I usually don't review, however my recovery from the Wook Flu has given me some extra sitting around time and I'm going to add my commentary.

The last two years away from Alpine made this visit all the more special. Alpine 98 was my first show, and out of the 17 visits Phish graced The Valley with I consider myself lucky enough to have caught 13 of them.

I love that this band loves us back. They LOVE us back. We bathed in it Sunday. There are not many feelings in the world that can compete with the feeling I feel at a show, especially the particularly intimate ones. Not that this show was intimate in the sense a small venue would be. But the band and the crowd spoke heart to heart.

Now, perhaps my experience of intimacy was enhanced by the company of those around me: The quiet, dancing, spinning phanners just sharing in the groove. Nobody spoke! We simply shared a space as we bathed in the pool of sound, feeling the feels and joys. Eye contact was sufficient exchange. Gamehendge, as if we had been carried there.

For a show riddled with highlights, I reflect on my many firsts. Forbin's> Mockingbird had always eluded me until this night. I never anticipated that attached to the end of a Fuse and was blown to a billion pieces. Everthing! Esther! Just like my first show! Weigh! Another first! The Sanity that hadn't come my way until that moment. Mike's Second Jam, Fishman bringing it through, Trey quick to heavily follow guiding us into the sacred space of Type II. But of many musical highlights, the one that stands out the most is the way this show made me feel. It was special.

Love or hate the woo, woos come when people are feeling it, and when people are feeling it that's not a bad thing. In fact, that's THE thing. Feeling the music. I felt every moment of this show, I felt very much a part of the whole, the interaction, the heart to heart. Although the space was expansive (especially with so few in attendance) the distance between us all was small.

(Note: I understand where both philosophies of band/crowd interactions are coming from but I'm choosing to surrender on this. It takes more energy to complain about than to just go with it. So woo away to your heart's desire. Or clap. Whatever. And if I feel it I'll woo and clap right there with the best of you. Also, I suspect the band likes it too)

Thank you for loving us back Phish!