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Tuesday, October 17, 2000 After my week of Phish Tour, I stayed in San Francisco. I stayed with friends, and spent my time resting up/recovering from the Phish shows, and working. I had a few meetings in the area, and did a lot of writing. I also saw some music that I hadn't originally planned. Sunday night, the day after the Phish shows ended, I saw Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Frog Brigadeand at the Great American Music Hall. Trey has been playing with Les, even as recently as the week before in Vegas, so there was the possibility of a guest appearance. While this never unfolded, I thoroughly enjoyed the show. The next night, my friends who I was staying with took me to see a band of some of their friends. This young jamband, called Tea Leaf Green, shows a lot of potential. But on this night, I did not have the energy to really appreciate the potential. We stayed for a few songs, long enough to know that this was a band worth keeping an eye on. The next few days were pretty mellow, kind of the calm before the storm. On Thursday, the storm that is The Disco Biscuits arrived in town. For the next week, IraTour would be part of Biscuits Tour. Two shows at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, one down in Santa Cruz, and then up to the Northwest for two more. And now, some highlights and other random thoughts about this first trio of biscuit shows... Thursday - GAMH After a dinner of sushi (which made up about half of my diet while in San Francisco), we headed to the venue. As soon as we arrived, we entered an atmosphere of a reunion. I was with a few friends who had just flown in, but most of the friends we bumped into had been on tour all week. The next hour was spent catching up, hearing about the past week of shows, and looking around to see a very large number of familiar faces, considering that I was 3000 miles from home. I was aware that I would know a lot of people, but it still felt odd once I actually saw the dozens of them. But the more I go on tour, the more I get used to the ways in which circles of people criss-cross each other and grow. And based on the number of people I didn't know, and the fact that the shows at Great American sold out, it is obvious that the biscuit scene is growing. This first show at Great American were fun and energizing, although I wasn't sure I would feel that way at first. During the first set on Thursday, something seemed a bit off to me. It may have partially been a result of my brain still being in Phish mode, but the band seemed a bit tense, and this set didn't seem all that tight. There were some great moments, especially as the show progressed, and overall I was not disappointed. By the end of the show, I was exhausted, but felt that I was getting closer to Biscuit mode. Friday - GAMH From the start of this show, it was evident that I, and/or the band, was more ready and comfortable than the night before. With the opener of Grass is Green, through a first set that was one long segue, and into the second set which was full of highlights but none that topped the first stand-alone Basis For A Day in a year, I was pulled further and further into Biscuit mode. What I mean by "Biscuit mode" is that I felt used to the music and the environment. I had gotten used to Phish's style and the environment of their shows last week, and a part of me was missing Phish. But after these two GAMH shows, I began to remember the things I love about bisco, and as a result I missed Phish less. I should note that I am not trying to compare these two bands - I enjoy seeing them both, for some of the same reasons, but also for the things that set them apart from each other and from other bands on the scene. Saturday - Palookavilla - Santa Cruz, CA This was probably the best (or at least most enjoyable) Biscuit show I have seen since the last show I saw in 1999. The venue was not sold out, but there was a decent crowd. Everyone, from locals seeing their first show to kids on biscuit tour, seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. There was plenty of dancing room, and full advantage was taken of this room. Almost the entire show consisted of segues from one song to another, and I can't really pick out a highlight of this show. The first set was great, and the second set was incredible. After the show, we needed someone to come around and help pick up our jaws from the ground, where they rested after dropping in amazement at the show we had just witnessed. After beginning to recover, it was time to say goodbyes. Many people who had been on tour for the past week were going home the next day. This was a bit sad, but lucky for me most of my goodbyes were to friends who I would see soon on the East coast. And on a positive note, the goodbyes were also a signal that the last two shows that I'd be catching would have a bit mellower of a scene - as much as I like to go to shows with many friends, sometimes it can be hectic knowing so many people, and I was looking forward to a slightly lower key time in the Northwest. (Once again, I ran into some computer problems. So ignore the automatic date that is at the top of this post, I really wrote it on the 8th and I'm finally transcribing now.) The final three Phish shows completed a long week of fun. We started with a short drive, about 2 hours, from Chula Vista to Irvine (just south of L.A.). After that show, we immediately drove through the night all the way to San Francisco. There, we stayed for the last two shows, which were about 40 minutes away at the Shoreline Amphitheatre. This made for a pretty tiring schedule, but that only added to the ritual that is tour. When you have to work a bit to get to the shows, the experience of the show leads to an extra level of satisfaction. And now, some highlights and other random thoughts about this last trio of shows... First night - The highlight to a great show was the encore. As someone who grew up seeing the Dead, I have a deep appreciation for the collaborations we have seen with Phil, but I had not caught one of those appearances. Seeing Bob Weir, as we did on the screens that blocked our view of the stage, gave me a sense of deja vu. I first noticed someone extra