I moved to SF in 2008. After 12+ years I moved to Palm Springs at the start of the pandemic, and then moved back to SF 3 days ago.

My wife and I had locked in that move back date of 8/29 for months. Since I wasn't going to the Tahoe shows, I would not have a chance to see the band until Fall tour.

All that changed last week when I heard that the Tahoe shows were moved to Shoreline. Suddenly, I was about to break my nearly 2 year phish hiatus (last shows I saw were Dicks 2019) in a matter of days?!?!?!?

All the planning and prep went out the window. I was in the middle of big move with my wife, needed to work Tues and Wed. This was gonna be a quick and dirty surgical mission down the 280—get in, get melted, get my ass home.

I grabbed a chicken wrap on lot first thing. It sucked but it was the best thing I've eaten in 19 months. I was row J right in the middle. Best seats I've had for Phish.

I cannot say enough about how good the band is sounding. I'm here mostly for huge jams, so the first few tunes were not my bag. All good though. People love the bustouts and I love that for them. Some first set highlights: Wolfman's was great if standard, Stash was phenomenal and I'm not a big Stash guy, but I Never Needed You Like This Before was **it** for me, mostly for personal reasons.

That song was my quarantine anthem. From the moment Trey played it with the Roots on Kimmel last year, I said to myself "That's what they're going to open the next tour with". During all those dark days of the pandemic the sentiment in this song was my beacon. My hope. My guiding light back to normalcy. Tears were shed during the version last night. Also, this song seems ripe for a type 2 treatment. Jus' saying.

But that Soul Planet. Sheesh. At one point, consensus in my crew was that they were going for a 1-song set. It just seemed like an impossibility that they'd ever STOP jamming. Not a fan of the 5-8 minute darkness in the middle. But who cares! 47-minutes of pure exploration.

Felt so good to be back. Everything was perfect and weird and wonderful. So much gratitude to our band and community. Missed y'all.