Pittsburgh and Philadelphia

We drove from Ohio to Pittsburgh and stayed with Rives (we met her in VT, her daughter wwoofed with us). After staying in a number of less than ideal spots- her clean and well organized house was awesome- this is coming from the part of me that orders albums by genre, artist, and year. Wonderful place to stay- many thanks to her.

We drove to Philadelphia the next day and caught two shows- the following day was a classy motel 6 thanksgiving extravaganza of apples and macaroni and cheese (not together- though I would think that delicious. A party not to be named refused this delicacy).

Philadelphia = excellent town from our limited time wandering around for 5 hours. And a more extensive chinatown than DC.

Shows!


Tuesday, 11/24/2009 Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA

Set 1: Chalk Dust Torture, Bathtub Gin, Cities > Camel Walk, The Curtain With, The Wedge, The Moma Dance, Reba, Golgi Apparatus, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan

Set 2: Possum > Down with Disease > Twenty Years Later > Harry Hood, The Mango Song > Mike's Song > Simple > Slave to the Traffic Light > Weekapaug Groove

Encore: A Day in the Life

Right. First set was great. I can't really say much more than that. Certainly my favorite of the tour so far. CDT, gin, curtin with, the wedge, moma dance, reba, golgi- all standards that I like to hear. Solid jams throughout. I didn't think I would hear cities this tour (no covers up to this point) and it didn't make me frown. I'm mixed about the Joy material, but stealing time is one I like a bit more than the others.

Second set also quite good. Some of the setlist felt a litle recycled, but I won't really ever complain about mike's groove (with simple and slave in the middle at that). A day in the life is one of my favorite encores.

Wednesday, 11/25/2009 Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA

Set 1: Kill Devil Falls, 46 Days, Sugar Shack, Halley's Comet > The Divided Sky, Sleep Again, Ocelot, Train Song, Wilson > Run Like an Antelope

Set 2: Birds of a Feather, Farmhouse, Tweezer, You Enjoy Myself, Esther, Time Turns Elastic > Tweezer Reprise

Encore: Oh! Sweet Nuthin'

Set I: And here's a love/hate example of my phish relationship. I thought this show was a bit on the boring side for most of the first set (though it did pick up at end). I mean, really? KDF -> 46 days -> sugar shack? Meh. Halley's and Divided were nice (the best dived so far) but then Ocelot-> train song -> wilson. I've said it once... but I'm getting tired of wilson. Hard to criticize antelope though, it's always a personal live favorite.

Set II: Yeah birds of a feather! metal. farmhouse = smash my face with a porcupine. then tweezer-> yem -> esther. soild, good funky yem. then it happened. sometimes it takes time to get over a tragic and painful event- the years will yeild more comfort in retrospect... least to say we got tte'd again. does the band not notice the entire venue sit down when they play this.. for 15 very drawn out minutes. Tweezer reprise was standard. Good velvet underground cover to close the night.

Great seats for night 1, ok seats for night 2. Still fun, I've enjoyed watching Maggie start to "get" what being a phish fan is about. It's different than most other bands and very hard to explain to folks who've never been to a show.