phish tour thoughts

In all my travels to concerts and festivals over the years, my experience is always heightened by a lively campground experience. I've been to some of the best camping festivals in the U.S., but usually the festivals 24 hour events take away from the activeness in the campgrounds. For my first ever trip to George, WA's The Gorge to see Phish, I knew I'd be camping, but didn't expect how much fun I would get out of the entire camping experience. The astonishing views, sizable campsites, free-for-all goods trade, late-night music offerings and overall gypsy lifestyle that came with the camping was like no other festival or show I've ever been to. With only one band playing, it gave everyone time to establish friendships with their neighbors in the mornings and afternoons, while still having time to explore the tent city and 'Shakedown Street' for any good or service you could imagine. Vegan burrito at 4am – no problem. Sheets of The Merry Prankster's original blotter paper at noon – right away. Glass paraphernalia, drugs, tickets, posters, t-shirts, any type of food you could imagine, bloody mary's, mimosas, full bars, smokes, henna tats, LP's, healing sessions, cheetos, Sierra Nevada's, cheap wine, expensive wine, liquor-induced snow cones, camaraderie, dogs, more dogs, funk and just about anything else you could think of was for sale or trade the entire weekend. Phish fans have made their own community that could technically support itself if laws would allow so. So what if kids are experimenting with a few psychedelics, this bohemian lifestyle works if the people allow it to work for them. That is exactly what was on display during this two night Phish run. The cops allowed the campers to run the site all weekend, and it proved to work very well. From the moment we arrived, until the drive out of there, Mr. and Mrs. Bacon and myself enjoyed the shit out of every minute of it.

I brought my camera up to Washington to capture the amazing natural venue, and the campground lifestyle. We'll have full reviews of both Phish shows at the Gorge including a bunch of Bacon's photos and videos, but for now peep my shots from the grounds after the jump.

For the first time in thirteen years, jam-titans Phish made their way to Morrison, Colorado's Red Rocks Ampitheatre for a run of four shows starting on July 30th. We were lucky enough to experience the first of the four nights, and had a blast in the process. Bacon, AnnieB and myself met up with a few old friends, and headed towards the famed venue with a bit of a swerve on. After securing a ticket for Annie 325, and some party favors for the night, we made our way into the show just in time to snatch a great seat – 24 rows from the stage.

The show was fire. From the opening notes of "Divided Sky," all the way to the "Loving Cup" encore, Phish were on top of their game, almost as if they had something to prove. The highlight of the night for me was a lengthy jam centered around their classic "Ghost" that featured an extremely noticeable tease of Fatboy Slim's "Praise You." While I wish I could have attended the other three nights, this one-off trip to Denver for my first time at Red Rocks was well worth the time and money spent. We had to ship off early the next day, but knew we had two more Phish shows the following weekend at The Gorge to look forward to. I made it home just in time to start watching the next nights setlist – stricken by a bit of jealousy over several of my friends in attendance.

Bacon brought his new camera to Red Rocks, and we both used it to get a bunch of great shots from before and during the show. Check them out after the jump

"Still here, huh?" muttered guitarist Trey Anastasio as Phish strapped on their instruments for the final performance of Bonnaroo 2009, a full two-set show that lasted from about 8:30 pm until almost 1:00 in the morning. If they seemed a bit slow on Friday night, there were no signs of fatigue from the get-go on Sunday.

Read all about the show after the jump

Photo by Jeff Kravitz courtesy of Phish.com