Jerry Scoppa's Blog

Bah…postponed to October.

Phish

Darien Lake
June 8th

Concert Buddy – Sully

Wednesday show…tough day when you are a teacher.

This was my first Phish experience…and what an experience it was.

I was a little bummed out that I didn’t take the day off and spend it at the park with Dooner and Sully.  They spent the day in a relatively open park that was ONLY available to Phish ticket holders….they rode the rides with no or little line.

I get to the show via back roads., so there was no traffic until I was in the park.  Once I got there, the adventure begin.  I have never been to a show where there is a row of tented vendors outside the venue.  There were like 20…selling just about everything.

I met up with Sully and Dooner to get in a little tailgating before the show.  I had to walk about 10 minutes to get there – I was parked in East Bejeebus since I got there “late”.  The three of us headed in.  Dooner had seats on the inside, and Sully and I were on the lawn.

To say this was a great show for people watching would be an understatement.  There was a wide variety of people ALL over the place.  The one thing that surprised me was how mellow the crowd was before the show, during the intermission, and even after.  But during the show -  that was a totally different story.  The energy of the crowd during the show was awesome.

I was surprised that Phish didn’t play any of the standby favorites.  Instead, they tossed out a phenomenal show of some great music.  Perhaps my favorite of the night was 2001: A Space Odyssey.  This was done well, but the light show was the kicker.  The coolest part of it was the “ball” of white light that we experienced, then once it died down, seeing thousands of fans cheering with their hands up.

I am surprised after this show that I have not been to one before.  It was truly an event.  I loved the awesome music that Trey and friends kicked out.  The crowd was fun to hang with.  The light show was amazing.  If this was any indication of  what people have coming up at Super Ball IX at Watkins Glen next month….wow.

Setlist:

Set 1:

1.  Nellie Kane

2.Mellow Mood

3.  Buffalo Bill

4. Kill Devil Falls

5.  Wolfman’s Brother

6.  Rift

7.  Undermind

8.  Ride Captain Ride

9.  It’s Ice

10.  Dog Faced Boy

11.  Brian and Robert

12.  46 Days

13.  Limb By Limb

14.  Character Zero

Set 2:

1.  Golden Age > Mike’s Song > Fast Enough for You

2.  Weekapaug Groove

3.  What’s the Use

4.  Theme From The Bottom

5.  Backwards Down The Number Line > Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)> Harry Hood

Encore: Good Times, Bad Times

Ray LaMontagne

CMAC

June 4th

Concert Buddy – Christine (My #1)

Pulling into the show, I knew we were in for an adventure when we saw our car twin.  Same car, same color, and a bit of a vivacious group in there!  They honked and waved….little did we know that our paths were intertwined for this show.

Christine and I took the long walk in.  The weather is perfect for our first outdoor show of the year.  We stop and grab a big gulp glass and a few small dixie cups for our tasty beverage of the show.  Then we wander up to the grass area.  There are not a lot of people seated yet, so we grab a nice centered seat.  Then the car twin group pull up right next to us again….and they were a lot of fun to watch their antics throughout the show!

The first group was the Secret Sisters.  They have an Indigo Girl-esque sound. Good stuff!  I kind of wish we got there earlier to hear more of them, but that is ok…Ray brought them back later.

Next up was Brandi Carlile.  I wasn’t overly familiar with her music, recognized a few – including one used on Grey’s Anatomy.  She rocked it.  I like the energy that she put into the show.  It was funny when she did a bit of a trip down memory lane and threw in a little Debbie Gibson to her show.  A thing that I found very interesting was she had a female drummer, a bit uncommon.  I would check out her music again sometime if the possibility arose.

Then we get to Ray LaMontagne.  The last time I saw him, he opened for guster at the High Falls Festival site a few years back.  all I can saw is WOW.  I loved the fact that we were sitting, enjoying his nice calm, but rocking, music.  His band was made up of a few pedal and lap steel guitars, regular electric guitars, drums, a female bass player, and him on guitar as well.

