SHARING THE SHOWS
Note on the picture: that’s one of Kelly’s lobstah shoes. Whatever she does, she takes care of them.
So I had to ship up to Boston because I love that dirty water. Oh, and of course, Phish was playing. After frequenting the bookstores (only bought two books this trip) and independent coffee shops (great for writing), I took a nap, had some chowdah and lobstah and met Kelly at her 5-star hotel (a far cry from the grotty hostel I’m in). After the T ride, we made it to Fenway, and I had to spend some time gaping at the beauty of this landmark. I had seen the Sawx play with my friend Deb back in 08, and those Bahstan fans are passionate. I thought about wearing my T-shirt with the Steely logo intermingled with the Mets, but I might have not made it out alive. So I stuck with my generic Phish tour shirt. After walking through the fields of green inside Fenway, we made it to our spot. We got there at about 6, with plenty of time to spare pre-show. This band named Morphine played over the loudspeaker; I hadn’t here of them before Kelly educated me. Then came the Boston-bred Cars (“she’s my best friend’s girl”). During that time, she shared with me her tragic Curveball story; I’m not a festival guy, but I empathized with her and the thousands of others who went all the way to Watkins Glen, only to have that heartbreaking “d’oh” moment hit them. Set One started with a classic, “Free,” followed by a relatively new one, “Blaze On,” the lyrics of which speak to me (“you’ve got one life, blaze on”). It helps me remember that no matter what, I just keep moving forward in life. “555” was groovy, “Tube” brought me back to that first time hearing it in Rochester on 12/5/99, and “Brian and Robert” gave me an excuse to sit. “Halfway to the Moon” gave me my first skingasm of the night. “Ocelot” was next (historical tidbit: they debuted that song on 5/31/09 right at Fenway,” and “Everything’s Right” gave me Skingasm #2. “Runaway Jim” closed the set (I predicted they’d play some dog-themed songs to go with the “Fenway Frank”: “Runaway Jim,” “Harpua,” “McGrupp,” “Dog Log,” “the Dogs”. During setbreak, the contact buzz I got motivated me to buy the Fenway Frank: PSA to all, don’t do it. It had me stomach doing backflips, cartwheels, and some motions I’ve never even heard of. As Kelly put it, the Fenway Frank will have you “fend”ing away from the show. Despite all that, I managed to stay present in the moment to enjoy the second set. “Sand” opened the set, followed by “Axilla” (Kelly’s first), followed by a 20-minute “Mercury.” “Wading in the Velvet Sea” was next, followed by “Fuego.” I got my first “Say It to Me S.A.N.T.O.S.” from Kasvot Vaxt (10/31/18), which had me glowing. “Character Zero” doesn’t usually give me a skingasm, but hearing the crowd unified in singing “I ought to see the Man Mulcahey” did it. So did the “Bug” encore, as well as Page’s piano solo in “The Squirming Coil.” After a few wrong turns, Kelly and I made it to the T to get home. I got some Tums and ginger ale to settle my stomach, and when I woke up this morning, the stomach issue still lingered, but it evaporated. We had planned to see the Spafford aftershow, but Kelly was out of energy, and I decided on letting my stomach settle. All in all, the show alone was worth it, as it always is.
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