Phishin' at Merriweather Post Pavilion

While I am not a hard core Phish fan, I certainly appreciate their musical skill and their enthusiasm for their fans.  That enthusiasm is undoubtedly reciprocated by the fans.  I went to the Sunday June 12, 2011 show at Merriweather Post Pavilion.  I heard that the Saturday show was very solid, but traditionally Phish gives some of their best performances on Sundays at MMP.  Fortunately for me and my friends, Phish followed that trend and gave a stellar performance that we will always remember.

Pre-partying at Adam's house was fun.  His son, Jake, 6, had a sweet I-tunes mix with Black Eyed Peas, Paul Simon and Donna Summer (seriously).  The burgers were delicious and the company was good.  Then we headed to the show amidst some stormy clouds.  It poured in transit, but once we got there, the rain stopped.  We set up a tent and enjoyed some tasty beers and subs from Scittino's in Catonsville.  "People watching" at a Phish show is an event unto itself.  It is a spectacle filled with tatoos, skin and "colorful" outfits.  The Phish Phans are fueled by plenty of alcohol and the occasional illicit drug.  Everyone is friendly and easy-going.  It is truly a great scene.

My buddies, Andy and BJ and I had "Pit" tickets.  That meant we were on the floor.  For the first set we were about 20 feet from the railing in front of the stage.  Here is Trey Anastasio (lead guitar and lead vocals) from where we were standing.

I loved the first set.  They opened with Buried Alive and Trey actually held up a fan's sign that requested the song.  Then they played Lonesome Cowboy Bill, a song they had not played since 2003.  I enjoyed the classic songs Sample In a Jar, Divided Sky and Wolfman's Brother.  Here is my video clip of Sample In A Jar.

Another highlight for me was Phish's rendition of Stevie Wonder's song, Boogie On Reggae Woman.  They closed the hot set with several fan favorites: Halley's Comet, Bathtub Gin, Jesus Just Left Chicago (ZZ Top) and Character Zero.  The pit literally erupted during when they played Character Zero.

Phish had a solid second set.  They played several new songs which are not really up my alley, but the jams were pretty tight overall.  One highlight was when they played Steam and covered the pit crowd with steam.

By the time Phish was about to do their encore, BJ, Andy and I had worked our way to about 6 feet from the railing.  That is the closest I have been at a Phish show since 1994 (first row) when they performed at the Indiana University Auditorium for about five thousand students.  Last night's encore was Sanity, Makisupa Policeman and First Tube.  They were all first rate in my opinion, and I read one reviewer's posting that it was "the best encore he had ever seen".

One other funny story from the evening involves my buddy BJ.  No shocker there since funny stories seem to follow him.  Prior to getting back into the car to go home, he went into the woods to urinate.  However he went very deep into the woods for some privacy and stepped in some serious human hippie fecal matter.  He did not realize it until he had trekked it back into Andy's brand new car.  Although we had to deal with the stench, the degree of hilarity easily made up for it!

BJ, Andy and Me (Scotty B)

Overall, great friends, great show and great times!  Hopefully Phish comes back again to Merriweather next year.  If you have never been, definitely try to check it out!