This was my hometown and first show. I was 16 and it was the second time I'd taken LSD. So this won't be a classic song/show critique; intoxication, time, and perspective muddy any attempt at that.
I had listened to Lawn Boy and a couple random bootlegs prior. (Luckily for me, Phish had a significant following in Keene and a lot of my friends had been to shows and turned me on to them). Thank you Jesse!
A month before the show, I listened to Antelope while alone in my bedroom. Just closed my eyes and listened, focusing soley on the music. It induced me to inadvertently meditate for the first time. I felt as though I'd lost time. I had to see this band.
To the show: We walked into the theater just as they opened with Suzy. The entire room was bouncing. The L probably enhanced this, but I'd never felt this type of energy before. I had another teenage musically-motivated meditative moment during Reba.
Everything was just fun and loose. The band's banter, Kathleen Turner, the drummer who played a fucking bag-vac, Simpsons signal, Smoke on Water (please don't smoke requests). It was raucous. A unique "Evening with Phish," as the tickets used to say. No memorable 20 min type II Ghost Jam....these were different times.
For instance, we got to leave the theatre during set break. Outside, fat flakes of snow began falling and a pyschadelic snowball fight ensued on Main Street.
I couldn't appreciate the signifigance of the Sanity encore bustout at the time, but it certainly summed up the evening for me. Quintessential Phish: segue from an electric, wailing mind-fuck Sanity into a flawless a capella of Memories and Carolina, with Kathleen Turner hitting the high notes .
I was hooked.