The first time I heard about Phish was my senior year at Episcopal back in 1992. At that time in music history, grunge was just beginning to explode on the scene. Pearl Jam was about all we listened to. But I always kept time for my jam bands. I had already seen The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band, Widespread Panic and many others. CDs were still the way we listened to music, but cassette tapes were still around and were what you got all your bootlegs on. The internet didn't exist, or at least not to the public. Hearing about new bands was largely done by word of mouth. And that's how I heard about Phish.
My first taste of Phish was their album "Lawnboy." I remember being impressed with the musicianship. I thought there was some Zappa-esque arrangements going on, as the music seemed to dart in crazy tangents. I also remember seeing a picture of the band and I thought they looked like a bunch of Trekky nerds. They definitely didn't look like MTV material, but no jam band did. Mix their looks with their weird lyrics and they struck me as crazy-talented geeks who loved to jam.
The summer after I graduated from Episcopal, I spent half the summer in Paris. I saw Eric Clapton and Elton John play together. I also saw Pearl Jam play at a small club in Paris. When I got back to the US, I saw Lollapalooza 2 at Walnut Creek. I also remember seeing New Potato Caboose at Ziggy's at some point that summer. In the fall of 1992, I saw Widespread Panic play the Cat's Cradle back when it was on Franklin Street. There were also Horde tour shows and many others I'm sure I'm forgetting. All that is to say, I was actively going to see live music whenever I could, but I had yet to see Phish.
That all changed in 1994. I was a second or third year sophomore at NC State. I was living in a house on Brent Road with Gavin, Tricky and Brett. I was also pledging Sigma Nu. If you were to see a photo of the brothers back then, it looked like a bunch of hippies from a Dead Show parking lot. Needless to say, live music was a priority of ours. I remember us having house parties and getting bands that weren't going to bring crowds of girls, but rather crowds of other dirty hippies. We had a band called Traviana Farm play at the house. We also blew an entire semester's social budget just to get Government Mule to play the house.
That semester started with everyone being super into Dave Matthews and Widespread Panic. Both bands were playing small clubs like Ziggy's and the Ritz here in Raleigh. In fact, I remember seeing Dave open for Widespread at the Ritz sometime that year. Phish was on the radar and there was definitely a buzz growing about them. But they weren't touring in the South as much as the other two. For those of you who don't know, Widespread in from Athens, Ga, and Dave Matthews started out in Charlottesville, Va. NC saw in their backyard and they visited often. Phish, on the other hand, was from Burlington, VT. While they were beginning to tour a lot more, their stops in our fair state weren't nearly as frequent.
I think my first first Phish show was in Winston-Salem. Pretty sure it was. I don't really remember it though. But I do remember the first time we really dug into a Phish tour. It was fall break 1994. A bunch of us jumped in my old Pathfinder and headed to New Orleans for the first of a 4-night run. On the way down to New Orlean we stopped in Birmingham to meet up with a high school friend. Her sister was going to Tulane and had agreed to house us after the show. I remember getting down to the venue which was the auditorium at Tulane. We all set up camp and began our pre-show routine. Gavin and I had made green "Nothing Runs Like an Antelope" t-shirts and we both set out to sell or trade them for other things. Back then, tickets were in the $15 range and since there was no internet, more times than not we'd show up at shows without tickets and spend our day walking through the parking lot looking for tickets. Selling t-shirts was a great way to trade for tickets or other things that might come in handy during the show.
I remember the show being amazing. They played some of Gamehendge in the first set, which was a rare treat. Before I continue, a word on Gamehendge, which will also serve as an example of why I love these boys so much. Gamehendge is a collection of songs that make up a long story about a land called Gamehendge as well as all the characters that are involved in the story. There are about 15 songs that are included in the whole Gamehendge story. Some of these songs were played by themselves during a show. In fact, any of the songs could and would be played by themselves. But every once in a while, Phish would play several of them together and Trey would take the time to tell the story before, during and after each song that was played. Trey kept a bullhorn on one of his amps on the stage and this bullhorn was usually used whenever they would launch into Gamehendge. On this night in New Orleans, Trey used the bullhorn and we got a special treat!
After the show, we all headed to the Quarter to see what was going down on Bourbon Street. Bad idea! I remember waking up the next day and pulling several plastic hand grenades out of my pocket. Don't really remember going to Tropical Isles, but I sure had the grenades to prove it. We also realized that we were going to be in serious danger of missing some of the first set of that night's Phish show because of the late hour we were rallying. This was before google maps, so we were never entirely sure how far it was from night to night. ETAs were tough to nail down. We all quickly gathered our belongings and headed to our next stop: Pelham, AL.
We somehow managed to get to the parking lot with enough time to cruise around and sell t-shirts. If memory serves, a bunch of our friends from NC State drove down for the show, so we had a big group of us watching the show together. Specifics of the show are hazing. I remember they played a killer 2001 to open the second set. And as I look through the setlist, I'm reminded that Dave Matthews opened up for them. The encore was one of my all-time favorites: "The Maker." For some reason, I thought they played this song together at another show. I was mistaken. It was this show, and it was the first time they ever played it. I have absolutely no memory of where we stayed that night. But our next night was in Chattanooga, and we were all excited for our third straight show.
The Chattanooga show may well have been the best one of our entire 4-show run. There's a popular Phish saying, "Never miss a Sunday show." For some reason, the boys seem to absolutely destroy it on Sundays, and this night was no exception! I saw my first "The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday." And my highlight of the show was seeing my first "Harpua." I remember a big group of us leaving the show and walking around Chattanooga talking about what we had just seen. It was an incredible show!
Our final show was in Nashville. And to be honest, I have no memory of this show. And as I look over the setlist, I noticed that the show was on a Tuesday. I'm not sure what we did on our off day. That's the way my memory goes for most of the shows I saw back in my youth. Very foggy memories. But I always get a smile on my face knowing that I was there and knowing that I was having the time of my life!
Nowadays, I listen to Phish radio in the car. I've got a ton of songs sprinkled into my playlists. And I'm trying my best to get at least one of my kids to like them. They have remained my favorite band for almost 35 years. I realize their music isn't for everyone. My wife is not a fan. She doesn't appreciate the art of playing a song for 20 minutes. But for me, that's the beauty. That's the magic. Not every time you see "Reba" is it going to be a 25-minute ride. Sometimes they might just wrap it up in 8 minutes. But every time the boys go out, something new, something special happens. They have this rare and magical way of talking to and listening to each other on the stage. And they are completely open to and completely pumped to see where a song can go if it presents itself. So, unlike so many shows you can see by any number of performers, you'll never see the same Phish show twice. And to me, that is special.
My last thoughts on the boys are about people seeing their first show. Granted, live performances are amazing and intense in and of themselves. And depending on how much you like the performer, they can be downright spiritual. I believe that a Phish show is like nothing else. For one, the boys have been doing this for over 40 years. They've been honing and perfecting their craft for a long, long time. Their fans are also some of the most loyal fans out there. And they too have been doing this for a long, long time. It's this special friendship and bond between the group and the fans that make the shows so special. But for a newbie, it can be jaw dropping. Rarely will anyone see that kind of sound coming from four guys on a stage. They won't ever see a light show that is so intwined with the songs as to actually be a part of what you're hearing. And the whole cliche of them playing songs way too long doesn't even enter your mind when you see it unfold live. It is there, watching the boys onstage, that you finally understand why they do what they do. It is for this reason, and many others, that I'm dying to take my kids to see Phish. I really think they'll be blown away. And if nothing else, they'll get a kick out of their daddy doing the hippy shake to all their songs.......
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