Phinally at Phish

Monday I spent all day either in the car driving or at McDonald's using free WiFi. I finally made it to Alpharetta right as it was getting dark, and I quickly familiarized myself with the area and headed to WalMart to get a new phone. After getting a phone that works I headed to Wills Park. Wills Park is a city park in Alpharetta that I found through PhantasyTour.com. Its only like 2 miles from the venue, and it only cost $20 to stay here. When I pulled up I saw a huge tour bus RV and a smaller 5th wheel already parked there. The people with the trailer were outside so I talked with them for a while and found out that they had come to set up the trailer for their daughter and her friends. We talked for a bit until their daughter and friends arrived, at which point I met Charlie, Mahya, Cameron, and Matt. We hit it off immediately and sat around talking and drinking and making music until like 4 in the morning.

Tuesday morning we wake up and all go to iHop for breakfast and then to get beer and water to sell at the show. We then just hung around the park until time to head to lot. We got to the venue around 5:15, but it took us over an hour to find the right lot and finally get parked. As soon as we got to the lot I instantly found a ticket for $50. Our parking spot was in a parking garage with no tailgating allowed, and they wouldn't let you hang around your car at all, so I wasn't able to sell anything. We walked down to the tailgating lot, and checked out the lot scene for a while. Man, I had forgotten how much I love the lot scene. It was such a relief to finally be around some good vibes after bonnaroo. I bought a phish sticker while on lot for $2 and found some really cool glass I am gonna try and find again today once I make my money.
After we had walked around a bit we headed up the hill and into the show! The Amphitheater was much bigger than I expected, and had a huge lawn. My ticket was lawn, and everyone else's was in the amphitheater, so they went down there and then Charlie came back and brought me a ticket so I could get in and sit with them.
Phish phinally came on and opened with "Dinner and a Movie" and "The Moma Dance", which I hadn't ever heard before. They played "Possum" early in the set and then did a cover of the Talking Heads song "Cities". "Fluffhead" was definitely a highlight of the night, and the first time I had heard it played. "Ocelot" is my phavorite song from the new album, and a song I've been wanting to hear for a while, and they played it. They played "Ginseng Sulivan" for the first time since my first show, and then a phenomenal "Kill Devil Falls". After that I snuck my way down into the pit, the wristbands they have on look similar to my Riverfest wristband, so for the last few songs of the set I was right up in the vortex starting with "Bathtub Gin". They then did a cover of the Traffic song "Light Up or Leave Me Alone", which I don't remember. Then was a sick "Cavern" which is such a phun song off A Picture of Nectar and a great way to end the phirst set. Trey ended it saying "Set your clocks, we'll be back in 15 minutes". I stayed down in the pit during the setbreak and saw Charlie and the crew up next to the soundboard and where CK5 does the lights in the $1,000 seats. We both got sent back to our seats by security around the same time. Around 10:10 the boys came back on stage and opened with a sick "Carini". Charlie and I were singing it to each other the whole song. They played "Sand" into "Down With Disease", which was phantastic! Sometime during that song I worked my way back into the pit as they led from Disease into "Maze". I got lost in the maze of people and lights for a while before settling into a spot in the center of the pit. They started playing "Meatstick" which shocked my brain. They even started to sing it in a different language, I think Japanese, at one point. I wandered over the Page's side of the stage for a bit to rage when they went into "Also Sparch Zarathustra" which is also known as 2001. I've been listening to this song a lot lately since I have been reading the book, and it was phulphilling to see it live. After that was the song "Bug" which I know but couldn't for the life of me remember the name of. The chorus says "it doesn't matter" and each time I would take out my phone to find the name of the song I would remember that it doesn't matter. Someone finally said it was "Bug" though. That led into a cover of The Beatles "A Day in the Life" which was especially awesome. Charlie has seen that song now at 3 of her shows. The last song of the set was a crazy "Run Like an Antelope" and it had me running around all out of control. Like an antelope. I then headed back to the seats to meet up with the rest of the crew, since they couldn't make it down into the pit, and I wanted to spend the encore with them.
The encore was especially special because we were listening to it as we pulled up into the venue for the first time and I said how I wanted to hear it. It was a cover of the Dylan song "The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)" it was a phantastic way to end the night.
As we wandered back to the car we saw a guy selling posters who was awesome. He has all these posters with TONS of hidden stuff in them. One Dead poster he did has over 300 dead songs represented in it. His name is Carl Alm and his website is CarlAlmArt.com. There is a video of him doing his shpiel on youtube you can watch.
We finally made it back to the campsite and went down into the woods away from the lights to spin led hoops and sit in my hammock. We sat down there and drank well into the night before I went to sleep in the hammock.
The hammock is AMAZING to sleep in, and ultra comfortable. Around 10:30 I was woken up by a park worker who told me that I shouldn't be sleeping there since it was a "no sleeping area" haha. so I took down my hammock and now I'm sitting in their trailer A/C writing this blog.
I'm about to go get dropped off at lot with an ice chest and the stuff to make quesadillas to try and sell.
I don't know if I'm gonna make it into the show tonight, my money is real tight, and tonight is make or break so I have to sell lots of stuff to be able to keep on. If I find a cheap ticket I'll snatch it up.