, attached to 2004-04-11

Review by martianfur

martianfur I'll try to get this right, as I'm reviewing 8+ years after the fact.. Thanks to Trey.com for filling in a couple gaps: http://trey.com/fromtheroad/?tour=Spring2004 />
Was hanging out at a buddy's house in Albany about a week and a half before the show. This dude named Benner came out of his room saying a buddy of him told him that he heard from someone who worked in the ticketing office at the Flynn that "if you like Phish, you should be in Burlington on Easter Sunday."

When I got home, I went online, and looked at the concert schedule in Burlington for April 11, 2004. Sure enough, "Dave Grippo and Friends" was scheduled to play the old Higher Ground. I scooped up two advance tickets at $15 each, and called my buddy to tell him that yeah, something might be up and that I was going to make the 3-4 hour trip.

He didn't want to go... none of my friends did. Everyone was either busy with college stuff, or visiting family during the Easter break. So I made the trip solo, got to Burlington mid afternoon, and made my first stop near Church street to check out the scene.

I ended up in this little coffee shop that's kinda next to Nectars, and got some kind of hippie carrot ginger drink. Guy in front of me in line is talking to the cashier, basically having a minor freak out, saying "dude, phish is playing tonight! I just heard from my buddy at Higher Ground, it's all sold out" (or something to that effect). I get my drink, and turn around, and there's Mike just sitting at this table, writing in his notebook, head kind of down, trying to hide out a little, cell phone on the table. I quickly zipped up my hoodie so he couldn't see I was wearing a shirt with Fishman's face on it, smiled and said hi to him on my way out.

I head over to the venue probably an hour before sunset, and I'm one of only about 4 cars there. I see Trey's green Audi in the parking lot... There are no doubts at this point. Big Red comes out of the venue a few minutes later and is kind of running around outside playing with his daughters, kind of tossing them in the air, before heading to his car and heading out (presumably for dinner).

Another kid comes up and I tell him about my Mike and Trey spottings. He says he heard similar things from a friend, and that it was all sold out (it was), so he came down early to try and score a ticket. It's his lucky day - I give him my extra, and he's super pumped cause it means he can go back home and watch the Simpsons before the show starts.

Eventually a line forms, and I just go straight to the front. The room is an old Denny's and basically only holds about 350 people standing. There isn't really a "rail" per se, as the stage is literally right in front of me, and I park myself for the night (It's amazing how easy it is to stay put at a show when you're not 21 yet..). There are 4 sets, and I make friendly with the locals so that I can return after any bathroom / water breaks.

The Easter Jam was four sets:

Set I: Big Joe Burrell and the Unknown Blues Band (my third time seeing them).

Set II: Paul Asbell and Jamie Masefield acoustic.

Set III: Dave Grippo's Funk Band.

Set IV: pretty much classic TAB (Trey, Russ, Tony, Grippo, Jen, Andy, Ray) with Phish, Jamie Masefield, and Seth Yacovone.

TAB opens with Push on Til the Day, and Drifting. I'm a matter of inches away from Trey, right up against the stage. Holy fuck. Trey is playing the Blue-Green Languedoc out of a Fender Twin.

Small Axe and Last Tube are next and Page joins TAB for both. Fish comes out next during Sultans of Swing, on a side setup with cymbal, snare drum and timbales. The horn soli section in Sultans is TIGHT.

And now, here comes Mike. SAND! Both Mike and Tony are playing. It is all 4 members of Phish with Trey band. My mind is exploding. One by one the members of Trey band leave, until just Phish is remaining.

CHALKDUST TORTURE!!! Wow. I never, ever in my wildest dreams figured I'd see Phish do a club gig. And here I was, soaking it all in, right up front. Everyone is feeling the exact same thing. Jen Hartswick is side stage dancing her ass off. So is everyone in Trey band... at that point, they were all just phans like the rest of us.

Phish leaves, Trey and band return, and do Flock of Words, and Plasma. They close off the set with HIGHER GROUND, and all of Phish returns, along with Jamie Masefield and Seth Yacovone.

I'm exhausted, and have a 4 hour drive overnight ahead of me, because I'm a poor college kid and can't afford a hotel. I don't know how I did it, but I made it home by morning, and told everyone who gave two shits:

"I saw Phish at Higher Ground. Fuck."
Score: 34
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