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

I was about to move to Las Cruces for graduate school and I wasn't happy. I would never be able to see Phish there, that's for sure. As I was complaining about this to my mother, I walked out to the mailbox. The new Phish Update arrived for me. Believe it or not, Phish would be playing at the Pam Am Center the day before I had to report to NMSU.

This show will always be special for me for one reason. This is the only time I was ever able to walk to a Phish concert. The Pan American was only three blocks from my house. The other thing that struck me about the event was that no one was there to see Phish. Santana draws well in the Southwest of course, but there were about three people in the entire audience who had seen Phish before.

In an attempt to make them feel welcome, I decided on a plan. Before the show started, I talked to a random girl I had met that night. Phish walked on stage. I counted, "1, 2, 3" and we screamed, "Harpua." No we didn't get one, but a sign of people being there for Phish was enough to get Trey to turn and wave to our area of the venue.

This show, while still short of course, was a huge improvement over the Columbia, MD opening set I had seen. The "Bowie" in particular was hot. Not only was it well played, but it included an All Fall Down signal. Sure, they're playing in an area where no one knows them, but that's not going to stop them from referencing an inside joke for the diehards. That's yet another reason why I love this band.