(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

The State Theater in New Brunswick is perhaps the nicest place I have ever seen the boys. Not nearly as funky as the Fox in Atlanta, it is the type of place you would expect see the Philharmonic, not a rock show. It made the Tower Theater we visited the night before look like a complete dump in comparison. I can't tell you how relieved I was to see how nice the place looked as I walked in with my Dad in tow.
It seemed my parents just couldn't fathom why I would travel to see so many shows by the same band ,so I invited my Dad to this show and he loved it! Needless to say, I did, too. It is still one of my favorites.
The "Tweezer" was the first time I heard Phish really take a left turn from the structure of the song. They completely left the typical "Tweezer" jam behind (they were in a groove of playing "typical" "Tweezer"s at the time) and forged ahead, landing in "Manteca" before coming full circle back into "Tweezer". This may not be shocking to anybody now, but it completely blew my mind at the time, and I was already pretty well versed in things Phish.
While that was perhaps the musical highlight of the show, it was a far cry from my personal highlight. The real magic of this show was the moment the boys absolutely nailed the big "Baby's mouth" harmony in "Curtain". It was so perfect and beautiful it sent chills down my spine. I turned to my Dad and he to me, both of us grinning ear-to-ear, and I could tell he had the chills, too. This is absolutely my favorite Phish moment, ever. Incomparable!
After the show, I asked him what he thought. He loved it! He recalled how caught up in Beatlemania he had been as a youngster, and said he completely understood my obsession. His one complaint: "they just shouldn't play one note over and over like that." Upon further questioning I surmised that he was referring to the "Melt" jam that featured Trey locking in on one repetitive pattern for a solid minute. He didn't like that!