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Phish: 6/7/09 Susquehanna Bank Center
Phish. I haven’t seen Phish is nine years. If memory serves me correctly, my last Phish show was July 3rd, 2000 at the E-Center in glorious Camden New Jersey. Back in the day I was a huge Phish fan. I was not rich enough to do entire tours but I did get to do my fair share of 4 day runs, plus I made it to all the end of the Summer Festivals.
Needless to say I was excited to see Phish for their debut show at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, NJ. I was at Starscape Festival the night before and got no sleep the night before. I had to drive back to my place and then head to the show from there. Thankfully a few locals heading to the show offered me a ride.
We got to the venue around 6:30. Our instincts took over and we headed to shakedown to check out the scene. We must have went the wrong way because we never found shakedown, but we did find short toilet lines and got the job done.
Time to head into the show. We grabbed some drinks and found a new spot on the lawn by the left of the stage. The vibe of the crowd was much different than what I recall from past years. Phish shows used to be a heavy party scene and you could tell by the people in the crowd. This crowd was older and mature, but still down to have a good time. I have been going to a lot of Biscuit shows in the past three years and it was refreshing to be at a large show with a mellower crowd with music that is not untz all night long. I love the untz, but I love Phish too.
First set highlights for me were the Fee, The Wedge, Strange Design, and First Tube. I was glad to see them start off with Chalk Dust Torture. Hearing a good First Tube live as cool because of the way Trey loops the guitar rifts. I thought the first set was great and was ready to see what was up for round two.
Set One
Chalk Dust Torture
Fee
Wolfman’s Brother
Guyute
My Sweet One
46 Days
The Lizards
The Wedge
Strange Design
Tube
First Tube
Set two and they start with jammed out funky Sand. Then played another classic, Suzy Greenberg. I like Phish slow songs and I thought it was a treat to hear The Horse > Silent in the Morning. They new song Sugar Shack was cool but the Chracater Zero into Tweezer was peak of the second set.
Set Two
Sand
Suzy Greenberg
Limb By Limb
The Horse >
Silent in the Morning
Sugar Shack
Character Zero >
Tweezer
I did not even realize that they went off the stage and came back from an encore. They played a four song encore which to me felt like a huge second set. They new song Joy was awesome and has the makings of yet another epic Phish song. The lyrics seem to come from the soul and with so much going in the life of Trey Anasatio, it just seems fitting in some way. Next up was Bouncing Round the Room and then the, in my opinion, the hottest song of the night, Run Like An Antelope. It was sick and the Tweezer Reprise ending put a cherry on the top of a perfect evening with Phish.
Encore
Joy
Bouncing Around The Room
Run Like An Antelope >
Tweezer Reprise
