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.
Friday, 10/31/2014
MGM Grand Garden Arena,
Las Vegas, NV
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 BrotherSet 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.
Saturday,
11/01/2014
MGM Grand
Garden Arena, Las Vegas, NV
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, WingsuitSet 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 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
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