On November 28th, 2009 I attended the second of a Phish two-nighter in Albany, New York, something I was really starting to get in the serious habit of doing. Actually, checking my stats (yes, there are Phish stats*, and yes, being a Phish fan is much akin to being a sports fan), I see that this was Phish concert #37 for me, and if that shocks you then I think you’d better sit down.

Sitting down? As of this covid-mired writing I have seen Phish perform live a full one hundred and seventeen times, and if you think that boils yer pickle wait until you hear this: I still don’t know the names of the damn songs. I mean, I just checked the setlist from this concert to jog my memory a little in the right direction and not a word of a lie, I had to ask m’lady to hum eight of the twenty songs on the list; it was like having my own little abbreviated a cappella concert. Taking out their cover of Walk Away by James Gang that’s pretty much half the songs.

I know…it’s absurd and quite unbelievable, especially when you consider how much we listen to Phish radio around here (which is much). I just don’t get it, but it happens to me with the Grateful Dead too. I wonder if my inability to remember the song titles contributes to my not-irregular difficulty in recalling the music itself?

For example, I remember checking into the hotel for this run, specifically that they made me sign an agreement that I would pay a $300 fine if anyone smoked in the room (one of these days I’m going to peel off three $100 bills and hand them over right then and there. “Don’t you worry darlin’, we’ll be smoking in there all right.”). I also remember that we were sitting in the upper section for this show, and that the merch area was at the top of a wide concrete staircase. I also remember being very excited about the poster for this show which featured a cartoonish pinball machine.

But Vultures, Cool it Down, Sanity, and Uncle Pen? Not so much.

Of course I do recall the killer encore, a rollicking romp through one of my all-time favourites and a song I could name from a hundred and seventeen feet away, even though it clocks in at 20+ minutes long and the four discernible words that are sung aren’t in the nonsensical title at all: You Enjoy Myself.

Maybe I remember that one because it’s how it makes me feel. It’s like emotional onomatopoeia.

I’ll readily admit that it’s all quite weird, but I suppose it gives me something to write about.

*41% of my shows have taken place in New York state. I have seen Phish play on Saturdays more than any other day of the week (30 times), though I’ve only seen them play in November six times. I’ve seen the band in a total of forty-four venues in forty-three cities across twenty states and three countries. My “most seen” songs are Chalk Dust Torture and Harry Hood (tied at thirty-four times each), neither of which was played at this concert, and of the sum total of 2,580 songs I’ve heard Phish play live I’ve heard 128 of them only once. In total I’ve heard Phish play 385 different songs.

For the musicians out there I’d like to repeat that last bit. I myself have heard Phish play 385 different songs. Imagine!

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