dcbc

Yeah. They have been preparing for this for over a year, and it showed. One of my long-time concert buddies basically said he felt no compulsion to ever see another band perform there. But I quickly responded that I would buy tickets to see David Byrne there in a heartbeat.

Also, when this first was announced, I remember thinking, like most people probably, that this would become an annual event of short runs at the Sphere for Phish. Same owner as MSG and obviously, they have they relationship. But after seeing it first hand, I'm guessing the amount of work that goes into this to make these performances unique is, suffice it to say, a ridiculous feat. They surely will play there again, but I'd be surprised if it's with any sort of regularity.

There was, in fact, no Reba at the Sphere, and that seems like it should be a crime. I was at the two Shoreline shows before the first Hiatus. After the funerary feel after that last show, there was no way I wanted to go see the last show at Coventry, which turns out to have been a good decision. Big Cypress took a lot out of me physically and, today, if I'm going to camp and see more than one show, it's going to need to be at the Gorge. I'll have to dig up my first stub. It was Austin Music Hall (10/16/1995). Wish I could have seen both shows, but it was TX/OU weekend.

Have I heard a better version of the song? Probably. Can it fairly be compared to hearing/seeing this performance? Nah. I got choked up a couple of times. And yes, the stoppage time has gotten silly over the years. The first set struck me as a "this is what the Sphere can do" tutorial at first. They started small and played things with tighter jam sections or mostly composed tunes like Divided Sky. By the time they got to Character Zero to end the first set, they were starting to cook. The second set dug in and didn't feel like it ever let go. The visuals were more intense and complete in coverage. If you watched the stage, you got the feeling that the entire venue was moving, tilting, and shifting. And the floor was definitely moving with all the people dancing. It was no polite show where everyone sat in his/her seats. The audience seemed to me like any other show. Divided sky was really the only landscape we got if you don't count the "sky full of stars" we got for 2001/ASZ. I haven't been to a show since 2016, and, as usual, there were a few tunes I didn't recognize. But most of the songs hit hard, and I felt like we got a really solid show. I intentionally avoided spoilers before we went so I wouldn't know what songs to expect or, more importantly, what I'd missed. The people I went with and I were talking about how ridiculous it would seem to us in the 90s if someone had told us we would see something like this 30 years later.

Checking in. I just got back from Vegas. I was Section 105 for night 4 and that was the coolest shit I ever have seen. This was my 19th show over 29 years. And while it's not really fair to compare it to anything I've seen before from them, I'm so glad I went. The second set was an absolute ripper. They way they set up the stereo field in that unforgiving space was miraculous.

Meanwhile, MAGA types are trying out as the latest drummer for Spinal Tap.

You want haiku?

That shit was the closest thing I'll see to the Hindenburg Disaster reporting in my lifetime. "Burning flesh and accelerant . . . ."

All similes are a type of metaphor, but not all metaphors are similes.

To say nothing of Mick's guitar-holding abilities.

Couldn't have seen that coming from this bastion of empathy. Or relishing living in a house free of Trump's McFarts.

Well, you see, there was no time to wallow in the mire.

It keeps people betting no matter how the "market is doing." It's like free drinks in a casino.

It's off-track betting in a fancy frock.

So I see we're doing fire songs:

Surly: Why is it taking soooooooo loooonnnng!!!!!!

Yet he makes it up daily.

If he succeeds in being driven to the Capitol, he takes one look at that fracas and stays in the car and asks to be driven to a safe location. I stand by my previous what if statement. He is not a courageous enough person to go in with his "troops." But throwing a tantrum is right in line with his personality. This assumption on my part makes him no less responsible for it all. But the man is a coward in my estimation. He purportedly wouldn't even fire people (outside of a game show). He always got others to do it. As to the game of What If, there are no winners. To quote Joshua, "The best move is not to play."

Trump was perfectly happy back in his air-conditioned enclosure playing on his phone. He wasn't going anywhere near the fray. First whiff of tear gas and he would have turned on his heels if he even had gotten out of the car. He had to have the streets cleared of protesters so he could have his picture taken with the Bible. The scenario you present is indeed terrifying. But he never had and never will have the balls to put himself in danger of any physical harm or being that close to his ilk when they are all tuned up and shit gets real. He's not walking in and seizing anything. He's not willingly going within 200 yards of the Capitol (even riding in the back of The Beast) when that shit was going down. He's a shit-poster. He's a meme stock. He's not Patton or Omar Bradley.

It's the logical extension of the Simpsons did it! bit from South Park.

Blue Sky was on more mix tapes (not just mine) in college than I can even count.