Phish: A Benefit for Vermont 9/14/2011

(not my photo)

It has been a wild few weeks here in the Green Mountains.  Hurricane Irene tore a path of destruction through New England, hitting Connecticut hard with high winds and surf and Vermont with devastating flooding.  I had to make an emergency trip to Connecticut just days after the flood because of my uncle’s passing.  And work at the golf course has kept me busy with 10-12 hour days 5 or 6 days a week.  I had planned to donate my time or some finances to the flood recovery, until September 6 when I learned Phish was playing a benefit concert on September 14, donating all ticket proceeds ($75/piece) to the recovery efforts.  I entered into the ticket lottery, and two days later, found out I had won.  Several other Sugarbush friends of mine were going as well.  It would be my first Phish show in Vermont, and my first show since IT back in August of 2003.

The show was at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction, about 45 minutes or so from Sugarbush.  Four of us piled in and rode up to Essex together, meeting another 10-15 friends there.  The parking lot was a scene just like I had remembered it from the 50+ Phish shows I’ve been to, between 1995 and 2003, however there seemed to be more drinking involved this go-around.  We went into the show and headed for the “lawn” just as the set began with Chalkdust Torture.  I lost my friends during the walk to find a good spot, but would recover them about 2 songs later.  We watched most of the second set, then retreated to the beer garden, running into more of our group there.  Returning back into the field area for the second set, it was just like old times, hearing the songs I loved, watching the moon rise higher into the sky, and of course, the epic light show and the tossing of glowsticks.

Here was the setlist, courtesy phish.net:

Set 1: Chalk Dust Torture, The Moma Dance > NICU, Funky Bitch, Sample in a Jar, Cavern, Bathtub Gin, Alaska > Possum, Wolfman’s Brother > Julius
Set 2: Carini^[1] > Down with Disease^[1] > Slave to the Traffic Light > Rock and Roll > Twist >Backwards Down the Number Line, Theme From the Bottom > Suzy Greenberg > Character Zero
Encore: Loving Cup
Afterwards, we regrouped at the car, and after some rearranging of seats, we managed to get on the road and home by 1:30am.  It was a great show and all for a great cause.  Does this mean I’m back on the Phish tour wagon?  Well, maybe, if they come back to Vermont again!

Mayhem Fest! 7/22/2011 – Great Woods

It has been a few years since I’ve been to any big outdoor concert or festival.  I think my last one was Ozzfest around 2003 or 2004 before I moved to Vermont.  But when a coworker of mine convinced me to go to the Mayhem Festival down in Massachusetts, I had a desire to tear some shit up.  But could I get the day off from work, after having gotten the previous weekend off completely?  Luckily, I convinced my supervisor that he owed me, gave the go-ahead to Ryan to order the tickets, and after a morning shift on Friday July 22, at 9am we were on our way to the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA.

This was the lineup for the day… ** indicates those bands we watched:

JAGERMEISTER STAGE:
Deadseason – 1:45
Red Fang – 2:35 **
Kingdom of Sorrow – 3:35 **
Unearth – 4:35 **
In Flames – 5:40  **

REVOLVER STAGE:
Straight Line Stitch – 2:05 **
All Shall Perish – 3:05
Suicide Silence – 4:05
Machine Head – 5:05

ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAIN STAGE:
Trivium – 6:25
Megadeth – 7:15  **
Godsmack – 8:30 **
Disturbed – 9:55 **

When we got to the grounds of the Comcast Center (ironically, where I saw my first major outdoor show back in 1995 – Phish – at what was then called “Great Woods”), it was 100 degrees.  We got there not long after doors had opened and caught several acts on the secondary stages.  On the Revolver stage, we caught Straight Line Stitch, then moved to the Jagermeister Stage (right next to the Revolver Stage), for Kingdom of Sorrow (during which the vocals went out briefly), Unearth, and In Flames, with a half hour break in between each.  All 3 were off the charts, and our position for each of these was about 4 rows back from the barricades, and at the edge of the circle pit.  We all were doing a bit of moshing at times, and the other times, pushing what seemed like 50+ people over our heads crowdsurfing.  A couple of people I just launched over the crowd to the waiting security guards to catch them.  It was unreal and something I’ve never experienced on that level before  (I wasn’t nearly as close for Ozzfest, and other shows there was some crowd surfing but nothing like this).

The hot sun was brutal but luckily there were a couple of “cooling stations” which were nothing more than a hose spraying water and us all running through.  Bottled water was $4.50, Gatorade was $6, and there was a Rockstar Energy Drink tent giving away free cans of Rockstar.  This was also one of my first shows which I didn’t have any beer – not because of the price (though it was $9.50 or so for a beer), but because of the heat.  We both felt content with just water or gatorade.  The sun was also roasting my back and I’m sure I’m not the only one who was at that show that is presently feeling the effects of sunburn.

Here are a few shots from the Mayhem Festival’s Flickr page from this show… if you look in the first shot about 3 rows in front of the security staff (in the yellow shirts), that’s how close we were.  Ryan’s in that shot… I’m somewhere in that sea of sweat but haven’t pinpointed my exact location yet.

After the Jager and Revolver Stage acts were concluded, we all filtered towards the pavillion area.  By this time, the sun had receaded to a point where it was not blazing the lawn, and we found ourselves a spot to watch Megadeth and Godsmack from.  The peaceful serenity of the lawn was a complete 180 from the standing in the sun and the pit of earlier in the day.  Godsmack put on one hell of a good show – it was their hometown show since they are from Boston.  Partway through Disturbed, we decided to head for the exit and get a jump on the road, by this point it was 10:30pm.  Headin’ for the exit, I decided to plunk down $25 for an official 2011 Mayhem Festival shirt.  It was then on the road, stopping for gas and McDonalds, on our trip north back to Vermont.

By the time we arrived back in the Mad River Valley, it was around 3:30am.  Holy shit – what a show.  I’m glad I went and thank Ryan for convincing me to go.  He had told me it would be the highlight of my summer… and I think it most definitely was!

From the Mayhem Festival Web Site, here are pics and a video from the day:

http://rockstarmayhemfest.com/blog/id/1844913