This Must Be Heaven During summer tour, all venues start to look alike, right? A shed is a shed is a shed. Seen one pavilion, seen them all. For the most part, that's true. With minor differences about ease of access, venue security and size, it's hard to remember where exactly you are when you're inside the venue. Shoreline could be Star Lake could be Lakewood. There are but three real exceptions to this rule, three venues that shine as special locations. Two of them - Red Rocks and The Gorge - are obvious choices due to their natural beauty. The third seems odd before your first visit. The landscape is boring, Indiana isn't a hippie utopia, yet somehow Deer Creek is a magical location.

Well perhaps the secret isn't that hard to fathom. Where most venues might offer a local campground or two, Deer Creek not only has on site camping, but local farmers fighting for the honor of letting you stay with them. Offering "Hassle Free Camping" or maybe just a game of

Eternal Hopscotch to get people to stay, for one venue, we feel more than tolerated, we feel welcome.

As the vast majority of the readership here knows, before the Phish three show run, there was a Phil and Friends show. Like the Alpine Valley Phish show, I went for the wrong reason. Rather than going hoping to see something amazing, I attended out of fear of missing something great. Much like the Alpine show, I emerged from this one tired and disappointed. No members of Phish showed up; the spectacular failed to happen, I could have caught up on my sleep.

One thing that did get to happen from seeing that show, is that I got a first hand comparison between what's left of the Dead scene and the current Phish scene. I learned that the Phellowship have their act together much more than the Wharf Rats these days. What really stunned me though was to see how tiny the P&F scene really is. Most of the crowd were the same people on Phish tour seeing another show. After Jerry's death it was inevitable, but seeing how much the torch had been passed was surprising, and maybe even a little depressing.

At the Phil and Friends show, knowing that if Trey came out, it would be a night that would be talked about for years, I talked to a local woman who was selling flowers there. I tried to explain to her the potential import, but to her it was just another concert. We really do have our own holidays (8/9, 5/8, and 2/13 come to mind), our own issues, own our religion. The Supreme Court should establish that going on tour is a religion; it meets all of the criteria I could think of.

I spent the time before the lots opened (due to Jambands issues, I had to stay at a hotel so I could have net access) at a pizza place in downtown Noblesville. I spent my time there reading the fourth Harry Potter novel. Reading Harry Potter on tour makes the similarities between the wizarding world and the tour world obvious. I came up with a t-shirt idea that I really want to exist, "Harry Potter and the Summer Tour." The lightning bolt in his name and on his forehead would be a Steal Your Face, and below that, the members of Phish would be flying around on broomsticks, while Harry would be up front with his finger in the air. The back would simply say, "I must inquire Voldemort, can you still have fun." I give this idea away freely to anyone who wants to make this, providing that they give me a free shirt.

Speaking of t-shirts, one of the great things about a scene like Deer Creek's is that vendors can just set up in the campground and not worry. Seeing how within a week I would see someone get handcuffed for underage drinking, the lax Deer Creek rules stand out. While wandering through the lot, I saw the best Phish t-shirt ever. A woman managed to find a political meaning in "AC/DC Bag". According to Fishman, that song was written by skimming through a book of cliches. Being able to discern meaning from a song like that is itself a creative act. Once done, the meaning is there, even if there was no intent to put it there at first. If I had had more money, I would have bought it solely for that reason.

The second Deer Creek show was one I was looking forward to all tour. It was that night that I managed to get a photo pass. I'm not quite sure why I really wanted one; I think it was in part to play a practical joke on the band. As many of you know, I have been requested to not go to the front row; my timings of Phish songs distract them. For 6 years, I had obeyed that request. I decided it was time to play with them a bit.

At first, I was nervous about whether or not I would actually get the pass. Surely Shelly would catch onto what I was trying to do and would prevent the travesty of me being allowed up close. With no fanfare though, she directed me to the people in charge of the process. I think I amused them. While they usually get professional photographers from Rolling Stone or the like, here they were carting someone who was just thrilled to be riding the cart. "I get to ride in the cart? NO WAY!!" During the entire drive to the front of the venue, I was screaming. "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" They then escorted me to my location

in the photographers' pit. I looked back at the people in the front row and bantered with them about their horrible seats.

When the band came on, Trey did give me a look that asked what I was doing there - apparently few people dressed like superheroes have photo passes - but for the most part I think they didn't mind me being there. I was so pumped to be up that close that I spent more time dancing than actually taking pictures. Since the whole point of the ban was that I was getting jaded, having an energetic, excited, whooping, dancing fool in the photo pit would actually be a good thing.

I wondered if Trey suddenly remembered that I would only have three songs up front (That was one of the two interesting rules I learned, the other being that photographers are not allowed to take pictures of the crowd. Apparently the fear is that they would catch fans engaged in illegal activity, and either for image or protection reasons, the band doesn't want those pictures taken.) when he called for "Uncle Pen" to end my time up front. It didn't matter though. Hearing the opening to "Drowned" as I was walking to drop off my camera kept the rush going. The first "Chalk Dust Torture (Reprise)" since 1994 didn't hurt either. As I left the venue, hearing people say "We are The Phish from Vermont!" nothing could bring me down, even if I had known that half of my photos wouldn't transfer to my hard drive (including the only ones I had of Page's face, and Trey speaking into the cup), it wouldn't have done it.

As I relaxed before the third show, the wisdom behind Phish's tour plan suddenly made sense. By making us drive all the way to Alpine Valley and then all the way back to Deer Creek, Deer Creek became a mecca. The four days spent there was the reward for making it through the rough part of the schedule. It worked well. On the first night I was lying out by the lake ("If you're going to vend, you're going to have to do so on the other side of the lake. This area is only for people... and dogs" - another example of DC security), talking to Gemma. After she gave me one of her famous sporks, I mentioned how I wished that this run would go on for a month or two. That would be utopia. A month of Deer Creek shows. By the 12th, I was starting to itch to be on the road again. The three days were just long enough. I don't know how intentional this plan was, but it worked well.

There's a reason why Deer Creek has the reputation it does. The shows were great (including the shocking return of "The Curtain With" after a 12 year absence), the people were great, it seems too good to last. Unfortunately, it won't for much longer. The booming economy even came to the suburbs of Indianapolis. Farms are being replaced with housing developments. There now is a "Deer Creek Outlet Mall." Barring a complete economic collapse, Deer Creek will have only a few more years being the way it is now. As I said, the landscape is boring, Indiana isn't a hippie utopia, yet somehow Deer Creek is a magical location. That magic is much more fragile as a result; it would take very little to ruin it. If you've never been, you owe it to yourself to go soon. It might seem odd that utopia is in Indiana, but right now it is. Missing that would be tragic.