Out of Brooklyn an on toward Saratoga.
Back at it on a Friday afternoon. A three-night run at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. There's a slight false sense of accomplishment on this tour. As I've mentioned in previous posts, going on full-fledge tour has been on my to-do list for some time now. Nearly a week in, I've covered 800-miles, catching five shows.
Twenty years ago, five shows could've required nearly twice the mileage. A quirky foursome out of Vermont didn't have the industry clout they posses in 2016. Booking a 25,000-seat venue for three consecutive nights wasn't very feasible. This meant not only the band, but 'touring' fans were on the move a lot more than they are today. It isn't far-fetched to tales of waking up early the morning after a show in New York and having to be in Kentucky or maybe Ohio that night to catch the next show.
For some reason, I am a little envious that it isn't like that these days. A couple mid-week shows sometimes in the same venue or if not in a nearby city followed by a three-night run in a different city. This is how tour functions now. To the band, and to fans this is obviously the most rational and ideal way to tour. I am not entirely positive why I'm in search of more of a challenge here. This tour has already taught me more and more about how to travel efficiently.
Next weekend will be a slight glimpse at what the old days used to be like. Friday night in Mansfield, MA, Saturday in Hartford, CT and Sunday night in Syracuse closes out the east cost tour.
'Drop me a pin'
To dive in a little deeper into 21st century touring, here are a few anecdotes from being a digital age tour kid.
Friday night following night one of SPAC, Sierra was missing. Douglas' girlfriend was nowhere to be found as we regrouped outside Gate B near the ticket office.
Douglas was worried. She wouldn't answer phone calls nor texts. As thousands of people hastily passed us by the minute, it was nearly impossible to visually filter through the faces in attempts to spot her. We hadn't established a meeting spot if we got separated. Of course we didn't! We're millennials they say. We have technological boxes that hold the keys to the world!
We had been warned about getting lost outside SPAC. The venue sets within a state park within Saratoga Springs, a town that lives and dies by horse racing. We filed out of an unfamiliar entrance. Douglas repeatedly left voicemails asking Sierra to "drop him a pin."
Let's flashback 20 years again, August of 1996 in Plattsburgh, NY. Phish hosted Clifford Ball, one of their first large scale festivals that featured three nights of, Phish......and, well that's it. Nearly 80,000 fans showed up. Cellular phones were far from prevalent. Bulletin boards were the method for meeting. A 'meet up board' if you will. Here, fans would post status updates of where they were camping within a general vicinity and where they would be inside the show if all went well. The room for error was high. Maybe it would be better said, the chance for success was low.
Here's a hypothetical post on the board:
Stephen Proffitt: Douglas, Connor, Sierra, we're parked near tower F on the air strip, roughly 200 yards from the gate in between a white Astro van and a silver Ford Bronco. There's a New York Giants flag hanging high above the van. We're going Page side tonight hopefully near the soundboard.
I find a lot of people to be so unreliable these days, sometimes including myself because of the crutch our phones provide us with. You're always a few seconds away from completely altering the plan previously established.
I of course never experienced this but I think there's a level of value and respect to discuss it in our technologically-dependent worlds. After nearly 90-minutes, Sierra dropped us a pin on Douglas' iPhone. We started walking directions and found here within
Were people more reliable at shows and in life back then? I'd love to know. I have occasionally tinkered with this on my friend David. We'll decide to meet at the downtown coffee shop at a given time one morning. The plans were set maybe 20 hours in advance. No communication is allowed in between that time and the scheduled arrangement. It takes a certain level of reliability to make this happen.
Imagine if the success of your entire festival weekend hinged on one meeting spot, at a given time. Would you be there, or would you leave them waiting all night?
"I will stay here alone and without....someone controlled by the phone and tv, because what it's doing for me is fine."
-Stephen
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