Wednesday, August 06, 2003

Travel Tales: Phish's IT Festival in Maine

IT!


I'm finally back from Maine and the summer ending IT festival featuring seven sets of Phish! The show was held on an abandoned air force base and the rumor was that Phish would play a fourth set a top of the control tower... which they did at 2 am on Saturday! It was an hour long set of funky ambient jamming. One of the many highlights indeed. I never did a year end Phish festival before and it was everything I expected IT to be and more.

Headaches? Traffic! I hitched a ride with Alea and her cousin. The drive time from NYC is about twelve hours, but it took nearly 16 hours to get into the fairgrounds, due to the one lane highway leading upto nowhere. Plus security was tight. If you didn't have a ticket they wouldn't let you the parking lots inside. They also searched every vehicle... for pets (no DOGS allowed) and for excessive alcohol bundles (no personal beer vending). They gave Alea's cosuin shit for having glass bottles. Plus since it was wicked wet from all the Maine rain, the organizers decided at the last minute to have everyone park on the runway... instead of on grass. That caused another back up. Traffic was not as bad as the Florida millenium show, but it was close!

IT Setlists

8.2.03 Loring Air Force Base, Limestone, Maine

Set I: AC/DC Bag, Ya Mar > Runaway Jim, Reba, Birds of a Feather, Meatstick, Two Versions of Me, Vultures, Limb By Limb, Cavern
Set II: Down With Disease > NICU, Brother, Lawn Boy, Discern, Waves, David Bowie
Set III: Rock and Roll > Seven Below, Scents and Subtle Sounds > Spread It Round, Bug
Encore: Dog Log, The Mango Song
Set IV: Tower Jam!

8.3.03 Loring Air Force Base, Limestone, Maine - IT Day 2!

Set I: Daniel, Saw it Again, Punch You in the Eye, Army of One, Chalkdust Torture, Wilson, Mike's Song > Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove
Set II: Mellow Mood, Ghost, Mist, Pebbles and Marbles, You Enjoy Myself > Chariots of Fire, Loving Cup
Set III: 46 Days, Julius, Lizards, Secret Smile, Antelope
Encore: Good Times Bad Times

Show Notes: Trey said Wilson was "the shortest version ever!" Before Mike's song the crowd chanted for Fluffhead. Trey huddled with Mike, but Mike said "No". During Chariots of Fire, Trey introduced top three female and male finalists from the Runaway Jim 5K race held the day before. Fireworks went off during the encore.

More detailed reviews and I'll have plenty of odd and random stories to tell for sure. Stay tuned!

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