Big Top Blown Off: Mansfield/Darien Lake Review

   Sometimes I forget that the MA shows are the most head-spinning, arm-pulling, cell-phone-blowing-upping, dizziest, and potentially frustrating shows on tour - and the Comcast Center doesn't make it any easier. Despite being centralized around two major interstates and one major state highway, traffic always sucks. Side question: How the fuck can it take almost three hours to leave Mansfield? Why build  elaborate Jersey barrier traffic pattern systems if they only make the situation worse? I'm only embarrassed to be from Massachusetts in two situations: When you're at a bar anywhere but in MA and some little annoying shitfaced chick in a pink Red Sox hat is screaming about Big Papi or Tom Brady, or when Phish plays Great Woods. Security absolutely sucks. The police suck worse. Party poppers leave the poppers at home. The venue vendors get so jealous and bitter they lie about other non-licensed vendors and get people arrested. Think I'm kidding? Talk to my crew.

   So when we rolled in at 6:45 because of traffic my cell phone was already overheating. I thought "Why do our hometown shows have to be like this?" But let's face it, MA rocks when it comes to showtime and despite these little annoyances, Phish didn't disappoint....completely. Set One opened with only the fourth Llama (5:16) of 3.0 and the first since Manchester. Next was a groovin' Moma Dance (7:37) > yet another...ugh...Possum (9:38). I'm sorry, but the boys WAY OVERPLAY Possum, Bowie, and Hood. Just admit it. Next was another groovy Cities (7:00), the second Instant Karma! ever (4:45, Canadiaga 2010), a rather flat David Bowie (13:34), and the debut of Rhymes (6:04), a great new tune. For the second year in a row the boys ripped Divided Sky (16:34), one of our absolute favorites, before ending the set with one of the best, although short, STFTFP (6:05) of 3.0. 

   Set Two opened with a SWAMPY Back On The Train (8:38) > the best Rock 'n' Roll (7:39) > Mansfield Jam (8:56) I've heard in a LONG TIME > a slightly butchered Mango Song (8:08). Unbelievable segue. It's hard to believe the Rock 'n' Roll > Jam was only 16 minutes...it felt like a blissful eternity. A great version of Bug (8:36) was followed by "Let's Go Bruins" chants and a smoking Pebbles And Marbles (10:13). Everyone went to the center of town to hear Halley's (5:39) > Meatstick (5:51) > an Antelope (11:41) that contained Bug, Meatstick, and Divided Sky teases. The band encored an eventually funky Suzy Greenberg (7:19) that contained Meatstick teases. I'm not sure if it was the looming traffic, Fishman missing his stop queue in Antelope yet again, or the fact that 30% of the pavilion crowd got up and left after the first ten notes of Suzy Greenberg, but the band left that stage quicker than I've ever witnessed in 14 hiatus-injected years. It was weird. The energy of the crowd was decent, the song flow was decent, and the song selection more than satisfactory, but something seemed to be missing. Perhaps it's just a Masshole looking for a spine-snapping home show. While we didn't get that per se, if that was you're first show of the summer you were pumped. We all were...it's phucking Phish, man. And the R 'n' R > Jam was EPIC. Either way there was an energy in the air about Darien...

   We made the long boring trek out towards Buffalo down the infamous I-90 - BTW if you haven't heard the I-90's disk, the one that came with Utica, listen to it ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE NOT FAMILIAR WITH EARLY 1.0. Darien set the scene with a proper Shakedown. One knew this from a simple pre-show lot observation or a quick scan of the freaks that piled into that circus tent Wednesday night. 2011 Darien would be nothing like 2010 Darien. Nellie Kane (4:40), only the third since 1.0, opened a show for the first time in history. Oh boy. Mellow Mood (4:31) was anything but as everyone raged right through into phan favorite locally-induced Buffalo Bill (3:02). A rocking KDF followed (8:36), then Wolfman's Brother (8:59), then Rift (6:11). They weren't even half done. CIRCUS STYLE MAYHEM. Faced people, tweekers by the speakers...it was all at the Circus Tent. By the way, the lights are fucking bomb at that place. CK5 utilizes that tent to the best of his advantage. Killing it, winning, whatever. Undermind (8:28) was unbelievable and Ride Captain Ride (5:35) set the place on fire. RCR was the 11th in history, and only the second since 1999 (Amherst 2010). It's Ice (7:29) actually made things hotter and it > DOG FACED BOY (2:21, only the 4th of 3.0)! It didn't end there. Brian and Robert (3:36) > the first 46 Days (7:56) of 2011. Limb x Limb (8:02) then Character Zero (7:34). 14 song heat. 14 songs. Bust-outs, jams, pop offs, circus freaks, circus lights. Set One had it all. What the fuck were these guys planning for Set Two. MAYHEM.

   Set Two opened with the BEST Golden Age (9:19) ever. PERIOD. Cactus was popping off so hard I thought he was going to blow holes in the tent. Golden Age > Mike's (7:43) > Fast Enough For You (6:54, only the 5th of 3.0) > the sickest Weekapaug Groove in YEARS. Weekapaug had Golden Age teases right off the bat and continued throughout. As the lights beamed and the smoke began to drift across the stage Phish blasted into the spaceship and took off towards What's The Use (5:35), which melted > a hypnotic Theme From The Bottom (8:15) that sounded like they were singing under water...as if that wasn't BOMB enough they > a groovin' BDTNL (8:24) > 2001 (8:45) that came close to the 2001 launch off in Camden 2010. After Trey noodled a little Happy Birthday the band engaged in full-force decapitation. At one point the band was PLAYING 2001, GOLDEN AGE, AND WHAT'S THE USE AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME. No, not a segue. No, not a tease. THEY WERE PLAYING THEM AT THE SAME TIME. Don't believe me? Listen again. This EPIC 2001 > Harry Hood (12:14) to close the set. The encore was GTBT (6:20). With the exception of a minuscule little fog-filled break between Weekapaug and What's The Use - and it was a VERY SHORT BREAK - that set basically read: Golden Age > Mike's > Fast Enough For You > Weekapaug > What's The Use > Theme From The Bottom > BDTNL > 2001 > Harry Hood. Everything spacey, groovy, sinister, deep, dark, evil, funky...whatever you want to call it it was. Mike popped off so badly that I saw people literally losing their fucking minds. Even the giant overweight security was flustered by shows end with all the break-dancing going on around the handicap section. It was mayhem. The lights were bouncing off every angle of the tarp, the music sounded unbelievable, and the energy was contagious. Darien Lake made Mansfield look like a tour opener.

   So now we tread on to Camden, where we all know what to expect. The air will be stifling, the lots will be clackin', and the Gordo will make the Ben Franklin shake. Expect that shit. And don't even come near me with a nitrous balloon, I will pop it. And if you think you're doing anything about it, you'll find one Phish phan a lot less peaceful then you'd expect. Picture a white Mike Tyson with tour kicks and hat pins. Consider it a warning. If you're not an idiot and you don't make scumbag thugs rich off a 10-second high, you have nothing to worry about. Ya'll heard it here first. Camden, here we come. We can't wait. Can you?

- Trigger Treinta Uno

Trigger31.com

Thanks to LivePhish.com for song times & Phish.net for set list help. Just for clarification, set list help implies memory confirmation, i.e., fact-checking. We hear shit no one hears and we're usually right - but we also want to make sure we're not hearing things that aren't there! ;)