Of all the cities in the US, few offer the allure and temptation
as Las Vegas does. From its early days as a destination for squares
to see the Rat Pack, through its transformation to an adult
playground, Vegas has always been the twinkling jewel in the desert.
But I'm not coming to Vegas to gamble or hang out with Moe Green, I'm
here for some unfinished business; that business being Phish on
Halloween. So allow myself to weave a tale 16 years in the making,
Phish live at the MGM Grand Arena on Oct 31, Nov. 1 and Nov 2
nd
2014.
Our tale starts way back in 1998. I had tickets in hand for
both nights of the Halloween run in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, I had a
close encounter of the worst kind on my way up to the Lemonwheel
Festival in August of 1998. I was cited by the Maine State police and
released. I still made it to the whole festival and can clearly
remember telling myself, “This is and was definitely worth the
hassle of the arrest” . But because of my legal expenses, there was
no way I could swing going out West. I sold my tickets to the only
Italian alcoholic hillbilly from Ohio I will ever meet, and left my
Sin City dreams to the dustbin of history.
Flash forward to the present day. Much of my seeing Phish
shows involves a lot more travel than in the past, at least via
airplanes. So when rumors started floating around that Halloween was
going to be in Vegas, that got my synapses firing. It worked out
really well that I would do the 3 nights in San Fran and then fly to
Vegas for the Halloween run. This would be a first for me; multiple
cities and all the traveling done by plane.
Also around the time of the Fall Tour announcement, I met
this super cool chick Casey Connelly. We had met online but didn't
meet in the real world until MMP2, you know the show that had
everything!
I got
extremely lucky with tickets through mail order. I was able to hook
some friends up and trade for what I needed. I hadn't even gone on a
proper date with Casey yet but as I told her, “I'm not trying to
rush things, but we have to make decisions about these shows. Life
can wait, Tour can't.“ So she decided to go to Vegas with this
guy who gets really excited about music and has an incredible beard.
So second
night of San Fran, while the city burned over the victory of the
Giants in the World Series, Switzer suggested that I ride with them
instead of flying to Vegas, as they were doing the whole Fall Tour
via car. I said sure, why not? The taxi cab ride to the airport in SF
was 75 bucks. So right after the show we hit the road. I got to
witness a sunrise over the desert, which was quite spectacular. We
arrived in Vegas sometime before noon. I checked into my hotel and
took the World's Greatest Power Nap.
Casey was
flying in later that evening so I went to play some 1-2 dollar No
Limit Texas Hold'em. While I love playing tournaments, cash games
aren't really my strength. But I told myself that when she texted me,
I would leave the table no matter where I was bankroll wise. Her
flight was delayed because they had 52 WW2 vets on it who were coming
into DC to see the memorials. Everyone at the gate applauded them as
they disembarked the plane. I'm sure it was super cool and moving.
But her delay allowed myself even more time at the table. When she
texted me, I was up by 150 bucks and got the hell out of there. We
rested up for the next day was one of the biggest of the Phish
calender year, HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We pre gamed
at some friends suite in the MGM Grand. It was spectacular, with a
view overlooking the Strip and the airport. The bathroom had a
programmable shower, with multiple settings and temperature control.
Alas, this is the only photo of the place I have
After helping
one friend out with his ticket, we found our seats and got ready for
whatever Phish had up their sleeves.
Set 1:
Buried
Alive >
Ghost,
Scent
of a Mule,
Sample
in a Jar,
Reba,
46
Days,
Big
Black Furry Creature from Mars,
Lawn
Boy[1],
Saw
It Again >
Tube,
Wolfman's Brother
Set 2:
The
Haunted House[2],
The
Very Long Fuse[2],
The
Dogs[2],
Timber[2],
Your Pet Cat[2],
Shipwreck[2],
The Unsafe
Bridge[2],
The
Chinese Water Torture[2],
The
Birds[2],
Martian
Monster[2]
Set 3:
Punch
You In the Eye >
Golden
Age >
Tweezer ->
Heavy Things,
Guyute,
Sand
->
Tweezer Reprise
Encore:
Is
This What You Wanted[3],
Frankenstein[4]
[1] Fish drum solo.
[2] Debut.
[3] Phish debut.
[4] Page
on keytar.
You can stream
it here
First set
was solid. We got a lot of the monster/spooky related material right
away. The Ghost was good for as short as it was. And I've always felt
the ending of I Saw It Again was always rather dark.
I thought
the second set was brilliant. We got 10 new jams of intense super
Phishiness. Great way to continue the tradition of covering an album
but coming up with new songs. The third set had the amazing
transition from Sand into Tweeprise, which I missed because I was
pissing. The encore was really great. The first song was definitely
directed to the fans. And Frankenstein was really well placed. In
1994, they opened Halloween with Frankenstein. 20 years later, they
closed the Halloween show with it. Nice symmetry.
