This show was a great experience all around... really nice venue, (although for saturday show we had to park in the overflow... 2 miles away [they had shuttle buses] and i thought it was flat out unfair to the fans to play such a small venue for the fourth of july [even so, it was possible to get a free show from the hill outside the gate]), really not that many boston/philly balloon-sucking skeezebags that far south, the band was on and the hotel parties were fucking killer.

There's been a lot of talk about the 'killin' in the name' and dammit, one of my favorite aspects of the Phish phenomenon is unpredictability, but that songs sucked ten years ago, it still sucks today and it ripped me right out of a solid psychedelic set, that I was deeply into at the time. I mean, I stock up on the good stuff so I don't have to hear that kind of shit on the radio and there it was right in the middle of a nasty 4th of July show. I was pretty sure they were making fun of RATM at the time, but a large portion of the crowd didn't see it that way. Don't get me wrong, the place was rocking, but not the kind of energy I show up for. I thought the song kind of highlighted who the drunken hillbilly locals were, so the headier folks could avoid them on the way out... there were some serious 'necks in there throwing down... I'm not quite sure if a full on mosh pit broke out, but as far as I'm concerned the bus ran off the road a bit and I truly hope I don't have to sit through anymore I'm-angry-at-my-mom-because-she-won't-buy-me-a-new-skateboard shitrock at Phish shows from here on in.

Nevertheless, the First Tube encore was right back on target and might be the best overall song I saw this year, so it more than made up for angryfying the trip with the RATM nod. Overall, this show was more than worth the treck and the cost, and was a satisfying end to what I thought was a beautiful southern run. My friend was out on the hill outside the gate for the saturday show; he said the Alpharetta cops were out there dancing with sparklers some children had given them- good vibes all around in GA.

...I really got off on that Tela too