in the afternoon, my girlfriend and i weren't even sure that we were arriving on the correct day. one lone soul sat in front of the main door at around 3pm reading a book. we pulled up, "ah, lesh and friends?" "i sure hope so," he said.

thus, the scene was loose, uncrowded, mostly local, low key. there were lots of people from their home towns coming out of the wood work. thus, there was a relaxed reunion quality. of course, there were the crews on northern legs too. the venue itself is basically an over-sized quanset hut: concrete and steel, not very warm.

what it lacked in sound quality (a huge hole in which to devour bass), the scene made up for in looseness. i ran into old friends there who invited us to join them up front. well, during the first set, we WALKED right up to the front, checked it out, and opted for a wing with a better view: total mobility.

earlier in the day we'd heard the sound check of loose lucy while hanging around a side door. after that i think they checked angel band. while i'd scene better q shows, something here was magical, and i have to admit, it might not translate to tape. however, the q is spot on -- surprise surprise. the terrapin->11->terrapin SMOKES and the loose lucy is fun.

phil summed up the day as he did his usual rap, saying that it was nice to come up to a (fairly) remote place and play music for those of us who don't have such treats. THANK YOU PHIL!!!!!! of course, we got our smokin' shows at the orpheum, but a show like this captures a magic i don't expect to happen again any time soon. after all, yesterday was phil's 65th, and we can't expect him to play in a local roller skating arena every fall hereafter.

happy 65th phil, and thank YOU for a real good time.

(only 3 stars as most q fans will find that this pales in comparison to the rest of '01).