(posted to rec.music.phish in Nov 1996)

I'm sitting at my desk with my headphones in my ears, listening to the
Clifford Ball's surprise seventh set. It is so enchanting, serene,
haunting, and, for lack of a better word, "neat" that I had to write.

First off, I did not go to Plattsburg, so I can't say I exactly know what
the experience was like, but I remembered reading something where one of
the band members had said it was an awesome experience with everyone
walking silently along next to them. The music may not be all that
interesting, but closing your eyes and picturing that scene is really
something.

In the 20 or so minutes that are included on this tape, there are a few
cuts and volume weirdnesses, but hey, the taper had to run alongside the
truck, so what can you really expect? What is neat to hear is the snippets
of the crowd. You catch tiny bytes of various conversations as the
microphones pass by the onlookers. One pair of guys asks, "why do you
think they're doing this?" And the other's answer is "They wanted to
give us something special."

It definitely sounds like something I feel very bad to have missed. I
can't really describe it, but this tape makes me feel like I am amidst
the Phish community more than anything else I own.

There are the occasional obnoxious yells of "I love you Mike!", but for
the most part you catch people talking in hushed voices for seconds at a
time. The Mountees at one point are incredibly rude, blowing their
whistles at everyone and yelling for them all to "back it up..." Then the
tape cuts out rather abruptly.

I'm a bit nervous to post this, because I don't know how many grovels I
can accommodate, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on what I consider
to be one of the most intimate Phish experiences.