Today & Yesterday In Phishtory: 6/17/04 & 6/18/04 Brooklyn Shows

We would be a little remiss here at Coventry without mentioning the 4 year anniversaries of some of the best post-hiatus shows Phish played: Brooklyn.

Here are some of my notes from 4 years ago about the shows:

After resting in Nashville and getting some of the Bonnaroo funk out of my body, clothes and car, I began the drive East through North Carolina. By Thursday afternoon I had made it to NYC and was ready to see some Phish. And Phish, apparently, knew I was coming and was ready to play.

Both the shows Thurs and Fri night were at Keyspan Park, a new minor league ballpark at Coney Island in Brooklyn, on the ocean.




The Thurs show was a great one. The Setlist:
Set I: Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, Dinner and a Movie,The Curtain With, Sample In a Jar, The Moma Dance ->Free, Nothing, Maze, Frankenstein
Set 2: 46 Days ->Possum, The Oh Kee Pah Ceremony ->Suzy Greenberg ->Axilla ->2001 ->Birds of a Feather, Kung, Mike's Song ->I am Hydrogen ->Weekapaug Groove
Encore: Divided Sky

I thought this show was a very strong one. The set I Moma Dance>Free was very funky and very well done. At about Maze it started raining, then at the Setbreak it started raining really hard. I joked that I had brought the rain with me from Bonnaroo, but It wasn't as bad as the Bonnaroo storms & we had an umbrella. I thought the rain influenced the band to play a very high energy and long second set. The lights during 46 days even used the rain to great effect. Set 2 was just a monster. Suzy Greenberg had 2 huge separate jams in it, 2001 was a great one with lots of smoke and noodling from Trey, and the Divided Sky encore got everyone's jaw to drop and there were smiles all around. The boys sounded very practiced and none of the 2003 sloppyness was there.

Yesterday (Friday) we decided to drive Marco (The Element) down to the venue and tailgate it in the Lot. This turned out to be a fantastic idea. I sold a good deal of Bloody Mary's and White Russians from Marco and it was just fun to hang out and talk to all the interesting people that you meet at a Phish show. Last night was distincly different from Thurs night- Last night we had tickets on the floor, and as an added bonus my old friend Kevin Sport and his girlfriend came to the show. It was great to see Kev and again. Phish delivered with another amazing show. The setlist:

Phish 6.18.04, KeySpan Park, Brooklyn, NY
Set I: AC/DC Bag, Camel Walk, Crowd Control, Stash, Cars Trucks Buses, Carini, My Sweet One, Character Zero, Tweezer
Set II: Wilson, Down With Disease, 99 Problems**, Big Pimpin'**, Chalkdust Torture, Harry Hood, Taste
Encore: Bug > Tweezer Reprise
** with Jay-Z.

That's right- Jay-Z came out during the second set and just owned the stage. The energy on the floor was electric. Overall every song was solid, and I can't believe that I saw Jay-Z with Phish! What a life.

Another fun tidbit last night was that I wore my George W. Bush mask and a T-Shirt given to me at Bonnaroo that read "George W. Heart Getting Spun". To complete the joke I made a sign that said "Dubya Heart Phish" on one side, with "Because Mike Drops Bombs!" on the other. I got nothing but good hearted laughs and about 10 people had me pose for pictures with them. It is hard to tell, but I also am fairly certain that Trey, Page, and Mike all read the sign from stage and chuckled.

Let me leave you with my only disappointment: Thursday night on the subway coming back from the show I became smitten with this cutie from Maryland. She had brown hair, the most beautiful blue eyes, this perfect smile and had such a cute hipster/hippie clean phishy girly style. I was smitten. I failed to get her phone number, but I fell in love.

Today Pauly and I are driving to Saratoga in Upstate NY near Albany for 2 more shows. I am shaking my head that I have already seen so much and my trip is still at its beginning. Pauly is a great tour buddy and we seem to move at the same pace. I feel great, I look like ive danced off a few Dallas cheeseburger pounds and I am in good spirits.



In retrospect 4 years later, I love these shows. As many of you probably know, 6/17/04 was released on DVD and some of you may have toked up and danced to it in a movie theater close to your home.

One funny part about the Jay-Z show that I remember was right before Jay-Z came on I was rolling balls (thats a technical term) and trying to buy some water at the concession stand. I was about to get my water when all of a sudden Jay-Z comes out and all of the concession workers went absolute apeshit. "HOLY SHIT THATS JAY-Z!!!" and pretty much every worker at Keyspan park was showing all the Phish kids how to dance.

Phish with Jay-Z


I also really love the 6/18/08 Tweezer Reprise. I still hear it played on Sirius Jam_On 17 every once in a while. I was exhausted at the end of the show and actually had to sit down at the back for a second during this one. Because I was taking a break it made me look at the lights and smoke and think about how awesome my life is...and as a result it is one of those Phish memories burned in my brain.


Own It:
6/17/04 DVD
6/17/04 Live Phish
6/18/04 Live Phish

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