We were back at our hotel in the middle of the afternoon so I've been able to rest a little more. I took the bus at 6.20PM while several other obvious Phish fans ordered a cab.
During this ride, I witnessed another thing that couldn't happen in France. At the bus stop, I began talking with this young man, Kevin, and we quickly found out we were both heading at the same place. He asked me what I like in America. I answered that I love how welcoming people are. Talking like that with a stranger is quite rare, at least in my experience.
He had an appointment at a bar and asked me if I knew where it was. I wasn't sure and started to tell him what I knew. We were seated at the front of the bus and the driver heard our conversation. He naturally begun to explain him where the bar were from the bus stop. As he opened the door and we were going out, several people from way back inside the bus yelled at Kevin to show him the direction !
As the bus went away, I turn to Kevin and said : "That's the thing I love in America. This kind of spontaneous help never happens in France !"
Before entering the
Boardwalk Hall, I went to the band's hotel to leave my present. The person had a hard time understanding who it was for, even if I told him the exact name.
As I was entering the venue, my unprecedented luck stroke me again. Between the first person who scanned my ticket and the security check, I found on the floor an un-used golden wristband. Yes, one of those thing given to the holders of GA floor tickets ! I stashed it in my pocket without further ado.
Once inside, I took the time to eat a hot dog with French fries and bought two onesie for relatives' upcoming babies at the Waterwheel Foundation table.
I met Harry and his friend again. He was wearing a
"Birds of a Feather" T-shirt with a
Duck Hunt sprite on it. I really liked it ! By the ways, I just found out
those great Phish/Nintendo fan-made pin's, check them out.
We talked about the wristband and what was its color tonight. After asking a passing fan, there wasn't any doubt : I would enjoy the last Phish concert of my trip on the floor !
I put the strap on and made my way to the floor very easily. I waited Gilles impatiently as he did not expect to find me down here. Good thing he told me where he was standing every nights !
When he arrived, he couldn't believe how lucky I was... again ! We quickly talked to a nearby fan who asked us where we came from after hearing us speaking in French.
I was super happy to be able to dance my ass off on the floor with Gilles !
During set break Gilles introduced me to the fans he met the days before. Then we went upstairs to the
Waterwheel Foundation table and we talked with my Phish Inc. contact the whole set break. It's too bad I can't write about what we talked about...
The conversation went on so that we again missed the beginning of the second set !
As we run downstairs to reach the floor, we heard the enveloped bass intro of "Down with Disease".
As we were late, we were among the last ones to pass the security check and as we arrived running, they double checked our wristband. As I put mine myself, it wasn't well clicked as it opened when it was checked. The security woman took it off saying to her collegue, without even looking at me : "That's what they do : they pass them on to themselves".
It happened so fast I couldn't react before it was too late. She didn't answer me when I asked "What's the problem ?!" Gilles stopped on the other side and started to say something but I stopped him.
"That's OK. I'll go to my seat and we'll meet after the show."
I knew that if I tried to argue more, she would ask to see my ticket. I had already been lucky enough, I didn't want to push too much.
So I made my way to section 103, Page side, at the exact same place as I was on Halloween night. The row was full with the same people as two days ago. It was so full that I had to show my ticket to the guy standing at my seat to prove that it was mine. I have to admit that my credibility has taken a hit because I lost balanced several times as I walked in the alley. Everyone thought I was totally drunk !
I enjoyed every second of my last set as much as I could. Dancing, singing, screaming...
But it was the end already. My eyes went wet as I walk out of my seat, slowly. I didn't want to leave.
We met again with Gilles and we walked together to my bus stop. I can't remember what we talked about at that time, my thoughts were still in Phish land...
