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Archive for the ‘Camden, NJ’ Category

Pearl Jam (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden, NJ, September 14, 2022)

Posted in Camden, NJ, Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Neil Young, Pearl Jam, Pluralone, Van Halen, Victoria Williams on September 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 14, 2022] Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam released Gigaton, their first album in seven years back in 2020.  They announced a US tour, but it was remarkably limited in scope.   There was an NYC date, but that sold out really quickly.

It was postponed for COVID and when they announced their 2022 tour, they threw in a stop in Camden as well.  So we actually had a chance to see them (us and 25,000 other people).

Well, getting there was a nightmare!  We got to Camden with no trouble and then it took us an hour to get from the Camden exit to a parking space.

I don’t know if this is a Camden problem or if the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion is to blame (they are at least the third owners since I’ve been going there and it doesn’t get better).

We missed the opening band Pluralone entirely and were actually worried we might miss the opening of the Pearl Jam set.  We didn’t but we only had to wait about 15 minutes.  And of course, we were REALLY far back.

Pluralone is the creation of Josh Klinghoffer who also played guitar and more with Pearl Jam on this tour.  I was really surprised that they had an opening band as recently they haven’t been having one.  I’m glad there was one as we would have missed the band if there hadn’t been.  But it also meant a shorter set (I think).

Pluralone plays some interesting experimental music.  They would have probably been pretty interesting to see, although Klinghoffer did wind up playing with Pearl Jam for the entire set,

C. went with us for this one (his first and hopefully not last Pearl Jam show).  T. was going to come with us, but she bailed.  It’s probably just as well, as we had to walk about a mile to our car and she didn’t really know them all that well.

Without question, I will not be going to another show in Camden again. They simply don’t have the infrastructure for that capacity crowd.

But all was forgiven when the band came out. (more…)

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Phish (BB&T Pavillion, Camden, NJ, June 29, 2019)

Posted in BB&T Pavillion, Camden, NJ, Mike Gordon, Newport Folk Festival, Phish, Set in New Jersey!, Trey Anastasio, TV on the Radio on June 29, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 29, 2018] Phish

I was very excited to see Phish again this summer.  I bought tickets for all three shows at the BB&T Pavillion.

But then my week had turned very busy with shows and other commitments.  When I heard Cate Le Bon was playing at Boot & Saddle on the Friday night, I decided to sell Friday’s ticket.  I mean, let’s be honest, BB&T is a pain in the ass to get to (and parking is insane and expensive).   (I wound up not even going to Cate Le Bon either, boo).   I also decided to sell Sunday’s ticket because Saturday was a long night and I had had enough of the late nights for a time.

But for the Saturday show I had originally bought two tickets so that S. could go to her first Phish show.  I was bummed that they were lawn seats, although I think she felt this added to the experience because she got to see all of the people dancing and milling about.  We were supposed to meet my friend Armando, which would have made the whole night really fun, but he had car trouble and wound up not making it.  (boo).

So it was just S. and I.  Traffic sucked, parking sucked and the weather was questionable.   We arrived literally as “Mike’s Song” started.  So we found a somewhat unused spot on the lawn and settled in.  Phish fans are very friendly but for some reason the group around us wasn’t very inclusive.  In what has to be a first, no one offered either of us a joint the whole night!  They must have thought we were narcs. (more…)

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Phish (BB&T Pavilion, Camden, NJ, August 8, 2018)

Posted in BB&T Pavillion, Camden, NJ, Frank Zappa, Jon Fishman, Madison Square Garden, Mike Gordon, New York City, Page McConnell, Phish, Trey Anastasio on August 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 8, 2018] Phish

I have never seen a band two nights in a row in the same place before (I have seen Tori Amos three times in four days but that was at different locations).  I knew that Phish always mixed up their sets so that two nights in the same place never contained the same songs.  This was a great way to hear even more different stuff.

Tonight’s show was very different for me though.  My daughter was in the 4H Fair play before the show (she was a wicked stepsister in Cinderella).  I certainly wanted to see that.  It was super fun, although pro-tip…she needs to exaggerate her on-stage behavior more.

I was afraid I’d be late for the show (4H traffic is shocking!), but traffic was light and I made it to Camden in okay  time.  I had to park over a mile away (and still pay $30).  It was a 15-minute brisk walk to the stadium during which time I was feeling kind of down about the whole event.  There were lots of drunk people and scalpers and hawkers and ugly sights abounded.  Plus it was hot and I was in a hurry and then I got to the gates and the line was huge.

I also knew that I was much later than the night before so I wouldn’t get a choice spot at the railing like the night before.

I bought a corn dog (yum) and walked up to the lawn.  I decided to purposely pick a different part of the lawn tonight (Page’s side).  And just as I climbed the stairs I saw Armando, my friend from the night before.  I was hoping to see him and was kicking myself for not coordinating with him.  But I love the serendipity of running into him like that.  He was talking to a woman who turned out to be his mom!  She lives closer to the venue than he does so he was staying with her for the night and he invited her along. She had been to many concerts with him (how cool is that) but had never seen Phish so she was excited for something new.  She was great to hang with.

He had a spot along the railing again and got ready for Night #2. (more…)

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Phish (BB&T Pavilion, Camden, NJ, August 7, 2018)

Posted in BB&T Pavillion, Camden, NJ, David Bowie, Donuts, Jon Fishman, Madison Square Garden, Mike Gordon, New York City, Page McConnell, Phish, Trey Anastasio on August 7, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 7, 2018] Phish

Having enjoyed two Phish shows at Madison Square Garden, and really seeing what it’s like to go to multiple shows by the same band when they mix up the setlists so much, I was pretty psyched to hear that Phish were coming back to NJ for two shows on a short summer tour.

After the immense spectacle of the Baker’s Dozen, in which they repeated no over thirteen shows (thereby messing up every statistic-driven fan who likes to recount the last time a song was played, this tour was shaping up to be a more traditional fan favorites (or not) package.  This was actually perfect for me because as I start keeping tracks of the songs I need to see live, I realize that I need a lot of the staples to fill out my chart. (more…)

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