I\'ll just give a brief recap of the Phish experience last night:
I gotta say I\'m leaning towards the Yoda/Klout contrarian view of things.
Why I mention Klout: the band was good and some of the songs were indeed pretty ser. But I still say that Breakfast shows make things more interesting night in and night out and own me to a higher degree (all factors considered). It is really hard for me to be pwned at an 18,000-person venue that lacks the intimacy of a bar/club/theater/modest amphitheater. I don\'t hit a lot of mega-sized shows for this reason and last night reinforced my opinion that these shows are way too expensive for what enjoyment you actually get, are too crowded, have ridiculously overpriced beverages ($12 for a large Sierra, $14 for large Fat Tire) and have an intimacy factor of close to zero (depending on seat location). I don\'t think I\'ll go back to another amphitheater/stadium show unless it is a must-see act (which I placed Phish into for this run) and have some good seats that aren\'t a mile away from the stage.
Why I mentioned Yoda: toward the middle of second set, in anticipation of a quick exit to the parking lot once the show stopped, we decided to watch the show from a patio bar in the front of the venue that has large screens of the stage. I quickly realized that both the sound and viewing were much more enjoyable than being on the lawn (not including light show). At that moment, wishing this screen was in my living room, I thought of Yoda saying how he would prefer to watch or listen from his own living room.
Musically everything was fine. The only things that were still cool from the lawn were the awesome light show, the full moon behind the stage and tent, and the bomber plane from a nearby airfield running test flights low over the venue throughout the first set.
All told, I don\'t think my night was worth the close to $200 paid for 2 tickets, gas, dinner and a couple beers. Could have gone out every weekend of the month for that pricetag.
Can\'t wait to get back to my grassroots bands in small venues for low fares.
