There is only one true way for me to judge a Phish show after the immediate glory of having either been to the show or having listened to it on the now popular couch tour, and that is to give it my full attention while putting back some miles. Just how does 7/27/14 Set 2 hold up?
Today provided just that opportunity. I'm spending the weekend at my parent's house and my sister and her family are visiting as well. It's old times in the Casey household! As it is a Saturday, I would need to start my day out with a long run. The main problem here is that every route I used to run here in Londonderry way back in the day is a road route and provides little distance and even less allure. The only viable option I was able to arrive at was to be dropped off in Salem and run the old rail bed back into Londonderry.
I left the house just after 8 this morning and was driven down Rt 93 by my father to a spot I had mapped out the previous night. From that spot it was a solid half marathon back to the house. It would be rather flat, and if anything, a positive elevation run.
I started my watch at the trail head behind the bicycle shop and was off. I also started off my ipod in the middle of the Slave from 7/27, a show currently regarded as one of the best shows they've played in at least 10 to 15 years. The final soaring notes of the song gave way to the opening bass notes of DWD as I paced along an over grown rail trail in the cloudy humidity of the morning.
Before long I can upon a newly built bridge spanning a main road and the trail that picked up on the other side was newly refurbished with hard pack sand and stone. It wasn't too bad, but i liked the more natural feel of the first section of trail.
Bouncing along to the DWD jam, I came to the first road crossing, which was where the trail now became paved. I'm not sure why towns feel the need to pave a "trail", but I was thankful that the right hand shoulder of the trail had a dirt single track to run. It seemed the paved trail was excellent at attracting soccer moms and senior citizens riding hybrid bikes. The DWD jam transitioned smoothly into NICU. At this point, my pace had been a rather steady sub 8 trot and the sincerity and urgency with which Phish was playing with wasn't allowing my pace to slow any time soon. I ran past some dog walkers and Saturday morning joggers. I passed marsh lands with beautiful mirror still reflections of the surrounding trees.
And then I can upon the opening notes of HYHU that led to some of the most clever uses of self deprecating humor by the band. Fishman takes the mic and notes that he hasn't practiced any songs and would just make this a sing along and a drummer's choice. He subsequently broke into the rarely played and often agreed upon, worst Phish song ever - Jennifer Dances. The fact that this song was being played in jest, was just another in a long, long line of reasons why this is my favorite band. They finish up the tune and break into another rarely played tune off of Joy, Ive Been Around. It allowed for some fun band interactions and was a great way to finish out the set. I was so caught up in listening, I was barely paying attention to the fact that I was running, but I was still clicking off sub 8 miles.
Encore started off with a cover of Stevie Wonder's Boogie On Reggae Woman, which kept the pace, and my attention, in the zone. Closing out the encore was Tweezer Reprise. This song, after a night of Tweezer mayhem, was the icing on the cake for this show. You could feel the fever and urgency with which they were playing this song, and as they had been playing all night long. They were playing like they really meant it. I was rocking some sweet air guitar moves, and before I knew it, I was running like I was a man possessed! I meant to look down at my watch and see how fast that mile was, but alas, I was so caught up in the music that I missed the mile read out by a tenth of a mile. (after later review, it was a 6:49 mile) The music was just too good and I couldn't slow myself down. The set was over and I needed more...STAT!!! Time to start this set over again!
About this time, I ran past a group of runner's who were standing around in a parking lot at one of the trail heads along the path. I gave a quick wave and kept up what I could only assume was an extremely impressive pace for them to have witnessed, or maybe they were just thinking, "Who's this ass hat with the race vest on, on a paved bike path?" Either way, I failed to stop and check out the old Boston & Maine caboose next to the renovated train station.
Back into the first Tweezer of the set. The jam is cut short after two teases by Fishman to segue into Back on the Train. BotT was woven out of just as quickly as it was woven into, and seamlessly back into Tweezer before heading back into BotT again. This was some really early, to mid 90's style playing right here, and they were absolutely killing it!
Around this time I was crossing through downtown Derry and back to the splendors of dirt trails. The trails that run through the middle of Derry are pretty rough. I had to take several detours to be able to get on course with the trail only to have the next section be riddled with the wavering pits created by dirt bikes and 4 wheelers. I was able to find a relatively level edge and stuck to that for the most part.
The band segued into one of their new, and admittedly really good songs, Waiting All Night. The fresh melodic lines and solid vocals for a band that has never been known for their singing abilities, made me feel great even though this particular section of the trail was teeming with deer flies. I helped population control by killing at least 15 of them. I said I'm sorry.
Crossing Rt 28, I knew I was in the final 4.5 miles of the run. The opening guitar lines of Free helped push the pace and keep me ahead of the deer flies that were trying so hard to keep up. The band quickly wove back into the Tweezer theme again before weaving into Simple. The trail was straight and the view off in the distance of the next trail gate was locked into my view. I was still sticking to the sides of the trail to keep off the constant rolls from the motorized vehicles. The transition back into the end section of Free, with the repeated Free vocal line, in that time and place, thinking about everything in my life, completely resonated and I was washed over with adrenalin crushing the pace even faster. It was all coming together.
Passing past Poor Boy's Diner, I head towards the Rt 93 underpass, thinking about when this was just some rinky-dink little highway with a muddy old rail bed passing below, instead of the 4 lane super highway that it's become.
At this point the trail has again, unfortunately been paved. Dog walkers, cyclist, and soccer moms littered the trail as I haul ass towards Clark Rd, which would be my departure from the rail trail. Powered by my second play through of Slave, I turn onto Clark and see a 6:46 mile click off on the Garmin. With just a little over a mile to go, I kept pushing the pace up Noyes Rd. Wanting nothing more than a final sub 7 mile, I let the Slave pull me up the road and onto my parent's street, where the final assault on the pavement concluded with a 1:37 half marathon. Just a few minutes off my actual road half PR, this was a solid accomplishment coming just 2 weeks after spraining my ankle, which I could still feel, but not in a bad way. I've been getting stronger and this was just what I needed to remind me I am still in the game.
Does this show hold up to legendary status? If it was a direct correlation to how I ran today, I'd have to rank this show pretty damn high!
