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My thoughts from Friday:
On Friday, my trek began with a drive to Elgin. Five of us were piling in a Ford Expedition, that didn’t have AC. Not the best start to a 97 degree day, but it was what it was. I would rather pile in, and split up the $30 parking fee. We arrived at 2:30, even though the lots weren’t opening until 3:00. In most situations like this, they open the lot early, because traffic piles up around the entrance of the venue. This wasn't Highway D in East Troy, WI, this was LSD approaching rush hour. Our plan was to park in the Soldier Field south lot, between the stadium and McCormick Place, because that is where the "Shakedown Street" was supposed to be. Shakedown Street is the area in the parking lot where people sell their wares (water, beer, food, clothing, artwork, drugs, etc). People look to buy/sell/and trade tickets.
We had to circle around the Stadium, Aquarium, and Planetarium three times until they finally opened up the south lot. Once inside, security made their presence known immediately, which wasn’t completely unexpected in Chicago, but these guys were a bunch of assholes, who were really getting off on their power trips. Picture dozens of Elmhurst Steve types. Guys who need the gun and handcuffs to get an erection. They were yelling at everybody pulling in to the lot, that vending was not allowed, and would be strongly enforced. We were not allowed to set up canopies for shade. My 10’ x 10’ EZ-UP is usually a life saver on days like this, but it was as useless as Chas teaching an English class, as it remained unopened in it’s bag.
Once security moved on the next aisle to wrangle cars into their spaces, things calmed down as far as the man harshing our mellow. I had a cooler full of bottled water, and a cooler full of PBRs, both ice cold. Then plan was to sell them for $1 each, so I could cover my share on parking, beers in the show, and anything I wanted to buy in the lot. I had a third cooler full of the beers that I was drinking. After 5:00 PM, it was free to park in the lot, and then things started happening. This venue allows attendees to bring in as many sealed bottles of water/Gatorade as you want, so everything I had sold pretty quickly.
I was unaware of the free water taxi that took people across Burnham harbor, so we hiked it to the venue, on this day. I took the water taxi on Saturday and Sunday. When entering a venue for a Phish show, you don’t know what to expect as far as pat downs/searches on the way in. So, before we went in, I stashed my chronic, and the three airline bottles of booze that I planned to sneak in. $9 beer, my ass. This was the least hassle that I have ever had entering a show. Nobody touched me. I could have brought in just about anything. Good knowledge to have for Saturday and Sunday.
We made our way to the lawn, and found some friends who had gotten there earlier. They were about one third of the way back, near the right side, as we looked at the stage. The lawn is flat, so it is hard to see the stage from the back, but there was a HUGE HD video screen on each side of the lawn. So, we had that going for us, which was nice. Shortly after the show started, I found the one and only Donspiracy. My man was looking slim and trim, and was with four ladies. The pimp hand is strong with this one. As extreme as the security presence was outside the venue, it was non-existent inside. I don’t think I saw one security guard in the lawn at any point of the three nights. Needless to say, the ganja was getting passed around.
The first set was really good. I will try to spare everyone reading this from the self-serving drivel written by most rock critics. You know where to go if you want to hear about a “stirring rendition” of this song, or a “heart felt” version of that song. As the set went on, the skies got dark, the clouds moved in, and lightning could be seen in the distance. After 70 minutes or so of music, the band took their usual thirty minute set break.
As they opened the second set with Down With Disease, the lightning was becoming more intense, and more frequent. By the time they started their second tune, Prince Caspian, everyone knew bad weather was imminent. They got about fifteen seconds into the song, and Trey walked over, and said something to Page. Page got on the mic, and said that severe storms were twenty minutes away, and they were gonna take a quick break, and hopefully come back out after the storms passed. Just a few minutes later, someone from the venue announced that due to the oncoming storms, the venue was to be evacuated immediately. Figuring that I had at least a twenty minute walk back to the car, there was no chance I got there in time. So, my buddy and I found a food tent, and hid behind it with a few other concert goers. Once Mother Nature unleashed her fury upon us, we said, “Fuck it”, and went into the food tent where some workers were. One woman starts screaming at us that we have to leave. I asked her where we are supposed to go. She says, “Go home”. I politely said to her that I noticed that she wasn’t going to her home, but rather was hiding under the tent. Now, she starts cursing at us, telling us to “Get the fuck out of here”. I had consumed tons of beer and whiskey by this point in the evening, so I had just about enough of this concert venue food worker yelling at me. I told her that it she wanted us to leave, she was going to have to call the cops and tell them that we were doing nothing more than seeking shelter from a terrible storm. One of her co-workers chilled her out, and she let it go. We waited until the heavy stuff stopped, and we trekked back to the car. Of course, it started pouring again halfway back to the car, where our friends were already waiting. They had two more people with them, because we weren’t going to make them walk to their hotel in the rain. We had to make some room in the already packed car for two extra people. We are standing under the hatch of the truck in the pouring rain, and five short dicked, insecure asswipes in a security truck start yelling at us to leave. We told them we were making some room, so we could get in the car and leave. One of the two people we found (I don’t know this kid, by the way) felt he had something to prove, so he started jawing back at them. Nothing he said was that bad. He didn’t curse at them, or anything like that, but they weren’t having it, and all five got out of their truck in the pouring rain. My buddy, the truck owner, grabbed this kid, and threw him in the truck, and I tried to smooth things over with security. I told them that we didn’t want any trouble, and we were leaving, so they got back in their trucks, and we all left. Good times, even though my 56th Phish show didn't go exactly as planned. Saturday review to follow.
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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson
<º)))><
Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way
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