This first set was kind of a face melter. It was the first time I'd ever been so close. I hadn't heard a band sound that good in a while. Security was kind of lax and I'd managed to sneak in some whiskey, and I was doubly weaker from having sat in the sun just to get a spot near the rail. So the little flask I had went a long way.

I'll never forget the total sense of hysteria when they came out. Pandemonium. The entire jam of DWD still feels like the band and the crowd trying to keep up with each other at first. And the madness continued. You wind up realizing things about Phish you hadn't realized before when you see and hear them up close for the first time. I think that's probably as big a compliment as I can give. Being able to hear Jon Fishman, for example, with as much clarity as that show was an ear opener. Also, the stadium genius of a song like Golgi Apparatus completely wound up the crowd all over again with that ascending chord progression before one of the final choruses.

I was literally in the throes of exhaustion for a week after this show.

I kind of like going back and listening to the whale calls on Light. Ghost was kind of the best groove jam of the night.