Phun with Friends - Day Two

~Day Two of Phishin in Atlantic City~

We woke up day two in the hotel room in Atlantic City and the weather was just gorgeous outside. Little did I know in those moments that this day would probably go down as one of the top 10 days of my life. Easy. 

We got up and motivated and took ourselves downstairs for a late day brunch (which stupidly ended up being our only meal of the day...besides the half cooked pizza after the show). Anyways, we went to brunch where we met up with an old tour friend Christian (hello sir!). The day was off to a good start.

After going back to the room for some relaxation/afternoon drinks it was just about time to start exploring the boardwalk and making our way down to the show. We all got dressed, ready and were off to see some Phish! 

As we made our way down the boardwalk we ran into many people searching for tickets. Let me say this. I don't understand the people who would show up to a weekend like this without a ticket. I mean come on. This is a halloween show people, unless you are offering your first born, or the karma train is on your side, you better have your ticket in advance.  That being said the boardwalk was fun. It was great to see the buzz outside the venue and even better was that the Trump's Liquid Bar was literally right next to the venue. This was the spot where a lot of people went to grab a beer before the show. 

So this is where the night just kicked off. We got to the liquid bar and were there (NOT stealing beers) for just about 15 minutes from out the corner of our eyes. All of our old friends from college all started walking through the door. One by one a huge assembly of JMU friends had gathered at the bar for drinks/catch up/sharing of excitement. 

Picture proof!

This was extremely exciting since the crew of us had easily not been together since graduation in 2004. It was a mini not planned reunion. Reason #452 on why I love traveling to see Phish. 

The pre-party was perfect. We were all laughing, dancing, taking pictures. Just trying to live in the moment. Before we knew it showtime was upon us and we all took off down the boardwalk straight to Boardwalk Hall the famed Atlantic City venue (you know the one where all the Miss America pagents were held.... didn't think I knew that did ya). 

So as we made our way in through the doors I spotted that there were still posters for sale at the merch stands and I quickly ran towards it and picked one up for myself. I did this knowing that I would not get a poster the following evening and I needed something to mark this epic weekend. Yet again, little did I know that this poster would mark probably the best phish show I have seen with my own eyes. So yeah I'm glad I have it. 

We finally are in the doors and ready for what we thought was going to be just a regular Phish show. Wow. That prediction was waaaay off. You see, Saturday nights show was unlike any other Phish show that I have been to in my entire life. To understand let me give you quick background. It had yet to be released what Phish was going to play for their "Musical Costume" on Sunday night so rumors were running wild! The biggest one being that Phish was going to cover a classic Led Zeppelin album. Everyone thought this was true. Even Christian and I talked about it outside before the show as "almost a shoe in". So Saturday we went into the show and wasn't expecting a thing. And this is where Phish is amazing....

The threw a curveball of all curveballs and basically played Led Zeppelin songs throughout the entire night. The went in and out of "Whole Lotta Love" at least five times. They played "Heart Breaker" "Ramble On", "Thank You", "Stairway to Heaven". My brains were on the floor of my section. Nobody knew what was going on. We all screamed, yelled, cried, laughed. We couldn't believe what was going on with my own eyes. 

This video basically explains it. When page starts singing at around 9:50 I teared up.

So yeah that actually did happen. 

After the show we all had to sit there for a moment and process what actually did happen. I mean not only did Phish basically come out and throw all of our Sunday night predictions in our face. I just danced my ass off to two hours of almost perfect music with three of my best friends. I remember turning to someone during the show and actually utter the words "I don't know how I got so lucky....". You see thats how I felt. This show Saturday made the last four months completely worth it and we had not even touched the Halloween show yet! How could that be!?! 

We returned to our hotel room. Passed the go-go dancers at the bar. Went directly for the whiskey/beer and tried to process what we all had seen. We were spent. We danced too hard. Screamed too loud. Our legs were not responding. We passed out face down still with another 24 hours ahead of us to have fun.

Day two was filled with old friends, fantastic music, beautiful weather and the feeling that "I can't believe I get to do this all again tomorrow". I would say it was a pretty epic day.