Phish Lake Tahoe 7/30 and 7/31 2013

Hello everyone. I hope you were successful with your hunt for fall tour tickets. I got both Reading and Halloween through PTBM but never received the emails because of the idiots at Comcast.  But my stress is over and can now get to the business at hand, recounting my epic 10 days out west for Phish Tour. So without a further captcha, here are the crazy and totally true exploits of Phish in Lake Tahoe, July 30th and 31^st, 2013.

     When the tour was first announced, I had SF on my list. But the more I thought about it, since I’m gonna be out there, I might as well do Tahoe too. I had an extra day to explore SF in my schedule but eventually decided to hit LA as well. One of the HMLL’s, Courtney, secured us a super fatty house that slept 10 comfortably. She also went above and beyond and picked me up at the airport when I arrived on Sunday.

     After chilling out at her and her boyfriend Chris’ (aka Big C) apartment in the Sunset neighborhood, we went grocery shopping and took Chris to get his hair cut. One must look good for 5 Phish shows in 6 days.  Traffic was awful because of the Folsom St Fair, which is a gay pride rally but unlike the ones you see on the news, this one was a little raunchier. Courtney was really surprised we didn’t see anyone naked walking around. More power to them but let’s get the traffic thing worked out.

     We walked down Lombard St   as the traffic and crowds were way too much. But the houses were beautiful, none as much as this . We went home and I called it an early night with jetlag and whatnot and slept for 12 hours

     I woke up the next day Monday July 29^th to an overcast sky. San Fran has a bunch of micro climates and in the Sunset it is almost always cloudy and overcast. And rather cool. I had to wear a hoody and jeans as the breeze was always blowing. I went and explored the neighborhood. The population was overwhelming Asian, with a lot of home owners rather than renters, like in the Haight.

     I had breakfast at the Devil’s Teeth Baking Company  http://devilsteethbakingcompany.com/ and their breakfast sandwiches are the BOMB. I highly recommend it. I strolled down to the beach and all the trees were growing parallel to the ground because they are constantly being blown sideways from the wind. I went back to C & C’s crib and we were getting ready to hit the road to Tahoe. I got to walk Zeke (Courtney’s chocolate lab) around the neighborhood and then we were on our way.

     Traffic wasn’t too bad as we made our way up the Sierra Nevadas to 6200 ft. and beautiful Lake Tahoe. We got to the house and it was super fatty. Spacious upstairs and a kitchen with an island and stools all around. The master bedroom was enormous with its own bathroom. Down the stairs to another 3 bedrooms, 2 with queen beds and one with 2 twins, plus a sofa pullout. We were styling. We chilled out and rested as we had 2 full days of raging ahead of us.

     I didn’t have my tickets in hand for the Tahoe shows yet though. I had 2 extra fri and sat SF tickets that I was trading to Delorean’s friend Erin for her 2 extra Tahoes. I went to meet up with her at 5:15. She said she had some stragglers and finally made it there at 6:15. While I waiting, I started talking to this guy who I’m gonna refer to as Poster Guy, as I can’t remember his name. While we were talking, someone walked up and gave us a ticket saying “Here is your miracle”. I took it in case I never saw Erin. I did and I finally got to miracle someone. Guy was stunned and it felt so good. I got in and found my crew on Page’s side. Also met two of Shawn’s friends, Scooter and Triple S Steve, who would be with our crew for the rest of the run through SF.

Tuesday, 07/30/2013
Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys, Stateline, NV

Soundcheck: My Soul, Ginseng Sullivan, Jam -> Dog Log -> Buffalo Bill (lyric mash up with "Jet" by Wings) -> Power of Soul
Set 1: Wolfman's Brother, Gotta Jibboo, Cavern > Birds of a Feather, Funky Bitch, Cities > Rift > Bathtub Gin > Tube > Walk Away
Set 2: Golden Age > 46 Days > Boogie On Reggae Woman > Ghost > Carini > Piper > Wading in the Velvet Sea > Mike's Song > Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: Weekapaug Groove > Character Zero

You can stream it here 

  http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/2013-07-30

     I could hear some of the sound check but couldn’t make anything out.  Wolfman’s was a great opener. They immediately seemed to be mixing things up. Cavern the third song instead of closing the set? Yes please. First set was solid all around. I called the Golden Age opener and was enveloped by a giant cloud of hash during Boogie On. It was almost like a fog bank. The Ghost>Carini>Piper was the highlight of the second set. The Velvet Sea was a nice way to catch our breath. As Switzer remarked, “We just had 75 minutes of jamming. I need a break.” The band kept mixing things up with the Mike’s>Slave. I still have no clue why they split the Groove but it was definitely more intense than normal.
     The next day I was entered in the Phish Phamily Poker Classic 3. My poker game has been on fire as of late, online and in the real world. That luck did not extend across the Mississippi. But I did get to meet Dave Steinberg of PhishStats fame. I did a little more gambling. During a game of 3 card poker, I noticed the man next to me had a hat that said “Reality Kings”. I asked if he worked for that company he replied no. He then pointed to his friend and said he was an owner/founder. Running into people in the porn industry and hadn’t even hit LA yet.
      I then met everyone at the Horizon pool party. Someone had a tank right by the pool. I got the last ones before the tank froze and even got a happy birthday balloon for Casey, whose birthday was the 31^st. I wonder what kind of show she would get for her birthday?

