This was more of an event than a show, but it was interesting nonetheless. After destroying SPAC two-nights in a row, the boys were doing Letterman and decided to play a mini-set on the marquee; one would guess as a thank you to the NYC fans that could not otherwise get tickets or time off to see final shows.

It was interesting to hear the same song twice in a row, and the versions of SASS actually had different feels. The first had a sense of urgency and the second version had more emotion to it. I thought that first was a sound check which needed to be complete in time for the “taped live” cameras to roll for Late Night, but I guess it was the one that got aired, and they just did two versions and picked the one they liked best.

With their official Letterman work done, they went into 5-song “radio friendly” tour of some classics – I would have preferred one or two songs 2-4 times as long, but I think the idea was cool – one more for the road. The most interesting thing about this show – and it does not come through on the tape – is the Wilson chant. As this was in front of the theatre, fans were up and down both sides of the street for a few blocks, and numerous office workers were staring out the window and passersbys were trying not to stare. When all of the people started chanting Wilson – echoing off the concrete canyons – I wonder what they thought – what could Wilson possibly mean?

Listening again, Tweezer was pretty interesting, and with the reprise, it was not a bad way to go out for what I thought would be my last show.

So I'd been to Brooklyn and SPAC and had a lot of fun as I knew I was going to see the whole tour and I love travelling to NY. I literally was on this tour by myself as no one I knew was catching all of these shows, and I had hitchhiked with a random frat kid from Atlanta to Brooklyn. I met some cool kids along this tour and traveled around with different kids after first night Brooklyn. Well the kids I was hanging out with at SPAC night 2 had told me that they planned on going down to the city to see if they could somehow score a ticket to Letterman last minute off of a scalper. They said they had also heard that Phish was going to play on top of the Ed Sullivan Theater. It would be an informal and unannounced show if this actually happened. I thought it sounded cool so I said I'd go, as I had nothing better to do and no one else with me or anywhere to be. Well, I ended up exactly where I needed to be!

We arrived in the city and grabbed some food before heading down to the theater. When we got to the theater there was definitely a "scene" happening with tour kids hanging around everywhere. We walked up and one of the guys who we had seen at SPAC was there and said he too had rumors they would play on top of the building. Within like an hour the entire streets were packed and it was insane. The people filled street sides for 4 blocks and the air smelled like ganja and patchouli. We never scored tickets to see Letterman but it was ok because we hung out with some many awesome people outside in the streets and drank a beer or three. The cops had shown up and were kind of freaked out that all of these people had descended here out of nowhere. I heard one of them say on his radio, "I think there is some kind of party happening here or something. Send backup." Just as he said that Trey peeked his head out over the balcony of the roof and waved. The crowd roared and the cops were confused...

They played some tunes and everyone was dancing their asses off. We saw a bum walk up and ask my buddy for a cigarette, and when my buddy gave him one he said "What band is playing? They sound cool." "Phish", we told him. Then he started dancing too and I felt like I was in a movie or something. But it was an electric feeling like perhaps you were dreaming. Surreal.

2001 was awesome but short, still awesome though with all the people dancing everywhere. Wilson was rocking and a treat to hear. Everything was played well really, how could someone complain about a free solid set? Tweeprise sent us out into the city buzzed and buzzing about what they would play at Deer Creek. I was so blessed to have seen an "unannounced" show by my favorite band, I've never caught an announced show since though I've seen many since then.

Side note: I bought an awesome lot shirt from another tour kid at a gas station we had both stopped at. It depicted a caricature of all of the members of Phish sitting around a table (like the Late Show) and underneath it said "The REAL Late Show". I wore this shirt at Alpine and Gordon drove up to me on his golf cart and stopped to look at my t-shirt I had on. He asked me where I had got it, and I told him. I should have given it to him but I was on the road and it was one of my last clean t-shirts... I was totally faced on beer and whatnot when he asked me, all I could manage to do was to point at his caricature and say, "That's you man! That's you Mike!"

I felt really stupid when he said, "Yep, you're right. That's me."
He was nice and said bye as he drove off on his golf cart.
That was a really cool experience and I still have the shirt.
I just wish I wasn't so faced when I saw him so I wouldn't have acted so, well, intoxicated.

Check out this picture (which is not my property, found it online).
It's the crowd outside the theater on the streets of NYC for Phish!
http://eyeofthefish.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/phish_letterman.jpg