After the music finished at 4am, and we celebrated our hard work with Carl in the forest afterwards, it's a minor miracle we even woke up on Sunday at all. When I arrived on site, I almost immediately shirked any remaining duties and disappeared. Why? To see the set of a music legend I've always wanted to see but had thus far never been able to:
Taj Mahal. I reached out to Taj for an interview but didn't hear back, but he receives no negativity for that, since he's freakin' Taj Mahal. And he did not disappoint. Wait, let me rephrase. He impressed the heck out of me. Such great stage presence, he played several instruments, and his music oozes joy.

Above is Taj, of course. Below is a close up of the recycled art hanging on the side of the Sherwood Court stage: aluminum cans and plastic bottles.

When his set was over, there was one hour before Trey. But we wanted to get an interview with a representative from
Conscious Alliance and their world record breaking (I think) can sculpture. It was pretty far from where we were - there were parts of the festival I never experienced, like swimming in the lake, because the site was huge - but we were able to get a ride on a golf cart round trip, so I figured time wasn't an issue. Here's a shot on the way.

Conscious Alliance does great work. But when I got there I realized two things: this was going to take a while, and we didn't have a ride back. I consider myself a pretty chill person, but I panic when life confronts me with one obstacle: being late to see Trey. And life appeared to be presenting me with this obstacle. I kept giving the "cut it" sign to Alec to end the interview, but it kept going. At some point, I abandoned everyone and starting speed walking to the main stage. I got there with ample time to spare, of course. I'm neurotic; what do you want from me?
I spent the first few songs by myself, until the gang met up. There was another mic set up on stage, so we knew something was up. Trey ran through several songs solo acoustic, all stuff he'd played before. A bit rusty, but that's what happens when you haven't played an announced gig in well over a year. Then the announcement: Mike Gordon! Then they played two new originals, making an obscenely obvious comment about the imminency of a Phish reunion. The set concluded with Chalkdust, and Trey saying to go see Mike and Gov't Mule. Duh.
We joined the herd leaving the main stage and heading to Sherwood Court to see Mike. A few songs in, Trey came out, sans guitar. Whoops. So the band played two more songs without him, and then Trey came out for some playing that made me feel very good about his health. He sounded amazing, and had me literally jumping in the air. He was in fine form, focused, spitting fireballs out of the guitar. Just how we need him. Then Fishman came out for a 3/4 Phish reunion for She Said She Said -
here is a crappy audio version on youtube. But I'm telling you: while everyone is focused on the Beatles cover with 3/4 of the band, and fewer are talking about the version of Meat, the highlight is what no one is talking about for some reason - the blistering version of Cruel World. Trust me.
Then back to the main stage to see
Gov't Mule. A fun set, although at this point the heat and the wear and tear of the weekend was having an impact. When the set ended at 7:45, there was a decision to make: chill for a few minutes until Phil started, or run to catch the last 45 minutes of John Mayer's set. I've heard good things about Mayer from people whose musical tastes I respect, so I made the trek by myself. I get there with 34 minutes left in his allotted set time, and I was stunned to find that he was finished. The only set of the weekend where the artist, instead of playing up to or over their allotted time, decided to pack it in way early. This was incredibly lame. But fortunately for me this meant I could hear the end of the
Atmosphere and
Brother Ali set. Festivals rule. I'd never heard of these guys, and I'm not sure when I would have ever heard of them. But there they were, playing right in front of me (to a huge crowd of people that obviously knew who they were), and they impressed me a lot.
Then the closer:
Phil Lesh & Friends. I've seen these guys before, of course, but there's a new friend -
Jackie Greene. He was really the star, imho. Phil ran way over, playing about an hour past his allotted time, so by the time we got to the closing party, it was already done! No worries. Off to chill in the forest and let it all soak in. But stunningly we were kicked out of the forest by security, as they were trying to get the place shut down. You could camp overnight, so I assumed you would be able to hang out in the forest overnight. This was one of the few planning shortcomings of the weekend for me. The other one is that the food was just awful. But with those few negatives out of the way, I can say that this was an incredible weekend of my life on many levels. If I was there just as a music fan I would have left satiated, but getting to talk to so many heroes, I left with a feeling of happiness heretofore unexperienced.
Inevitably with festivals, the next day we almost missed our flight back home. I love literally running through airports. I really do. But we made it of course, and although it took me about a week to recover (if I have recovered), this weekend was simply unforgettable. Except the parts I forget. Thanks to everyone that made it possible.