Second day
in Vegas we fell into a nice pattern. Gorge at a buffet and then play
some poker. Neither Casey nor myself had any real luck but over all I
only lost about 150 playing cards, so that is pretty good. I got to
walk around Vegas a lot as I had to get a ticket and then deliver it
to the Most Interesting Man on Tour.
Set 1:
Fuego,
My
Soul,
Back on
the Train,
555,
Dog
Faced Boy,
Fuck
Your Face,
Horn >
Frankie Says >
My
Friend, My Friend,
Roses
Are Free,
Roggae,
Birds of a
Feather,
Wingsuit
Set 2:
Possum,
Crosseyed and
Painless >
Light ->
The Dogs ->
Lengthwise >
Twist
>
Wading
in the Velvet Sea >
Harry
Hood >
Golgi
Apparatus >
Backwards
Down the Number Line
Encore:
Waiting
All Night,
Sing
Monica,
The
Star Spangled Banner
Teases:·
The
Birds tease & quote in Birds of a Feather
·
Your
Pet Cat,
Lengthwise,
Manteca,
and
Smoke
on the Water teases in Twist
Notes: Dog Faced Boy was played for the first
time since June 8, 2011 (144 shows). Birds of a Feather contained
teases and quotes from The Birds. Twist contained Lengthwise
quotes, Manteca teases and quotes, a Smoke on the Water tease
and Your Pet Cat teases.
You can stream it here
Another solid show but its been
so long since I listened to it I can't recall too much about it. I
thought the triple encore was cool even if a lot of people didn't.
And I totally heard the Manteca tease in Twist.
The last night I got to see my
buddy Adam Kreuter who I knew from Penn State. He saw more shows
before I turned 21 than I can count, including the Dead in Europe in
1990 and the Formerly the Worlocks shows in Hampton in 1989. He's
also one of the guys who got me into WSP. I hadn't seen him since
1999 so it was great to catchup with him.
Set 1:
Runaway
Jim,
Foam,
Mexican
Cousin,
Ocelot,
Sugar
Shack,
A
Song I Heard the Ocean Sing,
Halfway
to the Moon,
Bathtub
Gin >
Free,
Walls
of the Cave
Set 2:
Chalk
Dust Torture[1] >
Piper
>
Theme From
the Bottom >
Wombat,
David Bowie,
The
Line,
You Enjoy
Myself[2]
Encore:
The
Moma Dance >
Slave
to the Traffic Light
[1] Unfinished.
[2] Trey used his megaphone siren; all four
band members were on percussion.
Teases:·
Rhapsody
in Blue tease in Halfway to the Moon
·
The
Load-Out tease
·
Martian
Monster quote in Free
·
Martian
Monster quote in Walls of the Cave
·
Martian
Monster quote in David Bowie
·
Martian
Monster quote in You Enjoy Myself
·
The
Wedge tease in Chalk Dust Torture
Notes: Mexican Cousin was played for the first
time since June 19, 2012 (110 shows). Page teased Rhapsody In Blue at
the end of Halfway to the Moon. Free, Walls of the
Cave, Bowie, and the YEM vocal jam contained Martian Monster
quotes. Chalk Dust was unfinished and ended with Fish teasing The
Wedge. Toward the end of the YEM jam, Trey picked up his megaphone
and began using the siren on it as he ran around the stage. Mike
joined him, and Trey held the megaphone up to Mike's bass. Mike then
began playing his fight bell with drum sticks while Trey went to the
drums and played along with Fish. Finally, Mike and Page
joined in, so that all four were playing on Fish's kit. After Page
thanked the audience and crew, Mike teased The Load-Out.
You can stream it here
I love ASIHTOS so that was
super. And any set with Free, Gin, and Walls of the Cave in it is a
great set in my book. The second set raged to end the Tour. The Chalk
Dust had some great moments that really reminded me of the Tahoe
Tweezer. I don't know enough about music to write about them, but
Trey and Page hit these chords that were rather percussionesque. The
Wombat Crew had their Wombat hats on so that was really cool and the
YEM was one for the ages. Over 26 minutes long, with Trey and Mike
running around the stage?! The encore was a great sendoff for us as
we had to face the reality of heading home after Tour ends.
So there you have it. The number
of people who hit the 1994 Halloween show and the 2014 one is rather
small but I'm so proud to be in that select group. And things are
going great with Casey and myself. Besides 2 Dave Kemp’s on tour,
we are also the second Dave and Casey couple in our immediate Touring
family. Up next, my reminiscence about my first NYE run show,
12/28/94 in the City of Brotherly Love.
Dave Kemp
BA American Studies
PhD Rock and Roll
