(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

There almost wasn't a third Phish show for me. My second, 7/1/94, had been rather dull, and my wife-to-be hated it with a passion. I had loved Rift but was underwhelmed by Hoist. There were plenty of other rock acts competing for my dollar at the time, and most of those my fiancè©e was willing to see. The burned-out hippies, whom I find annoying, had invaded the Phish scene with full force. But memories of my fantastic first show, 5/2/93, and my favorite moments on the first four studio albums prompted me to give Phish another try. And it paid off. While not as energetic or as fun as that '93 show, this show had some incredible moments that kept me curious as to what else they might be able to do. Another show as desultory as 7/1/94 might have caused me to jump off the bandwagon forever.
The first set was pretty standard but had a strong opening pair, "Ya Mar"� into "AC/DC Bag,"� that got the crowd swaying. Other highlights included a crisp "Divided Sky,"� a goofy "I Didn't Know"� (with Fishman introduced as "Cedric Harris"�), and a galloping "Split Open and Melt."�
But the second set was the real story here. The opener, "Maze,"� raged nearly as hard as the one from my first show, and was more playful with its "Reveille"� teases. "Scent of a Mule"� gave me my first exposure to the duel, and I found Page's classical stylings impressive. But the show's calling card was the unusual "Mike's Groove"� with "Why Don't We Do It in the Road"� and "HYHU"� in the middle. A sequence that combined such incredible jamming with such brazen silliness, well, only a band that really has something going for it could pull that off. I was hooked, again.
The encore was my first exposure to "Slave"� and I was again impressed. Two days later I went out and bought A Live One on its day of release. While it would take two more years for me to become a raving, drooling die-hard, I never considered falling off the Phish train again.

This is my favorite Phish show! Maybe not the best Ive seen, but my favorite.
It seemed like that year, the Dead were zigzagging to shake people following them around. If you alternated between Phish and the Dead you could kinda go straight down the east coast.

This was not the case this weekend...
I mailordered for Phish, then the Dead announced their shows. Being more of a Dead head I was bummed to miss the RKF shows with my friends.
We did Stanhope Villiage, then went to RFk in Washington to catch the Dead, then had to drive back to philly to catch this show.
I was pissed because we partying like rock stars at the hotel bar that day since breakfast, and my friends were all staying for the next Dead show. then my GF drove us down to the mann. My buzz was waning hard, head pounding, and we pull in to the lot and Krishna sticks his head in the window, and says "hey your under arrest" I mumbled something like "get the fuck out of here" and he starts saying he can help, I was too young to be so burnt blah blah blah... So anyway, Im now even more grumpy, go into the show, dose, and by the time they played Split I was convinced Trey had sold his soul to the devil. It was a hard rockin show, and I was DIGGIN IT!
Turns out, that would be my last Dead show with Jerry dying a month later. I loved Phish in this period since 92. This show being one I will always remember. It was really never the same for me after Jerry Died. I didnt want Phish to be a replacement. I liked them as an alternative. Seen many shows, good bad and average, but this one, for me, was the BEST!