This is from a TikTok I made today at gettingreadyfortour
Today in Phish history: on Friday August 16, 1996 Phish played the first of two shows at Plattsburgh Air Force Base in Plattsburgh New York known as The Clifford Ball. And yes, I was at that show. My ticket cost $20!
That was for two days of Phish concerts and three/four days of camping. I was with Kaley and Jody. We came from the previous show in Hershey and very well could’ve stopped at my apartment in Philly but I don’t remember. We rolled into what I thought was the campground late at night Thursday night and parked, pitched my tent and pretty much went to sleep. It was really dark, very late and I was tired. I didn’t realize that we were at a festival until I woke up in the middle of the night to a drum circle in the campground. I thought it was another two shows at one venue with camping on site like Deer Creek. I was not on the Internet at this time maybe that’s why I didn’t know, and I didn’t really talk to very many people at shows at this point, it’s just not where I was at. I basically went for the music and some balloons afterwards, not gonna lie. Yeah I was completely blown away that I woke up in the middle of a festival campground needless to say we weren’t fully prepared. We had to make that trek on foot to the nearest convenience store to buy ice, water and beer and then schlep it back through the muddy, rocky terrain and it was hot. The daytime show was new to me and oh my goodness it was amazing, I absolutely loved it! The “Divided Sky” at sunset was remarkable!
Once again, (I’m referring to the TikTok I did yesterday for Lemonwheel which happened in 1998,) but I guess it started here because the biggest highlight for me was the flatbed truck jam. I was sleeping in my tent and I woke up in the middle of the night around four or five AM to this loud music and I’m like WTF, keep it the phuck down, people are trying to sleep, not everybody’s doing drugs yada yada yada. Well Kaley was like it’s Phish and I was like wait what? So he dragged me out of my tent walked up to the little street part of the parking lot and I saw Trey, Mike, Fishman and Page all on the back of a flatbed truck playing music live just being towed around. Definite highlight for me in addition to that Chalkdust opener! Plus my first “Life on Mars.” “Harry Hood” with fireworks was also a highlight. Seeing people holding up bags of drugs for sale with no “adults in charge“ was something I had never seen before. Asphalt, lots of asphalt. We did get to camp on muddy grass which still better than the asphalt. I met Ben and Jerry during the day at one of the tents because they had a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream tent. They had all these different tents set up. Somebody else with a better memory or record of the events can give you more insight. There was a post office, it was rad! I’m not fully remembering everything but I remember just looking around in awe and amazement at all of the things: the interactive art, the sculptures and the activities for us which honestly I didn’t partake in very many. I do remember this is the first time I got a hair wrap though lol. We ran into Ed who was one of the guys who introduced me to Phish in September 1992. And this is the show that I ran into Jen and Amber at the Porta potty’s after the show and then Amber and I started seeing Phish together the following summer for the next few decades. I can’t believe my ticket was only $20!