I have held off on writing a review of this show because it was my first. And maybe since I literally have listend to this show hundreds of times since I thought the review may be a bit biased - but I guess they all may be in some way so here goes...

I was a senior and high school and since I had been bumming around the Dead lots for the past few summers. There seemed to be a lot of hype about Phish the prior year at the Creek. I had gotten my hands on a show from Northwestern 4/15/91. So when we heard they were coming to the Aragon - it was a must go. We hopped (and dropped) on the Red Line about 5 pm and got there a good couple hours before the show. The show was GA and there was plenty of room to find space to chill till lights.

The crowd definitely had a different vibe - younger, more energy, and lots of excitement. I felt right at home immediately.

When the boys opened with Runaway Jim I was off to new heights. I had the tape from NW and recognized a couple from the show but wow. The Sparkle was great - and timing was excellent with the extras consumed. The My Friend was scary good. The Chalkdust ripped me a new one - and the Bowie...OH, the Bowie. Go get it. It's an early hidden gem. At around the ten minute mark it hit this rhythm on a track heading to the top of a volcano that erupts in the ultimate Bowie fashion. Full of all kinds of hidden language goodies too.

The second set opens with a strong Lengthwise>Maze (teases of stuff throughout - but it escapes me right now). The rest of the second is high energy with an excellent Rift, fun-ass Glide and a jamming Mike's Groove with some Floyd pinched between PLUS Chicago's own Sugar Blue coming out to Funky Bitch thru the set closer Cavern.

At my age I was really excited to hear all the new stuff and still have them throw in some Floyd (Great Gig) and Zeppelin (GTBT). It is still in my top 10 shows of all time Phish. It never gets old.

After we left - I like most of us here - got everything & anything I could get my hands on. I remember chatting and comparing them to the Dead - and believe it or not, there really was no comparison - except for the crowd (a bit), improv and a different show every night thing. We laughed our asses off that night. So much fun. Thank God the next gig was Monday about 2.5 hours away in Iowa, on Monday (after school). Oh, young love.

- BB