Furthur!!!! Bethel and Jones Beach

Saturday morning we woke up and hung around camp until it was time to head to the show. I got on lot around 2 and it was pretty slow then, so I made some food and ate and took a short nap. When I awoke a little while later there were more people, and I walked around selling my necklaces and water. I got some cool new hat pins, and helped all the other vendors out by buying their beer. While walking around I ran into my neighbor Jenn from SuperBall, and turns out she was parked like 3 cars down from me again. Once I had made enough money for a ticket and it was show time, we walked up and I bought a lawn ticket.
We missed the first song, "Feel Like a Stranger" while in line for a ticket, and as we were walking through the gardens in the venue they played "Crazy Fingers". We made it to the lawn while they were playing "Cumberland Blues". "Bird Song" was next, and John Kadlecik played it incredibly well. Around this time I started to get a headache, but fought through the pain as "Cassidy" came on. This song always reminds me of Red Rocks and Chris getting a text about his cat Cassidy right as the song came on. Next was "Built to Last" during which I went to get a burger, and I missed this song on my setlist. Then was "Big Bad Blues", which is a new Furthur song written by Bob Weir and Bob Hunter. I didn't realize it was an original until after the show, I assumed it was a Ratdog song or something. The last song of the set was "Playin In the Band", and they really jammed this song. During set break my headache got worse, and Jenn gave me some Advil and I lay down on the ground. When they came back on, I didn't get up, and listened laying down on the ground. The second set opened with "The Music Never Stopped" and went into "Golden Road". "Golden Road" is one of my favorites, and always a treat to hear live. "Eyes of the World" was next, and I sang along from my bed on the lawn looking up at the stars. The next 30 or so minutes was solid jamming consisting of "Help on the Way" > "Slipknot!" > "The Eleven" > "Franklin's Tower". An interesting progression, and the first time I heard "The Eleven" thrown into help/slip/franklin's. They then brought the tempo down for "Comes a Time" and had the whole crowd swaying or sitting back to just listen to the beautiful notes cascading down to our ears. This was definitely the highlight of the night. The last two songs of the set were "St. Stephen" and "One More Saturday Night". I was glad when they ended the first set with "Saturday Night" because I didn't want to hear it as another encore on Saturday night. The second set was really heavy with Bobby tunes, and he did lots of singing. The encore was "U.S. Blues", which was the encore at my first Furthur show. When it came on I started walking back to the car and listened on the way. I just felt to bad to stick around. I got to the car and as soon as I got in the seat I fell asleep and took a good hour long nap, and woke up feeling much much better. Right as I was pulling away JukeBox and our friend Sam rolled up and told me they needed a ride. They had left me a note, but I didn't even see it, but they caught me just at the right time. We went to Hector's where the afterparty was, and I went in and bought a beer for Sam and I and we sat by the fire talking with all the other heads. I went back to the car to go to sleep, and she stayed there. JukeBox had been asleep in my car and said the cops told him that the car needed to be moved, so we drove back to the flea market and fell asleep in the car there.
The next morning we woke up and stopped and thanked the owner, Loyd, for his hospitality and I gave him a little money for letting us stay. We found a burger king where I could plug in and get directions to the show and hit the road. The next show was at Jones Beach on Long Island, and we had to drive through NYC to get there. We got to the show around 2:30, and went to check out the beach. There were people everywhere at the beach, I hadn't seen a beach so crowded before. I waded out a little ways just to get my feet wet and then we went back to Shakedown Street. I spent some time walking around selling my necklaces and checking out all the goods on Shakedown. Before I knew it, it was time for the show, and I went in around 7. I walked around the venue for a while making new friends and talking with people for the hour before the show started. I found a good seat left of center just behind the sound tent. This was to be the first time I've seen Furthur from stadium style seating, most shows have been in amphitheaters. When they came on the stands were still surprisingly empty.
They opened with one of my favorites, "Samson and Deliah", which really let the drummer, Joe Russo, shine. This was followed by "Dear Mr. Fantasy" which was originally a Traffic song, but has been a Dead staple for many years. The vocals started a little shaky, but by the second verse they were sounding great. The next song was one of Bob Weir's old solo songs, "Black Throated Wind". I hadn't heard this song before and remembered it, but it something about it caught me. It was absolutely beautiful. That was followed by "Jack-a-Roe" which was alright, but not their best work. Then was a Dlyan cover, "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues". They always shine on Dlyan covers, and this was no exception. Phil's bassline was outrageous during this song, and kept me boogieing on. "Brown Eyed Women" was next and followed by another of my favorites "Throwing Stones", which was incredible as always, and let Bobby shine. The last song of the set was "Shakedown Street", and it has to be the best Shakedown I've heard from them. They jammed out the whole song, especially Jeff Chimenti, and the whole crowd was dancing and moving. There was even a little vocal jam that I hadn't heard from Furthur before. It was a great end to the set. The second set started really strong with the entire "Weather Report Suite" followed by "Let It Grow". These two were incredible, and got the second set started of on a roll. "Mississippi Half-Step" was next, and was a great sing-a-long. That flowed into a long and really jammy "He's Gone" which is always a crowd pleaser. "Dark Star" was next and the highlight of the night. It was like the Dark Star's of the 70's, long and really spacey. Much better than the short Dark Star we got at Red Rocks last year. During this song almost the whole crowd sat down to just watch and listen, but I stayed on my feet swaying to the beat. This flowed seamlessly into "Unbroken Chain" which Phil sang absolutely beautifully. This went into "The Wheel" which didn't slow down and went right into "Good Lovin'" to end the set on a high note. After Phil came out and gave his Donor Rap speech the rest of be band came on for the encore of "Brokedown Palace". I love the way Bobby sings this, and the deep voice I feel is more suited to the style of song than the original. He did great singing it, but forgot a line, but the crowd just cheered him on. Brokedown was a great way to end the night and left us feeling great.
I got back to the car and found JB and we headed out. I couldn't find camping, and didn't want to drive through NYC at night, so we found a neighborhood to pull off and sleep in. Now we're in Starbucks on Long Island getting ready to head onward to the next show at Saratoga Springs.
Gonna try and meet up with Sam and some other friends in the Allegheny Mountains today and camp until the show tomorrow.