"Guardian Angel"

"Bug... it doesn't matter"... ... What critics say about this song.. "the new Trey", jams too short... this run, YEMSG 2011....
As some have remarked, "haters gonna hate"..

I'm here to do the opposite, I enjoyed this run immensely! I think I enjoyed it more than last years MSG run. It is all about personal experience and for me, this run was the absolute pinnacle of my (short) Phish following career.

Short introduction.. I was invited by a friend to my first show which I attended on a whim, last minute.. A Tuesday, I happened to be home, back east for a vacation and the Equifunk festival... 8/17/10, Jones Beach night 1. Made the trip to AC and saw 10/30/10 and the Halloween show and the rest is history... NYE 2011 was my 22nd show.

Must make this point to preface the story..

Cashortrade.org is simply the best thing to ever happen for us phans in the war against scalpers. USE IT!

I have used it to find tickets since Halloween run in AC.. Worked out trades for NYE run 2010, Bethel, Gorge, Outside Lands, Tahoe, Commerce City and most successfully this past run, YEMSG 2011...

Karma repays people!! Below... some convincing evidence.

Here is how it all played out... The most complicated, beautiful ticket scenario ever!!!

After me and my small crew of two other people struck out in the PTBM lottery we had everything riding on the public onsale. Shut out of Friday and Saturday. I scored 3 tickets for 12/29 in 329/B and my buddy scored 3 in 101/26 for 12/28... Myself, him and his girl were set for the first two nights.. Wheewwww!

But wait, we've got NOTHING to trade with, just cash and it seemed this run was different, no extras being sold early. Everyone thinking they can trade their extras for the elusive NYE ticket.. I held out, checked this site, ebay, stubhub and especially cashortrade for the better part of two months. Nothing. I was seriously ready to shell out $150 for 12/30 and $250 for 12/31. I listened to some people who said prices would drop 3-7 days before event. Nothing. In fact the price was going up. Getting nervous, getting real nervous.

Then, everything changed.

On Christmas my friend sends me a text, "Doug got us a skybox for the 29th, sell your tickets".. From that point on everything seemed to go in my favor. ..Here I will simplify how I made this happen..

Found a trade on cashortrade with .netter @phan83 My two Trey Symphony tickets for his two 12/30's. Didn't really want to get rid of these but I was desperate and it was an even trade for face. Thanks Tim!! Great to meet you on the 28th and hope the rest of the run continued the fun. Had this scheduled in advance and therefore an extra 12/30 as my friend couldn't attend. Then my friend Alizah tells me she has my 12/30 for face. Boom, I have my own plus two extras for the 30th.

Then, I got lucky, I found two trades for NYE tickets on cashortrade and they were both for exactly my extras. I was also the first to respond to these posts.

Yamark wanted my two for 12/29 and one for 12/30 for a NYE + face. Called me from the drive from Buffulo, really cool guy. Great communication, legit. Thanks so much Mark!!

Then I met Andrew, TheCamdenSand, he wanted my two 12/30's for his NYE + face. Met him outside the venue. Super smooth, legit, thanks so much Andrew!!!

But what did this all leave me with? An extra for 12/29, hooked up an old friend the night of the 28th for his sister. So happy, no problem Matt.

And left me with an extra 12/31 and without a 12/30. A good place to be. At one point I had 3 12/30's and now I had none; but did have this valuable 12/31 to trade.

Same bar, Foley's, 12/28 post show, I mention to my friend I am looking to trade NYE for 12/30. His eyes light up and he introduces me to his friend, Jeff, who I had hung out with before briefly.. I am now his "NYE Guardian Angel" as he put it.. Feel I've made a good friend for the future as the good times kept on rolling for the two of us...

Elated, he doesn't want to get too excited though before I've got the ticket in hand. All trades worked, trade made and it only gets better from here...

Jeff works for Turner Broadcasting in online sales. His extra for the 30th was in 118, row 10. My best seats so far. So the first set was pretty good from that vantage point. Second set we get stubbed down to the Turner floor level suite with access In My Opinion the best seats in the house! The first two rows in front of the 116-118 and 106-108 sections; right off the floor. We were in suite #4, right below section 118. Perfect viewing and access to free booze, food, bathroom, AMAZING!

Then, since our seats for 12/31 were shitty singles in 416 and 417, Jeff found a friend not using his floor seats! AMAZING again! They were three couples and had four seats together in 101. They assumed it's easier to squeeze 6 in 4 then in 2 floor seats so we got their stubs/seats ...

Section 2 Row 15 Seats 5 and 6. Best view in the house other than the taper rigs. I was dead center with Trey! Perfect lights viewing and the best sound I had heard.
Spent the first two sets there and headed down to the Turner box for the third set. Rang in the new year in true style with a real glass champagne flute in hand, raging Steam in a roomy floor box with some close friends and some new friends. The perfect culmination to an amazing year of Phish!!

Then sold my extra to the New Deal aftershow and had a sick time there despite the ridiculous scene to get in the venue.
Also, got my Benevento after party tickets below face on cashortrade and passed on the discounted price on my extra in front of the venue, pay it forward people. Take care of your fellow fans!!! BTW, the Benevento show, 12/29, was the tits and saved an otherwise ehhhh nightfor me.

See, after all that, my least favorite show was 12/29. Being in that skybox, I feel like I wasn't even at the show for most of it! Everyone talked about the energy in the building that night and I was so far removed. Not complaining, but you just can't compare the feeling of being amongst the crowd, sharing in the energy and groove. That said it was a killer Weekapaug. And most amazing part of the run was 46 days; never have I seen energy like that except maybe Zeppelin/Tweezer 10/30/10.

Thanks so much for reading everyone. Remember, embrace the face and take care of your fellow phish.net brethren.

Much love; can't wait to do it again next year!!

That was a good story- although tired me a bit

@phan83

Can't believe you were 6 rows in front of me most of NYE! Wish I hit you up later in the run; would have been cool to see how all worked out after our meetup over your burrito on the upper east side..

You make some very good points about perspective and being at both NYE shows.
I have to agree that personal energy level has so much to do with it.
Last year I think I had a little too much to drink NYE. I don't remember it as crisply as I do this year.

Also, seats matter.. Even though last year I was in a pretty good section, high 100's straight on view, all of the dancers were far away enough that it looks much better now on video.

However, this year, dancers were flying right in my face and I was just a few feet above the whole floor crowd, feeling the energy as Trey and Mike jammed from pedestals above on stage and ran around with their wireless guitars.. Truly awesome! Video can't even do it justice, you had to be there; MSG was on fire (most of all I think during 46 days).

Anyway, glad to hear that you got your Jedi moment with Trey and you truly had the best seats in the house, right in front of the tapers rigs and behind the soundboard. It's sloped so you see over the whole floor crowd and the sound and lights are at perfection..

Cheers to 2012!!

@brando

Absolutely! Happy to have you share my story. I've been touting the greatness of CashorTrade.org for the past year and a half and was sure to remind all of it's excellence in NYC last week too.

Thank you so much for creating this site for fans by fans; don't underestimate the power of the growing community... In the years to come it should mean more and more tickets in the hands of true fans who need them.