This was my 6th show, and I had been absolutely buzzing with anticipation for it. I couldn’t get my whole Phish crew to come with me, but I managed to drag along my friend for his first rodeo, which required pulling some teeth. This was the first of 9 shows I was going to this summer, and I had just quit my job a few days earlier(for unrelated reasons). Friday morning we packed everything into my dad’s Toyota Sienna and started the 2 ½ hour drive to Noblesville from my small town in Ohio. The journey was smooth sailing until we hit the Indiana border, where I quickly learned that the Indiana cops do not fuck around. I got pulled over for going a bit faster than the speed limit. I’ve always found that as long as you’re (mostly) honest with cops, they will let you off the hook more often than not. He asked us where we were headed, and I told him that we were headed to Phish. “Is there anything illegal in the car?” The cop asked me. “I know what happens at Phish concerts.” I laughed and said no, the cop told me to watch my speed and let us go. Phew. After that I rode the speed limit with cruise control the whole rest of the drive. I wasn’t gonna take any more chances, and we were in no hurry. Once we finally got to our campsite, about a mile and a half away from the venue, we set up camp and relaxed before the show.
Around 4 o’clock we decided to head to the lot, aka the most magical place on earth. I was very excited to have my buddy experience shakedown for the first time, He could not believe his eyes. He’d never experienced anything like it, and he did something we all have done. Went absolutely off the rails on his first time. Before we went into the venue, he had drunk half a case of beer and a double vodka cran. I had to practically drag him into the venue proper, where we met up with a mutual friend and his mom, and settled into our spot for the show on the lawn. I decided I had a little time to go meet with one of my friends from a previous show.
Shortly after the band finally came on. PYITE lit me and the rest of the crowd up, I quite literally jumped up and down with excitement, high fived my friend, wished him a good show, and sprinted back to the spot where the rest of my crew was. The first set was fun, if not incredibly notable. Heavy Things was cool to get, as it is rarer than I thought it was, and one I always liked. LSG is one of my favorites of the new tracks, and we got a solid rendition here. SOAMule was something I didn’t think I would ever catch, so that was a fun one. Pillow Jets is a song I have a special connection to, as I caught the debut and the spectacular version at Dayton ‘23. This one always goes hard, and goes deep, and this version didn’t disappoint. After Pillow Jets we got Jim, and the first 4.0 A Day in the Life. I’ve never been a huge Beatles fan, to be completely honest, so the covers don’t particularly excite me, but this was an exception. This version was well executed and dipped into Evil Phish territory, which I can never get enough of. Great way to end the set, and left everyone wanting more.
After setbreak we get into the real meat of this show. Diseasefest. Oh Kee Pah was incredibly fun for me, as I grew up listening to Lawn Boy in the car with my Dad. After the first ever Oh Kee Pah>Axilla, we are treated to a monster Disease>Scents and Subtle Sounds. S&SS is one of my favorite Phish tracks, and I had only gotten a sample version at the previous year’s Star Lake. The first outing of this track at Deer Creek absolutely ripped, and ended up being the longest jam of the night. Then the Diseasefest began. Trey drops back into the Disease solo, and the crowd absolutely erupts with excitement. We are treated to an ethereal What’s The Use? I Always Wanted It This Way was a song I wasn’t familiar with, but provided a dance party nonetheless. Towards the end, Trey once again drops into the Disease solo, to everyone’s surprise, and we all erupt again. The band walks offstage, and we are all left asking each other: “What could they possibly encore with after that?” Of course, there was only one answer. YEM. My first YEM, at that. And it did not disappoint. I was ecstatic that my friend got one on his first show as well. After the Sphere, the image of the dog licking the camera will forever be burned into my mind for YEM. The vocal jam descended back into the Disease solo one last time, and we all looked around thinking “There’s no way they’re gonna do it again…. Right?” And in classic Phish fashion, they did it again. Disease one final time.
Shows like this are why I see this band. We all left satisfied. My friend was a little too drunk, but you gotta go hard on your first show. We headed back to the lot, but we stayed for a little too long, as the shuttle for our campsite had stopped running at midnight. (An oversight, if you ask me) We waited for 45 minutes before we finally got picked up, headed back to our tents, and got some rest for the shows ahead.