I do like a rollercoaster ride, so I was really excited that the Darien Lake Amusement Park was to be open exclusively to ticketholders for the Phish concert on June 8th, 2011.

I got to town nice and early and checked into the hotel onsite. It was still too chilly for any swimming in their big pool but that’s okay – I had bigger fish to fry. I didn’t have a ticket yet, and on the walk from the hotel to the park I ran into a friend who handed me one for free.

Well, that was a pretty good start to the day.

The entire middle of the day was filled with riding half-empty amusement park rides with a maelstrom of friends both new and old. There were coasters of course, and swingy rides and even a trip down the flume. And anytime I wanted to skip back to the hotel room for a break it was right there.

The evening was of course filled with Phish. Not my favourite setlist but who cares? In this 3.0 era or whatever the kids are calling it the shows are consistently great – to my ears there are no other bands achieving what these guys are achieving and I had a great time.

They closed off the second set with a song I always want to hear, Harry Hood. And then a little rock and roll for the encore: Good Times Bad Times.

I’m sure after the show was nothing but good times but I can’t recall anything specifically. An educated guess would have the hotel rockin’ ’til dawn with an open door policy as strangers made friends and sleep fell by the wayside.

But that’s only a guess.

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