This is from an email I sent out after the Camden 2009 show. It was my first time seeing them in the 3.0 era. Bethel will be next week
Five years is a long time. I read that half of all marriages that end do it before five years is up. Some people manage to graduate from college. The past five years have been a little insane for me but they all came together this week.
Five years ago, I was in a much different place. I was partying way too hard for a guy in his 30's ( or his 20's for that matter). I was polluting myself something fierce and getting worse. In the summer of 2004, my Dad was diagnosed with Alzhiemer's. My grandmother had it as well so we had somewhat of idea what was to come but I was at Penn State for most of her illness so I wasn't as involved with her as I would be with my Dad. Phish also announced that they would be breaking up, not just going on an extended hiatus. So, two pillars of my life were yanked out right about the same time. I of course made it to Coventry (please make an effort to hunt down my Peabody award winning e-mail, Fear and Loathing in Coventry) and continued to get more out of control.
My dad slowly started to get worse but they have alot of drugs for the treatment of Alzhiemer's. Around the spring of 2006, he was staring to get worse and I was tired of the path I was on. So I stopped hanging out with certain groups of people and changed many of my habits. Hell I even quit smoking cigs a year and a half ago (But I had 6 at the show and the first one was better than 4 lesbian hippie chicks). Trey of course had his own course correction forced upon him by the State of New York. But he got himself healthy and got the Phish back together.
By Christmas this year, my dad was really bad. Out of this reality 95% of the time, not aggressive but difficult at all times. I was over at my folks house everyday to help my Mom take care of him. This was around the time I got my summer tour tixs and was really geeked to be going to shows again; this time without having to worry about how much of what I was going to score in the lot and the journey of driving home after having my brain shredded by the band (can deal with) and substances (not so good).
We had gotten on 4 nursing home waiting lists back in Feb. I figured that it would be no problem to get my dad in a home by the time June rolled around. WRONG. Unless you have 300000 dollars to commit, you go on a waiting list and wait, and wait, and wait. Then, on the Tues after Memorial Day, my dad went to the hospital with double pnuemonia. He was on oxygen but then the weekend before Camden he took a turn for the worst. The social worker said we should look at hospices instead of nursing home. I couldn't believe it. One of the most important events in anyone's life (death of a parent) is happening at the same time as one of the most important events in my life (the return of Phish).
Now obviously, if he died I would not have gone to the show. But by Mon and Tues of this week he steadily improved, enough where we are looking at nursing homes again. I so needed a good show after the stress of the last two weeks and preceding five years.
Myself and Christine got to the lot at 2. It was still pretty empty but began to fill up rapidly. Ran into alot of people from and formerly of the region (Bubba and Mel, Tom and Jamie, Austin and Jamie, Brent, Flick, Blunt, Abar, Josh, Bobbi, Wendy) As usual, we ruled the lot and the lawn. There was a noticble lack of tour rats and general shadyness (although the Nitrous Mafia was out in full effect) Below is the setlist
06/07/09 Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ
Set I: Chalkdust Torture, Fee, Wolfman's Brother, Guyute, My Sweet One, 46 Days, The Lizards, The Wedge, Strange Design, Tube, First Tube
Set II: Sand, Suzy Greenberg, Limb By Limb, The Horse> Silent in the Morning, Sugar Shack1, Character Zero, Tweezer
Encore: Joy1, Bouncing Around the Room, Run Like An Antelope, Tweezer Reprise
The Fee, Wolfman's was very sick and the Tube, First Tube ender were really high energy and ripping. Sand had a unique ending and then a 4 song third set. Three songs keeps it an encore. Four make it a third set. Note: I established this principle of set designation in 2005 at the WSP show in May in Asheville. That's the rule because I have a PhD in rock and roll and you do not.
Sorry the show is short on details and more about the big picture but it was more just about release and reconnecting with Phish. Got back to Marrieta at 3:30, couldn't sleep because I had a Coke (the soda, which I had to drink because they had no coffee and since I also quit soda they really crank me up now) and drove home at 6 AM. Feel really good for being up nearly 24 hours straight, but since it wasn't chemically enhanced, no hangover. Who knew!?
So, my dad is still sick and will not be getting any better but it still all worked out, and it feels really good to be back on the Bus.
Dave Kemp
BA American Studies, PhD in rock and roll
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