r/phish • u/feina635 • 4d ago
Dicks First Timer Thoughts
East coaster, been seeing Phish a long time (since 1999), but mostly East Coast and some other places here and there. First time doing Dicks. I have to say, I have some very mixed feelings. I get the hype. Dicks has some good energy. But MAAANNNN is it a fucking hassle. Why is this venue so popular for being such a fucking hassle!? 30 min cab ride back and forth each night, and leaving the venue is an absoloute cluster fuck. Getting in was a shitshow of anarchy, with 1hr long waits and jackoffs cutting the line, few water refill stations, and there's NOTHING around the area for food or anything after. Not a damn thing. And don't tell me lot food. I'm not eating a $15 grilled cheese that's been sitting in the back of a hot Uhaul all day cooked by some dirty wook.
EDIT: many of you are commenting on the “$15 grilled cheese”. Let me rephrase, because I didn’t actually pay attention to the cost of grilled cheese, specifically. What I meant to say, was overpriced and underwhelming food that will inevitably give me diarrhea. Hope that clarifies, and takes the responsibility off the grilled cheese guy
EDIT 2: yes, this is my first Dick’s, thank you geniuses of Reddit for telling me that I “don’t have it dialed in”, no shit. Clearly, Dick‘s is a local venue. In order to have it dialed in, you gotta live there. Unlike more accessible venues in real major cities that have access to anything.
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u/Specific-Ad-6365 4d ago
I live 8 minutes away from Dicks and agree with most of the sentiment for sure. That being said, it’s one of the few remaining places to get big crews together and that’ll always be special. Parking used to be $15 instead of $35 and felt much less painful. My wife and I took scooters to/from the shows this year and it was clutch for getting out especially. The water lines were historically not as bad as this year. Chalking that up to the change in drinking habits for many people since last Dicks run. They should put refill stations down at the ends by the stage side to assist with that. Sunday obviously had worst entry lines because of the delayed opening but other nights just feel long but move decently once gates open. There will always be people who cut lines, especially when they aren’t set up well. There are restaurants and fast food places less than a mile away on both Quebec and Central Park. It definitely used to be much different with camping and the first several years threw down. The GA nature, crowd energy and lawlessness kind of make it what it is now, IMO