The Saratoga Springs Performing Arts Center has been legendary for generations. It is woven into family fabric starting with the 1960s concerts of yore, and it’s in the lore of my friend fabric due to legendary Grateful Dead shows in the 1980s. This tapestry also includes consistent appearances of CSN; my wife and I attended a remarkable CSNY show here in 2006 (our final Crosby siting).

Now it is 2025. Many of my heroes have parted. Good friends, though, we have in abundance. I may not have ever seen SPAC this crowded, but I still managed to run into the people I needed to see. Almost all of them, anyway. The magic was alive and firing on all cylinders. The music played the band.

I don’t dwell on details like I used to; these days, it’s about atmospherics. These shows were like mental-spiritual-intellectual fireworks. The Phish was popping off, as the kids say, and they lit us up. Thanks for being there.