "Simple" I was slightly drunk, overtired, and super-excited. They came swinging with bustouts - the first "The Dogs" since New Year's Eve and Halloween; the first "The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday" and "Avenu Malkanu" since Jones Beach 2012 (I was there!); and, incredibly, the first "Mock Song" since its debut at the Gorge in 2003. We grooved to "Free"; chilled to "Roggae"; got a double dose of 'Rift' with the title song and "The Wedge"; and sang "Happy Birthday" to Eliza Anastasio for her 20th birthday.
All of that would have made for a perfect set, but then Phish destroyed us with what was arguably one of the best performances of "Bathtub Gin" in the song's 26 year history.
And that was just Set One.
Once again swinging for the fences in Set Two, Phish brought out heavy hitters like "Chalk Dust Torture", "Ghost", "Harry Hood", and a "Slave to the Traffic Light" closer and knocked them all out of the park. They were firing on all cylinders, crushing it over and over, bring blissful peaks, some "Rock and Roll" Velvet Underground style, yet another funky version of the new "No Men in No Man's Land" and a lovely "Waste".
By the last strains of "Slave", the temperature was in the upper 50s, but I was bundled up ("like it was December," according to my friend, Meredith) because my body was shutting down after being awake for 41 of the previous 42 hours. I could barely stand as the "Farmhouse" encore gave way to an ecstatic "First Tube" to end the show.
Marshall and I beelined it to the campsite and promptly passed out - he in the tent, me under the stars. There was partying and revelling and noise and even some fireworks going on around us, but we slept like bricks. A good night's sleep after a long day of work and travel followed by a well spent day of good fun and excellent music. The sensory overload was just beginning.
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