Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Hanging with Roanokins

We woke up in the morning and hit the road south to Roanoke, where my friend Jess lives. After a long drive we made it to Roanoke and met her and her friends at a coffee shop, and hung out there for a while before going to her friend Dylan's house to stay the night. We partied there for a while til we all finally went to sleep. The next morning we woke up and most everyone had already left, and Jess was getting ready for work. We said goodbye and hit the road for Raleigh. The show was originally supposed to be at Time Warner Pavilion where Phish played, but due to poor ticket sales the venue was changed to the Raleigh Amphitheater. We had a little trouble finding it, but once we did we were surprised to see how small it was. The way it was set up the parking lot was directly behind the show with a view of the stage and everything. The parking lot was like a giant lawn that you didn't have to pay for. I immideatly decided that I wasn't even going to look for a ticket, and just enjoy the show from the lot. All the shows I've seen so far I have been able to make it in, but I've always wanted to stay on lot for a show. This was a perfect chance to do that. I walked around lot and eventually met up with Dylan and hung out with him while he was waiting on Jess to arrive. We got spots where we could see the show and sat on the ice chest full of beer and waited for the show.
Furthur opened with "Alligator" and "Gloria", both of which were songs I hadn't heard them play before, and they did a great job with them. Listening to the show from lot was quite different, as I spent lots of time talking and making friends instead of just listening to the show. "Ramble on Rose" was followed by a Phil and Friends song written by Phil and Robert Hunter called "No More Do I". I hadn't ever heard that song before, and no one around me could place what song it was. Next was a Bobby song, "Hell In a Bucket" followed by the great "Row Jimmy". The last song of the short set was "A Hard Rain a-Gonna Fall" which is an old Bob Dlyan tune.
I spent the whole set break walking around making friends and drinking beer. The second set opened with "Good Lovin'" which got things off to a roll. Next was a Viola Lee sandwich, starting with the first verse of "Viola Lee Blues" and going into "Bertha" back into "Viola Lee" into "Next Time You See Me" and finally back into "Viola Lee". "Bertha" was the highlight of the sandwich, but all the "Viola Lee's" were great. Next was a "Crypitcal Envelopment" sandwich, with "The Other Ones" stuck in the middle. This is also known as "That's It for the Other One". "Morning Dew" was followed by a great "Mountains on the Moon" which Phil killed. "Let it Grow" and "Sugar Magnolia" were the last two songs of the set, and by this point I was pretty drunk from all the lot beer. "Johnny B Goode" by Chuck Berry was the encore, and I was running around dancing in the street all during the song. When the people started to come out I stood by the exit looking for familiar faces and passing out flyers for some guy.
I eventually found Drew and Jason and let Jason drive because he was sober, and I got in touch with Dlyan and Jess and we found the hotel they were staying at and we got a room too. We wandered around the hotel checking out different rooms before I finally went to sleep.

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