PHILLY (Loosely Related to The Philadelphia Phillies)

...I got sucked back in.

Today's The Day, boys and gals.

Never been to the Jersey Shore above like LBI. Very nice setup up there, gotta say I liked it! The beach was nice; surprisingly big waves. Had a blast at the shore house we rented.

@Johnny Abruzzo - sorry we didn't meet up, man. The whole food scene was a shitshow and ended up fucking up most of the night for us, other than for PJ. Might as well put out a trough like we were pigs. I just picked a line. Luckily it had meat, it was a poutine line. Buddy and me got poutine, while also seeing some woman jump the pizza line next to us. She then got called out for it by another woman. The other woman then got punched square in the face for saying something to the line jump. Wild to watch a little blip in her nose just blow open and the fountains of her nose explode with blood. While we were getting our food my wife didn't want the slop we were eating so she got in the line next to us for crab cake sandwiches. Then when she got to the front to order there there was then another line to get in to wait for your order after paying. By the time my buddy and me sat down to eat my wife didn't show up until we were done and the sun had gone down lol. So then we hung out more at the table, swallowed some crab cake sandwiches, then had to go through the circus of taking a piss (which I'll say the bathroom setup was actually not that bad). Then had to get in line for enough drinks (2 each person) so that we didn't have to come back anytime soon for drinks. By this time I'm getting nervous on time for the show, it's like 8pm-ish.

All in all, by the time we got in the turnstiles of the festival (545/6ish), got beer, food, piss, got beer again, water took the entire ime. Fucking crazy. It's also about the time I call out the insidiousness of the VIP sections and all that bullshit. Because all it really was was to be purposely planned so that it was the only places you could get food or drinks for a fee beyond the front of the festival. Hey, us humans are just fucking consumers. Gross.

Beyond that - the fest was a fucking great setup when it comes to location. Our approach of attack to see PJ was to just get on the sand, get over to the fence/walkway closest to the surf, and just keep walking toward the stage until it got just too weirdly crowded. Surprisingly, we were able to get all the way up between the first two PA amp setups on the beach, closer to the 1st one. And we had plenty of room, and a decent view of the stage.

It's funny watching people discuss in the SHN thread that PJ was in this tour bus going up the beach. It was not Pearl Jam, just some other random dudes from some band I don't know.

Loved the set for a fest set! Was very happy to see everyone's perplexed reactions looking around because they didn't know the new songs. PJ did not give a fuck, and I was there for it. I was surprised they mixed so much of it in there. DOTC seemed slower live, but was super psyched to hear it and hear it start the show. Quick Escape killed live, very impressed with it.

Highlight of the night for me was Red Mosquito - I thought it sounded the best of all the songs they played. Clinch's harp playing added to it. Song just sounded right on the edge. Overall, the PA sound was great, too.

I would've preferred of course some more mix-up in the encore and some deeper cuts, but I knew what we were getting going in. Just overall surprised they played so much from Gigaton and throughout the set.

Getting out of the venue seemed a little nuts. We just got up on the boardwalk and walked south for like 20 minutes, until calling a Lyft seemed a bit easier.

So glad to have the PJ itch scratched, it was sorely needed.