Where Palmtrees Sway And Seagulls Swirl: Hollywood Bowl Review

   After an epic ride home on I-90 towards Boston through the Cascades we boarded a plane in Seattle and headed to LA. (Note: Just got told I was actually traveling the opposite direction...I love Boston.) We felt like movie stars. Dirty movie stars. It was as if we had just left the X-Files shoot and were headed back home, to a place I would never actually live. But it was cool to drop down, rent a car, and head to the beach in time to watch the Sun set behind the Transverse Range and into the Pacific Ocean. We got a place on Redondo Beach and pretended to drive around site-seeing, when in reality SeriousLeigh was looking for celebrities while Trigger Treinta Uno searched for dispensaries. What a fucking town. There are more businesses aimed at making you look better than feeding you in this town. We met up with some friends, stocked up on supplies, and headed out to the local launder. My Fishman socks needed to be clean for the next show as I was down to one pair. After a failed attempt to live vicariously through The Dude by searching for a local In 'n' Out, we retreated to our room on the beach...the Pacific Coast HW actually...and waited for the rest of our crew - including local - to arrive.

   The next day we met up with everyone, got our sick discounted Marriot room (thanks, DannyVT), and set out to see the LA we intended on seeing. Success. LA does have it's good points. With the crew intact waxed out we set out to the famous Hollywood Bowl. What a sick venue. Cool seating and a sick shell. Let's just say CK5 was the MVP of this show, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Set I: DWD (8:43) > Cavern (4:11) > Possum (8:36), Cities (6:11), Peaches en Regalia (3:31), KDF (8:08), Lawn Boy (3:20), Tube (4:08) > Back on the Train (8:00), Wilson (4:18) > Axilla (3:24) > Split Open and Melt (10:30), BDTNL (8:44)

   DWD opener was the first since Providence and > strangely placed, EARLY Cavern, which > Possum. *Sigh* An appropriate Cities followed before Phish's fourth Peaches of the summer. What??? KDF blew the shell into the ocean before the boys mellowed out to Lawn Boy. A standard Tube followed but > a sick Back On The Train. Wilson > Axilla followed and > into only the third Split of the summer. BDTNL closed Set One...again. I still love it.

Set II: Carini (7:34) > Crosseyed and Painless (12:29) > Twist (7:03) > Piper (8:40) > Mike's (7:04) > Joy (5:48) > Weekapaug (6:33), 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (3:51) > HYHU (1:18) > Weekapaug (2:30), Character Zero (5:59), Quinn (6:11)

E: STFTFP (4:26) > Julius (7:37)

   Set Two opened with Carini and blasted > an EPIC - and seemingly nightly - Crosseyed. No Hollywood Jam appears on the set list, but it certainly should have. C&P > Twist > Piper > Mike's > Joy > Weekapaug. Twist was good...and so was Piper. It doesn't matter, the lights were fucking amazing. I wish my pics were better, but we all know how that goes. The lights were bouncing off the shell in every direction and streaming up and down the shell in deep, brilliant arrays. It was amazing. The segue  continued with Mike's > Joy > Weekapaug. Phish debuted 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover next, with Fishman on the mini drum kit at center stage. It was fucking amazing, and perfectly - actually, no it wasn't - played. 50 Ways > HYHU, which included a shorter version of the usual nonsense and back > Weekapaug. It was great and a defining moment for the Hollywood Bowl show. Character Zero followed before the boys closed the set with a rocking Quinn. A somewhat extended encore included STFTFP > Julius. So LA isn't the Gorge and the shows followed suite...but that doesn't mean LA didn't rock, because it did. Like a rock star. Then we went to Matt Damon's house and rocked out to the 7th Annual Masshole in LaLa Land party. That's not true. Want the truth? We were off to make the biggest little mistake of our lives.

- Trigger Treinta Uno

Trigger31.com

Thanks to Phish.net & LivePhish for the set list help and Blue 83...Blue 83 Hutnik for the tour of LA.