Doors opened at 6.30pm.
The first thing to do on a Halloween night at a Phish concert, is to get the Phishbill. For those who don't know, Halloween is one of the most special night to see a Phish show as they play three sets instead of two and most importantly they do a "musical costume" in the second one. That means that instead of donning costumes on stage, they play a whole album from another band, most of the time an important one in the history of Rock'n Roll.
And in this context, the Phishbill is the program of the night where the album is announced, among other funny fake ads and texts. The name itself is a play on word with the Playbill from Broadway musicals.
To get the booklet is really easy : follow the herd and you'll come across someone who'll handed it to you.
First thing : the cover doesn't ring any bell.
I didn't take the time to really observe it and opened the first page, where the schedule of the night is written and the album announced.
Wingsuit.
OK, so they'd play yet another album that I've never heard before like Talking Heads' Remain in Light, Little Feat's Waiting for Columbus... But I couldn't find the original band's name like in the previous Phishbills... All I saw was Set 1 Phish, Set 2 Phish, Set 3 Phish. I started to read the full article while waiting in line at a photo booth (all costumes would be uploaded to the Facebook page and entered for a contest).
And it finally stroke me. After all these years, Phish managed to change the rules of the game they created themselves. Wingsuit wasn't someone else's album from the past, it was there own album from the future ! An album they'd record in the following weeks after the show ! That meant a full set of brand new Phish music !
I forgot the pain in my neck I began to literally jump of happiness and excitement in the line !
But I heard comments from other fans who didn't like the idea of not having a proper musical costume. Like if they came only to listen to an
Allman Brothers Band tribute band.
I was so happy to witness a game-changing show, so proud to be among the first audience to listen to their new songs ! Think about it : it's not every day that your favorite band debut a new song at a show. It's even more rare they debut a full album ! One that's not even recorded ! And we were there, we were a part of this ! Not wonder why they hadn't play any new song during the year (many fans complained about that by the way). And what will happen at future Halloween shows ?! Before tonight, we wondered what would be the album they'd play at Halloween. But from now on, we do not even know IF they will ever cover another album in the future ! They can trick us anyway they want ! There is no rule anymore !
With Phish, anything is possible.
I took my picture and sent it to
Facebook and
Twitter. What I learned later is that some of them have been broadcast on the webcast during setbreak. My friend
Stephen who watched it from
Amsterdam totally freaked out when he saw me!
I went to the obligatory merchandising table and bought myself the event Tee and the playing cards deck. But the wait in the line made me miss my appointment with Gilles.
I felt stolen when I paid 10$ for a Bud Light and went to my seat (Sect 103 Row JJ Seat 7) at 7.40.
I was at the left of the stage, at a nice height, comparable to Gilles' seat two days ago. There was not many people around at first so the venue looked about the same size at Reading. I changed my mind when it filled.
I took the waiting time to finish reading the Phishbill and laugh at the fake ads like "Woo-X", anti-Woo patches !
