SPAC2 : The night we rode into sonic battle

As crowds were still streaming into SPAC, humans were immediately under attack, and eaten on Mars. 'Martian Monster' opener started the conflict theme which 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' carried, inviting us to relive the crescendos and tumult of Kubrick's primates versus alien monolith. A were on a war path, and nothing made it more clear than what came next, and unusually early: the bomb drop in 'Mike's Song'. Set 1 was taking no prisoners (foreshadowing...).

The energy released in that depth charge was something to behold, only matched by the phans war cries back. Sustained and ripping through SPAC (just was well the Broadview Stage has an open design otherwise venue structural integrity would need re-assessed!). The calm before the storm came as we waded in the velvet sea, and then we dove into the depths of the groove in Weekapaug. The sonic battle kept raging and we worked our way through the Phish weaponry. We nursed gunshot wounds with gauze and faced a friend with a knife. Planets scurry round. General Fish led the charge through the time signatures changes of My Friend, My Friend, and the battalions of Trey, Mike & Page followed through. Military precision and execution and we ended the set right were they took us: No Man's Land. Trey led a Happy Birthday tease for CK5, which on the slopes of the lawn and orchestra left the attending army turning trying to spot the birthday boy. Sniper skills were not on display here!

After war do we get peace? Tolstoy must have skipped Set 2 as we were in a floaty Oblivion with Page teasing 'No Quarter'. The war continued. We were in the trenches, down with disease complete with crawling myceloid light patterns overhead. Some reprieve in Light before we grab more munitions, this time to load a life saving gun. The percussion rinse (see baseball cap from the Dry Goods stall) pierces past the miso lacerations and sukabami warfare. Like all good army command, the band leads us and keeps us at their side with an invitation to waste time with them. We happily oblige and cheerily march into New York (alternate lyric check) with Fluffhead, ending the battle, the war, the set in a glorious expansive communal explosion of cacophony and bright lights.

If the sets were the battles, and war, the encore was here to ground us and remind us what we're fighting for. Ticket stubs for Rock & Roll. By the end of the night, in SPAC alone this reporting Private had marched 13,500 steps alongside an army of 25,000 phellow foot soldiers. Time to rest: AT EASE. There's a Sunday show to prepare for next!