Hello! In an attempt to relive my many Phish adventures I have decided to write a review of every show that I have attended to keep me busy this summer. I began to listen to Phish in 1997 when I was 16-17 years old, being more interested in metal/alternative/punk rock through that point of my life. I truly didn't understand Phish until I was a freshman at Rutgers in 1998 and met some amazing phriends that showed me the way. That being said, my first Phish show was this one, 7/15/1999 at PNC, fifteen minutes from my parents' house.

I attended this show with my younger sister, cousins, and some hometown friends. With the exception of my older cousin who had seen Phish a few times before, this was the first show for the rest of us. We had a great spot on the lawn, dead center and near the bottom railing. PYITE blew me away right off the bat. I had been to many concerts in my life from the time I was eight years old, and at least twenty at PNC before this one. However, I never experienced the collective groove that I witnessed at this Phish show and I had a genuine awakening about music and my place in the universe! By the time Ghost rolled around I was dancing with a girl named "Jingles" who had hundreds of keys sewn into her sundress and they jingled as she danced. By the time the vocal jam ended during YEM, I was left wondering if that was the greatest version Phish had ever played?...

The Meatstick second set opener was hilarious in my opinion. My sister and I had never seen the Meatstick dance until that point and thought it was totally awesome and creative. SOAM melted my face right off, I had no idea what Kung was all about but I was hanging in deep suspense, the jam out of Kung melted any part of my face that didn't melt off before, and finally BATR delivered me back to Earth once more. But then came that Chalkdust...I still argue that this is one of the best CDT I have ever seen. The band was flying, Trey was shredding like a metal solo, and they were screaming "CAN'T I LIVE WHILE I'M YOUNG!!!!!" by the end of the song.

I left PNC that night as a different person then when I had first arrived several hours earlier. I went home and wrote a song that night called "Above the Trees," which was about how I had a different perspective on life and could "see" (in my nineteen year old wisdom). We even took a parking cone while we were driving out of the parking lot that night, scribbled the date on it with a marker, and to this day it still resides in my mother's attic. That was my first of many Phish adventures and I can remember this show like it happened yesterday.