TRUE STORY!!! I was an athletic training major at the U of D and it was a little over a year after my first show 2/13/93! And for that, I was in the first row for god's sake, with my mind altered just a tad, if u know what i mean. Anyway, a student younger than me in the program walked in and said "someone from the band needs to be taped." So me, as a hippy in training and all (c'mon folks it was college! LOL), was like ummmm, hell yeah! I'll do it! (keep in mind it was '94 and most people didnt really know Phish at the time) Anyway.... i was escorted to a locker room where i met Trey and his family (uhhhh, I was in student mode. Not the i know who you are and i love you mode) and I taped his freakin ankle! (he had fell from the stage the show before and was on crutches. Check the notes! He didnt dance for Bouncing Round the Room) Anyway.... after the show i came up with a plan and i ended up meeting the whole band!!!! I was invited to the after party by Page or Mike (memory loss.... Im sure u understand) AND I WENT!!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!! And i got an autographed pic from the band and they even sent me a shirt in the mail after that!!! Needless to say...... PHISH PHAN PHOR LIFE!!!!!! ONE LOVE

We met Phish at this show too. Me and my buddy were in the lot super early and we were trying to get in to either listen to soundcheck or meet the band or whatever. We struck up a convo with a security guard and he said to 'Remember how Rockford did it' and luckily my buddy Ando did! We slipped the dude a $10 or $20 and he told us to meet him at a gate somewhere across the lot. He then opened the gate and let us in. We walked pretty much straight into Fishman who was coming off the bus or something. We talked to him for a bit and then went into the performance area to watch soundcheck. We watched from the front row and we were the only ones in the place except for the crew. We went back to the lot after that since we still had our tickets, partied our asses off (telling everyone our story) and then headed inside for what ended up being a sick show. This is the best Phish show I've ever been too. It was right on the cusp off the band getting too big and it was one of the last times I remember being second level dead center and having the entire aisle stair landing platform entirely to myself to dance the night away. Very, very sweet.

The jam charts got it just right... this is an INTENSE Melt. Trey's playing is chaotic, dissonant, and deranged, but some of his shards of notes are simply demonic jaw droppers. Fishman gets absolutely savage for the last three or four minutes. The Bag is played with equal intensity too, and again, Fish is an absolute beast. Wowza.