6000 Foot Drop

Telluride CO: Phish 8/10/10 at Telluride Town Park -- Gladly Pay You Tuesday

The Vermont jazz-rock phenomenon Phish concluded its two night run Tuesday night in Telluride, Colorado.  Another sellout at 9000, but no real lines and lots of room to move.

 

The phishheads were more tidy than usual, but the town was still needlessly littered with bottles and wrappers and music flyers and little baggies with green stickers on them. Hopefully, the fireplace hating millionaire locals will have them back.

 

Not everything was besotted -- for example, this pristine stream running through town usually is a bath only for trout -- but it should recover from bathing a few hundred phishheads.

 

Here is a hula hooper with no ticket but with a large smile. 

 

This man had a ticket and a few stuffed animals to go with his smile.

 

This man thought it was still Monday night's show.

 

Ganjola neighbors from Virginia and Boston where apparently it is polite to ask before sparking up their easterncannabis.  First set neighbors were from "Sawpit Colorado", Miami and San Francisco and included a New Yorker emceeing a "get to know your neighbor" game -- so we did and I was the only one in the zone who would not choose to eat a hypothetical cereal bowl of live crickets for $40,000. Second set I was in a midwesern pocket -- neighbors from Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and "Watertown, South Dakota." Pre-show music included Paul Simon and Miles Davis; set-break music was gospel.

 

Set I: Squirming Coil (someone won the "call the opener for a dollar" game run by Fluffhead Jeff), Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan ("gotta blank space where my mind should be" -- very solid), Ya Mar (lots of happy spinning), Timber (Jerry) (Fishman is pounding it out using all four limbs -- my NYC neighbor says "he never even looks at the band"), Let Me Lie ("gonna use my breaks when I go downhill" -- my favorite of the new slow songs), Divided Sky (right as the alpenglow peaks after the sunset), Walk Away (more covers for the locals), Roses are Free ("unless you think that pumpkin holds your destiny" -- a song about food: pumpkins, raisins, lasagna), Limb by Limb (fish!), Run Like an Antelope (spike, man). 

 

Set II:  Party Time (one of the pimp-scepter guys gets his call), Mike's Song (Mrs. MSP goes nuts and Mr. MSP explains to me "her name is Sharon"), Crosseyed and Painless (Fishman as David Byrne), I Am Hydrogen (Trey's wailing can be heard throughout the canyon), Weekapaug Groove (what does Mikes' bass sound like when its not plugged in?), Carini (at this point the rear of the field is emptying -- maybe only 7/9's full), Free (Trey and Mike are platonic lovers), Heavy Things (you know, for kids), You Enjoy Myself (the locals are wondering if the concert has been taken over by aliens).

 

E:  Shine a Light (revival!)  Tonight's MVP is Jonny B. Fishman. 

 

I've never run an ultra marathon, but five Phish shows in six nights was just what I needed, endorphin-wise.  I feel brand new.

 

See you tomorrow at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison!

Telluride CO: Phish 8/9/10 at Telluride Town Park -- San Miguel Has Tickets

We made it from Berkeley to Telluride to take in the Phish phenomenon Monday night at the Telluride Town Park.  Sellout at 9000, including at least 2000 locals with their special San Miguel County tickets and at least 200 children.  Children under 12 were free!  

 

Needless to say, Telluride is the most stunning Phish location ever.  Telluride is at the end of a box canyon -- surrounded by 14,000 foot+ peaks, 20 miles from the nearest intersection, and 100 miles from any other civilization.  An awesome town if you like multi-million dollar homes occupied three weeks a year and which are prohibited by law from burning "wood" -- even if you do have 20 fireplaces.

 

 

 

The crowd was colorful, but not as outrageous as Berkeley -- perhaps because the scenery made up for it.  But here was this chap hoping for a Union Federal.  

 

Here is the view from the Town Park toward the waterfall at the end of the box canyon.  Scores of ph's will be falling off these cliffs later this morning.

 

Here is the concert field and stage. Not enough room for the full CK5 rig.  Also apparently not enough room for the the electronic box that keeps the sound from burping and chirping or Trey from forgetting lyrics and flubbing changes.  Tickets were "easy" compared to Berkeley -- we saw several miracles and other exchanges. Not to mention that you could hear the show perfectly fine from the town without a ticket. 

First set neighbors included "Team Awesome" -- a group of more than 20 from who took me in like their child and offered me an "Awesome is my bi#ch" t-shirt. Thoughtful, but I found myself missing the California girls (well, at least one California girl.)

 

Ganjola neighbors from Atlanta (Telluride homeowners who sent their "caretaker" with the house's electricity bill to get them a set of "local" tickets), Gunnison and Denver. Line-up neighbors from Los Angeles and Jeff Austin from Yonder Mountain who, impressively, rebuffed a stars-and-stripes bikini'd groupie --  "you want me to leave?" she asked at the end.  First set neighbors included Team Awesome from Boulder, several New Yorkers, a local Telluride rockabilly hipster in a green suit, and a couple from Gig Harbor WA. Second set neighbors from Santa Fe, Birmingham Alabama, and Needham Mass.  Not everyone had a disco-ball mosaic helmet.

 

Soundcheck from the riverside:  Ginsing Sullivan, 46 Days.  

Set I: Geese flyover, Down with Disease (reprise?),  Camel Walk ("going downtown to the disco"), Light Up or Leave Me Alone (typical sheepish compliance all over), Summer of 89 (love song to his wife?), Stash (maybe a complete trainwreck, maybe not), Cavern (including sound burps), The Wedge ("I'm building you a pyramid with limestone blocks so large..."), Possum (reprise?), Julius ("Dont take another step" -- our predicted sleeper!) 

 

Set II:  Sand (many of the locals are wondering if this is a song or not, while the ph's are spinning right into the mud), Backward Down the Number Line (reprise?), Tweezer (reprise?), Boogie on Reggae Woman (200 little kids doing cartwheels in the back), Mountains in the Mist (hill-themed ballad), David Bowie (some of the locals are wearing ski gloves), Day in the Life (Page as John.)   Mike was the night's MVP.

E: E: Quinn the Eskimo (Mr. Anastasio cant quite play an actual Jerry tune even on 8/9), Tweezer Reprise -- the mountains across the valley light up with reflections.

 

See you tonight at Town Park (Split Open and Melt guaranteed?)

 

Dont forget your touque!