Phish takes to the state for "It" festival August 2, 2003 - The Associated Press By Kevin Wack LIMESTONE, Maine (AP) - Phish kicked off its two-day summer festival before an adoring crowd estimated at 60,000 in northern Maine on Saturday. The concert began under sunny skies, a welcome relief from the more than seven inches of rain in 10 days that caused major headaches for concert organizers as fans trickled into the former Loring air force base for the rock band's "It" festival. Loud cheers echoed through the concert grounds and beach balls bounced through the crowd of young fans as the four members of Phish took the stage at 5:30 Saturday afternoon. This weekend's event is the group's first major festival for its legion of fans since the millenium concert in Florida. "I'm just here to see the band that I love," said Marc Zornes, 22, of St. Louis. "Just the energy from the crowd is fantastic." Dave Werlin, who has helped produce each of Phish's six large festivals since 1996, called the changes prompted by soggy conditions "frustrating and heartbreaking." Organizers had planned to allow festival-goers to park on 10-foot by 40-foot grassy areas where they also could camp. Mud forced them to improvise by parking cars away from the camp sites on Loring's three-mile runway. That last-minute change caused unprecedented traffic along Routes 89 and 1A. Cars were backed up for 12 miles at noon Saturday, said Lt. Darrell Ouellette of the Maine state police. But police said everyone was inside the venue before Phish's first performance Saturday night. "It rained here like you knew it was time to build an ark," Werlin said. "I feel like we let the fans down. But you know what? Mother Nature did." In spite of the long traffic delays, Phish fans seemed generally relaxed as they prepared for six sets of music over two nights. Dave Caponi, 20, of Detroit, was among the first fans patiently waiting for the opening of the concert ground, a fenced-in area inside the festival gates. "I think it's remarkable that this many people are here to see one band," Caponi said. "It's pretty powerful." Buried inside a strand of pine trees several hundred yards from the stage was an artistic installation called "Sunk City." The idea was to build the facade of a city skyline that appeared sunken into the ground. Organizers said that because of the rain it was indeed sinking. Trey Anastasio, Phish's guitarist, praised a work force of roughly 1,000 for holding together the festival's logistics. "It's gotten to a point where this couldn't happen without the previous ones," he said. "The learning curve is big." Inside the vast former air force base, a 110-foot-tall water tower was decorated with a large likeness of Groucho Marx's face, featuring black glasses, a bushy mustache and a 16-foot-tall inflated vinyl nose. The funny glasses have become an incidental threat running through the event, which marks the end of Phish's summer tour. Organizers said they hope to set a world record by distributing 10,000 pairs of the glasses to concert-goers. A high-tech stage, complete with two 10,000-pound video screens, sat near a large abandoned hangar, while along the runway that used to service nuclear-ready B-52s a peace sign was chalked on a temporary graffiti wall. Police reported about half a dozen traffic accidents at the site involving injuries to pedestrians, though none of the injuries was serious. One man was arrested for drug trafficking, Ouellette said. Werlin said that although rain prompted some last minute reorganization, much of the frenetic construction on Saturday was by design. "The artistic side of it is never finished," he said. "It really is a dynamic process." Copyright © 2003 The Associated Press