SPAC to Vibes

On the way from Jones Beach I decided to avoid toll roads, and that's hard to do getting out of NYC, and it required me to drive through the city. It took me more than 3 hours to get on the other side of NYC, and then it was smooth sailing until I got to just south of Albany and had a flat tire. Luckily it was right by an Advance Auto Parts, and I was able to talk to them and find a Walmart nearby to get a new tire at. Walmart had the right tire, but my card wasn't working, so I had to wait til the next morning to call and get it taken care of. JB and I slept in the car in the parking lot, and I woke up and got the tire changed and on the road by 11.
We got to Saratoga Spa State Park, which is where Saratoga Performing Arts Center is, around 1 or 2 and found out that they weren't opening the lot until 5, but there was a Dead tribute band playing in one of the park's pavilions. I paid the $10 to get in and parked by the pavilion. A band called The Garcia Project was playing, and they were pretty sweet. They played a while and I sat on the grass and listened with sam and JB and some other friends. After The Garcia Project played, another band called the Stella Blues Band came on and played, then then played together, and then back to another set of the Garcia Project. They were both great bands, and together played most every popular Dead song. I spent some time exploring the beautiful park, and went down to a creek and sat by it for a while. The entire park is prob the most beautiful venue I've been to yet. Once five o'clock came, I moved my car to another lot closer to the venue and then walked towards shakedown street, which was over the highway. I spent some time walking around lot and found a ticket quickly. Once showtime came I went to my seat, and it was pretty good, Jeff's side about 25 seats or so back, right in front of the expensive box seats. I got to meat my neighbors, the guy on the right was an old deadhead, in maybe his middle 60s, and the guy on the right was who I bought the ticket from.
Furthur opened with a cover of the Beatle's "Here Comes the Sun", which reminds me of my sister Rachel, as that is her favorite Beatles song. Then came a nice "Cosmic Charlie" and "Pride of Cucamonga" which I had to ask what song it was, but I still enjoyed it. Then while I was in the bathroom they went into "Hell in a Bucket", which is one of my favorite Bobby songs, and he sang it great! "So Many Roads" followed, and was one of the highlights of the night, with everyone singing along and dancing. That segued into a great "Lost Sailor", one that I can't wait to hear again. They kept jamming right into "Saint of Circumstance" which I had been wanting to hear for a while. The last song of the set was "Casey Jones", and they built the song up into a blazing fury bringing the tempo up faster and faster. This has become a Furthur signature on this song, and this was the fastest one I have heard from them yet. It was a great way to end the set and leave us hungering for more.
During the second set I talked with the old Deadhead the entire time and traded stories until the band came back on. On my setlist I have the first 3 songs out of order and one of them is completely wrong. The first 30 or so minutes was solid jamming, and I got confused with the order. They opened with "Born Crosseyed" into "Caution (Do Not Stop On the Tracks)" which Phil killed, and then into "Cryptical Envelopment". That jam continued into "The Other Ones" which has such great lyrics. "Wharf Rat" was next, and another great lyrical song. They then did another cover, this time the final track from Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, "Eclipse". It was awesome getting to finally hear Furthur cover Floyd, especially a Dark Side song. Next was "Mountains of the Moon" which is another great ballad, followed by the classic "Uncle John's Band". The last song of the set was "Viola Lee Blues", and again this time John absolutely killed it. It is creepy how much he sounds like Jerry on this song. The encore was "Box of Rain", which Phil Lesh wrote for his dying father. It was a great way to end the night on a peaceful note.
I then walked to the car to try and find JB, but he hadn't found where I moved the car yet. He doesn't have a cell phone, so I walked all around trying to find him, and finally found him after walking around for a while. He had someone else with him named Lee who needed a ride to Gathering of the Vibes, so I cleared out some room and we all headed on. We got to the campsite where all the heads were staying, but they wanted $20 per person, so we decided to keep on, and I drove until we were just south of Albany and we parked behind a K-Mart to sleep.
The next morning we woke up and I drove JB to Hartford, CT where I dropped him off so that his brother could pick him up. He had some sort of family problem he had to take care of, so it left just Lee and I. My friend Riki from Nateva last year arranged for me to crash at his friend David's house, and I got permission from him for Lee to stay the night as well. While there I borrowed his car ramps to change the oil on my car without spending the money for a mechanic. We went to bed fairly early after talking and watching some TV. I woke up in the morning and took a shower and helped load up the car. We then all headed south to meet up with Riki in a Walmart Parking lot.