Erica Sullivan: Design Researcher

Phish
Hampton Coliseum
Hampton, VA
3.7.09

Photo courtesy of phishfromtheroad.

Set I
Back On The Train
Runaway Jim
Brian & Robert
Split Open And Melt
Heavy Things
Punch You In The Eye
Gumbo
Reba
Mexican Cousin
It’s Ice
Halley’s Comet
Beauty Of A Broken Heart*
Guelah Papyrus
Lawn Boy
Run Like An Antelope

Set II
Rock & Roll (Velvet Underground)
Limb By Limb
Ghost
Piper
Birds Of A Feather
Wolfman’s Brother
Prince Caspian
Mike’s Song >
I Am Hydrogen >
Weekapaug Groove
Character Zero

Encore
A Day In The Life (The Beatles)

* First time played.

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Keller Williams
The Paradise
Boston, MA
3.27.09

No setlist available, although he played “Another Brick In The Wall” and at least one other cover I can’t remember at the moment.

I had my first experience of arriving at a sold-out show and participating in the time-honored standing-outside-the-venue-holding-up-one-finger tradition. Two very nice guys (who had been hoping to get an extra ticket so they could both go in) sold me a ticket and I got in a little late. It was very, very crowded; too crowded, really. I had a few beers and got up as close as I could, and ran into Haley, a friend from back home in Ipswich. It was awesome! For a few minutes, we were those people you hate, the ones who talk through two or three songs. Then she went off to see if she could get to the other side of the stage. At some point, after coming back from the bathroom and standing at the back of the impenetrable crowd, I realized I had had one too many, and that I was exhausted and wanted to sleep before work in the morning, and strolled out in as straight a line as I could.

The sidewalk wasn’t exactly stationary, but I didn’t weave around too much. I got home around midnight, and Robbie came home shortly thereafter. We sat in the kitchen gossiping while I made some fish sticks, and then it was bedtime.

Phish
Hampton Coliseum
Hampton, VA
3.6.09

Photo courtesy of phishfromtheroad.

Set I
Fluffhead
Divided Sky
Chalk Dust Torture
Sample In A Jar
Stash
I Didn’t Know
Oh Kee Pah Ceremony >
Suzy Greenberg
Farmhouse
NICU
Horn
Rift
Train Song
Water In The Sky
Squirming Coil
David Bowie

Set II
Backwards Down The Number Line
Tweezer
Taste
Possum
Theme From The Bottom
First Tube
Harry Hood
Waste
You Enjoy Myself*

Encore
Grind**
Bouncing Around The Room
Loving Cup (Rolling Stones)

* Stopped because Trey screwed up, then started again. Then Trey screwed up the lyrics; you know, all four words of them (“Boy… Man… Shit… God, shit!”). Oh well, it’s only one of their best-known songs. No sweat.
** A cappella.

The purest joy of my concert-going life so far. The Hampton Coliseum was one big happy sweaty dance party that night.

My dad and I got into our Embassy Suites in Williamsburg in the early afternoon, went out for a delicious lunch of seafood pizza, and headed out to enjoy ourselves. I don’t really want to cheapen the experience I had by putting it into words, but I will say that it felt so good to look out the car window on the highway and spot other Phish-going cars. It felt so good to be part of something that big again.

First of all, I was so sad to hear that British actress Natasha Richardson died today. Since I heard about the accident yesterday, I had been following the news closely, hoping to hear that it was all a misunderstanding and that she was going to be all right. I really liked her as an actress, and I thought she was beautiful and talented, not to mention a loving wife and mother. It must be so difficult for her family, because it was all so sudden and unexpected.

Secondly, and much less distressingly, there was such a hue and cry about Tropicana’s new packaging that they’re reverting to the old look. This happened a couple of weeks ago, but I only just heard about it. I rather liked the new packaging, but the vertical “Tropicana” really bothered me because it’s the last thing you see, when what you’re really looking for, scanning a grocery store shelf, is the brand name. I just hope they keep the cap-that-looks-like-half-an-orange, because it was too cute.

Third, the Sci Fi channel is rebranding itself. But that’s no excuse for THIS to be on the internet, where the public can see it.

I was listening to a Penny Arcade podcast, in which they eviscerate the brand change, saying that the language at syfy.com is so ridiculous they can’t even make fun of it. Also, Syfy is a swear in Polish. Also, this is exactly the kind of language that makes people think the advertising industry is populated with a bunch of jerks. I don’t know. Maybe at SyFy, it is.