This was the fall semester of my senior year at college. I had heard of the HORDE bands from the previous summer but not seen a show and didn't know their music at all when a couple friends suggested going to see the WBCN "Rock of Boston" concert at the Garden, headlined by Spin Doctors and Phish.

One of those friends went to the box office the day of the show and scored an unused ticket in the first few rows that had just been returned for some reason. The other two of us were up in the stands, at the other end of the arena from the main stage. I'm pretty sure there was a smaller stage at our end, with the various opening acts alternating between the two stages.

I don't remember much from the smaller bands, but by the time the Spin Doctors came on we were flying high. They were OK, with a flashy light show synced with their standard rock material. I probably recognized a couple of their hits.

The comedy act that came on next was on the smaller stage at our end. I think the bit that got them booed off the stage was some kind of parody of low-budget kung fu movies, complete with fake Asian accents. Unfunny, cliched, and kind of offensive even by 1992 standards. (The friend who was near the main stage later told me that people there couldn't even hear any of it, though, so it might be true that some people were just impatient for Phish to come on.)

Finally Phish took the stage. I had seen a couple of Dead shows, and knew they could take most of a set to get warmed up and into their more interesting playing. This band was different. About a minute and a half into the first song (Runaway Jim) they were already into a spacy jam. And the only light show at that point (in contrast to the previous band) was a solid green light shining out at the audience. I was entranced. The next song (Maze) was even better, mixing virtuosic but catchy riffs with more high-energy improv.

My memories of the rest of the set aren't as clear 33 years later, but in a single set of little over an hour they managed to touch on all the major features of early 90s Phish: the poppy Bouncing, a vacuum solo (a what?!) sandwiched in Cavern, the serene extended piano outro of Squirming Coil, Stash transitioining between its rhythmic hook and transcendent group improv, a brief vocal jam leading into the a capella Sweet Adeline, and finally the proggy and absurdist YEM (with another vocal jam).

By the end I wasn't sure exactly what all I had just seen, but I knew I had a new favorite band. My friends were equally blown away. First thing the next morning I went to the Coop and bought Lawn Boy and Picture of Nectar on casette, and then signed up for some tape trees on rec.music.phish.