Today in Phishtory: 6/26/04- Last Show at Alpine Valley
Here is the recap of what happened at Phish's last stop at Alpine Valley, 3 years ago today...
6/26- My most Epic day of the Tour.
I woke up around 11am back in Chicago and Jeff called some of his friends that were going to the show from Chicago he knew from work. I met up with them, we got some groceries, and headed back up to Alpine Valley. I made fast friends with the Chicago crew and we cooked out. It was a beautiful afternoon and I decided to go for a walk in the lot. When I came back, the guys parked next to us, also cooking out and doing the exact same thing as us, were busted for somking pot by undercover cops and each got a $460 fine! I couldnt believe it. That so could have been me. Luck prevails again.
The lot scene at Alpine can be summed up as this: Hot midwestern girls everywhere, everyone looking for drugs, and no one selling drugs. I was lucky and saw a guy I met in Saratoga and he hooked me up with a mushroom chocolate. This is important because it comes in big time later. Oh, and at some point in the lot I met Mike driving around on a golf cart. The nerdy bassist wouldn't sign my book, but he was nice about it. Cool to shake his hand- my hand is bigger than his, which surprised me for some reason.
The show was OFF THE HOOK. Here it is:
Setlist 6/26/04
Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI, 7:48 PM
Set 1 Access Me*, Scents and Subtle Sounds, Stash**, The Moma Dance, The Divided Sky, Wilson -> Funky Bitch, Character Zero
Set 2 Boogie On Reggae Woman -> Ghost -> Free, Friday -> Piper -> Harry Hood
Encore: Possum
Notes*First time played in concert.
**After Stash, Trey and Mike rearrange their mic stands in jest.
Im gonna go on the record and say that this Set I was my favorite Set I of the tour. Everything was great. I started tripping hard during Stash and by the time Divided Sky came around I was having a spiritual moment with the music. I also loved the Wilson -> Funky Bitch, Character Zero. Great stuff.
Ok, here is where things started getting really crazy. The crowd was HUGE that night, probably the biggest of the tour. The push to the restrooms at setbreak was practically unbearable. It took me about 20 minutes of being packed into a crowd moving so slightly until I finally got to the restrooms. Now I gotta tell you this was a scene. There is about 200 people crammed into the restrooms waiting to take a piss, there are guys and girls everywhere outside shouting, and people are pissing everywhere that there was a tree, bush, or corner. I just waited in line and took this crazy scene in. Then, security comes over and tries to get people to stop pissing in the trees and on the fence and everywhere else. Some people ran, others ignored them. What can 5 security guards do to 100 people pissing on a fence? Then, crazy shit really went down. I see people getting kicked out or escorted out. More shouting. Then someone turns and pisses ON a security guard that was telling him to stop. Pissed on him! Then, seizing the moment, 5 or 6 people crash the gate (the show was sold out) and run into the crowd. Most get away but one person got wrestled to the ground by 2 security guards. This is all happening while im tripping my balls off and standing in line, inching forward ever so slightly. I finally get to piss and get back to my seat, and about 5 minutes later the second set started.
Set 2 was just SICK! I've never heard a better Boogie on and Jam. Ghost>Free was great, even Friday was good. Piper. Hood. Where do you go when the lights go out? Harry...HOOD! Harry...HOOD! Where do you go? This show had all the crowd interaction songs in it and the crowd was loud. A great great show.
After the show instead of going to my car, I walk to the hotel/resort that is behind Alpine Valley where the Dallas crew was staying and I was going to party & stay with them for the night. I got to the hotel and it is 100% people who had been at the show, and it is a 100% party. People dancing, drinking, running around, you name it, it was there. I find the Dallas crew and hang out for a little bit to let the traffic die down until I thought it would be good to move my car from the main lot back to the hotel. It was supposed to be about a mile walk to my car from the resort- Doughboy offered to drive me but I said I wanted to walk because 1) it might sober me up a little bit and 2) it would be fun to go though the lots at my last normal Phish show. My reasoning ended up being correct, but I had NO idea what I was in for next.
I start out walking up this hill on a paved road. The road seems to be going away from the lots. I can hear the people partying in the lots and see all the firewords that people are setting off. Im still kinda tripping and it really was a beautiful scene. Its very dark out, the half moon looked errie with a wisp of cloud around it, the stars are out, and I am completely alone walking in the night. I think that maybe the road will take me further out than I want to go, so I decide to take the most direct route to the fireworks, which appears to be just through some woods.
