2009

Both A.J. Crandall and Jennifer Kirk will be reporting live from Manchester on Bonnaroo 2009 for Hidden Track and Glide Magazine. We’ve asked each of them to write a preview of what the weekend will hold for them. Today we’ll share A.J.’s look at Bonnaroos past (2007, 2008) and future…

I’ve got some packing to do. I just looked it up. Southwest airlines lets you take two bags free. Last month’s trip to NY, on two airlines that’ll go nameless for now, I got hit at the counter for $15 for my one bag. Another $30 for an aisle seat. I was planning on scaling way back on camping goods I took from home, but now that I have all that extra room with a second bag, I’ll take rain gear etc.

Should be a great weekend. It’s a soundtrack for me and my brother to catch up on a year in the lives. It’s a weekend in early summer containing more live music than most people will see all year, or two. It’s the vibe. It’s the Coffey County sherrifs who roll their eyes and wave you through to the next checkpoint. It’s the country fried steak at the Waffle House, with grits, of course, on Monday morning. It’s why I still do this shit at age 53.

Well, it’s been a year already. And a year before that. And a year before that. And a year before that. This year marks the fifth June in a row that I have ventured east from the relatively safe confines of the Great Pacific Northwest to become a citizen of Tennessee’s third largest city (for a weekend), Bonnaroo.

READ ON for more of AJ’s Bonnaroo 2009 preview piece…

Little Feat – Fat Man In The Bathtub

Our pal Mark Wilson will be tweeting live from Asheville tonight for @YEMblog and if I can keep my eyes open I’ll live blog @GlideMag

Phish
June 9, 2009
Asheville Civic Center
Asheville, NC

Set 1: Kill Devil Falls, The Moma Dance, Sample In A Jar, Stash, Dog Faced Boy, Gumbo, Tube, Lengthwise, The Divided Sky, When The Cactus Is In Bloom, Bold As Love

Set 2: Backwards Down The Number Line, Ghost > Fast Enough For You > Halley’s Comet > Maze, Alaska, Theme From The Bottom, Golgi Apparatus, Possum

Encore: Loving Cup

[via @YEMblog]

Lots of banter from Trey throughout the middle of the first set about Fish’s journals. Fishman kept a journal while the band toured in the early years and Trey would “steal” Fishman’s thoughts and put them to music.

READ ON for stats on the songs played tonight in Asheville…

The hoards of people surging towards the gates of the venue at Camden – who knows the amphitheater is called this year – were ready for the show. They were screaming and whooping in waves, overcome with anticipation and the spoils of a glorious, sunny day on the lot at a Phish concert.

[All photos by Jeff Volckhausen]

It was the sound of the circus come to town, and it brought with it a smile – it was a sound missing at Jones Beach, despite how truly excellent those three nights were. Inside, the place was packed from the stage lip to the fences as Phish hit the stage running with Chalk Dust Torture, followed by a stellar version of Fee during which Trey flubbed the lyrics, started laughing and then joined with Page for a rich, deeply hued jam that grew and glowed organically, reds and purples across the stage and ember colors creeping from behind the cloud cover over the Philly skyline. It was unique, and a sign of things to come.

To start the improv in Wolfman’s Brother, Fishman set to dancing brightly, drawing everyone else into his groove. The guitar was lacing between Mike’s slapping lines, a clavinet spilling over top it all, and eventually Trey swung the lead up and cut loose, wailing to a shattering peak – the second in what would be a night of stellar thematic jams.

READ ON for more of Dan’s thoughts on Phish @ Camden…