"The time is near the missions clear...its later than you think"
Day Three - Halloween
The time was here. After an absolutely amazing Saturday night we woke up Sunday morning around 9 a.m. to a knock on our door. Brianna's sister had made the trip overnight from Hampton, VA with a few friends to join in the fun. This early morning visit shifted us into "halloween mode" and forced us to get up, get fed (and as Brianna assured us...at least two meals today) and start enjoying the last of our days in Atlantic City.
As we made our way downstairs to breakfast we were already starting to see kids look for tickets for that evenings show. The offers were just ridiculous... I think I even heard "grand for your extras". The anticipation for the Halloween show that night was hitting an all time high. After the "Get the Led out" show from Saturday night all bets were off for what album they were going to play. I think I now know why Phish's halloween shows are so fantastic. Its super impressive how a band of that magnitude could keep a secret like that from obsessive fans a mere hours before the show. The anticipation was part of the fun. I now understand...
After a delicious breakfast of taylor ham egg and cheese (my NJ favorite) it was time for some afternoon relaxation before what was sure to be an epic night. We wandered around the casino, we went to visit the indoor pool, I took some cool photos of the beach. We were just having a great time spending quality time with each other, because well... it never happens.
Before we knew it we looked at our watches and it was around 3pm. It was go time. Time to get the outfits on (picture on top) and make our way down the Boardwalk for some music! We hurried back upstairs where the madness started to take form. Now we had all been planning our costumes for a while now. Collectively I think we were all a bit too excited over Michelle's bunny outfit. I mean the thing was amazing. And it was shorts! Great score M! My outfit took a little bit of assembly. Breaking 60 glow sticks is a lot tougher then it looks. Thats right. I was a glowbot. I had a black jumpsuit with a bunch of brackets strapped to it. I snapped the glow sticks into place in the shape of a robot. Turned the lights off and BAM. Glowbot.
So we were ready and set for Halloween 2010. We were the Glowbot, Mad Hatter, Bunny and Cheshire Cat. And for all who know us, each one fit us perfectly! We made our way down through the casino. Stopping at some slot machines to test our luck and to take more silly pictures. And then finally made our way out to the boardwalk. This place was madness. Take all those people looking for tickets earlier in the day and times it by about 25 and thats what you had at around 5pm in Atlantic City. Pure insanity. I strapped my tickets down in my bag for safety and continued to move through the crowd towards the...wait whats that? SKEE-BALL. We obviously had to stop and play, win tickets, buy stupid little prizes, laugh. I mean this trip was completely ridiculous so why couldn't we be?
After skee-ball we made our way back to the Trump liquid bar from Saturday night and just got a table and started to people watch. People's costumes were hilarious. I saw a girl dressed as the "tea potty", we had pac man and all of his ghosts, lots of Woody's from Toy Story, and well I swear to god I saw Larry Bird. Not really, but this guy looked just like him! Everywhere I looked I couldn't stop smiling. People were getting antsy with anticipation for the evenings events. What will they play? Will there be horns? How do we not know anything!?! Ahhhhh!
So after a few hours at the liquid bar we were R2R - ready to rage! We slowly made our way through the boardwalk which at this time was almost at max capacity. There were people everywhere. 90% of whom were still searching for that miracle ticket. We slowly bobbed and weaved through the crowds and made our way to the venue gates. Now let me say this. Security was hilarious during halloween night. I mean really how are they going to check for example: a huge box of wine. Yes a girl dressed as a box of wine. Who I later found out snuck in 6 liters of wine for her and her friends to drink! So yeah security was a cake walk.
We made our way inside to our seats (which were pretty perfect if I do say so myself). They were straight back from the stage. Perfect view, perfect sound, perfect lights! We are ready to rock!
After browsing through the PhishBill we found out that Phish was going to be covering the classic album "Waiting for Columbus" by the old school jam band Little Feat. Many of the heads in the crowd didn't know the album or understand that they were about to be schooled by Phish in music lesson. You see Phish is very deliberate in what they do, and after reading the literature written in the program it was easy to see why they had picked this album to play for their musical costume. That and after going back and listening to this set if you can not see where Phish gets many of its playing styles you my friend are deaf. Its a genius choice.
So we knew what was ahead of us. Two sets of Phish, one set of Phish/Little Feat. Its on.
The shows first set got off to an amazing start when I saw Paige walk across the stage with a key-tar strapped to his chest. He walked right up to the front of the stage and started laying down a version of Frankenstein that I will never forget. It was amazing.
I love Paige. He in my opinion is the most solid player out of the four of these guys. I gained so much respect for him after I read about how he spent his time during the infamous "hiatus". Paige took the time to go back to school, take lessons in all different kinds of piano including a classical class. He learned, he improved. He always knew that they would be coming back and he wasn't going to let himself get dusty. Instead he would improve and force the band to improve with him. Paige for 2010 MVP.
Okay back to the show. The first set raged. They played up Halloween with a nice version of Ghost (a personal live favorite) and basically just rocked and rolled through some pretty intense songs. You could tell they were saving a little for the second set. And that was fine by me. I was here for three sets tonight so my dancing shoes are ready!
Then came the Little Feat set. I will not go into too much detail here because I for one am still realizing the awesomeness that this was and will be able to appreciate it more in a few months, so I'll write about that part of the evening then.
What I will write about though is how they ended the epic Little Feat set. Before the show I had noticed a walkway blocked off around the floor section. It looked to be about 5 feet wide and stretched around the entire venue. I didn't think of it again until the end of the second set when I see the band members grab cowbells from the stage and start a huge party train. All the members of the band including the guest horn section decided it was a fantastic way to end their "musical costume" with a walk around the crowd.
Being straight back we had a great view of the entire walk. It was pretty amazing that they pulled this off. The phans freaked.
The Little Feat set was over. Yet the concert was not. We were still waiting one final set from our boys and well I had a little dream that still needed to come true. While yes, Phish brought the horns out for the Little Feat section of the show, it has always been a dream of mine, a big dream, to see the horns come out and play one original Phish tune. Just once. I needed to see it just once.
As the second set raged on, we all danced hard. We had packed five sets of phish into two days and well our legs were starting to feel it. The clock approached 1:30 A.M. and the show started coming to a close there was only one thing left. The encore. I sat with the rest of the crowd, stretching my already horse lungs to max capacity and screamed for the boys return. And when they came back a little butterfly in my stomach started to flutter. For I saw a man carrying a saxophone. Could it be true?
Yup it was. Phish came out and played probably the most kick ass version of "Julius" that I have ever heard in my entire life. I don't think I could have danced harder if I tried. The bruises on my shins are proof. My checklist was complete.
Old friends reunion- Check. Phish Halloween - Check. Phish with horns - Check.
I can't tell you any other people or place I would have rather spent my last few days... I can only hope that we answered the timely question of "Can I Live While I'm Young?"
