This was my first show and there are so many ways I could take this thing. We'll start with a little history. I became aware of phish in the early fall of 1990 when my buddy Skills gave me a copy of Junta on tape. He wrote the track list on the lines and then carefully drew the phish logo in the middle. A month or two later, another buddy saw them open for Blues Traveler (same venue, 10-6-90). He couldn't stop raving about what he saw that night.

Based on two those events, I started seeking out the music. Access was very limited back then. As I mentioned, Junta was out. Lawn Boy with the Fee bonus track was also released. And then there were bootlegs. Those were even harder to find. And when you did find them, the sound quality was miserable (dudes calling out for songs plus beer bottles clanging) and the songs were always labeled incorrectly. For a long time I thought "harpua" was called "hardua" because that's what my tape said.

As for the show, it was a lot of fun- mostly young kids running around without a care in the world. I remember holding up my ticket for Golgi, seeing the vacuum come out and hearing Alvenu Malkenu (at which point I turned to Skills and said don't we know this number?).

With the benefit of time, this site, and the ability to stream shows, I can put my experience in perspective. I'm grateful that I got in when I did and have been able to ride it out for almost 25 years. It's like seeing the Dead in 1970 and then going to 1995.