There are many wonderful women out there who can take the roll-with-the-punches attitude at a Phish show. My wife, for instance... but that's another story. And so is the pretext of being at Deer Creek with a buzz-killing girlfriend, except for this fact: because we had brought her along we needed to divide our ticket supply for the two night run (2 tickets) by 3 people instead of two. So we had 2 tickets between the three of us for a two night run. Could be worse.

First night we had a relatively easy time scoring tickets with the meager amount of cash we had. 8/2 is an underrated show, and I really enjoyed the show. I knew at that show that the next day would include an acute ticket crisis, so I was hoping and hoping to get my first Antelope. It had eluded me for two years, and I knew they would play it the first night.

They didn't.

8/3 dawns and I realize that my girl and I have no tickets, or money, or tradable goods of any sort. I had, by the time we got to the lots at 5 or so, grudgingly accepted the reality that I would listen to the show from the lot and candy my brain with minimal supplies on hand. There are worse lots to hear a show from, anyway.

I worked the Shakedown and surrounding area looking for a miracle until it was almost show time, then I made my way back to the car for the final (ahem) preparations being made by my ticket-carrying friends. I was actually in pretty good spirits as people packed up their cars and downed their beers before heading in.

Suddenly this older guy and a teenage kid walk up to our car. As they got closer I followed their gaze to the ring of hemp necklaces two of my ticketed buddies had been selling but had not yet packed up. I casually asked if they wanted to look at them, and to my delight the older guy responded, "Well, we actually have 2 tickets that we wanted to trade for some hemp jewelry."

I looked at him incredulously for a split second and went darting to find the owners of the necklaces and beg them to authorize the trade. They were buddies of mine from grade-school, but they were also a long way from the end of tour and were working the whole way. The gods of tour planning smiled upon me that day and we quickly realized that since the tour went to Atlanta after Deer Creek, I could pay them back on their way through Cincinnati.

WOO-HOO!!!

A minute or two later we had two tickets and were heading into the venue. I could hardly stand up I was so juiced. I went from 0 to 2 tickets in no time with no effort, haggling, money or goods on my part. We got inside and found our way to the Page Side Beer Shack, THE meeting spot in Deer Creek, and realized that everyone and their brother were already inside.

A whole gaggle of people I knew were there, as spun out as I was excited. It was a synergistic moment. The show that night was one for the record books. They opened with a Smashing Pumpkins song for goodness sakes, followed by Halley's->I Didn't Know, Ride Captain Ride.

You must be joking, I thought. How in the hell would I have dealt with being outside listening to this zaniness? I couldn't even fathom missing this show. The second set had a sick Gumbo->Axilla combo and as they came out for the encore and started the do-de-do-do-do intro to Antelope I realized that I was finally getting my Antelope as well.

Unreal.

This was also the night my brother realized that Deer Creek is actually a space ship, but I'll let him tell you that one.......

- Brother Joe