I push through the brush (which was pretty thick) and then all of a sudden, I am in a cornfield. Im talking like a Field of Dreams cornfield. It was the trippiest thing ever. I am sorta scared, sort of amazed, sort of thinking that this is just a special special moment. There is no one else around in this huge cornfield and the corn stalks are about waist high. I start making my way though the field, watching the fireworks, and tripping out at the fireflies that would buzz past me every once in a while, making me wonder if im losing it completely or not or if there is really a floating glowstick.
After being in the corn for about 10-15 minutes I see in the distance 2 figures. Im kinda scared that I might get shot at or arrested for tresspassing in a farmer's property. the figures get closer and I call out to them "Do you see me?" they reply relunctantly "Yes...Friend or Foe?" We figure out that we are all doing the same thing, all spun out Phish kids lost in a cornfield trying to get back to our cars. Roddick and Bill from Indiana were my new companions in this adventure, and they had a bottle of Whiskey to keep us warm. By the time we get through the cornfield, our pants are completely soaked from all the water coming off the corn (I guess the crop had just been watered). Out of the cornfield, into more brush. We can see and hear the lots still, it seems like they are not very far away. Into the brush and trees we go.
Now, imagine you are in brush so thick you can't move through it. And its so dark you cant see 12 inches in front of you. Blair Witch times ten. We move through the woods. Down a hill. Up a hill. More brush. We are in the brush for 30-45 minutes. Then our moment of Zen. We can see the parking lot. I can actually see my car. But there is one more thing- a chain link fence with slanted barb wire at the top. We try to climb over but can't. Nothing to do but to walk the fence line until we finally get out of the brush and into the parking lot. Celebration. Rejoicing. We all three hug and laugh and look at each other in the light for the first time. What a great experience- this is why I go to Phish shows. This is adventure. A little stupid maybe, but Im still alive and smiling.
So, after an hour and a half I get in my car, drive (on the road this time) to the resort (which was about a 5 minute drive). The party is still going, actually I think it was just getting started. We drink, we dance, we meet people from all over the country. I passed out on the floor of the Dallas Crew's room at about 5 am. What a night.
I love Wisconsin corn farmers,
The Joker
6/26- My most Epic day of the Tour.
I woke up around 11am back in Chicago and Jeff called some of his friends that were going to the show from Chicago he knew from work. I met up with them, we got some groceries, and headed back up to Alpine Valley. I made fast friends with the Chicago crew and we cooked out. It was a beautiful afternoon and I decided to go for a walk in the lot. When I came back, the guys parked next to us, also cooking out and doing the exact same thing as us, were busted for somking pot by undercover cops and each got a $460 fine! I couldnt believe it. That so could have been me. Luck prevails again.
The lot scene at Alpine can be summed up as this: Hot midwestern girls everywhere, everyone looking for drugs, and no one selling drugs. I was lucky and saw a guy I met in Saratoga and he hooked me up with a mushroom chocolate. This is important because it comes in big time later. Oh, and at some point in the lot I met Mike driving around on a golf cart. The nerdy bassist wouldn't sign my book, but he was nice about it. Cool to shake his hand- my hand is bigger than his, which surprised me for some reason.
The show was OFF THE HOOK. Here it is:
Setlist 6/26/04
Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI, 7:48 PM
Set 1 Access Me*, Scents and Subtle Sounds, Stash**, The Moma Dance, The Divided Sky, Wilson -> Funky Bitch, Character Zero
Set 2 Boogie On Reggae Woman -> Ghost -> Free, Friday -> Piper -> Harry Hood
Encore: Possum
Notes*First time played in concert.
**After Stash, Trey and Mike rearrange their mic stands in jest.
Im gonna go on the record and say that this Set I was my favorite Set I of the tour. Everything was great. I started tripping hard during Stash and by the time Divided Sky came around I was having a spiritual moment with the music. I also loved the Wilson -> Funky Bitch, Character Zero. Great stuff.
