Saturday concluded Phish's three-night run at the University of California. The school should recover fine once the glowsticks are cleared out of the floor drain and the empty balloons are picked up from the Bolt Hall School of Law front lawn. Apropos for a 150+ year old institution -- Phish Saturday night was all about tradition. For example, here is the men's entrance to the show.
Although our group did not get the memo, Saturday night was also toga night -- perhaps in honor of John Belushi's doppelganger rocking his beard and the floor Friday night. Here are some of Mr. Belushi's fraternity brothers from Iota Lighta Jointa. (Dont worry about the pilfered sheets -- the 4 Points Emeryville was likely going to burn them on Sunday anyway.)
Although this togalady had to carry her own juice, she had a VIP section bracelet so she could sit among the other phish glitterati in attendance like poker star Jeff Shulman and Burt Freaking Reynolds.
Here are some togas from the Walmart shower curtain (with) section.
Despite Saturday's invitation to bare a shoulder or two, there were noticeably fewer beautiful women at Saturday's show than at Friday's (well, at least one fewer beautiful woman for certain.)
The weather and the setting remained perfect for night three -- when the phishheads have mostly settled into their groove (like parking on Channing.) We stayed on the floor for night three -- humbly outgrooved by a pack of old people next to us. Saturday's neighbors were from The City, San Diego, Eugene, Manhattan and Alameda.
Here is another one of the blue-wristband VIP's, seen trying the caramels instead of the cookies.
Even a few critics spent $50 to see what would happen. But Trey rebuffed Mr. Sign starting the show with one minute of whammy bar and then whammying all up and down Harry Hood in the second set. Trey was the night's MVP -- as predicted, he used the night to silence the critics. It worked -- you'll find nothing about Phish in any of the SF MSM this week.
Set I: Whammy Retort, AC/DC Bag ("Mr. Palmer is concerned with a thousand dollar question"), Foam (more math), Gotta Jiboo (refreshing and jazzy), Mike takes off his dinner jacket, Reba (lots of extra beautifulness in the beautiful part, but no whistling), Sleep Again ("slow slow my brother"), Army of One (Page as patriot), Poor Heart (square dancing -- more math!), 46 Days (an underrated rocker), Tube (Mr. Manhattan gets "shirt call" and goes Oprah insisting that everyone share his prize), Character Zero. This togaman and the other 8499 loved it.
Set II: Wilson (rock concerty -- if I had not been trapped on the floor, I might have gone for a walk during this one), Light (Page standing up reminding all the parents in the house to make their children go to piano lessons even if they cry about it), Jazzy Bottom, 20 Years Later ("we all start out small"), Harry Hood (jazzy with lots of extra whammy), Theme From the Bottom ("dont you see anything that you'd like to try..." Page auditioning for the SF symphony until Mr. Anastasio taps him out and reminds the crowd who's boss), 2001 (again, jazzy and a perfect example of Mr. Anastasio posting his own critic-silencing review in real time), Suzy Greenberg, including a "one more time" ending (there are several neurologists in the house), Slave to the Traffic Light (no one ever cries at Phish, but some people come close, like when they get their bare feet stepped on.) This man with short hair and 8499 others were mesmerized.
E: Lizards (super Steinwayey), First Tube. And then they were gone.
See you tomorrow in Telluride!
enjoyed your pics and banter. very witty. cheers!
Posted by: melissa | 08/11/2010 at 01:11