Reliving my days of Phish: Part I

First, a quote:

"I'm looking for a good cowboy."

-George W. Bush (Feb. 21st, 2005) when asked if relations were strong enough that Chirac would be invited to his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

This series of threads is an attempt to relive all 66 glorious nights of Phish that I was fortunate enough to witness during my lifetime. I can recall that the first song I ever heard was Maze from some tapes given to my by BW.

My first show:

10-28-95 The Palace, Detriot, MI

1: AC/DC Bag, Mound, Timber (Jerry), Uncle Pen, Sample in a Jar, Lizards, Billy Breathes, Acoustic Army, Prince Caspian, Run Like an Antelope

2: Maze, Theme From the Bottom-> Scent of a Mule, You Enjoy Myself, Strange Design, Frankenstein, Chalk Dust Torture

E: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

The first thing I can recall about this show is not having a ride and having to convince an older friend of my girlfriend at the time to give us a ride out to the Palace. I remember that we were stuck 4 or 5 people in this piece of crap car with by boy CC, my ex, and 2 other people. I really didn't know much about Phish before this, yet this first concert experience would make a lasting impression on my youth and beyond. We had tickets on the floor, about halfway back from the stage, on Fishman's side as it was set up then. I remember hearing the lyrics to Run Like an Antelope and thinking they were saying "Run like an animal" so of course I was the kid singing along with the wrong lyrics. I also remember the ghost-like white lights of the YEM vocal jam which I thought was fitting considering we were only a few days from Halloween. And of course, just to make me happy, I got to hear Maze. I can't recall a whole lot about this show except for most of the people I would tour with for years to come, this would also be their first show and the first of 4 at the Palace.

More than a year would pass before I would go to my 2nd Phish show at the Palace on 11-9-96.

11-09-96 The Palace, Auburn Hills, MI

1: Buried Alive, Poor Heart, The Sloth, The Divided Sky, Horn, Tube, Talk, Split Open and Melt, Lizards, Character Zero

2: David Bowie, A Day in the Life, You Enjoy Myself, Taste, Swept Away-> Steep-> Harry Hood

E: Julius

I can remember a few more things from this show, but still not as much as I would like. I know we had seats on the floor, Page side, about two-thirds back. I remember very little about the music and how it sounded compared to other shows except that Phish played a lot of Bill Breathes which had recently been released. Why I remember this so vividly is because my girlfriend of the time, KW, loved the song Character Zero, so much so that I had to endure the embarrassment of a bunch of rich drunk, J Crew wearing Grosse Pointe girls screaming out the lyrics to this song while dancing around daddy's SUV. It would be hard for me to pin down the other girls there besides KW, but I know CC was there again enduring the same embarrassment I was. So unheady! The song "A day in the Life" by the Beatles stood out most from this show.

2 nights later, I would see Phish again at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI but this show would not be my most fond memory of my days of Phish.

11-11-96 Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI

1: Chalk Dust Torture, Guelah Papyrus, Cars Trucks Buses, AC/DC Bag, Sparkle, Brother, Theme From the Bottom, Axilla, Runaway Jim

2: Timber (Jerry), The Divided Sky, Gumbo, The Curtain, Sample in a Jar, Tweezer, Swept Away-> Steep-> Maze, Contact, Slave to the Traffic Light

E: Waste, Cavern

Well, for starters, I only saw the 2nd set. Before I left for Grand Rapids (a 2.5 hour drive) after school that day, I realized I had lost my Drivers License. This didn't stop me from requesting that I use Mom's car to drive to the show, taking along my good friend NB, JT, and JT's girlfriend of the time, CC. This would be the first time that I would make a significant road trip of more than an hour since attaining my license in April of that year. This night happened to be the first winter storm to hit the region, and I was ill prepared to drive in it. About halfway to Grand Rapids, a car stopped abruptly in front of me. I followed suit, slid on black ice on the roadway, and hit the car in front of me going about 40mph. Luckily, nobody was really hurt in the accident and I was completely sober. The car crashed perfectly. The air bag deployed, the car was totaled, and we were stuck in a snow storm in the middle of nowhere.

Realizing the car was totaled, we proceeded to walk off an exit ramp to a gas station in the middle of this snowstorm. Quick thinking by someone in the group helped us get hold of AK's dad (thank God he had a cell phone in 1996) who was driving AK and another player from the hockey team (BW?) to the show after practice. They managed to pick us up, drive us to the show and home, but we missed the entire first set. However, the second set of the show was absolutely rockin - great Timber and a funky/spacey/ Tweezer. We would have good seats on the floor too. I would listen to this tape non stop for months.

But that isn't the end of the story. Because I had lost my license before I left for the show, NB had taken the rap for me, something his parents got really, really, really, really pissed about because of the ticket and points that ensued. So we had to go back to city of the accident a few weeks later and straighten everything out. I was faced with a ton of points and potentially losing my driver's license, but the officer took pity on me because of a letter written by my mother and dropped some points. Thank you Mom, sweet move, you rule.

We all make mistakes, even George W.

So that's a wrap up of my first 3 nights of Phish during 95-96. Everything was new to me in these shows, so all the music sounded amazing to me at the time. The story gets better and better as we go on, especially when we hit 12-6-97. These first few shows would be a buildup to 12-6-97 when Phish went from a once a year hobby to a much bigger obsession.

Friends who read this, please feel free to comment on the other PG and PG-13 related details of these experiences.