Wednesday, 07/31/2013
Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys, Stateline, NV

Soundcheck: My Soul, Jam
Set 1: Chalk Dust Torture, Camel Walk, Sparkle > Back on the Train, It's Ice > Brian and Robert, Yarmouth Road, Kill Devil Falls, Lawn Boy, Ocelot, Stash
Set 2: Tweezer^[1] > Tela > Twist > Architect > Bouncing Around the Room > Run Like an Antelope^[1]
Encore: Julius > Tweezer Reprise^[1]

[1] Included call and response "Wooo" with the crowd

Notes: Tweezer, Antelope, and Tweezer Reprise included a call and response with crowd cheering back "Wooooo."

 You can stream it here

http://www.phishtracks.com/shows/2013-07-31

     First set was solid. The Sparkle was the first one for me in years. But it’s not about the first set. It is all about the epic, mind blowing 37 minute Tweezer. I was so ready for a monster and got it in spades. The jams just kept going forward. They even returned to one of the earlier jams about 20 minutes in. At the 16 and 26 minute mark, I still get chills up and down my spine. Here is a breakdown from Phish.net
5:06: First hints of leaving the grips of Tweezer
6:47: Great little melody from Trey, quickly picked up by Page
8:00: Opens up with those repeated notes from Trey . . .
9:20: Some cool harmonics (?) from Mike as they drift off into space
10:43: Audible cheering from the crowd as the band continues in the space vein [ed. Thanks to the YouTube video that has been posted, I have matched this to a moment when Kuroda turned off the overhead lights to simply back-light the band]
11:20: Trey slowly repeats a riff, Mike repeats a note, Fish on cymbals . . . and the pace begins to quicken
12:52: Mike and his foot bell
13:15: Really picks up as the band plays off one another into a bit of a more "driving" jam
14:40: Focused jam, all in step
16:30: Mike starts with this fuzzed-out effect on his bass while Trey holds a sustain, Page on piano
17:50: More riffing from Trey
18:10: They all drop out with Page holding a chord on the organ; more openness
19:45: Trey starts in with this pretty riffing (Major scale?); first really beautiful section of jamming, gentle; lots of piano
22:30: Trey starts working on a new theme, with focus; just playing off the beauty of a few minutes before; builds, repeats some notes, Page working the piano, and Fishman is throwing in fills
23:40: Great Page moment as he continues on the piano and starts this organ "flourish" [ed. Thanks, Syd]
24:45: Mike really starts to let go with the "Meatballs" [correct use of the term?] matched by more organ from Page
26:20: A melody just appears out of no where, with every band member on board; really quite something to hear, almost like a Gospel hymn
27:23: The band slows down for its start-stop, elicting the "Woos" from the crowd; last for about 30 seconds before it builds back to the hymn again
27:58: Massive Trey-gasmic release [ed. Thanks, JD]
28:20: Start-stop "Woos" again, and then repeats
30:40: Another change of direction, signaled by some chords from Trey that almost sounded like a new song; band quickly runs through themes, one sounding like the Scent "Russian" section before latching onto an upbeat melody
32:50: Kind of transitions into a bit of a funky Tweezer theme right before the start-stop "Woos" kick in again; more funk than hymn this time
33:24: Changes to more blues-rock vamp by Trey
34:10: Can't you see?
35:08: Oh, hello Tweezer; complete with start-stop "Woos"
36:47: "The sky is burning in this lonely land"

   The wooo’s were totally spontaneous and the energy and group mind of the crowd was truly something unique. It was without a doubt the best piece of music I have ever heard musicians play. I seriously thought about retiring after that show. How could I ever top it? But I’m gonna keep trying.

    When Tela started, everyone was high fiving and hugging. It was so emotional. The Twist gave us more Wooo’s. The Antelope was even better than normal, again with the stop start wooing. As Julius ended, the guy in front of me held up is camera and remarked “This place is gonna explode” Boy was he right. Every Tweezer reprise since they split it has been epic but this one really took the cake.

     We made our way to Montbleu for 2 reasons :

2. Because our after show party with DJ Emancipator was at the Opel Lounge in the Montbleu.

     Yes you read that right. I went to see a DJ not named Howard Stern. I even bought the ticket before the epic Tweezer. But it was awesome. Never been to a show like that in a club like that. Because we had bought our tickets ahead of time, we got the VIP treatment and got to cut to the head of the line.  Nice chill ambient West Coast vibe. Exactly what I needed. There were go go dancers and at some point some guy was playing an electric violin with the DJ. Shawn still isn’t sure if we actually saw DJ Emancipator lol. We got the same cabbie Switzer had the night before. Hard core Eastern European accent. He said everything was legal in California but not in his cab. I was way too pumped to sleep but did finally crash as the sun rose.

     We cleaned up our fatty rental in record time and began our long descent down to the city by the bay.  On the way down, beside the spectacular views, I noticed that part of all the trees had no branches. Evidently, winters are so harsh; the winds just shred the branches off.

     We arrived in San Fran on Jerry’s birthday, Aug 1^st. It felt so good to be there on that day after such an amazing night. As Delorean, her pug Rubin, and myself sat on her stoop as the night eclipsed the day, I just keep thinking.. What a beautiful buzz, what a beautiful buzz. Up next, my 4 days of living in the Haight

Dave Kemp

BA American Studies

PhD Rock and Roll