Saratoga Springs and Phish, part 2

I slept till about noon the next day. Dustin and Amanda were going to Phish again, and I had been talking with Jake about golfing and hiking in Vermont. My plan was to either leave that afternoon, or find something to do in Saratoga and go to Vermont Monday morning. Dustin started the "you should just go to Phish again" train pretty early. I told him I was blown away that I wasn't in severe pain and it was an idea, but I wasn't sure if I could take it. I've had a problem with my left heel all summer, where excessive standing or walking just destroys it and it feels like it's broken. I learned about Plantar Fasciitis because Greg Stiemsma (previously) of the Celtics has it, and it sounds like what I might have. It kind of sucks, so I wasn't psyched to stand at a Phish show again. Dustin suggested that I get some heel spurs, which are just squishy pads to help cushion your heels. I said I'd get them, and if I noticed a better feeling, I'd try to get a ticket and go. 

Sure enough, my foot felt instantly better, and I decided to go. We ate some hot dogs and chips, drank a bunch of beers, and joked that we were pre-gaming. Then Dustin poured us glasses of cosmos that were in the fridge. And they were strong. And then we really were pre-gaming. SO, with a nice buzz going and me not even having a ticket, we hopped on our bikes and headed down to do the exact same thing we did the day before. Goodness. 

Amanda looked considerably more ridiculous

We got there and the same crew was waiting for us, drinking in the parking lot like dirty hippie scumbags. I rode over to the ticket booth right away, since it didn't seem like it was sold out yet. I asked how much the tickets were, and she said 54 bucks. I said "ok, I guess I'll get one" and someone behind me started chirping up, getting louder over time since I wasn't paying attention. "I have one for 45. 45... 45 bucks here!" So, I turned to the box office girl and said "yup, nevermind" and bought their 45 dollar ticket instead. Theirs even had cool art on it. It couldn't have gone better. Well, I supposed half price or free would have been better, but whatever. 

We decided to head over to Shakedown Street again, and this time, I would be going with a nice little buzz going. Let me tell you, as someone who was straight edge for 30 years and has only been drinking occasionally for a year, there are times in life that were custom made for drinking. Shakedown Street is one of them. Seeing the same mess through slightly drunk eyes, it was a completely different world. What was terrifying the day before was hilarious this time. Hippie zombies didn't make me cringe and hide, they made me burst out laughing. Sure, some of it was that I knew what to expect, but still- the alcohol helped. 

Except for when I saw this. No amount of drugs could make this not disgusting and horrifying. I'm pretty open minded to different cultures. I dance pretty weird. I even had dreads at one point. I like Phish and dance to them too. But this guy... this guy may be the grossest hippie I've ever seen. the way he dances, his skinny, shirtless body, his giant head of dreads under a gross hat, his gross beard... what he's dancing to... I coudln't handle it. This hurts to look at even now. Enjoy. 

We made our way back to the parking lot, I had another beer, and we started getting ready to head in. For the first time in my life, I thought to myself, "I'm kind of drunk, and the following activity will be waaay more fun if this lasts longer or if I'm at least more drunk." I never thought I'd be that guy, but it happened then. I mean sure, I've drank at parties to have more fun- but this was a "oh crap, we're going? let me get stupider, FAST." I downed the 2 nips I had brought, and it was game on. 

Keith and his crew went to the spot they were at the night before, but Dustin, Amanda and I went much farther forward this time. We were right under the central screen, only about 10 feet away from the barrier that separated the inside of SPAC with the outside. I thought it would be too crowded, but it was actually perfect there. It sounded better, I could actually see the band, and I was directly in the heart of the beast. I found it way easier to get stupid, to get into the music and dance, and to generally enjoy the show. Maybe it was the cloud of weed surrounding us, maybe it was just the beast, I'm not sure. But I found myself acting like a real Phish fan. And it was a damn good time. 

Screen Trey, the stage, people's heads

Somewhere towards the middle of set 2, I decided to get real weird and started playing with a new app I have, called Average Cam Pro. It takes between 2 and 128 pictures and stacks them on top of each other. It's basically like a super long exposure of individual shots. I started playing with lights from Amanda's glow sticks, lights from the show, etc. It was really fun, and I probably looked like a mental case taking the pictures. But I could hear people going "oooo" and "ahhh" behind me, so I'm not the only one who thought my little light paintings were cool. Here are my favorites:

lots of glowstick movement

more focused glowstick movement

stage and glowsticks mixed

1 glowstick, spinning

stage lights, Amanda's shoulder, 1 glowstick

TV screen image, spinning

ball of glowsticks in the parking lot

I love this one. This is cleaned up some, but it was right when people were throwing glowsticks. I think this is 4-8 shots. Can you see the terrifying cat monster face that I see every time I look at this?

hint: it's pretty much directly above

And this is pretty much what the entire grounds looked like when the show ended. 

I'm really happy I ended up going to 2 nights of Phish's 3 night stay. I will definitely go to at least 2 in a row if they do this again, and I now really want to see them inside, where the light show just hypnotizes people and sends them to another planet. I can't even imagine how weird things can get in there. 

Make fun of them all you want (I do, and I hang out with them), but Phish fans are pretty awesome. From Shakedown Street to the glowstick wars to everything else that has happened at every show- laser pointers, bouncy balls, bouncy balls with lights or glowsticks inside of them, setting off chinese paper lanterns, etc- it's all stuff that everyone just does because they know it's what you do at phish shows. It's a weird community of weird people who make a concert an experience. It's not just watching a band play, it's all this other awesome and hilarious stuff. At one point on the 2nd night, there was a glowstick snake that went past us- just hundreds of glowsticks connected that were passed over the whole crowd, with people dancing and trying to keep the snake together. I couldn't see that working at a lot of other concerts. But at a Phish show, it works incredibly easily. Maybe Phish fans are just drugged up weirdos, I don't know- I guess you could argue that. But being at a show and embracing all of the weird, it's a really good time. I'm psyched to see them again. 

I wanted to go see another weird band's afterparty, but being the only person who didn't have to go to work the next day and who had done this 2 nights in a row instead of 3, I was alone in that desire. So we went to Price Chopper (where I got french bread pizza and chips), then ate them at Dustin's until he couldn't stay up anymore. 

The next day, I got up pretty late, cleaned up my stuff, and headed out. I stopped for pizza at D'Andreas (they were closed the night before), and headed towards Vermont. 

it doesn't look like much, but it's sooo good

currently listening to: Common- "The Dreamer, The Believer"