Ok, here is where things started getting really crazy. The crowd was HUGE that night, probably the biggest of the tour. The push to the restrooms at setbreak was practically unbearable. It took me about 20 minutes of being packed into a crowd moving so slightly until I finally got to the restrooms. Now I gotta tell you this was a scene. There is about 200 people crammed into the restrooms waiting to take a piss, there are guys and girls everywhere outside shouting, and people are pissing everywhere that there was a tree, bush, or corner. I just waited in line and took this crazy scene in. Then, security comes over and tries to get people to stop pissing in the trees and on the fence and everywhere else. Some people ran, others ignored them. What can 5 security guards do to 100 people pissing on a fence? Then, crazy shit really went down. I see people getting kicked out or escorted out. More shouting. Then someone turns and pisses ON a security guard that was telling him to stop. Pissed on him! Then, seizing the moment, 5 or 6 people crash the gate (the show was sold out) and run into the crowd. Most get away but one person got wrestled to the ground by 2 security guards. This is all happening while im tripping my balls off and standing in line, inching forward ever so slightly. I finally get to piss and get back to my seat, and about 5 minutes later the second set started.
Set 2 was just SICK! I've never heard a better Boogie on and Jam. Ghost>Free was great, even Friday was good. Piper. Hood. Where do you go when the lights go out? Harry...HOOD! Harry...HOOD! Where do you go? This show had all the crowd interaction songs in it and the crowd was loud. A great great show.
After the show instead of going to my car, I walk to the hotel/resort that is behind Alpine Valley where the Dallas crew was staying and I was going to party & stay with them for the night. I got to the hotel and it is 100% people who had been at the show, and it is a 100% party. People dancing, drinking, running around, you name it, it was there. I find the Dallas crew and hang out for a little bit to let the traffic die down until I thought it would be good to move my car from the main lot back to the hotel. It was supposed to be about a mile walk to my car from the resort- Doughboy offered to drive me but I said I wanted to walk because 1) it might sober me up a little bit and 2) it would be fun to go though the lots at my last normal Phish show. My reasoning ended up being correct, but I had NO idea what I was in for next.
I start out walking up this hill on a paved road. The road seems to be going away from the lots. I can hear the people partying in the lots and see all the firewords that people are setting off. Im still kinda tripping and it really was a beautiful scene. Its very dark out, the half moon looked errie with a wisp of cloud around it, the stars are out, and I am completely alone walking in the night. I think that maybe the road will take me further out than I want to go, so I decide to take the most direct route to the fireworks, which appears to be just through some woods.
I push through the brush (which was pretty thick) and then all of a sudden, I am in a cornfield. Im talking like a Field of Dreams cornfield. It was the trippiest thing ever. I am sorta scared, sort of amazed, sort of thinking that this is just a special special moment. There is no one else around in this huge cornfield and the corn stalks are about waist high. I start making my way though the field, watching the fireworks, and tripping out at the fireflies that would buzz past me every once in a while, making me wonder if im losing it completely or not or if there is really a floating glowstick.
After being in the corn for about 10-15 minutes I see in the distance 2 figures. Im kinda scared that I might get shot at or arrested for tresspassing in a farmer's property. the figures get closer and I call out to them "Do you see me?" they reply relunctantly "Yes...Friend or Foe?" We figure out that we are all doing the same thing, all spun out Phish kids lost in a cornfield trying to get back to our cars. Roddick and Bill from Indiana were my new companions in this adventure, and they had a bottle of Whiskey to keep us warm. By the time we get through the cornfield, our pants are completely soaked from all the water coming off the corn (I guess the crop had just been watered). Out of the cornfield, into more brush. We can see and hear the lots still, it seems like they are not very far away. Into the brush and trees we go.
Now, imagine you are in brush so thick you can't move through it. And its so dark you cant see 12 inches in front of you. Blair Witch times ten. We move through the woods. Down a hill. Up a hill. More brush. We are in the brush for 30-45 minutes. Then our moment of Zen. We can see the parking lot. I can actually see my car. But there is one more thing- a chain link fence with slanted barb wire at the top. We try to climb over but can't. Nothing to do but to walk the fence line until we finally get out of the brush and into the parking lot. Celebration. Rejoicing. We all three hug and laugh and look at each other in the light for the first time. What a great experience- this is why I go to Phish shows. This is adventure. A little stupid maybe, but Im still alive and smiling.
So, after an hour and a half I get in my car, drive (on the road this time) to the resort (which was about a 5 minute drive). The party is still going, actually I think it was just getting started. We drink, we dance, we meet people from all over the country. I passed out on the floor of the Dallas Crew's room at about 5 am. What a night.
I love Wisconsin corn farmers,
The Joker
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