Ah my first Phish show! I think I had the Rift and Junta CDs by this point but was really not familiar with their live music for the most part. I was late to the Dead scene and had just seen them for the first time at Rich Stadium earlier that summer, which was where I heard about Phish and their summer tour that was coming to Darien Lake. So I grabbed the CDs at a local record store and started to listen. I dug the music right away and promptly bought tickets for the 8/7/93 show for myself, wife and brother.

Now Darien Lake has always had a special place in my heart for sure...from Senior Night in 1983 when the park was closed to all but the area graduating HS seniors and Molly Hatchet played in the rain back when the concert venue was on the opposite side of the park and was lawn only with no roof...to the Wendy's employee party where I met the girl that ended up being my first ( ah well you can guess where I'm going)...to all the family time here with my younger sibs and the year the viper opened, etc.

This was actually my first show at this new venue and I have faint memories of it not being completed yet...no roof or no seats...something like that. Help me out if your memory is better than mine.

Anyway after a great time in the lot meeting lots of people and drinking lots of beer we headed in. Most of the music was new to me save for the few songs from Rift that they played. I have to say it was the first concert I had been to where it didn't even matter if I knew the songs they were playing...I knew the music was great and we were close enough to see how much the guys were enjoying playing it. It really felt like I was part of something big...like my participation was vital to the whole production. Odd thoughts and I wasn't even smoking anything but I remember it vividly.

I'm not going to review the songs because I think this show speaks for itself 24 years later. I listen to it often and marvel at what a great show, setlist and playing-wise this is. The jams...Llama, Stash, Reba, Maze, Mike's...damn. Kung! Roller Coaster of the Mind narration...Purple Rain and a vacuum solo. Yes I had discovered something truly special here. the whole package was just a great first show to experience. One thing I remember that is either a false memory or no one has ever chosen to speak of it or mention it here... I feel like they used tramps at one point during this show...and I feel like it was during MFMF and there were strobes and fog and they were bouncing such that the strobes caught them in midair every time they flashed. I was freaking out. This is either a very vivid false memory or dream or you all just thought it was normal and it didn't get mentioned in the recap of this show or in any review yet that I have read. Got anything for me?

I've not seen a ton of shows over the years...somewhere around 40 total, but I think that has worked in my favor because I can honestly say that I have left every single one of them thinking it was the best concert I had ever seen.

Love the website, I visit often and lurk in the forums...think my last post was circa. 1997.