On June 18th, 2019 m’lady and I went to see a Phish concert. Certainly nothing unusual about that – but the fact that we didn’t have to cross the mean old scary US border to do it, well, that was a rare and special treat!

Yes, Phish was playing in Toronto at the Molson Amphitheatre (which had recently been re-dubbed The Budweiser Stage) again, and by “again” I mean like they did in ’99, ’00, and in ’13, so it’s not like Toronto is a regular stop for the band or anything. I had been at the ’99 and ’00 shows and had intended to see the last one too, but it had been postponed (due to beautiful weather) to a day when I would find myself committed to be on another adventure almost a thousand miles away. Anyway, it’s safe to say I’ve seen Phish almost a hundred times since I last saw them in Canada, and I was pretty psyched for the day.

(I was even brazen enough to bring my few remaining Capitalism Sucks t-shirts to sell in the lot. It’s mostly performance art [“End capitalism now – buy this t-shirt” and “Change the world for just $10”] but I did sell a couple. M’lady didn’t do as well selling her Kasvot Växt/Häagen-Dazs shirts, but she wasn’t trying too hard.)

And so it was that we showed up at the lot nice and early and immediately hooked up with my great old friend Anne-Marie, and in short order associates and acquaintances started appearing out of the woodwork. The next three hours were spent hugging friends and sharing smiles; the weather was great and everyone was in a super-great mood. Heck, the pre-show was so fun I hoped showtime would never come.

When the sonic deadline finally loomed I said goodbye to Anne-Marie (who, along with her friend Kim had come to the lot solely and specifically to hang out with yours truly. I am humbled) and headed for the gate. In the short and fast line we discovered a few more handfuls of friends – same story once we got in and hit the concession area – and before you knew it we were on the lawn raising plastic cups and cheersing with still more familiar faces.

The show itself was…what can I say; average? No, that doesn’t work…an average Phish concert is pretty off-the-hook. Let’s say the show was: somewhat underwhelming but still pretty darn fine. And while that doesn’t come off as a ringing endorsement I think it’s both accurate and not overtly critical.

But really, that’s irrelevant. As it stood I had (at least) six more opportunities coming in the next few weeks to hear a stellar Phish concert, but this was my only chance of the summer to see such a great number of fun people before and at the show, and I had a super-duper great time start-to-finish.

The next day when social media pointed out to me just how many of my friends I didn’t see at the show I got a feel for how fantastic it is for all those lucky Americans who always get to see the band play in their homeland. To think that I’m only getting half the experience…

(In the lot before the show my friend Dave was kind enough to offer m’lady and I a pair of free electronic tickets for this concert, which we thankfully accepted.)

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