My phirst phish festival was life changing to say the least. I had seen phish only twice before the festival so I was pumped to see them 3 days in a row with no other distractions. Got there a day early and met up with friends who I knew and we had a group of about 40 people. I'd say I knew about half the group before going but everyone was a friend of a friend so I knew I was in good company. Made it to the sound check and I could feel the energy rising around me like I had time traveled or entered another dimension. People were EXCITED to say the least. Phish Phans are some of the most committed and until you go to a show and have the same feeling that everyone around you is experiencing its hard to put into words. You dont need drugs to feel high off hearing the music, something about everyone raising their conscious levels around you and maybe a little contact high ;). I knew the weekend was going to be profound by the end of the 45min soundcheck.
The first day fishshhhhhshttt I don't know what to say. I was completely taken back. Showed up 4 hours before the set just to be about 20 people back from the stage on Mike Gordon's (the bassist) side. I read somewhere after the event that the final count was around 40k people which I never knew what that looked like but I turned around before the set and captured just 3 pictures before my phone died the rest of the weekend. Just a huge sea of people. Right off the bat Phish broke out Mock Song which hadn't been played since 2003. Everyone went nuts. I was really high and didn't know what was happening also because most of the songs I heard that weekend were brand new to me anyway. I didn't realize I was in for such a treat when they played that. One of the best if not my favorite Jams of the whole weekend came at the end of the first set Bathtub Gin. Everyone knows that deep first set jams are rare and this set up the excitement for the rest of the weekend. Lots of phans think it was the best bathtub gin ever played! One special for Trey had to have been the 40k people in attendance had all sang together happy birthday to Trey's first child Eliza. My friend Tom also had a birthday that day and was turning the same age so it was pretty cool he got 40 thousand people sing to him.
After the first set all things just started to get deranged. Lots of just weird shit I didn't know was going to happen and just did. I won't go much into the rest of the weekend but rather just highlight some other high points. The drive-in Jam was incredible with the band playing behind a big drive-in screen as seen in the first picture. Mostly a long ambient jam set where you had to convince yourself throughout the set that your feet were still on the ground and you were still somewhere in Upstate NY. Absolutely incredible. Over 12 hours of music in 3 days, 8 sets, no songs were repeated. Somethings people could experience during their stay at Watkins Glen International Raceway was a full farmers market, 100s of vendors, exhibits set up by the band like the ferris wheel and the random art exhibits around festival grounds. The "Lab" which was a 2 story art exhibit where you look out and see the stage was a master craft and one of my favorite things. Club Magna was where the party continued into the night after phish was done playing with paid dancers in exotic clothing made you feel like you were in the 80s. Something I later heard of and really jealous that only a small sum of people got to experience was Holly Bowling's secret set. She played the first and last night until about 3 am. Can't forget Prince Caspian, Blaze on, What's the Use?, Down with Disease, Free and YEM as top jams of the weekend at least for me. YEM (you enjoy myself) ended the whole festival and had a firework show at the end. Overall the whole band now had a special place in my heart and being so close to the stage I felt like I knew them personally. Mike Gordon bassist, Page McConnell keyboard, Jon Fishman drums, and Trey Anastasio guitar, had really put on an incredible show for us all. Weather was perfect all weekend and I write this today as I hear rumors of another festival happening this summer at Watkins Glen only 3 years after Magnaball. I can not wait and hope to see all my phish phamily again to experience another magical weekend.
Thanks for reading! First 3 pictures are all AZN photography. You can buy prints and paintings on etsy here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AZNpics?ref=l2-shopheader-nam