My first Phish show (and the first day of the rest of my life)! The place was about 2/3 sold out. I remember buying tickets at the box office a few weeks before for maybe $15. We hung out in the lot before the show. Every show I had previously attended had been of the "Alternative Rock" genre. Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, The Levellers, Jane's Addiction, etc. I was not prepared for Prep School Hippies. But, as a college student approaching the twilight of my teenage years, I felt right at home, and had already developed a huge love for Phish music.

As we were walking in, first set kicked in, and I remember hearing Buried Alive start up. Kind of ironic that our group all started running to get into the venue to see the tail end of Buried Alive. Buried Alive evokes the feeling of running from something / someone to me. Rift kicks in, and I'm in heaven. Rift was the soundtrack for me during the summer of '93. It segued into Caravan, and the weirdness of a live Phish show began to sink in. I was off-kilter. Who were these nerdy guys on stage? The only picture I had seen was off of the Rift liner notes. I was expecting alt rockers, and instead I felt like I was looking at nerds stuck in the 80's. Here they were on stage blowing me away. Trey, what the hell man?

Next is Nellie Cane, and I had a great time dancing my ass off. Maze, Horse > Silent, Punch. I was sober, but the music was tweaking my brain synapses. Maze tore open my face, and I was soaking it all in. At some point I yelled, "Lizards," a few times because that was the song when I first "got it," and really wanted to hear it. I was way too far for them to hear me, and I must've annoyed the guy next to me, because he looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. I stopped. It's Ice had Trey and Mike sliding back and forth on those ubiquitous gliders found on early 90's infomercials, they were very dangerous. I'm glad they stopped using them. But, they were a great visual. Cavern closed the first set, and someone threw a pair of shoes onto the stage at the very end. The first of many shoes I would see thrown at the band in the early to mid 90's. Set ends and I'm soooo happy, sitting with my girlfriend.

Second set begins. 2001? I hadn't heard that yet! It was SICK! Into Poor Heart. I enjoyed it at the time. Poor Heart segued into Antelope, and I got to experience setting the gearshift of my soul to the high gear for the first time live. What a transcendent experience that no one outside of Phishdom would understand. Faht? What? Who is this hairy beast up front playing an out of tune guitar. Well, I knew who it was, but it was still bizarre. The venue slowly turned into a Urban Jungle. Then My Friend, My Friend. Evil. Uncle Pen, fun. Big Ball Jam. WTF? No other band I had ever seen had such a connection with the audience. I was dumbstruck. This is the best band I will ever see. The You Enjoy Myself was one of the more original and bizarre ones I've ever seen. It didn't finish, but segued into BBFCFM. More confusion for me. I knew these songs, but seeing them live was completely different from tape. Chalk Dust and then Highway to Hell to close the set. Encore with Amazing Grace, then Daniel Saw the Stone.

I had just witness the most face melting, awe inspiring, transcendent music I had ever seen live. This music fit my brain perfectly. On top of that, the band played music with the audience with 3 big balls. They slid on gliders, jumped on trampolines, played an out of tune guitar as car horns and monkeys shouting got louder and louder. They screamed at the top of their lungs, "WHY DO I TRY TO KILL YOU?" They played bluegrass. They sang a capella. They finished the show seemingly chanting, "F-ck, f-ck, f-ck, f-ck. F-ck, f-ck, f-ck, f-ck. F-ck, f-ck, f-ck, f-ck." (Daniel Saw the Stone). They left me walking out of the venue on a new natural high.

I just saw the greatest band of my generation, and they changed my life irrevocably.

Thank you Phish.

Sidenote: I was going to hit Waterloo on 7/25/93, but didn't because it was my Mom's birthday. Bad choice. My friends who would have driven me to Waterloo, went to 7/24/93 as well and bought tickets from someone who also gave them backstage passes. They hung with the band, and Trey was very chatty, asking them what they thought of Rift. Anyhow, I decide not to go to 7/25/93, and as my friends are driving to the show, they see Phish's tour bus broken down on the side of the road. They slow down, and ask if they need help. The band recognizes them, and Trey thanks them and let's them know that a ride is on the way to pick them up. But, Page was in a hurry, and needed to get to the show. He asked if he could have a ride. Of course they accept, and...MY FRIENDS DRIVE PAGE TO THE SHOW. My thoughts at the time were, "Damn it, why didn't I go???"

