On the off day between Phish’s two shows in Boston and their next two at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut m’lady and I were happy to be hosted by our new acquaintance-turned-friend Sam at his home in Cape Cod. We had met Sam the previous fall at some Phish shows in Albany, we enjoyed two nights of nice chats outside our hotel and took him up on his offer to visit.

Sam and his son showed us a great time. We went out for a cruise around Martha’s Vineyard on their beautiful boat, enjoyed an excellent dinner at a legendary local spot called Seafood Sam’s (no relation), rode in Sam’s Jeep down to the beach for a heckuva sunset, and closed out the evening munching yummy frozen pizzas and binge-watching Bob’s Burgers back at our host’s house before turning in for a solid rest. And it all started with a short post-show meeting almost a full year earlier.

Gotta love how music brings people together. Especially music that comes with a built-in travelling circus.

When morning broke on July 9th, 2019 it was time for us to part company. M’lady and I headed to our budget hotel thirty miles from the next Phish concert to meet up with our Boston friends while Sam dropped off his kid and made his own way to the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, where we would all be joining 10,000 like-minded individuals for the show. Soon enough Dee and Joe arrived at our hotel and the four of us set out for the show, arriving at the stand-alone casino complex early enough to swing a leisurely dinner in an onsite Italian restaurant, a meal that was peppered with visits from and sightings of friends from all over.

For a den of sin, the Mohegan Sun was a pretty nice place. It was rather un-Vegas, with shops and distractions scattered liberally amongst their ubiquitous gambling opportunities, and the place didn’t reek of greed and hopelessness the way The Flamingo and Caesar’s Palace do. Maybe it was still too new. It was a bit of a crush getting into the show but it was a happy, friendly crush shared with good people in pleasant surroundings. Inside I headed straight to the concession area and laid out way too much money for a lemonade.

Yes, a straight-up lemonade. I was driving. And you know, I enjoyed that lemonade so much I almost swore I was going to give up drinking at concerts. I even got myself a second one.

I’ve certainly typed way more words than I should have without yet mentioning the show itself, which I enjoyed very much. It started with Energy going into Weekapaug (without a Mike’s Song, weird huh?) and than a Moma Dance (which I can take or leave, to be honest) into Maze, which has long been one of my Phish phaves. And inside this Maze they squeezed a run through one of Fishman’s little moments of superfluous gold, Lengthwise.

And whilst this was all well and good (or better), I must aim my attention (and thus yours) towards the next number, a little ditty called Petrichor that is oft-maligned by people much phishier than I, an orchestrated classical scion that remains gloriously instrumental until being abruptly interrupted by lyrics so cheesy and incessant that they somehow retroactively tie the whole shebang together, and I love it. It’s a chance for Fishman to use the large and cumbersome marimba lumina that his roadies go through the trouble of setting up for him every night on the off chance that they will play Petrichor, and it’s a chance for Trey to show off his inner orchestra. When out for an evening stroll it’s not uncommon for a rock musician to hear large cresting symphonic lines sweeping through their mind’s ear; cascading violins and majestic French horns towering above manic ‘cello glissandos and thundering timpani, with an unimaginable yet unforgettable woodwind melody piercing through it all…and on that rare occasion that said rock musician manages to squeeze the sound out of his head it often sounds an awful lot like Petrichor (or maybe Tubular Bells).

And like I say, I love it.

The set closed out with Things People Do, Sample, and Bathtub Gin which was also pretty great. And this was just the first set. The rest of the show had a few more of my favourites too: Ghost, Golgi, and even Contact.

To be honest, what a great show to be sober at! I wonder if they would always play that well if I stopped drinking at their shows? The world may never know.

toddmanout.com