my first one, 18 years old and very new to this band and their music. At this point the extent of the phish i'd heard pretty much consisted of A Live One and the Farmhouse LP, which had been released two months or so prior. I was fortunate enough to have some friends with shows under their belt, and when tickets went on sale I was for it. I'll skip over the personal details, because really, besides me, who else cares? puddled on lot, eurodollar in the venue, bare feet on the grass, showtime. A somewhat predictable Star Spangled Banner opens, with Farmhouse to follow. As little as I get excited about this song now, it was nice to start with one of the few familiar songs I had to work with at that point. Rift got everybody the feck down (hadn't been played in 62 shows), It's Ice followed, they were both played well and Ice had a nice little SSB tease during the bridge. Having spun the shit out of A Live One at that point, I was digging the one-two of Bouncin'/Stash that came next. Stash had some nice dark moments, solid version. Up next was one of the highlights of the first set for me, Lizards. As someone who, at the time, was very new to this band and most of their material, this was like the door to another world opening for me. Grins, lots of grins. The giddiness brought on by Lizards was eased into absolute bliss and tranquility by TMWSIY. Anyone who has heard this one during the summer can attest to the catharsis this one brings on. An absolute feeling of being in the perfect space at the perfect time, pretty sure this one brought a tear or two. Julius was Julius, no better, no worse, a solid standard version, perfect way to close the set.

Set II brought the goddamn business. Like I said, at this point I had only heard very minimal Phish, but Jibboo was one of the tunes I knew, or so I thought. At this point I'm sure most of you have heard this monster, but if you haven't, get on that shit. It clocked in at around 29 minutes and was an absolute blast on the lawn. Even listening back now, I don't really find any moments or meandering or time-filling with this one. When it finally wound down, it segued nicely into Saw it Again (first in 60 shows). Saw it Again was good, nothing too wild, but fun. A little ambiance gave way to the always welcome Magilla. The genre hopping continued. I really wish Phish would play this song more. Granted, it's not the same without the horns, but this is always a fun song to hear. In fact, after this show, it was only played once, in '03 at Deer Creek. Twist followed, leading into Slave. There's already been plenty said about these two, especially after inclusion in the Live Bait series from LP, so I'll skip all that. Again, if you haven't heard this show, at the very least check out this second set. Shit was smokin'. The show was capped off with a nice little Lawn Boy, complete with fireworks at the end that basically served as a segue into Good Times Bad Times. GTBT was well played, without the hiccups and flubs I've come to associate with it in recent years. The show ended, the house lights came up, we made our zombie-walk to the gates and the car. I knew at this moment the letdown that is the end of a Phish show. See you again this summer, if only for a moment.