pure bliss
when a good friend of mine called me up a couple months after the lottery for tix was over telling me that he must’ve deleted the phish ticketing email accidentally (cuz a friend of ours was sending prank emails) and he had gotten a call from his cred card company saying he had late fees piling up for charges he didn’t know existed… from PHISH TICKETING… for two sets of Hampton tix!! he told me this and then offered them to me and another friend of ours. i was in my office and absolutely flipped out… it was an incredible feeling and one of the nicest, most selfless things anyone has ever done for me.
then the waiting… and waiting… trying to somehow keep a lid on the excitement, as to not get my expectations TOO high for what these shows could be. but that was unavoidable, expectations are always present in some way, shape or form… and will grow even when you don’t want them to.
hank, that was an epic roadtrip out there, wasn’t it?? couldn’t have gone any better. even west virginia wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be
i woke up in our hotel room at like 7am on the 6th… unable to sleep any longer… just wanting to start the day that i had been waiting so long for. from that point on, the pieces of the puzzle just kept fitting right… buddies i hadn’t seen in a LONG time were found randomly…meeting the right (and wrong) people at the right times… each day we waited for hours in line, partying and giddy as hell… getting there at 2pm, 1pm and noon… earlier and earlier each day. and well worth it, we got the seats we wanted each night, straight away front row of the balcony… damn that was awesome.
and the shows, they blew me away. while not perfect flub-wise, like others have said, those shows were statements. marathon sets of almost everything you’ve been waiting 5 years to hear again. getting that fix we needed so badly and giving us more than anyone could have expected.
THE VIBE THAT WEEKEND WAS UNTOUCHABLE FROM START TO FINISH… that’s what i took away most. pure bliss
sorry that was a long read 
thats right man, im a time traveler and phish is doing a secret show tomorrow, that i saw last year.
about this time, the swat team of police hit the campground i was setting my friends up at, that was not a good time and the worst part of the Hampton Experience, everything after that moment was GREAT 
About THIS time, (although last year, 3/5 was Thursday) I was making my way through northern Virginia, getting ready to meet Bill. He went out for dinner with some friends, I stayed in, sipped on vodka and cranked some Phish while posting on the 'Pa. Then when he got back we waxed philosophic about Phish into the wee hours. Man…that’s a time I’ll never forget. (the snow fell in Vail Colorado).
About THIS time, I was lying in my bed up in MASSACHUSETTS because I couldn’t sleep knowing that they would be returning. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to focus in school that day so I played “sick.” Then I stayed up waiting for some sort of aud or release, anything, and didn’t get to sleep till around 4, then I had to wake up at 7 to go visit a college.
But anyways, the reunion was simply perfect, and I remember on other sites when people were speculating what they would open with, and I’d throw out fluffhead, and people would always be like “there is absolutely no reason for them to open with fluff,” and I just kept thinking, “uh, there is almost EVERY reason for them to open with it.” My jaw hit the floor when I finally checked the setlist update, it was quite an incredible night.
One year ago at this very moment I was standing outside my hotel in Virginia, looking up at the sky and talking to a friend on the phone.
I remember it like it was yesterday . . .
The absolute joy on my face and in my heart when those first few notes of Fluffhead came flowing out of the Languedoc cannot be described. I was overcome with emotion. I never knew I could cry tears of joy.
That whole weekend was indescribable. Whether it was Danielle’s baby sister Heather making the trip last minute or a late-night trip to Walgreen’s or seeing Billy who I had not hugged since Big Cypress.
As a Phish fan, that weekend in Hampton, VA, brought me a new found faith in the music and the band that I love/loved so dearly. The four guys could have come on stage and played like absolute shit (or maybe urinated in my ears 
, and I would have happily enjoyed. But the great thing was that they didn’t. It was the dawning of a new era. It was 3.0. It was the beginning of what was one of the greatest years of my life.
Where’s that picture of all of us outside of the coliseum? This would be a great place to post it.
You know, it’s really quite amazing to realize how much I’ve been missing by not updating my computing power sooner.
At work, I have decent systems to use, but they are hamstrung by administration policies against certain processing such as streaming videos and music, as well as locking out certain websites dedicated to these functions. So it’s quite awesome to me at the moment that I can be sitting with you, sucking some great coffee, while listening to the “radio unfriendly” Ghost from 4/4/98 on YawningDove all at the same time.
The new day sun is streaming in along with these great sounds in this villa in southern Joisey, on a great Saturday morning a year after this favorite band of ours returned to the stage to renew our love for great music and great times together.
I’m suddenly realizing that this new found technical functionality is a profound way to be celebrating the one year anniversary of Phish’s return to the stage.
Don’t get me wrong. Life was good even before my first Phish concert. Life was better after it. Life was still good even after Phish broke up, and life was so very much better in Hampton a year ago.
And life has been so good over the past year to have had Phish on tour creating new music and having the abilty to get my hands on the few shows I have from this period.
But this morning life is decidedly better to be able to enjoy this music more readily from my magic little laptop while I share my joy with you.
Such a great memory. The anticipation buildup prior to this weekend a year ago was insane. I couldn’t wait to get there, even though I only had tickets for sunday. But wow we were so lucky to have those tickets for Sunday.
I remember driving into the town and seeing the cops sitting at the city line, just waiting for something crazy. As soon as we saw the cops, we knew we were in the right place.
The energy was exhilarating. It was like all of had new life breathed into us. It was exceptional and I have been thinking about this anniversary for weeks.
Happy Anniversary to Phish 3.0. Thanks for being so fucking awesome. 
One year ago this day, I was sitting at my buddies’ house in Birmingham, having not yet moved to Asheville, drinking some beer that my friend had just brought back from Asheville. We were watching the Clifford Ball, shooting the shit, celebrating the return of the Greatest Band On Earth. At some point, I opened up my computer and saw what the first song was, and I absolutely lost it. I had to run outside and yell and jump up and down because I knew somehow that they were back FOR REAL. God it is a great time to be alive!
Tonight I plan to celebrate by drinking some Johnnie Walker, chilling with good friends, and a combination of watching Clifford Ball and listening to Hampton 09. This is going to be a yearly ritual for me. The only thing that sucks is I don’t get to watch the setlists roll in, but hey, no big deal. Summer isn’t too far away!
This is a truly magnificent thread. It has dredged up a lot of emotions, but the final and most important is the joy I feel in knowing that Phish is together again and one year later we have another summer tour to look forward to!
Let’s relive or live it if you were not there… 3/6/09 3 Cam DVD available for DL at tradersden.org. If any of you Dled the 09 Red Rocks 2 Cam dvds, you know what to expect! Thanks, Teamh00d!
3/7/09 is up at the Den! Happy Anniversary night 2 of Hampton!
Most important event of 2009…
The Monday after the final show I found OKP… 
Enough said…
Damn it! I was there!! I KNOW there is a pic with me in it too!! 
I know there is too, but not with my camera.
…and night 3 of Hampton is up @ Trader’s Den. These DVDs are as good as PRO! EPIC!
Heh…I wasn’t there but I didn’t peek at setlists until I listened to the show. After hearing that long first set, it seemed like the band just didn’t want to get off the stage. You could tell it was on.