This part of the show seemed to fly by as we just sat back and enjoyed.  It was interesting to see that Ray LaMontagne started the show, by himself, in the back corner of the stage, looking out at an angle.  He then stayed there for the remainder of the show – not something you are used to seeing with the main guy in the corner….doesn’t he know that nobody puts Ray in the corner?

Great show.  The funny thing was that I won these tickets BEFORE winning the NCAA tournament, I think I answered a trivia about that FMS hat collection.

Rock & Roll and Radio
Hold You In My Arms
For the Summer
Beg, Steal, Borrow
Repo Man
Mama Tried (Merle Haggard cover; w/ Secret Sisters)
Shelter
Devil’s in the Jukebox
Are We Really Through?
New York City’s Killin Me
God Willin and the Creek Don’t Rise
Blue Canadian Rockies (Jim Reeves cover)
Trouble
Old Before Your Time
Jolene
Henry Nearly Killed Me

Encore-

Three More Days
All the Wild Horses

Ok, so the first show is a great one!

Cake

Artpark

May 20th

Concert Buddy – Christine (My #1)

Christine and I drop off the boys at her parents and head out to the show.  The first thing that I notice is when we get to Lewiston, I would never know there was a concert about to happen.  It is a cool little town with some definite character.

We pull up to the Artpark (which is a NYS Park – BONUS!).  TO get in, it is a quick pull through.  There is a ton of parking since this is a state park.  We park and wander through the relatively tame parking lot.

Will Call Window – OH BOY.

I ask for the tickets.  The girl laughs when she sees the envelope that is labeled as Jerry Berry Scary Scoppa.  Gotta love that.  Then she opens the envelope to find ONE ticket.  A few minutes later, and the problem is solved…we head in.

Our seats are phenominal.  We have the last row in the first center section, right on the aisle.  Can’t go wrong with that.

The show rocks.  I can’t even begin to explain the “cool factor”.   We do have a few WBER listeners a couple seats down, so I am sure more will come.

Cake is the only band that is playing tonight.  It is a night with Cake.

Suddenly in the 2nd or 3rd song, the man, the myth, the legend – SGT PEPPER  walks into the row.  We say our hellos and proceed to get a bit rowdy in the row.

The best part of set one was perhaps the soliloquiy on the greatest tradgedy of the 20th century….the death of 3/4 time.  It was a great rant.  During it, we were offered a chance to not listen, but instead head out and do whatever we wanted.  I am glad that the crowd stayed and listened…hopefully some learned what 3/4 time is!

Sick of You was accompanied by the Pepper Show, which included a YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

H! someplace in the middle of it.

Intermission was seemingly short.  I couldn’t believe that set 2 started with THE DISTANCE.  It was a great way to come in. 

The second set flew by, but that could be due to the gift that Pepper returned with, that quickly multiplied. (off air story)

Well, the setlist rocked over all!  The only song that I really wanted to hear was I Will Survive……but they played everything else I would have wanted.  It was just amazing to have one band play a great show…..that was just them, no openers.

Set 1

1. Sad Songs and Waltzes (Willie Nelson cover)
2. Italian Leather Sofa
3. Opera Singer 
4. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lifestyle 
5. Long Time
6. Mustache Man (Wasted)
7. Shadow Stabbing
8. Wheels
9. Mexico
10. Bound Away
11. Guitar
12. Sick of You

Set 2

1. The Distance
2. Jolene
3. Pentagram 
4. Love You Madly 
5. Thrills 
   (During the tree giveaway)
6. Sheep Go to Heaven 
7. Never There

Encore:

1. War Pigs 
   (Black Sabbath cover)
2. Short Skirt/Long Jacket 

Thanks to WBER, I have the opportunity of a lifetime.

I won the NCAA March Madness Contest.

During a FMS, I called in to register and got the West 3 Seed.  Low and behold it turned out to be for UCONN.

With UCONN’s win of the tourney, I get tix to any show that WBER has tix to through the end of 2011.  This is like a massive choose your own adventure.  I can’t wait to see what happens!