When tickets went on sale for Phish's autumn and New Year's Eve shows in 2019, I made a decision - skip the tours, save some money, then really do it up for summer tour 2020.
Of course, had I known the world would go kablooey, I would have gone to as many shows as possible in the second half of 2019.
Before the pandemic hit, the idea of doing it up A.C.-style was exciting. By the time the shows, came around in 2021, I had no desire to go anywhere in public, let alone a crowded Phish show. But I was vaccinated, it was outside on the beach, and the possibility of being away from the crowd made the prospect a little better. Even still, I kept my mask on any time I got remotely close to another person.
The venue was a blocks-long stretch of beach, and we stayed in the back, away from the crowd, even hanging out in the water for a while because it was such a pleasant night. The sound was good enough that we could hear everything pretty clearly, if not loudly or crisply.
It was nice to hear "Cars Trucks Buses", especially as an opener, and "AC/DC Bag" and "Funky Bitch" were standard first-set fare, but "Blaze On" and "Wolfman's Brother" kicked things up with jams that stretched out a bit and had us, as Trey Anastasio sang in altered lyrics to the former, "dancing on the beach."
I have been listening to a lot of 1991 shows lately and there is no doubt that, in comparison, vacuum solos by Jon Fishman are a lot harder to come by these days, so to get one in the first set of my first show in two years (in "I Didn't Know") was a treat. Having also listened to the whole 2021 tour up to that point, I shuddered a bit when "Rift" started up because, well, Trey had not yet had a precise performance of it. He almost got through it with no flubs, but at least it was better than the previous two, and the "Sand" set-closer, with its trademark perfect mix of rock and funk, made up for anything that was previously lacking.
The second set came out swinging hard with back-to-back fun-time jams in "Tweezer" and "Bathtub Gin" and the party kept rolling with "Everything's Right". I hate to say it, but I do not have much interest in "Possum" anymore. However, I actually get a kick out of watching how everyone else still loves it - especially because several people in the audience were not even alive when Phish first played that song with its songwriter and founding band member Jeff Holdsworth.
Things got interesting for me again in the back half of the second set with classics like "2001" and "Harry Hood" and two of my newer favorites, "Rise/Come Together" and "More". Even with "Possum" in the mix, that second set was as solid and fun as a Phish show can get. Add a "Loving Cup" encore to that, and it is hard not to be happy coming away from that.
Egress from the venue was pretty easy, and we managed to get back to the Red Roof Inn in Galloway at a reasonable hour. Unfortunately, the hotel was terrible and the beds were ridiculously uncomfortable, which was bad news because I was planning on a 19-mile run the next day.
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