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...A list by the editor:
-Definitely bring something to sell. Everyone up there at the Phish concert at Loring Commerce Center in Limestone over the weekend of August 2 and 3 was selling or buying something: grilled cheese sandwiches, Newcastle bottled beer, T-shirts, Red Bull, Posters, fatty veggie burritos, mushroom chocolates, jewelry, woodcut prints, glass pipes, Headies, steak and cheese sandwiches, bottled beer, margaritas, back massages, pony rides and more. And out of the 70,000 folks up there selling and buying, only about 30 seemed legitimate enough to have vendor's licenses.
-A slogan. If you were selling something, you needed a catch phrase to get people to stop and take notice. For example: "Ice cold cans of Red Bull … Drink 'em or put 'em on your nuts!!"
That guy sold out 12 cases in about two hours.
-No Kegs. The security up there wouldn't let my buddy through with his dump truck full of nine kegs (go figure), but they said he would have been fine had he had nine kegs worth of beer in bottles or cans. Must be something about wanting to pick up all those 5 cent returnables.
-A motor scooter/moped/mountain bike/skateboard/roller skates/anything with wheels. We got there early and we still camped about 1.5 miles from the stage. Plus, when I saw friends at the concert and they said were camped in, say, section ZZ, wheels would have been nice so I could have visited them without having to pack two meals.
My friend Dan, sick of walking, talked a dude into letting him hop onto his miniature Ducati motorcycle. Dan was tearing up and down the airstrip until a slight lapse caused him to flip head over heels sending the tiny bike flying. When I caught up with him later, however, he'd washed off the blood and was all smiles. "You seen that dude with the Ducati," he asked hopefully. "I want another ride." That's a Maine raft guide for you.
-A porta-potty. Clean ones were worth better than gold. I actually saw a guy who did bring his own porta-potty to the show in the back of a small pickup. When I saw him, he was standing in front of the door as if he was guarding it. I went up and asked him if he was charging people to use it. "No, but I should have. I woulda made 100 bucks if I had a dollar for every person who's asked me to use it."
-Goulashes. Mud was a force at the Phish show.
-Two-way radios. These instruments were way more fun than they were necessary: "CHICKENHEAD, you got your ears on?" "Go ahead DUFFMAN." "Yea, I am back at the camp site… I have visual contact with an unidentified subject who is using the inside of your tent as his personal porta-potty - oh! it looks like he has switched to the inside of your cooler, CHICKENHEAD. You may want to come down here and secure your things…" "DUFFMAN, you are, indeed, a jerk."
-Patience. The lines to get in and out of the camping area were disgustingly long. One person I talked to had to wait in traffic for 15 hours to go the last 6 miles to get to his campsite, and 13 hours on his way out of the venue.
-A flag and a tall flagpole. There is no easier way to find your campsite than to have the colors of No Umbrella or the Wu Tang Clan flying high above it.
-Binoculars. 70,000 people in one confined area .. I could have people-watched for hours. Not to mention, it would have been nice to have actually seen the band ... at least I could hear them pretty well.
Email nick [at] noumbrella [dot] com with your questions, comments and concerns.
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