September 2nd, 2017 was the middle of my first time attending Phish’s annual three-night run at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (affectionately and unfortunately known amongst phans simply as “Dicks”). M’lady and I were staying at the Embassy Suites with countless of her (now my) friends and associates who had flown in for the event from all over the United States.

M’lady spent much of the day in bed trying to recover from a debilitating case of bronchitis I popped out to the drugstore and bought her anything I could think of that might help and she took it all. We still managed to get in a fair share of socializing, as friend after friend dropped by to say hello and wish m’lady a speedy recovery. When she inevitably zonked out from all the medication I tiptoed out of the room and made my own rounds dropping in on countless friends in countless other hotel rooms.

Then happy hour came around and I hit up the hotel bar for a few rounds of free drinks and before you knew it, it was time to get to the show.

The day had treated m’lady well and she was in much better shape than the night before when we packed ourselves into the hotel shuttle to the concert (which was yet another great bonus that came with staying at The Embassy). If I’m not mistaken she was even feeling well enough for us to do some pre-show socializing on a little grassy knoll between the lot and an open soccer pitch beside the stadium.

(This grassy knoll would prove to become our standard preshow meet-up spot for all future concerts at Dick’s. I haven’t asked her, but I’m guessing it’s been m’lady’s spot for years.)

I don’t think the show was as good overall as the previous night, but at least we didn’t fall asleep this time (on night one we were both suffering from a jet-lag/altitude/liquor combo that overcame us like Maxwell Smart knockout gas. That said, we were standing on the floor this night as opposed to sitting in the stands the night before, so there’s that too I guess). The show started strong with Simple and ended well with a Lizards/Antelope encore, but in between was standard Phish fare.

Which is awesome – don’t get me wrong here. In comparison with any other band out there on any given night Phish hit it out of the park and played a remarkable show. In comparison to Phish, however, it was just okay. Not bad, not stellar, but pretty darn okay. Certainly worth the $70, no question there.

Not to mention the whole experience that wraps itself around a trio of Phish shows. All that fun I had all day is connected to this ticket too, so really, it was quite a bargain.

As usual.

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