on stage when the band returned for the encore, and even with his back turned to us, I recognized him. Just then, my friend Cory said "that's Bob Weir!". And the next thing we new, we were treated to an El Paso, Chalkdust Torture, West L.A. Fadeaway encore. Definitely caught me off guard, which just added to the fun. :) A beautiful venue, a relatively new amphitheater with no covered seats, but what seemed like a large percentage of seats relative to the size of the lawn. Behind the stage were the dark outlines of mountains. The temperature was a comfortable 70 degrees at show time, and stayed about the same throughout the evening. My friend and I sat in the last row of the orchestra, which was the 20th row center of the venue, my best ticket of the 13 shows I had or would be seeing this fall. This was the first of the final four shows before the end of tour, and the beginning of an open-ended hiatus that the band is about to embark on. As the show went on, I thought about how each time I heard a song it would probably be the last time for a least a year (or however long the hiatus ends up lasting). That made me savor every note, especially from my prime seat. I was sort of expecting a show with stretched out, spacey jams, and from the opening tunes of Moma Dance and It's Ice, it seemed like we would be getting just that. But, as the first set progressed, the music took a turn towards a more straight-up rock-and-roll show. This theme continued on multiple levels as the second set opened with a hard rocking version of Rock-&-Roll, which along with the Jibboo that came a few songs later contained some of the best jamming of the night. Overall, this was a relatively tight, high energy show in a beautiful environment. As a result, everyone I met seemed to really enjoy themselves. From locals who were seeing their one show of the tour, to those of us who would be going on to the end, everyone seemed to walk out with a smile. Down the street from the venue, in our hotel full of kids on tour til the end, the smiles continued late into the night. Friday, September 29, 2000 The day began at 5:15 am, after a restless 3 and a half hours of semi-sleep. I'd been up late working and finishing packing. My ride to the airport picked me up at a quarter til 6, and my three-and-a-half week journey had finally begun. Now, I sit on the plane to Vegas, my first stop on Fall Ira Tour. After a weekend in Vegas, I will follow Phish for the next week. First to Phoenix, then to Chula Vista, Irvine, and finally to Shoreline. Then, I will be spending a week working, and seeing friends and a variety of music in the Bay area. This music will include three Disco Biscuit shows, and I will then follow the Biscuits to the Northwest for shows in Seattle and Portland. To top off my trip, I will stop off in Chicago for two Phil and Friends shows. I'll be making entries in this journal after every few shows. Now, I'm going to attempt to use these last few hours on my flight West to nap before I am thrust into the non-stop party world of Las Vegas. --------- Friday Afternoon Las Vegas is probably the one place where the presence of Phish is barely noticeable. It is a city of bright lights, constant action, and perpetual partying. While you can pick out most phish phans from more standard visitors to Vegas, it takes much more effort than in any other place I've seen a show. The city has a powerful energy, and we comfortably blended in. --------- I arrived at the Tropicana, and found that I could not check in for several hours. I bumped into a few friends who were in the same situation, and we all tracked down some other friends who had arrived the night before. After relaxing and visiting for a bit, it was time to try my luck in the casino. An hour later, my wallet was a bit lighter, but it was time to check into my room. I got ready to go, while waiting for my friends who I was headed to the show with. --------- The Venue and the Scene Vegas has too many distractions for there to be a large scene outside the venue. Plus, the Thomas & Mack Center is a general admission venue, so people tend to go inside as soon as they get there in order to get seats and find friends. It is only a mile or two from the Vegas Strip, where most people stay for the shows. Most people walk or take cabs. The result is a parking lot with few cars or people, although there was a small scene, which is more than I recall the last time Phish played here. Inside, the venue is a pretty standard arena. Because it is general admission, you find large groups of friends all sitting together, or at least in a general area. I never ventured onto the floor, but from what I hear it was never too crowded. Both the first tier where I sat the first night, and the second tier where I sat the second night, were quite comfortable. The sound was excellent from both places also. --------- The Shows If you came to Vegas hoping for the tight, beautiful style jamming that has been the highlight of recent Phish for many people, you may have been disappointed. But you never know exactly what Phish will throw at you, which is the main reason I go into shows with few expectations. These shows were all about crazy, wacky, Vegas-style energy, and included a number of rarely played tunes. With many jambands, and certainly with Phish, I find that shows rarely have it all. Some are better musically, some have the higher fun factor, and both nights of Vegas definitely fit into the latter category. Which is not to say that there were not musical highlights. The first night included a number of tunes that rivaled some of the better versions I've seen recently, such as the Wilson, the Bathtub Gin and the Character Zero in the first set. Breakout tunes that added to the fun included Spock's Brain and then Dinner and a Movie, which opened the second set. The second set also included what was probably the highest energy Moma Dance I've ever seen, and the best Fluffhead that I've seen since my first few years of seeing Phish, in the early 90s. The wackiness reached its first peak for the weekend at the end of the Meatstick, when Kid Rock joined the band on stage. While some people were bored or even offended at the antics of Kid Rock, I thoroughly enjoyed the guest appearance. |