Page gets in the car, and hears some strange music. He asks what they're listening to. It was a Phish soundcheck. I think the "Hey Andrew" soundcheck. He mentioned that he thought they didn't release soundchecks. He was wrong. He didn't want to listen to his own music, so he asks what else they have. They sheepishly hand him their tape box. All Phish. Except for one Dead tape. Page deadpanned, "Seriously?" He put on the Dead. Page was also a hawkeye, he could spot a cop a mile away. At SBIX I knew Trey would say Page was the best driver because of this story.

Well, my friends pull into Waterloo parking lot. Page thanks them, says he'll put them on the guest list for that night's show (I think he also offered them money, but they refused), and gets out of the car and walk away. Everyone around my friends are looking at Page and then them, and then back at Page and back at them. Someone finally asks if that was Page they just drove. Yes it was. I decided not to go to that show.

THE GOOD: Lots of highlights in this high energy show. You can't go wrong with the Buried Alive>Rift>Caravan opening segment, especially with the way they were playing Rift at the time. This Maze is really hot, including a wonderful long Trey sustain, and gets the band fired up. After Maze, the band remained playful the whole show - check out the spontaneity in, say, the Landlady section of PYITE, or the jam out of Jim (which is fantastic for 7:30). A searing Antelope and an absolutely blistering Chalkdust highlight the second set, the Chalkdust is particularly worth listening to. And, of course, I have a soft-spot for an acoustic intro to MFMF.

THE BAD: Really, only the communications issues in the YEM jam, which leads to BBFCFM, could be considered "bad" at this show. Overall, it could have shaped up much like IC Light (7/18), but YEM just didn't come together for whatever reason this night so it isn't quite as memorable.

ETC: Lots and lots of teases throughout the show. This is the first real show of the tour where the band starts to insert little snippets of things into nearly every break - listen to Antelope or Cavern for what I mean. Although the Dude never made it on stage for Crimes of the Mind, the whole band pays homage to him in Chalkdust by teasing the whole song and using it to kickstart the jam. After Highway to Hell, Trey had to quiet the crowd (some of whom were so wound up they were cheering "Saaaatan"!!).

BOTTOM LINE: As strong as IC Light (7/18), but more playful. Jim and Chalkdust smoke. 4/5

My first show! I was completely blown away. It solidified my love for Phish. Really hard to remember everything. Maze was what sticks out in my mind. And the helicopter that hovered over the crowd during the second set. Highway to Hell seemed scary, then twisted to be followed by amazing grace. Lost on the beach afterward. It took 7 hours to find our way back to western Mass after the show. WoW.

This is a pretty straight forward '93 show topped with some nice little goodies.

The first set is your fairly standard 1993 setlist, but like some sets it seems to snowball to the end (in a good way). It's Ice to me may be the highlight of the show, it's execution and mid section are superb. The Lawn Boy that follows is notably fun with some great guitar work by Trey accompanied by some scat by Page. The Cavern closer is the thunderous finely tuned version you get from this era.

I like how 2001 starts out although it's the short and sweet one they opened the 2nd set with 100 times. The Faht section works very well especially going into MFMF. I really enjoy how YEM segues into BBFCFM and how kind of odd it is that it never returns back. The remainder of the show as stated above is pretty straight forward for this era. Which really just means everything is well played, but they're just cookie cutter songs for the most part.

Not a bad show but not up there as one of the best from this year.

This was my first show. I didn't have any live tapes to get a taste of what the show would be like. My brother had the Junta album which dazzled me. Rift had just come out and I loved that album! I think we got tickets at the box office. In those days you could drive down to the beach and buy tickets for cash. My brother and I attended and I remember hearing all those great Rift songs. 2001 was a highlight for me. They also played 2001 for our 20 year phishirversary on 07/12/2013!!! Highway to Hell was cool to hear since I was into ACDC. I was surprised to hear Amazing Grace. I don't remember how "on" the guys were cause that was a long time ago and I don't have a tape of this show. I hope Phish releases this in the archives.

First official show. ( caught em at horde first). Life changing night for me! Coming up on twenty years. Wow